need to get more likes on my boat page :) shameless spam
Doing it for real,shouldnt have wrote fake book lol.
www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mv-Bass-Hmas-Bass/464725363587504
Not 100 % on where yet..well take our time. its costing a heap in mooring in sydney harbour though. we need to move on. i wonder if the Hawksberyy (sp) is cheaper to moore ships. (101 feet)
unreal groundswell, have fun! If you head west from Roti and surf Gods Left (Occys Left?) on Sumba prior to getting a visa (which I think you can only get once you reach Indo) you can expect the guy running the surf camp there to make trouble for you. At least that was my sister's experience anyway.
wow. yeah id like to surf there. i hope theres a port somewhere in timor to get visas done. An immigration agent or shipping agent might be able to organise something but we need the visas stamped in indo early on i imagine, somehow..perhaps a multi entry visa.
I wouldnt count on surfing occys left though. Theres a few waves nearby that id love to sniff out properly too.
Did your sister sail around indo?
yep, fitted a boat out in Darwin then surfed Rote briefly but didnt go to Kupang which turned out to be not such a great idea. She's lived on and off in Bali over the years so they ended up selling the boat once they got to Bali. Stayed there for a while and then had more governmental grief coming back to Oz when the federal police thought they must have been drug traffickers cos they took a boat over and flew back.
I think they did some boat trips out of Bali before selling the boat. Got a stack of great waves from all reports.
nice..except the feds part. you see a lot of cats and private boats cruising around, it would be a good life.
Super cool, looks like a kick arse boat.
But you must be starting business once you get somewhere..yeah? or how can you afford the fuel, i thought any boat eats through the fuel about Aussie $5K in fuel for a Mentawai charter boats chicken run, so a few captains/owners told me.
yep,will be starting business runs but not till we have everything sussed. we know a lot of waves in areas we might choose, but we feel we need to get to know them in and out, if they work best on the draining tide or whatever kind of thing..theres a few secrets we have sussed. So first few weeks or month it will be a few friends on board chucking in for costs.
from sydney to darwin is the pricey bit. it would be good if fisherman came on to
go for a fish and a beer between barrier reef and darwin which can be epic.
East or west of Bali?
Surprised more boats don't do the Sumba-Rote area, lot of quality uncrowded waves only really accessible by boat down that way.
that is one helluva vessel, how many litres of fuel per hour does that fucker eat 200-400 ? whats cruising knots and what is the draught.
Nusa tengarra for now roti to central sumbawa. other places possible- Enganno benkulu, lampung...or west java to batu karas coast or west java to south lampung..or banyaks and similue..or south telos tanabalas..not 100% yet.
Cruise speed is 7 knots and we plan going north less than that maybe 5 knots. it uses around 180 litres per hour at cruise speed. we are not sure what the top speed is we have so much paper work and plans to go through.
Logistics of this could drive us insane and bankrupt. or living a dream. 50 50 chance...Im betting on black.
Do most mentawai etc charters use top speed much or sit on cruise speed most of the time you think?
my guess would be cruise speed, keep the fuel costs down ,even though the fuel their buying is cheap just cruising saves big bucks over a full season. 180 ltrs per hour gonna cost ya heaps before you get out of aust waters, whats total fuel capacity- range ? does anyone one out there know the diesel price per litre at kupang , benoa,padang ? hopefully when you first fill it in aust can be done via a friend who owns a trawler or similiar , they get a discount per litre i think.
30 tonnes fuel capacity.. thanks for the feed back people.
We will have solar panels, aust power points as a few of us are sparkies.
Two or three scout boats and a kayak or two. Board racks, 5 per person.
Gaming room and bar.
Air con in bed areas..we want it smick. however diesal costs are a real worry.
Also whethor a ship this large can anchor as close to reef passes as normal or smaller charter vessels
180 litres of fuel to only go at 9-12km/h.
