48 Hour ordeal for Thai sailor

by Audrey Lakai - Rurrum Communications on 28 Nov 2008 A Thai women sailor Dr. Freddie Mohart – a German by birth, who was trapped in the Bangkok stand-off, took a total of 48 hours to arrive in this island to compete in the Asian Match Racing Championship that began this morning.

Mohart, who resides in Bangkok, took a 12-hour flight from Cologne, Germany to Bangkok. And when she arrived in Bangkok, she learned that there was a stand-off between the people and the Thai government. So, Mohart was stranded at the Suwarnabumi Airport in Bangkok for another six hours. Then she had to endure another two-hour wait for her luggage.

Her Royal Varuna Yacht Club team skipper Morten Jakobsen, was waiting at the airport to pick her up for the journey to Malaysia.

However, Jakobsen said all flights were cancelled.

'So when Mohart came out of the airport, we decided to take a 15-hour bus-ride to Terengganu to the border town of Sungai Golok and there it took us another three hours by taxi to reach Kuala Terangganu,' he said.

The duo however, arrived late for the first race today, where another sailor, who arrived with the rest of the team members earlier, took over the helm of the team.

'Despite my absence, we still managed to beat Korea in the first race. I took over the team in the second race,' said Jakobsen, after the race.

Nevertheless, Jakobsen said both he and Mohart enjoyed every bit of their travel to Pulau Duyung.

'This is certainly an experience that we will never forget. After the Asian qualifier, we are driving up to Phuket to take part in the King’s Cup. We will then monitor the situation, to decide if we want to head back to Bangkok,' he said, adding that he wants to retire early to recover for that long journey, to concentrate on the event tomorrow.