Sailing the Gulf Charters Thailand way…

September 6, 2009 | Posted by Captain Tim

Sunset in Ko Chang, Thailand

While on a business trip t ng, Stuart Heaver had the opportunity to explore the unspoilt cruising grounds of Thailand’s Ko Chang Archipelago  near the border with Cambodia, on a brand new Catalina 309 chartered from Gulf Charters who introduced sailing charters to the area in the summer of 2006.

As our tender passes under the stern of the Thai squid fishing boat, wiry tattooed fishermen flash smiles and wave wildly towards us.

They are clearly inviting us onboard for supper but slightly anxious as to what (or who)  might be on the menu, I wave back enthusiastically over my shoulder as we motor off at the top speed the 5HP outboard can muster.

Our overnight anchorage in 5 metres of clear blue water is a beautiful bay off the island of Ko Mak; part of the Ko Chang archipelago in the eastern side of the Gulf of Thailand, close to the border with Cambodia. There is no other vessel in sight except for the Thai squid fishing boat who I watch exit the bay at sunset, as I enjoy a cold tin of local Chang beer from the cockpit of our yacht.

Looking out to sea, I realise that my feelings of guilt about taking a sailing holiday in an unspoilt tropical paradise, during an English winter dominated by economic gloom, have completely evaporated.

The charter has been arranged by Phil Harper of Gulf Charters, who are widely regarded as the pioneers of sailing holidays in the Gulf of Thailand. Their main base is in Pattaya where they also have a well respected sailing school, catering for all ages and abilities. Less than three years ago they were the first to introduce charter yachts to Ko Chang, about 100 miles to the south.  Gulf Charters now offer eight yachts from their Ao Salek Phet base in south east  Ko Chang and have trained up a small team of Thai staff to service and support them. Gulf Charters are also offering charter boats from Cambodia for the first time.

If you want to know anything about sailing in Thailand and Cambodia, Phil Harper is probably the man to ask. He learned to sail in Sydney harbour as a youngster, travelled all over Asia as a civil engineer and has been sailing in this part of Asia for over 15 years.

“One day back in 1998 some sailing mates wanted to  charter a boat for the week-end in Pattaya which has fabulous marina facilities” explains Phil. “There were no boats available,  so we started Gulf Charters ourselves”.

The Ko Chang archipelago is has been designated a national park and consists of 52 islands situated at latitude 12 degrees north, on the eastern side of the Gulf of Thailand, about 250 miles south -east of the capital Bangkok and close to the border with Cambodia. Being just north of the doldrums belt, it offers good sailing winds all year round with steady monsoon winds of 15-20 knots from the North East in the dry season from November to April. In the wet season, the monsoon blows from the south west and the winds can be less predictable and the weather wet and less settled.

The area also offers fabulous sunshine, deserted white sand beaches and quiet anchorages with no mass tourism.

During Phil’s careful chart briefing to me and my trusty crew of one,  (my wife Sarah) we quickly realise that there are some significant differences between the Gulf of Thailand and our favourite winter charter grounds of the Caribbean. When I ask Phil about boat security he looks at me blankly.

“You can’t lock the boats even if you want to” explains Phil “We have never had anything stolen in the last four years and no-one even secures their outboard engines at night”.

That is certainly a contrast from our experiences in St Lucia, where restaurant owners install security staff on your yacht while you eat dinner ashore.

Phil also explains that most places ashore don’t take credit cards, and there are no ATMs on the smaller islands to the south. One recent client ran out of cash and was forced to barter cigarettes and beer to secure dinner in a local restaurant.

“Don’t expect everyone to speak English and don’t expect tourism on a plate” explains Phil.

When I assure him that we quite like “alternative” destinations, he laughs.

“Get down to southern Ko Cut and you are way beyond alternative buddy” he chuckles.

Despite the feeling of undertaking the cruising equivalent of skiing “off piste” there is perfect mobile phone coverage across the whole area and the Thai Navy charts are good and incorporate older Hydrographic  Office  soundings. Gulf Charters will text you any dramatic weather changes and issue a local SIM for your mobile so you can call in with any problems or to report your whereabouts. Phil and his team have contacts with resorts and fisherman up and down the coast should any emergency occur.

The Ko Chang archipelago is definitely undiscovered by modern standards and a yacht is still something that locals like to wave at. There are no berths alongside outside the base, no marinas and no secure overnight moorings, so Phil urges caution and lots if cable, when it comes to anchoring. Navigation is mostly line of site except for boring old hands like me who still insist in putting three point fixes on a chart from time to time, even with the benefit of GPS. The tidal range is less than 2 meters and there are no nasty tidal streams to worry about.

