Back to Thailand - posted from Yacht Haven, Phuket

At the end of July we headed up to Phuket to arrange some woodwork, painting and cleaning.

The trip, via Turatao, Ko Lanta and Phi Phi Don was uneventful - motoring all the way but one 25-knot squall on the way up to Ko Lanta - it was, of course on the nose.  A few problems arose with the new electronics but were reasonably easily resolved on arrival.  Anchorage notes will appear on the website in the fullness of time (there is a shortage of "Round To-its").

We checked into Ao Chalong - the new marina by the long pier (replacing the one that had been destroyed by weather) looks about a year from completion so there is a choice of taking the dinghy to the beach or using one of the landing stages on the pier used by tour boats.  We chose the latter.

After a day organising new phone and data access,  we headed up to Yacht Haven at the north of the island.  Still no wind but we got the tides right so made good time.

Our chosen contractors - Gig for woodwork and Oh for polishing and a small paint job could start the next week.

Rolly Tasker's sail loft (pictured Dec 2006)

When we were rigging the genoa before departure from Rebak we had noticed several splits.  These we had fixed with repair tape but it was clear that it had reached the end of its useful life and would probably not survive a "Sumatran" (SW squall) let alone a trip across the Indian Ocean.  We therefore headed to Rolly Tasker's sail loft and commissioned a new one.  We were disappointed that the sail (tape-drive cruising laminate) had given up the ghost after only 4 years but Rolly put us right on this - 1-2 years is common for this type of sail.  The new one will be polyester!