Kathy thought I should post something to let you all now everything is going ok. Firstly thanks to those who have sent their good wishes to me, I am making an effort to be more careful, but my Ego is already kicking in and it’s becoming obvious that the pontoon was the one at fault 😉

Actually, having gone over the incident a lot, it’s clear to me, that all that happened was I was walking backwards pulling the trolley, when the pontoon got narrower, I was at the edge and so fell in, I couldn’t see that far behind me, and didn’t expect the pontoon to narrow, in fact it’s the only bit of pontoon, in the many hundreds of yards of pontoon here, where there is a narrowing. Regardless I think I have learnt that making assumptions like that are ill advised, especially when walking backwards pulling a trolley.

Yesterday was relaxing, although a few bruises started to surface, however today I’m back to normal, assuming I don’t knock the top of my head, I had an unpleasant encounter with a sweet potato earlier that was protruding from the hanging basket of veg in the cabin.

Today we hired a car as I needed to get my blood pressure checked, it’s back to normal now. I found out that you can go into most chemists and they do it for free. We are going to buy one of the basic electronic testers for the boat, they are only £20 and could be useful when trying to get medical help over the SSB (long range radio), I also bought a load of bandages and bits and bobs, so all in all we are better prepared for any future trolley attacks or pontoon uprisings.

I had two great battery backup devices for the iThings, sadly they are toast now, Sorry Tim and Isaac. Note to self, “there’s really no need to take both out on a shopping trip”.

After the shopping we took a drive down to the coast at Ao Po and saw zillions of tourists disembarking the various day trip boats that had taken them to the islands, on the way there I saw this monkey crossing the road, He didn’t like me stopping at all and stared me out the whole time I was there. This was the first monkey we had seen here, but I gather there are a few around the island.

Just thought I would add this picture of some long-tail boats we saw today, the engine is quite big, probably the same size of most family car engines, and is counter-balanced by the prop and prop shaft and pivots somehow on the block you can see.  I think they must have evolved as a cheap way to add an engine to wooden sail/row boats, plus it has the advantage of being easy to manage in shallow waters, which abound round here.

Apologies for the pasty pictures, I have had to fall back to my iPhone 5s, which has a camera problem, I think I replaced it myself a few years back, and the quality of the replacement is rubbish. So much for ‘Genuine Apple Part’.

Heading back to the marina we stopped off at a local market setup in a roadside field, Kathy has a new book of Thai vegetarian recipes which needed some unknown ingredients. e.g. Galangal, which looks like ginger, but has enough of a difference to require us to seek it out. We did well, and now have a stack of unusual veg ready for the pot. I’m  looking forward to trying these out.

Tomorrow (Friday) I’m going to fit the new mainsail and make sure the battens fit and it goes up ok. will also start to get the boat tidied up, ready for our slightly delayed ‘off’ on Tuesday.

Paul Collister

The title should be spoken in a broad Liverpudlian accent.

I expect that got your attention, hot runners up for the title were:
a) Marinas – 2, Paul’s body – 0
b) Time to look for a quiet office Job
c) Just how difficult can you make ‘getting the shopping home’

We went shopping on Monday, a big shop, as we were leaving Tuesday morning, and would be away, mostly at anchor for 4 weeks. I also picked up the new mainsail and the repaired old sails, ropes, chandlery, tools etc. Quite a load and by the time we got back to the marina it was dark and we had three trolley loads of stuff to get onboard. ( I expect you have guessed the rest by now..)
The tide was out and as it’s spring tides now, the ramp down to the pontoons was very steep, in fact too steep for me to get a trolley down in the normal way, so I went down backwards, so I was pushing the trolley back up the ramp as it was trying to race down. This way I had more control.

