Sailing courses in Thailand
- Thread starter Will Gilmore
- Start date
I've landed in Narita Japan, waiting at the terminal for my flight to Bangkok.
Here are a few of pics of the Arctic.
As you can see in the fly-over simulation, that was the Red River we were over. I could see part of the Northwest Passage. No boats.
Our plans diverged from the shown flight plan and never flew over Russia. Don't know if that was on purpose, or just the weather patterns.
-Will
Here are a few of pics of the Arctic.
As you can see in the fly-over simulation, that was the Red River we were over. I could see part of the Northwest Passage. No boats.
Our plans diverged from the shown flight plan and never flew over Russia. Don't know if that was on purpose, or just the weather patterns.
-Will
Wat Intharawihan or Wat Indravihan is a Buddhist temple known for the 32 meter tall Standing Buddha.
The temple itself predates the founding of Bangkok in 1782 and was originally named Wat Rai Phrik. During the reign of King Rama I the temple was restored and renamed Wat Intharam.
The Chao Phraya River.
The three barges being pulled by the tugboat, were also pulling another tugboat. The boats in the foreground are referred to as longtails, for their drives. The whole engine is mounted on a pin to swivel port and starboard and up and down, to maneuver their long propeller shafts that stick out around 10-12 feet from the stern. There's a lot of water hyacinth in the Chao Phraya.
Sorry, no sailboats this far up river.
My wife and son aboard a water taxi.
-Will
The temple itself predates the founding of Bangkok in 1782 and was originally named Wat Rai Phrik. During the reign of King Rama I the temple was restored and renamed Wat Intharam.
The Chao Phraya River.
The three barges being pulled by the tugboat, were also pulling another tugboat. The boats in the foreground are referred to as longtails, for their drives. The whole engine is mounted on a pin to swivel port and starboard and up and down, to maneuver their long propeller shafts that stick out around 10-12 feet from the stern. There's a lot of water hyacinth in the Chao Phraya.
Sorry, no sailboats this far up river.
My wife and son aboard a water taxi.
-Will
We flew up to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai for a few days. We fed elephants and took a bamboo raft ride down a river through a tiny village of elephant rescuers.
I'll try to post pictures later, but I didn't take my phone, so no pictures in my gallery yet.
After, we flew down to Krabi and took a ferry out to Ko Lanta Island.
Very nice beach resorts. I love looking out to the water and seeing a procession of sailboats anchoring off the beach. Each day there are new boats.
-Will
I'll try to post pictures later, but I didn't take my phone, so no pictures in my gallery yet.
After, we flew down to Krabi and took a ferry out to Ko Lanta Island.
Very nice beach resorts. I love looking out to the water and seeing a procession of sailboats anchoring off the beach. Each day there are new boats.
-Will
We've moved to a new koh (island), Koh Samui.
This time in the Gulf of Thailand. Even more touristy. It is nice, but the beaches suffer a lot from the tourism. It is very hard to find a public trashcan in Thailand. Vendors and so forth, generally seem to pickup after themselves, but it's not perfect. I have carried a couple of empty water bottles for a couple of hours of market shopping, just looking for a place to toss them when I could.
But, it is beautiful here.
Our second AirBnB on Koh Samui.
We are spotting a number of "life birds" like the yellow throated Bulbul and the Greater Coucal, plus some interesting non-avian species (golden orb web spider, water monitor lizard).
The news on the Sailing front is that both my son and I have completed the online course material and received our certificates of completion of the IYT Crew course and the VHF operators certification. I am working on the online material for the bareboat skipper course that we will be taking on the 18th.
I learned a few things I didn't know in the crew course and VHF program. You all may be interested to know that even within the curriculum for the crew course, the anchor section contained a couple of inconsistencies, especially around the subject of scope. 7:1 for non-chain rode, 5:1 for chain in the intro, but other places it was 5-10:1, non-specified, 8-10:1 for non-chain rode. I don't need to point out the conservative standard they put on chain vs the 3:1 what many, including my own previous learning has set. The biggest problem with these conflicts, of course, come with the final exam. Which one do they mean on the test?
Anyhow, Thailand is a street food wonderland. Most of the markets, especially the night markets,
are 90% food.
-Will
This time in the Gulf of Thailand. Even more touristy. It is nice, but the beaches suffer a lot from the tourism. It is very hard to find a public trashcan in Thailand. Vendors and so forth, generally seem to pickup after themselves, but it's not perfect. I have carried a couple of empty water bottles for a couple of hours of market shopping, just looking for a place to toss them when I could.
But, it is beautiful here.
Our second AirBnB on Koh Samui.
We are spotting a number of "life birds" like the yellow throated Bulbul and the Greater Coucal, plus some interesting non-avian species (golden orb web spider, water monitor lizard).
The news on the Sailing front is that both my son and I have completed the online course material and received our certificates of completion of the IYT Crew course and the VHF operators certification. I am working on the online material for the bareboat skipper course that we will be taking on the 18th.
I learned a few things I didn't know in the crew course and VHF program. You all may be interested to know that even within the curriculum for the crew course, the anchor section contained a couple of inconsistencies, especially around the subject of scope. 7:1 for non-chain rode, 5:1 for chain in the intro, but other places it was 5-10:1, non-specified, 8-10:1 for non-chain rode. I don't need to point out the conservative standard they put on chain vs the 3:1 what many, including my own previous learning has set. The biggest problem with these conflicts, of course, come with the final exam. Which one do they mean on the test?
Anyhow, Thailand is a street food wonderland. Most of the markets, especially the night markets,
are 90% food.
-Will
We stayed at a boutique resort called The Sea.
It included three separate buildings within our private villacompound, and a private pool with our own private access to the restaurant/bar and public pool. One of the nicest stays we've ever been to. We booked last minute, as is our norm, and the only room they had available was the presidential villa
. We were only going to stay the one night, but my wife liked it so much we stayed two more nights.
On Koh Samui, there is a Secret Buddha Garden
in the middle of the island, built by Khun Nim Thongsuk, a retired farmer. He built it over 14 years until his death at 91 in 1990. It is amazing.
And extensive.
I mean,
So, now, we just got off the ferry and are heading across the peninsula to Phuket to start our sailing course.
-Will
It included three separate buildings within our private villacompound, and a private pool with our own private access to the restaurant/bar and public pool. One of the nicest stays we've ever been to. We booked last minute, as is our norm, and the only room they had available was the presidential villa
. We were only going to stay the one night, but my wife liked it so much we stayed two more nights.On Koh Samui, there is a Secret Buddha Garden
in the middle of the island, built by Khun Nim Thongsuk, a retired farmer. He built it over 14 years until his death at 91 in 1990. It is amazing.
And extensive.
I mean,
So, now, we just got off the ferry and are heading across the peninsula to Phuket to start our sailing course.
-Will