Feb 11, 2005 - A Year in Review - sorta late
by Al & Beth Liggett

(First segment written December 2004)

Dear Friends,

This year it has been harder than usual to get into the Christmas spirit. We have recently been in Thailand (Buddhist), and now in Malaysia (Muslim), where there is not the "feeding frenzy" attributable to Christmas celebrations in the States and other western countries. But beyond the religious aspect, I just haven't been in the mood, and certainly not ready for Christmas. It is already the 22nd and I have yet to do much more than load the Christmas music into the CD changer, and bake a few batches of cookies. I don't think our seasonal decorations will go beyond putting up last year's Christmas cards. This only serves to remind me that another year has passed, and I'd better get cracking on letting you all know about it!

We spent Christmas 2003 and New Year in Phuket, Thailand, and lingered into January 2004 to complete some projects on the boat--namely, installation of 2 new solar panels. These are our first. I know, I know, last kids on the block and all that. Despite GPS, cell phones, digital video, 2 computers and all, it took us a long time to join the 21st Century!

In February we sailed to the Andaman Islands. We had been there before and it was an easy sail from Thailand. We dragged our fishing line and caught a nice mackerel mid-passage, but the real whopper was a wahoo--11Kg!--just as we were about to enter Port Blair. After a few days in Port Blair we sailed north into the coastal islands. Highlights of our month of cruising were the white sand beaches of the offshore islands, the majestic forests coming right down to the beach, and liquid crystal waters filled with beautiful corals and tropical fish.

Yes, there are usually some downsides to such idyllic surroundings, like mosquitoes on the beaches and forests. But the real bummer was hitting a rock one early morning in poor light--we damaged the lead and bottom of the keel. And then there was the shock of being boarded by armed men at 3am in the morning! Turned out to be government agencies conducting a patrol for smugglers. Oh yeah? Smugglers would do that in a bright yellow boat and have anchor lights out?

We thought last year was "The Year of the Boat" what with changing the engine and all the interior sanding, varnishing, and painting. However, that turned out to be just a practice run for 2004 and the "Mother of all Haul Outs"! We had been ignoring the condition of the hull for the last couple of years. The osmosis "pox" had been steadily growing on the bottom and was now at a stage where something had to be done. It had been 17 years since we stripped the bottom and did an epoxy coating job. I mean, the boat was not about to sink or anything, but speed was diminished and the bubbles were slowly starting to creep upward into the topsides too. Also, there was the Andaman rock damage to rectify. We hauled out of the water in Boat Lagoon Marina, Phuket, Thailand, and settled in for long term work on SUNFLOWER.

Since the work on the bottom alone would take 4 or 5 months--mainly for drying out the fiberglass after grinding away the layers of old bottom paint, epoxy, and fillers--we would have time to tackle other MAJOR work for the boat. This included repairing and repainting the deck, cabin top and cockpit, total refurbishing and new paint for the topsides, a full grind down to the aluminum and new paint for both the mast and boom, new stainless steel arch for the solar panels on the stern, remount the radar on the mast, and associated wiring, plumbing, and welding jobs too numerous to mention.

We contracted out most of the work to be done. The workers are experienced and regular (!) and we were there to supervise them and the supervisors too! Prices for the work in Thailand were reasonable compared to other options. This was the weirdest haul-out we have ever had. It was strange not to be doing the entire grunt and grind work ourselves for a start. Also, it was a bit scary--we've never tackled this much work for the boat all in one go. Heard a good one on TV the other day--"Chaos Management". I think they were talking about Iraq, but we decided it certainly fit our situation in the boatyard too. Only--we could never decide if we were managing the chaos, or if chaos was managing US! With the language problem, we never really knew what was going on, but things kept happening, and slowly, slowly all this work got done.

This is also the first time we did not stay aboard the boat during a haul out. There was no way we could remain living on board with the amount of dust and corruption going on. Listen, there was no way I was going to climb ladders in the middle of the night to walk over and use the hotel toilets either! We took a room at the Boat Lagoon Resort. Now the Resort is pretty nice, but we had an older hotel room just at the back of the boat yard. We had the minimal facilities with a maximum view. We looked out at SUNFLOWER in the yard and across the whole of the Boat Lagoon Marina basin. It was clean, and nice to have our own toilet, shower, fridge, etc. Bought a fan, had a nice breeze flow through the unit in the day, and so hardly ever used the air conditioner. Bought an LPG gas bottle with cooking burner attached to top, so we weren't dependent on the noodle shops for meals. The room was a great retreat when things got too messy on the boat, or when we were "locked out" during painting.

