Lae – Bougainville - Lae, Easter 1983
by Kerry C. King
The expedition was born in the mind of Roger Gillbanks late 1982 or early 1983 and centred on the upcoming Bougainville National Game Fishing Titles. The Bougainville titles were popular because of their location and they were hosted by the very active Bougainville Game Fishing Club. The idea was first put to Ian Bull who was more than enthusiastic about making it a round trip returning by a southern route taking in Woodlark Island, Egum Atoll and the D'Entrecasteaux Islands.
Roger arranged a deal with Shell for fuel at Kandrian, Pomio, Buka and Buin. Ian
Bull arranged for dumps at Guasopa (Woodlark
Is), Esa’ala and Oro Bay, some 130 x 200 litre drums in all, mostly petrol. Our
fuel estimates were were stretched to the limit, particularly on the crossing of
230 miles open sea from Buin to Woodlark Island. In semi heavy weather it nearly
a kg fuel to carry the extra kg on some boats.
Departure was set for Friday 25/3/83.
Escape (27ft Hydrofield) – Ian Bull, Richard Bull (16 years) & Ian Atkinson
Kingfisher (24ft Fjord) – Kerry King & Ron Ball
Sunbird (22ft ...) – Brian Pearce & John Atherton
Manta (24ft Fjord)– Don Elliott & David Wills
Mosa (24ft Fjord)– Roger Gillbanks & Jan Vugts
Pegasus (24ft Fjord) – Morgan Dhyr & Peter Grubb
Mileages (Nautical Miles)
Lae - Kandrian 156
Kandrian - Pomio 144
Pomio - Sohano (Buka) 190
Sohano – Kieta 90
Kieta – Buin 56
Buin – Gwasopa (Woodlark ) 230
Gwasopa – Egum – Salamo 144
Salamo – Tufi 115
Tufi – Oro Bay – Douglas Harbour 116
Douglas Harbour – Brunswick Harbour – Lae 110
Total: 1350 nautical miles plus some 300–600 miles travelled out of Kieta during the Titles.
Most boats departed Lae Yacht Club on the Friday afternoon to overnight at Dregerhafen.
Ian had been flat out getting Escape ready, including an engine rebuild (300HP Chrysler V8). The rebuild was completed only the weekend before so Ian and Peter Grubb ended up 'running in' the engine in the dark off Sugarloaf on Wednesday night. Escape got away early Saturday but after only five minutes the temperature gauge suddenly rocketed off the scale and all the coolant ended up in the bilge. Two thousand miles to go! What would you do? Escape kept going with a wary eye on the gauge and trigger finger on the throttle.
We departed Dreger early Saturday and waited between Tami and mainland for Escape who caught up around 9am.
We arrived Kandrian late afternoon located our fuel and fueled all boats. The only casualty being Kingfisher, where I in the excitement, put the fuel hose nozzle in the outrigger hole instead of the fuel intake – hence diesel all over the back deck and precious litres lost. We proceeded from Michael Chan’s jetty to an absolutely beautiful anchorage in Guimere Lagoon just up Kandrian Harbour. Manta and Kingfisher usually messed together each night while other boats did their own individual catering. Sunday morning saw us on the run to Pomio – Mosa and Kingfisher overshot Jaquinot Bay as Roger expected fuel to be at Palmalmal, a new town. Kingfisher, due to the overrun and weight, was very short of fuel and the problem further exacerbated due to a damaged fuel drum being half empty. Escape similarly had fuel shortage and so we went walking in search of a timber camp – duly found and managed to buy the necessary supplies.
Although Escape had not boiled over again it had been running on a knife edge - up to a certain point the temperature was fine but the slightest extra throttle resulted in a volcanic rise. Ian & crew Ian Atkinson came to the conclusion that this was due to use of plain water coolant after the rebuild combined with a hot spot somewhere in the engine - we needed anti-boil and since Castrol were nowhere in sight Kingfisher magnanimously donated an untapped 40 oz. bottle of Black Label whisky to act as anti-freeze/anti-boil – it worked! The sight of the full bottle disappearing into the heat exchanger tank brought tears to many eyes!
