A Boat Too Far
In 2005 we bought a 46' catamaran in Thailand as a wreck. We removed the cabin, bridgedeck, main crossbeam and all the bulkheads then completely redisigned and rebuilt her in Phuket over the course of 5 years. It seemed like a good idea at the time..
13 December 2023
17 November 2023
07 November 2023
28 October 2023 | Opua, New Zealand
25 October 2023
23 October 2023
21 October 2023
10 October 2023
30 September 2023 | Drawaqua Island
19 September 2023
17 September 2023
15 September 2023
12 September 2023
10 September 2023
04 September 2023 | Raiatea, French Polynesea
22 May 2023
13 May 2023
05 May 2023
02 May 2023
29 April 2023
Late Night Chat
24 July 2022
Annette
Late Night Chat
It's 12:30 am Mike is down below sleeping and I just finished yet another Hugh Grant chick flick. Same character different love interest, all disgustingly sappy. When I switch the computer back to the electronic chart to check on our position, I am startled to see a bright red AIS tracking line headed right in our direction. It's a cargo ship from Vietnam the Ho Chi Minh City, 17 miles southeast of us, traveling at 19.3 knots, with a CPA of 5 miles in 55 minutes. All of the sudden I felt like we were a sitting duck. We were under full sails, poking along at 3-4 knots sailing with the wind angle of 90 degrees. The true wind angle was fluttering between 100 and 120 degrees making our course to look like a drunken sailor walking the plank. What if our AIS signal wasn't broadcasting? What if the captain of the ship was sleeping or playing video games? These are the first thoughts that come to my mind. I turned on our bright foredeck light to illuminate the boat and make it more visible. I turned on our radar to make sure the AIS was accurate and I turned on the VHF radio in case I needed to call and wake them up. I could see the ship light up behind us, the green running light was where it should be indicating it would pass from the starboard side behind us.
As I watched and waited the ship seemed to be moving a lot faster then the CPA calculated. With in 15 minutes it was 7nm away but remaining steady on it's course.
Then a call comes in on the radio. "Rum Doxy, this is Ho Chi Minh City on channel 16, do you copy?" "This is Rum Doxy on Channel 16", I answer back. "Switch to channel 06," he says. So we meet on channel 06. "Rum Doxy, This is Ho Chi Minh City how are you doing tonight?", he asked in a very heavy accent. "We're doing really well, thank you for asking, over", I reply. "You are a sailing boat on a Pacific Adventure?", he asks. I answer, "Yes we are a sailing boat heading to the Marquesas from Chile, over". "You are very brave", he replies. "You are from America, where in America?", he asks? "Santa Barbara, California", I say. "I've been to California many times", he replies. Then abruptly he announces he is switching back to channel 16. I sign out, then 5 minutes later the radio sounds. "Rum Doxy, this is HoChiMinh City, I have question", he asks "How do you have food and water on boat for long time?" I tell him we have a water maker to desalinate salt water for drinking water, that we have a freezer and refrigerator for fresh food and lots of storage for canned and dry goods. I tell him we have plenty of Oreo's, avocados and beer and that we are doing fine. "Very good", he responds, "Ho Chi Minh City back to channel 16, copy?" "Copy", I reply, "but before you sign off I just want to tell you that it was a pleasure to talk with you, and as a small sailing vessel we really appreciate you making contact with us so we know that you have us in your sight. I also want to tell you that you speak English really well. Have a good night, Rum Doxy back to channel 16, over.
I get really nervous talking on the radio. I'm always at a loss for words and forget radio etiquette but last night with no one else around, talking with the on-watch officer of the ship, who was genuinely interested in us, was a lot of fun. And, knowing that he saw us on AIS took all my stress away. After the ship passed I turned off the foredeck light and the radar, then checked our course. While we were having our little chat the wind angle switched again, so I turned the foredeck light back on to trim the sails. Off in the distance I saw the ship light up like a cruise ship. His signal," Good Night, and Farewell". I trimmed the sails then turned off the deck light and as soon as I did so the ship went dark. In the middle of the night, out in the open ocean I made a new friend and it touched my heart.
