Thailand sail

[Eric]

Hi all,

Thought I would try to get my CS17 back into the water after sitting in my yard for several months. First a new paint job, as white was a bad choice, at least for the hull. After a season of bashing around the canal from house to the ocean, it looked pretty bad. So a dark blue this time. Used the local 3 dollar a quart enamel which actually holds up quite well. Can't be fussy, its all I can find around here. I spent seemingly days fixing dings, cracks and problems from last season. Sand, epoxy, fair, paint, blah blah.. you know the drill. So we move it over to the canal and immediately beat it up by cracking the coaming and scraping the hull. No matter what I do, I can't keep this boat pristine for very long.

Decided on a sail to Koh Chang, Thailand's second largest island after Phuket. About 50 nautical miles from my house. David and I left about daybreak, making our way down the canal, into the bay and to the ocean. That takes more than an hour. Once we are out there, there isn't much wind, so we putt along at 8ks per hour with the Yamaha toward Chang.  We stop for an mid-morning nap and coffee on a small island, where it then rains heavily on us.  After an hour, clear skies and a decent wind about 15 -20 knots or so. Off we go toward Chang at about 4-4.5 knots, into the waves on a close reach. Lots of spray. David gets soaked. And he also manages to get nicely sunburned. I told him to cover up that white English skin of his, but he failed to listen.  :  Being indoors in an office in Bangkok for two years didn't help.

About 6 pm we make the tip of Chang and find a small beach to camp on. By this time David is a bit miserable. Sunburned, wet, and tired. I'm zonked too, especially since I had no sleep the night before. But we make camp and build a fire. I whip out the pressure cooker with potatos, carrots and chicken and get that going. David pulls out a bottle of Spanish red. Things are better.

David wants to sleep on shore, I elect to sleep in the boat. I recommend he sleep in the boat, but he thinks its better on shore. Ha ha, he is up all night from mosquitoes, his sunburn, and the tide washing into his tent. I get a few nice hours in the boat, enjoying the gentle rock of the boat. Burning a mosquito coil helped.

The next morning David is not feeling that great. Our plan was to sail for two more days to the east end of the island where there are numerous other islands with snorkeling reefs, nice beaches and night-time parties with the tourista girls. No, we had better go back and get David home, as his sunburn is pretty damn bad. Nice blisters at this time. Plus his back, with two bad discs isn't feeling great.

So we head back to Chanthaburi at about eleven, after procrastinating a bit. We think we may stay half way somewhere, maybe a bungalow on one of the beaches somewhere. However we have a great sail, hitting six knots at times and much drier and the waves are in our favor. I calculate we can get home the same day, with only an hour or so in the bay during the dark. So I set a 320 degree bearing straight for Laem Singh, where the bay starts. David conks out in the boat for several hours, he is so tired.

Everything goes well until about 16:30. Winds then start to get very soft and we are in a race against the dark. So I fire up the engine. It runs, then it quits. And it won't start again. We are about six miles off shore. Lame.  It will be dark soon. David takes the tiller with what wind we have, about a knots worth, and I yank the outboard into the boat. I never go out without some tools with me. So I take the carb completely apart. Alas, my screwdriver won't fit in the recess for the main jet. Ahh, my Leatherman. Just fits, and sure enough, find clogged jets. This is entirely my fault, as I forgot to drain the gas last season, so there is junk in the bowl. Such fun doing this in a rocking boat when you are tired and just want to get home.  BUt it fires up and off we go. Ahh wait! We have to take down the masts as we need to go under two small bridges near my house. This is always fun as they are one piece wooden masts I can barrel handle myself. I nearly fall in, but I don't.

We make it into the inlet of the bay, under the bridge and get inland. Then the engine stops again. Same thing, refuses to start. And we are drifting toward a big bamboo fish trap. So I drop anchor. Now it's too dark to work on the engine, plus I am just too damn tired. My mobile phone rings. Another mate inviting us to a party and BBQ at his house. I laugh and say we might not make it. 

Now if I was alone, I would have just dropped anchor, pulled out my comforter and pillow and figured out the next morning. But I feel I need to get David home. About ten k's of bay and canal to go.

