Mental break? Shooting the breeze

I’ve got a mate who has been building a couple of ‘high-end’ holiday villas on a few rai of waterfront land. He lives on the southern end of Koh Lanta Yai (east of Phi Phi), down south in the Krabi region. He'd been trying to get me to come and check his project out for months now, but when he mentioned that he could use a hand putting his boat in the water, I saw the opportunity for a bit of R & R.
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/001.jpg
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/003.jpg
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/004.jpg
Self contained, western kitchen with big rooms. Nice to look around, but I wanted to get out sailing

nice one, is it right on the beach?

Nice location with great views, still more work inside and outside to be done yet...... i.e money, money, money

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/005.jpg

Upstairs B.B.Q and sundeck area with washroom and private pool. Work in progress.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/002.jpg

View of the neighbours above

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/006.jpg

This is what I was looking for. No sandy beaches on this west coast of Lanta, but only a stones throw to a deserted island with all the beach to yourself

Very nice. :)

Plenty of wind as we loaded on a few cold ones and took off. THis Tri- is 24 foot and grabs any gust of wind.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/007.jpg

I'm a novice sailor so I just took orders, like "get me another beer"

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/009.jpg

Great feeling moving with the wind.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/010.jpg

Smooth sailing in great weather around the islands....... then I checked out the sky behind us. There was a big storm chasing us

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/008.jpg

Skipper seems to not give a rats about the pursuing storm.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/011.jpg

Sailed around heaps of island outcrops.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/012.jpg

We swam into this cave. It oppened out ito a huge caven. It had fresh running water and it looked as if the local fishermen stayed there prob. in big seas and bad weather. Pity my camera is not waterproof.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/013.jpg

Not far from the cave was this great little beach. Perfect little cove for an overnight beach party.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/015.jpg

Change in the weather and the squall is starting to hit us

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/014.jpg

This long-tail fistherman went by and called out to us to head back as there was a big storm coming. No Way. We go storm chasing.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/016.jpg

The swell was picking up as we headed for open seas and black skies. This boat of his gave instant response when the gusts began to hit. Made it near impossible to hold onto a beer.

Nice thread. Green on the way. Maybe it should be in the construction forum?

Never saw a boat like that before, looks nice tho.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/017.jpg

Starting to put on some speed as I hang on and try to take a photo. This pontoon thing I'm sitting on is about 1/2 meter out of the water

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/018.jpg

Heading out towars the action we came across these Gypsum tankers.
https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/018.jpg

Tugs drag a whole string off full barge's to the motherships

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/023.jpg

Not sure what that made of the crazy farang headin into big winds

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/022.jpg

A bit of fishing off the back for dinner

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/021.jpg

Local 'Off Shore' work for the boys. A bloke was telling me that they stay out here for long periods filling the tankers, and that on days off they bring out a boat load of lass's for recreational purposes. Makes sense to me

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/024.jpg

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/025.jpg

Here we come. Picture doesn't show it but we are moving........ straight at that squall in front. Like I said earlier I'm only a weekend sailor but we had three storm fronts around us and this boat loved the conditions.

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/026.jpg

The yank mate is telling me we are doing about 14-15 knots at this stage as I hang on. That righthand pontoon is in the air like a wing, while the left hand side is like a sub-marine. The design of the boat gave you some sense of security as you felt you would not tip over, even at the speeds we were hitting

I put the camera away for the next couple of hours as we ran through a couple of strong stormfronts. It was a blast I can tell you, when instantly there is an increase in the swell size and the rain is driving down on you.

Coming back in on the edge of the front

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/027.jpg

We ran into another sqaul about 3/4 of the way home, so we spun around and spent another hour out amongst it. I tell you its a buzz, and its still legal

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/028.jpg

Coming in after a great day out. No a bad spread he's got. I think I wouldn't get much work done on the villas if I knew this was sitting un-used out the front

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/030.jpg

Marvelous. Thanks

Wonderful pictures, I'm dead envious of your mate, but as for squalls, not really, looking at the appearance of the waves I would say you had a windspeed of about 6 to 7 knots, enough to make a multi hull move along sharply enough.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by isdatu

https://teakdoor.com/Gallery/albums/u.../26433/028.jpg

---

Nice in Western style, but looks like farang circling the wagons in hostile native territory. Bet everyone shops at air-con Foodland, too.:)

Very nice story & pics... Have a green on me...

multihull sailing - marvelous

24 ft is about the biggest trailerable tri

can't see any swell in your pics at all though :D

Sunset views must be fabulous!!