Later, after all that excitement I'm wide awake and ponder what to do in the last hour of my shift, then I hear a Slap, Skitter, Flop, Flop, Flop on the cabin floor. What the heck? I turn on the lights and find that a flying fish has managed to slip through a 2 inch opening in the cabin top hatch. What are the chances? Using a dish towel I grab it's spastic little body and threw it back overboard. No need to ponder any longer, the last hour of my shift I spent washing the floor and vacuuming all the fish scales off the cushions and rugs.
It's 12:30 am Mike is down below sleeping and I just finished yet another Hugh Grant chick flick. Same character different love interest, all disgustingly sappy. When I switch the computer back to the electronic chart to check on our position, I am startled to see a bright red AIS tracking line headed right in our direction. It's a cargo ship from Vietnam the Ho Chi Minh City, 17 miles southeast of us, traveling at 19.3 knots, with a CPA of 5 miles in 55 minutes. All of the sudden I felt like we were a sitting duck. We were under full sails, poking along at 3-4 knots sailing with the wind angle of 90 degrees. The true wind angle was fluttering between 100 and 120 degrees making our course to look like a drunken sailor walking the plank. What if our AIS signal wasn't broadcasting? What if the captain of the ship was sleeping or playing video games? These are the first thoughts that come to my mind. I turned on our bright foredeck light to illuminate the boat and make it more visible. I turned on our radar to make sure the AIS was accurate and I turned on the VHF radio in case I needed to call and wake them up. I could see the ship light up behind us, the green running light was where it should be indicating it would pass from the starboard side behind us.
As I watched and waited the ship seemed to be moving a lot faster then the CPA calculated. With in 15 minutes it was 7nm away but remaining steady on it's course.
Then a call comes in on the radio. "Rum Doxy, this is Ho Chi Minh City on channel 16, do you copy?" "This is Rum Doxy on Channel 16", I answer back. "Switch to channel 06," he says. So we meet on channel 06. "Rum Doxy, This is Ho Chi Minh City how are you doing tonight?", he asked in a very heavy accent. "We're doing really well, thank you for asking, over", I reply. "You are a sailing boat on a Pacific Adventure?", he asks. I answer, "Yes we are a sailing boat heading to the Marquesas from Chile, over". "You are very brave", he replies. "You are from America, where in America?", he asks? "Santa Barbara, California", I say. "I've been to California many times", he replies. Then abruptly he announces he is switching back to channel 16. I sign out, then 5 minutes later the radio sounds. "Rum Doxy, this is HoChiMinh City, I have question", he asks "How do you have food and water on boat for long time?" I tell him we have a water maker to desalinate salt water for drinking water, that we have a freezer and refrigerator for fresh food and lots of storage for canned and dry goods. I tell him we have plenty of Oreo's, avocados and beer and that we are doing fine. "Very good", he responds, "Ho Chi Minh City back to channel 16, copy?" "Copy", I reply, "but before you sign off I just want to tell you that it was a pleasure to talk with you, and as a small sailing vessel we really appreciate you making contact with us so we know that you have us in your sight. I also want to tell you that you speak English really well. Have a good night, Rum Doxy back to channel 16, over.
I get really nervous talking on the radio. I'm always at a loss for words and forget radio etiquette but last night with no one else around, talking with the on-watch officer of the ship, who was genuinely interested in us, was a lot of fun. And, knowing that he saw us on AIS took all my stress away. After the ship passed I turned off the foredeck light and the radar, then checked our course. While we were having our little chat the wind angle switched again, so I turned the foredeck light back on to trim the sails. Off in the distance I saw the ship light up like a cruise ship. His signal," Good Night, and Farewell". I trimmed the sails then turned off the deck light and as soon as I did so the ship went dark. In the middle of the night, out in the open ocean I made a new friend and it touched my heart.
