Vega - Thailand

Thailand

Vega

Hugh and Annie

Fri 13 Mar 2020 09:13

When sailing across oceans you can pretty much rely upon the prevailing trade winds to get you to your destination sooner or later. However, Once you approach land, and islands in particular, the trade wind rule seems to break down and “prevailing” winds cannot always be relied upon. A common cause of angst in the Caribbean was that inter island passages were often against the wind. Here in SE Asia it is the same although in Malaysia we did catch the early change from NE to SW monsoon that meant little wind and many thunderstorms. Here in Thailand the winds are usually light in the NE monsoon season and we anticipated a lot of motoring. However, although the seasonal NE monsoon wind is blowing as it should on the east side of the Malay peninsular, here on the west coast the wind is swinging around to the north west which means that our passage to the north and west is directly into the wind. Overnight the wind may go back to the NE but then switch to the NW during the day and be reinforced on the west coast by the effect of the sea breeze caused by rising hot air over the land. On Langkawi island we motored against 20kt headwind whether we were heading east or west!
Anchoring here in Thailand can also be interesting. Many of the islands are oriented north south and the best anchorages are on the west side and are suited to the NE monsoon sailing season. However, with the current wind the east side of the islands seems the most sheltered option on arrival. For some reason the wind, against all the forecast predictions, has been picking up at night and with a more northerly or even north easterly component, the wind bends around the top of the island and gusts down the high, steep cliffs causing the shore on either side of the island to become a lee shore ie with the wind blowing onto it. All a bit disconcerting even if not, so far, a critical issue but it does mean you have to have faith in the integrity of your mooring line or anchor.
In the days of Cook, and even by choice for some yachts today, you based all your sailing plans around the wind and got to your intended or even unintended destination as and when the wind allowed. Those with no particular time schedule still cruise without reliance upon the engine. In most cases however people will have a rough itinerary and make plans on the basis that if the wind doesn’t blow or is in the wrong direction they will motor. In our case we would never get around all the places we would like to visit here in Thailand without the engine and the best “sailing” we have managed so far is today’s 25nm leg over to Phuket that we are motorsailing in the light WSW wind. Sailing at night is best avoided due to the shallow water and hence dense coverage of fishing nets and cages with flagged floats absolutely everywhere. Our carbon footprint is not as low as we would like although at 1.5 litres per hour fuel consumption it is not huge.........
We gather from the news that the corona virus outbreak is having a big economic impact around the world. I see that even health minister Nadine Dorries has tested positive although given her propensity to inflict widespread ill health from her political views one has to be charitable with sympathy. Certainly the lack of Chinese tourists is having a big impact out here. Inter island ferries are empty and we are told that cities and airports are devoid of tourists. There still seem to be quite a few Europeans (and Russians in particular). Annie and I will maintain our live aboard self isolation as much as possible but eating out is still the preferred option to be shared with other yachties. We’ll try and avoid the massage parlours, tattoo shops and late night bars although we are told that even these are closing early. This morning without thinking I greeted a boarding yachtie with a kiss on the cheek having forgotten that even amongst this relatively isolated community it is politic to check before committing to the usual greeting formalities. The poor woman didn’t have time to recoil in horror before being assailed.

This Island has a very famous feature