georgebackhus on March 28th, 2006

This past November, with two rallies, four countries and five thousand miles of sailing all in our wake, we were looking forward to winding down the season with some relaxed and easy cruising.
We had more than a month up our sleeves before we planned to fly back to New Zealand for our “summer break,” [...]

Continue reading about A Tiki Tour of Thailand

georgebackhus on January 17th, 2006

Approaching the “Hole in the Wall”

The cluster of 105 beautiful islands near the Malay-Thai border called Langkawi was the final destination of our rather loosely scheduled Southeast Asian “rally” that began in Darwin at the end of July. SailAsia, our sponsors, offered the entire rally fleet a week’s stay at the lovely Telaga Harbour Marina, [...]

Continue reading about Langkawi and SailAsia Rally Week

georgebackhus on December 13th, 2005

Mention the Straits of Malacca to almost any sailor, and the first thing they are likely to say is “pirates!” This busy shipping lane certainly has a long-standing reputation as one of the world’s piracy hot spots, and rightfully so. But in recent years, apparently due to increased police patrols resulting from the cooperation of [...]

Continue reading about The Strait of Malacca to the Andaman Sea

georgebackhus on November 22nd, 2005

We generally consider Jimmy Cornell’s World Cruising Routes (available on SetSail) to be the bible as it relates to planning our cruising routes. Heading north from Bali to Kalimantan and/or Singapore, Jimmy recommends heading back up the Lombok Strait, along the east coast of Bali. As expected, most of the yachts departing Bali before us [...]

Continue reading about Bali, Borneo, the Kumai River and the Orangutan Rehabilitation Camps