Chris Ting – Lost In Asia … Again!

Two weeks after the end of the NSW Windsurfing series in Australia the Pattaya Cup was to be held. The organisers were providing accommodation for international visitors, no entry fee, and transfers from Bangkok. This was too much of an opportunity to pass up, plus I get to catch up with Soon, Koo, and Meng. So I decided to use some of my frequent flyer points and book a ticket. This trip should be only the cost of food and entertainment…

The only obstacle was to check in my equipment at the airport. Luckily thanks to Ian Fox, Remi Villa and Starboard, a brand new Starboard 162 loan board was arranged for me, so that’s one less thing I needed to take. After a little negotiation, I was able to check in my quiver bag for $120, I almost laughed, considering how much I had to pay to get to Europe last time. I did discover that on the day I was flying the baggage allowances had just changed, so it would pay to double check them before any of you try to fly with equipment in the future.

The flight was reasonably uneventful, except for a feral girl sitting next to me, who had the worse body odour you could imagine. Not being so subtle I put my jacket on, zipped it up, and then turned the vent on to full.

It was around midnight in Bangkok by the time I landed. Kai(Koo’s twin brother) picked me up in his van, and dropped me at the Surf Hotel in Jomtien beach. Special thanks to Kai, because this was the third 4 hour round trip he had done that day, after picking up Meng and then Soon earlier.

Thursday morning breakfast, and catching up with old friends, checking fins, and then lunch. The forecast wasn’t much good. Suddenly a light 10 – 12 knot breeze sprang up, so Soon very kindly drove me around to the Starboard beach house, where I hit the water with Remi Vila to do some equipment testing(sorry I won’t spill the beans). We only had about 30 min sailing before a late afternoon tropical thunderstorm came through.

Friday I’ve come back to the beach house for hopefully some more testing, we’re still waiting for wind, so I’ve spent the time setting up footstraps, and making sure my fins fit in the SB 162 I’ll be racing

Part II

The rest of Friday was spent swimming in the pool, eating lunch by the beach, looking at some special projects and a lot of discussion with Remi Vila about the state of Formula windsurfing, and in paticular the current state of the fin market, manufacturers, fin cost etc. 

Friday evening Soon, Meng and I headed into Pattaya town for dinner.  After dinner it was time to take in some of the local “sights”.  We wandered down the tourist bar strip “Walking street” which is closed off to traffic at night.  No surprises here, its a seedy street lined with Go Go bars.  I don’t think I need to go into too much detail. 

After Walking street, a quick visit to a night market.  I was in desperate need for some clean clothes.  I had packed very sparingly(actually Tam packed for me) in order to save on weight at check in.  930 Baht later(about $40 AUD) I had 2 polo shirts, 1 t-shirt, 1 button up shirt and 1 pair of shorts.  I’m not sure how long these will last, because the first time I put my hand in the pocket of the shorts, some stitching ripped…… 

Saturday, I haven’t adjusted to the timezone here, which is currently 4 hours behind Sydney.  So I dozed until 6:30 am, and then went down for breakfast.  Fried eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, tomato,  coffee, pineapple Juice, a whole fresh pineapple, and I was feeling rather stuffed, but confident I was fueled for the days racing……..and then Soon turned up, and told me the forecast was for light winds.  I now wish I could give back some of the 10 kilos of breakfast I just ate.

 Registration, and a couple of cool stickers to put on the sail, and now the wait for wind begins.

Part III

Most of Saturday it rained. A thunder storm with heavy came through for much of the day. We set up camp in “Surf Kitchen” which is just across the road from the event site. The hotel and Surf kitchen are both owned by the president of the association Mr Yai.

Later in the afternoon the rain eased and a light breeze started to come in with the occasional rain patch. I was bored so decided to rig my 11.8 and test my new K76 which I had finished just before flying over. I drifted out off shore with Koo, and about 100 m out we caught the first tease of wind. Soon Koo and I were both planing out to sea. Marginal wind for racing, but enough to satisfy the addiction, and get a feel for the new fin.(It felt great)

RSX and Techno were called out to the course as the wind filled in a little. We may have been able to get a formula race away, but crazily sailors have been allowed to register in both RSX and Formula, so we are not able to be on the course at the same time.

The wind kicked in another 5 knots, and I was beginning to think I might need to change down to the 73 cut. Finally Formula was called out to the course. As I was checking out the start line and marks of the course, the wind started to die again. Within minutes it had turned glassy, and getting back to the beach across a 5 knot current and upwind in the little wind there was proving impossible. Just as I was 30 m from the beach, I saw that there was a netted swimming area which stretched as far as I could see. Eventually the official boats picked me up, I think I was the last one to be rescued, and it was well and truly dark by now.

Dinner was arranged by Meng and his Chinese Tycoon friend(and bodyguard) who had arrived for the night. We drove out to a village for fresh seafood. I’m sure it was great but as some of you know, I don’t really appreciate seafood, nor the $300 bottle of cognac that went with dinner. Thanks to the Tycoon whose name escapes me for picking up the tab.

Sunday morning and the day looks more promising. Sunny and warm, with the light wind in generally the right direction. Camped in Surf Kitchen again, but feeling more positive we’ll get some racing today.

Part IV

Sunday we sat and waited, and waited, and waited…….

At 1:30 pm our flag was dropped which meant we had 30 min to get on the water. The normal rigging panic ensued, and with the mast in, and cambers popped on, I realised there was no point continuing, as there was perhaps 2 knots of wind. So we hung around the beach on standby for an hour.
Soon had decided he really liked my new K76 after trying it on Saturday, and asked “How much?”, I got that feeling of De Ja Vu. However that fin apart from feeling really good, is also fin number 100, so its a bit special to me.

Eventually the event was called, with no result for Formula, and only one race for RSX and Techno 293. So it was a quick pack up, and then across the road to watch the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix.

The presentation started around 6pm with a live performer, and dinner consisting of Fried Rice, really nice grilled Chicken wings, and fresh Pineapple. I went back for seconds even though Meng had told me Mr Tang(tycoon) was taking us out to dinner.

So Mr Tang took us to a Chinese restaurant in a 5 star hotel. We were in a private room, and no expense was spared. Some traditional Chinese dish’s were served, as well as another $300 bottle of Cognac. Over dinner we also discovered that Mr Tang comes from the same home town as my Fathers family. To me that was very surprising, as he was the first person that I had ever met that knew of this town, outside of Dads family. Mr Tang was on the China Olympic windsurfing team, but when he left the team it sounds like he made his fortune in Soy beans.

After dinner we went to the “Hollywood Club”. Some of the younger members of the Singapore and Thai teams joined us there. There was a mix of Live music and DJ’s. A lot of the music sounded very familiar, some of it instantly recognisable from the tune, but others I had to listen very closely, as you can imagine not many of the songs were in English. In this bar you’re able to bring in your own spirits, and you purchase your mixers there. It felt like we had virtually our own barman the whole night who would fill your glass as soon as you put it down.

I left at 2 am and said goodbyes to many of the sailors.

Monday morning breakfast at the usual Surf kitchen, and also a quick chat to Meng before we part ways. During breakfast another storm came through, but this time it brought 15 – 20 knots of wind………

See you all soon

Chris