{"id":10358,"date":"2019-12-04T07:38:12","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T12:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=10358"},"modified":"2019-12-04T07:39:05","modified_gmt":"2019-12-04T12:39:05","slug":"theres-thai-in-antigua","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=10358","title":{"rendered":"You can get Thai in Antigua."},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanksgiving has come and gone and Brenda and I have found ourselves in the midst of a crazy, way over-scheduled, holiday season.<\/p>\n

We arrived home in the wee hours on Monday morning, Thanksgiving week, and within a few hours we were back in the car headed to see our Son and his family including our three grandchildren in MD.\u00a0 A short few days later, back to CT and another Thanksgiving dinner with friends.<\/p>\n

We will now be home for about a week when we head back to MD for our oldest grandchild, Tori’s birthday, who turns three.\u00a0 After that quick trip, we jump on a plane to spend Christmas with our other son and his girlfriend in CA.\u00a0 \u00a0A week there and then back to CT for a three day whirlwind to winterize the house and head back to Antigua.\u00a0 \u00a0Oh boy, we will need a vacation after all that but it’s going to be great to see everyone.<\/p>\n

Yes, we will have been home for nearly 5 weeks but we will put on a lot of miles and had little time to relax.\u00a0 After the life of “nothing happens before noon on Pandora”, the holidays seem nearly out-of-control hectic.<\/p>\n

Of course, that isn’t made any easier by the pile-up of “deferred maintenance” at home for the nearly 6 weeks I was away, for the “migration to Antigua”.\u00a0 Can you say “wow, that’s a lot of leaves on the yard Bob”?\u00a0 \u00a0Yikes, I need a vacation.<\/p>\n

And speaking of Pandora, even if I wasn’t, a friend sent this great drone shot of her on her mooring in English Harbor where she’ll be while we are jetting around.\u00a0 Awesome perspective.\u00a0 Hint, she’s in the middle of the photo.\"\"In my last post I showed this photo of a “long tail” boat from Thailand owned by a friend, Paul, one of the owners of the Admiral’s Inn and promised to tell more about the boat and how it got to Antigua.\u00a0 \u00a0 So, here goes…<\/p>\n

So, this type of boat, known as “long tails” because of their distinctive long propeller shaft, are a common sight in Thailand.<\/a>\u00a0 The type is known for their simple engine and prop configurations, utilizing cheap and easy to work on, re-purposed automobile engines.\u00a0 These boats come in all shapes and sizes but the common theme is that they sport an engine on a gimbal with a long straight prop shaft and no transmission, just direct drive to the prop.\u00a0 \u00a0 Paul, visited Thailand and had this boat shipped to Antigua where he grew up and still lives.\u00a0 The boat is certainly a standout, compared to the others in the harbor. \"\"Paul had offered to take me out for a spin so we met at the dock at the Admiral’s Inn.\u00a0 As he approached the dock he picked the prop out of the water to put it in “neutral”, coasting up to the dock. \"\"It was very tight maneuvering to clear the dock so he had to dip the prop in and out of the water several times to get us underway.\"\"So, off we went.\u00a0 A great contrast between Paul’s boat and this one in the background, “Home”.\u00a0 More about that in a bit.<\/p>\n

To pilot one of these open boats, you have to stand the entire time while underway. Note the hand crank on the seat behind Paul.\u00a0 No electric start, you just put the lever into the front of the engine and hope that it doesn’t rev up and take your hand off.\u00a0 These boats are very simple and the water cooling is drawn from a tube stuck in the water.\u00a0 \u00a0No thru-hulls to complicate things.
\n\"\"When at speed, you get a feel for just how dangerous this sort of “outboard” would be with a spinning prop, a boat length behind spinning just below the surface.\u00a0 \u00a0No going close to swimmers with this boat.\"\" I have always associated this sort of boat with James Bond, who’s Long Tail was a bit more sporty than Paul’s.