LC's Pix -- Under Construction!

Wonderful Sailing and a Close Call with the Tsunami...

THE ANCHORAGE AT PHIPHI ISLAND, THAILAND. (PANARAMA OF 5 SHOTS, MERGED BY COMPUTER.)

In Nov and Dec I took two sailing trips: five days on a 60-foot gaff-rigged schooner called Four Friends and nine days from Singapore to Phuket, Thailand aboard the 33-foot Blue Eagle. On Four Friends, we sailed east in the South China Sea toward Borneo -- it was a celestial navigation course so we were not allowed to touch land anywhere. The skipper of Blue Eagle was moving her to Phuket for a month (I flew home after we got there). We stopped off at several gorgeous tropical islands, which got wiped out by the tsunamis less than a month later...

Hard to post these pics, because of the dissonance between the 'fun in the sun' we were having on these beautiful sites and the horror of the tragedy which struck exactly one moon later. Several thousands dead (foreigners and locals) in Phuket and Phiphi. (The destruction in Sumatra, Indonesia was even worse, with over 100,000 dead.) But I'm putting the pics up to show how lovely these places were and how nice they will be again some day. I am glad I saw them in happy moments, and am reminded of the fragility of life and randomness of fate.

To further drive these points home, my family and I went on a week-long car vacation in Malaysia over Christmas. We ended up at beachfront hotel in Penang, on Batu Ferringhi beach. We checked out Christmas morning at 11 am, and drove to Malacca. On Dec 26 at 10 am our hotel and the entire beach area was swept by the tsunami with the loss of about 60 souls. Whew. (I'll get those vacation pics up someday...)

	SUN ON THE CLIFFS AT PHIPHI'S ANCHORAGE. SUNSET AT PHIPHI. JUST TO THE RIGHT OF THAT BOAT.. ...IS THE BEACH TOWN WHICH WAS COMPLETELY DESTROYED. BLUE EAGLE'S SKIPPER, DEREK MAZZONE, AT LANTA ISLE SCENE FROM A BEACH-FRONT RESTAURANT (WHICH NO LONGER EXISTS. SAW THE WRECKAGE ON TV.) THE BLUE EAGLE AT PHIPHI ISLAND. ANOTHER SCENE FROM THAT RESTAURANT. CHART WORK ON AN APPROACH TO HARBOR. THERE IS A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF 'SPARE TIME' ABOARD, SOMETIMES YOU JUST HANG OUT. THAI FISHERMAN, APPROACH TO PHUKET. SPENT A LOT OF TIME AT NIGHT WEAVING BETWEEN THESE BOATS AND THEIR NETS. ALL YOU REALLY NEED FOR SAILING (BESIDES A BOAT).. ... A HAT, CHARTS AND A DECENT NOVEL. SOMETIMES YOU WATCH THE ISLANDS ROLL BY.... (MALAYSIA'S LANGKAWI IN BACKGROUND.) APPROACH TO PHUKET HARBOR, SHAOLONG BAY. PHOTO OF A MAP OF THE ANDAMAN SEA. STARTING BOTTOM RIGHT, SAILED LANGKAWI, LANTA, PHIPHI, PHUKET. ...AND SOMETIMES YOU JUST READ. (GROWING A BEARD IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF WATER CONSERVATION.) DROVE A MOTORCYCLE TO A LOOKOUT POINT IN PHUKET. THESE BAYS ARE THE THREE BEACHES MOST HEAVILY HIT. I STAYED ON THE MIDDLE ONE. AT A CHINESE TEMPLE ON PANGKOR ISLAND, MALAYSIA I HAD HEARD OF PHUKET BARS WHERE THE HABITUEES.... DRAPED THEIR BODIES ALL OVER YOU. I FOUND ONE! FOUND BEAUTY ON PHUKET. END OF THE TRIP ON A LITTLE PHUKET BEACH, YA NOI. Following pics are of the Four Friends. Eight of us set out for five days of learning celestial navigation. A couple of the students were quite advanced, and were getting certified, so we were not allowed to discuss our GPS position with them. For me, it was an 'intro' to celestial -- I discovered on this trip what great things GPS and radar are! On both this trip and on Blue Eagle I also discovered I rather enjoy the 3-7 am watch. Since nobody else really likes it, I could happily steer the boats by the stars all by myself in a dark wheelhouse or cockpit. Time to think and concentrate... FOUR FRIENDS AT DOCK IN SINGAPORE. FIRST DAY OUT -- LEARNING ABOUT MARINE TOILETS! CAPT WARREN BLAKE AND HIS SON PHIL, FLANKING THE "HEAD." FOUR FRIENDS FROM ABOVE. THREE GENERATIONS ON THE BOOM. PHIL GETTING READY TO "SHOOT" SOME STARS... LIKE I SAID, IT'S NOT ALL HARD WORK ON BOARD... SUNSET ON DECK. CAPT BLAKETEACHES OUR YOUNGEST CREW -- 12. SUNRISE ON THE FOUR FRIENDS; END OF MY WATCH. COMPARING NOTES ON THE STAR SIGHTINGS. AT THE WHEEL DURING MY DAY-TIME WATCH. DINNER TIME! SHOOTING THE SUN. FOUR FRIENDS' AUTOPILOT -- A WINE CORK JAMMED... ...BETWEEN WHEEL AND BINNACLE! (WORKED PRETTY WELL...) LONG EXPOSURE -- NIGHT IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA. ONLY BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON. TOOLS OF THE TRADE. BAMBOO SHADES ON THE WHEELHOUSE. NOTE THE CARVED BENCH. FF IS FULL OF CARVED WOOD. FF IS A COMPLEX, TRADITIONAL WOODEN SAILING SHIP. FOUR FRIENDS FROM 50 FT ABOVE THE ROLLING DECK. BELAYING PINS. GOOD FOR HOLDING ROPES OR... WACKING RECALCITRANT MISCONTENTS. CLIMBED UP THERE WITH PHIL. SCARY AS HELL! ONLY MALE PRIDE KEPT ME FROM GIVING UP HALFWAY UP! WOODEN BLOCKS. SEA SPOUT (CYCLONE) OFF THE PORT BEAM. THAI CARVED POSTS HOLD UP THE ROOF OF THE CABIN. ONE OF US WILL GET IT RIGHT!

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