New Year was very quiet. Basically slept after the trip back from work. After people surfaced on the 2nd and the shops opened I started to get some supplies together for the trip up to Phuket. Must work on a basic shopping list that suits a 'veggy'. Spoke to Rob at YachtPro and arranged for Mit to come down and help me handle PP. Not ready for the single handed stuff yet.
Jan 5th: Mit left YH Phuket for Satun and the last ferry but the bus timing was out. This meant he missed the last ferry to Kuah and had to over night. Worth noting that the ferry times at Satun are given referenced to Malaysia and not Thailand for some reason. So need to remember the 1 hour time difference next time.
Jan 6th: Picked Mit up from Kuah ferry terminal just before midday, finished off the last of the shopping for provisions and spent the PM checking the boat out and deciding on the route. Rebak-Telaga (check out Malaysia)- Ko Tarutao -Ko Rok Nok- Ko Phi-Phi Don- AoChalong ( check in Thailand) - and up to YH.
Jan 7th: 0700Hrs: Wake up- ThiChi and shower, wake Mit up at 0800 then stock up with Ice and last minute stuff. Check out of Rebak at 1000hrs heading for Telaga. Motored out and as soon as we cleared Rebak hoisted Mizzen and Jib. Finally get Pollen Path under sail and it's a great feeling. Sailed to within 1nm of Telaga Habour and then motored in to the anchorage and picked up a mooring bouy at 1230hrs. Took the dingy in to the habour and found every thing closed for lunch, no suprise there really , so we ate as well then tried the offices again….. Immigration was open but both Customs and the Habour Master were still closed at 1300hrs and by 1400hrs we gave up on waiting any longer and took a taxi to Kuah habour where we checked out from Malaysia…. I had heard Telaga office could be a bit unpredictable and next time I'll do it the day before in Kuah. It was 1630hrs before we were back at Telaga and at 1645hrs we were of the bouy and motored out of the anchorage…. Hoisted the Mizzen and Jib at 16:50 hrs, once more under sail heading for Ko Tarutao. We had planned to spend the night in anchorage at the noth end but due to the late start decided to anchor in a small bay used by fishermen on the southern end of the island….At 1730hrs we hoisted the main and enjoyed some slow ( 2 to 3kt) sailing for an hour. At 1845hrs dropped the sails and motored the rest of the way in to south Tarutoa dropping anchor in 10m of water at 2000hrs. Shared the anchoarage with 3 Thai fisihing boats. uneventfull night.
Jan 8th: 0630; wake up and breakfast. Wake Mit slowly with Coffee. he really likes his sleep lol. Up anchor at 0715hrs. First time I used the hand winch. A bit difficult but it works ok. A decent wind in the morning from the North East so got some good sailing on using the Mizzen and Jib. She sails well with out the main and we only put that up later in the morning when the wind started to drop. By 1330hrs the wind had died completly with not a breath of air. The sea was grey and flat, like molten lead, a slowly undulating mass of grey hi-lites and low-lites , reflections of the hot hazy sky which was faintly blue with thin whispy white and lightgrey clouds spread from horizen to horizen like a blanket overhead, really quite oppressive. We dropped the sails and motored on towards Ko Rok Nok. By 1700hrs the wind had started to freashen so we hoisted the sails again and started to make good time, 4 to 5 kts. Due to anchoring at the south of Tarutoa instead of the planned northerly mooring it was a long leg to Rok Nok and it was obvious we were going to get there late. As the evening went on the wind got stronger and stronger, in the end we were making 5 kts' with just the Mizzen and half the Jib. We had dropped the Main earlier. Not sure what the wind speed was but the gust were very strong. I really need to get a hand held wind indicator. We finally dropped anchor at Ko Rok Nok at 2321hrs after a very tiring but exhilarating day. A humbling experience all in all as I realized , once again, how little I know about sailing.
Jan 9th: 0810hrs- woke up. Didn't watse any time and had the anchor up by 0820 and started to motor on to Ko PhiPhi Don while we had breakfast. Once we broke fast hosited the Mizzen and Jib ( coming to be my sail pattern of choice) and continued on a heading of 310Deg making 3.5 kts. The wind was coming over the stb aft so decided to try the Mainsail as well so hoisted that at 0915hrs. The Main caught the wind ok but the boat wanted to heel over a lot. I was not sure how to deal with that so at 1000hrs we dropped the main. She flattend out again and, apart from an hour or so midday when the wind tends to drop right down ,we made good time, getting up to 4.3kts for most of the afternoon.
We arrived at PhiPhi by 1900hrs and motored in the last 3nm to pick up a mooring bouy in the anchorage. Spent the evening ashore, nice meal and a cold beer went down well. Could of done with a shower though and need to work out how to use the solar shower asap.
Jan 10th: 0800hrs, Up, Wake Mit with coffee. off the mooring by 0830hrs and motor out of PhiPhi. The Wind is from the NE again as we head to Ao Chalong on a heading of 284Deg. At 0900hrs we were making 3.5 to 4 kts. The wind picked up slightly thru the morning and by 1100hrs we were making 4.8 to 5.3 kts. At 1141 the wind dropped slightly so we hoisted the main on 1 Reef and that helped maintain a steady 5 kts. By 1230hrs though the mid day doldrums were setting in and the wind had dropped a lot. At 1245hrs we dropped the main sail and started the motor. With the Mizzen and Jib we still managed 4 kts as we headed in to Ao Chalong and booking in to Thailand. We dropped Anchor at 1430hrs and got to the immigration just before 3pm ( which is when they close) so we got booked in OK. Decided to spend the night in Ao Chalong. Mit went home for the night and I stayed in a cheap hotel for a shower which was most welcome.
Jan 11th: Mit woke me at 0730 ( pleasent change LOl) and straight out to the boat. Up anchor at 0745 and Motor out of Ao Chalong to the safe water mark. Nice wind from the north so hoisted the sails. made 3 or 4 tacks but it was hard work trying to head north. So we made the decision to drop the sails and motor to YH. We arrived in the YH Marina at 1630hrs. All in all a great trip up from Langkawi and my first true sailing on Pollen Path.
Tomorrow I need to contact the wood worked and the electrician about the modifications on PP. Tonight I'm going to relax and have a few beers.
Jan 12 to Jan 27th: Stayed in YH. Woodwork got done OK but the Electrical work will take a lot longer. Tomsak can not start untill Feb so on the 27th I headed back to Malaysia and then on to Dubai and work.