The Panaga Dive Boats

Buddy Bouncer

In the late 1980's, the club took over a refugee from the Belait shipyards. It was an alloy monohull of about six metres and sister ship of the commercial divers' vessel 'Petit Louie'. Two large (100 + hp) engines could sit on the transom and transport a dozen fairly cramped divers at speeds over 20 kts. It handled well except in reverse when the two propellers turning in unison defied all attempts to turn to starboard*.

'Petit Louie' 1993

In 1992, the 'Buddy Bouncer' was taken from the water, and a Dutch engineer was tasked with modifying it to go faster, take more divers, reverse properly and to become totally reliable.

Wave Dancer

The transom was removed and a two metre extension added to accommodate two 225-hp Mercruiser inboard diesels driving through stern Z-drives. These engines lived in a tight little engine compartment into which a small person could squeeze. The compartment was covered by two heavy alloy lids. Eight bottles could be carried on the raised stern deck above the engines. The z-drives turned the propellers in opposite and outward turning directions in proper nautical fashion. A helmsman's cabin was added with a dashboard full of switches, and even a Kent rotating clear-view screen. The fuel tank was located in the bow peak, an attempt perhaps to counter-balance the mass of the engines. The boat was commissioned at the end of 1992 and re-named 'Wave Dancer'.

The ugly duckling,  but very successful 'Wave Dancer'  1993

The Dutch engineer never travelled in or dived from the vessel, and passes out of human ken at this point. Personally, I believe that he realised that the vessel was not not quite what the 'Manager wanted' (if you're familiar with that set of cartoons.) Perhaps it was the extra ton of engine hanging over the stern that caused the strange handling qualities. The boat had an alarming propensity to broach, particularly crossing the Belait bar before the breakwaters were built. (Porsches, that have the same weight distribution, do exactly the same on land). Mac MacMillan had a nasty scare when he got the vessel sideways in the breaking waves and it nearly rolled over. The vessel never got on the plane. It spent its entire life 'nearly on the plane' and forged everywhere at a stupefyingly noisy 22 kts. Mind you, it would carry 16 divers and all their gear. The stern-heaviness was exacerbated as the bow-mounted fuel tank emptied and 300 kg of ballast vanished. Nobody told us that the fuel tank was shaped like an inverted pyramid. It took a frightening few moments as we ran out of diesel crossing the Belait bar. I was driving, and I yelled to Joop de Vries "Get the anchor out" and we pulled up with a jerk and turned into the breaking waves. We had, of course, spare fuel, but starting a diesel that's run out isn't simple, and requires bleeding the fuel lines. John Miller, the boat officer crawled into the engine space and eventually got the port motor running. We returned slowly to the KBBC.

Another quirk of the 'Wave Dancer' was its Dutch design. The Dutch are tall, and I am not. To see through the Kent clear-view screen, I needed to stand on the marshal's box; not easy in rough conditions! Also the diesels, purchased for their reputed reliability, proved anything but. Rudolph Diesel's invention is inherently non-electric and thus, theoretically, immune to the depredations of salt water, however, the starters motors and many of the peripherals turned out to be absolute rust magnets! The starter motors were the bane of 'Wave Dancer's' existence and Beverley Howe probably broke the record for the longest stay in the 'black hole' whilst wrestling with one of the motors. The starboard one in particular was a nightmare, being squashed between the engine and the hull, and only accessible to the small and triple-jointed.

Nevertheless, 'Wave Dancer' took out hundreds of divers for thousands of dives over a period of six years, and built the huge peak of diving activity seen in 1993/4. A number of key players are shown on these happy shots from 1993 as the Wave Dancer forged (it never planed, it always forged) down the Belait River to take another 16 divers on a trip.

Unknown, Colin Newman (our first 1st Class diver), John Elder - perpetual stand-in officer, Marco Lafeber - Equipment Officer, (the hat is the subject of a 'purple willie' award), John Miller - Boat Officer (on the wheel in front of) Mark Card - Training Officer and Bob Lowe the ultimate DO. Unknown, unknown.

In 1993, the boat suffered its biggest accident. Floating logs are a menace to all small craft offshore Brunei. They can be hard to spot during the day, and at night are virtually invisible. We made night dives every week in 1993, and on 9th September, the statistics caught up with us as we ploughed into a monster log at 17 kts. The impact tore off the port stern drive, fortunately, leaving the watertight gland intact. We limped home on one engine and it took months to order a new stern drive. Of course, the left-hand engine has the counter gear-box (the very expensive counter gearbox) that makes the propeller rotate to the left!

 Rupert Wilson, John Elder, Alistair Wilcockson, Jenny Barton, Beverley Howe, Mac Macmillan, Svein Sandal, Mark Card, Colin Frost, unknown lady, Bob Lowe, Wolfgang Strobl , Gerry Tompkins, Tan Moi Chan ?, John Miller and Joop de Vries. 

Again, in happier times (above), just after being re-built, Wave Dancer is seen at anchor off Kuraman Island in May 1993 for a weekend trip to the Labuan wrecks. Actually, it poured that night and the boat repeatedly dragged its anchor. Every two hours we all got soaked as we rushed into the sea to push the boat off the beach. Mind you, the diving was excellent. On the way back, the Wave Dancer exhibited two interesting tendencies, hitherto unsuspected. One: the engine compartment slowly floods in heavy seas causing the boat to go down by the stern. Two: in nautical terms, Wave Dancer, is a 'wet boat' since rain and breaking seas fall inside the boat rather than outside. In this instance they all fell on a long suffering Colin Newman, who stoically sat there for the three hour journey home! Sometimes it IS 'Tough in the Tropics'. Eventually, the lack of reliability and the alarming handling scared off marshal's and divers in equal numbers, and in 1998, Steve Holyoak, the Diving Officer at the time, decided to purchase another boat.

