My wife Marilyn made arrangements for her sister to watch our house in Naga City, Cebu while we went to Holiday Oceanview Marina, Island Garden City of Samal, Davao del Norte, Mindanao, Philippines to visit the True North 34 sailboat Indra.  Her sister arrived Thursday night, 5 February 2015, as we planned an early morning departure the next day.  Our daughter, Mary Ann, would skip school on Friday to come with us to see Indra and she had no reservations about tagging along.  Besides bringing a change of clothes along, packed a bag of cameras, tools, calipers, rulers, flashlights, and notebook for inspecting the boat.

We departed our rental duplex at Oceanside Subdivision, Naga City, Cebu on 6 February 2015 at 0330 in the morning driving our Suzuki multi-cab truck. As traffic was sparse, we arrived at the Mactan Cebu International Airport on Mactan Island, across from Cebu City, at approximately 0500 and parked the truck in the paid storage parking lot.  We checked in our bags at the airport and boarded our flight on schedule.  We arrived at Francisco Bangoy International Airport, Davao City, Mindanao less than an hour later, about 0830 in the morning.

Terry Sargent (website VALHALLA) arrived shortly thereafter in a Ford Ranger pickup truck to collect us.  Terry being retired Army and me being retired Air Force got along right off - he seemed like a genuinely nice guy and was assisting Margie Jesson, the owner of Indra, anyway he could. We drove a short distance through Davao City to the Sasa Ferry Wharf, boarded a ferry, and crossed Davao Bay to Samal Island. Our first stop was at Precious Garden of Samal Hotel & Restaurant, where we checked in and dropped our bags.  We then had a short ride and arrived at Holiday Oceanview Marina located at the northern tip of Samal Island.  Terry escorted us to Indra, tied up to a finger pier in the water, and stated if we needed anything come find him, and he departed back to his boat.

At a distance, the outside appearance of Indra did not disappoint. The wife and daughter expressed positive approvals and stated how "cute" she looked. It was readily apparent that the exterior of Indra had recently been cleaned and spiffed-up to enhance its appearance - probably in anticipation of our arrival.  Someone had washed the exterior very thoroughly as no evidence of bird deposits or mold growth were present.

A closer detailed look at Indra was very revealing.

The name Indra was placed on a board attached to the mask pulpits and a section of wood at the top of the companionway entrance.  Strange, the name Indra or its home port was not labeled on the exterior hull topsides as required by regulations.

Through the clear blueish water could clearly see the growth below the waterline as indicated in the picture below of the propeller.  A haul-out, scrub, and bottom paint job appeared to be needed.

Visible in the picture of the mast and rigging below:  Starboard side spreader deck light is missing.  Both the forestay and inner forestay furling swivels are too far below the furling wrapstops -  both sails are improperly installed on the furling system and are lacking a pennant extension.

As the next two pictures illustrates, both the forestay and inner forestay furling system extension plates are improperly mounted directly to the boat structure stemhead fitting instead of a toggle that would provide the required free articulation.

Both the bowspirit bobstay whisker shroud turnbuckles were not properly attached - their length was improperly extended with shackles with pins smaller than the cranse iron attachment holes.

The picture below shows the starboard cap shroud cover plate missing its mount screws.  The picture also reveals a significant amount of dirt and grunge present and lack of sealant.  It raises the question as to what the true condition the deck is in and was the recently applied fresh paint used to conceal issues.

The man overboard pole attached to the backstay rig wire was severely damage by sunlight exposure.

The tiller handle was constructed of three pieces of wood laminated together.  The middle piece of wood was soft and severely rotted due to water intrusion from the autopilot attachment screws not being sealed when installed.

