Jeffs Log ~ Monday, March 25th 2008

6 33.42N 99 15.548E Ko Rawi, Thailand

We had a great sail today. It was the first time since the King’s Cup Regatta that Pipe Dream has sailed. It was a very nice day with the wind picking up to 10 to 13 knots. We sailed on a close reach for about 45 miles. An easy 7.5 knots, sometimes, if the effort was made by me, we hit almost 9 knots on 12knots of breeze. When we reached our destination for the day, Ko Rawi, we picked up a mooring ball, put up the awning, and put the dink in the water. Scott, Mark and I make a fine team, and the work was done in short order. This area is all national park, and the islands are heavily wooded with sloping landscapes instead of sheer cliffs. We went ashore to look around at the ranger station. There they have posters explaining about the area, and we learned that on the island next door there is a waterfall and a trail to hike up to the top of the mountain. Scott decided that we will hang around here for a day or two to take in some more of the sights. When Mark and I returned to the boat, Scott had it all cooled down with the air conditioning. It was a perfect time for a siesta.

After waking from a refreshing nap, I did a little more straightening up and cleaning, and then joined Mark out in the cockpit for a cold beer. We could not find tiger beer in cans, so we have Singa beer on the boat. The refrigerator is working well, and the beer was ice cold. Mark decided to go for a swim with a heavy current blasting through the channel, so I kept my eye on him. Scott got us new Fujinon stabilized binoculars, and keeping an eye on Mark taught me how to use them in short order.

This trip has been very different from the previous journey. Scott is very relaxed and we are traveling slowly and enjoying the stops and scenery. There is no gourmet chef on board, so we are eating “man food”. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are not uncommon. Mark is a pretty good boat cook, so I just keep my mouth shut and enjoy. He and I work well together and we have been attacking the generator fuel lines together as air in the fuel has become the main issue on the boat. Someone before used Teflon tape to seal all of the fittings, and that is a big no-no with diesel fuel. As we fix fittings, we are also replacing the rubber lines that join the tanks