Jeez you'll be going through over 10,000 litres of fuel just to reach Queensland and I don't know the price but say at 1.50/L that's $15,000.
Why don't you go down to a smaller vessel?
850 litres diesel to the metric ton approx...fucking hell.....expensive cruising, as above ,smaller vessell something that uses about 50 lts an hour max. your first fuel up on this thing about $ 38,000 !
$1.50 may be what you pay at a service station, but it is a different story at the wharf and this skyrockets once you get north of Cairns. Meet up with a barge up through the Far North / Torres Strait area for fuel and water and you will pay up around $2.50+/L.
What size genset have you got and whats the hourly usage on that?
Once you get north of Fraser, take the coastal shipping channel route up inside the reef. If you get the SE trades behind you, you might be lucky to hit the 6-7 knot mark. I wouldn't go up outside the reef as you will push the EAC which can hit up to 2 knots and really slow you down and burn the fuel.
Not putting the trip down, just putting it in perspective and I wish you all the best as you will have such an awesome time and no doubt score insane waves.
PM me if you wish, I'll feed you a heap more info and hook you up with some spots to get waves up the GBR to the Straits.
Might even see you in the Lampung area in June.
fitzroy, was hoping you were going to join in,you seem to have lots of ocean/boat knowledge and you just beat me to it with the genset usage. woud pt moresby have cheaper fuel and whats the quality of fuel like in indo ? northern new guinea i know villagers take boats across the border to irian jaya to get fuel must be cheaper there ?
Sorry ,really busy and will check back in tomorrow.
Not sure on Indo or PNG fuel, but take heaps of diesel conditioner as the last thing you need is a bug from dirty fuel.
fitzroy, was hoping you were going to join in,you seem to have lots of ocean/boat knowledge and you just beat me to it with the genset usage. woud pt moresby have cheaper fuel and whats the quality of fuel like in indo ? northern new guinea i know villagers take boats across the border to irian jaya to get fuel must be cheaper there ?
By: "victor"
Yeah Iran jaya (now west papua) is part of Indo, and indo government has fuel subsidies so expect cheaper.
my guess would be cruise speed, keep the fuel costs down ,even though the fuel their buying is cheap just cruising saves big bucks over a full season.
By: "victor"
And this is true, i know for a fact, you see a lot of those boats out there capable of good speeds but there always just on cruising.
wikipedia has the specs on BASS, she draws only 8ft so no probs with shallow inter reef passes. the 50 cal machine guns would come in handy when cruising indo waters if there still fitted. he he.
Dirty fuel shouldn't be an issue from busy ports due to high fuel turnover, but adding conditioner is a minute cost compared to the pain of blocked filters etc and associated cost's.
BOAT = Break Out Another Thousand !!!
If you are to bring the boat home down the East Coast, you may also want to venture out to Flinders and particularly Lihou Reefs in the Coral Sea. It makes for a nice detour on the way home and you may like what you see.
Have fun Groundswell. I only wish that I could join up with the trip.
Thanks for all the input guys. After talking to the ex skipper/engineer with some concern about diesal usage we realised we totally had the maths wrong about diesel usage.
He says it will burn no more than 50-60 litres an hour at 6-7 knots. this is a big relief yet reaslising one of us stuffed up our maths.
I would really like to know those spots on the BR fitzroy that would be a great part of cruising north. would waiting a week near one give a good chance of getting it good?
We particularly like the looks of this righthander-
Victor, we would love to refit the .50 cals..even in some paintball skirmish replica haha..
Haha, yes that right has become somewhat popular in the last 18 months. Belive it or not, it's actually becoming crowded when it's all time and co-incides with a weekend. There is a small crew from the GC that are onto it now and when ever the conditions are spot on they are doing mercy dashes there. Bede and some other pro's did a trip a while back and it blew their minds.
There are many more around very similar and better. Remember, the GBR runs from just above Frazer Is to almost PNG and is made up of how many thousands of reefs?
