Jeff's Log ~ December 30th, 2007

There is not too much new in this part of the world. The other day I helped Keith take his sailboat to the boatyard to get his bottom done and his topsides refinished. I had to wait for him at the end of the pier in Chalong, not far from where I used to be moored. After standing and watching all of the people and boats come and go, and the amount of wakes and nasty colored water, I am now very glad to be where I am, even though I’m removed from civilization a bit. His mooring line had gotten between the rudder and the keel, and he had to dive on it to get it out.

There wasn’t much breeze, but we did sail for about an hour before we ran the engine. We took the boat to a slipway in Phuket Town on the shore of a very foul smelling river. The efficiency with which the lifting crew worked was amazing. I really felt sorry for the guys who did the underwater work. Their breathing apparatus was a hose from a regular air compressor plugged into a hole in a mask. There were no filters of any kind for oil, or anything. Then they make their meager living by working in that nasty water all day. But they did a fine job, and the time from when we pulled into the slipway, until the boat was out and secured was no more than thirty minutes. The yard is busy with boats of all types and small ships. Watching the workers reminded me of an ant colony. Everybody knows their job, and does it with a minimum of supervision, and when something large needs to be moved, they all swarm and complete the move and return to their jobs as if nothing happened. I could have stayed and enjoyed watching the goings on, but we did have to taxi back to Chalong.

In Chalong, I naturally had to stop at the Coconut Bar for a couple of Tigers while Keith went to shower and cleanup. When he returned, we went down to the Ao Chalong Yacht Club for dinner. I met some more sailors there. It was happy hour, so the place was full. As soon as happy hour was over, the place emptied out. Sailors, the cheapest people to walk the face of the earth! The food was very good, and if you’re interested Steve, I had a seafood fried rice that had tender, tasty squid, mussels, and fish in it and I added that chili pepper vinegar sauce that always gets served on the side in the little tea pot looking thing. It was yummy. I also got a polo shirt with the club burgee on the pocket. All they had was large. It actually fits now, I hope that it doesn’t shrink too badly when washed.

After dinner, we hung around for a while and played pool. They have a regulation pool table that plays very well. After about ten games, of which I actually won two, we called it a night and Keith took me back to the boat. The boat has been getting a good deal of my time. I try to fix and clean a little every day, and she is beginning to sparkle. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m using a brush to polish the rust out of the welds on the stanchions for the life lines. When done, they really look good. I had a bilge pump switch fail, and that is a pain in the butt. All in all, everything here in Thailand is good. I really wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Jeff's Log ~ December 25th, 2007

Tuesday, December 25, 2007, Christmas Day

Today is Christmas. The time is flying by here in Thailand. It’s a very warm, pleasantly breezy day today, and the beach is very crowded. I went to Chalong yesterday afternoon. I went to my internet place and put Clara’s Christmas gift in the mail. I am not going to tell what it is, you will all have to wait till she gets it. At this point, Let me wish all of my friends and family a merry Christmas. I miss you all, and that gets a little stronger during the holidays.

I was planning to go for Christmas dinner at a little restaurant here in the bay, but Keith, one of the race crew, told me about a freebie that he was attending right up the street from Coconut Bar. Well, I guess I must be turning into a real sailor because that word FREE sounded pretty good to me. I met him there at about 7:30 and there already was a buffet going on I ordered a beer and made my way to my favorite….food. It wasn’t a traditional Christmas dinner, but it was mostly western food. There was great barbequed chicken, and a sliced pork loin in gravy, mashed potatoes, salad and some great barbequed fish. I met a few other sailors there, and we all had a pretty good time. They had a band outside, and actually sang a couple of good ol’ American Christmas carols. I got myself a souvenir hat. We took some pictures with the waitress and my hat. She thought we were a little daffy, but that’s ok, because we were. I went back to Coconut’s after and had a nightcap before returning to the boat.

The wheels on the back of the dingy make a huge difference in the amount of work necessary to beach and launch the dingy. They are low enough to enable me to motor almost all of the way in. The prop is just protected and held up out of harms way. The skeg is in the sand, but that’s not so serious. When I have to stop the motor, there is only about eight inches of water that I step into, and I can drag it up fairly easily, even at low tide.

I received a merry Christmas e-mail from the boss and he gave me a generous Christmas bonus. I thought that was really nice. It was also completely unexpected. Clara had also sent pictures from my Big Brother’s visit. Becky, it was good to see that you treated him just like you do me! Love ya!

I’ve been watching the weather in Wisconsin, and it looks like they should have had a cold, white, Christmas. Chrissy is visiting Clara from North Carolina, and she and the girls will be making her annual Christmas fudge. If any of you have a chance, try some. It of course is low calorie, low sugar and low fat, NOT!

Today, I decided I would just relax and hang out on the boat, and was pleasantly surprised by a couple of dingies full of complete strangers that stopped to wish me a merry Christmas just because of the American flag flying on the transom. They all said that it was good to see a properly sized flag, instead of the little ones that most people fly. That made me feel a bit warm and fuzzy.

A few days ago, it rained and the air behind the rainstorm was very cool. The hills surrounding the bay were steaming and making their own clouds. That was a first for me, and now I really understand “rainforest” I sent a couple pics of that. I only hope that you can see it when the pics are shrunk.