yes, "home-built" ... initially as fishing boats, but since everybody can afford a boat with an inboard engine they now are preserved for racing only. we started the race in 1995 when we realised that it wouldn't take very long for the boat-type to disappear because of motorisation; then all participating boats were still used for fishing, but since around 2000 it became less and less, and today they are truly built for racing only. any original fishing boat, even when modified for racing, cannot compete with those "new" race models - like my one, in the 1990 still one of the fastest boats around, she since 2003 never anymore ended in between the first 10, and so since 2006 we took her out of the race ... .
a sandeq is all wood, bamboo, some 1000pd monofilament fishing line for lashing it all together, hand-built in villages at the very ends of some lost roads on a far-away island ... except for some cheap epoxy glue they don't use anything modern. it's "traditional" indonesian village "industries", not modern enterprise: they are built by hand by true master boatbuilders still relying on their own judgement of what a fast boat would be, and the about 10 or so builders with the edge to build a racing sandeq each year compete for the great name of being the very best of the bunch ... . all sailors are blue water fishermen - we had some western sailors joining, but none of them stood the 11days of racing, so they normally withdrew somewhere in between ... .
"class rules" are very simple: they have to have outrigger beams passing through the hull (there is a kind of mostly smaller sandeq where the beams are lashed onto stanchions projecting over the deck); they have to have "paccongs" (those up-swerving 'noses' at bow and stern); use a side rudder; use the triangular sandeq sail, without jib; they have be longer than 5armspans of their owner.
there's a lot of pictures of sandeq racing etcetc at a facebook page, 'Sandeq Race Forum'.
yes, sandeq could and sure would come to the US to race all of you guys. we are sure that we'd at least keep up with all of your plastic tubs, and are willing to place money on our racing machines on any better downwind course! question simply is how we could do that. from all our expericence in organising the race, i'm convinced that there there is no chance to apply for help by the indonesian government to do so, and the fishermen themselves simply can't pay for something like that.
last month three sandeq participated in the brest festival: they were sent there in a container, taken apart, and then reassembled. only problem was that the atlantic is so cold that the sailors, used to warm tropical seas, didn't really stand it for long when hanging out on the float ... .
we're open to any ideas - and sure that if there is a chance to get some sponsoring for containers and flight tickets for skeleton crews (for racing we need 8hands/boat - but sure would teach some of your guys to help out to spare on tickets for Mandar sailors ...) we'd without much problem could get a dozen sandeq who wanna go racing in the US!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sandeq-Race-Forum/228172623881429#!/media/set/?set=a.242409112457780.64264.228172623881429&type=1
Last edited by Horst; 07/29/12 01:06 AM.
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