We stayed an extra day tucked behind Ko Yang as the wind was quite strong and gusty from the north, It was a nice enough spot and the anchor was holding well against 20-30 knot gusts.
I have a system I’m using with the anchor now, it seems to work very well, but it still needs refinement. We have a problem that here the currents tend to run quite strong 2-3 knots most of the time, and I think that the long keel shape of our hull dictates that we always face into the current, no matter how windy it gets. So we often find ourselves pointing one way, say east, because thats where the tidal flow comes from, yet the wind from the west pushes us to the length of our anchor chain. This puts the anchor chain under the hull of the boat, this is worst case, more often it’s somewhere between, and the anchor chain is shooting of to the side of the boat, when it’s going to the port side , it rubs on the bobstay and makes a most unsettling noise.
The solution I’m testing, is a line of rope from the fitting at the bottom of the bobstay which goes to a hook on the anchor chain. I might have mentioned this on a previous post, This rope is nylon, about ten metres long and does several things, 1) It acts like a snubber, putting some elasticity into the system, so we don’t see any shock loads. 2) It keeps the chain away from the bobstay so we don’t get any chafing or scraping there. 3) It lowers the angle of the anchor rode to the sea bed effectively increasing the ‘scope’ of the anchor. The scope is all about the angle between the anchor rope and the sea bed, the lower the better. In 5 metres of water, we would want 25 metres of chain for a 5:1 scope, when you add another 2 metres from the water surface to the bowsprit platform, you are effectively reducing the scope to less than 4:1. Anchors work best when the pull is horizontal along the seabed, and worst when the pull is upwards. So far this works well, my only concern is that when the rope is rubbing against the hull it must be chafing on the sharp barnacles there. It doesn’t matter if it snaps, as the slack chain is still there to take up the strain.
On Sunday there was a break in the wind so we left, the forecast was for the wind to stay strong, so our visit to a muslim fishing village was called off, looking at the chart, there didn’t seem much shelter there. We headed over to Ko Yang where we had better shelter, we dinghied around a bit and I finished off the software and installed it on a server back in the UK. I love the idea of working on my two servers, one in Utah and the other in the UK from a cosy anchorage here. The time zones work out well to, I can do my work early before anyone is up back home, do some sailing through the day, then come tea time, take calls and answer emails.
We were joined in this little sheltered cove by several other ‘sunsail’ and ‘Moorings’ charter yachts, 4 boats in total, this is the most crowded spot we have been in so far!
Tuesday was still not great weather, but we decided to race across to the far side of the bay, this is in the region called Krabi, with a town of the same name. We went to the top of the area and found a lovely secluded bay on the SW corner of Ko Chong Lat Tai, where we went ashore. Most of these bays are on uninhabited islands with only access by sea, so very unspoilt, other than debris washed up. Kathy spotted a monkey strolling along the beach. I spotted that we had a deflating tube on the dinghy, that didn’t take long! I have searched for a leak and can’t find one, now I have pumped it up again, it has stayed ok. I’m trying to convince myself that the act of searching for the leak, somehow gained me brownie Karma points with the dinghy and it has self healed, I know it’s a long shot, but what else can I do.
This is a lovely island, we dinghied around the various mini islands that are littered everywhere, we motored into what was probably once a hong, but one side had collapsed exposing it to the sea, we just managed to get the dinghy in over a very shallow rocky entrance, and had a lovely paddle around. Kathy has some good pics.
The next morning (Today, Wednesday) we were approached by local fishermen offering their wares, 
I bought some big prawns, dinner for tonight. They aren’t that cheap, £5 for 1/2 kg, but they will make a lovely meal, and I don’t begrudge the locals some business at all. It’s not everyday you get to eat prawns that freshly caught.
So we weighed anchor and headed south, we are aiming to be in Krabi town area in a few days time, we may go into the marina there for a day, just to restock on water and fuel. We have two stops on the way, tonight we are at Ko Ku Du Yai
One other yacht just arrived but it’s very quiet here, we are wedged into a very small channel between the two islands. There is easy access to some hongs here, which we will explore tomorrow before heading of to the other famous hong that’s called Ko Hong, not to be confused the hong at Ko Hong (west). I’m getting the hang of the hongs now (groan).
Paul Collister