Later, after all that excitement I'm wide awake and ponder what to do in the last hour of my shift, then I hear a Slap, Skitter, Flop, Flop, Flop on the cabin floor. What the heck? I turn on the lights and find that a flying fish has managed to slip through a 2 inch opening in the cabin top hatch. What are the chances? Using a dish towel I grab it's spastic little body and threw it back overboard. No need to ponder any longer, the last hour of my shift I spent washing the floor and vacuuming all the fish scales off the cushions and rugs.
Comments
| Vessel Name: | Rum Doxy |
| Vessel Make/Model: | 46' Custom Catamaran |
| Hailing Port: | Santa Barbara, California |
| Crew: | Mike Reed, Annette Reed |
| Extra: | A "rum doxy" is 18th century pirate-speak for a woman of remarkable character and ambiguous virtue |
Rum Doxy 's Photos - Main
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As new grandparents we think we can be forgiven for posting a gallery featuring our granddaughter.
15 Photos
Created 28 October 2023
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We spent about a month in Fiji, landing in Savu Savu and making our way to the Mantucas via the Yasawa group. There we were joined by our daughter Sabine, son-in-law Alan and brand new, 4 month old granddaughter Linnea.
16 Photos
Created 28 October 2023
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In early May, 2022 we reluctantly left Chile and headed for French Polynesia with a stop at Robinson Crusoe Island on the way. We here not allowed ashore on RC Island as Covid restrictions were still in effect. Nevertheless, we spent 5 days there waiting out some weather and were able to enjoy the beauty and hospitality of the Island from afar. We then carried on to the Gambiers, taking another month due to light air. The Gambiers were beautiful with the best snorkeling we have had to date, but winter was catching up and we made our way north to the Marquesas where we enjoyed warmer water and swimming with manta rays. By mid-September it was time to head home for work and we left Rum Doxy on the hard in Hiva Oa where she awaits our return in after hurricane season.
53 Photos
Created 1 January 2023
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After storing the boat for the Austral winter in Valdivia, we headed south in early October, arriving in Puerto Williams in early December.
83 Photos
Created 16 December 2019
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We arrived in Puerto Montt in mid-February and spent a hectic week repairing broken stuff, re-provisioning and adjusting to the cold. We then headed south with the goal of visiting the Laguna San Rafael and it's tidewater glacier before making our way back to Valdivia to fix more broken stuff and store the boat for the winter.
79 Photos
Created 15 March 2019
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We didn't know what to expect at Easter Island. There is no real anchorage or harbor and we heard and read accounts of boats getting chased around the island by the changing weather and the crew never making it ashore before being run off by the weather. Some cruising guides mention that if you do make it ashore, you must leave at least one crew member aboard to move the boat if the weather changes. Even the Sailing Directions published by the US government say "The weather is never good for more than a few days at a time at Isla de Pascua. Ships anchoring off the island should be ready to sail on short notice. There are abrupt and violent wind changes....". So we were a little surprised to find gentle trade winds blowing offshore and a relatively calm anchorage off of the (only) town of Hanga Roa. When we arrived the port was closed due to swell and it was 2 days before we were checked in and able to go ashore, but after that we were able to relax, take care of repairs and do some exploring ashore.
We rented a car one day and a quad on another and did a lot of walking as well. The island is roughly 12 x 6 miles with a population of about 6,000 so it doesn't take long to cover it.
45 Photos
Created 27 January 2019
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After the 8 day bash down from Costa Rica we arrived in Ecuador and got a slip at the Puerto Lucia Yacht Club. After a few days to regoup, we flew to Cuenca to meet Sabine and Alan, who had been roaming around Ecuador for the past week or so. We spent several days in Cuenca, looking at buildings and taking a trip up to Las Cajas National Park. S and A then left for the Galapagos Islands while we headed north to Otavalo where we hiked the Las Mojandas lakes and visited the market downtown.
