Tuesday, 12/4/07, Kata Bay, Thailand

Sunday, we moved Pipe Dream over to Kata Beach for the King’s Cup Regatta. Yesterday, we sailed the first race which was a cruising race from just off Kata beach, around the corner, and between two islands, around the safe water buoy for Ao Chalong, and back to the finish. The race distance was said to be thirty-one miles, as the crow flies. During the race, we broke a jib sheet, and lost a crewman overboard, who was recovered without any drastic maneuvers.
He had been out at the end of the whisker pole repairing a tangle. After completing what was necessary, he started correcting another minor issue that could have waited until the pole was back on deck, when his arms got tired, and…. SPLASH! He did catch a line, however and managed to hang on until I got a good hold of his wrist and dragged him up onto the transom platform and helped him back into the boat. There was a press boat right next to us during the swim and recovery, so maybe some pictures will show up in magazines or something. I must say that when he dropped to the water, he was ten or twelve feet in the air, and I would have to give him high marks for style. It did look really cool. He did lose his red Mount Gay hat from Key West race week though, and sailors hate when that happens.
The racing crew consists of Skipper Dave Brennan aka Grabber, his lovely wife Kendra, Cindy Suanders from Miami, who I have raced with before, Sean Brown, a yacht designer from Miami (and an excellent swimmer) Keith, who lives here in Chalong, Jerry who lives on the north end of Phuket Island, and myself.