The first trolley came down, and at the bottom we took it off to the boat where Kathy and I unloaded, Kathy started stowing the food and kit while I took the trolley back to the car for the second load, it was hard work pushing the empty trolley up the ramp, they are big substantial steel things.That went fine and it was as I reached the bottom on the way back with the full trolley that I tried to do a 3 point turn, and was going a bit fast, I hadn’t remembered or noticed that the pontoon narrows at that point, just behind me so I stepped back into nothingness, yet again!! This time I wasn’t so lucky.
As I hit the water, I realised straight away what I had done, I have form in this area 😉 , what surprised me though was the trolley decided to join me and tipped upside down, smashed me on the head and then pushed me underwater. I tried to swim up for air, but my head hit something hard, and I couldn’t go up, I quickly realised what had happened, the trolley was on my head, and I was inside the trolley cage/frame, so I pushed away and down, swam back a bit and resurfaced, only to find myself still under the trolley. Not so good I thought.
Actually, the next bit was my favourite part, because this scenario is one of the nightmares I used to have about being trapped underwater, and here I was, yet I didn’t feel the slightest bit of panic, I thought, the trolley’s not that big, it’s going to be simple to find the end and get out, which is what I did, another push down and sideways and I surfaced. I must say, that gulp of air I took was lovely. A quick pat on my pocket showed me that I need a new iPhone, and looking around me bags of shopping were floating away. The upturned trolley was floating, it had a buoyancy box underneath it, and lots of bags of shopping were trapped inside. It was dark, so I couldn’t see everything, but I spotted the repaired rolled up Genoa just below the surface next to me, but sinking fast. I grabbed it with one hand and held onto the pontoon with the other. At this point I wasn’t too bothered as it was just material stuff at risk, but I wasn’t going to let it get away easy, being the stingy person I am. I called out for help a few times, hoping the security guard at the pontoon gate would hear me, but no response.
There was a RIB close by, so I swam over to that dragging the genoa through the water, there was enough slack on his painter (tying up rope) for me to pull the end into the water and tie it to the genoa, this is where the ability to do a decent knot with one hand comes in useful, although in retrospect, staying on the pontoon would probably be a better skill I should work on.
I swam back to the trolley, and rested a few seconds, then I got my iPhone out of my pocket and threw it onto the pontoon, not sure why, but it seemed the most respectful thing to do, perhaps, just maybe there was a chance… Really I knew it was over, still it had had a good run. Next my money belt, which had a very soggy passport and a few Baht in it, these dry well, based on past experience 🙂 I then started getting bags ashore that were trying to escape. Finally I thought I need help with the rest so I climbed out and ran back to the boat shouting at Kathy to come quickly. I didn’t tell her why, as I ran right back to the scene, I was worried some passers by would stumble across the submerged trolley and shopping and think perhaps the owner was in the water. As it turns out, just as I turned the corner back towards the ramp, I spotted a family staring into the water. By fluke, it was Jack, Jackie and their son, on their way to dinner. We had made friends with Jack during our time here and he had been very helpful with information about the area. I explained it was my mess and asked for help getting the trolley and sail out, but Jack insisted on inspecting my head, I told him I was OK, but unlike him, I hadn’t noticed all the blood I was covered in. Jack found a hose and washed my head for me, pronouncing that I had a big gash and stitches would be needed. Bugger I thought, it didn’t feel that bad at all. Kathy then arrived, and I think was very shocked at the turn of events. I unpacked some kitchen roll from one of the recovered shopping bags, packaging is so good these days, and made a compress on my head, then I jumped back into the water and pushed the trolley up as Jack & co pulled from the pontoon, next I passed up a few remaining floating bags and we all worked to get the Genoa ashore.
Kathy took care of the trolley while Jack ferried me out to an anchored boat in his dinghy, just a few minutes away, where his friend, who is a nurse lives. Sadly she wasn’t there. Once back ashore, I sent Jack & co on their way and went back to the boat to get cleaned up.
Kathy helped me tie a bandage over the wound, I put some dry clothes on, then we drove down to the local hospital to get the wound looked at.
The Bangkok Hospital, Thalong branch is just great, they had me fixed up without any delay, 7 stitches were needed, along with a tetanus jab and a course of antibiotics. they made me stay for an hour while they monitored my blood pressure, which was a bit high for their liking, but came down over the hour. They charged about £50 for all of that, including a weeks supply of medicine.
We drove back to the boat, finished unloading the car, the ramp was a more gentle slope by now, and decided to have an early night and put the shopping away in the morning.

Two days later
My head is a bit sore now, as you might expect, but I don’t seem to have any other injuries, (self esteem took the biggest hit), most of the shopping survived, I lost about £100 worth of chandlery, and £50 of groceries, we will replace these when I go back to have the stitches removed next week.
I’m going to have to re-assess my risk taking stance, Marinas are dangerous places, I was very fortunate that this happened at slack water when there was no tide, 2 hours earlier or later I would have been swept under the pontoon, or out into the bay. I’m worried that it might be an age thing, Kathy and I think it more likely that I have too much of a ‘Gung Ho’ attitude to risk, it’s a tough one, I am much more careful/risk averse  at sea. Falling off a pontoon, is not something that really rated as such a dangerous thing in my mind before, as kids we loved jumping off them, so perhaps I didn’t take enough care, however this incident has shown me how wrong I was.

I’m taking it easy this week, and hoping we can pick up where we left off next Tuesday, just a week delayed.

On a more positive front, I have started buying fruit & veg I don’t recognise, for example this thing here revealed no clues in its name as to what it might be, until I cut it open and found it to be a sweet grapefruit.
I bought a load of Passion fruits as well, as they taste great in drinks but I have never tried eating one before.

