Hullo friends and family
Its amazing that we are still busy with the stragglers…the odd charters that are still coming our way, so the boat chores are on hold and apart from the excitement of now dodging the storms, its been great fun.
After our wonderful days with the Pavids’ – day after endless day of building our next boat in imaginary utopia (Rob owns the moulds for the Parlay – Katrine’s Mom and Dad) but of very little sailing (sorry Rob just a week too early) we had our weeks R and R in Penang with our yachtie friends.
This was followed by a windfall……Volvo sponsored some big-wigs from Spain a trip to Asia and we, together with two other catamarans were asked to do a sunset cruise for them. We had to get to the very expensive US$ 1,000 a night Four Seasons Hotel on the northern side of the island and as luck would have it, storm cells sat over Langkawi the entire day. Our 3 hour trip to the bay was interesting with seas piling high and squalls lashing from all directions but as we dropped anchor, the sun peaked out through the clouds, the sea flattened and we had a perfect evening. The bunch of Spaniards were great fun, the food good and the Dom Perignon Champers scrummie, but the R2,000 + for two hours of eating and drinking, was the best!

There followed a week with the van Schalkwyk’s of Johannesburg. And once again a chance to talk “Boetie” with boat minded people. Rudolph is into building catamarans as well and we talked around many, many ideas in between some spectacular sailing. We had a great sail to the Butangs and the island of Kho Butang which had us hanging off a sand-spit close to shore on one stormy night. Kho Butang is our “Wild Dog Beach” which we had all to ourselves once again. The two dogs which have been the sole occupants since the tsunami are looking well and seemed a lot friendlier than they were before. They wagged their tails and bounded up to us as we beached the dinghy ashore but kept their distance till we had put their breakfast down and taken a few steps back. Their insatiable appetite is still there but they looked surprisingly healthy compared to a few months back. Still, they gave me the evil yellow eye and a snarl just to make sure I knew my place and didn’t get too friendly. Grateful little blighters.
The snorkelling was fantastic and we found another little corner of heaven that hadn’t been damaged by the tsunami – beautifully coloured soft and hard coral and two of the biggest coral trout we have seen in a while.
A night in the southern bay of Ko Lipe was a lucky speculation as the variable winds came howling in from the north again….it really kept us on our toes guessing from which direction it was going to make an appearance. The indecision was unnerving though and we decided to make our way back to Langkawi early just in case. Another very lucky choice as from dead calm when we left, the sea began to pick up from the south as we motor-sailed our way back with full main and genoa out. Our guests were having an afternoon nap and Katrine was comfortably cruising along at 7 knots, not a cloud in sight. I had just suggested to Don that he take a nap and I would take over the helm when the bungee line twanged taut. A sail fish tail-walked out of the water and we were yelling with excitement. You certainly don’t see many of those these days. And of course we wouldn’t be the Picker’s if things didn’t go a little pear-shaped……as we hauled him in, out of nowhere the wind suddenly appeared out of a totally clear sky and picked up to 28knots within a few seconds. Katrine with her full rig up took a distinct hull-dive to port! Then the fun was on. Trying to dose the fish with rum, (our first priority) and avoiding Dons Achilles tendon, spill wind from the sails and grab at cushions and the loose paraphernalia that a gentle morning breeze had us neglecting to tie down, sent us scrambling. Just to add to the chaos the running backstay was not tight which was pretty dangerous with fully powered rigging. But as usual we managed to get things under control without too much of a performance and no hard luck stories. We made it look so easy to our guests who had appeared on deck. They were thoroughly impressed especially when we looked across at Coal Miners Dream who had been motor sailing ahead of us to see their sails suddenly furled as we shot passed them!
Oh, and the saily was delicious.
Then just when we thought the work had finally ended we had a call for an overnight charter from our Langkawi agent. We stocked the boat, had an early morning of washing and scrubbing and cleaning tied off in the marina…amazing how necessity can get us going - and shot across to Porto Malai to pick them up. They were a young couple on honeymoon from England. Poor chap looked as though he’d had a rough time. His disprin white legs were burnt to a frazzle from sun tanning on the beach, blistered feet looked so painful and he coughed like he had a bad dose of T.B. Poor chap didn’t last long and after two hours decided he wanted to go back. Shame. So we came home and we will collect them for a sunset cruise over the weekend.
Not everyone is cut out for this cruising life, hey.

And so as we lie out on the trampoline in the cool of the evening and watch the most magnificent sunsets red and gold over these beautiful mountains how can we help but say how blessed we are to be doing what we love the most.
Today is the 26th of April. I think of my brother Peter so especially today….the 60th birthday he didn’t reach. And we are once again reminded of the fragility of life.
I was just reading through a eulogy that Bev gave at Kathi’s thanksgiving service. It bears repeating………

I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning to the end.

He noted that first came her date of birth, and spoke the following date
with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all was the DASH (-) between those
years.
(1934 - 1999)

For that dash represents all the time she spent alive on this earth,
And now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not how much we own : the cars, the house, the cash,
What matters is how we live and love, and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard, are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left, that can still be rearranged.

If we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real,
And always try to understand the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger, and show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives like we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect, and more often wear a smile
Remembering that this special dash might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy's being read with your life's actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say about how you spent your dash?

Loving thoughts to you all
Don and Jeanne