Saturday, January 17, 2015

A Dead Friend Friend coming back!!!!

 About 13 years ago I met an Australian yachtsman just outside my shop in Chukai. I asked him if he were the owner of the boat anchored in front of my shop. His reply was "Are you the harbour master?" as I was dressed in y white and blue flying uniform. I said YES. PAY YOUR DUES NOW !
 We had a good chat and by coincidence I had planned to sail to Tenggol Island on my Maxi 77 CAKRAMADA the next day. Well he was also going to Tenggol and we met up in Tenggol again. He became a good friend of mine as we used to swap war stories (He was an officer from the Australian Artillery)



This guys knows quite a bit on cruising and sailing and I enjoyed picking his brain on the subject. On the picture above I took him sailing on  my boat and he taught me the fastest way to stop a boat if there was a man overboard. He method beats all those lengthy explanations on sailing books. After his sailing trip here he went back to Australia and drove round Australia TWICE in a motorhome. I dont know if he missed me or the cheap and casual living in Malaysia but he came back to Malaysia about 6 years ago to have a better life and food with his Australian pension. On one of his trips back to Australia he was diagnosed with the big C in the prostrate. By then he was in his early seventies. Being a resourceful guy, he seeked treatment in Ho Chi Min city and stayed in Thailand with a Thai girl friend. After some time all my communication with him was lost as it was quite difficult for him to get Internet services in rural Thailand. I assumed that he must have died for I sent several emails over a period of a few months and there was never any reply.

Suddenly about 2 weeks ago I got an email with his name. I did not open the mail because I thought it was from some conman. Then another email came and this time I opened and seeing all the spelling mistakes that he makes when he writes the Queen's English I had reason to cbelieve that he is indeed Trevor Hinwood. I got him to authenticate some of our stories and yes it is TREVOR still alive and kicking!!!!. He can even do a selfie!! This guy is great . he is now in Zuhai, China!
This is his latest boat which he also lost quite a fair bit of money and he is now staying away from boats! However, the last email I got from him a few minutes ago is not too healthy. He was talking about his poor health and how he might not want to suffer if it goes worse!!!! Hope he does not does stupid things.