by Judy Handley | Mar 25, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 154, Year 4 More Forward, Backward Movement
Date: Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Weather: Finally . . . A Beautiful Day
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
The really bad news is that the painting of the mast and boom yesterday must be redone. So today everything was sanded and if the weather holds, painting will be done again tomorrow. The weather took a huge turn around today. It was a beautifully clear day. Those who have been here more than a couple of years tell us that they think it will be clear for a few more days. The weather reports here are all over the place, so we will just hope that we have a reprieve for at least one more day. So at the best, we can start putting things back on the mast on Saturday afternoon. It would be best to give the paint a little longer to cure, but we can start with those things that least affect the paint. But this is all dreaming. Another bad weather day could change everything, so we will wait patiently and see what happens.
I made some progress with my bronze work today, but still have lots more to do. My problem is that I don’t have the tools I need. I have two Dremels, one battery and one plug-in. The plug-in has seen its better days and the battery operated only runs for a short time before needing recharging. I have tried all sorts of other electric sanders and drills, but only the little Dremel really does the job. But even when it does work, I have a limited number of discs that do the job. Unfortunately, you cannot buy Dremel attachments in this part of the world. So I will struggle on tomorrow with this job.
But our problems are paled in comparison with those of a woman named Linda on the yacht named Mr Bean. She and her husband Malcom were moored in the Butang Group of islands in Thailand on the Malaysian border. A couple of nights ago, three teen-aged Burmese fishermen boarded their boat. I’ll spare you the details, but Malcom was evidently murdered. His body has not been found. Linda survived and is in the hospital. Dave and Di of Amoenitis, a couple we often have dinner with across the highway, were called yesterday by the British consulate and asked to come help Linda. Dave and Di rented a car and headed around the Phang Nga Bay to the other side to be with her. We have read on Google that her children from England are now on their way to be with her as well. But what a scary episode. We didn’t know Linda and Malcom, but the cruising community is truly like a family. Even when you don’t know the people, you feel a close attachment. So our thoughts are with Linda and her family as they deal with this truly horrible situation.
by Judy Handley | Mar 24, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 153, Year 4 The Two Step-Two Steps Forward, Two Back
Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Weather: Beautiful Morning; Mid-Afternoon Torrential Rain; Still Raining
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
One of my wishes for today happened. The mast and boom did get painted early this morning which was definitely a step forward, but by mid-afternoon the Thai heavens opened once again and we had the biggest deluge we have seen yet. When it rains here, it really rains. So mast and boom are painted, but we will just have to wait until morning to see if the painting survived the rains.
I did not get my wish that all bronze and stainless would be cleaned by the end of the day, so that little battle will continue tomorrow. Muzza came this morning to measure for our bimini cover, but the tent covering Windbird was too low to get the framework in place for the measurement. That was a step backward. Later in the day Luck and crew found a way to raise the tent. So I guess that is step forward. Muzza will come tomorrow to make those measurements. We installed our new dinghy motor mount which was a step forward. We asked Luck and crew to come help us carry the motor from the aft head where it has been stored. They got it on deck and we used the new motor lift on the arch to try and put it in place. Then we discovered all sorts of problems. The new lift is not high enough to allow us to raise the motor and get it mounted, the location of the new dinghy mount is too close to the dinghy when it is raised on the davits, and on and on and on. So I guess the step forward is that we discovered these problems now, but the step backward is that we need to have Nop’s team come and redo the dinghy motor hoist. And we will have to find a new place to mount the dinghy motor-further away from the dinghy when it is raised on the davits.
So it was quite an interesting day. We made some progress; we made some steps backward. But we are still hopeful that all can be ‘readjusted’ to make things right. We have been working here on the hard for fifty-five days with no break. We have either been doing boat work, working in the apartment on editing and posting photos, or shopping when we had a vehicle. We have enjoyed everyday but we both must admit that is getting a bit tiring. We are ready to be back in the water and sailing. But we must be patient. In no more than two weeks, we should be back in the water and headed for Langkawi. So we are in the home stretch.
by Judy Handley | Mar 23, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 152, Year 4 Still Battling with the Weather
Date: Monday, March 23, 2009
Weather: Off and On Torrential Rain Mixed with Sunshine
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
We are still in a battle with the weather. The rains that should have arrived in April arrived one month early this year. This morning the sky was clear and everything looked perfect for painting, but by noon the heavens decided to open up with another dose of torrential rain and lots of thunder. During the morning Luck and crew had worked hard to build a rain proof tent for the mast and boom. And inside the rainproof tent they built an inner plastic tent. They did not proceed with painting
today, but they are fully ready to go tomorrow morning. Oh came by this afternoon and he says they will paint tomorrow morning and by Thursday afternoon we can start reassembling the mast. So here’s hoping that will really happen.
