Bruce's Sailing Trip in the Andaman Sea
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Bangkok
On Dec. 27th I flew from Austin to Bangkok, Thailand just to see what it looked like. I only stayed one day because it was such an ugly and noisy city. Worse even than Mexico City. I stayed at a nice hotel on the Chao Phraya River and walked around the city. I talked the beautiful concierge into showing me around town to explore the night life. She and her friend took me to some pretty fun places. In hind sight, perhaps I should have given it a better look but I’ll probably be back there. The next morning I flew to Singapore.Singapore
Singapore is an outstandingly clean place. What a stark contrast from Bangkok!
They set up an awesome metro system with bus and rail and you pay your fares with a prepaid card. A very efficient system, it’s popular because if you want to drive a private car you must pay a $20,000 fee! Gary had just arrived too so before his classes started we toured the city. We also played tennis every morning for a couple hours. We went to the Tiger Balm Park which exhibited the horrible ways you will be tortured if you commit crimes. The pamphlet said the park was designed for children to scare them from running astray!
We went to the Jurong bird park which was cool and searched for the best restaurants. I spent New Years with Gary and a bunch of his school mates at an Irish pub. The group wanted to go to a disco but it had a dress code. So Gary and I borrowed some table cloths to wear over our shorts as kilts and they let us in. I spent $18 for a warm Corona beer and felt foolish but had fun in the disco anyway.
After Gary’s classes started I went to
Sentosa to tour the Maritime Museum and Aquarium, both were excellent. I had also been checking my email and had decided who to work with on the boat rentals in Phuket, Thailand. Jock Cromie seemed to be the most trustworthy of anyone I had talked to in Phuket. I was very worried leaving my business in someone elses hands but after reports that the first few jobs went well I felt much better about it. I found a travel agent and changed my return ticket from the 11th of Jan. to the 4th of Feb. and I bought a round trip ticket to Phuket. I spent an afternoon getting $3000 U.S. cash for a bareboat and deposit and emailed Jock to tell him when I was arriving. I tested and cleaned my camera gear and I was ready to go.
Phuket
On the morning of the 7th I left for Phuket. Jock met me at the airport and we went to Yacht Haven Marina to look at his friends sail boat. To make a long story short the boat was extremely under equipped. It only carried 5 liters each of water and diesel fuel which is hardly enough for the two week 300 plus nautical mile trip I had planned. Plus the owner was so rude that I couldn’t stand talking to him. Jock kindly steered me away from him and showed me his Adams 13 named Fi-Tuen.
This is a great boat and Jock had mentioned that he had a charter cancellation and it was available. She has a very slight beam and was in great shape so I agreed to a 5 day charter. I offered to buy him a beer to seal the deal and he drove ( like a maniac ) us to Patong. Let me stop here to describe how beautiful Phuket is. Cliffs and beaches
with palm, teak and rubber trees. Even though the locals say it’s growing like a weed there is still very little development. I began to reconsider a motorcycle rental as the roads were so well paved and curvy.
Since the hotels we checked were all full Jock arranged for me to stay in the guest room of a friend and then we went to a bar. Jock recommended getting his wife and two of his mates to join us for the trip and we could start out the next morning. We also started calling around to see what other bareboats were available for the following two weeks. The trip was roughed out and Jock asked me if I wanted to join the hash later that afternoon.
Hash House Harriers
He explained the Hash House Harriers are a drinking group with a running problem. How it works is somebody goes out to a remote location and puts little pieces of paper on trails and purposely tries to make it confusing as to which trail to take. So as you run and see paper you yell “on on” and this lets people around you know if you are on the right trail or not.This way slow and fast runners keep catching up to each other and everyone supposedly finishes at about the same time. After the run there is a hash circle where just about everyone is admonished for what ever silly errors or invented crimes they may have committed during the run. It is hilarious as each accused person has to move to the front of the circle and receive his accusation then must guzzle either beer or juice to pay his or her penance. After the charge is leveled the group sings “He’s a bastard through and through He’s a piss pot so they say He tried to go to heaven but he went the other way Drink it down down down down...” I was charged with being new to the group first then later with yelling “paper” instead of “on on” repeatedly. The GM is the person who does the accusing and the role goes to a different person each week. It was a total blast to join them.
Langkawi
At sunrise the next morning Jock picked me up and off to the boat we went. On the way we picked up his lovely Thai wife Porn,
Stuart a nice expat from England
and Pauly, from Finland a super tanker captain who never sailed before and wanted to see if he would like it.
