In the Shade of the Long Tail

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Candace Watches

Candace (as well as Judy and I) watched the scenery roll by from the shade of the long tail boat's sun awning.

View from Long Tail

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Phi Phi Lei

The scenery is fantastic at Phi Phi Lei Island

Raising Anchor

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Judy & Candace
In Phang Nga Bay we weighed and got ready to head south to Phi Phi Don

Salty Dog

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Fred

Sailor Lady

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Judy Jensen

Shade is Everything

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Judy and Candace

On the trip to Langkawi we didn't have a lot of sailing action. In this shot and the next few you can see how we passed the time (mostly trying to stay out of the hot sun).

Boring Spinnaker Ride

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Judy and Candace

With the autopilot driving and light wind there is nothning to do but sit there.

Asymmetrical Sailing

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Candace

On a lazy day sailing to Langkawi finding shade is nice. The asymmetrical spinnaker affords Candace some relief from the sun and the #4 sailbag provides a comfy bed.

Geopark

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Langkawi

Langkawi is a park and much if it is in a natural state. This is the geopark information center.

Monkeys

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Monkeys

When we saw these monkeys on the road in Langkawi we had to stop and take a photo, but later we learned they are so common that people don't even pay attention to them and we saw several, even in the parking lot at the yacht club. We never had a camera with us on those other occasions so this is all we can show you.

Tall Ship

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Four Masted Cruise Vessel

We saw this cruise ship anchored in the Butangs and it looked stunning. We don't know where the passengers went but one clue was some activity we could see on the beach where a river came out. Maybe they went up the river to a lake or waterfall.

Night Sail

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Where is Hin Daeng?

Candace and Judy slept below while I tried to find a safe path to miss Hin Deang somewhere out there in the dark.

Patong Bay Fireworks-Dec 31, 2007

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Patong Bay Fireworks

We heard that they set off 18 tons of fireworks and we can say that the show was fantastic.

Delay

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Working on the Yanmar

Before sailing on Thursday morning we checked the engine and found a leaking heat exchanger. Andy and I had seen it before and it was on my list to fix, but now it had developed into a serious leak. When I touched the bolt to remove the leaking part the head broke off in my hand; it had already been twisted too hard and partially broken. (Thanks Jeffery, I paid you to replace this bolt earlier, I should have checked on your work).

So I had no choice but to drill out the broken bolt and put in a new one, a job which took three hours. Finally at 12:45 we were ready to sail.

The Long Beat

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Fred & Candace

A nice breeze, some helping tidal current, a good shift or two, and Wings' upwind ability allowed us to cover 30 upwind miles in 5.5 hours. A satisfying sail.

In Port

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Candace and the Wings

After eleven days of living aboard and sailing our granddaughter looks pretty comfortable on the deck of Wings.

She did fine, and got a good start at being an excellent forward hand.

Now, back to college.

Fred & Judy, December 2007

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Fred & Judy

WINGS

WINGS, Serendipity 43, Custom IOR Race boat, our home since June 1986. A great boat to sail, cruise on, and live aboard.

Click any image to enlarge


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At Union Island,In Caribbean, 2012

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In Sumatra, 2010

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In Thailand, 2008

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In Papua New Guinea, 2003

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In Mexico, 1997

Click here for some interior shots.

Click here for many more photos of WINGS

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Kings Cup Regatta, Thailand, 2007


Some times we take off the cruising equipment and bend on the racing sails and go racing. In the shot above we are sailing in the King's Cup in Phuket Thailand in December 2007. We won our class with four straight first place finishes, sailing in IRC.

Wings is a boat originally built for racing, but we have found it to be an excellent cruising boat; it is easy to handle for two people, sails well with small sails, and has good motion in the seas. For living aboard it also suits us well: we have plenty of storage and lots of room. For example, on passages we can keep our dingy and motor below, stowed, all of our sails (14 in all), also stowed, the airconditioner, 140 gals of water, 60 gals of fuel, all of our liveaboard stuff (basically everything we own) and provisions for a 30 day passage, all stowed below, and nothing is on the sole or in the way. The deck is kept absolutely clear, nothing is on deck when we go in the ocean except the dingy fuel (gasoline).

We have a great shower, computer system, galley, and comfortable bunks for sea and in port. We have often been working ashore in office jobs while living aboard and we have plenty of hanging locker space for suits, dresses, etc. So, we think this boat is the perfect boat for us.

Sailing it is also just right for us.

Even though we don't have roller furling sails (we have a double grooved racing headfoil) we usually only use a small 85% dacron jib while cruising and this is so easy to put up or down that we don't miss the furling capability. If the wind gets too strong we reef the main, down to the third reef, and then we just drop the jib. Wings sails well with only a scrap of a main, in any direction. It also heaves-to rather well, with a reefed main and the jib, or with just the main; we've done it several times.

