Daily Logs

Kasuje - Yacht 42, daily Log Tuesday 26th Feb.

Hi All Our first daily log from Bruce and Angela.It has taken me all day to write this!!! Its great to be back on board Kasuje again. We left home at 3.00 am on Thursday and caught the 6.20 plane from Heathrow (which left at 6.50) to Madrid. We had a quick change here to catch the next plane to Guayaquil in Ecuador. This was a 10.5 hour flight which arrived early. I was concerned all the way that our bags had missed the connection as the first flight was late, so was very relieved to see them appear on the conveyer. We flew in over the Andes, past Quito, and had spectacular views over miles of flooded farmland. It had rained every day for 3 weeks, (a bit like home). Skipper Steve kindly came to meet us. He had hired a minibus from the airport ( the only place to hire from), and had taken. read more...

Crazy Horse - Galapagos

Just as we had a visitor on our way here in the way of Jimmy the Gull we had Sammy the sea lion with us all day yesterday. She was just so sleepy and comfortable on the back of our swim platform. She even stayed on her bed as the water taxi nearly ran into her! She was not hurt and was calm and happy to go back to sleep the rest of the day. She kept Matt company as he stayed on the boat cleaning up and taking some needed alone time away from his parents. We are anchored here off the island of San Cristobel in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. It's pretty rolly polly and the port is filled with ARC boats a fishing boats, and several tour boats. We are taking today to refuel via taxi with small fuel tanks hand pumped into our tank at anchor. There was a deludge of rain last night so we are fixing. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - BIG fish!

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }Tuesday 26.02.08. Position @ 12.00hrs; 01.36S 84.36W ; 24hrs motoring – 136 miles Still no wind, we’ve been motoring for the past 24hours. Flat calm, roasting hot! Some torrential rain this morning to clean the decks after the slaughter yesterday! At About 4pm yesterday afternoon we hear the now familiar ‘scream of the reel’ as Stewy hooks another fish! We see  a HUGE fish jumping and zig-zagging in the water and we slow the boat right down to take the pressure off the line and consider how we’re going to land this one! This is a fighter and it takes a good 20 minutes to get it to the stern of the boat where hunter gatherer Ian is ready with the gaff! He’s hooked on again as this could be a battle of the fittest!  First hit. read more...

Tucanon - Moe and Bev join the boat

We move on from Ecuador tomorrow, Thursday 18th at noon. Our appointment at the fuel pontoon is for around 9.30 am and once fueled, we will move out of the marina and anchor. This is not a very pleasant marina not only because of the oil on the water and the ropes and the boat but also because of the swell which constantly causes the boat to jerk back and forth. Another rubber compensator broke last night.Today has been a bad day. The pump on my washing machine seems to have stopped working. The machine hasn't been emptying properly since before we left Shelter bay, Panama.I don't think that there is any chance of repairing the machine this side of Australia so everyone will have to do their own washing now until the machine can be fixed. Back to doing the sheets and towels in a. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 36 - Up close and Personal

21 February 2010The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean in the world. It covers 64million square miles and with its adjoining seas covers one third of the earth's surface, more than all the land masses of the world combined. Between now and July when we finally reach the other side having made landfall in Australia we will have covered approximately 8830 nautical miles. It comes as a surprise therefore that a yacht would come so close to us last night, to within 100 metres. Why, with all this abundance of space? I do not understand it. In the three days since we left Ecuador we have been unable to shake off the other yachts. When on long sea passages we prefer to have an empty horizon around us. It makes for much more relaxing sailing, particularly at night. By cruising in company however. read more...

Asolare - World ARC Leg 3, Day 2, to the Galapagos Islands

Today started with a chorus of “HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE, 52 TODAY”. Peter wanted to let him off all duties today, but Jo and I decided we weren’t allowing that. After the opening of cards, presents and many photographs we settled into our daily routine. We had light winds. cloudy and unfortunately had to resort to engine power to make any way.  Meanwhile Jo secretly made a birthday trifle. After our showers and sunset photographs of us on the bow Steve was banished to the cockpit to enjoy a beer, whilst Jo and I festooned Peter’s immaculate saloon with birthday tableware, paper cups bearing lollipops, balloons and streamers, then sat down to enjoy Jo’s meal of steak, mash potatoes, broccoli, onion sauce followed by the fruit trifle - excellent. It was enough to be on. read more...

