YMOTG has just got back from three days of some at times intense yacht racing off Jom Tien, a few hours drive south-east of Bangkok. It is now sunday night, I’m aching all over, covered in rope burns and deck rash, and the computer in front of me won’t stop swaying. Something tells me I’ll sleep well tonight.

Skipper Anthony took delivery of his new super-fast 6.5 metre New Zealand-designed Thompson T650 on friday. We were out on the water for one quick test run friday afternoon in some sloppy 15-20 knot winds, and we had the boat up doing 12-13 knots in no time at all.

We stayed Friday night at the Ocean Marina Yacht club, a 30-odd storey four star hotel on the water. The view from my hotel was magnificent

The new boat, christened “C U LATER”, is an ultra-lightweight bare-bones ride, ours weighing in at just under 700kg. The other boats in our class we raced against over the weekend come in at well over a ton. So where does the weight reduction in the Thompson come from? I’m no Dick Headley, but I think the lack of cushions, stubby holders, fridges, toilets…in fact lack of every creature comfort a civilised gentleman sailor needs at sea is missing from these boats. Anthony’s father Phil, a real nice fella, has promised to custom design a pair of shorts with padding sown into the arse-cheeks for me next time we race.

Pictured here is Skipper Anthony and previous boat owner John Dean showing him the ropes (so thats where that saying comes from).



Here first mate Simon gazes longingly in the distance back at shore where cold beer and chairs with cushions abound.



And this (pictured below) is what I was left to deal with, with next to no training, and under race conditions. We never put the boat in the drink, and didn’t put holes in any sails, so I figured I must have done something right.

Saturdays’ race saw us miss the starters gun by five minutes, yet we still managed to finish second across the line and first in our class by a few minutes over the 15 mile course. This new boat of Anthony’s is really fast. The finish line was in a sheltered little bay on a Thai Navy island about 10 miles out to sea.

Saturday afternoon after the race was spent on the deck of The Seraph…

...a beautiful 100 year old wooden ship that charters out of Jom Tien, as we swapped sea stories with all the other old salts, beer in one hand and the obligatory rum punch in the other. The food was laid on as the sun went down and a massive party ensued with all the other boats tieing up next to the ship.

Meals on Keels:



We slept on the deck under the stars, which would have perfect had the owner of The Seraph not forgotten that we had to get up to race again today, so he stayed up all night getting more and more drunk with his crew while blasting Willie Nelson over the speakers till 4.30am. The two hours sleep I got and the permanent hatred for poor Willie marred what would have otherwise been a perfect weekend.

Sundays’ race was a lightning fast 15 mile L-shape back to the marina, with spinnakers out and everybody under full sail. Again, despite screwing up our start, we gained massive ground on the boats that started first, and still managed a second overall and first in our class. Not bad for our first time out in a new boat. I put it down the excellent crewmanship. I only hope old Phil comes through with those shorts with the padded arse cheeks. I think I may need them at my desk tomorrow.