Daily Logs

Maamalni - Leg 12 - #2 The Coral Sea Does MaaMa!

We battled against the wind for three days taking copious amounts of green water over the bow and through the hatches. The old saying "Gentleman never sail to windward" just doesn't capture the wet that has descended on us. The winds aren't bad, it just that we have to beat into it. Every minute or two there is a loud thunk and crash of water. Most of the water just goes down the deck and into the drain. But every 15 minutes or so, a wave from a different angle catches MaaMa by surprise, andwhoever is at the helm gets a saltwater bath. It is with the great burst of water pounding on the plexiglass hatches that stresses the seals, gaskets or hinges, but whatever it is, about 2 quarts of water pours in... not drips, POURS in like a waterfall. By now we have the navigation station wrapped. read more...

Lady Ev.VI - Daily Log 16. Nov 2010

Hallo, liebe Freunde! Wir liegen hier in Richard´s Bay seit vergangenen Mittwoch auf "dem Harten", weil unser Ruder repariert werden musste. Wir kommen erst wieder ins Wasser, wenn an der Schraegen Ebene der Werft genuegend Wassertiefe fuer eine 2m tiefgehende Bavaria 47 vorhanden ist. Nachdem die Werft zur Zufriedenheit unseres Skippers Dieter gut gearbeitet hat, haben wir uns nach diversen kleinen Rep.-Arbeiten und Spleißarbeiten am Wochenende mal frei genommen und sind mit einem Freund, Ben bzw. dessen Cousin fuer einen Tagesausflug in den benachbarten Schutzpark gefahren. Whow! Das war ein ueberraschend tolles Erlebnis!Es ist schon etwas anderes, wenn man im Fernsehen gemuetlich und sicher ein paar Nashoerner an einem Wasserloch mit einem großen Tele beobachtet, oder. read more...

Kasuje - log Tuesday 29th July

Hi from Skipper Steve,We are now just a few hours away from Cairns and the end of this leg from Fiji. As we head north the air temperature is increasing and this evening we are motor sailing along in dead flat seas with a beautiful star light night with the last quarter of the moon just rising in the east.Since leaving Mackay we have visited the Whit Sunday Islands staying in the exclusive resort of Hamilton Island ,with moorings at 100 Aus dollars per night!! and enjoyed a terrific Sunday Lunch Paella cooked, on Whitehaven beach, which  due to its powdery fine, pure white sand, is reputed to be the only beach visible from space. We were all very impressed by the Whit Sunday's the scenery, flat seas, and as an extra bonus, the sighting of many hump Back Whales, some with calf's, some. read more...

Kinship - May 4--Preparations for the voyage almost complete

The crew of Kinship has been diligently at work in Nanny Cay, preparing the boat for the long voyage.Each day we have been checking all ships systems, provision, and of course, Murphy's Law has been alive and well and given the crew of the good ship Kinship some unexpected stuff to fix.Of course, in grand maritime tradition, the crew has made sure to partake of postprandial libations at the end of each work day (and sometimes even in the afternoon). With our fourth crew member arriving late last night, Kinship now has a full complement of competent crew:Tim Szabo, our fearless Captain Mother, Ursula Loucks in the radio shack, Mia Karlsson on deck and galley, and Ben Eriksen from Long Island, who was appointed the resident bilge monkey as all the better positions on the boat had already. read more...

Crazy Horse - Nov. 16

Crazy Horse and crew have now moved down the coast of East Africa as far as East London. We  had to come in here at the suggestion of our weather predictors who said it would be nasty out there today. We are here anchored in the harbor with, Ocean Jasper, Destiny, Voyaguer, Basia, and Lady Lisa.They were talking about winds of 40 from the SW which would mean the current and waves would have been more than uncomfortable. The other night the current was so strong we only could go at a speed of .9-2kts. That was hardly even worth the effort of being out there in all the crazy conditions. So we decided to wait this one out and hope to have a better window when we continue.This morning all the capts will gather with David on Voyaguer to consider what to do next. In this case lots of. read more...

Trompeta - Tahiti

Arrived in Taina Marina Thursday morning. Very quiet pleasant marina with decent facilities. Dave & Alison left the boat this morning so now just the two of us for the rest of the rally!Laurent has been really helpful in arranging repairs and parts for us. We need to get Trompeta hauled out as we have a crack in the skeg which needs repair. Shipyard are really busy already so we cannot get booked in until 1 May.Maybe a hotel for Pete's birthday on 2 May?!!Expecting Sophie to join us tomorrow as they are outside the marina on a mooring buoy at present.Provisioning here will be a breeze as a HUGE Carrefour with just about everything imaginable!!. read more...

