Helms Alee Captain Darrell

To finish my IYT Bareboat Captain certification we ended the course with a 3 day, 2 night stay on the boat before writing the exam. There were five of us on the 46' boat as we ventured from the marina at Jomtien over a full day sail before rounding a pilot station (a permanent platform like a small oil rig lying off the coast near a freighter anchorage). We took shifts, and were required to constantly take bearings and log our course periodically. The day was great, 1m to 1.2m swells, clear skies, and we were running with the wind. Eight hours later, rounding the pilot station, things got a bit more exciting. Not only would we be running into the wind, tacking numerous times, but the wind and waves had increased somewhat and we were sailing in an area full of dozen or so huge ocean freighters, fishing boats, barges and cruise ships. As the sun set, we made our way south to our intended anchorage off the island Ko Phai. Warren, one of my classmates/crew had ventured to the bow to check that out port and starboard lights were on. At that moment the dingy (which we had secured to the top of the bow) was getting tangled with one of the lines and we almost lost it. Warren was able to secure it in the nick of time.

During my second shift at the helm it was now dark and to make things easier I had turned on the auto pilot. Suddenly the auto pilot and all instruments were off and I had to navigate with a flashlight illuminating the boats compass and constantly positioning myself clear of massive freighters. Although we were able to restore some of the nav controls there was another occasion instrument alarm went off as we broke free in the wind and waves from the auto pilot. At this time we saw some lightning on the horizon and decided to change course and anchor off the island Ko Si Cheng, about three hours away.

It was about midnight when we anchored at Ko Si Cheng and were exhausted to say the least. I had been at the helm for close to five hours and once down below in my cabin I fell fast asleep.

The next morning was a lazy day anchored in a sheltered bay where we could study for our final exam. To escape the heat we had popped off the boat for a bit of a refreshing swim before lifting anchor. We soon realized that we had stayed too long. Although we should have had enough depth for the keel we were in fact touching sand. The concern was greater when we noticed a large rock at the side of the boat. To ensure no damage would be made to the vessel, I grabbed a diving mask and popped off the side. Swimming under the 46' boat I could see that we had drifted onto a small pile of sand and relayed the hazards back to the guys on the boat. I popped back on and within minutes we were out of any hazardous area and made our way to our second anchorage at Pattaya. As we crossed a large shipping lane with swells over 1.5 meters it was my turn to dash up top the bow, climb over the overturned dingy, hold on to the pulpit and lean over to tap and shake our loose-wired navigation lights. Waves crashing, dipping WAY up and down it was pretty thrilling. When I got back to the cockpit Warren said, "Hey, you should go back out there, that would be an awesome photo!"… to which I replied, "Ya, NO!".

We made our way to an anchorage at Pattaya beach and went ashore for a dinner and a couple drinks. Thankfully the sail back to the marina the following morning was an uneventful, peaceful, enjoyable sail.

Oh, and I passed the exam.