Problem with the GBR is it is very open to the winds. Unlike places like Fiji,the SE trades pretty well trash 95% of the breaks that I know. Any wind from N to S with W in it and its game on. Also picks up any available swell. The coast can be knee high and the reef can be well overhead.
im so fucking glad your fuel calculations were wrong........50-60 per hour is still high but lots more affordable, your in a big lump of steel with lots of HP. the 180 ltrs per hour you first quoted....fuck would have been cheaper to do it all by air in first class. those outer reef spots fitzroy mentioned look good on marine charts endless possibility of alltime setups, big tiger shark concerns though...
Yeah, I agree with Victor, I had major concerns about the usage but glad the calcs are way lower. Still up there a little but pretty well on par for a boat at that size and HP.
Had countless dealings with tigers out at those reefs in the coral sea as well as GBR but I personally don't think they are as bad as the GW's you guys get in the southern states. Have seen the odd GW up this way though. At least the water is crystal clear and you generally see them early when they come in for a look.
Fitzroy whats your plan of escape in situations like that? see one cruise past and the boatsa good 100m paddle in the channel.
One guy told me sharks can only see straight ahead, so stick to the side of them and they wont notice you.
One guy told me sharks can only see straight ahead, so stick to the side of them and they wont notice you.
By: "groundswell"
I wouldn't believe that, i lived up at Fraser island for a bit, and was fishing from a ski in super clear water, there was huge schools of taylor racing past, and i saw the shadow of a shark fly past, few seconds latter it was beside the ski right there and its eye was looking straight at me and that was pretty much side on, and i swear it was looking straight at me, the most surreal experience I've ever had, it was only there for a second or two but seemed like ages in slow motion, then it was gone, leaving me with my heart racing and physically shaking.
BTW. Fraser island, gets heaps of swell for QLD but waves total crap, up north near waddy pt & indian head has potential at times but super fickle, fishing on the other hand is amazing, beach and a few reefs offshore.
sharks can only see straight ahead....????????....but there eyes are on the side of their heads ?
what tickets are needed to steer the BASS ?
Heavy stuff Indo-d. I hear theres more sharks on frazer than anywhere in oz.
Thats funny as hell Victor, i think that guys belief in that might also help with the "no panic" mindset. Keeping calm certainly helps. Id say keeping still and calm is the best appoach.
Another guy tells me sharks swim faster in the shallows due to tail and body movements go side to side more..or something like that.
However id feel a lot safer sitting in the shallows than off or out from some deep ledge drop off.
Our Skipper main owner is looking after the tickets. not sure whats needed but he wants two skippers, himself and another for aust, then an indo veteran skipper for indonesian waters. Two deckhands, one or two cooks.
Not much you can do except hope they're not hungry. Most of the time they will cruise past, have a look and move on, you don't see them again. On the other hand, I don't stay in the water too long after either. It's only really an issue in the Far North and out at those reefs in the Coral Sea. I.ve seen heaps and been buzzed by countless, but not where they have freaked me out. They're just inquisitive but you have to keep a healthy respect.
At those places, most of my crew where non-surfers and in those cases I would sit in the dory close to the take off spot and wait for the sets, jump off and paddle into the break. They would then follow and pick me up down the line and take me back out. They all think I'm a fecken lunatic!
On the southern reefs when I'm with mates, someone just cruises around outside the break keeping an eye on us and taking photos whilst we sit in the line up.
Some more pics here
www.andrewshield.com.au/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id...
Screen 1 - 2011 Vania,
Screen 2 - 2010 Fina.
@ Groundswell, have you got many charts for Indo? or is it all electronic type charts these days?
I went to this place in Jakarta like navy place at docks and got a proper nautical chart for Enggano (was going to go exploring out there years ago but never got around to it).
