After 4.5 months forced retirement from sailing, team Tiger Gambas is finally back in the game! With low expectations (from our out-of-shape performance and from the seasonal low to non-existing wind) we joined the Taal Lake Yacht Club Sunday race. To our surprise, we came in second overall, scoring first place twice in 4 races! Seems our sailing spirit hasn't faded in the past months! My (according to my doctor) fully recovered arm did a great job in pulling ropes and fixing sails. I even dared helming for a little while and maneuvered some maneuvers.
While on land, we paid a visit to the office of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvocs) at the shore of Taal Lake. The office is rather unimposing. It houses a few computers monitoring the seismic activities of Taal volcano. With 115 earthquakes in 24 hours, the staff should be rather busy. Or maybe not. For the longest time signal 2 has been issued. The status quo hasn’t changed in weeks now.
However, according to the office's own documentation pinned to a simple corkboard I would say it's time for signal 3! Interviews conducted with residents on the main crater (where permanent settlements are strictly not recommended since it is declared a Permanent Danger Zone) confirmed some of the earthquakes were 'felt'. According to Philvoc's documentation, 'seismic squirms of felt quakes' are indicators for signal 3. While seismic activities seem to increase, boat operators started 'sightseeing' tours on the lake again. In the wake of the current fish kill I wonder which 'tours’ exactly are being offered. Fishing for beginners?
Yes, the current fish kill in Lake Taal started with an act of nature: a tropical storm. Wind blowing across the lake from the south moved the lakes' oxygen enriched top layer water to its northern shore. On the southern shore the bottom layers of the lake surfaced. Suddenly, thousands of fish floated in the water with their bellies turned up.
The effected fish farmers are quick in pointing their fingers at climate change and a somewhat active volcano causing the fish kill. Wrong. It was their irresponsible behavior that finally killed the vulnerable eco system of the lake. It’s the result of overfeeding the way too many fish cages with feeds based on chicken manure. Unused feeds sink to the bottom and create the perfect breeding ground for weeds using up oxygen.
What was washed up during the storm was oxygen-deprived water from the lake’s bottom. The waste buried at Lake Taal’s bottom finally turned up. (For an explanation read Bernie Lopez’ opinion piece. I don’t think the polarizing and finger pointing at “foreigners” exploiting the lake's resources adds journalistic value to the article. He does give a good explanation of what happened beneath the surface though.)
A lesson learned you say? Wrong again I fear. Laguna de Bay is a living (or rather dead?) example of recklessly abusing aquatic resources. Obviously, the Philippine’s largest lake with its 950 square kilometers surface are was not a big enough lesson to learn from.
The double layered, indecisive, fact-evasive, and indirect language spoken (and written) in the Philippines is something to get used to. Reading between the lines becomes a second nature after a while.
The latest message which might need deciphering for the less experienced ear comes from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvocs). Due to increased volcanic activity at Taal Lake, Philvocs issued Alert Level 1.
Although there is no imminent eruption indicated, Philvocs reminds the general public "that the entire Volcano Island is a Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ), and permanent settlement in the island is strictly not recommended."
What exactly does that mean? Settlement is not recommended on the island, but allowed? Or is it strictly prohibited? I guess the roughly 5,000 permanent settlers on the main crater are mulling over the same question... while charging tourists to hike the volcano.
What I read between the lines is the following: "We know you guys should get off this island for various reasons... But we don't have any means to enforce it! So would you please exit voluntarily?! Oh, and by the way, don't even think about moving your squatters to the mainland!"
For team Tiger Gambas, the Philippine Hobie National Championships (counting as the fourth race of the ongoing Traveller Series) turned out to be the last sailing event for this season.
The crews of 19 registered boats, including three price-winning teams from Hong Kong and two crews from the Philippine National Sailing Team, looked forward to an event-packed sailing weekend at our known turf, Lake Taal.
Nobody was concerned about a lack of wind. The current North Easterly Amihan wind in the Philippines, also known as the trade winds, is blowing with all its might... and beyond! Day one of the two-day event saw a multitude of capsizes. At peak, as many as four boats were floating mast down at the same time! Approaching the windward mark from a different angle than most of the boats, we witnessed three boats capsizing in a sudden gust. They flipped like domino blocks as 25 invisible knots of wind speed swept over them.