Ronja - Dag 1 - Equador to Galapagos

Position: 01:30.39S, 85:52.19WDear readers,Yes, yes, we did indeed manage to start the day after the rest of World ARC fleet had left. Friday 19. Feb at 10.35 we crossed the startling line and where on our way to catch up the rest of fleet. The start did take place in ordered manner and there where, thank good, no accidents with other boats.Well on our way towards Galapagos, with an unbelievable amount of fishing nets and lines well in mind from the way in, we kept a sharp lookout the whole day and night - this time to find no fishing nets at all.The kids made a splendid pizza dinner. There were some swell and waves influenced by the tidal stream going along the Ecuadorian coast, so we had a quiet day on board with no homeschooling.In the evening Patrik got his ukulele and we all tuned. read more...

Whitbread - Ben the Monster

Welly welly welly....hello there and how are you?We are all in good spirits but we are still chugging along pushing wind and current the wrong way...... so if your are with a large group of friends please take a moment to all face west and blow as hard as you can and perhaps the chaos theory will come into effect and let us go sailing again.meanwhile we have been training Ben 'THE MONSTER' Diamond ready for his first olympic bout later this year in Beijing. He has been on a strict diet of horse meat and we have been sneaking propeptide into his night-time milk, He has performed well at Lilo-gymnasiums inc, and set a new record on the skipomatic 2000. Despite his efforts we all agreed he should work harder, so we chucked him and a tin of sardines in with some hungry pilot whales that. read more...

Crazy Horse - Jimmy the seagull

Last night when on watch we each spied a seagull flying around the Crazy Horse and dipping down and circling around again. We figured he was fishing in the surf off the boat. This morning Bill was cleaning off the decks and spied the gull again now eating the dead squid off the decks. Later Matt saw him and again the gull was eating the fish off the decks. Later as we were all having our morning chat the gull joined us. He looked at us and seemed to be asking for something. So, silly me , I through him something we were eating and now he is our best friend. Jimmy has stayed with us all day and joined us for dinner. Except for the poop he has entertained us and even endured my flute playing. So I guess you never know where you'll make a friend. Wonder if he will stay with us on Galapagos.. read more...

Bristol Rose - Almost, but not quite.

Last Saturday we left Las Perlas early in the morning for the Galapagos. One week later, we're backtracking to Panama City, just 10 miles to go, as the crows fly. Our friends on Eowyn should be in the Galapagos in the morning. We wish all the World ARC fleet a safe passage.Conditions yesterday started off well as we sailed north. Winds increased over the day, again right on the nose so we tacked all day. The past two days have been uncomfortable sailing and we're tired. We were pleased to drop the anchor at Isla Contadora in Las Perlas just as the sun was setting.Knowing that the winds were forecast to drop during today, we made an early start this morning and have sailed well with a more comfortable angle on the wind than the past 2 days. At 3:30PM Panama City is in our sights, the sea. read more...

Lady Kay - Swim

Not a lot has happened since yesterday. The wind died totally and we had over 2kts current against us, so with a flat sea and feeling very hot, we decided to stop the boat at 4p.m. and go for a swim. We think the water is about a mile or so deep here - it was still very warm on the surface and crystal clear. A great time was had by all and we were quite sorry to start motoring again. More wind today, so we are doing some motor-sailing more successfully i.e. with the sails actually doing something. No whales sighted since yesterday evening. Hooked a v large Maahi-Maahi, but just before we got it on board it broke the line and got away.IMG_0302_1_1. read more...

Ariane - Besuch an Bord, zumindest fast!

Liebe FreundeHeute Morgen, als wir ins Cockpit kamen, begrüsste uns diese hübsche Meerjungfrau! (boat gallery - Ariane). Entzückt wollten wir der Dame Einlass gewähren und sie an Bord hieven. Doch wir waren zu wenig geschickt, unsere Finger wollten nicht nur unter den Armen zugreifen - und schon rutschte sie nach unten weg und war verschwunden. Traurig sahen wir ihr nach. Beim nächsten Mal werden wir es besser anstellen, garantiert!Nein, nein, Ihr müsst Euch jetzt nicht alle gleich anmelden zum Mitsegeln - wir sind eh ausgebucht! Lest einfach unsere Berichte und schaut die Fotos an. Wir geniessen es für Euch und schreiben darüber...Mit schiffigem SeglergrussARIANE-Crew. read more...

Cleone - Leg 3 Day 2 - No Wind, Big Tide

We are making 4 knots under engine - just. Like the rest of the fleet, we are motoring hard to make little headway.  What wind there is has been mainly on the nose, and when we stop the engine we make just over 2 knots back towards Panama.  Where this current is coming from or why it exists, no-one seems to know, and certainly if it was predicted nobody told us about it.  As a result, ETAs and fuel requirements are all being re-evaluated, and following the morning roll-call there was a lot of chat about borrowing fuel cans - the arrangements for fuel transfer in the Galapagos are uncertain. Dave and Alex managed to spot a pod (?) of Pilot Whales; the only other excitement was a number of sea-birds that flew for much of the night in the ghostly light of the navigation lights.  We could. read more...

