Christmas Card-2008

News from Wings :

We are living and working in Thailand. Judy has an audio transcription business she runs from home (a condo in downtown Bangkok) and I work at IBM on a big banking project. For me this is the second Bangkok job and we've been here almost 2.5 years now. We kept the boat in Singapore for over a year and flew down there twice a month from Bangkok to go sailing. Since last November we have had the boat in Phuket and we now travel there about the same frequency to go sailing. We've been doing some racing in Phuket (more in Singapore) and local cruising and some boat projects.

We like our condo in Bangkok and our life in Thailand where the weather is good, the food spicy, prices are reasonable, and life is easy. We'd rather be touring Europe or something instead of working but since we have to work we're glad we have these jobs and this is a good place to do it. Sailing or boating of any kind is pretty much impossible in Bangkok so that's why we keep the boat elsewhere and Phuket is great.

We raced King's Cup in 2006 and won our class convincingly, sailed the Phang Nga Bay Regatta in 2007 and got 2nd, and we are planning to sail that one again this January and will try even harder. We've got new sails all around, a good crew, and we have taken off about 3000 lbs. Wings will be the lightest it's been since 1986 for this race. We are working hard to lower the rating; this is a process of continuous improvement.

Timeline is uncertain, but when our "work" is done we still have some cruising around Malaysia to do, then on westward. Europe, we will get there one day.

Please feel free to drop us an note and let us know what you are doing and where you are.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Thailand