We then anchored for dinner near the Log Camp. We were behind schedule and had some 190 miles crossing to Buka to effect. After dinner the stars were shining and Ian made the suggestion that we pull out, travel at 7 knots conserving fuel and get good mileage behind us in the then good conditions. The national weather forecast was 10 Knots for the morrow. (Ed: I can now reveal that alternative weather predictions coming in via the SSB radio on Escape suggested deteriorating conditions which might delay departure for several days if advantage was not taken immediately of the current good conditions).
This was some 190 miles and as suggested we departed late Sunday night after dinner at 7 knots. The sea was originally fine but we noticed an increasing swell occurring. There was very busy radio traffic on our CB radios, brought about mainly by boats trying to wake up other skippers who had fallen asleep at the helm during the night – observed by the port/starboard light being out of position, and some doing actual circles. Mosa lost all his lights and radio at one point.
Throughout the night an ominous bank of black cloud loomed on our starboard side. I kept it's distance until morning when it started closing in giving us a taste of what was to come. Dawn saw all the boats refuelling from the plastics on board. Pegasus was the only boat not in the group having gone ahead independently. We had no fuel reserves to carry out a search rescue in these conditions, and doing the independent thing is not a good choice under such circumstances.
The huge storm on our starboard side burst on us with very heavy rain and wind. We could not see the other boats and at one point found ourselves on a collision course with a large Japanese tanker in the heavy rain – we, due to size constraints changed course!
I was called by Ian Bull requiring a little assistance, his co-driver was extremely sea sick and could not take his turn on the helm. Ian was extremely tired at this point so we rendezvoused in the squall, with heavy rain and much debris in the water. I gave him some Catovit tablets which supplied the necessary boost to keep forging ahead.
Soon there after, sea conditions deteriorated badly (yes - they could get worse!) and the rain became a wall of water. We had been managing planning speeds of 15 knots, albeit in much discomfort. We were now forced down to some 7 knots in a confusing steep cross sea which seem to have three metre deep holes in it. Some 30 miles off Buka Passage entrance, Manta suffered a mechanical breakdown.
As Kingfisher and Manta had agreed firmly to stay visual the whole trip it paid off as I noticed he was not making way and changed course to assist. Ron Ball was a mechanic and so went board whilst I stood by. This was difficult as the sea was extremely uncomfortable and I had to keep my bearing to Buka Passage on target. Weather was continually coming through and I would loose my visual marks – sea sickness also got hold of me as I was stationary.
The situation was rectified, but in hindsight I should of taken Don Elliott's crew member on board Kingfisher to assist me – supply tools, keeping on location and standing by. We were the last boats into the passage some 3 hours behind the others.
A very narrow strait less than half mile wide and subject to very swift current – up to 6 knots. When the current change direction it can cause great havoc with rafted up boats anchored in the middle. That night we all slept some 12 hours, all exhausted as we had not slept the previous night, travelling in difficult conditions.
Tuesday 29th saw us fuel up at Sohano and depart Buka Passage for Kieta. We experienced a very steep sea exiting of the passage but fortunately the sea calmed down and the sun appeared – we had about 100 miles to Kieta. Troubles began – Mosa had air in the fuel and once again Kingfisher, travelling last as usual, was involved with a rescue.
While driving I noticed out to starboard Sunbird was not making way - called on radio repeatedly but no reply. I changed course to investigate – he was sinking and had a radio breakdown. I called Escape who returned and between us had the necessary tools to jury rig a steering bracket – which due to dry rot had completely come apart at the stern.
Ron Bull bolted on a saucepan. The Black Label having evaporated, Escape was again having overheating problem, the Red label was called up. Escape was called ‘Alcoholic Water pump’ and Ian accused of being a secret spirit sniffer! We overnighted at Numa Numu in a very relaxing atmosphere and continued to Kieta on Wednesday 30th.
We arrived in Kieta on Wednesday. The coming Saturday/Sunday were our fishing days. Ian Bull spent the two days before he fished, mapping the reefs and finding mackerel 50 miles south of Kieta just north of the Solomon Islands on the Solomons/PNG border.
Don Elliott spent his spare days removing and doing a major service on his Volvo legs. Our fuel shortages were relieved by an apparently inexhaustible supply courtesy of BCL, filling up FOC on arrival, during the titles and finally on departure.