Graptolite - Yo Sushi!

01:46:84S 083:26.21WWhat is going on? A few minutes after I sent in that last blog, we hauled out two decent-sized skipjack tuna. They both needed a good wellying with a winch handle to keep them still. Tuna are a bloody fish and the cockpit looked horrendous afterwards. Then, having no freezer and not wanting more fish than we could eat, we put the lines way.We had some more good views of pilot whales around the boat this afternoon. We need all the entertainment we can get. Progress to the Galapagos is tediously slow. There is a strong current against us and almost no wind. Without motoring we would be soon find ourselves back on the beach in Ecuador. And nobody can face that paperwork again. Let's hope we have enough diesel to last. Shin skillfully sliced today's catch into sashimi,. read more...

Ariane - ARIANE: Auf dem Weg zu den Galapagos

Auf dem Weg zu den GalapagosHallo liebe Freunde in SibirienDiese Strecke hat wie die von Panama nach Libertad keinen guten Windruf. Deshalb wundern wir uns auch nicht, wenn wir teilweise segeln können, teilweise leider auf den Motor zurückgreifen müssen. Wir werden versuchen mehr zu segeln, auch wenn wir die Ziellinie dann vielleicht nicht zurerwarteten Zeit erreichen und es dann DNF heisst auf der Liste (did not finish) - schliesslich sind wir auf einer Segelreise! Ab den Galapagos sollten wir dann wieder den Passatwind erwischen, mit dem wir bis anhin so gute Erfahrungen gemacht haben.Eine "interessante" Erfahrung mussten zwei unserer Crewmitglieder machen: Auch nahe am Äquator sind die Nächte kalt! . Und wenn man sich nicht genügend warm anzieht, droht schlicht und einfach eine. read more...

Asolare - Leg 3 Day 1 24th February 2008

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }It was a great pleasure and relief to leave La Libertad and the Lucia Yacht Club Marina! It was truly the worst marina I have ever been in. We spent two nights out of the marina due to the conditions. There were two very unacceptable problems – oil and swell.The oil was everywhere and coated the warps, yacht hull and tender in a thick black goo in just a few hours. The Marina did a great job to elevate some of the problems by hiring warps and cleaning hulls etc. but the ever constant heavy swell kept the yachts in perpetual motion tugging very hard on the warps with every lurch and making horrendous noises as the yacht’s cleats took the full strain of a 27 Tonne Yacht being brought to halt from a wild swing every 5 secs or so. The space along a. read more...

Bristol Rose - Tacking North, Friday, Feb 19.

Thankfully we have much improved conditions this morning as we tack between the islands of Isla Del Ray and Isla San Jose. We wanted to make it easy on ourselves and take short-ish hops rather than an all out run north to Panama City/Balboa. Not so easy, yesterday was a rough one (almost 24 hours) with winds 25 knots right on the nose and very choppy washing machine seas as we pounded our way north to the anchorage at Isla San Jose. Dropped the sails and anchor around 4:30AM and finally got some sleep. How beautiful the northern anchorage of the island looked when we awoke four hours later.Underway again, the wind is still from the north, about 20 knots and the sea is much calmer than yesterday. Elliot felt like putting out the line to troll for fish, still hopeful!Bristol Rose sails. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 35 - Line Laundry

19 February 2010Line LaundryWe are towing warps. It is not because we are in bad weather and having to slow the boat down. Quite the contrary for we have left the grey skies of Ecuador behind and have been sailing since 9o'clock last night in steady winds and clear skies. We are trying to remove the oil which we picked up in the marina. It was such a shame that a yacht club which such pleasant facilities should have a permanent oil slick around the boats. We could see bubbles coming up beside the boat. This was methane gas and oil along with it. We will not be back. Those participants who travelled inland to Quito and Quenca returned waxing lyrical about what they had seen. We should have done likewise and explored inland. If we wish to see these places at some time in the future we will. read more...

