Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail Away with a very rocky start

These all seem long, but they are stories that are worth telling. That is why they are broken down into relatively bite size chunks.

We arrive in Phuket several hours prior to our acquisition time of the boat. No problem, we’ll go and see if it is ready and if not, just hang out until it is. They were ready for us, only problem was that we could not leave until the next morning because of low tide. Oh, well, we had the chance to meet with the staff, go through the boat and learn the systems, go over the charts and learn the best anchorages. Unfortunately, it was too hot to sleep on the boat (plus a lot of mosquitoes) so we booked a room at the nearby hotel. Nice enough and we were able to take a hot shower before shoving off.

I had emailed a provision list a couple of weeks before, so we only had to find a couple of things, which we did that morning. We could not go out until about 10am due to the tides. The marina was deep enough, but the channel to get out was too low during low tides. We were a bit frustrated waiting for our fresh meats to come which put us going out about an hour later than we liked. One of the guys drove the boat through the channel out into the Sea of Phuket for us and we were off!

Dave and I were nervous, no doubt. Even though we had been sailing for years, this was our first time to charter a 40-foot boat with just the two of us. Our boat was a 40’ Jeanneau Sun Odyssey named Bintang. She was beautiful. It had a few more bells and whistles than we were used to including GPS with the chart on it. Plus with two of us, we wondered if we were ready to handle a boat this size. A few other things we liked about Bintang was that it had two wheels rather than one. This boat has wide beam and was very comfy. It could sleep 8 people but would be very comfortable for 4 to have some elbow room. There were 3 cabins and 2 heads. The galley was a typical layout with a fridge which was charged up when the motor was running. It made it nice to have fresh food for the 5 days on the boat.

Dave reviewed everything the night before and chose our first destination, Koh Phanak.

Now all that we have read about sailing in Thailand says that this is the best time to sail. The winds average 10 knots and the seas are calm. AAAAHHHH! The anemometer started about 17 knots (~20 mph give or take) and went up from there. There are a lot of islands in the sea between the peninsula that is Phuket east to the mainland towards Krabi. (all I can say is look up a map of Thailand to see where we sailed). Because we wanted to get a feel for the old girl, we chose to reef the main and take a narrower passage that protected us from the strong winds. It had a few obstacles, but we seemed to manage to see them and steer clear. The chart continues to show us we are clear if we stay to the right. There are some rocks ahead on the left, but we are about 3 hours into the sail, relaxed and all seems well…until….

“Dave, it looks clear ahead, we are clear to Koh Phanak….Diane, are you sure?….Yes, just stay to the right….Oh #@!&. Diane,.I have to tack now!”….BOOM, dead stop, with waves crashing, boat being tossed on top of a large grouping of rocks. We tried to back up but only seem to be going onto more rocks, odd. I flag down a small wooden longtail boat for assistance. After many attempts to throw them a line and failing, they fly off to get more help. They would not have been able to pull us off anyway. Their engine was not powerful enough. We had the sails pulled in to heel us over as far as we can but the waves seem to be pushing us more and more onto these rocks who did not seem to be at the same place on the chart as to where we were located.

After what seemed a while, Dave finally says, go call Sunsail. I call in. We had our GPS on and were using the NOAA charts. Just as I was giving the coordinates, the battery dies. We did not think at the time that we needed the boat’s GPS. I get it on, and initially give the wrong coordinates. It finally calibrates and I can give our position. The response was most interesting.

The manager proceeds to tell us to do everything we had already tried. What we were beginning to realize is that the tide was going out and we literally were close to sitting high and dry on a big rock. He check his chart and asked if we were sure we hit a rock because his chart did not show a rock. He actually asked me if we may have run into a fishing net. I was pretty confident it was a rock. And it was the rock that I thought was further north and west. It was comforting that the charter manager was reading the chart the same way I was and was not convinced that we were one a rock. I gave him the same coordinates at least 3 times. Sunsail was sending someone out to help. I found out later that the manage did think that we called them within the first 5 minutes of grounding. When I talked to him later, he was amazed a bit (I think) that we were well into the problem before we ever thought about calling them. Dave even had me ready to abandon ship, it was looking that bleak.

Thank God for fishermen in boats with big motors. A couple of guys came out in a large metal boat with a strong motor. One of the guys jumped on with a line and tied us off. They managed to pull us off before the tide got too low.