I get out the oars and start rowing. What a joke. But the tide is in our favor. I figure it will take about six hours, haha. I try this punishment for 20 minutes then I try the engine. It runs! Off we go. The tide is coming in, but the bay is extremely low. I make an error, as its damn dark now, and I haven't been on the bay in about six months so I was a bit confused. We run aground. I know its mud down there and jump over the push the boat. Push, push, then I cut the #$*%*! out of my foot. We are in greenlip mussel farm area. Ignore the pain! Arggh, my other foot! We keep pushing into deeper water. Where is that damn channel? Right, there it is. Off we go again. My foot, actually both feet are bleeding like crazy all over the boat. Never mind.

Finally we make it to my village. We pull up to a restaurant on the water I know and David orders two large Heinekens to go.  Sometimes beer can taste so good. Now we head up the canal, about 3 ks of narrow, snaking canal to follow. I drift a bit too close to the bank and the engine stops. What the.. ?  Fishnet this time. Wrapped all around the prop. Easier to take the engine off an remove the prop as its a huge mess. 15 minutes there. How my hands hurt. Continue on. Then the same thing again. Except this time some moron put a gill net completely across the canal, a public thoroughfare. This net is big and nasty. Repeat engine and propeller stuff again. I do a nice job of whacking up the net to let the guy know he shouldn't put it across the canal. I spill my beer dealing with the net. Not cool. Is the beginning to be the Trip From Hell? What next?

Finally! We make it back to my house. The boat is an absolute mess! Mud, gas, blood, seawater, junk everywhere. For a laugh I take a picture. We can't move, but we need to unload the boat, at least some of it and carry it the 200 meters to my house. What a drag. My foot is killing me. We manage. We are both in pain, but after a shower we manage to go to the party. But we both have to leave after 90 minutes because we are in too much pain. My feet are just burning. I went to the clinic the next day to have them cleaned. Fine now.

Here are few pics. One of the boat in nice condition, the beach at Koh Chang, our Google earth plot, heading back trying to beat dark, and David contemplating the whole adventure (mess?) once back home.

[Garry]

Quite an adventure! You'll be telling stories about this trip for years.

[Greg Luckett]

Wow!  What a story.  It does not sound like it was a good trip, especially for David.  I hope he healed up well, and your feet too, Eric.  Will you give it another go, now that you know what to prepare for?  I wish I could make that sailing trip with you guys.   Those pictures are awesome!

I bought a boat a few years ago, went out on a intro sail with the seller, and got a really bad burn that left white spots on my arms.  The sun was not so much, but I had been here several years from Texas, and had lost my tan.  Needless to say I am much more careful now. 

The problems with your engine are a common thing.  You might consider bringing something to pour the gas through to strain it, and I always like a new fuel filter too.

Thanks for sharing and I did enjoy reading about your adventure.

Greg

[Greg Luckett]

Hmm, Sounds like a nice set of snowshoes is just the thing you need for deeling with those mud mussel flats...

LOL, Ray.

When I was a kid on Galveston Bay, we use to buy the cheapest canvis tennis shoes for protecting our feet when wading through the mud.  The had rubber soles and came up on the sides about 3/4 inch.  They worked pretty good againt oysters, rusty can, blue crabs, etc.  Fish hooks and sharp glass could be a problem but you could feel hard object before stepping hard.  If barefooted it was too late once you sensed the sharp.  I wonder if they still sell those?  When I joined the Navy, to my surprise, they issued me a pair.

[Eric]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

;D  It was my fault. I knew about the mussels, but my previous experience with them was on the far side of the inlet. I was tired, grumpy and in a hurry so I didn't even put on my flip flops. Oh well..  feet are fine now.

I don't see a fuel filter on this Yamaha 3 two-stroke, unless it's inside the tank. I do always use a funnel with a filter in the neck. However, this was from gummy junk in the bowl which was from gas left from a few months ago. My fault totally. Besides that, its a great engine, and plenty of power for a CS17.

I'm going out tonight to the inlet to go fishing. I plan to just drop anchor and fish all night. Not even sure I will put up the masts. I will sleep in the boat and come back in the morning. What I will catch I am not sure. Will see how it goes.