Took literally hundreds of detailed photos of the exterior of the boat from deck level.  Did not go up the mast, but took many pictures at max zoom magnification. Numerous screws and bolts were missing on exterior surfaces and fixtures based on the empty holes present.  All the turnbuckles were not secured properly with cotter pins. Did not unfurl the sails to check the serviceability, but most of the material had some level of crispness to it - did not understand why the sails where not removed and stored considering how long this boat sat unused. All the running rigging was checked at deck level revealing some lines had chaff and mildew issues.  Leather chaff covers on the blocks were literally falling apart, degraded by sunlight exposure.  Discover under the wooden built tender (row boat) a emergency lift raft was attached to the cabin top - it was not mentioned in the advertisement, maybe due to lack of servicing since the year 2012.  The cockpit seating area had two hatches with hinged lids, but no hinged hardware was installed.  The stainless work and winches had numerous spots of surface rust corrosion, it had been sometime since they had been cleaned and buffed.  The material in the weather cloth around the cockpit had thinned out due sun exposure and was due replacement.  The new dodger hard top was freshly painted white, but the plastic windows already had numerous abrasions in its surfaces degrading visibility. The stern navigation light lens was extremely weathered and needed replacement - did not electrically check the navigation lights as we were not sure the missing spreader deck light wiring was properly isolated.

Mounted on the boomkin starboard side rail was a Yamaha 2HP motor.  Checked the gas tank and discovered it still had a small amount of gasoline inside. The gasoline had a layer of congealed muck on top due to length of time it had sat there - the routine storage preventive maintenance obviously had not been performed. The LifeSling flotation bag was degraded due to sunlight exposure and inside the bag mold and mildew growth was rampant.

Marilyn and Mary Ann had spent the day inside Indra, inspecting, taking pictures, and exploring the contents of the cabinetry.

Time had passed all to quickly as Terry and Rose stop by to remind us that the traditional Friday night cruisers potluck/barbecue was about to start (6:00pm).  We accepted their invitation and headed up to the marina's main building.   We did not have anything to contribute to the potluck, but was assured by Terry it was not an issue as Rose always cooks more than enough to share.  Mary Ann met a boy, Nikita, of the approximate same age and had a partner to play with even though common language was an issue.  Marilyn and Rose got along right off, as if they had been long-time friends.

Present at the evening cruiser potluck/barbecue was (missed the names and yachts of a few others in attendance):

• Rose Palban and Terry Sargent of yacht Valhalla.
• Sherry and Dave McCampbell of yacht Soggy Paws.
• Suzi Mcduffie and David Sobolewski of yacht Sidewinder.
• Kathy and Jerry McGraw of yacht Po'oino Roa.
• Damagnar Yahm and European man (German?).
• Svetlana Gushcha and her son Nikita of yacht Challenger.

A good time was had by all and many asked what our impressions of Indra was.  Marilyn and Mary Ann expressed a desire to "get it now", while I expressed reservations, as there were many issues, but still needed to look further at more areas.  About 8pm as the event subsided, Terry provided us a ride to our lodgings at Precious Garden of Samal Hotel & Restaurant.  It had been a good day!

• On 31 January 2015 at ~09:30am we made an initial inquiry about sailboat Indra on the Boat Sales Tasmania website and sent email to Margie Jesson.

ENQUIRY TYPE: Boat sales enquiry
BOAT NAME: True North 34 “ Indra”
BOAT ID: 163873
URL: http://www.boatsalestas.com.au/sail-monohulls/true-north-34-indra/163873/
NAME: Joe Abbott
EMAIL: joedabbott@svrainbow.com
PHONE: 063-0915-647-2937
MESSAGE: Interested in this boat. I currently live in Naga City, Cebu PI. What would be needed to see boat in person in at Davao? Have sent e-mail inquiry to Margie at 'margie_jesson@yahoo.com.au' also.

• On 31 January 2015 at ~18:00 received email response from Kim Brewer of Boat Sales Tasmania.

Thanks for your enquiry. To arrange an inspection you can contact Terry Sargent 63-9297879078 yachties@yahoo.com
Terry apparently is based at Oceanview Marina and will be able to show you the boat. "Indra" is owned by Margie and Rob Jesson. Rob is seriously ill in New Zealand and they are unable to cruise further in "Indra". They are friends and we have cruised the South Pacific together, hence my involvement (in case you were wondering why a NZ yacht in the Philippines was being advertised by a Tasmanian broker!). Please don't hesitate to get back to me if I can help with anything.

• On 31 January 2015 at ~18:30 sent email to Terry Sargent and had cell phone conversation with him that evening.
• On 1 February 2015 at ~0945 received email from Terry Sargent.