Matilda - Off to the Tuamotus

Yesterday we said goodbye to the town in the main port at Nuku Hiva and motored around to Baie du Controleur for our last night in the Marquises Islands. Heather was particularly keen to at least visit this last bay since it was the setting for Herman Melville's book "Typee" (he also wrote Moby Dick after famously jumping ship in Nuku Hiva in the 1840s). We just rode at anchor in the bay and didn't bother going ashore as we had quite a few chores on board to take care of. Chores done, we set off at 10am for the Tuamotus, about 600 miles or so to the South-west.As we hoisted our sails off the coast of Nuku Hiva, a pod of spinner dolphins came to frolic in our bow wave. They were the first dolphins we have seen since the Atlantic (we have seen whales, but strangely no dolphins!) so we were. read more...

Irena - Dan pred odhodom

Pa smo kompletni. Vèeraj je prispel še tretji èlan posadke Danes bomo še nakupili sadje, zelenjavo in meso. Vse ostalo kar potrebujemo je že zloženo na barki. Zadnje dneve smo imeli spremenljivo vreme, veliko dežja in bolj malo vetra.Tudi napoved od jutri naprej ni najbolj spodbudna, saj kaže na precejšnje zatišje proti severu. Bo treba na motor. Goriva imamo za 500 milj tako, da bi moralo zadostovati.Je pa tu hudo vroèe in vlažnost je visoka. Ves èas menjam majice, saj se hudo potim.Pozdrav. read more...

Graptolite - Looks Into The Abyss

16:59.77S 156:14.42E Tuesday 29th July, 600 miles west of CairnsWe found another cable connected to the autohelm was about to break so we fiddled around with spanners for a bit, then while testing the results, ended up with a fishing line wrapped around the rudder. It was time to put on the boat's scuba gear and take a look. It's very strange being underwater in the deep ocean. The sunlight streams down and just gets swallowed up, as does anything else that falls into it. I watched my snorkel spiralling down into the darkness for a while but couldn't catch the thing. There is also the uneasy feeling that you mightget swallowed up in a more literal way as well. Big sharks sometimes follow us, licking their fishy lips.The wind has now picked up but it is coming from the west which is of. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 195 - Our bird takes flight!

13 November 2010An opportunity to escape from Richards Bay and move on down the coast presented itself. We went to the marina office and collected our flight plan with the intention of leaving at 6am the following morning for the next hop down the coast to Durban. For days the wind had been blowing from the south west but a change to north east was forecast. Richards Bay was a wonderful safe haven for us but in the high winds the pontoons started to bend under the strain of all WARC yachts. The locking pins at each intersection were bending. It started to concern us. But the marina staff were alert to the problem and a diver was sent down to set another anchor chain. We busied ourselves preparing the boat for sea. John and Jenny came for sundowners and then we all went out for dinner to. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - off and away!...then back again.........

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }Saturday 26th JulyIt’s blown old boots all night and is still pretty blowy when Phil wakes us up before dawn for our planned early departure. We decide to wait until it lulls then we head to the fuel dock for 6.30am. As soon as we’re fuelled up we’re off, motoring out the harbour by 7.30am on our way to the pass through the reef. The wind has abated but it’s still blowing 15 – 20 knots - we get the sails up and once we’re through the pass it’s a big, confused sea. One of the weather men has given us a waypoint at the north of the island 150 miles away - this is to take us north of the expected lows due in a few days time – so we’re steering a course of 270’. We sail on a close fetch, slamming into the. read more...

Purrr-fect - May 3 - pre trip prep.

See the boat gallery photos for a photo of the captain and first lady with crew at ARC welcome reception. Looking very good after a hard day of working on the boat. Stay tuned for Saturdays start!. read more...

Ensemble - Day 96 (13 April 2012): Mahini and Friday the 13th

Greetings from yacht Ensemble.Although we had some wind yesterday - we ended up motor sailing the whole way to Mahini and arrived at 3pm. We'd decided not to push on to Ahe because we would have arrived at dusk and there is nearly 2nm of navigating through the unchartered coral heads before you reach the anchorage - a daunting task in the dark. As it was we arrived just at low tide - and while this was no problem for Ensemble - things were a bit 'hairy' with Seaquest who has a 2.4m draft. In the end they had 1m to spare. Ocean Lady called us on the VHF to suggest an anchorage and we successfully dodged the fish farm buoys to end up at a lovely sheltered spot close to the coral (the Glamorous Galahs had to have someone dive their anchor earlier in the day).Manihi is a lovely atoll and. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World ( presently in Richards Bay , South Africa )

