Yesterday brought about a very special and unique experience for 65 Unilever employees from all over the world attending a company convention on Langkawi island as they were ferried by 6 longboats from The Westin Hotel jetty to the commodious three-masted barquentine LILI MARLEEN and “her cousin” PUTERI MAHSURI for a long eventful day aboard and on the beach!

The LILI MARLEEN is a beautiful traditional windjammer built in 1994 in Germany that accommodates more than 150 guests on a day cruise and up to 5o in 25 elegant twin cabins for overnight cruises.  Her majestic presence is undoubtedly impressive when you arrive in small  longboats to embark such a vessel.

After having been shown to their luxurious accommodations and having enjoyed a chilled non-alcoholic welcome drink the captain informed them about the safety measures aboard before six groups were formed that under the guidance of  experienced instructors commenced their teambuilding  activities. It started with an exciting exploration of the ship and it’s many levels and hidden areas. The functioning and use of a compass  for  orientation and navigation were explained and trained and some essential knots demonstrated and practiced.  While one group assisted in pulling the ropes for setting the sails another one trained to climb aloft using essential safety equipment such as harnesses and ropes to experience a bird’s eye view of the ship sailing majestically along the lush-green coastline.  The favourite exercise was however the Giant Swing, a challenging activity where participants are attached to a rope and swing out over the open ocean and back again for several times. This activity helps them to overcome fear by putting them outside their regular comfort zone. It was surprisingly popular with the ladies who queued for their turn in expectation.

Meanwhile the ships galley staff and stewards had arranged what was announced as a “Light Lunch Menu” but instead turned out to be an impressive buffet comprising a wide assortment of cold starters and salads, condiments, soups and a main course with fish, chicken, grilled steak medaillons, noodles, rice and vegetables. Skewers of tropical fruits, home-made cakes, cookies and pastries rounded up this delightful refreshment.

The rest of the day was spent on the wide sandy beach with groups competing for hidden treasures  along the lines of a huge outdoor “Snakes & Ladders”-game called “Krakens & Ratlines” that lead contestants over the beach area and into the water  in order to solve a number of tasks and challenges that were a mixture of communal intelligence and memory tests as well as tests of physical strength either as team or individual.

The day so far had demanded a lot of energy and relaxation and enjoyment  were very welcome thereafter. It was of course very well cared for.

Fire-swingers escorted the guests from the beach through a cordon of traditional musicians to a huge BBQ buffet spread out over the area in different stalls offering mouth-watering delicacies like Fresh Oysters, Classic Prawns, Salmon Sashimi, Lemon-pepper Marinated Lobster, Vegetable Crudites, Pan-fried Red Snapper, Seared Peppered Rib-eye, veggies,  soups and various desserts and tropical fruits.

The DJ found the right tunes to put everybody into high spirits, the traditional dancers were enthusiastically acclaimed and the fire-eaters admired with awe.  One or the other drink helped to raise spirits further and the end of the party was not easy to find.

Despite being part of the same company many of the employees being dispersed all over the world had never met personally before. The shared experience of this day has certainly contributed  to instill a strong sense of commonness among them.

The weather was the only thing that was out of our control! We had been working so hard to get ready for the show; KAYU MANIS; our new star, had been rushed from Singapore up to Langkawi and the crew had made sure that she was in immaculate condition. 

Our catering crew carried the snacks all the way from the marina to the yacht while I was biting my nails watching heavy clouds above the island. But sure I realized that the bad weather was only directly above the island – just a few hundred meters further out on the water the sky was blue. Innumerable times I talked to the organizer of the tour and explained that we could do the sunset cruise as I was certain the weather would clear up. 

“Matt, in case the guests will postpone the tour for one day – what parts of the already prepared  food would still be fine?” Our young English chef turned his head to me and without any smile he responded: “Nothing, absolutely nothing!”

“Well, in case we have to postpone we will then have to do it all again, right?”

