Aria, Bikini, R.M.I - The beginning...

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Geo: 6.65494, 99.978

Wow... how did I end up here!!!! On a beautiful sailing yacht named 'Aria', registered to the Marshall Islands, Bikini. At 87ft with 106ft mast, weighing approx 108 tons... my wildest dreams would never have brought me here.

I arrived back in Langkawi at Telaga Harbour from Thailand on motor yacht 'Thea' which is a friends vessel, I stayed with Jamie and Julie another few days before returning to Royal Langkawi Yacht Club (RLYC). I am very fortunate to have great friends in RLYC and I stayed on Cat Chi, a huge catamaran owned by other friends and settled back in for a few weeks. The plan was to be here for a couple of weeks then return to the shipyard to help with the 'Windrose', but plans change which is the beauty of traveling/transit life and I find myself with a decision to make.

While staying at RLYC, I quickly became friends with Scott and Brandon who were the Captain and remaining crew on Aria, they had sailed from Savannah in Georgia to Thailand via all sorts of wonderful places and had an adventure to say the least... Crossing the Pacific Ocean via the Panama Canal, all the way to Darwin and up the west side of Indonesia to Langkawi and Satun, their stories are incredible and I love their passion and adventure that they shared with me.

We spent a couple of weeks hanging out together, touring the island, hitting the highlights in Kuah town, Rafii's and Lylia's in Pantai Cenang, Scarboro'Fish'n'Chips up at Tanjung Rhu, Coco's which is my friends place, a lovely Irish fella for his famed Roast Beef Sunday dinner, The Pier restaurant as well as the number of dodgy bars round about and we became great friends. They had been at the shipyard in Satun to haul out but instead of hauling, the boat slipped off the cradle and back into the river, hitting a fishing boat on the way out and was actually a very serious situation. If the boat had been hauled out a little further it could have toppled causing serious damage but they were lucky!!!

As I had been at the yard for months, I had never heard of this happening and watch hauling out all the time, although it threw them at the time and they looked at other boat yards, they decided to give it another try which is where I came in. So instead of returning to the yard to help with the Windrose, I was signed up as crew to give the boys a hand getting hauled out and setting up the refit. I was excited about this new venture, and after speaking with the owner of the Windrose, he told me to jump at the chance. So although I'm now back at PSS which I planned to do, I now return on a different vessel.

Aria is a beautiful yacht, built in 1975 by the American shipyard Palmer Johnson, at the time she was the largest sailing yacht in the Great Lakes, and truly is impressive. Stepping on board I was overwhelmed by the scale of her, at 87ft long and a 20ft beam, she has a towering 106ft mast and was like nothing I had ever seen before. Built with no boom, she really is unique, with a full keel plus 2 retractable/ lifting keels that provide a draft of 20ft, I never imagined this opportunity would arise and I thank Scott and Brandon for letting me join the team.

We left the smog which filled Langkawi which was caused by the plantation fires in Indonesia and went to the fuel dock in Kuah to top up before starting our journey. Langkawi is such a beautiful island and is made up of 104 islands to explore, Aria cut seamlessly through the sea on a relaxing scenic trip and I love all the other boats and local fishing boats we meet on our way. Near the north of the island there is a boat which has been anchored off for months, it has 4 masts and seems to have a possibly armed individual on watch, keeping an eye on her. I wonder what the story is?

We anchored off and settled in for the night, our slot for hauling out first thing next morning and we planned to get away early. During the night I heard all sorts of shouting going on and dashed up onto deck, there seemed to be a couple of local long tail fishing boats around the boat and looks like their nets were caught round the boat. After a lot of pointing and talking the men eventually started to gather their nets which were all around, there were no markers set and no boats visible when we anchored so I'm not sure if they dropped their nets before or after we arrived then drifted... Anyway after an hour or so they eventually left with their nets back on board, it certainly made for an interesting end to our day!

In the morning we headed into Satun through a series of narrow channels which took a fair bit of plotting, we left on a rising tide just in case we got stuck. Although at one point we came almost to a halt, a change of direction got us out of it and we managed into the deeper channel at the top of the river. Once again we threw anchor and waited on the yard contacting us when they were ready for our arrival. Once they were ready we left our anchorage and Captain guided us through the river and seamlessly into the slipway, we threw out our lines and let the shipyard take over.

So fingers crossed this time, Un from PSS came aboard and shouted instructions to the staff (brap brap), but our concern was the rudder catching once again but the divers did a sterling job of checking and ensuring our safe arrival. Thankfully after an hour and a half we were hauled out safely and we all breathed a sigh of relief. First things first, check in with Immigration, Customs and the Harbor Master, then the boys went to their accommodation in Satun while my plan was to live on the boat for as long as possible and got comfy for the night, it's strange being back on a different boat but I was pleased to see some friends that are still here.

So the first week way mayhem, we started packing up the contents of the boat, stripping it and storing. The 14ft dinghy was one of the first things to be stored in one of the containers and after lowering the dinghy off the boat it took around 30 men to actually lift it and place it in the storage container, it was a real challenge and everyone worked together which was funny with everyone different shapes and sizes with some of it being a pretty tight squeeze. As I knew many of the men, it was funny their reaction to me being back on another boat and we had a good laugh, all being exhausted after our efforts.

We dried and stored the sails which was a huge effort and took real team work, these are the biggest sails I've ever seen... It took the three of us to dry, lower, fold, tie, pack and store them away in one of the containers, next stop for them is Rolly Tasker's in Phuket to have them cleaned and any repair work done in preparation for relaunching the boat.

Next was a whole new thing for me..de-masting the boat! Check this out on my next blog.

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Comments

[Robert Wilson]

Aria - please contact me
I am in the process of buying Aria. Your blog is really interesting. Please contact me. Aria is currently in Savannah.

[Newlands]

Aria
Apolgies, I have just seen you're comment. If you are buying Aria, feel free to contact me. I am on WhatsApp or Email. [phone] [e-mail]. I was 4.5 years on Aria and managed the refit in Satun in Thailand before moving to Langkawi in Malaysia. I was going to be crew on board for the trip to Savannah however the Captain who was sent I did not want to go with so I resigned. I have lots of information and know Aria inside and out! Kind Regards, Clare