Kasuje - Daily Log, Mon 25th feb

Hi from a flat calm Pacific.Sometimes this sailing lark can be quite idyllic, when the seas are flat, the temperature warm and the inline 6 is purring away!! This must be a motor heads heaven!!!!If you are a sailor however, the absence of any wind whatsoever can be a frustrating ,teeth gnashing, hair pulling experience, so today I decided to be a motor head and enjoy the purr............An ordinary, fairly uneventful, but really enjoyable day at sea today, maintenance jobs in the morning, (cleaning warps, renewing deck pellets,varnishing,fixing the grill to cooker) followed by a light siesta in the afternoon more maintenance before sundown, then a film on the tele, Angela's supper and the evenings watches. However, unfortunately, it looks as though it will be a long night, as we are one. read more...

Crazy Horse - Starting toward Galapogas

Well, here we are in the South Pacific heading toward Galapogas. We havelight winds from 10 to 13 kts. The seas are somewhat confused today. We aremaking about 7 kts now but last night were going 9 to 10kts.There have been several pods of whales today. You can see their water spoutsand then they just slowly meander along the top. Of course it is hard tocapture them on film.Rosemary, Bill and Matt. read more...

Whitbread - Day 1 leg 3

We enjoyed the start in salinas, popped the big pink one and managed to steal 'into the blue' wind and sreamed away at 4 kts!! hes catching up thou as hes abeam of me now! we have lost nils now , (hope your not too cold back in gloggylandia), hope to sail again with you soon , but we are helped on this leg by jens and johanna from sweeden. Great to have you onboard and thanks for the extra 3 hrs off we now call them auto and helm! i've explained the rules and of course every new crew member that joins whitbread has to helm for the first 24 hrs!! Ha Ha! Its good to be out on the water again, HATE motoring but boats dont feel right in a marina.The crew all slotting back into familar roles and sleep patterns, with 4 watches 3 hrs on and 9 off! gives us plenty of time to catch up with sleep. read more...

Bristol Rose - Many Thanks from Bristol Rose

Thanks so much to you all at Rally Control for hanging in there with us (Nick, especially) during our ordeal. We very much appreciate all your efforts and those of the organizations in the UK, USA and Panama, working in co-operation. The outcome could have been far worse if not for your quick action. Graham, Mike and John of Eowyn were our only direct contact by radio throughout. Graham was our calm communicator whose quick and deliberate actions, many calls and emails back and forth between us and Rally Control and ever-friendly voice made all the difference in reassuring us that help was indeed on its way. Eowyn hove-to on their passage to the Galapagos until Graham had confirmation that a boat was coming for us. The Pan Pacific Net was instrumental in helping us make direct contact. read more...

Ronja - Las Perlas to Equador

Dear readers,Sorry for this late update on our log, but he last days have been just amazing.After the captain had called for a meeting to have all voices heard for the stops the next 4-5 days, the following list did get full consensus from all the crew of Ronja.Stop 1: Isla Contadora in Las Perlas. The most developed island in the Las Perlas with a small airstrip, some nice restaurants and some high class resorts. When Ronja sailed in around the corner of Isla Contadora, we immideatley saw 9 others WARC present at the anchoring area - nice. We dropped the anchor in the middle of the pack, and got excellent holding in sand. It is quite warm down here, if you have not already found out, so we jumped directly in the water. What a disappointment that was - we all get stinged by jellyfish.. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - no hurry.....

Well despite the forecasted lack of wind we managed to keep sailing until 10am this morning when SOG dropped to 1.5knots. Engine on! We have 2-3 knots of current against us so it’s going to be a slow voyage. All crew members helmed on their watch to maximise boat speed, however, maximum speed still only 4.8 knots SOG. We could still see 4 other Arc boats during the night but now only one in sight. The ocean is now flat calm, true wind speed 1.6 knots,and we’re motoring along at 4.7 knots SOG. We continue to see lots of pilot whales, various birds and flying fish – one bird (swallow tailed gull perhaps, which is nocturnal) stayed with us all through the night until dawn. At 11am this morning Stewy hooked a lovely big dorado , but alas, before the hunter gatherers got it. read more...

Cleone - Leg 3 Day 1 - Galapagos here we come

No wind but a magnificent coup! So far we've made less progress in a day (80 miles) than during the whole of the rest of the trip, but I think like everyone else, we were glad to get out of the marina in La Libertad.  It was not that we did not have a great time in Ecuador, but the dirty, swelly marina was not a great place to be, and the bureaucracy was horrendous.  Clearing out required skippers to sign and resign numerous documents, all of which then had to be copied.  This left each yacht with a sheaf of at least 7 different papers, including the all-important permission to land in Galapagos and the clearance paper from Ecuador proper!  And all our passports and the ship's papers and everything else have been photocopied at least 5 times each.  Luckily, the rain-forest grows in. read more...