We called Sunsail, told them we were off the rock. They suggested anchoring at the island we had just passed and settle in for the night. It was not the quietest of anchorages due to wind and waves but, hey it was better than being on a rock. About half way through, the waves got to me and yes, I was seasick. I am on the radio giving our position, and tossing breakfast at the same time. Some of it was stress as well.

We motored south to an island we had just passed, called Koh Nakah. We anchored okay, but it was not well protected. I could not believe another boat had chosen this anchorage as well. It was deep so chance of hitting bottom. There were enough waves that kept the boat rocking all night. All I could stomach at that point was ginger ale. Even a cracker had me hanging over the edge. I dozed on deck until it got too cold. I did okay in the cabin as long as I had the wind blowing on my face. Dave handled it beautifully. Not even close to being sick. But we were a bit shaken. We went to bed at 7pm and did not rise until 7am the next day.

The next morning we cleaned up the cabin and put things generally in proper order, waiting for Sunsail to call us back in. We did not hear from them, so we decided to try for Koh Phanak again. This time, we decided to brave more open water. The motor started, we raised the anchor, and off we went. We were still a bit shaken, but things seemed to be working okay. The rudder did not feel off and the boat sailed like she did the day before. So far so good. We settle into sailing. We still have a reefed main. Wind is blowing about 20 knots. This boat was very stable in this wind.

We approach the island and So we turn on the motor to head in, roll in the jib and prepare to drop the main, until Dave says…“Oh, #@!&, wait Diane, I can’t get the motor in gear.” Of course, I am thinking the worst…we broke the propeller. It is always situations like this that help you realize that you can handle just about anything. And you realize that the wind really dies on the lee (downwind) side of the island if it is really tall. After many attempts to sail in and just have the wind swirl around and die, Dave tried to pull us in with the dinghy, but the motor just isn’t strong enough. Fortunately, Koh Phanak comes to a point at its southern tip and is deep right up to the island. The wind is coming from the NE at about 30 degrees (for all you sailors out there), which was the perfect direction to sail up on a close haul on starboard and coast in to drop the anchor. We did just that and while we were felt like we were only feet away from being in waves, we were anchored in a somewhat calm waters for the night.

We call Sunsail and tell them the problem. It turned out to be the gear box. The first thing they had us check was to see if the propeller shaft was still there. They thought the same thing that I did, we broke the propeller. First thing did was ask if we still had a propeller shaft. But it was all intact. The motor would not go into gear, it just stayed in neutral. Apparently, this is common. Within a couple of hours, they had the mechanic there who changed out the gearbox and was on his way. Before he left, we had him help us move the boat up the island so we were a bit more protected. Dave had put out a second anchor, so they went on their boat to pull it up and we were able to test the motor. It gave them a chance to see the side of the boat and make a report back to the office. Everything seemed to work okay. While we were waiting, Dave did get a chance to look under the boat for damage from our friendly, “non-existent” rocks. The rudder had a small ¼” chunk and the hull and keel had some scratches. Other than that all seemed okay.

For two days, I thought we might have a small leak coming in one of the closets in the stern, but it turned out to be water that had come in when we were on our side. By the end of the week, we did not even use the bilge pump or have to mop any residual water. That was a huge relief.

Okay, so the next day, we get up and wonder if we should stay put or move on. We check the information book and charts for a quieter anchorage. While the islands were interesting, they did not provide much protection from wind and waves. Plus, it was cold on the water after the sun went down. Daytime, it was easily in the 90’s. Nighttime got down into the 40-50’s especially with the wind-chill factor. Quite a range.

I admit that I really wanted some place quiet. Dave nicely acquiesced to my request. We headed down to a channel between two islands call Koh Yao North and South. Once again, we came dangerously close to running aground. We got to the channel right at 5pm, which was also the height of low tide. Timing is everything. What we tried to figure out were the flags. Were they fishing nets or channel markers? This was the first time we had even seen anything like it. The fishermen use them to mark their nets normally. We think they also used them to mark the deepest part of the channel, or we hoped. We took a chance and the flags led us into a small bay where the wind howled but the waves were just ripples on the water. We anchored and had I hate to admit ate a great pork sausage and rice dish. What made this significant is that we were anchored offshore near Muslim village. I felt bad, but admit it was a good meal.