The only sailing guide is that published by Gulf Charters based on Phil’s local knowledge, Google earth and updates from former clients made by pencil notes in the margins. “Watch out for coral head 100m north east of pier-problem for tender at low water”, read one example scribbled in ours.

Our boat for the week is a Catalina 309 called Mirrabooka or Southern Cross, if you don’t speak Aborigine. The Catalina is a new boat to us and a new boat to the charter fleet having been bought less than one year earlier. It has only been sailed by four people including the commissioning team and is immaculate throughout. Gulf Charters are the local agent for Catalina who is the biggest production boat company in the USA, building their boats in Florida.

Unlike most boats we have chartered in the past, Mirrabooka has great battery capacity, a sounder and chart plotter that actually work, a full set of flares and emergency equipment, first aid box, fridge and a cool box and  even small details like an AC inverter, for phone charging. Best of all for a two handed crew; a furling mainsail. No need for me to go on deck for reefing if the conditions get lumpy, which is always Sarah’s key concern about sailing as a couple.

We set sail just outside the bay of Ao Salek Phet with the warm late afternoon sunshine on the starboard beam bound for Ko Mak, the first larger island, 12 miles to the south. This being the sea, the reliable north easterly monsoon has become a light westerly breeze and the Mirrabooka was a joy to handle even though we were more than a bit rusty.

A brief swim in the warm tropical water at Ko Mak and avoiding an early supper  with our new friends, the Thai squid fisherman, was all we could manage on night one. The next morning was calm and bright and we motor sailed to an uninhabited desert island called Ko Rang, 4 nm to the west. Even motor sailing is tolerable with the tiny Yanmar diesel engine humming quietly beneath us.

We anchor Mirrabooka in 4m of water on a firm sand seabed, where the anchor is clearly visible from the boat. We snorkel in brochure blue water and see isolated purple coral heads, extraordinary sea urchins and leopard fish. The beach is deserted. Just white sand, coconut palms and more white sand and coconut palms.

That evening we anchor in the northern part of Ao Chek Ki, off Ko Kut and close to the Captain Hook Resort. The title resort is a little misleading as these are modest bungalows set in the jungle for Thai holidaymakers with a modest bar and restaurant. The resort stands at the side of a canal that cuts through the white sand beach and then joins the river that winds deep into the jungle behind. Our tender is received by one of the tiny Thai waitresses who impresses me by catching the painter from Sarah first time and executing a faultless round turn and two half hitches, around the jetty post.

There are four other people in the whole resort and the Pina Colada that Sarah orders is apparently the finest she has ever had, made with fresh pineapple and fresh coconut milk- Sarah has sampled more than a few PIna Coladas over the years, so this is quite a compliment. Dinner of seafood and noodles is delicious, there are six people in the restaurant including us and the total cost for the dinner including drinks was less than £4 for both of us, even with the very unhelpful exchange rate.

The next morning we set off in the tender in search of Klong Yai Ki  waterfall. We take the tender across the shallow canal that cuts between the Captain Hook resort and the beach, careful to choose high tide and follow the same course as local fishing boats. Everyone smiles and waves and we pass their homes mounted on stilts with rough planking forming floors under wooden tiled or thatched roofs.  The mangroves bordering the canal and look like twisted talons as we head into the jungle powered by the 5HP outboard engine.

We secure the tender at a rough jetty at the end of the canal and proceed into the jungle on foot. There are no signposts but a path leads quite clearly up through  the jungle to a rough concrete road and the only sound is that of birdsong and the rustle of lizards scuttling off into the undergrowth as our footsteps approach . A steep stepped path through the jungle , exposing tree roots, leads us down to a beautiful boulder river valley and natural waterfall about 50 feet high with a limpid freshwater pool that we swim  in to cool off.

It seems a million miles from recession, bank losses and general economic misery.

The north east trades make an appearance in the middle of the week but like everything else in Ko Chang, they seem benign and helpful, rather than threatening. In the last three days, we have seen only two other sailing vessels and we never had to reef the sails. We need to keep a careful look out for fishing floats, some of which are connected to each other by nylon line and we stay well clear of the fishing boats but otherwise, this is stress free sailing of the most enjoyable kind.

Mirrabooka handles perfectly and from the small seat in the quarter of the cockpit it is just possible for those with long legs to adopt the toe steering position, leaving both hands free for consumption of Chang beer. Not recommended by the RYA I’m sure, but still rather relaxing in these wonderful conditions.

