on the slipways

Newsletter   April/May 2012

From Bill and Yoka van den Brink on the Crystal Jane

Dear Family, Friends and Landlubbers,

We finally got back to the Crystal Jane the week before Easter. Bill had driven the truck up to Gladstone in Queensland, and arrived back in Sydney on Friday 30^th of March. I then caught the overnight bus from Melbourne to Sydney on Saturday evening and arrived early on Sunday morning. In fact it was very early as daylight savings had finished during the night while I was travelling on the bus! Bill was waiting for me at Central Station to help me with my heavy bags. We had enough time to drop the bags off at the boat before going to church. Bill had taken the new outboard engine back with him from Brisbane, and had tried it out the day before I arrived. It goes like a beauty, a little too fast for my liking, Bill can go full throttle when he is in the dinghy on his own!

Praise the Lord He answered our prayers; we received two donations of a thousand dollars each towards the slipping of the boat. God is so good! We now had just two and a half days to get the boat ready for sailing! I was quite at peace, much to my surprise, as normally I would get stressed out with all the work we had to do and the little time we had to get it all done. Our volunteers arrived early on Wednesday morning, Jared and Jessica Hendriks and their two boys, Mark and Daniel (Jess and the boys were ring-ins really!) and David Jeskie, also from Crosswater Church. We still had to do some final stashing (so things would not fall over during the sail to Wollongong) before we finally left Pittwater and headed towards Sydney. It didn’t take too long before we had a few seasick bodies on board as there was quite a swell. I quickly had to find the buckets! A beautiful boy who had adopted me as Oma was grateful that I treated him like my grandson and that I wasn’t too scared to get my hands dirty and clean up the mess!

Captain Bill decided to be kind and sail in through the Sydney heads and drop anchor near Manly toward the evening. Jessica and the boys were rescued; they would spend the night at home and drive to Wollongong the next day in the car! We had a few hours’ sleep before we weighed anchor at about 2 a.m. and had a rough sail to ‘the Gong’. There were some big waves! David rang Pastor Ray to pray for us as we were approaching the harbour; we could see the big waves breaking over the rocks next to the entrance. Ten minutes before we got there everything got thrown around by a big wave. But praying helps, there were just three smaller waves as we motored through the entrance at about 10.30 a.m. The Crystal Jane docked in front of the fisheries; we had to wait until three o’clock in the afternoon for the tide to come up so we could get up on the slipway.

Bill had forgotten about the dinghy which we towed behind the boat all the way down to Wollongong. He thought it would sit on the slip just behind the Crystal Jane, but there was no room! It got beached and was getting swamped by the big waves. We frantically tried to pull it up higher onto the beach, but it was full of water and sand! We just tied the dinghy to the back of the boat with a long rope and decided to worry about it later.

First we had to put a long gangplank on to the side of the boat so that we could get off and on. The boat had to get water blasted before all the growth and barnacles started to dry up, or else it would make the cleaning job a lot harder. That was a huge and messy job. It was five years since the boat had been slipped and anti-fouled; although Bill had scraped the barnacles off while the boat was in the water each time before a trip, but the anti-foul that was on there was no longer effective.

Bill had a lot of pain in his back and unfortunately had to come up for breaks and rest often. The boat was sitting on a bit of an angle as it sat on the slipways, it felt strange, as it was not moving but it still had an effect on our balance. We solved the sleeping problem by putting our pillows at the foot-end of the bed during the night.

Praise God we had fantastic weather! The harbour was buzzing with life and holiday-makers. There was much interest as we were working on the Crystal Jane; a lot of tourists were taking snapshots of her on the slip. David Jeskie suggested having a sign out there to let the public know what we were doing. Well maybe we can do that next time. Late in the afternoon a family started chatting to us; Scott and Michelle Dobbs and their two teenage daughters and their friend Bruce. They were offering for the guys to take a shower at their place as they looked filthy dirty (and smelled even worse!) I told Michelle of our plans to go on a mission trip to the South Pacific on the Crystal Jane. She asked if we were Christians, and when I said ‘yes’ she exclaimed: ‘So are we!’

Michelle invited us all over for dinner that evening. She cooked   a huge salmon, which tasted delicious! Here we are pictured in front of the table, from left to right; Captain Bill, Yoka, Michelle, Scott, Jared, Jessica with Daniel and Mark and David standing behind Mark. It was so good to have fellowship with other Christians. Bill and the crew had prayed earlier in the day, and asked the Lord for help, I actually asked the Lord to send more hands and feet, as an extension of Him, as we were His hands and feet working on the boat and we were getting weary. The Lord uses His people in their gifting; and Scott and Michelle have the gift of hospitality. It was so refreshing and encouraging to be touched by that. Their friend Bruce started playing the piano and sang for us; several members of the family played the guitar and sang. Another friend bought an Italian Easter cake in the shape of a dove!

Everyone had such a good time and Jess said that she could have stayed forever!!! We went back to the boat at about nine that evening as we were all tired and had a lot of hard work ahead of us the next few days. Jess and the boys went home with her Mum on Saturday. The guys were cleaning and grinding all day Saturday and Sunday; I just got stuck into it when Chris Morris arrived. We met her last October when Bill and I did a course at Ellel Ministries in Sydney. I had stayed in touch with Chris through our newsletters and by phone; it was so nice to catch up again. I had asked where she went to church as we were looking for a place to fellowship on Sunday evening. Chris’ Pastor, Peter Starr and his wife Marie came by on Sunday afternoon as well, and they invited us all for a meal after church. Chris stayed until it was time to go to church (C3 at Thirroul), she directed us where to go; Jared’s car was left in Wollongong for the weekend. Bill and I had the opportunity to share for a few minutes about what we were doing with the boat, it was a beautiful service. We found the people we met in Wollongong very friendly and hospitable, and we all enjoyed another great meal after church.

