Sailing in Vietnam – Where is the wind?

A customer sails an RS Feva in front of the Manta Sail Training Center in Mui Ne - Photo: Michael Smith

A kilometer offshore… The fishing port to my left, the flat blue horizon on my right with a couple of fishing boats working their nets within waving distance... I’m heading just to the right of the point at Mui Ne. The sail pulled on tight as the boat beats upwind. My sailing coach and one of his staff are couple of hundred meters ahead in separate dinghies. The Lasers they are sailing are much faster than my RS Feva and they have a lot more experience than me. It’s my first time out in a boat on my own. It’s magic.

I can hear the boat hum when I find the wind and it tilts and picks up speed. I keep my gaze on a fixed point ahead and steer for it. If I take my eyes off it for more than a few seconds I will lose my bearings - the boat will go everywhere – and I could end up in the drink again.  A quick look up at the sail, then back at the water churning around the rudder, it’s time for my next tack. I push the tiller slowly across the boat and duck under the sail.

A minute later my boat’s on the edge of the fishing fleet. A brown-faced local sailor in his hammock after lunch opens one eye to watch me go slowly past his anchored wooden boat.  I can see my coach, Nick, and his off-sider, Tung, pulling up on a beach just short of the point. Getting there against this wind will be a nice challenge to apply my new knowledge.

Sailing has been a dream for years. So when I found out about Manta Sail Training Center in Mui Ne, I went for it. Living the dream – isn’t that what life’s about.

On my first day, one of the coaches, Nick Newman, sat me down in the club house for a bit of theory with a diagram about beating, running, reaching and some safety stuff. Then showed me how to rig up a boat with one sail and we hit the water. No longer a spectator in the sport, I was straight-away learning hands-on how to set the sail with the mainsheet.

After half an hour of studying the wind and sailing together, he takes his hands completely off the controls when he hands me the tiller and moves to the front of the boat. All of a sudden I have both the sail and the tiller in my hands and we capsize for the first time with about five dunkings to go. I don’t seem to have enough hands. The strong wind lost me, I don’t know where it is coming from, so Nick resumes his place in the stern.

About five more sessions over the next few days with the two Vietnamese assistant coaches and I am ready to go solo. The feelings range from exhilaration when the wind is strong; to a gentle ease and oneness when the boat is steady.

The sailing center only opened in November. A British sailing instructor, Julia Shaw,  opened it and equipped it with about 20 boats including RS Fevas and Teras, Laser Radials and Standards, 420s, Flying Fish and Bics. There has been a steady trickle of customers since the boats became available.

One customer, Phil Clandillon, who’d been sailing small dinghies since he was a kid, said he’d searched online in London for sailing in Vietnam before he came, but couldn’t find anything.

“When I found this place it was perfect. Good sheltered conditions, nice new boats, warm water. Couldn’t be better for learning,” said Clandillon who was using an RS Feva to teach his girlfriend, Dulcie, to sail.

The introductory price is US$30 an hour for a boat or US$50 an hour for a boat and coach.

For bookings contact Julia Shaw 0908400108 or juliashaw2@gmail.com  or Nick Newman 0908370293 or nick610newman@hotmail.com or go to the Manta center at 108 Huynh Thuc Khang St on the beach near the fishing port.

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Basket boat racing in Hoi An

Erica Tubbs’ husband takes pictures of her and a fisherwoman in thuyen thung chai (basket boat) - Photo: Minh Duy

If you like boat racing with the excitement but not the danger, join the basket boat race on the Hoi An Eco-tour, organized by Khoa Tran Travel Company.

The family-run tour company in the ancient town of Hoi An operates tours with local farmers and fishermen, for tourists to sample how they live and work and have a bit of fun on the way.

Guests are taken in a tourist boat up the river and invited to get in a fishermen’s basket boat, thuyen thung chai. Each thuyen thung chai can carry three people. The local fisherperson with the oar sits in the middle.

Before the race starts the oarsperson takes a quiet paddle through some canals lined with coconut palms and then the race starts.

American tourist Erica Tubbs, who went on the tour, said the race was lots of fun as there was a lot of screaming from the tourists and as they gripped tightly onto the walls of the basket boats.

She said after the race her and her husband were able to try a bit of fishing for catfish with nets and then ride buffalos.

 “I can see pictures of buffalos and basket boats on the internet, but can’t experience the fear of riding a buffalo or sitting in the boat. The experience was a complete surprise,” says Tubbs.

The travel company has other tours such as the fishermen and the waterways, the sunrise tour and sunset tour. The price varies around US$45 per person for groups of 35 to 40 for a four-hour tour.

For further information, contact the company at Phuoc Hai Fishing Village, Cua Dai District, Hoi An city, Quang Nam province. Tel : 0510 3 928.900 Email : jacktran@hoianecotour.com.vn.

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A bamboo boat ride through the waveless bay

 A lone boat pilot rows out into Van Long Lagoon, which makes up more than 3,500 hectares in Ninh Binh Province

Local residents call it “Ha Long Bay on land;” visitors refer to it as “the waveless bay.”

Whatever the name, the Van Long Lagoon offers the perfect northern getaway for those suffering from urban fatigue.

The lagoon makes up more than 3,500 hectares of Ninh Binh Province, not far from Hanoi.

Our tour around the northern delta region’s largest aquatic nature reserve began at a bamboo pier.

In a shallow bamboo boat, we set off lazily rowing to the center lagoon. The water reflected the surrounding mountains and the open sky, as clearly as a mirror.

Willow trees and rush climbed high along the waterline and cast shadows on tangled of cypress vine and coontail.

Thousands of plants and animals live around the lagoon including the giant water bug (known locally as toe-biters), which are on Vietnam Red List. The douc langur, which is facing extinction, also lives here.

As our boat glided quietly into the Hang Bong (Shadow Cave), some primordial jitters began to set in. The cave, which goes on for more than 100 meters, is comprised of thousand year old stalactites, which hang down into the water like ancient fangs.

Clapping sets off a bizarre echo that sounds like the twang of some ancient string instrument.

Only half of the cave is above water; the other half lies below, waiting to be explored.

After thousands of years, winds and waves have carved many caves and caverns along the edge of the lagoon. As the sun began to set behind the sharp mountain pass, the bay took on the pinks and purples of the sky-a feast for the eye.

The final destination on the lagoon is the Kem Tram Bay. Two steep mountain ranges flank the open water here like two darts connecting heaven and earth.

A boat tour costs VND45,000 (US$2.25) per person, including visits to Hang Bong, Hang Rua (Turtle Cave), Hang Ca (Fish Cave) and the surrounding mountains.

Around 300 bamboo boats are docked around in the lagoon; each can accommodate around three people a time.

GETTING THERE

Van Long Lagoon is around 80 kilometers, or two hours by bus from Hanoi. Take National Highway 1A, pass Phu Ly and enter Ninh Binh. At Gian Khau T-junction, turn left to wards Nho Quan. The lagoon is around 8 kilometers further in Gia Van Commune, Gia Vien District.

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