Viet Nam
I always thought it would be a nice place to visit. Now read these two articles, the first is off the WMRT website, the second from Latitude 38. An interesting juxtaposition. Similarly Oman are making a big deal about top end racing there, yet last year they pretty much tossed us out of the country, go figure.
Rainbow International Awarded The Rights To Organise Vietnam Match Cup
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 Nha Trang Beach, venue for the Vietnam Match Cup |
 Peter Gilmour, Le Xuan Than and Do Tuan Anh (General Director of Rainbow International) in front of the race venue |
 WMRT and Rainbow International with Le Xuan Than, Deputy Chairman, Khanh Hoa People's Committee (third from Left) |
Saturday, 6 February 2010, Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam - The World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) has today awarded Rainbow International Co. Ltd the rights to organise the Vietnam Match Cup.
The Vietnam Match Cup will take place in the picturesque east coast city of Nha Trang, Vietnam this September. The event will be the eighth stage of the Tour this year, and is the first time that Vietnam has featured on the WMRT schedule.
The appointment gives Rainbow International the rights to host and promote the event that will be held at one of the world's most beautiful bays, Nha Trang, Nha Trang City, in Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam.
"It is a great honour for Rainbow International to host such a large scale programme in Vietnam. For the first time, Vietnamese people will have the chance to witness the competition amongst the worlds best sailors right off the shores of their homeland. It is going to be one of this countries biggest sporting events in 2010. More importantly, this is a fantastic opportunity for the world to discover Vietnam's natural beauty, which I hope will bring about great benefits to our national tourism industry," said Mr. Do Tuan Anh, General Director of Rainbow International.
This year, the Tour starts in April in France, and will reach Nha Trang City by late September. Mr. Le Xuan Than, Vice Chairman of Khanh Hoa Province's People Committee said, "This is an honour for Vietnam to join the Tour. The province will do its very best to make sure everything runs smoothly. I believe this is going to be one of the biggest sports and tourism events in Vietnam for 2010."
With expected media and television highlights coverage of over one billion households in over 100 countries around the world, the Tour will revolutionise Vietnam's tourism industry and propel the country into the limelight across the globe.
Several thousand people are expected at the event to witness the world-class competition. This will provide Vietnam with the opportunity to reaffirm to the world its great tourism potential as well as boost the country's growing sports and tourism industry.
Then this :
The Vietnam Cruising Fantasy
January 22, 2010 - The Socialist Republic of Vietnam
 (Click on the photo to enlarge it.) Halong Bay, a three-hour bus ride from Hanoi, has hundreds of unusual 'stacks'. It also has about 400 house-like charter boats and is subject to typhoons. Photo Latitude / Richard © 2010 Latitude 38 Publishing Co., Inc. |
Because of America's troubled yet intense relationship with Vietnam during the war years, we think an unusually high number of American sailors think they would like to cruise the waters of that Socialist Republic. Indeed, a couple of years ago there was an article in one of the sailing slicks that called Vietnam a "virgin cruising ground." And while we've been in Asia and haven't seen a copy, apparently there is an article in the current Cruising World saying that Vietnam is a great place to cruise.
Having travelled much of the length of Vietnam, we can tell you that it's a fascinating and dynamic country, and the people we met were wonderful. Nonetheless, we have it from three excellent sources that cruising Vietnam would not only be a nightmare, but at this time it's absolutely impossible.
 It's not your grandfather's Vietnam. Even in Hanoi, Che and Marilyn - now there's a power couple - hawk "revolutions" in teeth whitening rather than the social order. By the way, skin-whitening is very popular in Vietnam, as only Americans want a deep tan. Photo Latitude / Richard © 2010 Latitude 38 Publishing Co., Inc. |
The most devastating indictment comes from Frank and Lisa Coale of Portland, who spent five months in Vietnam taking delivery of their Saigon-built Corsair 50 catamaran Mango Moon. Lisa broke her ankle the first time she set foot on the Reichel-Pugh design, and having a boat in Vietnam didn't get any better after that.
Frank listed three main problems. The first is weather. He notes that the northern part of Vietnam, including beautiful Halong Bay, is subject to typhoons. Further, the trades in the South China Sea regularly blow at 25 to 30 knots. Second, there are no boating facilities or boat gear in Vietnam. For example, not once were the Coales able to pull their cat up to a fuel dock. As a result, they've had to fill their 200-liter fuel tanks five gallons at a time from transported fuel jugs. And when it came to trying to find something as common as a cooler to keep cold drinks in, it took three weeks of diligently searching Saigon, a city of seven million people.
