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When Salim shared his sailboat building intentions with me, I knew he was serious. But I had no idea how difficult it would actually get. I saw him and the scouts sweat over that amazing sailboat. I saw how excited the boys were about the whole project and sat on the boat’s bench looking at the horizon, imagining how fast it would go. I also lived Salim’s restless days every time he faced an obstacle. One man’s dream became everybody’s baby for 6 months.

The first is always the most challenging. I believe the next one will barely take 2 months! I feel so proud when I see such an initiative. Something interesting and different going on in Lebanon!

The adventures of a boat is a post by Salim Zwein.

Here I am, a dreamer, as many people describe me. I had this old dream of building a sailboat. The idea kept trotting in my head till I met a friend of mine, Christophe Gebrane, another dreamer but who had the chance of going to Canada and learn sailing. With him, discussions turned around…well, sailing.

He has been planning to build a small sailboat. So we both got excited over the idea of constructing the boat here in Lebanon. Being also scouts (“Scout un jour, scout toujours!”) we decided to see if our fellow scouts would be interested in pitching in this project.

All things done, the group of Saint Rita Sin el Fil loved the idea and I took it on myself to get a sponsorship from SGBL.

Time for construction! It was supposed to be a simple method, called “stitch-and-glue” technique, used by amateur sailboat builders all over the world.

All we needed was some marine plywood (10mm or 12 mm thick), woven fiberglass, a hefty amount of specific epoxy glue called “west marine” and of course our drilling, cutting and hammering tools.

Sounds easy? Not that fast M. Bond! Finding the bloody raw material was more of a treasure hunt (without a pirate ship!). Going around the whole country to see who has got marine plywood with the right dimensions then running another round to find who has west system epoxy! (I had to call Canada’s West System to know that Bardawil was their local representative!)

When we got to the aluminum mast, I had to scan all the aluminum industry to find the factory with right profile. I got in contact with Alutex Zahlé. But since they don’t have it in their stock and they won’t make one just for us, I had to find something simpler, so I went looking for a tube…but no luck. Until, one day, an aluminum retailer gave me the number of a stock keeper at SIDEM who was supposed to be the guy for that so-called “weird” request.

I called the guy up and went to SIDEM. Naturally I asked for the tube at the management floor: to my surprise, they don’t have it! So I phone the stock keeper again to share my grief who said: “Lak no ya zalameh! Come down to the depot entrance, those idiots up there know nothing!”

Following his advice, I went down. There was a post on the door with a “No Entrance! Employees Only!” sign…Looks promising!

Finally, I met the guy who proposed to sell me the 2 tubes for $170 each. (For your info, the local retail price of Aluminum rods of the same size and weight is ± $70). It’s easy to guess that the man was selling me something from under his coat. After some bargaining, I took the tubes for $120 each. I was not happy but, I didn’t have much choice.

Then, came the turn of the woven fiberglass called “Harir”, by the local fishermen. Well, if the fishermen knew it, they were supposed to know where to buy it, right? Wrong! They didn’t! Actually, someone buys it for someone who buys it for someone etc…At last, I found a fishing boat builder in Batroun who bought them. On the phone, the builder tells me to get them from a place in Harissa (In fact, it was Roumieh, facing the prison…I wonder how could someone be more confused than that?) I reached the place (Nasr, was the name I guess) and they wouldn’t just sell me the number of sheets I needed. I had to buy a whole 45kg roll of woven fiberglass sheet (which was not exactly the thickness I was looking for but what the hell, right?)

As if that was not enough, the stainless steel material which was supposed to be “findable” at Kiryakos or any other provider seemed to be harder to find than I thought. And if I laid my hands on any part I needed it would be twice to 3 times its price in Canada which, by the way, imports it from Australia.

For the sails, I was lucky that Christophe had already sewed them in Canada. All I had to do was to purchase them from him.

The boat was done. It looked really good and we were all happy…and here, the registration adventure began.

First, I asked the port master in Dbayeh where we had the boat parked.

-          What should I do to register the boat?

-          Does it have a motor?

-          No it doesn’t. It is a small sailboat. Ma bte7rez motor.

-          Mmmm…well why don’t you fix a motor on it?

-          Well maybe next year, but I really don’t need it.

-          Tayyib, when you fix the motor, I will help you register it.

-          (Is this guy deaf or something?) Well, what if I wanted to register it now?

-          It will cost you like $800, bass kermelkoun el keshefeh mna3melkoun se3er: $600

-          Mmm, OK I will get back to you as soon as I get the money (As in: NEVER!!)

I decided to ask elsewhere. Some people told me to go to Nefaa while others advised me to go to Saida! In the end, after some idle time, I stumbled on a sweet guy who was refurbishing a beautiful Cat (a double hulled boat).Yes, a Lebanese. After going through the works we had done on our boats, Bashir (Bashir Omed, that’s his name) in his early 60s asked me if I got a permission to build.

