Two years ago tonight, in a tipsy New Year's Eve call to my son, Scott, I announced my intention to travel to Thailand to see what I could do to help those wonderful folks, who were always kind to me during the Vietnam war. Scott's immediate reaction was: "I wanna go too." Over the next few days, it became apparent that yours truly was not going to be allowed to go on an unsupervised trip to SEA without serious repercussions at work in the Pentagon. Scott went ahead.
When he got there, he migrated to Khao Lak, in PhuKet Province, where the destruction had been near total. He assisted as part of the growing group of young volunteers from all over the world, doing things ranging from body recovery, facial reconstruction of corpses on a computer, miscellaneous help-tasks, to finally, addressing the destitute fishermen whose boats had been destroyed, and whose families now had no means of support. He and I are water-guys (He,too, was a U.S. Marine
) and he migrated to the waterfront. First task was to build temporary quarters for the Bhuddist Monks, who had been rendered homeless by the waves; that done, he discerned the solution to the fisher-families' plight: build new fishing boats.
The traditional fishing boat in those parts is a 9-metre "Longtail", built plank-on-frame, and Scott and I had done some of that style building over the years. We had no experience with the pilaster-mounted "stinger" style outdrive, but there was some local talent available.
The Monks, who are in charge of disposing of old-growth teak and mahogany logs confiscated by poachers, smiled on Scott's project. Lumber was a woodworker's wet dream.
Scott negotiated a deal for a couple acres of waterfront land with the owner for a period of two years, after which whatever improvements would revert to the owner. That's february, 2007. He then honchoed the building of a boatyard and machine shop on the property, and commenced building longtails. They've produced over 100 in the last two years, giving them to local fishermen in return for one week's labor by said fisher during the construction of his boat.
He sold his business and home shortly after he got into the project, and realizes it's time to come home. His approach to coming home and having a place to live is rather unique, and Scott-ish: he's building a 72-foot schooner and intends to sail it home to South Carolina and live aboard until his next calling becomes apparent.
The ship is progressing fast, with the hull nearly planked, and the two 80-foot masts under construction. Dad's helping a little, with advice about routes homeward, self-defense on the high seas, an iridium satphone, etc.
I'll be happy to keep you guys posted, and will appreciate any sage advice you care to offer. You can see details, pictures, and commentary at Scott's website: tsunamiboatproject.com
TC