63 Photos
Created 17 December 2018
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It seems that our time in Costa Rica has been mostly about the wildlife. We visited the cloud forest, several national parks and some private ones. Here is a rogues gallery of the critters we saw.
27 Photos
Created 25 November 2018
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We spent almost a month in the La Paz area and Isla Espiritu Santos, discovering new little anchorages and enjoying the comforts of old stomping grounds. On February 13, we finally cut the ties with the Sea of Cortz and set off for new adventures, beginning with Isla Isabela.
18 Photos
Created 24 February 2018
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Over time we have become insufferable beer snobs. As such we found that we could no longer abide the marginal brews we find when abroad and were compelled to take matters into our own hands. We brought a brew kit and grains back to the boat with us after a Christmas visit home (see the blog post for 1/21/18), tied to a mooring in Puerto Escondido and got busy.
11 Photos
Created 21 January 2018
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We left the boat on the hard in Puerto Penasco for the summer while we returned home to Ventura to work. We returned to the boat in early November and, after 2 weeks of work on the boat in the yard, we launched and headed straight for Isla Angel de la Guardia, where we took up where we left off in the spring.
27 Photos
Created 7 December 2017
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We got a late start heading south this year, our mainsail warranty replacement having taken much longer than anticipated. Our plan, as we headed south, was to get to Ecuador this season so that we would be poised to head to Patagonia in the fall. Somewhere along the way, though, we realized that this would mean traveling every day; more of a delivery than a cruise, so we decided to spend another season in the Sea of Cortez, store the boat in Puerto Penasco or Guaymas for the summer hurricane season, and head to Ecuador next year.
24 Photos
Created 4 March 2017
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After a quick haul-out in La Paz we headed out to the local area to do some exploring. We spent most of January and february sailing up and down the coast enjoying the Islands of Espiritu Santo, San Francisco and San Jose as well as some of the anchorages on the mainland.
34 Photos
Created 13 February 2016
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We left our slip in Channel Islands on November 7th, bound for Mexico with stops at Santa Barbara Island, Catalina Island and San Diego. We arrived in Cabo one month later having harbor-hopped down the coast of Baja.
23 Photos
Created 8 December 2015
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We made an unplanned detour to Alaska when the wind sent us there. Rather than spend time in the Salish Sea as we had planned we have been sailing from Kodiak to Prince William Sound and down to the Inside Passage with stops at icy Bay and Yakutat.
97 Photos
Created 1 September 2013
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After leaving Yokohama we headed southeast to get below a series of lows coming off of Japan. This worked to some extent as the wind was always behind us, even if a bit strong at times. As we approached the Pacific High the winds lightened and we were pushed northward which gave us the idea to head for Alaska instead of Canada, a move we have not regretted. The great majority of the trip was spent under cloudy skies, rain or fog so there are regretably not many photos. On the other hand, Kodiak is having their best summer in 75 years with daily temperatures in the 80's.
17 Photos
Created 25 July 2013
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We made our way from Luzon to Okinawa with a detour to Taiwan due to weather. from Okinawa we sailed directly to Shimuzu where we based ourselves for a week while we did maintenance and land travel.
36 Photos
Created 5 June 2013
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We made our way from Miri, Sarawak to Kudat, Sabah where we hauled out for a bottom job and a few odds and ends. Then we headed north up the west coast of Palawan, spending some time in the El Nido area, where we met our friends from Miri, Roger and Jane on "Wings and Strings". We have been buddy-boating with them for the past week as we make our way through the beautifull Busuanga group. We are really enjoyin g the Philippines as the people are very friendly, the beaches clan and the water clear. The scenery is spectacular as is the snorkling.
60 Photos
Created 30 March 2013
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Nearby Mulu National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, famous for it's caves. It sports the world's largest cave system, largest cave passage and largest chamber (100m x 400m x600m!). The BBC series "Planet Earth" filmed it's "Caves" segment here (think mountain of guano seething with cockroaches). We took a couple of days off from boat work and flew out to have a look.