Ian on his last fishing day (Sunday) was returning to weigh in and following some nervous time to go calculations at current speed realised he might have a problem with last weigh-in time – he was “too heavy” with fish and hence was considerably slowed down. Luckily the rules at that time specified only the lines-out time and the possibility of late arrivals had not been addressed - the committee agreed to accept arrival to weigh at 8pm. Escape arrived at the weigh station at 8pm with the Presentation Dinner well advanced - threw the fish at the weighmasters and raced off to get cleaned up.
The Escape team arrived at the dinner with a few minutes to spare before the prize-giving. Escape did extremely well, taking out the overall prize, light tackle, highest point scoring shark, and the Calcutta. Richard Bull, then 16 was awarded champion angler. (Ed: Many months later, after an enquiry from Rabaul, the Weighmasters tabulated the final results for distribution to other clubs. In the course of this exercise they discovered to their horror that they had inadvertently doubled up Escape's first day points and that in fact, they (the weighmasters!) had taken the major awards. Result lessons learned in both book-keeping AND a new titles rule - last weigh-in time shall be 7pm NO MATTER WHAT!)
We departed Loloho on Tuesday morning some 60 miles ahead to Buin – this was an extremely pleasant trip and we arrived around 1pm. Our fuel supplies were fortunately quickly located and pumped in from beautiful Kanga Beach amidst many World War II relics and in dead quiet conditions. Conditions being ideal we decided to depart for Woodlark some 230 miles distant at around 3pm.
Our course took us through the Shortland Islands group and slightly north of the Treasury Islands. We were briefly in Solomon Island Territory and had been warned in Kieta that if the Solomon Island Authorities found us there unannounced they would confiscate our boats. This had been a frequent experience by the members of Kieta Game Fishing Club. From here we had over 200 miles to cover with no land sightings for reference before we arrived at our destination. This in the days before GPS!
Escape was late leaving Buin, having loaded to the gunwales with around 900 litres of petrol, but caught us up at dusk at which point we put on power to cover as much water as possible in the calm conditions – having been running at 7 knots up to now. However due to increase fuel load we were only making some 12 knots – highly uneconomic – so back to 7 knots for the rest of the night –we had rain squalls, chop and floating logs.
Just before dawn on Wednesday, we stopped and refueled from reserves. All boats had managed to keep together with the exception of Pegasus. This was important because this was another open water crossing by dead reckoning with no intermediate islands or visual landmarks, and was impossible for fuel and navigational reasons to find a boat which was not visual. Repeated rain squalls also made visibility difficult. Escape stopped around 10am to consider our situation as no visual sign of Woodlark was evident. Woodlark’s highest peak is only some 1300 feet. Ian had set a course bearing slightly south of the Woodlark expecting the current running in a northerly direction to bring us around. However, the RDF reading (Ian bought an RDF specifically for the trip) gave a very faint reading on the Buka and Trobriands beacons indicating we change direction some 15 degrees to north – we had to be correct as fuel was becoming a critical issue. Some 20 minutes later Woodlark came into sight – a great relief!
Escape borrowed some 15 litres petrol while Kingfisher added 10 litres diesel to make Guasopa. All boats were right at the end of the their fuel on arrival.
We found our fuel and refuelled that afternoon. We had to spend considerable time convincing a Naval Patrol boat at anchor there that we were PNG Residents and not part of a fishing ‘ Mothership’ system from another country.
On the Thursday, we fished in flat glassy seas notable for incredible water clarity, fish on the bottom at 120 feet were crisp and clear in miniature. School sharks were very aggressive, Escape with his low positioned outriggers had both ends bitten by sharks as they swayed into the sea and the sharks became so excited by the bait presented that they were leaping out of the water and crashing into the side of the boat. We could not get any fish into the boat all fish and tackle lost to sharks.
Back at Guasopa we were greeted by hundreds of crays and crabs lined up on the wharf. These people were not interested in our sharks, they do not eat sharks, they are the only island people I have met that do not eat shark. Nor do they eat cray! Kingfisher bought it’s share of cray an live crabs at around 30 toea each, as did all the boats. (Ed: The only catch was that, not being cray eaters, the locals had no comprehension of the keeping qualities of speared crayfish, which they had been collecting since the early hours of the morning. It became a matter of saving the fresh ones and discarding the others).
