Phuket Regatta

We made our way from Kanchanaburi to Phuket by overnight bus, (not a lot of fun unless you like feeling trussed up like a turkey and watching good US movies in very loud German). We found great accommodation in Rawaii Beach, close to the Regatta HQ called "Come In" . Some of the contents of our room were better suited to a scene from Max and Paddy (bouncy castle!). Quite coincidentally, on the night before the first race, we met a fellow competitor in the Come In bar. He was sailing a pink (yes really), 21ft boat called Oo La La. He had an all Thai crew that had never sailed until a couple of days prior to the first race. He and his team were the most energetic and enthusiastic guys you could ever meet. Really up for it! With a combined weight of about 200kgs between the five of them on board!
We arrived a couple of days early, so toured round for a day and spent a day practising on a brand new, 52 ft Catamaran called Mahayana. She was a beautiful boat with a great English owner/skipper called Josh. Unfortunately for us we were not part of the team that sailed with them through the rest of the regatta. This was just as well as they broke the bow sprit (or the pointy bit) on the first day and had to pull out of the racing. Our first day racing, we were to join a french skipper on a 48 ft catamaran called Chameray. The weather was lousy and so the skipper decided he wasn't racing. Cheese eating surrender monkeys heh?
So for the first day of racing, we joined yet another catamaran called Chameleon. More news of the racing and party below!
Pink is obviously "de riguer"in Phuket!
This is Chameleon. We sailed on her the first day and scored our first ever race win in ocean multi hull class. This was a hot crew, a hot boat and a great tactician! We spent the next few days trying to beat them and boy, did we come close!
This the boat we sailed on during days 2,3 and 4 - Out of the Bag.
As two boats in the class had pulled out (not due to us!), we were "match racing" Chameleon. The crew was composed of 4 ossies, one Brazilian (nick named wax) and us two pommies. From the book of excuses, on the first day we were on Out of the Bag , the crew broke a headsail and a spinnaker, so had to finish the course with only the mainsail. Up until this point we were neck and neck, with a record speed for us of 18.7 knots! Overnight, the sails were repaired and we started with a full set of sails on a very windy day. From the book of excuses, we had some issues with the steering, but still managed to hit another new record of 20 knots. What a wild ride - nothing at Alton Towers can compare! Big, seas, big winds and dodgy steering, life doesn't get much better! However, we finished second again. Overnight, the steering was repaired and we went into the final day of the regatta confidant of getting a win. We actually lost by one second in a race that took two hours to complete! Disappointing, but we'll be back for another go.

This is Oo La La - the pink, all Thai crew boat. There was a lot of support for this popular crew.
We looked for a picture of our crew at work, but only found one! Here they are, repairing the steering. Typically blokes, they used a hammer and drill!
The entertainment was absolutely top notch - fabulous food of all types and generous sponsors of wine, beer and whisky. However, it was really hard trying to fit in racing and parties as this guy shows.
At two of the parties, there was the top Thai girl band, Unicorn singing for us. They did a cracking job of getting us all up dancing. (see later)

Team shot - the skipper of Out of the Bag, Bill, in the middle being supported by his crew, Terry and Garry. Terry is an ex rugby league player and taught Garry to wind the winches properly, not like a union player! We are missing one of our crew here, Rob had gone walk about.
Terry again with Bruno, the Brazilian, better known as wax.
This is John, another of the ossies with his pommie wife (she was a great girl). No spring chicken but he could shin up the mast, without a boasons chair in seconds and did so on several occasions.
Here are Tia and Pon, skipper and crew from Oo La La. We wished they had won something but we think we will see them around again.
This is Lesley, one of the orgainisers, who helped to make the regatta a big success and us with our winning tee shirts from the first day of the regatta when we sailed on Chameleon.

We have since left Phuket on an Italian built boat. Currently, we are in Langkawi, on our way to Tioman. Who knows what we will do next?

Best wishes to you all.