Ronja - Start at Equadior

Dear readers,Today at 12:00 local time the World ARC fleet did a beautiful start out from Ecuador towards Galapagos. We, the crew of Ronja viewed this spectacular sight together with ARC Rally control from shore. Oh - yes, we would very much be joining the other boats, but the faith would it differently. Our sealing on the shaft is at the end of it defined time of usage (in fact it is twice that), but it has worked fine until now. Now it has started to leak and it needs to be changed. We had the part ordered from Norway to Panama, but somewhere on the way it got lost. We then ordered a new one from Ecuador that now finally have arrived. The technicians should have mounted it this morning, but there are several other boats with some issues, so we did not access to a technician before now. read more...

Strega - log 25.02.08

Tatsächlich, man konnte es kaum glauben, hat unsere Wässerung termingerechtgeklappt.Gestern morgen um 8:30 stand der Slipkran an der STREGA, wir kamen recht schnell ins Wasserund es gab sogar noch ausreichend Diesel für uns. Fast wäre sogar noch Zeit gewesen noch einmalim Yachtclub zu frühstücken... aber man kann nicht alles haben.Dann der Start etwas verschoben und noch während der Startphase die erste Überraschung - kleine Waledirekt vor der Hafeneinfahrt.Die armen Viecher, denn die Bucht ist total versaut, jede Menge Öl im Wasser.Dann ging es dann mit mässig Wind 260° Richtung Galapagos.Die Nacht war sehr angenehm, jedoch wurde der Wind immer lascher und nun schliesslich gegen 09:30mussten wir doch den Quirl anwerfen. Jetzt liegt laut Windvorhersage eine Durststrecke vor. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 34 - Timing is everything!

17 February 2010David is a most meticulous timekeeper. Back in St.Lucia, we were asked to "guesstimate" an ETA time for our yacht on arrival across the finishing line in San Blas. It did not surprise me in the least that David won that prize. (He was an accountant after all!) He calculated our ETA to within one minute, 59 seconds to be precise. It was my yacht master skippers' who first instilled in me the importance of accurate timing on a boat. Liam Carver would listen intently to the five to six am and six pm UK shipping forecast. I loved it for not only did it give a jolly rendition of truly British sea shanties which included "Rule Britannia", and "A life on the Ocean Wave", but it went through each sea area from south east Iceland to Bailey in a clockwise direction and anyone who. read more...

Crazy Horse - thank you Ecuador!

This morning we prepare to get underway for the Galapogas Islands. They are part of Ecuador but we will be leaving the mainland of Ecuador today at noon for these beautiful islands which hold much mystery. We would like to thank all the people of Puerto Lucia Yacht Club, Jessica the tour guide, Roque the agent , workers, taxi drivers, shopkeepers, beauty salon owners, laundry services, bus drivers, who have made our stay here so pleasant. The people of Ecuador have all been so friendly and helpful and put up with many of us who have poor Spanish speaking skills. This kindness we have received was made more apparent when Bill had to go to the doctor yesterday to check out an infection in his knee and leg. Dr.Granados and his office staff were so wonderful to us. As we arrived at the. read more...

Lady Kay - Heading for the Galapagos

We are now heading for the Galapagos. We spent an interesting week in Ecuador. We visited the capital Quito and various Indian towns. The scenery was fabulous -volcanoes draped in snow, and green cultivated valleys. We were surprised at what a market garden Ecuador is. There is also a large industry growing roses and carnations for the American market. Ecuador has been very badly hit by floods and the whole of the coastal plain looks like one big lake from the air. We stayed in the old city of Quito which is just under 10,000 feet altitude and at the foot of a large volcanoes. The typical temperature is about 14C and rainy - a bit like London. Felt the altitude when we had to climb steps etc. Visited Otovalo, which is quite an affluent Indian town, exporting stuff abroad. Mainly run by. read more...

Chessie - WorldARC 2010/11, SY Chessie

Oh wie schön wäre Panama, wenn man denn langsam weitersegeln könnte. Unsere Genua ließ sich am letzten Tag unseres Schlags zu den San Blas Inseln nicht mehr ganz wieder einrollen und das sollte nun eigentlich nicht passieren. Also hatten wir beschlossen, eine neue Rollreffanlage installieren zu lassen. Bei einer Lieferzeit aus den Staaten nach Panama von ca 3 Tagen - was auch gestimmt hat, allerdings ohne Zollformalitäten - und einer Montagezeit von max 2 Tagen sotte das ein zwar nicht ganz billiges, aber nicht allzu aufwendiges Unterfangen werden.Nun ja -- gestern morgen, fast 4 Wochen nach unserem Eintreffen in Panama sollte endlich alles fertig montiert werden. Statt dessen kam Mike the Newseelander, der anerkannte Riggingfachmann in Panama und Vertreter von Harken (ist die zumindest. read more...