I am having a real battle with the bronze ports and the stainless on deck. I cleaned all of the stainless while in Langkawi in December but there are rust spots again that must be polished. And the bronze work is very intensive-lots of hand sanding, and then more hand sanding. But progress is being made and we will get there. Maybe tomorrow will be a breakthrough day with mast and boom painted and all stainless and bronze cleaning completed. That is a terribly optimistic outlook but one that
I would like to achieve.
by Judy Handley | Mar 22, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 151, Year 4: The Weather is Winning
Date: Sunday, March 22, 2009
Weather: Off and On Torrential Rain Mixed with Sunshine
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
No painting on Friday. No painting on Saturday. No one working on Sunday, but even if they were there would have been no painting. So we are now in a battle with the weather. The weather report calls for rain through Friday. If that holds and the mast and boom can’t be painted until Saturday that puts us a full week behind. If that ends up to be the case, there is no possible way we could be ready to leave here for at least a week after that-and that is being VERY optimistic. And if that does
end up to be the case, we might be able to leave here on April 7 with the favorable tides and still get to Langkawi in time to secure the boat and fly out of Penang on the 16th of April. So we are in a holding pattern and just hoping for a weather miracle. We are looking into alternatives, like keeping the boat here, but that would cost us $150 US more per month while we are gone for eight months and that ends up to pricey. We have thought of everything from trying to build a truly weather proof
tent around the mast and boom and paint it even if it is raining, but when the rains come here, they really pour and there is nothing that is totally weather proof.
So in the meantime, we are finding plenty to do. Mark is working on the wiring of the solar panels, lights, and wind generator now mounted on the new arch. I polished the Monitor wind vane steering today. We have taken this off the back of Windbird and don’t plan to put it back, but we do want to try to sell it in Langkawi. If that doesn’t work, we will transport it all the way to the US. It is a huge hunk of stainless weighing about fifty pounds total, but Mark has taken it apart to make it
possible to stow it in the v-berth. I also washed down all the stays that have been wrapped up for the past few weeks. I wanted to make sure moisture had not been trapped in the wrapping and caused any rusting, but all wires looked great. Then I continued my battle with the bronze ports. It is a long, messy process sanding off all the green and trying to get the shiny bronze look back. I have the removable parts here at the apartment and work on them in the evenings. I am really questioning
my sanity in feeling the necessity to do this, but I am determined and will get the job done some time this week.
So we will just keep working away and hoping that things work our. Send us your most positive thoughts for sunny, rain-free weather. We need a little help from our friends to turn this weather game around to be in our favor.
by Judy Handley | Mar 21, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 150, Year 4: Waiting for the Weather
Date: Saturday, March 21, 2009
Weather: Rain Overnight and Off and On All Day
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
The good news for today is that the additional bracing on the arch is welded in place. It looks great and the arch is much stronger as a result. The bad news is that the rain just didn’t let up today. There were no periods of sunshine, so the mast and boom didn’t get painted. This means we won’t be able to start reassembling the mast on Monday, so our timeline is being pushed forward. We are not yet in panic mode, but we are getting close. Only Luck and Pong were working today and there wasn’t
a lot to do. It rained overnight and the skies never cleared. There was thunder in the morning and rain off and on all day, but not one bit of sunshine. So Mark and I focused on projects on deck while Luck did things like polishing the prop and cleaning the dinghy and moving it to the back of the boat so we could raise it on our new dinghy davits. We couldn’t do this until the very end of the work day when Nop’s crew finished the arch, but it was exciting to be able to raise the dinghy and see
how that is going to work for us. The other jobs that we tackled today included putting up ceiling panels in the boat, sanding away at the bronze ports to get rid of the layers and layers of green, and once the welding on the arch was done Mark was able to get the wiring run from the wind generator and solar panels down to the deck. For the first time, the work is starting to wear a bit as it just keeps going on and on. But there is light at the end of the tunnel.