We stopped at a grocery store, cleared customs and stocked the boat. We finally left and headed to Palau Langkawi
which is in Malaysia and approximately 120 nautical miles to the south. There were two reasons to go to Langkawi the first was to buy a whole bunch of duty free beer and the second was to eat at Jimmies restaurant which I was told is a great place to eat. The winds were a bit fickle so we motor-sailed until the winds came up. We arrived at the Langkawi yacht club at about
3pm the next day and showered and went to eat at Jimmies. The Thai food there was excellent even though I accidentally ate one of those tiny and ferocious peppers hiding in my noodles. Jimmie would make any brewery proud. If you only took but a sip of your beer he would top it off. So we drank a lot of beer - 66 beers between 5 people! Other yachties joined us and we had many great conversations and much fun. Between this and the hash I was wondering how much laughing I could possibly do. The next morning we bought our duty free beer and I answered my email and we were off.
Isles, Crew and Fi-Tuen
The cool thing about the Andaman Sea is all the stunningly beautiful islands that are everywhere.
Some are big and some are small and a person could spend a lifetime investigating them. We had a pretty good breeze on the way to our next stop Ko Muk.
Jock is an Australian and we hit it off early on with our email exchanges and I was hoping I’d like the rest of the crew as well. We all got along very well. By now everyone was comfortable with each other and we were joking around and telling a lot of stories. Besides Jock, Stewart had the most experience on the boat so he showed me the ropes. Pauly had a new joke about every thirty seconds with a success rate of about 90%. Porn was cooking the on board meals which were excellent. I was mostly helping to change sails and navigating. We all took turns at the helm. The common joke was that I should keep getting the cold beers because I was the only paying customer!
Fi-Tuen is an excellent and very fast boat. It only weighs about 8 tons and is forty three feet long. It has a swing keel and when retracted its draught is only three and a half feet. In light winds we sailed with the swing keel up to give us more speed. The sails were all made by the famous Australian Olympic sailing legend Rollie Tasker. At the young age of 68, Rollie started a sail manufacturing outfit in Phuket and Jock and he are pals.
Jock had all new sails made for the Kings Cup except an old spinnaker and Rollie ( what a great guy ) noticed this and gave him a brand new one as a gift. Not only is Rollie a hero in Australia but a generous guy to boot. The main sail has absolutely the nicest shape I’ve ever seen. It is truly a great thing to see and it is so efficient!
We hit a series of squalls on the way to Ko Muk and were reduced to a single reef and no head sail. The seas built up pretty well and we sailed through the night. I had the sunrise shift on this leg and at about 5am I saw the Southern Cross and fulfilled one of my goals of the trip. We arrived at Ko Muk around noon and anchored in a little bay and saw some monks and monkeys running around.
Ko Muk is a small island with primitive camping and a pair of restaurants. We were there to receive a couple, Peter and Edith from Canada who were finishing a kayak trip and wanted to join us to snorkel at Ko Ruk Nok. The couple were a little late as the long boat they were in broke down. We arrived at Ko Ruk Nok and I was stunned at the clarity of the water there. The depth sounder registered 80 feet but you could see the bottom very clearly. Pauly is an ex dive master and offered me his snorkel and fins since he’s done so much snorkeling already. It was awesome!
Hands down the very best snorkeling I’ve ever done. I could literally see 50 feet laterally and there were millions of different fish. I was the last one out of the water and left reluctantly. After the swim we sailed to Mu Ko Phi Phi island which is a popular tourist spot. There are a group of islands just off of Phi Phi where we snorkeled again and where they shot the film The Beach. A short list of other films shot in the area are From Heaven to Earth and James Bond the Man with the Golden Gun.
What a shock it was to be amongst all these tourists after visiting nothing but remote islands! We dropped our anchor and half the crew went to shore in the dingy while three of us secured the boat. We were about to leave when we noticed one of the big dive boats was drifting very close to our anchorage. We had to fend the boat off and decided that the mooring it was tied to must have been at least 60 feet long to have drifted so far. This means its arc would be 120 feet! Pretty rude for such a small inlet. So we raised anchor and moved as far away as we could. After a pretty good dinner I decided to sleep on the deck because it was so warm and heard awful disco music coming out of the bars all night. I decided I didn’t like Phi Phi island at all.