[Greg Luckett]

That sounds like a perfect night to me.  Have fun!

[JeffM]

Great story, Eric!  The consolation of sharing the event with others is sometimes just enough to get me through an adventure with sanity intact!

[Howard]

It's been my experience that guys can do a "trip from hell" like this, come home, think they had a great time and decide to do it again.

Whereas, take a wife or girlfriend along (the wrong kind....one whose idea of "roughing it" is staying at a Holiday Inn).....and they will abandon ship on you and later demand you sell the boat.

For guys who are still looking, keep a sharp eye out for a sweetie who enjoys the bad trips too. When you find one....don't let go! 

[Greg Luckett]

Howard,

My wife does not like "adventures" like this either, but other than grumbling and refusals to make a second trip, she is tolerant.  She needs to be having raised 4 sons and a daughter, and their Dad. ;D

[Charlie Jones]

I guess I got one of those women then. Cause she even gets herself in spots like this-

And comes up grinning.

Then goes out in almost any kind of weather. You should here her laugh and tell about when she was single handing our 25 footer, ran aground and had to row the anchor out 3 times to get it where it needed to be so she could kedge herself off.

Oh- and around here, we figure the only difference between an adventure and an ordeal is ATTITUDE!!!

[Greg Luckett]

Ray, now this is truly humorous!!  I would love to see a picture of him using them in the mud.

[Greg Luckett]

I wonder if Eric made it back and how the fishing was?

[Eric]

Fishing was lame! I guess my squid baits were not that interesting. But I got a late start and was rained on the whole way down to the inlet.  I had to drop anchor behind Chula Island in the dark, which you can see in the pics below. Not the best fishing spot. The mosquitoes off that island are some kind of mutant species, as they were insatiable, even fifty meters off shore. And I forgot my mosquito net. At day break I actually motored off into deeper water to escape their feeding frenzy and they were still chasing me.

Using my trusty 1964 US Navy chart of the area, I went off to the other side of the island and found a much deeper shelf, but didn't catch much. Said forget it and went for a six am sail instead and practiced my single-handed sailing. Messed around until the wind died and then headed for home. The bay was very low today, and even in daylight I still had problems getting home. Had to push the boat several times. Tide was so low that I could see the mussel beds no problem this time. Just made it back with a 1/4 tank of fuel, as my gas can sprung a leak (surprise!).

I should try to take more pictures when I go out. Just hassle to get my camera out, especially in the rain and such.

[Greg Luckett]

Eric,

Do you normally swap the rudder and motor out?  I have been thinking of doing so with my Spindrift 12, but then where to put them is a question.

[Howard]

Eric:

I am curious about the rigs setup on those other boats. I suppose those are fishing poles, with multiple drift/trolling lines set?

Local boats seem to evolve to local conditions. If those are big, high bows on those boats, would suggest the area could get some rough, choppy water.

[Greg Luckett]

Ray, now this is truly humorous!!  I would love to see a picture of him using them in the mud.

From Graham's reports...  He first tried on the snowshoes when arriving at checkpoint 2 in Chockaloski.  He recieved them a week or so before heading to Florida but did not have time to try them in mud to see how they would respond.

Randy hoofed it without and Graham tried out the shoes in the mud.  A local saw him trudging around in the mud with Snowshoes on and commented :

"Boy,  you sure are lost!"

ROTFL  ;D :

[Eric]

Greg: sometimes I swap the motor out when I am going to do some motoring for considerable distance, sometimes I don't. I was low on fuel that day so I wanted the best efficiency possible. The rudder is a bit difficult to stow, but its only temporary. When it's time to sail, I move the engine over to the side. When I made the boat I made the dumb error of making the transom too wide for the engine mount. So I welded up a crude mount from stainless steel that clamps on to the transom and which has a piece of teak that the engine clamps on too. Works okay.

Howard: Yes, they drift with those poles using lines as far as I know. Also they do a lot of netting around here. Actually, a lot of the fisherman around here are squid fisherman. The boats do have fairly how bows, but overall the Gulf of Thailand in this region is pretty tame water. Rarely have any big storms or sizable waves. The ocean is a more intense down south and on the other side of the country.