And finally, recent events in America have persuaded me that I won’t be taking the boat there this year. The final decider was that one of Mr Trump’s executive orders removes all my privacy rights as a foreigner, and allows any US official to have the same powers as border guards to investigate/interrogate/detain? me. I hope things change and we are able to visit one day, as nearly all the Americans I know are wonderful good people, and I’d love to meet up with them at some point.

Paul Collister

By the way, before I start, I predict that Dominic Cummings will pretend he went to Durham castle to test his eyesight out some time in April 2020. Like Dominic, I’m great at predicting things. 🙂
Before leaving the terrific paradise isle of Ko Miang, we enjoyed a leisurely Sunday on the small beach near our mooring. While Paul spent ages snorkelling (wishing he had the necessary equipment to photograph the fascinating marine life visible in the shallow water), I was thrilled to spot some wildlife of my own just a few feet from the shore.  Walking the length of the beach where trees line the edge of the sand, I looked up when movement above made a rustling sound, and found myself looking into the wide, black eyes of a batfox, hanging upside down from a branch.  We had seen pics of these creatures on an information board about the island’s wildlife, but I never expected to see one so close. We stared at each other for ages, and my neck began to ache from looking up and trying to remain still. As I slowly began to move, its eyes followed my every movement until with a swift leap, it jumped higher into the branches, unfolding its rubbery wings for balance as it did so. My attempts to photograph it failed miserably but the picture below is exactly what it looked like. Walking further along, I spotted squirrels, and blue parrots, as well as more of the beautiful batfoxes.

Before heading back to the boat we walked the path to the larger beach and had dinner in the beach cafe there. The stir fry vegetables I had thought I ordered arrived with huge juicy prawns on top so Paul had those added to his meal and I made do with some rice seasoned with chilli and soy sauce and a few untarnished veg, but it was tasty and filling nevertheless.  It was full dark when we were ready to walk back through the wood to the small beach, and the path was unlit, so the 10 minute walk would have to be in total darkness. Luckily we had our phones and made use of the torch apps, otherwise we would have had no idea which way to go. Torchlight, with thick woodland on either side of us created an eerie atmosphere which I found quite romantic in the Gothic sense, and just for the thrill of it we turned the lights off sometimes to experience the feeling of complete darkness and total silence all around us.

Monday 28th November/Tuesday 29th November-Koh Racha

The morning was spent preparing for what would be our first night passage on Sister Midnight. Paul fixed the self steering while I made a pan of soup (easy to heat up in case of rocky sea states). There had been a short but fairly strong squall during the night, which had made the sea a bit choppy and it was a bit bouncy on the mooring – and extremely hot! We left at 12pm, relieved to get underway and feel the refreshing sea breeze. The breeze enabled us to use the sails on their own up for a while, which was wonderfully peaceful but for most of the way we had to use the engine. We took it in turns to do a four hour watch, something we are used to doing on other passages. I enjoy taking the 4am to 8am watch because it takes in the sunrise. There were lots of fishing boats to be aware of, some of which were stationary. The radar helps to judge whether any action is needed to avoid collisions and just before sunrise I had to take over the steering from the autohelm to avoid two fishing boats that were heading straight for us. Paul thought the crew were probably asleep below when I told him about it!

Conditions got quite rough by mid morning, with huge waves bouncing us about a bit, but as Paul pointed out, (and not to sound blase) we have experienced worse – and in considerably colder temperatures :). Still having had no luck catching a fish, I was surprised to see Paul appear in the cockpit around midday holding a rather small, stiff-looking fish. Apparently it must have jumped out of the water and then landed on our bow instead of back in the water, so he finally got to have freshly ‘caught’ fish for dinner that evening.  We reached our destination of Ko Racha early in the afternoon, by which time it had become very hot again. There were lots of crafts in the bay vying for mooring buoys, including dive boats, speed boats, cruisers, and various boats from Koh Racha’s resort hotels. It was difficult to know which ones were for visiting yachts but we waited for one to become free and secured ourselves to it while we had lunch – only to be turfed off it a short time later by a guy on a boat from the diving company it turned out to be reserved for.  We ended up trying two more before finally settling on one that became free after the day visitors had departed. At least all that ‘hooking’ on and off the buoys was good practice using the boating hook – I feel very confident doing it now.

Paul pumped up the dinghy and we rowed ashore to have a look around. There was a long floating jetty handily positioned on the beach where we could tie up to and which saved me the embarrassment of repeating an ungainly exit from the dinghy on to the beach.  Tying up to that, we set off to check out what Koh Racha had to offer (details to follow in next post)

The weekend is here and we are going to test the new dinghy out today with a little motor around the bay.
I was up early for another coat of varnish, but as it was still dark I setup the webcam to catch the sunrise, I’m not sure this is the best I can do, but it was an interesting experiment. The GoPro is set to take a pic every 5 seconds.