Hash House Harriers 2
The next morning we sailed back to Phuket with the hopes of getting there in time for the hash later that afternoon. A fellow hasher rented me a room in his nice hotel ( N.G.B. Hotel ) in Patong and we headed for the hash. We we’re late for the running part but the circle was about to begin. The GM this time was Big Bullocks (hash name) and he was on a tear! He was wearing a priest outfit that was open in the back exposing his big fat naked butt and he was cussing and ranting a major storm! The children that were there were all laughing like the rest of us were. This time there was also a huge block of ice with a bowl shaped indentation on the top. The idea was if someone in the crowd became obstinate he would have to pull his drawers down and sit on the ice for an indeterminate period of time. It was very funny to see these grown men sitting on ice for their particular crime.
Patong and Beyond
I stayed in the same hotel for 5 nights and got caught up on my sleep, email and business calls. Jock took me to a Sunday picnic with many hashers and other families. I happened to mention while we were sailing that I was reading a book by Tristan Jones called The Incredible Voyage. It’s a story about how Tristan sailed through the Dead Sea in Israel and Lake Titicaca in the Andes. Jock said that he had met him a few times and that he passed away in Phuket a few years ago. The house he died in was just down the street from where we were enjoying the picnic. Jock also took me on a nice day trip with his family to a beautiful Buddhist temple inside a cave in a big mountain and a fun restaurant near Karabi. We also visited Khao Phanom Bencha National Park which had a river that flowed from out the bottom of a cliff.
Back in Patong I walked through the town a lot for exercise and shopped for skin diving equipment.
I was in a bar one night ( okay every night ) goofing around with the bar girls when a huge drunk Norwegian guy started to try to talk to me. In his stupor he told me that he was an engineer on a cruise ship that I noticed at Kamala Bay and he and his buddy were in town for the night getting drunk. I didn’t like him at all and managed to ignore him enough so that he left me alone with the girls. Later his buddy walked up and they started arguing. Soon his buddy stomped off and the Norwegian guy got up to follow him. One of the bar girls reminded him that he had a large bar tab that he needed to pay but he shrugged her off and walked. The bar girl told the little Thai bartender what was happening and he tore off after the Norwegian guys. These two Norwegians were really huge barrel chested clods and I could not believe that this little Thai bartender was going after both of them. He did this flying kick into the small of one of the Norwegians back that laid him out and then he broke an ash tray over the second Norwegians head. Now they are both on the ground and he and the bar girls are all kicking the crap out of these two. Finally they stop and the cops are summoned and they take the pair of Norwegians to the hospital. The bartender was by now back behind the bar and the cops came and took him away. The next day curiosity got the best of me and I visited the bartender to find out what happened to him. He said he got a little scratch ( it was so small I could not see it ) and that the cops let him go home the same night. Also he said he ended up getting the money from the Norwegians and they were banned from Patong. I asked if I could pay my tab in advance just to be safe!
Jock had let Fi-Tuen out to three Swedish guys as a bare boat charter and since we were having so much fun he decided to see if the Swedes would let me buy into the second half of their charter. They agreed and so we set sail again on Jan. 20th for Ko Ruk. Jock and I noticed from shore that they weren't using the main sail cover which we agreed was mistreating the sail because of ultraviolet damage. I was the first one to get on the boat to start this leg and was dismayed to see sandy clothes draped over the sail to dry. I gave them some trouble about that while I put the cover on the sail. Their names were Gunner 1 Gunner 2 and Christer, we added the numbers to simplify things. Gunner 1 was really into business and made a lot of money distributing a European vacuum cleaner around the world. Gunner 2 was in the same business but much more subdued than Gunner 1 and Christer did accounting for Ford in Europe. Jocks’ wife Porn was not with us for this trip so it was just us 5 for 5 days.
Really poor weather forced us back to Phi Phi island and we had to try to find a mooring at night with no moon. So were moving into the bay at about half a knot and Gunner 2 was on bow watch when we tee boned a 10 foot barge boat. I guess Gunner 2 was not paying attention. So we anchored and set up the dingy for the Swedes and Gunner 1 actually jumped over the side straight in to the dingy! I could not believe my eyes and I was surprised that the dingy did not explode. What a dumb thing to do!
The next morning we set sail for Ko Ruk Nok again for more snorkeling. It was even better this time than the last time plus we had much more time. I saw a couple of sharks, a manta ray and lots of lobster. The fish were even more plentiful then before. Upon exploring the island we found a penis shrine left by fisherman for luck.
