Preparing for the next phase
05 July 2005 | Bangkok, Thailand
Steve Twitty
From Lake Chickamauga in Chattanooga, Tennesee USA to Phuket, Thailand, I have owned and sailed four boats, Bucephalus being the fourth. An 18 foot O'Day was my first sailboat purchase and within a year I upgraded to a 23 foot O'Day which, like its smaller sister, saw only lake sailing.
In 1981 I took an opportunity with my employer, Standard Brands (Nabisco Brands) to move to Singapore and so began my life as an ex-pat. From my first day on foreign soil I knew it would be a long time before I returned permanently stateside and indeed, this is what has happened: Singapore, Venezuela, Australia, Ecuador, China and Thailand. Each country a new adventure and another step in my financial freedom.
Prior to my departure from the US, I sold my 23 foot O'Day and my next sailboat purchase was in Australia. Her name was Svalon, a 28 foot Randall Cygnet, constructed of huon pine and mountain ash. Built for the 1950 Sydney to Hobart race, she was a racer/cruiser on which I sailed Australia's eastern coast, from the Hawkesbury River down to Jarvis Bay.
Svalon was sold just before I was transferred to Ecuador and it wasn't until I settled in Thailand, in 1990, that four years later, in 2003, I found "THE" boat, Bucephalus. Her previous name was "Emma Bl'u" and she is a Creala 36 (39 LOA), a William Crealock design cutter, sailed to Phuket from the US by her previous owner. I had her re-fitted with new standing rigging, a new teak deck, new 316 stainless steel fresh water tanks and diesel fuel tank, fresh topsides paint and new bottom paint along with her new name on her stern. The rest of her was in pristine condition.
It is now late-2005 and our next trip will be over the Christmas break, gunkholing from Phuket to Langkawi and back. We'll be on the water during the one year anniversary of the tsunami and will miss the memorial services back in Phuket, but we will certainly be there in spirit, remembering those who did not survive.
I plan to spend 2006 getting in more sailing with a trip to the Similans and then in January 2007, I'll point Bucephalus west and leave Thailand for the Med. After that, I will see what lies beyond
Of all that has happened, both good and bad, I have found firm conviction that a point has been reached in my life and change is needed. Other interests beckon and it is up to me to step over the threshold. That time is nye.
Though I am not yet a "world cruiser", I will maintain this site for those who know me and for those who are just passing through. May you have fair winds, a calm sea and dreams for tomorrow.