31. 03.

Jock is one of those genuine people you meet from time to time who enjoys sharing just a moment of their lives with you and leave you truly amazed by their real life experiences. An Aussie thru and thru Jock farmed for many years near Horsham in central Victoria working 18 hour days and little time for his love of sailing boats and flying gliders. Then 15 years ago Jock, his wife and two children Kate & Andrew (aged 8 & 6) packed up and sailed their newly acquired yacht the Fi-Tuen out of Fremantle on a three year adventure that took them to New Guinea, Indonesia and Thailand. His stories of daily life on the high sea’s were so vivid you could taste it, stories helped along by realities of a book I was reading at the time, Jesse Martin’s solo and unassisted adventure around the world on his yacht Braveheart.

Jock has a new family now and has lived in Thailand for the past 12 years but not before he sailed his Adams 13 single handed from Thailand to Australia twice, ran aground on an uncharted reef, sailed into Dilli harbour during a civil uprising with a broken keel and has seen more sunsets than most of us put together.

Our day started when Jock picked us up from our hotel in his old Nissan utility and we bundle the kids in the back to motor to the top of Phuket Island through little Thai villages and rice patties separated by clumps of tropical rain forest. Fi-Tuen sat moored amongst several big keel boats, launches and motor boats that seemed worlds apart from the rural communities that we passed through to get to the Yacht Haven Marina. Before cruising there was some basic housekeeping to do as Jock wanted to prepare Fi-Tuen for a sail to the south of the island for dry dock and maintenance. Louise scrubbed up the galley while Jock knocked a few troublesome barnacles from the hull and the kids and I scrubbed the decks.

We eventually motored out into the bay void of any sign of wind on glassy waters and in bright sunshine. Phang Nga Bay is a sight to be seen almost prehistoric with limestone islands everywhere reaching straight up out of the ocean hundreds of feet high topped with a thick coating of tropical foliage. When the tide is low limestone caves just big enough to explore in a sea canoe are revealed in the enormous cliff face. Some caves provide access to hidden lagoons trapped in the center of the island but you have to lay flat on your back in the canoe and maneuver between limestone formations to get through. The local tourist trade run boatloads of sightseeing trips to explore the caves and visit James Bond Island made famous for the movie “Man with the Golden Gun”.

Jock steered the Fi-Tuen towards a beautiful sandy beach on one of the larger islands where we beached in about a meter of water to ferry our small kettle BBQ, towels and foam box full of cold beer, the occasional sausage (imported from NZ) and a loaf of bread. Even though the Fi-Tuen has a swing keel maneuvering her in the shallows between sandbars and with the gentle tide took Jock’s years of experience. The beach was spectacular, clean white sand void of footprints flanked with big shady palm trees and surrounded by tropical rain forest. The only sign of man having set foot on the island was a couple of grass huts backed into the jungle used by Thai fishermen to shelter from the midday sun and an old wooden canoe that lay derelict, almost like a garden ornament on the beach.

After satisfying our hunger, a couple of ice cold beers and a cool swim the real fun started. A 15 knot off shore breeze blew in resulting in flat seas and great sailing. With a relatively narrow beam the Adams 13 sails comfortably with its lee transom almost under water and spirits along at an exceptionally fast pace. Heaving on its enormous genoa as we tacked up the bay made a similar maneuver on my Castle 650 (Freeloader) inconspicuous by comparison. The kids enjoyed the comfort of bathing in the sun on the high side hanging their legs over the gunwale while the best I could do to fight gravity in the cockpit was to straddle one of Fi-Tuen’s big winch rollers like the horn of a saddle.

The afternoon was most satisfying as we tacked our way up the bay into the setting sun using the now fast moving tide to drag the Fi-Tuen through the wind shadow of islands and right into the marina not wanting to drop sail until we really had to. Sailing Phang Nga Bay is up there with the best of things I shall ever do, meeting Jock Cromie is something I shall never forget. If you ever find yourself in Thailand look Jock up and visit his Yacht Charter web site at http://www.sailing-phuket.com you will enjoy the experience.

Lee Shaddock