September   2003

THE  RUM  RUN
-----------------

1 st Sept in Sandakan, Sabah, North Borneo.  The crew change 
brought in Owen G.  and Dominic and Elise H.  from France.

In the yacht club, Claude ,  the French skipper of the only
other yacht in the area was explaining to my crew
the danger and foolhardiness of my plans.  
The Philippine  pirates would very definately get us.  
They will kill us all and have possession of our boat.
There is no chance that we can get through.  Alan is crazy !

To try to sneak thru the most pirate infested area on earth,
with no clearance from the aythorities , no passport control
and into the Philippines was going to be dangerous.  
And why ?   Alan wants that good cheap philippines   rum !
Crazy man !  Risking evrything for rum !


We sailed north thru the Malaysian patrols.   Navy patrol
boats,  fast army pursuit forces,  police boats with machine guns
on the foredeck.   We sailed thru to the last island in Malaysian
Borneo.  

We were anchored quietly  when I heard a motor boat 
approaching.   I went on deck alone and my heart  dropped when I
saw four men in a dinghy coming alongside and one of them
with a large army type rifle.  They asked me how many people 
aboard.  I told them  even though I knew they were just
checking the odds before they came aboard to rob and possibly 
kill us.  They looked like rag-tag robbers but apparently they
were Malaysian army,  guarding the island.  It took awhile
for my heart to settle down after that one.

The next day we set out on the 45 mile crossing to the 
Philippines.   Motor sailing as fast as possible in
unsettled stormy tropical weather.  We arrived in the town
of Balabac on the Island of Balabac around 4.00 PM.
We  were  flying a Swiss flag and no Q flag.
Like pirates of old Wallaby Creek still uses flags of convenience.
We sailed 40 metres under the guns of a Philippine navy patrol.

Anchored off the town.  Leaving the others onboard Owen and I
set out in our dinghy to look for rum.

We tied up on the quay and stopping at every shanty shop
we asked for rum.  Got passed the police station without
any questioning.  All was still going well but we had no 
local money and although we were finding some rum
the shopkeepers would not accept out money.  We had
Aussie dollars,  Malaysian ringitts and US dollars.
Eventually we found a Chinese lady who agreed to
change the US dollars.  She had only three boxes of rum.

I changed a US$100 note and swept through the village
buying seven cartons of five year old rum,  which was all the rum 
in the village.  I think they will be talking about the big
rum inflation rush in that village for years.
Then I still had enough local money left for us all to have
a big night out at the local Sing Song Palace.  Great fun !

The next day we slipped thru passport control and patrol
boats and the pirates and got  safely back into
Malaysian waters  with over a years supply of rum.
Ha  Ha  
               Alan