Patti Seery: farewell and fair winds
by Guy Nowell 11 Nov 2020 20:33 AEDT
Patti Seery. RIP © Guy Nowell
It was the last day of the Phuket King’s Cup 2009, and it started to rain. I asked the driver of the camera boat to drop me off at an interesting-looking vessel anchored near the race course. My camera gear was in a cold box – cheap waterproofing – which I lugged up the boarding steps. I was met at the top by a very cheerful lady who said, “Welcome on board Silolona. You must be Australian: you’ve brought your own beer.” The lady’s name was Patti Seery, and it is with very great sadness that we record her untimely passing away.
“Just a Mid-Western housewife,” as Patti described herself, is probably one of the most disingenuous lines ever. Patti was an original. She was entirely unique: an innovator, an explorer, a discoverer, a hostess par excellence, a maker of friendships and a bringer of joy.
Patti went to Indonesia as a “trailing spouse”, but coffee mornings and tennis were not enough to occupy an enquiring mind. First she studied traditional fabrics (exhaustively), and then local culture on a broader scale – and especially the island cultures of the Indonesian archipelago. She learned island languages, and organised charter tours for the other ladies in Jakarta with time on their hands - and eventually decided that she needed her own boat in order to do the job properly.
The result was Silolona, from the Konjo boat builders of Sulawasi, with Patti as both foreman and architect. “The boat was built, literally, in a swamp. I found out very quickly that the builders didn’t understand 2-D plans and drawings, which meant full time on-site supervision was required. ‘I want the cabin to go from here to (squelch, squelch…) here.’ ”
Starting with the magnificent Silolona, and later joined by her sister ship Si Datu Bua, Patti created a new gold standard of luxury charter that likely will never be bettered. She was a pioneer in private charter, selecting her crew from all through the Indonesian islands so that wherever boats went, there was always someone on board who was ‘a local’. Crew were her second family, and called her Ibu - Mother. Her knowledge of the history and culture of the Indonesian islands was nothing short of encyclopaedic.
No doubt Patti is now watching as Goris puts on his Bird of Paradise headdress, and listening as he lifts the conch to call for fair winds and a safe passage. Dear Patti, you have left a hole in our hearts, but we are thankful for the privilege of having known you.