On Thursday I put the two new headsails back on the furlers, I noticed the yankee was sticking as it turned, not a lot, but it indicated a problem, and experience has shown me that a small niggling ‘indication of a problem’ generally turns into a major headache at just the wrong time. Anyway, investigate I did, I climbed the mast and found the top part of the furling gear to be chafing on the halyard, so much so, that maybe a quarter of the halyard was damaged. Dropping the sail, trimming the halyard and then fitting a ‘pendant’ I think it’s called, a short line at the Tack/bottom of the sail, meant I could hoist the sail 6 inches higher, this made the halyard leave the top furling bearing at a better angle, wouldn’t chafe or snag and I was able to grease the bearing while it was down.  With the sail back up, the furler was working much better. I have to say that I don’t think I would like to have to manhandle anything bigger than these sails, I’m getting too old.
The staysail inner stay was too loose, I couldn’t get to the turnbuckle as it’s inside the furling case and this wouldn’t come apart, I spent an age drilling out the screw that had corroded, but to no avail, it was seized on solid. I guessed the rigger must have had ‘a cunning plan’ when he changed the stay, as I couldn’t see that he had had it off either. Anyway after a lot of flapping, I was back up the mast to remove a halyard guide, that allowed me to slide the whole kit up the stay in order to reach the turnbuckle below. (Twice up the mast in fact, the second time with Allen keys instead of screwdrivers! Duh). This worked, and now I feel much happier that I have the correct tension in the mast stays and halyards. The mast also has a slight but pleasant curve to it.
More tidying up and little chores like replacing the blown panel light bulbs on the electric supply panel with new led lights, not really needed but a very nice feeling that they all work like new now. Also I have managed to get a bread starter going, the trick seemed to be water related, or just luck, but I suspected the water here tap or bottled is heavily treated, so I used some rain water I collected, and Voila, instant starter. So today is also bread baking day so we can have nice toast with our ‘Jamie Oliver style’ poached eggs tomorrow. Wish me luck on that one!.

Above is our favourite local restaurant, Papa Mama, just around the corner, you can see the marina in the background across the water.

 

Hi-res pic of the marina lit by the setting sun

Paul Collister.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m cooling on the idea of going up to Japan this year, there are several reasons, the main reason is that I like it so much here, and if we are to make it in time, we would have to skip all of the gulf of Thailand, Borneo and quite a few other enticing areas. however the prospect of tensions between the USA and China are becoming more real, especially over the disputed islands in the South China Sea. The BBC have some information on the disputes here if you are unaware. Trump has stated he will act against China over their claims to territory which is in International waters, which a recent international court decision has found. At the least I expect there to be increased military presence from both sides in the region. We would have to pass through this area on our way north, and the chances of being intercepted, questioned, and possibly detained are too high for my liking. So perhaps it might become clearer over time. I expect Mr Trump will be very busy with all his other schemes, so this may come to nothing anyway. But with our route to the west hampered by the Red Sea pirates, we might have to stay here in the tropics for some time, of course there is always Austrailia and new Zealand to the SW to escape to, if we have to. Life can be tough at times eh 😉

Bowsprit Update
Nada, it’s all done, one last picture and I won’t mention it again, promise.

I will continue to apply varnish every morning I can get up early enough, 5 coats so far, but it’s all back together now. Need to put the sails on, I have a problem with the staysail stay being too slack, I can’t adjust the turnbuckle to tighten it, as the case that covers it is seized on and the grub screw that holds it in place is knackered. Not sure how the rigger managed it. But I need to drill out the grub screw. I filled a few tiny holes in the foredeck, where the PO had changed the windlass foot-switch and left the screw holes from the previous bigger switch open. I also did a great job sealing the windlass to the sprit and now we are 100% watertight on the bow. I took the opportunity to add the 60m of nylon rope to the main anchor rode, and gave the chain locker a good scrubbing and repaired the dividing wall in there.
Our sail repairs wont be ready until Saturday, and I think the harbour master is closed at weekends, so it looks like we will checkout of Phuket on Monday.
Tomorrow our new dinghy arrives,  after a lot of umming and ahhing, we settled on a 2.6m Aluminium base hypalon dinghy. We tried lifting a few of the 2.9m fiberglass bottomed dinghies, and it was a strain, that was without the 30kg a 5hp outboard would add. This dinghy is very light in comparison, so light that our existing 2.5hp motor should push it along, not very fast admittedly, but enough for a couple of old codgers like us. I can always pick up the bigger outboard in Langkawi if needed.
The deciding factor was that I put my back out trying to lift these dinghies, not badly, but I had to accept that most of the time we plan to be hauling the dinghy up exotic beaches in remote places 😉 so weight is a big factor, also as we don’t have dinghy davits ( a crane system for lifting the boat out of the sea onto the mothership) I will be manhandling the boat onto the foredeck most of the time. We shall see how it works out, the biggest problem by far was opening my wallet for this one. The dinghy cost more than my first yacht did to buy. I had no idea, it’s not just here, they are expensive in the UK and America, I was used to paying £500 back home, for something similar in PVC with a soft bottom, but you can multiply that by 5 for Aluminium and Hypalon.  I’m also paying a lot to have custom covers that go on top of the tubes to provide extra UV protection.