 Lisa and Frank Coale of Mango Moon really had the stuffing knocked out of them by Vietnamese officials. But they did get a salon sole made out of mango wood. Photo Latitude / Richard © 2010 Latitude 38 Publishing Co., Inc. |
 There are no goods or services that won't be delivered directly too you on a motorbike - except for boat parts and boat gear. As yet, West Marine has no plans for a superstore in Hanoi. Photo Latitude / Richard © 2010 Latitude 38 Publishing Co., Inc. |
But the real cruising killer in Vietnam is the bureaucracy, which has weird regulations, and demands so much paperwork and so much money in bribes. How bad can it be, you might wonder. Consider that it took the Coales 3.5 days of dealing with paperwork when they wanted to go for a daysail! And then they were required to have two Vietnamese captains and a Vietnamese engineer along! Further, they were given specific lat-long positions of where they could anchor, usually in 70 feet of water with no protection from the howling trades. One time they got caught using their dinghy. "We were told dinghies were only to be used in emergencies," says Frank, "and we were told that we'd be jailed if we ever used ours again!" Then there were the bribes and fines. According to Frank, each official wanted about $100 U.S. whenever they wanted to do anything with the boat, and that the money was to go to "a party." When you want to go anywhere on your boat in Vietnam, you have to file a complete list of all the gear and food and drinks you have on your boat. When one official found that the Coales didn't have the case or two of beer they'd listed as part of their stores, Frank explained they were going to buy it before they cast off the next day. The official would have none of it. He insisted on a $500 U.S. fine! After a very long and trying discussion, the fine was reduced to $38 U.S.
 Boat traffic runs as hot and heavy in the Mekong Delta as does downriver flowing vegetation. But don't expect to see any running lights or for the charts to be accurate. Photo Latitude / Richard © 2010 Latitude 38 Publishing Co., Inc. |
 Boating facilities are of suspect quality in Vietnam, as evidence by this dock. But docking techniques are simple. The captain just rams his boat bow first into the cement, and leaves the engine in gear until everyone is on or off. Photo Latitude / Richard © 2010 Latitude 38 Publishing Co., Inc. |
But didn't Sunsail have a charter operation in Vietnam? They did, past tense. The base manager told the Coales that in the early going, the Vietnamese government would only allow charter guests to anchor in five places. The next year they only allowed them to anchor in four places. And the paperwork just kept getting worse. The base manager told Frank that things got so bad about a year ago, that the small staff loaded everything on their boats - and fled the country under cover of darkness. The manager now runs a Sunsail base in the Gulf of Thailand - which, unlike the west coast of Thailand, also has some Vietnam-like problems for cruisers - and has proved to be a great friend and tremendous help to the Coales.
 The tributaries of the Mekong are too narrow and shallow for sailboats. But the old Vietnamese women will dazzle you with their boathandling skills. Photo Latitude / Richard © 2010 Latitude 38 Publishing Co., Inc. |
We'll have more facts and details on why you absolutely cannot cruise Vietnam in the March issue, but trust us, it's just not possible. The better alternative is to put your boat in a marina in Singapore or Langkawi, Malaysia, and visit Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia by land. Oddly enough, of these three, the Vietnamese see the Americans - not the Chinese or the Russians - as their hope for the future. By the way, forget cruising the coast of Cambodia. They don't have any facilities either, the regulations are probably just as bad, but the real problem is that there are still landmines on the beaches.
 If it was at all possible to cruise in Vietnam, these underage but hard-working child laborers would be delighted to bring delicious fresh food right to your boat. Photo Latitude / Richard © 2010 Latitude 38 Publishing Co., Inc. |
- latitude / rs
This got me thinking, isn't Korea trying to get on the map in the match racing circuit? So I had a look on Noonsite to see how Korea handles visiting sailboats and found this:
Neither country is particularly welcoming to cruising yachts, but while in the North the discouragement of foreign visitors is undisguised, in the South, cumbersome and time-consuming formalities convey the same message. Although officially most of South Korea is open to cruising, the constant harassment from army, navy and police spoils the pleasure of visiting this otherwise beautiful and interesting country.
Now I wonder if the boys in the lycra suits who race in these events for big dollars would be interesting in helping get them opened up to the cruising yachtsman?