SUNDAY   14th  NOVEMBER   2010  07.00hrs, It is a very wet and windy day, but around here , things change very quickly According to the cruising guide, The weather can go from a NE gale to a SW gale in the space of a few minutes, WOW ! and this area is famous for their huge Rogue waves, up to 20 meters high.  and many big ships suffer damage in these waves, And to think, we are out in this potential hazzardous area and supposed to be enjoying ourselves. BUT.but we will, even if we do not want to. we blooming well will.  and we are leaving here today and going to Durban,  Meanwhile, Aileen had to use the boats drier to dry the clothes, as the weather was so wet.  Mind you, the locals are delighted as they have had. read more...

Maamalni - Leg 12 - Coral Sea #1: MaaMa does the Coral or How Geri lost his rig

Friday's roll call began as usual. The Net controller first puts out a call for emergency or priority traffic... and after several long moments when nothing is heard, announces "Nothing Heard, this is good" and proceeds with the roll call for positions. Akoya of Italy checked in first and then thru the rest of the fleet. On this leg, the fleet was seemingly particularly sparse but it was good to hear the relative positions on winds conditions. The weather router had forecasted some strong and changing winds conditions and we all wanted to know how the wind had been changing. The last boat to check is was Wizard. Wizard is a particularly fast boat and custom designed in South Africa. Geri, Wizard's owner has campaigned this boat on several Cape to Rio Race... that tortuous race from South. read more...

Zingara auf Reisen

Guten Tag Ihr Lieben in der Heimat, da sind wir wieder!nach wunderschönen Wochentörns und einer insgesamt sehr gelungenen Zeit hier in der Karibik hatten wir uns - leider -entschlossen, mit der ARC-Europe die Heimreise anzutreten.Leider deswegen, weil wir eigentlich viel länger in diesem Revier hätten bleiben sollen. Aber,.... wir können ja wieder kommen.So, nun sehen wir erstmals seit November eine geschlossene Wolkendecke und müssen wohl für das erste Leg nach Bermuda mit nicht gerade günstigen Wetterverhältnissen rechnen.Wir werden sehen, der Optimismus hat noch immer gesiegt.Am heutigen Abend kommt unser dritter Mann eingeflogen, der hochmotivierte Malte aus Kronberg.Soviel zunächst, ich breche jetzt ab, weil die gemeinsame. read more...

Serendipity - That Bird picture....

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Crazy Horse - Nov 14

Today we are still looking for some good weather so we can make some good time down to Capetown. We have had the winds right on the nose which means slow going and not a comfortable ride. The wind was blowing so hard and right on our nose with the staysail up that we were actually hove to. We were making about .9 knots at times. Right now the wind is a little off our port bow and we are able to motorsail at about 5-6kts. We are trying to make it to East London before a huge southwesterly comes through with winds up to 50kts. We now know why they call it the wild coast. Australia's sunshine coast has a much happier ring to it.Someone from CA on a sailboat just called on the radio. He is trying to make it to Capetown too before the big blow. He noticed us taking photos of the whales on our. read more...

Sialia

Last night was a total bummer.We had to motor…. Or sit and float around.And as much fun as that would be, we know we have to get back to work and school and the real world. It was nonetheless a spectacular night… the sunset was a watercolour of blues and purples and pinks tinged with yellows and greens, the line between water and sky indiscernible.We are no longer bundling up at night against the cold. The attire has gradually changed from foulies, boots and fleece to shorts, t-shirts, bathing suits and our very cool new Sialiacaps.The afternoons are now very warm and we’re glad of the bimini.  Amy and I were on watch together for the sunrise this morning.We were treated to an entire rainbow – from one horizon to the other.We can see 360 degrees of. read more...

Serendipity - Having a whale of a time!

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Scolamanzi - 2 Day to go! … The preparations are now into full swing!

Seeing everyone scattered over their boat decks like ants and all the boats with their pretty little decoration flags on (it’s a bit like party mode on a boat!) certainly get you into the mode of getting readyLast tradesmen came in to fix whatever needed to be done (thank goodness the coffee machine can be used again! … I was so over bad instant coffee! ) Johann managed to clean the boat twice ! (in spite of the rain) and packed repacked and reorganised every cabin on Scolamanzi at least twice by now! The dinghy engine came off and all possible fuel containers has been filled (900 litres of diesel should get us somewhere where there is land!) and so the list is slowly but surely ticked off.The one thing that has put a little bit of doubt in my mind is the safety briefing. read more...