This is the kind of dinghy (above) without the covers.

So the list of jobs is dwindling fast. yesterday we stripped all the cushion covers off (12) and sent them away for cleaning, that means I can’t do any more messy jobs without being extra careful (ha, fat chance of that). The new mainsail is waiting collection, the engine has been spun up and is working well, I’m going to give it a major service when I get to Malaysia in April.

Paul Collister.

‘We are unable to serve you with petrol at the moment because we are on a 15-minute break’…well that was the gist of what the petrol station attendant informed us anyway!  We’d driven in at about 11 pm to fill up the hire car as required, and after finding that some had closed for the night we were pleased to find one open.  As usual, staff were positioned at the pumps ready to assist and Paul wound the window down to tell the guy the quantity and type of petrol he wanted.  He was interrupted by the statement about their being on a break, and when we looked around we saw that all of the staff were indeed eating, having set up plates and cups on top of their work stations. Thanking him, and smiling our goodbyes, we drove off to find another one. It’s good that things continue to surprise and bemuse us on our travels I think 🙂

Our day out in the car turned out to be a very long one and we packed a lot in to it. After the spectacular storm from the previous evening, Wednesday (18th) was sunny and very hot.  I spent the time while Paul was browsing in toolshops and looking for his mislaid sails in Rolly Tasker, reading in the cool of the air conditioned car. In between visits to shops and chandlers, we decided to take a look at Phuket’s bays, to view them from the eastern coastal road. This proved to be a great idea: we saw some beautiful beaches from high up on the narrow, verdant ‘B’ roads, and hardly passed another car during the entire drive.  Some pics from the trip below.

We had a very entertaining time in a marine shop called ‘Waynes World’, with Wayne(!) who hails from London and has a delightful east end accent. He was keen to sell us his dinghy and he had a very persuasive, loud and amusing selling technique. So much so that I was ready to pay for it there and then! We tried it for size in the water by his shop and I found it was pretty impressive compared to ours, but Paul told him we’d think about it and get back to him. We ended the day with a visit to Yanui beach so Paul could have a swim before the sun went down, and had a meal at a beach bar to fortify ourselves before doing the big supermarket shop.

Other days in the week have been fairly leisurely. We’ve got on with our own particular tasks and chores, had walks to the village, a drink at The Deck Bar each evening while the sun sets, and enjoyed meals at a couple of local restaurants.  Both of us have suffered muscular aches and pains, largely thanks to squeezing into the cramped space of the anchor locker to affix nuts and bolts in extremely awkward places.  I had a mishap while making a chilli (without) carne the other day. I managed to get juice from the pepper on the skin between my upper lip and nose which began to burn, so I splashed my face with cold water, not realising that by doing so it spread the burn instead of diluting it, so my whole face (including my right eye) felt like it was on fire.  Paul googled what to do and the advice was to use dairy products!! We have no dairy on board apart from cheese so I had to sit with a soap-lathered face until it faded away. The chilli was delicious, despite Paul declaring that he was reluctant to eat anything that produced such a drastic reaction. Photos were taken (without my knowledge) but I’ll include one as a warning to others ;).

The highlight of the week, probably of the whole trip so far actually, happened on Saturday evening when returning from The Deck. Movement under one of the marina’s people carriers caught my eye and at first I thought I was looking at ferrets (my daughter had one as a pet years ago and their ‘darting and slithering’ runs looked familiar).  These were fatter though and as we got closer it was clear that they were otters! Assuming they belonged to one of the staff I asked the driver if they were his but he didn’t understand. I was delighted when they came up to me, let me stroke them and began running round my legs in fast circles, giving my ankles an occasional playful lick and nip. An Australian guy, a regular at the bar  who was passing by told us he’s seen them before and they always go for the legs. They moved on to the bank of grass nearby which had just been mowed and rolled around in the cut grass, chasing each other and showing alarmingly sharp teeth. Another member of staff told us that they swim in from the sea sometimes and run up to the forecourt. I could have stood and watched them all night, and needless to say I’m constantly on the lookout for them now. Pity we didn’t get video but here’s a pic of the beautiful creatures (labelled as ‘badgers’ on Paul’s picture album :)).