Naga Laut

The majority of dive boats in Borneo are cast from a common hull design made in Kota Kinabalu. There are variations in length and beam, however, the six metre twin-hull forward cabin design, makes for a stable and dry platform. The original Naga Laut was fitted with two Johnson 175 hp outboards that gave it a practical sea speed of about 24 kts at 4,500 rpm. It could just touch 30 kts on the river. Fuel consumption at an economic cruising speed of 20 kts was about 2.2 litres/km giving a practical radius of operation on full tanks (380 litres) of about 45 n.miles (85 km).

The boat was delivered to Labuan where Steve Holyoak picked it up and drove it back to Kuala Belait. It served the club well from 1999 to 2004, the only problem being the classic two-stroke engine's reluctance to start. From cold, or hot, it was easy, but when half warm, between dives, it could be a nightmare, to such an extent that several potential marshals were put off taking it out.

Naga Laut in 2002 plumage

In 2002, for a number of political reasons that are just too boring to relate here, the boat had to become 'Shellified'. Steve decided to go the whole hog, and the boat was slipped for a major overhaul of the hull. The old gel coat was removed and replaced. The paintwork was redone both inside and outside and the old white hull was painted red with a yellow band around the top. Shell stickers adorned the front and sides to let the world (and the local fishermen) know that this was a Shell boat. This carried, of course, all the rules and regulations that are part and parcel of Shell, however, since we already adhered to BSAC's own policies, we were well in advance of anything that Shell could throw at us. It always surprises me that otherwise quite sensible people seem to think that we go out on the sea without a care in the world. Far from it. When we go to sea, or go diving, we want to return safely, and the BSAC procedures were refined over more than half a century to ensure just that. We have stringent safety rules based on the weather forecast before we venture out.

Naga Laut after the 'corporate makeover' (2005)

A spate of water in the fuel over the winter of 2003/4, eventually lead to the demise of the both engines in April 2004. They failed together (the way that twin-engines boats are supposed not to - think of that the next time you fly in a 737) right at the entry to the Kuala Belait fairway. For the second time in my diving career, I asked for the anchor to be dropped in virtually the same position as11 years before!

The failure came exactly at the wrong time. We were just about to receive Sophie Rennie, BSAC National Instructor, to give two weeks of courses. Fortunately the Garrison Club came up trumps and loaned us their boat in an incredibly helpful gesture.

After much debate, Al Findlay, the boat officer, persuaded the committee that big was best. How right it turned out! We ordered two Suzuki 200 hp four-stroke engines. The extra weight of these colossal beasts was a concern, however, Al simulated the effect by putting a 200 litre drum on the stern and filling it full of water to represent the extra weight of the engines. The boat floated well and didn't stick its bows out of the water as some thought it might! The engines were fitted in the first week of July, literally the day before we were due to begin filming for the Life beneath the Platforms DVD. What brilliant engines. Quiet, powerful and smoke-free, but best of all, they started at the touch of the key just like a motorcar. Suddenly, we had volunteer marshals. The fuel consumption was improved by about 20% at an economic cruising speed of 25 kts (4,200 rpm on 18 ½" pitch props.) and the range improved to over 60 n.miles. Flat out the boat would now romp past 35 kts on calm water.

A diver's eye view of the Naga Laut

A Bit of Nautical Trivia

An interesting aside here is the question "Are port and starboard reversed when you look and move astern?" Answer "No." If you look astern and turn left, you are turning to the starboard side of the vessel. Let's confuse this further. James Cameron's excellent film 'Titanic' was criticised for some famous bloopers, one of which was the scene on the bridge when the iceberg is encountered. "Hard a-starboard" calls the officer and the helmsman spins the wheel to the left. This is no mistake. To turn a tiller-steered boat left, one pushes the tiller to the right. In the 19th and early 20th century, although ships now had wheels and not tillers, the command "Starboard the helm", meant turn to port. This obviously had the potential for confusion and some ships pre-Titanic even had the wheels connected so that a right hand spin would turn the rudder, and thus the ship to the left. James Cameron was, as always, spot on. When cars became common, this arrangement was obviously still a source of confusion, and eventually, the gearing of all ships' wheels was changed. Now, if the order was "turn to port", you would turn the wheel anti-clockwise and the ship would turn left - just like a car.

Confusion, like this, has plagued maritime history. Consider the origins of port and starboard. Many hundreds of years ago, ship's were steered by an external oar. Since the majority of helmsmen are right-handed, the oar was dipped over the right-hand side (or board) of the ship, hence the steer-board, corrupted to starboard. When coming along-side the dock, the captain would take care not to damage the steering oar, and approach the dock on the ship's left-hand side for loading. Thus, this side was called the load-board, corrupted to larboard. Larboard was left, and starboard was right, and you can see the confusion coming. Imagine an emergency and the captain shouts into the teeth of a gale "Hard a - ??arboard". Pardon? Exactly. Confusion and accidents were common. In a rare example of adopting a good French idea, the maritime world decided to adopt the French expression "Porte" for the loading door in the left-hand side of the ship.