I actually had to make an appointment with this old guy (think x navy) who took me there, it was near the docks, i think part of navy, don't think general public can just walk in, sounds dodgy, but the guy/Pak never asked for money and was super nice, friendly, helpful guy i tried to slip a Rp 50,000($5) into his hand as a tip as i jumped onto the bus after the guy took me from his place where i met him to the place(never asked for money for motorbike ride), helped me get the map then helped me find the right bus to get back to my mates place, but when i tried to slip him some cash, he said no no no...and wouldn't take my money???
How weird hey...you would never think that would happen in Indo :P
Not sure what the deal was?...maybe he got a commission? the map was only like Rp200,000 ($20) cheaper than i expected anyway so i wasn't concerned if i was paying a bit more.
Heavy stuff Indo-d. I hear theres more sharks on frazer than anywhere in oz.
By: "groundswell"
Could be true, only saw some (two) once while surfing and once on ski, but would see one on average almost once a month, mostly while beach fishing, sometimes they would bite you off if fishing for taylor or jew fish.
I can also say that its a myth that sharks wont go into whitewater as often saw them in whitewater even in only a foot or two of water, even seen them almost beach themselves trying to get crabs, all the sharks i saw were only about 6 ft or less and bronzys, although people say they see tigers there also.
Personally sharks only worry me or more the thought of sharks in dirty or murky water although im not sure if id want to join Fitzroy in his shark dodging kind of surfing, thats sounds pretty rad.
Jeez Fitzroy thats bloody hardcore. Not sure im keen on that. i did watch a fishing show on lord howe island and its nearby shoals and outer reefs, even the inner reefs look fun, but one outer reef looked epic, and it wasa fishing show. the wave looked likea longer glassy version of shark island.And a good 6-8 feet.
Indo-d i think the skipper has hundreds of maps in his cabin and i havea few reef maps of ments and other areas of indo, but not all of them. we will have to meet up and talk about it, he works 7 days a week on another ship. The common thought to many tourists on a lot of Indonesians are money hungry but so many have helped people out the warm hearted nature of so many is amazing. its a shame a few in kuta or jakarta give others a bad name.
When you are low on cash or even bankrupt or broken down its pretty likely someone or a few will offer to take you in as their guest without the hope of reward.
One thing i am a little worried about is bad guests, like dope smokers or aggressive punks.Its something i think will be hard for us and other guests to deal with.
If one guy brings a 20 on board police often search charter vessels like this and everyone on board goes to jail..The skipper wants it a classy explorer vessel, however many surfers you meet in indo are pretty loose.
We dont even plan on charging much. somewhere around $2000 for 10 -12 days. that could attract bad asses???
Hahaha, I've never looked at it that way. It's really not that bad. Maybe it's a good thing people are freaked out by it, keep the numbers down!! Remember, I've been doing this for over 15 years and I'm still here with all my limbs etc. There are actually quite a few people that surf out on the reefs, particularly from the Bundaberg/ Agnes Water/ Gladstone area and I personally have not heard of any attacks. Kong used to surf alot of the southern area as well when he was younger and he was on a trawler. Be fecked if I'd want a trawler anywhere near me when I surf out there. They are shark magnets. The only real damage to me has been done by the reef and that wave snapped my fav board a few weeks ago.
Mate, your going to get people of all walks of life on charters. The cost won't affect the clientel. On both charters that I have run and crew memebers on my crew, I've met wealthy people that are right proper grubs and I've met ex-crims that are pure gentlemen. If you're running a charter you don't have alot of choice, and don't judge a book by it's cover. I've been constantly surprised at what people turn out to be after first laying eyes on them, both good and bad. A week or two on the confines of a boat, no matter how big or small it is, brings out peoples true characters.
I wish you all the best groundswell, maybe down the track I'll get in touch for a charter trip!
interesting that one ments charter vessell, skipper has it organized with the cook that any obnoxius ,rude,troublesome or to head strong guests get 5mg of valium in their evening meal, [usaually seppos] which when mixed with a lager or 2 makes for a happy boat........and the guest is none the wiser.