Koh Miang Saturday 26th November 2016                                                                                                                                                                                                 So delighted were we with this gorgeous island we decided to stay another night. This gave us an opportunity to explore the other side of the island, the one with the larger beach. We walked through a pathway cut straight through the island’s middle to reach it and came upon a modest-sized resort with a cafe, toilets, showers and more camouflage tents. Excited by signs warning us not to touch any wildlife, I was disappointed  that the only creatures we saw were mosquitoes.  The noises we could hear from the thick jungle, however, informed us there were birds and animals in there somewhere.  The larger beach was crowded with day visitors and several boats were on the shore either picking groups of people up or dropping them off. A tradition is in operation whereby some ‘Hi-di-Hi type cheers are shouted out whenever a boat departs. We didn’t stay long on that beach.  Back at ‘our’ beach, we set up a base, took some photos, swam, snorkelled and sat on the sand admiring Sister Midnight sitting pretty on her mooring. Later, on the bow we spent ages watching the fish swimming around us until it got too dark to see them.

Sunday 27th November 2016

During the night there was a mild storm with a fair bit of rain and Paul had to reset the mooring. It actually sounded worse than it was but I was awake for quite a while and read for a while in the cabin. We had a lazy morning watching the boats come and go, and because it was cooler after the storm, we dinghied ashore at lunchtime to check out the beach buffet that had been set up. Nothing appealed to me and Paul wasn’t hungry so we took a walk to the top of the island. Following the signs, we ascended a fairly steep path through the jungle, feeling the humidity as we went further in, but it was fun and I was thrilled to see a huge lizard lumbering through the foliage at one point. The view from the top didn’t disappoint and was made all the more lovely by a cool breeze after our hot, sweaty walk. We took some pictures and rested before beginning the descent which was hard on the legs at the steeper places. Halfway down, I grabbed one of the steadying ropes as I felt myself falling but couldn’t stop an ungainly stumble onto my back in the mud, apparently looking like a tortoise on its back when I tried to get up according to Paul :).

Kathy

 

 

 

 

I gather there is a deep low in the Andaman Sea between us and India causing very unseasonal rainfall. More flooding is happening across southern Thailand, and the local forecast is for rain every day (80%+ chance most days) for another week. Then we are into February and an improvement is forecast, I will believe it when it happens. Saying that, it’s very pleasant regardless, the temperatures are lower, and today we have had a very refreshing breeze making work on the boat more pleasant. However the bowsprit varnish has slipped a day as it rained for most of yesterday.
Still all is going to plan. I’m going to order the dinghy tomorrow, more rope, and some tools I need, then aim to leave next weekend.

The bowsprit replacement is going well, I have the forestay and the staysail stay fitted now, the windlass is on and bolted down, but not wired up, I will do this at the same time as I wire up the pulpit lights.

You can tell it’s high season now, lots of people are arriving daily and heading off on their charter boats, the bar area is full of new groups of smartly dressed, excited and happy looking people arriving every few hours from the airport. They don’t have to worry about rotting bowsprits, or leaking heads.
Talking of which, I decided to fix the drip on the head that has got worse over the last few weeks. I only needed to show it my array of screwdrivers and pliers and that seemed to be enough to cure it, I can’t get it to drip at all now. If only the rest of the boat was so easy. In a similar manner, the SSB radio, which we will use a lot when offshore in the Pacific has been playing up; basically it doesn’t turn on when you press the ‘on’ button, even though it makes a reassuring click. I took it all apart to investigate, and without the case on, it started working. Once re-assembled it was good for a day then the problem came back. I took it apart again and it started working again, I kept it in bits for a week and it worked every time. It’s now re-assembled and continues to work just fine. I don’t think I have seen the end of this problem, but at least I can now get into learning how to use it. It’s channelised for marine frequencies, and the PO has all the channels programmed I might need, like Herb’s net, so I need to find out what the others all do. I haven’t spoke to anyone on it yet, so that’s something to try out soon.

We have a deck wash system on this boat, it’s basically like a garden hose, I can select the source of the water to be either fresh water from the tanks, or sea water from an inlet in the hull. The main use is for cleaning the anchor chain as we pull it up out of a muddy bottom, when it’s muddy it can be very messy, and all the mud will end up in the chain locker, then onto the bilge then the pump & filters that drain the bilge, so best not to take it onboard. Anyway, the pump burnt out, I threw it overboard, just before I realised the parts could be replaced quite cheaply, dam. I wondered about the ‘green-ness’ of throwing it overboard, but we were off an island, and I figured it would be like the ships they sink to create a coral feature to attract growths and subsequent feeding fish, also it was only iron, so it will decay in time. Anyway, to get to the point, I replaced the pump with a more powerful one yesterday, wow, that works really well, it came with a smart springy coiled hose and I can assure you, no more mud is coming onto this boat!

