Nha Trang!
Digiboat's "Product Testing"
Simon Blundell
Mon 24 Oct 2011 05:11
12°13.2444N
109°14.053E
Mon 24/10
1145HKT
We finished
yesterday (Sun) morning at 1045 Vietnam time following a good night's sail along
the Vietnamese coastline with a favourable current and good wind angle from a
light land breeze combining with the trade wind. A tricky short beat once we
turned to the W for the final approach, but made for a pleasant morning's sail
to the finish line.
Overall a good race,
somewhat frustrating not having our kite for the last couple of days (although
it was repaired in time for the finish in case we needed it on final approach -
which, of course, ended up being head winds).
All crew well fed,
well rested and in good spirits after their Cat 1 Ocean Race experience. Special
mention for Barbara Pegna who was defeated by this race last year when she had a
nasty fall down the companionway steps on the first night and spent the next
four days in bed then stretchered off the boat into an ambulance in Nha Trang.
She returned this year for a rematch and was definitely the victor this
time!
Pleasant anchorage
here in Nha Trang tucked in the corner of the resort island of Vinapearl - with
a big HOLLYWOOD type sign on the hill and joined to the mainland by, what they
claim, as the World's longest cable car. (I'm sure in the mountains of Europe
and the States, I've seen single sections of cable car between pylons longer
than this one in its entirety. Perhaps longest over water???) The pylons, we
discovered last year, have an excellent nautical use. Ideal for calibrating the
RADAR.
We've seen all there
is to see in Nha Trang so will be polishing the muck off the stainless steel
anchor this evening as we take off for Singapore with an outside chance that
we'll detour and bully our way up the river to Ho Chi Min City (Saigon). By all
accounts the officialdom makes it impossible for a pleasure yacht to go there,
but we like to accept that as a challenge, prepare all our counterfeit Jonny
Walker Black for Baksheesh and see how we fair... stay
tuned!
SJB