I had been a little worried about the dinghy that was beached when the boat was put on the slip; Chris and I had scooped out all the sand that the waves had dumped into the dinghy a few days before, I was not so sure how the guys were going to drag the dinghy all the way up the beach to the boat as it was very heavy! But much to our surprize when we came back to the slip on Sunday evening, the tide was right up to the back of the boat and the guys were able to pull the dinghy up at the davits with the pullies! Bill’s back was giving him a lot of trouble and but he managed to soldier on through prayer and by wearing a back brace and taking a lot of strong pain killers. However the back brace made things worse as it cut off the circulation.

Bill started getting terrible pains and numbness in his leg. ( more to come)

Food and a great fun time will be provided. 

Please contact Bill via email: rimcjane@gmail.com or remoteislandmissions@gmail.com or mobile 0412 375 613

If you are interested in coming you need to pay your own way. We need crew to help us sail the Crystal Jane all the way to Fiji.

We estimate that the trip will take four to five weeks. After our arrival in Fiji, you can stay on with us, or make your own way back to Australia. It is advisable to make the flight arrangements after we arrive, as it is uncertain when we arrive due to the weather conditions. We would love to hear from you if you are interested in coming. Please provide us with a bit of your background and your experience (if any) with sailing. You don’t need experience, but a willingness to learn and get your hands dirty.

The mountains at Lord Howe Island

There is a lot said about sailing on a Tall Ship and  without a doubt it is a great experience and the Crystal Jane  is no exception.

There have been many exiting adventures; the first ones were on Port Philip Bay in Melbourne. We had some beautiful days, with just a gentle breeze, and then we had the days where a sudden wind would strike up and the seas got really choppy.

Our first trip through the heads was in June 2003, when the Crystal Jane and a crew of eleven took their first trip on Bass Straight to Sydney. We had a few teething problems but they were rectified when we arrived in Pittwater, Sydney.

Over the past eight years we have travelled extensively up and down the East coast of Australia; we visited Lord Howe Island, had some fun getting wet going ashore with the dinghy in the surf at Byron Bay, stayed in Gladstone Queensland, visited the beautiful Jewel of the Great Barrier Reef, Lady Musgrave Island a number of times.  We stayed in the lovely Port of Mooloolaba, and went further North through the back of Frazer Island. That’s where we were introduced to the sandflies!!! Bill had about 300 midge bites on his legs. We also captured a wild dingo on video, and the crew thought Yoka was kidding when she warned them with a message that a dingo was sighted near the dinghy!

Of course you get the beautiful sunsets, the dolphins and the whales; they seem to make a habit surfacing just in front of the bow with their slow motion and majestic size, but we have never hit them.

While we spend some time in Queensland, we realised that the Crystal Jane had to be modified for the tropics; we need to get the cooling pipes extended and the refridgeration needs to be modified. We have had two air conditioners installed to make life a little bit more bearable in the tropics.

We made a brand new main sail and mizzen sail, and Bill is currently installing a self-furling head-sail.

We have purchased another dinghy and outboard motor, as the previous dinghy and outboard had seen better days.

Do you have a passion for the Gospel, have a call from God to reach out to the needy,  like adventure, like to sail or learn, well this might be what you are looking for.

I would like to say come on an adventure trip, with beautiful sunsets and pleasant sailing, and meet lots of interesting people, but that’s only half the fun.

What it really amounts to is, have you got what it takes to make it happen, there will be training, big seas, cold and wet days, endless nights, non stop sailing, well if you still want to come call “”Captain Willem”"

P.s every one who came so far had all of the above and a really good time.

Like Noah, Bill also received a word from the Lord to build a boat. As strange as it sounded, in obedience to God and after much prayer and confirmation, Bill proceeded with the building of the boat, which they named Crystal Jane, after their daughter, Lisa Crystal Jane.

The first steel was bought in January 1993, and Bill started on the floor of their lounge room to put the huge framework together. It was build on their property in Newport, Melbourne, Australia, on an adjoining laneway which they had been able to purchase from the council.

The boat was launched in April 1999. It was just an empty hull, and it took another five years to fit the boat out.

During the building of the boat, they were introduced to Coastlands Ministries, an organisation that provided radio communication to other vessels in Mission work in the South Pacific and to vehicles on mission to the outback of Australia. They were able to attend a conference in Bowen shortly before the founder of Coastlands, Pastor John Robertshaw passed away.

While the boat was being built, Bill and Yoka were built up in their own faith by seeing God’s miraculous provisions and His divine wisdom first hand to prepare them for the ministry God has called them to.

Proverbs 3: 5-6 ‘ Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path’

This verse is a constant reminder that even in the most difficult times and hardest situations, God is still in control and is guiding them in the right direction.

Their first trip on the Crystal Jane was in 2003, from Melbourne to Sydney. From there they have done a trip to Lord Howe Island.

They stayed in Sydney for two years before going back to Melbourne for a short visit. (8 months) After that they sailed all the way to Gladstone, Queensland and stayed there for three years.

These trips were all in preparation for the Mission trips they are planning to take to Fiji and other Islands in the South Pacific.

The vessel is rigged like a tall ship and needs a crew of 6 to 8 people to sail her. They have never been short of volunteers to sail the Crystal Jane.

Yoka has recently written an autobiography of their story of the building of the boat and the vision, their mission and God’s provision. The book is titled Treasures in Jars of Clay and will be released this year. Keep watching for updates.

I found an old picture of the boat before the bowsprit and the top masts
where added