Indonesian alumna crewed on round-the-world clipper

Erma at the helm

But when the government of Singapore came calling looking for a representative from Indonesia to be part of a 40-plus crew on the yacht, Uniquely Singapore, Erma eagerly volunteered, even though she had never before sailed.

Erma is one of more than 350 international sailors taking part in the Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race. Singapore sponsored a yacht as part of the ongoing celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. WMU International News featured a story about the adventure in the September 2007 issue, prior to Erma joining the ship for her leg of the race. Following is her post-trip report.

Erma sets sail

It was Christmas Day when I left home and I was excited and terrified at the same time. The ship was docked in Freemantle, Australia, and we stayed there for about a week to bond with the rest of the crew and the skipper. There were 12 new crew members on my leg and five round-the-worlders, who had been on board since the beginning of the race. We were there doing ship maintenance and trying to gradually psych ourselves up for the race.

We sailed off toward Singapore on New Year’s Day on the 68-foot sailing yacht with no engines, just sails—a boat similar to those raced in the America’s Cup. We sailed past the western coast of Australia to the waters of Indonesia for a coordinated entrance into Singapore on January 19 for the opening ceremony at Marina Keppel Bay.

The first leg ended in Batam, Indonesia, one of the closest islands to Singapore. Most of the boats arrived between January 15 to 18, and our boat, Uniquely Singapore, came in seventh place, arriving on Jan. 16.

Erma and crew

It was a great sail—down-wind sailing, so the boat was for the most part level, but boy was it hot ... I mean really hot... it was like being baked in an oven for two whole weeks. We each had just one shower (if you’re wondering how we cleaned ourselves it was with baby wipes), the food was interesting at times, and our bunks were damp with our sweat, but we always had fun laughing, singing and listening to stories.

The welcome we received when we came into Singapore was really a great party too, we then hung around Singapore for about ten days and left Jan. 29 headed for Qingdao, China.

Unlike the first part the sail, this part of the trip was up wind, so we were beating against the wind for the most part, living at a 45-degree angle constantly for about two and a half weeks. Then we arrived in Qingdao and the Chinese went all out to give us a big party. The nice thing about this experience was that all crew members were equal; everyone had to cook, clean the bilges (so gross), pull the sails and lift them, etc. The experience made me appreciate the small things in life, like having a steady surface to live on (sailing gives a new meaning to tossing and turning) and the thing I am enjoying most these days is a FLUSHING TOILET. But it was really an honor to have experienced such an excellent trip and an honor to represent Indonesia and the region.

The Clipper 07-08 Round the World Yacht Race is currently in the 13th leg of the race from Nova Scotia to Cork, Ireland, with "Uniquely Singapore" in 8th place. Information about the race is accessible online here.