39 Photos
Created 8 September 2012
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We had an uneventfull passage from Singapore to Borneo, though a bit tiring as we had to hand steer for 3 days and 2 nights. We arrived in Borneo just after dark on the 3rd day, anchored and awoke to a scene from a Tarzan novel. Over the next week we made our way to Miri, just short of Brunei, traveling during the day and achoring at night as we didn't want to run afoul of the many floating logs in this area. Typically we would sail all day then drop a couple miles off the coast to (mostly) avoid the bugs. We were lucky with the weather and apart from the hydraulic steering exploding as I tried to avoid a log, we had a good trip.
19 Photos
Created 30 August 2012
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After 2 years of working on the boat and migrating back and forth between Phuket and Langkawi, we finally moved. The trip down the Straights of Malacca was uneventfull but at times difficult due to the opposing wind and current. We did not travel at night for fear of fishing nets and buoys and so had long days between anchorages. The sky was a uniform dismal brown due to forest fires in Sumatra and the shoreline was mostly mangrove flats so not much to see.
26 Photos
Created 27 August 2012
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With the dinghy done we set sail for Langkawi, leaving Thailand for the last time. We lingered a few days in the Butang group to take advantage of the clear water, then made our way to Langkawi, where we have been working non-stop on the boat ever since.
27 Photos
Created 25 July 2012
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We've been knocking around for a couple of years now without a dinghy so we took the time to build one this trip. We got a spot on the "work dock", picked up some plywood in town and got busy. The rowing/sailing boat is from plans but heavily modified. It took 2 weeks all in. It might have been less, but when the wind wasn't blowing a gale, it was raining. Some people do this inside garages or sheds, but they don't know what they're missing.
24 Photos
Created 3 June 2012
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After launch we did a "circumnavigation" of Langkawi to put the boat through it's paces and see if all our work was for naught. As it turned out, the leaks are all a thing of the past and the boat now makes a pleasant "squish" instead of "bang" when beating into a sea. After our spin around the archipelago we picked up Annette's parents, Gordon and Grete, in Langkawi and made our way up to Phuket where we met Sabine and her boyfriend Josh. Another spin through Phangnga Bay and it was time to button up the boat and head back to Santa Barbara for another 4 month work stint.
60 Photos
Created 22 January 2012
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Annette's plastic cardboard fix allowed us to continue work despite the rain and we were able to launch after 2 months and 3 weeks. It's great to be out of the boatyard but we will miss all of our friends who we left behind, hoping we will see them on the water.
24 Photos
Created 29 December 2011
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We discovered on our last trip that the boat pounds quite a bit when going to windward due to the flat bottoms on the hulls. The boat has a unique contruction in that the hull and deck both come from the same mold. The deck is just flipped uside down over the hull and they are joined down the middle. A clever idea, but it turns our what makes a good deck does not necesarily make a good hull.
We also found that the Thai workers had sanded the hulls a bit too thin in some areas which allowed water into the core when the boat was working. Ungood.
Our solution was to see if we couldn't improve things by adding a bit of "vee" to the forward sections of the hulls to help with the pounding and encase the whole mess in a layer of glass with a proper barrier coat of epoxy for the leaks. A side benefit is that we get a "minikeel" encased in the vee so that we can beach the boat if need be. It also would provide a crash compartment along the length of the bottom.
We hauled out in the village of Chebilang outside of Satun in southern Thailand and dug in. The yard is on the rustic side and is used by the local fishing boats and ferry companies, but it is endlessly fascinating and the staff are very accomodating. We will also be doing work to the interior, adding bunks and a head, making spare rudders, working on the mast and fixing up the forward cockpit.
57 Photos
Created 18 September 2011
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We came back from Thailand to meet our shipment coming ocean freight from Long Beach. 2 pallets of wire, rope, tools, materials and toys. Once we picked it up I was able to install the 12 volt electrical system which freed us from shore power. Now we are able to work on the boat at anchor and have been taking advantage by exploring the Langkawi Archipelago as we put the boat together.