Graptolite - Graptolite - Current Affairs

01:54.07S 082:23.80W 150 miles out of La Libertad, Ecuador. Monday 25th Feb, morning This is the first time I have ever been silly enough to set off on a long voyage without having even a drop of fresh water in the tanks. For those of you imagining blazing sun and swollen tongues; out in the less oily water off the coast, we were soon able to make a few hundred litres with our trusty watermaker.Last night was good sailing. Although little progress was made against a strong W-E current, with music blasting out in the cockpit it felt like we were hurtling along in the darkness. There was also an excellent firework display in our wake from the distressed luminous sea-bugs we churned through. The best light-show since the Devon coast last August.Unusually, we had seven or eight boats in. read more...

Cleone - Leg 2 Day 5 - La Libertad

In the excitement, the log was forgotten - apologies to you all. Well the last 60 miles passed much as many others; we motored.  But by this time we could see the land, so it was more interesting as we dodged the rain squalls, which rather unusually bought little wind.  And what there was was dead on the nose, so not much use at all.  With Will's plane in mind, we kept doggedly motoring away, listening to the whine which we've now identified as a "singing Propeller" - or possibly prop shaft.  Blue Flyer's skipper is an engine expert, and he'd kindly paid a visit to Cleone before we started from Panama.  He'd warned us of the possible sources, and the Skipper had spent some time trying to track the problem down, having first believed it was the new gearbox.  In an idle moment - as  one. read more...

Ariane - ARIANE: Verproviantierung und Verabschiedung in Libertad

  Verproviantierung und wieder mal VerabschiedungWie wär´s mit 13 vollen Einkaufswagen? Genau soviel haben wir auf unser Schiff geschleppt, um via Galapagos bis zu den Marquesas überleben zu können! Es ist grauenhaft, wieviel der Mensch trinkt und isst, echt unpraktisch fürs Reisen... In 3 Etappen haben wir eingekauft, an 3 verschiedenen Tagen. An diesem letzten dritten Tag ist ein Teil der Crew schwerbehangen mit Taschen vom Markt gekommen, wo sie Obst und Gemüse eingekauft hat. Aber mit dem Einkauf ist es nicht getan. Das ganze Material muss ja auch noch sicher gestaut werden, oft eine Generalstabsarbeit, die viel Schweiss kostet. Gestern Abend warem wir vom Puerto Lucia Yacht Club hier in Libertad zu Speis und Trank eingeladen. Eine gelunge Party mit diversen Reden und wieder mal. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 33 - A week in equatorial Ecuador

It has been hard to come here. Hard because, situated as it is, so close to the Equator there was little usable wind to sail here, hard because what little wind there was, was in the wrong direction and hard because it is a very poor country and I found that very depressing indeed. There is a huge rich and poor divide. We saw no evidence of a middle ground. I could not believe the terrible conditions that people were living in. In spite of that we found them always very friendly towards us. It made us realise once more, how lucky we are, how much we have, how little they have. The one really good and positive thing to come out of our visit to this country it is the fact that in some small way, our small group has made a small but positive contribution to their economy. We have refuelled. read more...

Gray Lady - Leg 2a to Galapagos , Sailfishing Record !!

We are 485 miles from Galapagos, the wind has been against all time , black clouds and heavy rain at all time, I need diving equipment to be on watch. All crew is spacing out in a vegetative state waiting for something to happen , sometimes stops raining or the engine gets started to motor between a squall and another . Life is all around us and fishing today is certainly to remember with our 6 Feet Sailfish catch ,what a beautiful fish !! Check the photo. DSC_0033 (2). read more...

Maamalni - Transition between Leg 2 & 3 - In Port #1

Every country's, and for that matter, every port's entrance procedure is a little different.  In this case, an early morning check in with the Harbor Master's office (not to be confused with the Port Captain) put us on the list to be visited later in the day by the various agencies.  We were allowed to leave the boat but not the Puerto Lucia Yacht Club compound.  So while enjoying an afternoon drink on the bar patio overlooking the pool, we spied that there was someone on the boat.  So we rushed to the dinghy and jumped in to reach the boat .  As we approached MaaMa there stood 5 representatives of the various Ecuadorian government branches in their neat uniforms all gathered on the back swim step and trying to keep their shoes out of the water.  As we were not on board, they did not. read more...