Some bowsprit pictures below. Tomorrow I will put the 4th coat of varnish on, then the platform and pulpit, and maybe put the spade anchor back in place.

Above  you can see the bracket that the staysail attaches to, without going into detail, this was leaking on the old sprit, and may do again, the design is crap, the sail is constantly trying to pull upwards and break the seal around the bolts. Also the bolts are right in the front of the anchor chain locker, which is too small for me to get in. Kathy managed to squirm in most of the way, but strained some muscles resulting in her ending up in some pain later. I fabricated a long spanner from two small spanner for the re-assembly as shown below, it worked remarkably well. I need a decent socket set, will get one in Malaysia when we get there.

So nothing exciting to report, Kathy has more interesting stuff on the way, including a couple of otters that tried to eat her legs.

 

Paul Collister

Despite the fact that it was a bit rolly during the night at our anchorage and Paul had to get up to reset the mooring rope, I had a long and undisturbed sleep at Koh Similan; the rocking actually helps me to sleep. We had our morning coffee in the cockpit enjoying the warmth of the sun and musing on the cause of all the activity on the rocks opposite. People were busy setting up tables and chairs to look like a cafe on the tiny beach below them. Looking through the binoculars, Paul concluded it was a movie set for a film of some kind judging by the cameras, microphones and a megaphone he could see. Later in the day, we watched what were probably stuntmen affecting some clumsy dives and jumps off the top of a high boulder while the director shouted instructions. Since we weren’t too far from the location of the island ‘The Beach’ was filmed on, I couldn’t help searching for famous faces when I looked through the binoculars. We found out later, however, that it was going to be nothing more than a commercial for a national bank.

The crew had relocated to the main beach by the time we dinghied over in the afternoon, and I was mortified to receive another soaking from a wave after my (admittedly) clumsy and ungainly exit as we reached the shallow water. It was in full view of the cameramen and extras on the shore so maybe I’ll be edited into the final cut if the camera was running. The water was so clear and calm, it was a perfect opportunity to test the new snorkels we’d bought in Patong. It had been some time since I had done any snorkelling and as I’m not a natural ‘water baby’, I was a bit apprehensive but it was definitely worth worth it. The water was warm but refreshingly cool after being in the hot sun and there were scores of beautiful fish swimming in and out of the rocks and coral. The coral was stunning in itself and it’s gratifying to know that it is all protected by law. The Similans were one of the first group of islands to be given a national park status. It’s prohibited to fish within a designated area around the islands, and boats are only permitted to anchor well away from the corralled parts. Furthermore, signs on the island inform visitors that it’s forbidden to take plants, wildlife, cuttings, rocks, broken coral or even leaves away from the island. During our second walk up to the clifftop, which we now knew was called ‘Sail Rock’, we noticed several varieties of plants and some gorgeous-looking colourful blossoms and flowers which had once undoubtedly tempted people to pluck for souvenirs.

The sun was about to set when we got to the top and Sister Midnight looked exquisite in the amber glow on the water. Other people up there were taking pictures so she will feature in quite a few holiday snaps I imagine. The only disadvantage of being out in this environment at twilight is the prevalence of mosquitoes. I get bitten a lot by these pesky insects, and judging by the distinctive smell of deet emanating from some of the other walkers we passed, I’m not alone in having delicious blood! We’d neglected to bring any repellent with us so we beat a hasty retreat back down the trail and dinghied back to the boat just as darkness fell. A couple of pics of the walk to Sail Rock and the view of Sister Midnight at her anchorage are below.

26th November 2016

Paul slept in the cockpit for most of the night. It was a dark, clear and starry night and it’s very cool and comfy up there, with the added benefit that he can react quickly to anything that needs sorting out, such as the mooring buoy banging against the bobstay. Waking at 3am I couldn’t resist walking out to the bow to sit and stare at the stars for a while before going back to the V-berth to be rocked back to sleep by the waves. Paul was up and about before me in the morning and told me he had been chatting to some Australian guys who had recommended a visit to Koh Miang because it was such a charming place. They also told him that none of the other Similan Islands matched up to Similan and Miang. After a coffee and a look at the route, we weighed anchor and set off for the two hour trip to Koh Miang. I wouldn’t have thought it possible after the sea at Similan, but the nearer we got to Koh Miang, the clearer the water became. I spotted some pretty blue fish, so close to the surface they looked as if they were swimming right underneath clear glass. The side of the island we approached had a lovely beach but there was already quite a crowd on it and several daytripper boats were taking up the moorings so we decided to check out the other side. I stood at the bow to check for obstacles and swimmers in the shallow water as we motored slowly round until we arrived on the other side. This side was even more appealing; it was smaller and less crowded, with a more secluded beach. We picked up a mooring buoy with no trouble and as it was very hot by then we both had a swim to cool off. After that it was time for a spot of lunch, and a bit of a rest before setting out to explore this new and inviting island.

