Chasamba – Travels Across The Seas » 2009

2009- From Cochin to Phuket

Filed December 31, 2009 at 6:41 am under by Administrator

It’s the last day of a good year, one in which we did all we hoped we would and experienced nearly only good experiences. After the difficulties of 2008, this year showed us the way life looks with the wind on the aft quarter! We have enjoyed every country we have visited, from Cochin, with its safe if mucky anchorage, to the Maldives where we were glad and surprised to be welcomed so warmly by wonderful people, Chagos where we met some of the most experienced cruisers in the world, Sri Lanka where we took part in their celebrations at the end of the long war, and finally Thailand, where we remembered what supermarkets look like ( and showers, and ice, and sun tan lotion, and toilet paper and..

In 2010 we will be on our way to Singapore, the Philippines and maybe Taiwan, although that is a little distant yet, the Philippines are huge and beautiful, according to what we have been told, so we will play it by ear. All we hope for is a year like this one was! We will see in the new year in Nai Harn, a well sheltered bay on the western side of Phuket. Most yachts have sailed round to Patong, only 5 miles or so away, to see the fireworks, but we really can’t be bothered- Patong is noisy at the best of times, and with over 100 yachts there it will probably be awful, with dingies buzzing all over the place, drunken parties and people being sick! Meanwhile we will have the sunset and full moon to ourselves in a tranquil empty bay.

One of the nicest experiences we had in Phuket was hauling out in the Asian-Phuket slipway, near Ratanachai. They were professional, pleasant and much cheaper than any haul out we have done in the past. We were hauled out on a cradle, a first time for us, and everything went smoothly, actually better than a travel lift, because there are less supports bothering the painting. There is a basic shower and clean toilets in the yard, and they have wifi although we didn’t manage to get it to work for some reason, anyway we were too busy and exhausted at the end of the day, as we did all the work by ourselves. We bought antifouling and topcoat locally- Thai paint is inexpensive and good. There is also a nice local restaurant with a really good cook just outside the slipway area, and we were sorry when it was time to leave!

above the anchorage in Nai Harn

Happy New Year from Sheva!

working in the yard

Chasamba looking pretty again ( and Oren!)

beware the demon scraper!

divers guide Chasamba into the cradle

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Angkor Wat and Alternators

Filed December 10, 2009 at 5:06 am under by Administrator

victory v!

People sometimes ask us whether we get bored not having anything to do. This just shows that many people do not have experience in trying to keep a sail boat working. It seems to me that we work much harder than we ever did, and have to learn new skills all the time. Take the example of our new alternator….

We were supposed to be going to Cambodia to renew our visas and to see Angkor Wat. A few days before we had to leave, a friend on another cruising boat passed along a tip on a good place to get a big alternator for a good price, and of course, we went right off and bought one- we have been starved of electricity just lately, with cloudy skies and often not much wind. Well, fine, we got the alternator, but it had a regulator which needed to be attached, and the fun started…we installed the alternator, with help from our friend, Bill, and tried to start the engine. No go. Unfortunately we had to leave for our flight, so Bill kindly said don’t worry, he would come over and fix it tomorrow. He was as good as his word, and got it fixed, unfortunately the switch preventing starting in gear had blown. Ok never mind… After 3 minutes running, the oil cooling housing blew up. Luckily Bill realised it wasn’t an electrical fault, and turned the engine off in time, then sent us an email explaining what had happened. Oren then spent the next week in Cambodia worrying about the engine…

We got back, and Oren took the housing to a workshop, where it fell into several smaller pieces, and he had to threaten them that he would sleep outside their shop until they fixed it. Got it back on to the engine, and put the engine on- no oil pressure. Why? The oil pressure warning switch had blown. Got it fixed, luckily Bill had a spare. Also got round to rewiring the instrument panel and discovered there was no proper ground wire…..But now everything is working ok, meanwhile, we learned quite a lot about electricity and have done a lot of improvements since- the 12v socket in the cockpit now works perfectly, the cockpit light works, there is a backup bilge pump alarm on the panel now, and Oren is now working on installing another bilge pump! So all’s well that ends well!

Cambodia was interesting, and Angkor Wat is well worth a visit, it is so big that the days we spent cycling round it were just a drop in the ocean. Cambodia is much poorer than Thailand, and there are still many ox-carts and oxen pulling ploughs. The main crop is rice, and rice paddies line most roads. At this time of year the rice is nearly ready, and looks like corn, tall fronds waving in the wind. Apparently this year there wasn’t enough rain, and the crop will be smaller than usual, but it is hard to tell where more rice could grow!