24 Photos
Created 15 March 2011
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A quick root canal and we headed back to Phangnga bay to pick up where we left off.
50 Photos
Created 26 January 2011
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Between dentist appointments we took a spin up into Phangnga Bay for a couple of days. We were surprised to find a lot of solitude here as it is high season and a popular destination. There were a lot of tour boats but from 4pm to 10am we had even the most popular anchorages to ourselves.
24 Photos
Created 26 January 2011
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As the major construction on the boat progressed, it occurred to me that I could move things along a bit by building some of the smaller bits at home and shipping them to Thailand. Even with shipping costs this saved a lot of time and money. We had rented a small cottage in Carpinteria that had an attached deck. Sabine lived in a tent on the deck and I set up a work area under some tarps supported by bamboo next to the tent. It worked out really well and I was able to build the dagger boards, rudders and rudder drums, hatch bases, stanchion supports, trampoline supports, nav station, galley and steps down into the hulls.
After we launched in March, 2010 we had to return to SB to work for 7 months. We were living on our Catalina 30 in SB Harbor to save money but I was able to build a refrigerator/freezer, settee, lavanette, cabin beams, battery box and other small bits right there on the dock. I was not popular with the next door neighbor but again, it worked out well.
45 Photos
Created 9 January 2011
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Just after the New Year we went back to phuket to get some dental work done and see Phang Nga Bay, which we had to skip the first time around. We had great sailing, taking 3 days to do the 160 miles to Yacht Haven Marina at the north end of Phuket. We had broad reaching conditions the whole way and got to put the boat through her paces.
11 Photos
Created 7 January 2011
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Once launched we had to take the boat out of the country as the visa had expired. We took a week to leisurely sail down to Langkawi, the first stop in Malaysia. The boat was nowhere near ready to sail but you do what you have to do. There was no electrical system, plumbing or furniture. I had pre-fabbed the nav station and galley in SB and shipped it to Thailand, but it was still in the crates. The boat did motor well, though and we got to sail a bit, at one time doing 9.4 knots in about 16 knots of wind. Once in Langkawi we had to haul out again after only 2 weeks as there were some leaks around the daggerboard cases. We were now out of money so we had to return to SB where we got our old jobs back and worked for seven months.
44 Photos
Created 24 December 2010
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After over 4 years in the boatyard, countless setbacks, redoes and hand wringing we quit our jobs and flew to Phuket New Years day, 2010 for the final push to get the boat in the water. The date was not arbitrary. The boat's visa ran out March 27, so we had less than 3 months to get the boat in the water and out of Thailand or customs would impound it. The worklist included fabricating and installing fuel tanks, installing the engines and controls, installing the hydraulic steering, glassing in the rudder drums, building a mast step, painting, rigging and stepping the mast, building and hanging doors, making and installing windows and hatches, installing the trampolines and all the deck hardware, scuppers, and prepping and painting the boat. This is just a partial list but gives an idea of what we set ourselves up for. We rented an apartment in the marina and got to work. In the end we were able to slip out of Thailand 2 on March 29, two days late, but who's counting.
37 Photos
Created 24 December 2010
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From August 2006 to December 2009 the boat was on the hardstand at The Boat Lagoon in Phuket Thailand for a complete refit. As we had to stay home and work to pay for it we had contractors do the work under the supervision of a Marine Surveyor. I would send plans and money and visit the boat for a week or 2 every 4-6 months.
50 Photos
Created 16 December 2010
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We bought this boat "as is" in January 2005. The idea was to replaces some bulkheads, do some hull repairs and sail it back to California to finish. After over 30 years around boats I knew better but what can you do? These are the "before" pictures. As you view the photos try to imagine the sweet tang of mildew and cockroach scat and the delicate sound of millions of tiny termite jaws feasting on the bulkheads.
13 Photos
Created 4 December 2010
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Rum Doxy
Who: Mike Reed, Annette Reed
Port: Santa Barbara, California
Gallery