Dave acquiesced again, and we decided to stay another night. It was Christmas Eve and there were some great little beaches and islands nearby that we accessed with the dinghy. One island that was at the entrance to the channel, had two women from Norway who were kayaking for nine days. They too were disappointed in the weather. They had hoped to make their way north to paddle around all the great little islands that we had just passed. They were not optimistic due to the wind and waves.

For dinner, we went ashore to the recommended Muslim restaurant. It was by far the best seafood we have ever had. We order the requisite pad thai, boiled prawns, stir-fried crab with onions (my favorite of all of the dishes), and a soup called tom yum gong. It was a nice peaceful evening, watching the fishing boats come in. An off-duty police officer came up and chatted with us for a while. It seems that everywhere we went, the locals were friendly, helpful, and very chatty. They wanted to practice their English. We thoroughly enjoyed meeting all of them.

We went back to the boat, sang Christmas carols and held our own version of a Christmas eve service. It did not feel like a normal Christmas, but it was a great way to celebrate.

Christmas day, we were up and ready to move on. We ruled out going to Phi Phi Island because of the distance. We probably could have gone, but our last day would have been rushing to get back to Sunsail. We sailed to the south end of Koh Yao and anchored in a nicely protected cove near another Muslim village. We only had two other boats anchored near us. The current was not too strong there, so we were able to do a bit of swimming until we noticed tiny jellyfish that had quite a sting. So we opted for listening to Jimmy Buffet, and drinking lemonade and rum.

I can say that in spite of our first few days, I was ready to bag it all, buy a boat and sail away into the sunset. We finally had relaxed. Dave cooked a spectacular spaghetti and meat sauce and we gorged ourselves on all the food we still had. And then had a good night’s sleep.

Until about 5am. The fishing boats went out bright and early. They also liked going right by the sailboats and turning up their engines. I don’t know if it was intentional, but it sure was loud. We pulled up anchor about 6am and headed towards Boat Lagoon.

Wouldn’t you know it, the weather was perfect. After 4 days of 3-5 foot waves, 20-30 knot winds, it was beautiful!!!!! I don’t think the wind ever really got above 12 knots. There were no waves and we had the best sail we had had all week. We were ready to stay out another week. God knows we had enough food to do it.

We stopped at Koh Rang just across from the entrance to Boat Lagoon. It has a pearl farm and restaurant. If you are game, you can camp out there. They also had showers. It was a popular place for boats of all kinds. There were several other sailboats as well as a nice trawler and a wooden Chris Craft type boat.

The food was good. The animal entertainment was worth it. Besides the dog, there was cat that sat at the table and cried until you gave her some rice. Then the peacocks came over and chased away the cat. The male peacock was a little too cheeky for his own good. I had to chase him off a few times.

We sat on the beach at Koh Rang, swam a bit, and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. Around 4pm, we reluctantly go on the boat, pulled up anchor and radioed in that we were ready for the pilot. Our adventures behind us, or so we thought.

We pull into Boat Lagoon and are prepared for the checkout. We had spent the week calculating what we thought they would charge for the damages. We expected Ian, the manager, to chew us out, ask what we were thinking, and generally debrief us on the running aground. He was busy with the couple that was supposed to take out Bintang after us. All he said was, is it still floating? Instead of a head bashing by Ian, we had the assistant manger who went through the checklist. I think his name was Ollie. We reminded him that we had run aground and told him all that we thought had been broken. We lost the horsehoe life preserver, broke the cover on the head, broke off a cover on a vent on the stern and took a chunk out of the rudder. The refrigerator and everything else worked like a dream.

Then he said something I don’t think either of us expected to hear…Great, you are free to go. Leave any leftover food you don’t want on the table for the cleaning staff and enjoy the rest of your vacation in Thailand. We asked if that was all, giving them a chance to assess damage costs. But no…we were off the hook. We were in shock. I think we really dodged a bullet this time. All we can figure is that their insurance was good and they had cheap labor. So with that, we left before they had a chance to change their minds.

I do admit it was nice to have a hot shower and comfy bed. We went to the nearby bar for appetizers and a beer before heading to our room to crash. I have not been that sore since a regatta. Just the two of us on a 40foot boat with wind and waves for 4 solid days, we were wiped out! But, we were seriously discussing the type of live aboard boat we would like. We were not deterred from living on a sailboat, but convinced that we would probably like it, a lot.

I will work on the rest of our vacation in the next few days. In the mean time enjoy these latest exploits. Zai Jian, Diane

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