Fixing the boat at Rawai

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wingssail image-fredrick roswold
We thought it was ready

wingssail image-judy jensen
Fixing the hydraulics

Even though we thought we were ready to go we had some equipment failures just before leaving Thailand and one on the crossing itself. Nothing major, and Fred fixed them all.

1. We blew out the seals in the hydraulic backstay cylinder when we set sail coming out of Yacht Haven. Fred changed the cylinder then rebuilt it. We reinstalled it and tested it before leaving Thailand. It was fine through all the bad weather, what a test.

2. We also had a water maker failure and Fred replaced some parts and seals and it worked again.

3. The final failure on the way to Indonesia was a blown pressure accumulator tank for the fresh water system. After this we had to use the manual pump for fresh water (no showers) on the crossing. Finally Fred swapped it for the one in the saltwater system, where it was not critical, and we restored the water system to full functionality.

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
A race boat sails by before we leave, a warning?

Was this a warning? A squall blew through just as we prepared to depart but then it passed and the weather was mild. We set out in 12-20 knots of wind, pretty much exactly what was forecast, which lasted for the whole day and was good sailing.

The bad weather started at 6:00 PM, 40 miles out of Phuket Thailand.