Now that came as a shockwave. Permission? No one told me about that!!!

Sweet Bashir (Thanks a lot bro) informed me that I should meet Gaby Nasr, Jounieh’s harbor captain and inquire: He would help me fix my little problem.

So I woke up on Monday morning and headed to Jounieh. He was quite helpful. It seems that since the boat was built in Sin el Fil I had to go to see Maroun Khoury, Beirut’s port Captain.

I jumped back in the car and drove all the way to Beirut harbor. I asked the employees there where I could find him but no one knew who the guy was! The freaking port captain!

Some clerk noticed me and indicated the 3^rd block 4^th floor.

I followed the directions and looked for Maroun Khoury’s office. Out of nowhere, a man, Mohammad El Mounla, suddenly shows up:  “You want to register your boat, right?” I laid my case. He listened and said:  “Wala yhemmak, I take care of all that..[…]”
I replied: “Ok great man (finally someone who actually did something), what would all that cost? “
He answered: “$200 w kell shi bi koun jehiz. Don’t worry! Just pass by Wednesday.”

I was so happy that I found someone who could do the job and for much less than $600. Wednesday, I went back thinking that I could still negotiate a better price, but I didn’t find Mohammad. I bumped into captain Maroun Khoury, who, surprised about my issue, sent me to Starco building to get the approval from Amer Bayda, the manager of the sea sailing (Mila7a ba7riyeh…as if there was some other sort of sailing!)

After some investigation (Got used to that) I found Amer. He was locking himself in his office at the 4^th floor of block A Starco. (Yeah! I am being Very explicit: If any of you guys is thinking of building a boat, go knock on that man’s door. Knock hard!)

After examining my case and giving me a headache explaining that the boat building expenses were a sponsorship by SGBL (“Aaah a hiba” (donation) he said…and wondered again: “So who paid for the boat? …Was I talking to myself?) Amer sends me back to captain Maroun!

This time I was given the price of LBP 100.000 for registration ($66) and another 100.000 LL penalty fees because we didn’t take the mysterious permission before we started building (Hell! Who would have told us?).

Basically, the $800 shrank to a mere $66. (If I had taken the famous super secret permission)

Quite a perilous trip, huh!!!

Date: 14 February, 2010
Time: 02:00 pm
Place: Dik El Mehdi
Situation: Eye-witnessed roadworks that closed the road without notice. What a surprise!
Action: Got out of the car, angry, looking around if there was anyone. Found a group of workers. Told them I needed to cross. One of them came, apologizing for the mess, asked me to go back inside the car because it was going to get dusty and started clearing the road by taking the broken fragment to the sides. Dusty, but better than nothing!
Conclusion: During roadworks, it would be nice to notice that roads need to stay cleared for cars and to put a sign especially when there is no other way out.

Eyewitness has a new story for you today!

Sent by: 
Website: www.smex.org
Date: 10 February, 2010
Time: 10:45 am
Place: Badaro 43, next to the NSSF Center
Situation: While I was working, I heard a lot of honking from a six wheels truck. The sound was horrible, a non-stop honk for 15 minutes. The truck was trying to get to the construction site nearby but there was a police car double parked obstructing the way. This created a huge traffic.
Action: I took few pictures of the vehicle and went downstairs to double-check the plate number. Then dialed 1744 (specialized in police complaints) and told them the situation. They took my name. Called me back after 15 minutes saying that they sent somebody over but the guy apparently had already left. They were very nice to me, and respectful. In the end, I told them that they had the car plate number with the time and some pictures. They promised that he will be punished.
Conclusion: Make sure to contact the person who will fix the situation. You will find in our public services departments people who want the major problems such as corruption, disrespect to the law we are facing everyday fixed…and they need us as citizens to help them and push in the right direction.

Thank you for your contribution!

Enough is enough! Enough with silence!

It’s not the first time that someone does something wrong and thinks he/she’d get away with it. Worse, is that sometimes we eyewitness them in action and don’t act! I don’t mean to hurt anyone but some sense of responsibility wouldn’t hurt either…because this might happen to you too!

Date: 8 February, 2010
Time: 10:00 pm
Place: ABC Parking Level B1 - Ashrafieh
Situation: Eye-witnessed a blue Porsche Cayenne coming out of parking and hitting the Mercedes behind it. Not once! But twice! Woman of certain age gets out to check HER car leaving the Mercedes’ front bumper damaged. She saw us looking shocked and ignored us. Couple comes in 1 minute later to get in their car.
Action: Went towards the couple, told them what happened & gave them license plate number.
Conclusion: I would have really respected this woman if she had taken 10 seconds to leave a note with her contact to the owner of the Mercedes to make up for the accident.
I’m left thinking of all the people whose cars get damaged this way felt feeling helpless, the people who get away with it because of the eyewitnesses who went silent.

If you ever eyewitness something that bothers you, feel free to share it!

Thank you.