Confirming our phone conversation, anytime after this Tuesday, 3 Feb, is good for us. With advance notice of your arrival we can pick you up at the airport (unless it's the day when we haul our boat and I don't think that will happen in the very near future). The owner, Rob, died this morning at 0030. After the funeral I know that Margie's plan is to come here to collect their personal items from the boat. No dates known at this time. That would also be an excellent time to learn from her the ins and outs if you find you are interested in buying the boat after seeing it.

Needed to make arrangements for travel and hotel to visit Indra - back to internet searches.

Located a hotel just south of Holiday Oceanview Marina called Precious Garden of Samal Hotel & Restaurant.  Contacted them and made reservations for two nights, 6-7 February, for the three of us. They quoted a rate of 2,500 pesos per night for two persons plus 600 pesos for extra person - breakfast was included. The total charge was 6,200 pesos (US $124.00) with 1,500 peso advanced deposit; which we sent by wire transfer from our Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI) account.  They in turned confirmed the reservation and sent voucher receipt by email.

Obtain airline tickets for three person from Cebu Pacific Airlines website.  Departure was 6 February 2015 at 0720 from Mactan Cebu International Airport with arrival at Francisco Bangoy International Airport at 0825. Return flight was scheduled for 8 February 2015 at 1730 departing Davao with arrival back in Cebu at 1830.  The cost of tickets was 14,935.92 pesos (US$ $358.09).

• On 4 February 2015 at ~0600 received email from Margie Jesson.

Hi Joe, this is Margie Jesson here. Great to hear that you and your family are going to see Indra. As you know my husband Rob has just died. We visited her for 10 days in October last year, for Rob to say goodbye. But he was in the midst of chemotherapy at the time, and still hoped to come back again one more time, so we didn't take personal things off. The inventory is as is stands and includes a good Sailrite sewing machine which will do anything you want from sails, covers down to home sewing. The diesel tank has been kept full. The only thing I wanted to mention is the sea cocks which were all turned off. For the engine, the raw water sea cock is on the port side and you lift a floor hatch to access it. The engine exhaust has a gate valve in it which was to be used if you were hove to and engine not going. I am not sure if we left that closed. You access that from a hatch at the back. The round cover at the rear of the cockpit seating is where the Whale manual bilge pump is accessed. Other seacocks are under the kitchen sink and there are 2 under the bathroom sink for the toilet. The pressure water pump sometimes keeps going, so I would turn it off at the electrical panel when not in use. We lived full time on Indra since 2004, and she was our home, and very comfortable with masses of storage. I will be staying in New Zealand until Rob's memorial service on 21st Feb, so cannot be in the Philippines until after that. Please email if you have any questions I can answer.

• On 4 February 2015 at ~1140 responed back to email from Margie Jesson.

Thanks for the response and information. Our family’s deepest condolences and prays are with you on your loss. To be fair, I have search the internet on you all and boat Indra – the PYGC articles were quite interesting. My daughter, Mary Ann, was fascinated with your stay in Japan as she has a current infatuation with the Japanese cultural – particularly Anime and Manga. I have also read extensively on Terry and his website. You both seem to have considerable experience and appeared to have enjoyed the adventure a board. Your opinion and judgment on what you would improve or fix next on Indra, i.e. To Do list, would be valuable information and welcome advice. We have been “looking” for a boat in this area for over a year and have checked websites and visited both Port Carmen, Cebu and Bonbonon Bay, Dumaguete Negros – met some great folks but didn’t find anything suitable. Your Indra looks very appealing from web site pictures.

• On 4 February 2015 at ~2000 received email from Margie Jesson.