“This is the sailing I like” exclaims Sarah as we approach another perfect anchorage under full sail on a beam reach ”I am not cold, I am not frightened and I am not bored. It’s just lovely”

The deserted anchorages are particularly beautiful at night. The wind drops to light airs so the sea is like black ink. There is a smell of spice and incense from the shore and the fierce fluorescent light of the many squid boats form a ghostly ring of UFOs around the horizon.

In the south of Ko Kut, where the fishing villages are located things are even less developed. It is wise to approach these anchorages with caution. Many of the bays are bound by a bar of dead coral heads but we found none of them shelved to any less than 4m on the sounder. The sounder showed clearly the lumpy coral heads and fish and then the seabed sloping down again to firm and level sand. Once over the bar the beach shelves gently again and it is possible to anchor in 4-5m with good holding.

Our waiter at the unnamed beach restaurant takes to his bed between courses and encourages us to sample the local Sang Som rum. The label proclaims proudly that it is “distilled, aged and bottled in Nakornpratum, Thailand under Thai government supervision”.  Judging by the headache I suffered the morning after, the Thai government might try supervising a bit more closely.

Like most women,  Sarah can identify a retail opportunity in almost any location, however remote and she has found a brochure for a pearl farm (and shop) located on a small island called Ko Mai Sie Lek and is very keen to find it. She has always been fascinated by how pearls develop and the shopping element is of no relevance, she assures me. I am less fascinated by pearls and have to confess that I search for the pearl farm with slightly less determination than I should. I don’t feel that confident of finding it as the only aid to navigation is a tiny map of East Thailand in the brochure with a large pink arrow pointing at a small island somewhere of the North West coast of Ko Kut.

On approaching some traditional timber buildings on stilts on the shore at Ko Mai Sie Lek, off the north east coast of Ko Kut, we decide to anchor off and look ashore for the pearl farm. The wind has eased off but this is a lee shore so I don’t want to hang about too long on an extended shopping trip. On landing the tender on the beach a Thai gentleman appears smiling and takes our painter.

“Welcome to my island. You are very lucky and will be my personal guests on Maisie Island”. He announces.

There was no time period mentioned in his welcome and I feared that this could be a longer run ashore that we had planned. Neither of us had the courage to ask about the pearl farm (or shop).

Yai Maisie turned out to be a charming and genuine host and we were treated to a tour of his coconut and cashew nut plantation and introduced to the resident Buddhist monk. Inevitably, we stayed for dinner, while I kept glancing anxiously at the Mirrabooka and praying the wind stayed calm until pudding had finished. Yai refused to accept any payment or gift from us, gave us a complimentary bottle of his home made honey and only asked us to sign his visitors book.

Phil did warn us that things were “way beyond alternative”.

Talay Sai Resort and Pearl Farm is in fact located just half a mile further south and we visit the next morning after a breakfast of fresh local honey on toast. We receive a fascinating demonstration from Sam on the different types of pearl, before being gently ushered towards their shop. There is no hint of heavy selling or pushiness and we are treated to the usual gentle Thai charm.  Regrettably, our wedding anniversary is approaching, so I exit Talay Say somewhat poorer than when I entered but Sarah is delighted with her authentic Thai cultured pearl necklace with matching earrings.

Phil also advised us to call at Ao Bang Bau on the return leg which is a settlement based largely on a single concrete pier.

“They’ve got every damm thing on that pier” said Phil and he was probably right.

Dive schools, boat hire, scooter hire, wood craft, seafood, LaCoste  shirts (£3), carved buddahs, stray dogs, silk scarves, cafes, exotic fruit and just about anything else, all along a narrow concrete pier about 3m wide.

As we weighed anchor in Ao Bang Bao the wind increases to about 15 knots and the sun disappeared behind light grey clouds for the first time all week. Mirrabooka ran effortlessly downwind on the full Genoa to return to Phil’s charming team at Gulf Charters.

It has been a marvellous privilege to experience these unspoilt sailing grounds. If you enjoy a feeling of discovery and a spirit of adventure with your sailing, this is the spot for you. It might be a little more expensive to get to than the Caribbean but it is certainly much cheaper and even more beautiful, once you are there.

You will never be squeezing into anchorages, cursing the loud music from neighbouring boats or missing the last lobster at dinner in the Ko Chang archipelago, that’s for sure.

You might not find the same range of hot and cold modern amenities and ultra commercial tourism ashore that you might in most of the Caribbean charter locations but with the back-up of a good charter company like Gulf Charters, we fell in love with it and are already saving up for Cambodia. o Hong Ko

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