Ok thanks. some really good suggestions here from all posts. However i think i may be breaking rules posting this here. so i might have it deleted soon.
Thanks everyone, Fitzroy or anyone interested in meeting anywhere, i will be in touch when its rolling or if you want follow its progress on fb. We dont want to ruin swellnets business if there are any surf travel companies on here advertising or whatever. I mainly wanted advice and a few more likes on the page, however giving prices might be pushing it too far. keep charging and thanks.
all the best with your travels.
"Interesting that one ments charter vessel, skipper has it organized with the cook that any obnoxious ,rude,troublesome or to head strong guests get 5mg of Valium in their evening meal, [usually seppos] which when mixed with a lager or 2 makes for a happy boat........and the guest is none the wiser."
S'pose the guest would be none the wiser if he was on some other sort of medication and he slipped into a coma or died. So who's worse, the loudmouth obnoxious guest or the sneaky underhanded skipper. Can you name the vessel so those of us that value our lives can avoid it.
@ crustt, PM sent.
Have worked both at a surf resort and little bit on a charter boat and you get all kinds of guest, some super cool crew who often become friends, some guys who start out cool then seem to lose the plot, and then some people who are never happy no matter what, even when its pumping.
Aussies and Poms generally were easy going, yanks and europeans(french etc) a mixed bag....brazzos, you would surprisingly get some, really good guys and easy going, but then you would get others that were super demanding.
Also the older guys and older couples generally really good guest, easy going and can entertain them selves or relax and happy with whatever huey served up and always keen to mix it up, do a bit of fishing, snorkelling, go to village etc and mellow in the water, have a few beers, maybe the old big night.
While some of the younger guys would be 100 questions all day long, snake you and other guest in the water and not want to do anything but surf, then party every night and somehow do it all again.
If i had a surf camp or charter boat, id really market at the older surfers, easy to deal with and have money, but i guess to do so you need to have a pretty good operation.
Regarding drugs, i think you have to have a take no crap approach, and have in your conditions anyone found to have drugs aboard a dropped of at the nearest port.
"Interesting that one ments charter vessel, skipper has it organized with the cook that any obnoxious ,rude,troublesome or to head strong guests get 5mg of Valium in their evening meal, [usually seppos] which when mixed with a lager or 2 makes for a happy boat........and the guest is none the wiser."
Might explain the early morning soul arches...
did this boat trip eventuate ? love a update if it has.
I know one of the fellas offline. I'll give him a hoy and see how it's going.
Hey Udo,
Sounds like the fellas have given up on the MV Bass, too much work. They're now looking at buying another - newer - boat.
given up on the bass, that's a shame once sorted would have made a fine surf charter vessel, but yep she's getting on in years and yearly [daily] maintenance repair costs would be costly.
Its a shame really. it was costing too much in mooring really as well as we had to work on it so much to get it finished but none of us are born rich, we all have to work to earn money so if we are out there working we cant earn money to get it done. If we had more time and money it could have worked out great.
Also i feel i could have known more about the ship, i didnt know enough really. Danny the owner and the Bosun Daniel knew a lot. It was a learning experience.
It would have been great for indo or somewhere if it went to plan.
Jim Banks tells me he lost a lot on the indo odyssey's first year, like $20 grand it seems like a very costly business to get into, like youd need to mortgage or sell the house or something.
I'm sorry to hear that Groundswell, I feel for you mate.
Blood boats, a whirl pool that swallows your cash. I'm pretty sure in an earlier post I mentioned what BOAT stands for.
Anyway, all the best on you future endeavours.
A friend and i bought this ex navy ship. we plan to head either to PNG or Roti to start off
Would be good if a few people liked the page on fb. first up we got to head up the north coast in cyclone season at 8 knots
HMASS BASS -Fakebook
thanks.