Boating New Zealand — December 2017

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something goes wrong here, we’ll probably bowl over

two or three houses before the boat comes to a stop.

The domino effect from there on doesn’t bear thinking

about – we could take out a whole suburb.

Too soon it’s home time and we powered up for

the ride back to home base at Nyaung Shwe. With the

engine roaring behind us we buck through a slight

chop kicked up by the evening breeze, sheets of spray

fanning out from the bows. We slowly overhauled other,

more heavily-laden craft and waved to the homebound

workers picking their way around the reed beds.

A mid-lake navigation marker, like a mini pagoda,

glistens in the receding sunlight. No navigation light

is visible – nobody travels at night anyway. Soon after

Aung San lines up on a reed barrier across our bows.

Grinning broadly, he cuts the throttle and the teak

torpedo slices into the reeds, narrowly missing two

bamboo stick channel markers, and eases it open as we

settle into the channel to Nyaung Shwe town.

More teak torpedoes are pulled up on the banks

while people load and discharge cargo; drums, bales,

baskets and baulks of timber. Kids swing from the

tillers or launch themselves overboard into the brown

water with banshee yells.

Other boats, all black, all workmanlike and all

beautiful pass, packed with commuters, sitting single

file on deck chairs down the centreline.

I pulled out my phone and tapped into the

calculator: 22.4km (length of lake) = 22,400m divided

by 1,852 (metres per nautical mile) = 12.1nm. About

40 mins travelling time = roughly 16 - 17 knots. And

we were bucking into a steep little chop at the end.

Aung San stops the engine and the boat glides into

the canaI side. I pat the staunch teak gunwale and

head for the hostel.

Thanks Inle. BNZ

Penske Power

Systems

09 250 7800 | penskeps.co.nz

Keiran Russell

022 391 6710 [email protected]

Penske Power Systems is

the New Zealand distributor

of MTU engines.

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