Hi Joe, nice to hear from you. Indra was our home from 2004 when we bought her from an American couple in New Zealand. They sailed her out from Oregon. Previous to that she had been owned by someone from Alaska. She was the perfect size for us. We looked a friend's boats, and although many were bigger, we thought we had just as much room inside because of the clever design. Our favorite place in our travels was Japan and the diesel heater kept us really warm in the winters there.  As Terry can tell you, we did extensive work on Indra while she was in Oceanview Marina as it was a good place to stay with good workmen and stainless steel fabricators in Davao. We flew back to NZ twice for 6 months at a time to do house sitting as a change from the heat of the Philippines. Our intention was to sail Indra back to New Zealand and keep living on her there. In fact, I originally intended to get a delivery crew to take her from Davao to New Zealand, after Rob died, but the cost quoted was too high. And as I am not a natural sailor, I would have been putting her into a marina in NZ, and simply using her as an apartment. It is much better if she is kept sailing as she was designed to be. We had done pretty much everything we intended to do, just a few things left to do sometime. We had found a paint color we liked in NZ and were going to replace the varnish with paint. I loved to varnish and would put 12 coats on, but you need to sand lightly and do a couple more coats every 6 months in the tropics, so painting is a much better idea. The color we liked has been used on the new name board on the sissy bars by the mast. And I think there is a small sample tin on board. And we intended to put new Formica (lino) on the cabin table as the black Formica had been damaged over the years. That would be very simple to glue a new piece in. The fridge is very efficient and is sea water keel-cooled via the sink outlet - which works by the rocking motion of the waves (so you do not need a pump). That Danfoss fridge compressor is extremely quiet. We had just moved the anchor chain aft so it falls under the front berth instead of in the bow itself (to reduce weight at the bow). So one berth cushion needs a slit made in it, to accommodate the new s/s pipe. I had purchased some matching denim fabric and thread to redo that cushion. So as you can see Indra is in a sail away condition and there is nothing major that needs to be done in the future.

Everything was setup for our visit to the True North 34 sailboat Indra on 6 February 2015.  Both the wife and daughter were excited to go and see!

After researching what a True North 34 sailboat was, the next step was to attempt to verify the validity of the for-sale listing.  The reason for this scrutiny is many boat owners we had met previously had warned us about numerous irregularities with boats for sale, title issues, fake ownership, and untrustworthy foreigners - apparently this is a common problem in south east Asia.

Indra's advertisement stated, "Australian Registration Official Number: 858927".  A query on the Australian Maritime Safety Authority List of Registered Ships yielded the following positive confirmation information that matched the for sale advertisement.

A internet searched yielded another for sale advertisement for Indra at website http://yachtvalhalla.net/forsale/indra.htm.  The pictures included with this additional for sale advertisement are not included below, as they are the same as the pictures on the original Tasmania Boat Sales listing.  The listing below also provided the identification of the owner's name, Margie Jesson.

Rearches on the internet using variations of the owner and boat name provided some additional information.  It confirmed that the for sale advertisement was initiated by Robert and Margie Jesson and the ownership of Indra was real and traceable.  The following articles were found on the internet (no longer available) and provided ownership information and some history on Indra.

The for sale advertisement listed Indra's current location as "Oceanview Marina, Samal Island, Davao, Philippines".  A search on the internet revealed the marina's name and location as Holiday Oceanview Marina, Island Garden City of Samal, Davao del Norte, Mindanao, Philippines and it use to have a detailed and informative website (http://www.holidayoceanviewmarina.com/) but no longer; it still has a Facebook page. It was concerning that the US Department of State Travel Warnings for the Philippines advised against all travel to almost all parts of Mindanao due to crime, terrorism, kidnapping, and civil unrest.

Based on the information gathered on the True North 34 sailboat design and review of numerous other owners pictures and descriptions we felt that Indra was a viable possibility for what we were looking for.  The for-sale advertisement, ownership, and location all appeared to be for real and not a scam.  After a family discussion and unanimous agreement, next step was to initiate contact and arrange a onsite look at Indra.

Searched the internet with multiple variations of "True North 34 Sailboat".  It quickly became apparent that the True North 34 sailboat was a limited production run based on the small amount of information available.

Basic information was found at website SailboatData.Com for the True North 34.

The True North 34 sailboat was designed by Canadian naval architect Stanley C. Huntingford of West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  Searches on the internet for him revealed very little - could not locate a biography or even a picture of him.  Searches on his name revealed he designed many different sailboats, most built in Canada or Taiwan during the 1970-80s. It is very strange that a yacht/sailboat designer as renown and famous as him is not historically documented - suspect he might have been a bit of a recluse. From internet discussions learned he is deceased, but could not determine when this occurred.

On the Facebook pages True North 34 and Noon Ocean 34, discovered that the design of the True North 34 is essentially the same as its predecessor the Noon Ocean 34 - the principal difference between the two are the plank lines cut into the hull of the True North 34.  It stated that approximately 12 Noon Ocean 34 and 20 True North 34 were built.  These sites served as a basis for the names of boats for follow-on internet searches.