We just talked to Jean and Ken on Renaissance 2000 via Skype. They are in the southern most part of the Maldives off the southern coast of India. We could not believe it when we saw them pop up on Skype. We had no idea there was any wireless internet in the Indian Ocean, but now we know there is in at least one location. How fantastic! The inter-connectedness of the world is making it smaller and smaller all the time.
by Judy Handley | Mar 20, 2009 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand Refit |
Day 159, Year 4: A Little Help from Some Thai Friends
Date: Friday, March 20, 2009
Weather: Storms Overnight; Overcast Morning; Sunny Late Afternoon
Location: Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket Island
Our newest Thai friend and hero of the day is Beei (bee-ah), Oh’s significant other and business manager. She had written a letter for us to take to Immigration. Oh delivered the letter by 10 am and we took off in a taxi to Phuket Town. When we arrived at the Immigration office the captain said we could have our two-week extension but would need to get the letter rewritten. Beei had addressed it to Customs instead of Immigration. So we got back in the taxi and headed for Boat Lagoon. We called
Oh on the way and he said he would have Beei fix the letter and bring it to us at the Boat Lagoon in an hour’s time. She and Oh live near Yacht Haven on the north side of Phuket, so it is at least a 45 minute drive down to the Boat Lagoon. But she did arrive with the new letter and she insisted on taking us to Immigration, another 40 minutes south of here. If there was something wrong with the new letter, she wanted to understand first hand so she could take care of the problem. Thank goodness
she went with us as we ran into difficulties and it was tremendously helpful to have someone with us who could speak and understand Thai. The captain said everything was in order and we could have the two week extension. She then sent us to another desk to be processed. This is when the problems started. We ended up at the desk of the same gentleman who had told us we could only have seven days when we were there on Wednesday. Well, he said the same thing again. Beei talked to him and got nowhere,
but then the captain, who happens to be a woman, came over and tried to set things straight. There was quite a heated discussion, but in the end the captain won out and said we would get the two week extension. But we still had to have things processed through this man who had now ‘lost face’ as Beei said, and he was not a happy camper. He found little things wrong with how other Thai officials had stapled our departure card in our passports, so he unstapled and relocated them and then sent Beei
to get new photo copies of these pages. This nonsense went on for about an hour with Beei being sent to get more and more copies of things. At one point Mark reached over to take back the copies of our passport departure card that we had brought with us and the sergeant actually slapped his hand down on the paper letting Mark know that he want not to touch anything. In the end, we did end up getting a two week extension, but it was from today’s date, not Monday’s date when our original Visa expires.
This means we need to be out of here by April 3. Actually if we don’t leave by April 1 at the very latest, we cannot get out until April 7 because of the tides. But basically we think we have a workable solution but I’m not sure we would have if we hadn’t had Beei running interference for us. So a huge thanks to our newest Thai friend.
When we got back to Windbird, it was almost 4 pm. It was now totally sunny and beautiful, but at the time the crew had to make a decision about doing the final coats of paint on the mast and boom, it was still cloudy. So a decision had been made not to do the final mast and boom painting today, and Luck and Lok were on the cabin top cleaning up the overflow of caulk from installing the hatches. Mark had spent two hours in the early morning just trying to clean one hatch and when Oh came to the
deliver the letter at 10 am we could tell he was not quite pleased with that clean-up. He really is a perfectionist, so we assume he told the crew to finish off the job for us so things would meet his approval. Mark was absolutely delighted as he had found the clean-up process just too tedious. So the assistance from Oh’s crew was our second Thai friend help of the day experience.
We worked on the boat once Beei brought us back from Immigration, but it was late in the day and we didn’t get much done. I’m working on cleaning up the four bronze ports and Mark is working on preparation for the mast to be stepped. All of this will continue tomorrow, but at least we have our weekend and don’t have to travel to Burma. Right now, that extra time seems like a real gift.
And now I must mention my contact with our apartment floor last night. I was dutifully doing my daily exercises with my faithful ab slider. This is a little roller mechanism that I have been using for five years now to help strengthen my abdominal muscles that in turn strengthen my lower back. Last night while I was doing my daily 40 slides something happened which I can’t explain and suddenly I was face to face with our hard tile floor. My nose was smashed as well as my front teeth. There was
unbelievable bleeding but finally things were under control. I’m hoping that my front teeth were just jarred but not actually damaged. My nose does not appear to be broken but it is very tender to the touch. And I have this huge scar on my nose where my glasses slid with the fall. What a stupid accident. But obviously these things happen and I just hope there are no further complications.
