Jeff's Log ~ February 3, 2008 7 57.458N 98 26.626E

Sunday,

Pipe Dream was scheduled to be hauled this morning. We got there right at high tide, and could not get in to the marina. We ran out of water about halfway up the channel. Then some of the speedboats that were going out made some huge wakes and put us pretty firmly aground. The marina sent a dingy with a couple of guys and we launched the dingy and added some line to the main halyard, and used the dingy to pull the mast over from the top to lessen the draft of the big boat. The marina dingy pushed the bow around while I pulled on the halyard. We were successful in getting her to deeper water. The tide tonight is half a meter higher, and we should be able to make it in tonight.

I am glad that my friend Keith was with me. He is a retired professional sailor who sailed big swans most of his career, so nothing really rattles him. We went in the lee of a cute little island called Ko-Rang Yai, which according to the chart is 64 meters high. It is two miles away from the inlet to boat lagoon.
Pulling up the anchor this morning was a very messy ordeal. The first ten or twelve feet of anchor rode was pretty well grown with barnacles and other sea creatures, and covered in green slime. I was thinking of my big sis Chris as we worked to not make too big a mess. She asked me to float some in a bowl and take a picture of it for her, but there was no time for that. She teaches biology at the local college. I’m sure before I leave Thailand I will be able to do that for her. (By the way, I’m referring to the green slime).

The process of launching the dingy when we ran aground was some hard work. Once the dingy is in the water, we tie it so that the rear of the dink is even with the rear of the big boat. Then the main halyard is used to lift the outboard motor off of the stern pulpit which is where it stays when not in use. The engine is a 25 horsepower Yamaha, and they tell me it weighs more than 40 kilos. When that got lowered to me in the dink, a large wave hit at the same time. With the big boat sitting on the bottom, the dingy went up and down, but the big boat did not, Things got a bit out of control for a bit, but we recovered with no injuries or damage, except for some black tire marks on the side of Pipe Dream from the dinks wheel rubbing on the paint. A good scrubbing will take that off.

After she was free, Keith headed back out to deep water quickly, and I could not keep up. In the process of everything that went on. I got quite a bit of water in the dink, and in the large waves, it was feeling pretty stern heavy. In the rush to launch, the bailing jug was not in the boat. I whistled and waved, and Keith slowed so that I could get it. Naturally while all of this was going on, the wind had come up, and so had the waves. By the time all was safe and I was back aboard Pipe Dream, I was pretty tired. Once we were safely anchored, we had some breakfast and then took a nap. We are in pretty close, and it really is a nice change to hear birds singing on shore. We had a visit from a small bird that really was pretty. It sat on the lifeline and sang for a bit. Remembering what happened with the birds in the red sea, I told Keith Get the gun, quick. We both chuckled a little over that.

Its 4:00 now and we started a trend. When we anchored here, we were the only boat around for miles. It’s such a peaceful spot, there are now six boats around us, and a couple of them look like they want to stay for a while. Can’t blame them, what’s not to like? As it turns out, those boats were all heading to boat lagoon too, they were just smarter than we were and arrived a day early. We would have done that, but Rukker’s birthday was Sunday night, and we had to be there for that. The marina attendants came out to meet us at 2030 as planned earlier, and came aboard to help pilot us in. The extra half meter of tide gave us safe water all the way in. It was still quite nerve wracking because some times on shore were bright lights shining over the water that blinded us. The Thai guys are in and out every day, though and know the channel by heart. After getting the boat tied up on a floating dock which was only a third of the boat’s length, Keith left for home, and I put the screens in my cabin port lights to keep the mosquitoes at bay, closed the door and went to sleep.

In the AM, the yard guys came to the boat about 7:30, and we went to the haul out slip and got Pipe Dream up and out of the water. I was very proud because when she came out, the bottom was nice and clean, except for a couple of spots. A couple of other sailors asked me why I was even bothering with the bottom at all. I told them I would rather haul out and do minor repairs here than have to go swimming regularly to clean the bottom in Alaska. Today is Wednesday, and the rudder is being repaired, the bottom is sanded all the way down the starboard side, and arrangements have been made to have the scrapes and nicks repaired on the topsides. I have also ordered a couple of things needed for the main engine.

Jeff's Log ~ Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

Today is a rather sad day for me. My taxi driver Jimmy was involved in a head on collision and is in the hospital. They did surgery today, and he is in the ICU. He is not only my driver; he has become a dear friend as well. I am thanking God that it happened after he dropped me off. I am also praying that he’ll be ok. There are angels watching over me I think. That was a near miss. The accident was Thursday night. We had been traveling around to the boat yards earlier in the day and stopped for a bite to eat and I had a few cocktails, he had a few beers. The car that hit him was a rental driven by an intoxicated “farang” who was driving on the wrong side of the road. I don’t know the condition of that guy.

Pipe Dream is coming out of the water on Monday, so I have been busy getting things put together for the sail over to boat lagoon. I can hardly wait to make her work again. Tomorrow morning, I will dive the bottom using the scuba gear so that the running gear is thoroughly cleaned. The propeller is a “Max-Prop” which is a feathering prop, and it doesn’t like to work properly if there is anything growing on it. I have not been in the water since I sliced my hand, so I’m sure there will be a bit of work to do. I’ve noticed little sergeant majors hanging out at the back of the boat. That’s a bad sign of barnacle growth. I remain amazed at how fast those creatures grow here. There is no antifouling paint on the shaft or prop.

Wishing a Happy Groundhog Day Birthday to Lori.. May you have many more.

I also got some very good news. Clara has finally received her passport from our speedy homeland security department. It only took three and a half months. She has put together a system of flights which is relatively inexpensive and is coming for a visit. That brightened my outlook. I can hardly wait till she gets here. It’s been months and months!!! While she is here, I think a trip to Bangkok to renew my passport will happen. She’ll be able to be my adventure partner. They say that renewals will take 24 hours. We’ll see.