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Flying

Our average day's passage in good winds is 175nm. We have exceeded 200nm twice, it wasn't fun, (this is an IOR boat, remember, high speeds are not it's forte).
In this shot we are sailing in the SE Trades from Bora Bora to Samoa, on the windvane, with a full main and a poled out #4 jib, roaring along. There was 23 knots of wind and we were hitting the low 9's on every wave.

The boat has a tiller for steering and we have an Autohelm tiller pilot (ST4000GP) but at sea we use the monitor windvane 99% of the time.

We usually sail double handed without additional crew.

If we have any complaints about the boat it is that we don't have a great cockpit for entertaining; it is a racing cockpit, and rather small at that, but in heavy weather we are sometimes happy for having a small cockpit.

Once I was talking to Doug Peterson about the boat and I told him I thought it made a great cruising boat and was surprised by this. He said, "Really".

Well Doug, it does!


Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Phuket Thailand

FACTS:
Model: Serendipity 43
Type: Masthead sloop
Builder: New Orleans Marine
Year built: 1979
Designer: Doug Peterson
Length 42.7 ft
Beam 12.7 ft
Draft 8ft
LWL: 36.4
Weight (empty) 16,000 ibs
Weight (in cruising mode) 20,000 lbs
Construction GRP (Cflex hull, balsa cored deck)
Mast: aluminum, three spreader
Standing rigging: rod, continous rigging (new 2000)
Engine: Yanmar 3JH 34hp(new 1993, 5600 hrs)
Keel: external lead fin
Rudder: spade

Equipment (rating):
Engine: Yanmar 3JH (1993,excellent, 5600 hrs)
Charging: Balmar 130 amp dual output alt, engine driven, with smart regulation (excellent)

Monitor Windvane (excellent, total rebuild 2009)
PUR 35 Watermaker (excellent but small capacity)
Solar: 2 x 135 watt panels on side railings (excellent)
AC charger/inverter: Magnum Energy MMS (excellent)
Batteries: 4 x 210 LTH 6v, 1 X 105 12v (excellent)
Propellor: Martec folding plus spare (very good,)
Tankage: Water, 4 tanks, Stainless steel, 140 gal total-Fuel, 2 tanks, 60 gal total-Holding 22 gal
Anchor windlass: Lewmar Concept 1 (excellent)
Anchors: Bruce 44lb, Bruce 66lb,(we rarely use the 66lb, the 44lb is the std anchor, and it is excellent),Fortress FX23, Fortress FX17 stern anchor
Chain: 300ft 5/15 high tensile (Good, 12 years old, regalvanized last in 2013)
Rode: 300ft nylon triple strand (rarely used)
Sailing Electronics: B&G Hercules 390 (excellent functionality, the best, old but works perfectly, many spares)
Navigation electronics: Lowrance GPS Plotter, OpenCPN & worldwide charts on PC (Very Good)
Autopilot, Raymarine X5 with GP drive unit (new) the old ST400GP was great, we'll see.
AIS System, West Marine, Excellent 2010
Computers: Dell notebooks (3),Wi-fi, GSM & CDMA EVDO Modems, Cannon ip100 printer(all excellent, Dell worldwide on-site service cannot be beat)
Communications: ICOM M700 with SCS PTCIIe Pactor and Sailmail(excellent)
Near shore communications: 3G-4G HPDA/WCDMA/HSUPA GSM cellular broadband(very good)or CDMA EVDO cellular broadband
WiFi system: Bear Extender uni-directional Outdoor WiFi booster antenna (Excellent product).
Heat: Highseas Diesel heater (fair)
Air-con: basic window unit sitting on deck in port, stowed underway (excellent)
Stove: Force 10 three burner (very good, rebuilt 2010)
Refrigeration: 12v ice box conversion, generic unit using Danfoss 35 compressor (excellent)
Hot water: Propane instant califont (excellent)
Dingy: Zodiac FR360 Active-V with inflatable floor (OK condition)
Outboard: Mercury 15 2-cycle (Good)

Sails (18)

Cruising Sails:
Cruising Main-Dacron (2014 FarEast Sails, Hong Kong)
Cruising Genoa-#J2d 120%-Dacron (2009 Local Sails, Phuket, good condition)
Jib-#J4 (see below under racing sails, this is used as a working jib while cruising)
Storm Jib (never used)


Racing sails:
Main-Carbon MXL China Sail Factory String Sail-maximum size, (2017-New)
Main-Aramid MXL China Sail Factory String Sail-Standard size, (2016-Excellent)
Genoa- #J1 Carbon MXL China Sail Factory String Sail, (2017-New)
Genoa-#J2-Kevlar/Mylar North, (Usable)
Jib-#J3d-Dacron large roach #3, New (2018)
Jib #J4 Jib-Dacron (2013 North Sails Antigua, excellent)

Kites:
1S 1/2 oz-symmetrical(1990 Lidgard fair),
2S .7 oz-symmetrical(2008, SeAir excellent)
3S 1.5 oz North Tri-radial Runner (as New)
2A .7 oz-assymetrical AP (2008 SeAir Good),
3A 1.5 oz-assymetrical Reaching spinnaker (2018, New)
plus 3/4 oz all-purpose cruising kite.