After 4 months everything was done except the bottom work; the hull was still drying. We took a break and went to Laos for 2 weeks. This was our second visit, and it was just as wonderful as it had been 5 years before. Luang Prabang glistens with the golden splendor of more than 30 WATS (temples). This city is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the changes we saw reflected the adherence to the traditional. After 3 days of re-exploring, we traveled to the north part of Laos, right up to the little town of Muang Sing, just 8K from the border with China. Here the market was the focal point of activity, the early morning bustle bringing several different groups of Hill Tribe people, all in full ethnic dress, to inspect the meat and vegetables and UFO's--Unidentifiable Food Objects! We hired bicycles to wander the nearby villages, watch the workers in the rice paddies, check out a festival at one of the WATS, charm the children with videos of themselves, and observe the ladies working on their ever-present pieces of embroidery.

We bussed to the Eastern side of the country to Muang Kuah, just a short distance by road from Viet Nam. Here we hired a boat to take us down the Nam Ou River, a 4 1/2 hour trip meandering through wide valleys, marshes and an occasional village, interspersed with rocks, rapids and whirlpools. We had hoped to continue by boat all the way back to Luang Prabang, but the "river pirates" had inflated the prices to a ridiculous level, so we took the bus! No matter, we enjoyed more of Luang Prabang, more good food, more relaxing beside the Mekong River, more WATS, more looking at beautiful handicrafts and gorgeous silk weavings.

Back to reality--the boat and the boatyard. It took another 2 months to get the hull faired--fiberglass patches, fillers, sanding etc., and then epoxy coated, followed by primer, tie coats, and finally the layers of anti-foul bottom paint. Our work was done! New hurdles in the path to launching came with the installation of the Phuket Boat Show in the hardstand area--no launching allowed. Then the tides became problematic. We could only hope...Actually, it all came together on the 13th of December--launch, the engine started (had been questionable after all this time), the tides were OK. The marina manager hopped aboard and piloted us out of the narrow, shallow channel. WE DID IT!!!!

SUNFLOWER looks fabulous! Maybe even better than when she was brand new. Could that really be 28 years ago? We arrived back in Langkawi, Malaysia, the 17th of December, in time to share Christmas festivities with some of our friends, and get in gear for 2005. Plans are to go back to Chagos again for several months and return to Langkawi in July.

We wish you all a bright and beautiful Christmas. Writing to you all has perked me up considerably, so I think I shall find the Christmas garlands and Deck the Hall--er--hatches?

Best wishes,
Al and Beth

(Second segment written January 2005)

Although I finished this letter before Christmas, I knew I wouldn't get it copied and mailed until after the fact. Then came the December 26th Earthquake and Tsunami. This has dominated eveyone's lives, and instead of putting stamps on Christmas cards I was busy sending e-mails to all those who contacted us with concern about our welfare. You have all seen the horrors of the damage in Aceh, Thailand, Andaman Islands, Sri Lanka, etc. on TV. (We haven't!) A brief recap of the situation as it happened in our own backyard, in Langkawi.

We spent Christmas Day with cruising friends at one of our favorite anchorages, and stayed the night. We came back to our usual spot in Bass Harbor in front of Kuah town, and anchored about noon on the 26th. We heard a lot of excited commotion on the VHF radio, including a query from the Yacht Club Manager asking if anyone knew anything about the damage in Phuket. We hadn't heard about the earthquake, but the mention of big waves on the VHF made us know immediately that it was a tsunami. Without any of our usual dithering (shall we? what do you think? what if?) we upped anchor and headed for deeper water. Did circles around in Bass Harbor in 35-40 feet of water--about the deepest you will find there--for over an hour while listening in to the frantic calls on VHF from boats at Rebak Marina and from Telaga Marina.

Bass Harbor is well protected from the west by a series of islands. We never had anything to bother us in the harbor, but did notice the currents increased and swung rapidly from one direction to another. There were large patches of boiling mud and swaths of muddy water streaming through the harbor. The Royal Langkawi Yacht Club, located in Bass Harbor, had surges of water, but no wave action, and just minimal damage to some of the joins in their floating docks. All the yachts moored there fared OK. We stayed anchored in the middle of the harbor overnight. All the boats that were anchored in Kuah--either shallow or deep--were fine.

Not so for those moored in Telaga or Rebak--the seemingly very safe marinas. The wave surge into these enclosed marinas tore the docks apart, broke pilings, and set the yachts swirling in a maelstrom of destruction. Yachts, alone or still tied to docks, were swept out of the channel and back in again, ricocheting off other yachts, breakwaters, and pilings. We have 2 photos of a section of dock rearing up into the air and then landing on the foredeck of a yacht! I think about 8 boats were sunk, many many were severely damaged. It is a miracle that nobody was killed, and only one serious injury that we know about.

There was some shoreside damage in Langkawi, but nothing near the magnitude of the other affected areas. One fishing community suffered the most, with 20 houses gone, fishing boats smashed, house contents destroyed. The boating people here at the Yacht Club made a collection of food, clothing and supplies and donated them to the village last week. It was warmly received.

Now that we are in full gear preparing to go to Chagos (nothing happened there by the way), I know that I will not get this "Christmas" news out to you in any timely fashion.

Happy Sailing,
Al and Beth

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