St Patrick's Day dawned with very little wind, but a fair amount of snow which remained throughout most of the racing.

No surprise that there was a much depleted turnout.  The intrepid few had a good time nevertheless.

The OK Worlds are being held in Thailand this year at the Royal Varuna Yacht Club.  Richard and Tom have very gallantly taken the decision to represent WOSC at the event.

I am sure that you will all appreciate the sacrifice that the two boys have made, leaving their beloved home country where the temperatures are still below freezing to go to a foreign country where the temperatures are in the mid 30s, the water temperature is above 20 and the winds are a regular 16 to 18 knots.  It will also be hard work for their diets, as they might not be used to Thai food.  I know that Richard would prefer Sue's cooking - NOT!

I don't suppose that a full English will be on the breakfast menu.  More likely to be jauk, pa-tong-goh and khanom khrauk, washed down with nam tau-hu.  They might even have to resort to kai luak if they have a little to much to drink the night before.  The equivalent of the full English would be khao lard gaeng, a plate of steaming rice with portions of delicious coconut milk curries and some deep fried beef, pork and / or prawns.  The ideal way to kick start the day, but it won't do much for Richard's diet.

I have it on good authority that Richard and Tom have developed a liking for gaeng som pla chon.  Richard is hoping that Sue will be able to cook it for him when he gets home.  I just wonder whether the local fishmonger in Chipping Norton has a ready supply of snake head fish.

I will do my best to get the recipe for Sue.

Gaeng Som Pla Chon

I know that it will be difficult for the boys. As you can see from the first of the pictures I have posted here, they look really glum.  I think you will agree.

I hope to be able to post more pictures as they become available, but going on past experience, trawling through the pictures from the event will be a little like playing Where's Wally!  I hope to be able to give you pictures of the two Wallies over the next week.

Thanks are due to Robert Deaves for the first pictures.  The remainder came from the OK Facebook page.

How many Wallies did you manage to spot?

This was a brilliant day.  Warm, lots of wind, long beats, great reaches and even greater capsizes.  Your correspondent had a fantastic time, although when he was tending his Cobb he missed several photo opportunities!

There was true carnage at the start of the first race.  A Generall Recall as sounded, but many in the fleet did not hear it or understand the flag and made their way to the windward mark.  John and Laura were entangled for quite a while and seemed to be destined to landing in the reeds.