Be concerned, not worried....the Thailand sailing begins

 Good afternoon from my flying desk at Nixon Street boarding house. I'm going to be expelled for fowl language (talking about chooks, ducks, geese etc), so have determined on a week sailing in Thailand, and want to share the story as it unfolds.

So, begin with: Mark Bayles invited me to join the crew, imposing no serious qualifications, just 'be yourself' he said. 

The Yacht: a 60' sailing racing yacht - Aftershock

I've told Baylesy that I'm incapable of learning new tricks, so putting anything like this blue sail up, whether called isometric or spinnaker or somesuch, is out of bounds. Prepared to learn, but not compelled.

Two steering wheels: so if one person wants to go to windward, we can, whilst another might say 'strike out to the lee side' and we can do that at the same time! Genius

Temperate in the gulf of Thailand, island Koh Samui, where each day we will be spending equal time in the water as in the bar - will be about 38 degrees C, so all the gear required is to shelter from sun, and keep relatively cool. 

Candidly, I'm pretty excited. I've bought a knee guard to avoid hurting certain parts of my body, and look forward very much to breaking through 10 knots in the seas, and hurtling around other yachts - without any responsibility personally to fix any damage.

I've booked into a resort, along with most of the crew by the sound of it, just minutes from the yacht club. I think the name of the resort is 'Chewang' - say that once or twice and get your tongue around it. Sorry, it is Chawang Cove Beach Resort: see: Chaweng Cove Resotel - Guest Reservations

That's it for now. Must go and pack my socks and undies. I depart next Wednesday morning, 22 May 2024 Hobart to Jim Paltos's place in Melbourne for the afternoon, then back to the airport for the night flight to Bangkok, then a short hop plane to the island - Koh Samui, my destination for the following week.

Your correspondent: PAK