The three month Malaysian visa was almost due and it was time to head to Thailand for the visa run. I had another great sail north after leaving Telaga until in the lee of Ko Tarutao then had to motor to a bay called Ao Talo Wao where I spent a few days waiting for friends Nelson and Claude on “Black Swan” to arrive.
I chose to sail to Ko Bulon Le. Black Swan chose the relative shelter of Ko Bulon. By morning I wished I had. I anchored in the one place where the waves coming around the island met – it was a rough night.
There was very little wind so we motored north. Near Ko Pethra I heard a change the exhaust – a dry rumble without the water coming out. The impeller was graunched and I noticed that the water pump shaft turned freely. I undid the water pump and bits of plastic fell out – the plastic sprocket driven by the timing cog had shattered. The Green excrement or the Green fatherless one euphemisms for the Volvo engine came to mind. I informed Black Swan of my predicament, they offered to tow me. I declined thinking that this was a sailboat and that I could sort myself out. This would have been a lot easier had there been more wind.
I chose to sail to Ko Bulon Le. Black Swan chose the relative shelter of Ko Bulon. By morning I wished I had. I anchored in the one place where the waves coming around the island met – it was a rough night.
There was very little wind so we motored north. Near Ko Pethra I heard a change the exhaust – a dry rumble without the water coming out. The impeller was graunched and I noticed that the water pump shaft turned freely. I undid the water pump and bits of plastic fell out – the plastic sprocket driven by the timing cog had shattered. The Green excrement or the Green fatherless one euphemisms for the Volvo engine came to mind. I informed Black Swan of my predicament, they offered to tow me. I declined thinking that this was a sailboat and that I could sort myself out. This would have been a lot easier had there been more wind.
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| Glassy Seas |
I spent several hours sculling the boat forward with the rudder just off Ko Kraden – barely moving. I finally dropped the anchor in 12 metres of water at 10.00pm, just as the heavens opened and I received a right soaking. At least I had a good wash. I would not have attempted going into an unknown anchorage at night if I did not have the GPS Chart plotter and Radar if needed. Anchoring without using an engine requires another technique for bedding the anchor in and avoiding dropping the chain onto of the anchor. Thanks to Dave from FCYC for pointing this method out. The anchor needs to be dropped while the boat is still moving – preferably down wind and preferably at less than one knot. .
I awoke early to listen to the wind howling – 15 knots. This was going to be interesting hauling up the anchor, all 40 metres of 8mm chain and 15 Kg of anchor, without the assistance from the engine moving the boat forward. I managed it between encouragement profanities. I do recall someone (Barry and Alan) mentioning that I should get an eclectic anchor windlass – Hmmm. With full sails raised I managed to claw off the lee shore. The winds lasted another half hour then desisted; I sailed 10 miles in 10 hours! The sails banged and slatted in the choppy seas in the little wind there was. I rationalised that one has to take the good with the bad. I tried to get as much sleep as I could as I didn’t know when I would next get a good rest. Before I went to sleep I set the alarm clock to go off at either after 15 or 20 minutes depending if I could see other boats around. It takes awhile to get into the routine of falling asleep quickly to get at least 10 minutes sleep. I think I was also lucky in that Friday was a public holiday in Thailand and there did not appear to be too many fishing boats around.
The wind picked up in the evening to 5 to 8 knots west south west and on fairly smooth seas Sadiqi ghosted along at around 2 knots. By midnight the winds had increased to 10 to 15 knots and Sadiqi sliced through the water under an almost full moon. Smithy the WindPilot relished being used again and did so effortlessly. I do like sailing at night when there is some wind. At around midday the wind didn’t. I even tried the Asymmetrical spinnaker – more for something to do. However, to no avail. I watched as a family of squid followed in the wake. I did have thoughts of Calamari or Salt and Pepper Squid however it was the cook’s day off. By midafternoon the winds picked up to 3 to 5 knots from the south west and Sadiqi ghosted along.
By six o clock I was approaching Ao Chalong, Phuket some 8 miles out. The wind dropped to a zephyr. I had my first real lesson in dealing with currents, or more to the point how currents deal with sailing boats without engines. It was almost a full moon, meaning Spring Tides – some 3 metres difference. I almost missed the island Ko Mai Thon where I thought I may be able to anchor, rest and wait for some wind. Fortunately, with the full moon I noticed the line of floats delineating a resort swimming area, right where I was going to drop the anchor in 6 metres of water. There was some muttering at this point and gratitude that I had spotted the netting before getting tangled in it. I tried to head south to go around the island only to see no progress. The water was moving under the boat at nearly 2 knots, the boat was not moving. OK, so head north around the island. Boat is now doing nearly 3 knots and moving through the water at 1 knot. Once around the island I had to head south again. Fortunately by this time the current had slowed as the tide was rising and I was able to make minimal progress. I sailed, more to the point drifted, through the Thai anchovy fishing fleet – with very bright fishing lights. They must have wondered who this idiot farrang was sailing through their fishing fleet. They did well to stay out of my way as I could do little other than drift. It was with great relief that I dropped the anchor at 4.00am, without hitting anything, in Ao Chalong. It took 10 hours to sail the 8 miles before dropping the anchor. I did have a very brief thought that I’m getting to old for this sort of malarkey.
I awoke later in the morning, got myself sorted out and went ashore, thinking that it was Monday, to check in to Thailand. Alas, it was still Sunday and I got stung 600.00 TBT or $18.00 for overtime. My fault! Ao Chalong still appeared to be as frenetic as ever with the tripper boats speeding in and out from the bay all day.
It was a case of deje vu when going to the Sand Bar and seeing the same old culprits in the bar waiting for the tide to come in so they could go out to their boats.
The spare part for the water pump has been ordered and hopefully will arrive from Singapore in the next week or so.