Other sails (2, Genoa and Jib) serviceable retired sails


More photos of sailing on Wings:

Click here for some interior shots.

Click here for many more photos of WINGS

Fred

Posing

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Candace

Wat Pha Temple

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Candace & Fred

We took a ferry up the river to the Wat Pha temple

Soldier?

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Wat Pha

Is this statue a soldier or a businessman or a diplomat?

Reclining Buddha

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Wat Pha

Negotiation

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Candace
After the Temple at Wat Pha we went to China Town where the Candace spotted a woman making flowers by hand on the sidewalk. Here she is negotiating for the ones she liked

Got The Flowers

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Candace

Got the Flowers she wanted. Next?

Trying on hats

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Fred

Shopping

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Candace & Judy
We spent a couple of hours wandering around lost in Chinatown, which some people thought was the perfect way to spend a day in Bangkok

Ayutthaya Revisited

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Elephant Ride

We just had to try the elephant ride.

Baby Elephant

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Candace Feeds Elephant

Friends Meet Again

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Glee & Fred & Judy & Bryan

Bryan and Glee Butson from Australia are friends of ours since we sailed together with them in the Louisaides in 2003

Second Winds

What we liked about Bryan and Glee was that they got really involved with the people living the the places they visited, they sail Second Winds hard, and they seem to be unflappable in the face of the kinds of cruising problems which daunt most people.

I wrote a few words about Bryan in 2003 (look down in the story here ) but I never mentioned the contribution Glee has made to the Islands of Papua New Guinea where she has become the defacto health officer when ever she visits. And while I have told many friends the story I never wrote about the dark and windy night when Glee held a severely injured young girl in her arms as one of the local men ferried them across several miles of rough ocean in a small, open, outboard powered skiff. Going out blind in a small boat without lights and bouncing 10 miles in the rough seas during the night was not a trip that anyone else would have volunteered for, even the families of the girl declined to go, but Glee shamed the men into taking her and the child to Misima to the hospital. Once arriving in Misima she had to virtually force the medical people there to attempt the dangerous operatation on the girl, action that certainly saved the girl's life. (The girl had run through the village fish shack and got caught by the throat on a large, open, barbed shark fishing hook. The hook went in one side of her neck and out the other, missing by millimeters her jugular, but because of the barb, it could not be removed without a surgical team.)
The people of the village were already resigned to the girl's death when Glee intervened. The girl was saved. Glee is a hero.

Sailors of Pollen Path

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Randy and Laura

The great thing about coming to Yacht Haven is that the yacht Pollen Path is here and more importantly, its owners Randy and Laura.

They are good people, great sailors, and have been friends of ours for a long time and we are very happy that we can be together with them for a while here in Thailand.

Randy & Laura on the Plain of Jars, Laos-Dec 2007

Randy Durbin and Laura Hacker-Durbin

Randy and Laura often take overland trips from their base aboard Pollen Path in Phuket. In 2007 they visited Laos including the Plain of Jars. A highlight was a slow boat up the Mekong River.

Beautiful Herreshof Ketch

Pollen Path

Randy Durbin and a buddy build this boat and another exact duplicate (except rig) with Laura's support and help over seven years completing both hulls in 1988. Randy and Laura Hacker-Durban have been cruising aboard since 1992.

In 2008 they are based in Phuket Thailand. They have in recent years built a house on Martha's Vinayard Island in the Uunited States and they split their time between Thailand and the vinyard.

West Marine Turbo Pump doc

Wings' Crew-King's Cup 2007

This is an international crew we have collected over the last couple of years. Three of these people sailed with Judy and I in Hong Kong: Andy Kung (Swiss-Kiwi), Marco Wevers (Holland/Singapore), Tessa B(Holland/Singapore). The others, Tobias Ruff(Germany/Singapore) Jenni Clark(Australia/Singapore), Euan Wilcox(Australia/Singapore), Pierre-Yves Hadmar(France/Singapore), & Bob Wojda(USA) are sailors who joined us in Singapore. All of us are expats in Asia, so by definition we travel a bit. For that reason people miss race dates and practices. To fill in during these absences last year we had several other great crew all of whom we wish we could have brought to Phuket, including Mike Lim, Brendon McNiven, Ana Famula, Godwin Bonvia, Richard Peel, Richard Lamble.

We love all of these folks, and they are great sailors.


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Marco-Bow

Tobias-Mast

Tessa-Halyards

Jenni-Halyards & Cockpit

Euan-Grinder-trimmer

Andy-Trimmer-Engineer-Essential Kiwi

Pierre-Navigator-Trimmer

Bob-Main & Tactics

Judy-Runners-Tactics


Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Phuket Thailand