“That’s true!” The rest of the crew – ready for the action, dressed up in white uniforms was looking at me in disbelieve. “Don’t worry, guys, in that case we will make a party tonight just for us” and they cheered up.

Meanwhile the weather had brightened up a bit and just a minute later I received the phone call that the guests were on the way to the marina. 

At 3.30 pm 47 people from different nations entered KAYU MANIS; took the offered welcome drinks and made themselves at home on the boat. Captain Martin and I introduced us and explained the vessel and the itinerary we had organized for this cruise.

At 3.50 the crew cast off and we slowly left Telaga Harbor to sail in the  direction of the southern area of Langkawi. 

Let alone for the service we had 9 experienced crew and they took all efforts to make sure our guests were comfortable. 

The first snacks – salmon sandwiches with avocado slices – where eaten up immediately followed by other finger food delicacies and washed down with wine, beer or juices. 

I walked around talking to our guests here and there. As some were keen to know about me and my husbands life I told some of our best stories about our 6 years of circumnavigation. “Did you see dolphins or whales on your ocean passages?” Michael wanted to know. “Sure, many times, of course!” “Tell us one of your stories, please!”

Feeling like a mother telling a good-night story to her kids I told the following story:

“Once while Gerd and I crossed the Pacific, I was alone at night on watch sitting and dreaming away in the cockpit. We had the sails up, cruising at around 5 knots in peaceful waters. Just perfect. Only the navigation lights and the stars gave a very little light; it was new moon. We were as alone on this big ocean as you can imagine; about 1.200 miles away from the next mainland Chile loving every single second of this passage. 

As on those long ocean passages one of us is always on duty while the other one can rest, I set an alarm clock to make sure that I would not sleep longer than maximum 10 minutes. I was almost asleep when I heard a strange sound – like a kind of whistling!”

I made a  sound with my lips “Tsssssssssssiiiiiiiiiiiiii, tssssssssssiiiiiiiii.”

These business men were looking at me with excitement.

“As by the years I had become so familiar with each and every sound that comes from our boat or the sails, I set upright straight away! I had a very careful look around the horizon expecting the sound from the outside. Nothing to be seen!” I made a dramatic pause and my auditory begged me to continue the story “Well, I went inside the boat to check around but the sound surely did not come from anywhere else but outside. Back in the cockpit my eyes dropped on the surface of the water right next to our yacht and there was the answer: twenty, thirty dolphins where swimming right next to our yacht. If I would have reached out my hand into the water I could have touched them! They woke me up singing to me! When these amazing animals realized that I understood what they had done they started to play around just like children that succeeded to make their parents look like fools. In the darkness of the night they appeared as if they had swallowed thousands of tiny bulbs and they were illuminated in the most fascinating way I have ever seen. They joined me another ten minutes before they disappeared in the black night ocean!” 

My guests started to understand what the ocean means to me and had a look around at the scenery in which they were sailing in this moment on a nice traditional and very strong sailing yacht, the water softly splashing against the hull and a light breeze caressing their face. 

I left them alone to enjoy this magic moment. Just a few miles later we dropped anchor in front of a beach and motivated our guests to go for a swim. “Are there sharks around?” “Sure, you had lunch and now it is shark feeding time!” I joked around and jumped into the water to proof there was nothing to fear. Unfortunately I had forgotten that I carried my two phones directly on my body. 

Some of our guests followed and had a lot of fun; the others were watching us having fun sipping a drink and relaxing in the sun. 

Especially after the weather had been bad in the early afternoon  thanks to the still partly clouded sky the sunset was truely amazing. We slowly sailed back to the marina and I was satisfied that our guests were relaxed and had a very good time. Once back in the marina they gathered for a last photo in the bow of KAYU MANIS before we shook hands saying good bye.

Together with the crew I sat for a final brainstorming and we all agreed on the conclusion that we had done a great, great job.