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!!