BALINESE "JUKUNG"

Not many years ago, I was walking on the beach somewhere in Eastern coast of Bali with my good friend Francis Lee of Raffles Marina, Singapore. There were more than one hundred of these lovely Balinese jukungs lying on the beach. I did not remember what I had for drink that day when I said to Francis "I think I'd love to sail that thing to Batam". "You would?" said he. I should've said "No, I was just kidding". To make story short he bought this lovely freshly painted Balinese jukung which was a bit small for about $400.00. That's right, 400 dollars with new set of sail which set me back about thirty dollars. 

Few weeks later I set sail on this pretty little thing for my intended destination which was Batam. I think it was about less than one thousand miles. ....actually I am bit embarrassed to tell you this story. Sailing on a small outrigger which sit so low on the water with hardly room to stretch my leg over open sea was not only crazy idea, but it was a dumb idea. No, no cover except for my hat, my friend. What do you expect for four hundred dollars.

I made what I thought was going to be a brief stop in a small village along the coast of Bali before I head out for open sea. Few hours after I landed I was arrested by the police for being a suspicious character which was a fair accusation. I finally convinced them that I was on some kind of mission. They probably figured rather than had to feed me, they finally let me go. They'd probably doing me a big favour if they put me in jail.

So off I went. I have to admit it was one on the worst trip I've ever been on. Unfortunately, somehow I managed to cover about 500 miles before I finally came to my senses. That happened after after my boat was almost full of water and nearly got run down by a ship. Needless to say I was exhausted and a bit scared to tell you the truth. By then I was about 150 miles offshore.

So, I went South thinking that I knew I would end up somewhere in Java, catch a bus and be home the next day. As my luck would have it, the wind died and I was just floating helplessly. No, I did't have an EPIRB or radio. They cost much more than the boat I was on.

To make story short, a local fishing boat appropriately named "Jango" finally rescued me. I aws taken to this fishing port where the captain of this fishing boat took me to his house to recover. He made sure that I was fully recovered before he put me in the bus head for home. 

My Balinese jukung? It probably still lying on the beach in this village of Paciran, East Java. I swore that I would't get near one again. Did I swear.....?