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Cruising Helmsman - February 2011

High Seas

Alan Littlefield tells the story of a club with a difference - the Kamatal Yacht Club.

The Louisiades Archipelago is an idyllic group of islands 520 nautical miles roughly north east of Cairns.
Part of Papua New Guinea, the islands are impoverished and, since the suspension of Beche de Mer fishing, rely on trading from visiting yachts for any income.

During the annual Louisiades Yacht Rally, many of the villages host feasts or produce displays of traditional dancing and handicrafts competing to tempt the yachts to visit.

This is vital as there are literally hundreds of communities and the rally yachts can’t visit them all.

The fortunate communities are the ones where the yachties come ashore and trade goods, unfortunately many miss out.

Near Misima

Kamatal, a small island some 15nm from Misima, has a very small anchorage. While picturesque it is difficult to enter because of coral and, unfortunately, it faces into the prevailing wind. Anchoring is disconcerting on a lee shore with coral behind the boat and, even in the lightest wind, a skipper does not get a peaceful nights sleep.

The island has no water and therefore, although it has pigs and chickens, grows no crops. What it does have, however, is Chief Jimmy.
Set with the unenviable task of competing against islands with far more amenities, the charismatic Chief Jimmy set about putting his island on the cruising chart. His first action was to research what yachties actually wanted. Somewhere he decided that what the Louisiades lacked was a yacht club, so in 2007 the most substantial building in Kamatal was finished and the Kamatal Yacht Club was born.

In a now historic meeting in 2008 between the skipper and crew of the catamaran SY 5 O’Clock Somewhere and Chief Jimmy the subject of attracting yachts to Kamatal was raised. Rob and Pam Robson from  SY 5 O’Clock Somewhere suggested a swap library where yachties could exchange books and Jimmy set about extending the club to feature a library.

When I arrived on SY Dreamagic during the 2009 rally there was the yacht club complete with bookshelves, but no books. Travelling yachties Bob and Pam had said that if Jimmy built the library, they would provide some books. He then spent the next year building the library but 5 O’Clock Somewhere didn’t come back in 2009.

Bob and Pam did make good their promise, however, and two crates of books were offloaded from 2009 rally yachts to the yacht club.

Strength to strength

In September 2010 SY Dreamagic visited again as part of the Louisiades Rally. I was concerned that the book supply would have been depleted by absent-minded yachties taking more books than they gave so we brought a case of books to donate. However, we need not have worried because
the library is going from strength to strength.

Additions that Jimmy has made for 2010 include navigation marks to make entry into the lagoon relatively straightforward. A single lead mark held on a bearing of magnetic north guides the way to port and starboard marker sticks on the edges of the reef entrance.

Another addition is the jetty at the front of the club. Initially I was confused at the purpose as the deck is too high above water for a shallow-draught vessel but it sits surrounded by a coral garden which does not allow large boat access.

Viewing platform

It seems Jimmy has decided that it would be nice for yachties to be able to sit and read or watch the sun set over the lagoon, so he constructed a viewing platform for us! With no electricity and rudimentary hand tools, the villagers have driven each post into coral by hand and then constructed the deck. It is a testament to his leadership that he has managed to inspire his village to work on something which is of little use to themselves but will be appreciated by the visitors whose trade is so important to the island.

Like many of us, I worry about tourism engulfing our planet. It is increasingly more difficult to find destinations that are not tainted by commercialism. In Australia anchorages disappear for canal developments or marinas at an alarming rate. However, the people of the Louisiades have very little compared to our way of life, trading with us is their only form of income.

Vaguely reminiscent of those pictures one sees in glossy coffee table magazines of Bora Bora, it is hard to believe Jimmy hasn’t a marketing degree in the way he has packaged his island to tempt the visiting yachts.

So if you are passing and need to refresh your supply of reading matter, drop in to the Kamatal Yacht Club. You will get a warm welcome from Commodore Jimmy and his wife Jessie. Jimmy tells me that all yacht clubs have reciprocal rights and, for a small fee he will have his wood carvers make a plaque of your boat name to decorate the clubhouse.