It was not long before we encountered our first, second, and third capsize. To my surprise, I didn’t panic as I used to for the longest time. We fell, we swam, we climbed back onto the hull, and we right the boat. I even laughed when, grabbing the dolphin striker to prevent the boat from capsizing into the opposite direction, I was plugged out of the water like a feather. I guess 110 pounds don’t make much of a difference in these wind conditions.
After four exhausting races, we called it a day, licked our wounds, and retired early.
Day 2 greeted us with even more wind. Our unchanged battle cry was “mast up”! And we did... for the first 15 minutes of the first race. Approaching the windward mark a gust lifted our starboard hull. Higher and higher we went until finally the boat toppled. From my hiked out and fully extended position I had a two-meter drop ahead of me. My choice was hitting the mast, the boom, or falling onto the jib sheet. I think I hit all of the above, and with the biggest impact the port hull.
It’s interesting how hard it is to recall the details of a capsize. All I can remember is the sudden pain in my left wrist, the numbness of my fingers, seeing blood from an unknown source, and my words “I think I broke my arm”. I sure enough did. However, that didn’t matter much since we had to get our boat up and sail it back to shore. The wind didn’t show any mercy at all, threatening us to pitch pole on our downwind homecoming.
Several boats limped back to shore, dis-masted, with broken parts and pieces, and with shell-shocked crew. The regatta was cancelled after that race... our last race for at least eight weeks.
Something was different sailing in Taal Lake today. The quiet beauty of sailing was disturbed by a nearing, flashing red rubber boat. Some six faces smile at me helming our Hobie Cat. I decipher the words “COAST GUARDS” on the rubber ducky. Cost guards? I know Taal Lake has a draining river, the Pansipit River, to the open sea. But, does that make its shore line a coast?
Steering our Cat towards Volcano Island I see the boat turning into a small red dot. Finally, it dawns on me! These friendly guys must be restoring peace and order on the island ever since the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, short Philvocs, raised the Alert Level from 1 to 2, which means “that the volcano is undergoing magmatic intrusion which could eventually lead to an eruption”.
Taal Volcano is active. If you hike to the island’s top to look into the inner crater, you pass steaming vents that smell like rotten eggs. The Crater Lake on the island is usually 'boiling' on the rim. If you dig your hands into the sand on the shore, it’s remarkably hot. Two to five minor earthquakes shake the island every day. At the beginning of this month, the earthquake count went up to 32 in 24 hours.
Enough for Philvocs to raise the Alert Level from 1 to 2 and to “remind the general public that the Main Crater remains off-limits because hazardous steam-driven explosions may occur, along with the possible build-up of toxic gases.” These toxic gases killed hundreds of people years ago. As the gases are heavier than air, they “rolled downhill” and suffocated the people at night, while they were sleeping.
No wonder, Volcano Island is considered a Permanent Danger Zone and “permanent settlement within this area is strictly prohibited.” If it’s such a dangerous place, how come approximately 5,000 people are currently living there?
Am I cynical when I ask myself whether the increased alert level (unchanged since beginning of June) is for the welfare of the people or rather a way to starve them off the island?
Everybody earning an income from the steady flow of tourists hiking the volcano every day feels the economic effect of issuing Alert Signal 2. For the people living on the island, selling horse rides and refreshers to tourists is their source of income besides fishing. For bangka owners on the mainland, the revenue stream for boating people over to the island has dried up.
Or, is there yet another angle to look at this whole scenario? Where there is a disaster, there are calamity funds... Which, surprisingly, do not have to be accounted for. It’s a calamity after all! However, signal 2 is not a disaster yet. It's merely an imminent threat. This means, the affected people have neither income, nor funds to tap.
No wonder the stands taken by various people are very different.
Some would like the Alert Signal to be raised in order to receive calamity funds. I wonder if these supporters have a plan for housing and feeding the flood of people, which would wash up on their shores once forced evacuation is installed.
On the other hand, some support a decrease of the Alert Signal, so that people on both shores can go about their business as usual.
For me, as long as the volcano is not spitting lava onto the boat, I’ll still be sailing!
After 4.5 months forced retirement from sailing, team Tiger Gambas is finally back in the game! With low expectations (from our out-of-shape performance and from the seasonal low to non-existing wind) we joined the Taal Lake Yacht Club Sunday race. To our surprise, we came in second overall, scoring first place twice in 4 races! Seems our sailing spirit hasn't faded in the past months! My (according to my doctor) fully recovered arm did a great job in pulling ropes and fixing sails. I even dared helming for a little while and maneuvered some maneuvers.
