Ambassador of a Maritime Nation

The night sky was clear and the stars shone bright. However, the previously gentle wind had suddenly grown stronger. High waves hit the ship. With its sails at full mast, it felt like KRI Bima Suci was sailing faster, but it seemed to list to one side.

KOMPAS/DAHONO FITRIANTO

The Indonesian Navy’s KRI Bima Suci (second from left), takes part in an international sailing parade in the waters of Amur Bay, Vladivostok, Russia, on Tuesday (11/9/2018). The parade is part of the SCF Far East Tall Ships Regatta 2018 sailing ship competition activities. In front of the KRI Bima Suci is Kaiwo Maru, a sailing ship from Japan.

It was Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. local time. The KRI Bima Suci was sailing toward a northeast heading on the Sea of Japan, just off the Korean Peninsula.

The night sky was clear and the stars shone bright. However, the previously gentle wind had suddenly grown stronger. High waves hit the ship. With its sails at full mast, it felt like the ship was sailing faster, but it seemed to list to one side.

The wind was blowing from the stern and the ship listed to starboard. Extra effort was required to walk upright and not to slip on the deck.

The ship had not listed so steeply since it had left port 30 hours ago in Yeosu, South Korea. Curious, this Kompas journalist opened a clinometer mobile application and placed the phone on the deck. It showed that the ship was tilting more than 20 degrees, and at one point, it read 23 degrees.

Just as this journalist was about to walk to the main bridge to look at the vessel’s speed and angle of tilt, an alarm suddenly blared and an order was shouted through the speakers. “Peran layar…! Peran layar…!”

Peran is an acronym for perintah tindakan, and refers to an order for action; layar means sail, so peran layar is an order for all crew to come on deck to manage the sails.

KOMPAS/DAHONO FITRIANTO

KRI Dewa Ruci in Yeosu, South Korea, Thursday (30/8/2018).

“Peran layar…! Peran layar…! Beaufort 6! Repeat, Beaufort 6,” the order echoed across the deck. A Beaufort 6 indicates a wind velocity of more than 22 knots (39 km per hour) that can create waves of 2 to 3 meters high.

Although wind is good for sailing vessels, strong winds can be dangerous, especially for vessels with high sails like the KRI Bima Suci. Strong winds with sails at full mast can tilt the ship beyond its center of gravity.

“The safe tilt limit for barque ships like this is 17-25 degrees. More than 25 degrees, and the ship can capsize,” said KRI Bima Suci commander Lieut. Col. Widiyatmoko Baruno Aji.

In mere seconds, the entire crew, including the Naval Academy (AAL) cadets participating in the 2018 Kartika Jala Krida technical field training program, ran to their posts. Several orders were shouted amid the strong wind and the crew members began to undo the knots that held the sails in place.

Once they had completed their orders, the ship restored its equilibrium and slowed to just above 9 knots.

KOMPAS/DAHONO FITRIANTO

KRI Bima Suci in Vladivostok, Rusia, Saturday (8/9/2018).

Proving one’s mettle

That was a brief snapshot of sailing on the KRI Bima Suci, the Navy’s newest tall-sail training vessel. At 111.2 meters long and masts 51.5 meters tall, Bima Suci is almost twice the size of its 64-year-old predecessor, the KRI Dewa Ruci.

Bima Suci, which was ordered from Freire Shipyard in Vigo, Spain, has replaced Dewa Ruci on the annual international voyage. It is a tougher, more elegant and more modern national ambassador for this millennium. The international voyage involves third-year AAL cadets, who take theory and put it into practice on the Kartika Jala Krida (KJK) program.

In 2018, the KJK involved 100 AAL cadets on a 100-day voyage to five East Asian countries. “They can put all the theories they have learned into practice in line with their corps,” said 2018 KJK training instructor Lieut. Col. Joko Purwanto, who led the KPK training program aboard Bima Suci on Sept. 4 to 9 from Yeosu to Vladivostok, Russia.

Kartika Jala Krida roughly means celestial navigation training.

The main focus of the voyage is a grueling test of skills and mental toughness for the young cadets. As future seamen, they take their basic training and put it into practice, including steering the ship and navigating by the stars, determining the ship’s position using only the stars as reference.