Crazy Horse - post Ecuador tours

Today is a day for preventive maintainence, provisioning, and getting things ready for the trip to Galapagos. We all get somewhat anxious pre-start. DidI remember to get everything in the way of food, drink, and provisions? Is there anything that needs repair? Is all the wash done? The list goes on and on. After the start we just have to make do.We had an interesting time for three days touring the rain forest, coastline, and the major city of Guayaquil. Jessica was our fearless leader. She is a native of Ecuador and quite energetic. We learned so much from her. She took us to great places to eat. She challenged our abilities to trekthrough the rain forest. She didn't even lose one of us during the tours.Since sailors tend to scatter like cats that was an important accomplishment. Some. read more...

1 + 1 - Las Perlas

Las PerlasAprès concertation de l’équipage, nous décidons de quitter Marina Flamenca à Panama pour rejoindre des petites îles appelées Las Perlas. Claude et Patrick sont à bord encore quelques jours et ils préfèrent voir les îles plutôt que de rester en ville. Nous appareillons le 26 janvier, quittant sans regret cette marina peu accueillante. Il est 13h et nous avons 40 miles à faire. Le vent est là, les poissons aussi puisqu’en 2h nous pêchons une dorade et 2 bonites. On enlève les cannes car cela nous suffit. Les gars sont au comble de la joie, moi, je la trouve quand même bien belle cette dorade avec ses jolies couleurs qui disparaissent lorsque la vie la quitte mais il paraît que je fais du sentiment inutilement car quand il s’agit de les manger, je suis quand même. read more...

Maamalni - Leg 2 - Day 7: We are in bar

A passage completed! We are now sitting in the Puerto Lucia Yates Club bar in Ecuador reflecting on the what was accomplished and the fun we had. The last day at sea saw a combination of wind and no wind, rain, sun and lightning.  We had a fabulous evening sail with a 15 knot wind on our beam and MaaMa glided along at 8.5 knots... if you know sailing, you know that's a WOW... we were giddy with joy.  Steve and Deb, the couple on loan from another boat told stories about their boat and trips around the Med while we enjoyed an evening cocktail knowing that we would be soon parted.  It has been delightful having them on board and have told them that they are welcomed back at any time. We arrived in Puerto Lucia very early this morning and had to "hove to" for several hours before. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - Neptune!

Monday another grey, cloudy day- still labouring against the current with very little wind. We’re now on the last quarter tank of diesel so Stewy and Ian going to refill from the spare containers. We have a torrential downpour which cleans the grubby decks. ETA now looking like Wednesday rather than Tuesday as hoped... All a bit tired today as endured a disturbed night with engine off and on, constantly trimming sails to every changing wind direction and all eyes needed on deck at one stage to figure out what a ship was doing! We snooze, read, peruse our photos and eat more fish! Our friend Kevin has sent us some info re old maritime rituals for when we cross the Equator, hmmm………Stewy spots a new bird , a swallow tailed gull – native to the Galapagos but sometimes seen off this. read more...

Tucanon - Neptune came to visit

Half a dozen small fishing boats, inundated with all types of rods of various sizes, motored past us about 6.15 on Sunday morning as we were preparing to leave our anchorage at Bahia Pinas. We had a drinks party on board last night, for twenty people. The WARC participants from the five other boats, with whom we had traveled from Las Perlas islands. We were returning hospitality in addition to welcoming new friends.As we left the bay and I looked back at the mainland, I was overwhelmed by the sheer beauty of the vista. Heavily wooded hills to the very edge of the Pacific and behind, layers and layers of mountains, as far as you could see. Stunning!With very little wind, close hauled, we had been motor sailing for about five hours when we first spotted a black flag, standing up from the. read more...

Asolare - Leg 2 Day 5

The weather today is disappointing with rain, heavy grey skies and low wind. For a yacht that thrives on good wind it is frustrating and we are having to use the engine most of the time. Wind for a yacht is like a good woman for a man, when the wind is light and variable it is like a fickle woman never knowing what she wants or what's great for her man and never giving true satisfaction, when the wind is too strong it is like a tempestuous woman keeping you "on the edge" demanding your unrelenting attention with sudden shifts of mood and aggression, but when the wind is just right it is blissful, the passage is progressive and exciting, always producing even more passion and excitement and affording the ultimate pleasure of being able to change the sails at will and with each change,. read more...

