January 19, 2008-Another night in a lonely anchorage.

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View from Ao Labu

After a couple weeks of resting up in Yacht Haven Marina in Phuket we got restless and bored so we cast off the lines and left the marina and had a good upwind sail out the channel in puffy conditions sailing against Baker Street who was leaving at the same time and I have to say we beat them, then they broke off and sailing by ourselves we crossed to Yao Yai Island and found a place called Labu Bay with good holding and protection from the prevailing easterly winds and a bit of cover from the SW as well and dropped the hook in 16 feet.

We are now out here in these islands being hermits. Total relaxation is the nirvana we seek and we can get closer to it where the boat is anchored tonight: no people, no other boats, a few lights ashore but not many. Just us and the wind and the sky and the stars and a good bottle of Lindeman's wine from Oz and some music on the stereo and I am trying for the umpteenth time to get a handle on Einstein's special theory. That tells you that I have some time on my hands. For exercise we swim laps around the boat in the afternoon.

There might be a job happening in Bangkok but it seems to be stalled, so we've moved on, so to speak. I've got my radio email working now and the phone gets a signal if I keep it on deck so I do that and I'm still in touch with world if the world wants to get in touch with us, but as I say, we're not holding our breaths.

Randy and Laura on Pollen Path are leaving for the Andaman Islands, which are Indian territory, with some other boats and we feel like we could have been doing that, but it was too much to get organized for this season so we just wish them "bon voyage" and look for some reports from them later which we can use next year.

Tonight I watch as the wind shifts back to the east from the afternoon SW sea breeze and kicks up to 20 knots; Judy goes on deck to see that everything is secure. She reports some lightning but no ominous clouds and we are not too worried but she takes the awning down anyhow and we might set the GPS anchor watch.

Seems like we've been here before, and it's good.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Koh Yao Yai, Thailand

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Jan 12, 2008-Pierre's King's Cup Slideshow

On Stage

Pierre has put together a great slide show of our King's Cup campaign and you can click here to see it on his Spaces site.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Phuket

Jan 08, 2008-Back at Yacht Haven-A Full Circle

wingssail image-fredrick roswold
Scene from a cruise: Phi Phi Lei

We are back where we started at Yacht Haven after completing our cruise of Phuket area. It was eleven days and eight stops but the whirlwind tour was worth it, we were able to share with our granddaughter Candace a little of the sailing life, and a lot of the local scenery.

The first day out, in Phang Nga Bay we stopped at Koh Hong for a night, then the next day we traveled to beautiful Ton Sai Bay at Phi Phi Don Island and stayed there for Christmas.

Phi Phi was stunning (see the photos here). After Phi Phi we sailed direct for Kuah Town, Langkawi, Malaysia and arrived there after a 20 hour overnight sail. Three days in Kuah got us some sightseeing, some shopping for duty free liquor, and new passport stamps for Thailand.

After Kuah we headed up to Telaga Harbor, which is a delightful place, we certainly want to go back, and spent one night there, departing for Phuket the next day at noon. This time we visited Butang Islands on our way and after another overnight sail we dropped anchor at Patong Bay, Phuket Island, at 13:00, New Year’s Eve, just in time to see the famous Patong Bay New Year’s celebration. It was fantastic. Then three days of wonderful sailing: first a fast, short, reach to Naiharn Bay, then a glorious beat around Cape Promthep to Chalong when good wind and flat water allowed us to put real miles behind us in a short time, and finally a long but ultimately successful 30 mile beat back to Yacht Haven on the last day. On this leg our start was delayed by engine trouble but we made the 30 miles upwind in 5.5 hours and arrived at Yacht Have by our scheduled ETA of 18:00, completing the circle.

This cruise with Candace aboard culminates two months of full-on activity. I don’t think we have had a quiet day to ourselves with nothing to do since October 28 when we left Bangkok. It has been fun and rewarding but exhausting. Now we are going to chill out for a few days in Yacht Haven.

After that? Who Knows?

Click here to go to the January Archive of wingssail-images to see over 40 photos of this cruise.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Phuket, Thailand

Jan 1, 2008-Nai Harn Bay

wingssail image-fredrick roswold
New Year's Eve, Patong Bay

After a night of fireworks and festivities at Patong Beach to see out 2007 we sailed to Nai Harn Bay today in a fresh NE wind. It was a fast sail down the coast from Patong under #4 and full main and we beat the Tayanna 55 and a couple of other boats which left Patong at the same time.

First we stayed out from the coast and got better breeze.

Then we sailed the boat, meaning that in the gusty conditions we constantly played the sheets and kept the sails trimmed and the boat moving well at all times.

Finally we used Wings' to its best advantage and let her rip to weather in the heavy gusts when the wind went forw'd.

It felt good.

After beating up into Nai Harn Bay we anchored and with the wind gusting still we set the anchor carefully before going ashore.

Ashore we found some typical tourist entertainment: T-shirts $3.00. Good, bought a few.

Dinner $30 for three of us including wine. Good, had a nice meal.

Desert at the fancy resort for $60. Bad, pass on that.

Back on board we drank some rum and had conversation in the cockpit.

Finally, I slipped on the ladder and spilt my rum. Careful Grandpa!

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Nai Harn Bay, Thailand

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