On the Friday, we departed in calm conditions. Mosa and Kingfisher were down on power – we blamed bad fuel – and consequently made slow head way. Hence we agreed to break our journey to Esa’ala, some 150 miles distant, at Egum Atoll. We visited Ginetu and Alcester Islands en route to Egum, 60 miles away. Alcester Island although small, is inhabited and it was here that we first saw the magnificent traditional Kula Ocean going sailing canoes on shore. We came across an uncharted island some 50 miles from Guasopa where we had lunch and checked our fuel systems.
Arriving at Egum was fascinating - Yanaba Island, some 10 miles to the north, is the main atoll land mass perched on the edge of the reef. On arriving at Egum Islet at the centre of the atoll, we found more Kula canoes and went ashore for a detailed inspection. These are full sailing canoes, some 15 meters long one hundred percent traditionally made and extremely sea worthy. They still routinely make considerable voyages of 100 miles or more.
The Atoll itself is a huge elliptical reef, about 20 miles north/south x 15 miles east/west, enclosing a lagoon. In the centre, Egum Islet, two small volcanic islands and a few rocks. These islands have little soil so cultivation is carefully undertaken. There is also a large fresh water pond on the uninhabited island which is also the source of very healthy mosquitoes.
We departed on Saturday 9th for Esa’ala, a trip of around 80 miles. We made land fall at Sanaroa Island and then travelled to past Dobu Island to Esa’ala. There our fuel was located and after refueling we headed off looking for an overnight anchorage. Having difficulty finding a suitable place we proceeded in the dark up Moresby Channel heading for Mud Bay on Goodenough which looked on the chart like a suitable anchorage.
Manta was first boat in while Mosa clipped a reef and bent another propeller. We were rapidly surrounded by dozens of canoes, people of all ages just staring at us like aliens from another world. None of the onlookers spoke a single word, and there was no response whatever to attempts to strike up conversation in pidgin or English. Dawn rose and they were still there observing – Ron Ball gave a full ablution lesson which was absorbed in silence.
Rather than head the extra miles south to get around the bottom of Goodenough, we decided to proceed north through the channel and negotiate the shallow waters around the north side, through then uncharted reefs coming out between Siata and Nuama Islands. These waters were generally about 10 metres deep which was fine but littered with vertical bommies just scraping the surface. It was an overcast day and travelling was extremely slow with many sudden stops and reversing and changing the route. This was a real mine field.
Then to our surprise Siata Island marked on the charts as over 1 mile long at 80’ high is gone! All we found was a reef and small sand bank.
Finally clear of the minefield we increased power for the next 60 miles to Tufi. The sea was placid, and we were right on course to the outer reef marker lights. We were met by the Tufi Lodge owner, Wayne Cross who had been expecting us for dinner! We enjoyed crayfish, white wine and hot showers. Tufi is very isolated, volcanic flows have formed a series of very pretty fjords along the coast in this areas. In these times Tufi was a prolific source of mackerel with a Fisheries factory and major ice making facility. Richard Bull left us here and started his return trip back to school in Sydney.
We left Tufi Monday 11th for Oro Bay a trip of some 60 miles. Upon arrival our fuel was not in place and we had a wait of 4 hours, refueled and departed around 3:30pm. Oro is not a good anchorage so we decided to make for Douglas Harbour on the southern side of Cape Ward Hunt and Mitre Rock. We were cutting it very fine, but were counting on Cape Ward Hunt Lighthouse working for assistance.
Day light faded but no light showed at Cape Ward Hunt. We made good to Douglas Harbour using our own light and bearings.
We departed Douglas Harbour, fished Mambare Patches and tried Waria Patches. Another 60 miles to Brunswick where we decided to have our last night. Wednesday 13th we departed for Lae, we travelled into a stiff Markham breeze and short chop to arrive in Lae at midday.
A subtle unspoken race developed in the closing stages with Kingfisher securely closing clear of the rest of the pack in the final moments!
Pegasus had an engine problem which saw him limp 240 miles on one petrol motor working.
We were all back safely after an enjoyable small boat voyage of some 2000 nautical miles.
When and who will be next? Are you enough?
Special mention to Ian Bull and Roger Gillbanks, data sourced from these two people greatly assisted me in putting events of this expedition together.
Kerry C King.
© Copyright 2001-2004 Lae Game Fishing Club and Kerry C. King. All Rights Reserved.