ONE GOOD turn deserves another, which probably explains why Scott Carter is following up his stint as a long-stay tsunami volunteer with a sea voyage around the world.
This turn will be a long one, and all in aid of ECPAT, an international charity that rescues children from sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
Like both the good ship Lucky and its coming round-the-globe voyage, the worthy organisation has had its beginnings in Thailand.
Sailing from Phuket with the warm-hearted 39-year-old American seafarer will be a crew of 10 volunteers from Thailand, Britain, Canada, Ireland, Australia and the US.
But before the voyage can begin, they have to get the twin-masted schooner back in the water. An unexpected squall caught Lucky side-on, with sails billowing, in a mishap during sea trials off Phi
Phi in October.
Within minutes, the all-timber 73-footer was swamped. The bedraggled crew found themselves looking on from shore, with the ship's dog and a couple of soggy backpacks for company.
Now Lucky is being refitted at Ratanachai Slipways on Phuket, with its captain philosophical about the mishap but keener than ever to get underway.
At least Phi Phi was an ideal place for a shipwreck. The islanders could not have been more generous in the aid and support they gave to Lucky and its wet-through crew.
Fortunately that most important item of cargo, enthusiasm, was not dampened. And no crew has been better prepared than the sailors of Lucky for making sure there are no further mishaps.
Apart from getting underway as soon as possible, what Lucky needs most now is a sponsor or two for the voyage. The concept is a grand one.
Subject to the right conditions, Lucky will head west for Sri Lanka and India, making landfalls in the Maldives, Chagos and the Seychelles, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, crossing the Atlantic to
visit Brazil, French Guiana, Venezuela, Trinidad, the Grenadines, St. Kitts, the Virgin Islands, Turks, Caicos, Bahamas, and Georgetown, South Carolina.
Georgetown was Scott's home before he came as a volunteer on being told about the 2004 tsunami, without really being able to be specific about the precise location of Thailand on a map.
At first he helped by carting the bodies of the victims at a Phang Nga temple before establishing the Cape Pakarang boatshed.
Over the next couple of years, a steady stream of 680 volunteers and a team of professional Thai boat builders hammered, shaved, sanded and varnished scores of new longtails into shape for fishermen in the region. Then Scott sold his home and invested his life savings in
Lucky.
The voyage plan now includes some US East coast cruising, coinciding Lucky's arrival at each port to boat shows and significant events along the way in Norfolk, Washington, Annapolis, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Halifax and Lunenberg, Nova Scotia.
When the time comes for a long return sea passage across the Pacific and back to Thailand, Lucky and her crew should be well-prepared.
Back at Cape Pakarang, the boatyard, as the original deal specified, has been given to the generous local land owners.
On a sentimental visit not long ago, Scott met Khun Gai, the land holder's neice, who told him she planned to open a restaurant there. She will name it the Cape Pakarang Boatyard Restaurant as a lasting tribute to the tsunami recovery.
Names are important and the coming voyage of Lucky has been christened Sailing the Great Circle. The hope is now that the shoe-string budget of the volunteer crew can, with help, stretch around the world for ECPAT.
Scott Carter can be contacted on 086-5201685. e: scottthomascarter@gmail.com Online: www.sailingthegreatcircle.com
This turn will be a long one, and all in aid of ECPAT, an international charity that rescues children from sexual exploitation and human trafficking.
Like both the good ship Lucky and its coming round-the-globe voyage, the worthy organisation has had its beginnings in Thailand.
Sailing from Phuket with the warm-hearted 39-year-old American seafarer will be a crew of 10 volunteers from Thailand, Britain, Canada, Ireland, Australia and the US.
But before the voyage can begin, they have to get the twin-masted schooner back in the water. An unexpected squall caught Lucky side-on, with sails billowing, in a mishap during sea trials off Phi
Phi in October.
Within minutes, the all-timber 73-footer was swamped. The bedraggled crew found themselves looking on from shore, with the ship's dog and a couple of soggy backpacks for company.
Now Lucky is being refitted at Ratanachai Slipways on Phuket, with its captain philosophical about the mishap but keener than ever to get underway.
At least Phi Phi was an ideal place for a shipwreck. The islanders could not have been more generous in the aid and support they gave to Lucky and its wet-through crew.
Fortunately that most important item of cargo, enthusiasm, was not dampened. And no crew has been better prepared than the sailors of Lucky for making sure there are no further mishaps.
Apart from getting underway as soon as possible, what Lucky needs most now is a sponsor or two for the voyage. The concept is a grand one.
Subject to the right conditions, Lucky will head west for Sri Lanka and India, making landfalls in the Maldives, Chagos and the Seychelles, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, crossing the Atlantic to
visit Brazil, French Guiana, Venezuela, Trinidad, the Grenadines, St. Kitts, the Virgin Islands, Turks, Caicos, Bahamas, and Georgetown, South Carolina.
Georgetown was Scott's home before he came as a volunteer on being told about the 2004 tsunami, without really being able to be specific about the precise location of Thailand on a map.
At first he helped by carting the bodies of the victims at a Phang Nga temple before establishing the Cape Pakarang boatshed.
Over the next couple of years, a steady stream of 680 volunteers and a team of professional Thai boat builders hammered, shaved, sanded and varnished scores of new longtails into shape for fishermen in the region. Then Scott sold his home and invested his life savings in
Lucky.
The voyage plan now includes some US East coast cruising, coinciding Lucky's arrival at each port to boat shows and significant events along the way in Norfolk, Washington, Annapolis, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Halifax and Lunenberg, Nova Scotia.
When the time comes for a long return sea passage across the Pacific and back to Thailand, Lucky and her crew should be well-prepared.
Back at Cape Pakarang, the boatyard, as the original deal specified, has been given to the generous local land owners.
On a sentimental visit not long ago, Scott met Khun Gai, the land holder's neice, who told him she planned to open a restaurant there. She will name it the Cape Pakarang Boatyard Restaurant as a lasting tribute to the tsunami recovery.
Names are important and the coming voyage of Lucky has been christened Sailing the Great Circle. The hope is now that the shoe-string budget of the volunteer crew can, with help, stretch around the world for ECPAT.
Scott Carter can be contacted on 086-5201685. e: scottthomascarter@gmail.com Online: www.sailingthegreatcircle.com
looking for a scott carter,wife, son living in phatucket,thailand, has a captains license, working for a chinese, bussiness man, had a sailboat and was living there, haven't been able to contact since sunami, can you help thanks jbriv
Posted by john bailey rollins iv on November 13, 2009 09:29