It was pretty funny to see all these phallic symbols piled high up on a cliff! More snorkeling in the morning and then it was off to Ko Muk. We anchored and walked across the island to a Muslim fishing village for exercise. We ate at the restaurant and then moored at a cave so we could swim through it to the other side which was an open bowl like area. It was so dark in there that we needed a flash light to make the swim. At the mouth of the cave were these huge schools of fish and they were not easily frightened.
The next day we sailed up the Thai coast to Ko Lanta Yai and looked for a nice place in the bay to anchor. As we entered we saw about 20 steel fishing boats all tied together and lighting fire crackers to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We moved up wind of them and set the anchor and killed the engine. A couple of moments later we heard an American voice blasting through loud speakers from one of the fishing boats. It said “ Americans there is a terrible disease here in Asia. It may kill you so be careful where you go and who you meet”. Then an Asian female voice came on and she said “ Yes Americans you will wish you were dead so keep alert”. Then the American voice said “ Yes this disease is deadly and it’s called Nymph fever”! Then this weird music comes on with much groaning and moaning and we realized that they were playing a pornographic film and broadcasting the audio! We all died in hysterics and I ran below to get my binoculars. There were no less then twenty Thai guys trying to see into the wheel house windows of the boat that had the loud speakers! Here we were a half mile from the beach where parents are playing with their kids in the surf and we hear this! We nearly died laughing. We took the dingy to the shore and had dinner. I also treated Jock and myself to a Thai massage. The Thai girls were all giggling because Jock was sleeping through his massage!
Regatta
The next morning we sailed to Karabi for the Phuket - Phang NGA - Karabi Regatta registration party and to buy some supplies. The regatta was organized by the Ao Chalong Yacht Club with Art Asia Press and Yacht Haven Marina.
We also picked up Porn and Stewart for the race starting the next morning. The party started at 5pm and the registration only cost us 1000 Baht ( about $25 U.S. ) each for four nights of parties and food. I wanted to stay out later than the rest of the crew so I dropped them off and started back with the dingy. About halfway back across the bay there was a brilliant flash and then a loud report as one of the crews set up some fireworks. The sound was awesome because the bay at Karabi is surrounded by cliffs and the echoes were outstanding. By the time I reached the shore they were in full force and there were fire dancers on the beach as well.
The next day was race one, The Phuket Island Lager Race and we had a great start. With light winds we still managed 5th out of 30. I think our big advantage was Jock’s strategy and having the swing keel up while under the spinnaker.
After the race we said goodbye to the Swedes and then headed to the party which was held on a huge junk that was the boat in the movie Cut Throat Island. It was pretty cool it had a ballast of stone and served close to 300 people for food and drinks. This boat was the party boat for two of the three races in the regatta. It was really fun to socialize with all these yachties.
The next race, The Phuket Magazine Round the Islands Race went pretty well. We started a little worse but the wind was very strong at the start which was much to our advantage. After the race a bunch of us moored our boats together and everyone toured each others boats. Later, I swam to the nearby island and checked out the marine park. Then it was off to another great party. On the way Jock helped a friend of his get her diesel engine running. She had been without it for about a week.
For the last race, The QBE Sprint, we picked up John and Trish O’shay. He is a friend of Jocks’ who got him a sponsor for the Kings Cup. We got a horrible start and the wind died about an half hour in to the race and we were far behind. At one point the wind was so slight that we all went swimming. Then at last we ended up in an area that had wind and the competition were all far to our lee and we passed almost everyone. Then the wind died again and after an hour of no wind everyone quit. We went to a cool shore and dug up a bunch of clams and saw some very bizarre frog type animals. On the way to the final party at the Yacht Haven Yacht Club we came across a grounded boat from our regatta and after an hour or so we got her underway via the spinnaker halyard. The folks on that boat were very pleased as the tide was going out. This party had a live band and was even better then the other ones and it went on until the early morning.
The next day Jock and his family took me to a cool place to eat lunch at the beach and then we hiked to a waterfall that was fantastic.
On the 30th I flew back to Singapore. I went to the science museum and saw a omni movie for the first time. Gary and I went out only a few times because he was so busy with school but we had fun. I then flew back to Austin on Feb. 4th.
So there you have it. All in all I had a great time and look forward to going back to see the new friends I met and see more of the sights.
If you or someone you know would like a great time on a sailing charter in Thailand look up Jock on his web site listed above.
Special Thanks to homestead.com for making this site available at no charge.