Nov. 18, 2009-Sailing to Phetra

On Wednesday we sailed from Lanta Flats to Ko Phetra.

Never mind the flat gray day or the rain spitting from the low lying clouds all day; the wind was constant if not steady, jib pulled like a horse, the windvane steered and it’s been a long time since we had a day of good sailing like that.

We needed it. Not fast the whole day but in the gusts we hit 7 and anyhow it felt good to be heeled over. We took turns on deck watching for fish traps and minding the vane and we ducked behind the dodger to stay out of the rain while the other snoozed or read below. Easy; three watches, 35 miles, 6 hours.

Ket’s sails were perfect. The jib is going to open a whole new chapter of sailing: 6+ knots of boat speed in 7 knots of wind and it will carry the breeze up to 15 knots. The main is beautiful right out of the box. Thank You, Ket.

At 5:00 we eased into the lee of Koh Phetra and dropped the hook under another of Thailand’s tall limestone karsts.

And had a glass of wine.

A good day on SV Wings.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Koh Phetra, Thailand

PS, We'll post photos as soon as we get some high speed Internet