Another Canadian based website (no longer available) had posted some articles and diagrams of the True North 34.

To formulate an opinion researched the internet for both the Noon Ocean 34 and True North 34 sailboats.  Read multiple discussions and blogs; Cruisers & Sailing Forums had a few gems of information. Downloaded any relevant pictures and boat for-sale listings.  Compared each boat's configuration and layout.  Noted the listed for-sale price on the for-sale listings obtained to determine the range of resale values.  Obtained publicly available registrar information on these boats by inquiries at the United States Coast Guard's Port State Information eXchange (PSIX) Vessel Search system, NOAA Vessel Documentation Search, Transport Canada Vessel Registration Query System, Australian Maritime Safety Authority List of Registered Ships, and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Maritime mobile Access and Retrieval System (MARS) Ship Stations List. Discovered that the website Sailrite had detailed information on sail measurements for the True North 34 - this would aide in the evaluation of the sails aboard.

Got the general impression that most owners really liked their boat and were aware of its shortfalls - heavy and slow.  Many had experienced issues with the teak decks, leaks, and subsequent wood rot issues of the decks and cabin tops.  Some had issues with the standing rigging and placement of chain plates in the deck structure and replaced/relocated them to the hull topsides.  With the passage of time replacement of obsolete and worn-out components, engines, and the old original wiring was common.  Some had issues with balanced steerage due to weather helm.

The following table contains the range of resale values derived from many internet searches.  (NA = Not Available) The listed price is based on values obtained on for-sale advertisements, internet discussions, and internet research.  The actual sold price in most cases is unknown - so the listed price in most cases is probably higher than the actual purchased price. The listed prices are all converted to US dollars for easy comparisons.

The actual sold price in most cases is unknown - so the listed price in most cases is probably higher than the actual purchased price. The listed prices are all converted to US dollars for easy comparisons. As still a member of BoatUS, requested a Value Check on a 1978 True North 34 sailboat and received the following response.

"Resale value is estimated to be in the $38,000 - $42,000 range, although, noting the age and the fact that some were even sold in kit form, the specific vessel could easily be properly priced significantly higher (or lower). We would, therefore, encourage at least an informal "sense of things" inspection and consultation with a marine surveyor prior to making an offer, to be followed up by a thorough pre-purchase survey upon acceptance of the offer. In any case, it is recommended that you avail yourself of a sea-trial, to include flying all sails in the inventory, a complete rigging and hull survey, and a separate engine and engineering survey of the mechanical propulsion components, preferably by an experienced technician certified for that brand of machinery, including a spectrographic analysis of the engine oil. Marine Insurance should be considered a cost of owning and operating a boat. A fast free insurance quote is available online from the BoatU.S Marine Insurance Department at www.boatus.com/vcinsuranceapp or by dialing toll-free 1-800-283-2883. Please refer to Priority Code 8000 or the Value Check program.  Special note: The information above is based on research and the experience of BoatU.S. staff. We recognize that the range of values for older boats can be huge, depending on condition, the degree of preservation, customization, restoration, collectability, etc. Again, BoatU.S. recommends that you make arrangements for a marine surveyor to provide an on-site assessment of the condition and value of the specific vessel within the overall context of the local market prior to purchase. See http://www.boatus.com/boatinsurance/survey.asp for a marine surveyor referral list. This is a list of marine surveyors approved by BoatU.S., and they’re posted geographically."

After visits to Port Carmen, Danao and Cebu Yacht Club, Mactan Island, both on Cebu; and Port Bonbonon, Tambobo Bay, Negros Oriental we were unsuccessful in our search for a viable boat. We continued the search for potential boat candidates on the internet.

By sheer chance a general internet search identified an interesting sailboat candidate - something called a True North 34.

The following pictures were illustrated on Indra's advertisement.

The descriptions and pictures presented what appeared to be a boat in possibly decent condition.  It was about the right size (small) for what we were searching for.  The listed price of Australian $73,950 converted to US $57,138.20 - seemed a tad high for a boat of this vintage.  The location was not ideal, but it was really not that far from our location in Naga City, Cebu.

I shared this discovery with my wife and daughter and they both liked what they saw.

Next step was to start researching all aspects of this boat, its location, and owners.