Crazy Horse - Letting Go

When we crossed the equator on Feb 8th at 14:55 we celebrated a major milestone of this trip. None of the crew had ever crossed the equator by sailing before. Everything looked the same on the outside but our position on the equator was 0degrees 00 minutes and 000seconds and approximately 80 degrees 50 minutes and 345 seconds west. When you cross over the equator the latitude now reads south rather than north. We have always sailed in the north latitudes until now.We celebrated a new experience and let go of some of the old emotional baggage that we (friends, colleagues, family, and crew) had decided was keeping us stagnate and stuck. The letting go was represented in my throwing out into the ocean three bags of shredded paper that I had collected from my therapy clients, co-workers, and. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 32 - Friends and Neighbours!

11 February 2010Puerto Lucia Marina, EcuadorAnd peaceful it was. The Pacific lived up to its name. Neptune came up trumps for us just as I hoped he would. However I was kept on my toes with shipping and purse seine fishing boats. It was a good exercise for me to brush up on my lights and signals. Why is it that my watch is always so hectic? David remarked how quiet his had been and no sooner than he had retired below to his bunk, lights started popping up all around me. I was up and down from chart table to cockpit to chart table like a "jack in the box". I had to call him up on deck twice which I am really loathe to do. I like to pretend that I am not the weaker sex and can manage the boat on my own but am very prone to lose my nerve at the last moment. Voyageur scudded along under full. read more...

Asolare - Leg 2 Day 8 THE EQUATOR!

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }The big news is that we crossed the equator today!As by tradition we all sacrificed overboard something personally special to Neptune the God of the Sea as wecrossed into the Southern ocean. For me it was a mars bar!The crossing was not accompanied with good weather as it continues to rain from very heavy grey skies. The windremains light so we are continuing to use our engine. We have used more engine hours on this single short leg thanthe entire engine hours recorded since leaving Gibraltar! Across the entire Atlantic we only used our engine for 42mins.! The grey skies and rain could not dampen our spirits as we are all very excited at crossing into the southern`Hemisphere! I could not possibly tell you what we did and what happened to me just. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - dorado!

Rise to a much brighter, sunnier day. Wind set in 9-10 knots from SW, maintaining course close-hauled using low revs to maintain speed. See 1st flying fish of the Pacific. Stewy sees one unlucky one being caught mid-air by a booby. We narrowly miss a huge tree with roots. The sea is very calm so good for dolphin and bird spotting. Stewy fishing again – at 10am he hooks a big one but it gets away before we get it in – we see a flash of turquoise so reckon it’s dorado. We continue motorsailing. While having lunch we see 2 small open fishing boats( of the local style) rafted up together – what’s going on out here? – we’re at least 150-200 miles from shore – off the Columbian coast….. Thankfully they don’t appear at all interested in us . We also see a very low flying. read more...

Crazy Horse - The River

We visited 3 of the more than 200 Las Perlas Islands located 30 miles south of Panama City. The first we visited was Isla Contadora. We anchored near the airport off the south side of the island after attempting to anchor off the north side which was bumpy and unprotected. Bill and I never venturedashore since we were decompressing after all the excitement of the Panama Canal and Panama City. It was nice just to relax and enjoy the peace and the scenery.As we moved through the islands south easterly we kept being reminded of some of the same island vistas of the Chesapeake Bay. The water was green and dark in places and from afar, the islands didn't look anything like the ones we visited in the San Blas. They could have been some of the islands on the Eastern shore of Maryland.On Isla. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 31 - A black night

9 & 10 February 2010The engine drones on. We have been endlessly motoring give or take an hour or two for a day and a half now. The noise hammers in my head like a dentist's drill. It is beginning to get to me. I need to get to La Libertad. Yesterday afternoon we were astonished to come across an open boat ninety miles from land. It made us a little nervous and we approached it with caution. We need not have worried. Quite the contrary, they were watching us carefully, waving us clear as we safely circuited the end of their net. Holding high an empty five litre water container we were happy to fill it for them. The three men were sitting out under a hot and sultry sun. As if by sheer coincidence as we passed from Columbian into Ecuadorian waters the wind backed to the southwest,. read more...

Graptolite - La Libertad

02:13.00S 080:55.31WFor the first time in my adult life, I have longer hair on my chin than on my head, although, in truth, my eyebrows are probably the longest. I recall the last time I tried this; parts of my beard were ginger. This time, I have distinctly snowy patches. It makes me look ancient. I believe I used to look much more distinguished.Most of today was spent trying to devise a way to turn the dingy into floating bridge to the marina wall so we could leave the boat independently. The swell and the oil covered mooring lines put paid to that. We also had a trip to the local mall by taxi to scout out the provisioning situation for when we leave. We left the mall with mosquito netting and fly-spray as the local insect life is a bit too friendly.Shin changed the engine oil today.. read more...

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