Chasing Waves – Thailand
The Kings Cup Regatta that was being held from Dec 5th to the 8th in Phuket Thailand had just come to close. At the awards ceremony on the beach at KataTani Hotel, back dropped by hundreds of vessels idle on anchor, sailors of all types clung hard to alcohol while freely sharing big tales that had taken place both near and far. Random Asian beauties roamed about the gathering keeping an elevated excitement among the male patrons.
Pops along with the international crew on board “Silvia”, a 125 ft ketch, all lifted their cups of cheap wine along with the first place trophies for winning classics division. As the music being belted out by the hired Pilipino band smothered any chance for conversation, Pops and a fellow crew member by the name of Bix stepped down to the shoreline where they immediately commented on the consistent small swell wrapping into the bay. As it turned out Bix had been living in Phuket for the last so many years and boasted about how the waves at times could get world class. Pressing him further, Pops wanted to know just how much of the tale was true and how much if it was alcohol induced jabber.
According to Bix, Pops was visiting Thailand during the best time of the year for surf. The winds were offshore, the sand bars were still present , and the acute direction of south west swells still marched in from as far away as Africa, and still made the bend around the most north western tip of Sumatra to the beaches along the coast. That coupled with an occasional cyclonic formation out in the Bay of Bengal, both these factors granted enough possibilities for surf. But world class surf? Pops told me that this had to be seen to be believed. As a short but heavy downpour descended and all but disbanded the party, Bix and my father planned morning surf to a beach that had just a bit more south facing curve to it.
It was still dark when they arrived in the dirt parking space. All was lifeless except a few temple dogs that were milling about doing their business. The quiet was suddenly broken by the sound of a distant wave. Smiling, Bix removed his shirt and quickly began unstrapping the boards off the roof of his truck. Pops followed suit and soon both were in the sand and just able to see another set of lines hitting off the far point. With wide eyes of anticipation, even Bix realized it was going to be one of those days.
Short but thumpy left handers pushed down the beach. Some fun, some very fun but it was the scenery as a whole that made the place as well. A horseshoe bay cuddle in by lime stone points topped off with bright green foliage, magnified the experience. Some forty of so yachts motioned gently atop the inconsistent rolling ground swell while a consistent occupancy of butterflies floated aimlessly around the air mass above.
By just after 11 am, it was as if the swell had all but gone away. Pops remembered how they both sat still for over an hour in the crystal clear, swimming pool environment. Not a single wave of any kind approached the beach thereafter. Baffled, Bix assured Pops that it was a tidal thing and by tomorrows early dawn, the waves would still be fun.
By 5am the next morning, Bix and Pops were driving north to see if some of the other beach breaks would be catching the swell. Bix had been informed by a sailor friend of his that indeed a low pressure had developed out in the bay and that between the two swell directions, the chance of getting waves up north were better than good.
Over the next five days, four spots were surfed and while not very big, the quality was defiantly there. A few of the spots catered to small local crowds who insured Bix and Pops that waves were the best surfed since about last year the same time. One girl who went by the name “Hula” commented “ as a surfer in Thailand it came down to just a few really good days out of the year and these are them”.
By dusk that that evening, the waning lazy last lines of the most recent pulse were still finding their way in to the shore. Sun burnt and sore a sunset Thai massage on the beach was a great closing to a week of great surf. Pops insured me that if by chance I had found myself in that part of the world during the months of November / December time frame, it would be wise to check the charts. Little did we know at the time, but I would indeed be passing through at some future date but detailed under a very different kind of circumstance.