 

Wednesday, and up early to get some varnish on the new sprit. Below you can see just what a difference a primer and one coat makes, I want to get at least 5 more coats on before we leave.

Soon after this I headed over to another carpenter who has his shop down the road from here, he was cutting a few strips of teak for me that I can use to fix up the cockpit seating area. It’s a small repair, but I thought I would get the teak onboard now while it’s easy to find. The price was about half of what I would pay in the UK, I had expected a better saving, more importantly, I had hoped to work in a ‘doesn’t grow on trees’ kind of joke at this point but had to give up, as it kept turning out too crass.

We had a hire car today, so we headed off on a long provisioning trip, but first we took a coast road we hadn’t been down before and it was very pleasing, lots of foliage on the road and trees that had almost blown down, but some amazing views.

 

We looked at more dinghies, and after lifting a few, whilst imagining dragging said beast up the beach at Bora Bora or Fiji… (add other exotic destinations here ..), decided the one we had chosen would be way to heavy. In fact I tried to lift a 3m rib to look underneath and now I have a very sore back. A big dinghy is great for provisioning, but in reality a smaller one is more practical for most of our needs. So I’m now looking at aluminium floored 2.5m dinghies. I was also humbled by a local fisherman I watched with his home made canoe, he probably spent less on this than I spend on a diet coke each night at the bar, it’s about 6ft long. It even has a storage compartment for his fish. I have ordered a new yacht from him 😉

Off to Rolly Tasker next to hurry up my sail repairs, I spent 20 minutes there helping them find my sails, which were still not repaired. Hopefully they will be fixed by next week when the mainsail should be ready. I picked up 60 metres of 16mm 3 strand nylon rope to use to extend my anchor rode. I can now easily anchor in 20m of water.
Off to Yanui Beach for a swim, then dinner at a beach bar before heading to the supermarket and home.

It was 1AM before we wheeled the last of our goods back to the boat.

Thursday morning and another early get up to put a coat of varnish on and get the rigging attached to the bowsprit. This took forever, the boat must have stretched as the forestay wouldn’t reach by just releasing the tension on the backstay. All sorted in the end and at last I can sleep knowing the mast is fully supported now.

It’s raining now, more flooding is reported for southern Thailand, Varnishing has come to a halt, inside jobs for me today.
Kathy’s posts have been delayed due to her getting a virus on her new windows laptop, I have been on  virus free mac for so many years now I had forgotten how horrible these things are. Still a system restore seems to have fixed it, for now, and she will finish her post shortly I hope.

Paul Collister.

Yes, I got a phone call at 7:30 this morning to say the bowsprit was on its way to me. A week earlier than I expected, I was quite worried that it might have been rushed, but on the contrary, it turned up looking wonderful. None of the holes for the windlass had been drilled as they wanted to make sure they had it right here, which was good I suppose.

So at 8 AM the guys arrived with the sprit on a trolley.The first fitting required a sliver of teak removing from the mortice/tenon joint but looked good. 

It only took about 4 hours to finish the job, most of the work was in drilling the holes for the windlass mounts which pass through the bowsprit to pass through the existing holes in the deck.

 

The cross supports, I have no idea what if any their nautical name is, were replaced, just to match the colour of the new teak. I believe the teak was grown in Thailand, and was fashioned into a sprit by one of the two guys installing it.

You can see below the lamination, 7 pieces of teak were used, I think the original might have had 5 teak and 4 of cedar or similar in between.

The reason I had to do this work was because of the rot and termite damage to the old sprit. I now feel 100% confident in the new sprit, with it off, I was able to check the samson post, that’s the vertical pole of wood behind the sprit that is firmly secured to the deck and hull, and everything else around the area, and all is great.
The teak is in perfect condition without a single blemish, so I think it’s going to look fantastic when it’s varnished. I’m going to take my time building up the layers, I have already sanded it to a very smooth finish, and when the rain came down earlier, I could see it looking a lovely colour. So be warned, there may be more bowsprit pictures on the way.

Tomorrow we have a car and will be out getting more bits, picking up the repaired sails from Rolly Taskers and doing the weekly shop, but I will be up early sanding then getting the primer coat on the sprit, before it can even think about going grey.

Tonight we had a torrential downpour while we sat in the deck bar, but just before then, the light was amazing, I have attached another hi res picture, click to see it in its full glory.

Paul Collister