Cleone - Leg 12 Day 7 - Little Wind Little Progress

Last night was one of the flatest calms I have ever seen; for most of the night there was literally not a breath of wind.  There is a very slight long swell, but otherwise nothing but the stars and a slim, banana-like moon, lying on its back.  This provided a surprising amount of light, which reflected eerily off the placid sea.  Some of the brighter of the myriads of stars - maybe the planets or satellites - also made ghostly reflections on the surface.  It's hard to belive that we were in the same ocean as only a couple of days ago, with its uncomfortable, lumpy seas and a strong, changing and difficult wind.  But, comfortable as it was, no wind means no progress, and we've still no wind this morning.  So the engine is on, and we are burning fuel as an alternative to wallowing around. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World ( presently in Richards Bay , South Africa. )

SATURDAY  13th  NOVEMBER  2010 07.00hrs  Skipper up and about , and met Neil heading up to the showers for an early morning clean up. Neil is off to the Game Reserve today with Joe, Oisin, and Jarard , from " Brown eyed Girl " and the 4 Germans from " Lady Eve  V1 "thats Deiter, Uli, Dieter and Jurg. They are going on an organised tour in a mini bus, as opposed to us on our own in our own transport. In fairness to Neil, he made his own sandwiches to take on the trip, and was well organised. ( boy scout training.) Many of the Fleet,  ( as Terry would say , " What Fleet , surely you mean boats " ) were leaving today, they heard that there was a window in the weather , so they were going to go for it,    Later , we heard that they. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 194 - Pit Stop

12 November 2010 Zululand Yacht Club postponed the party held in our honour for a day until all the boats had arrived. It was a wonderful party, with all the members joining in too. The evening began with Zulu dancing. I do not think I have ever seen so much energy in a dance performance. With stamping of feet and high kicks, it was a completely different style from anything we had ever seen before. The prize giving followed with everyone being presented with a WARC certificate for the completion of their trans Indian Ocean crossing. A barbeque followed and we danced the night away to two fantastic local guitarists. Zululand Yacht Club was a pit stop for us and Voyageur, and not a base for touring around. This is all planned for when we get to Cape Town and meet up with Sue, Donald's. read more...

Graptolite - Attack Ships On Fire

17:10.08S 157:59.75E 700 miles east of Cairns, Monday 28th July 02:00There is no wind at all now apart from some tiny flurries that makes the wind direction indicator wander around lazily. The night sky is very clear and we have the unusual effect of stars being reflected on the glassy surface of the sea. I don't expect I will ever get to travel between the stars but this has got to be a similar effect. On the other hand...I've seen things you people wouldn't believe; attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tan Hauser Gate. All those....moments....will be lost....in time....like tears....in the rain....time to die. I'll bet that last paragraph confused you, unless you recognized some lines by Rutger Hauer, from the movie 'Blade. read more...

Anastasia - Slower and slower we go

13:26.3S 145:06.4W   419 miles covered, 83 miles to go   Last night we took down the spinnaker to try and slow down a little, but the wind increased to 18 knots and we ended up going faster still.  So this morning we took down the mainsail, furled the genoa and put up our smallest jib and we are now pottering along at 4.5 knots.  That should put us about 20 miles away from Manihi by dawn tomorrow, at which point we can start sailing again.  The lagoon entrance is on the western side so we need the sun to be quite high to avoid glare off the water when spotting the coral, but the atoll is 15 miles long so it will take us a couple of hours to sail around it to reach the western entrance.   One of the things I had to fix in the Marquesas was a ceiling. read more...

Outer Limits - ARC kantoor open

Gisteren is het ARC kantoor open gegaan en konden we ons inchecken.Wij hadden een dagje weg van de boot en lieten het programma aan de meiden over....Driemaal raden...de bus in en op naar de schoenen en chocola.In Norfolk is een mooi shopping center en daar had ik mn iphone vorig jaar verwisseld.Heel even over een ipad nagedacht want het scheelt toch wel een paar duiten om het hier te kopen maar kon me beheersen. Na een paar uur shoppen hadden we de eerste borrel met muziek. Er zijn hier vier boten dus dat is anders dan de ARC 2008. Wij hadden leuk contact met David & Liza van de Sage, liggen naast ons ,en na de borrel had Diane een verrassing aanboord, truffels en tutti frutti. Maar we moesten wel een rood wijntje erbij drinken. David, Liza en hun crew Jack ook uitgenodigd en. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World ( presently in Richards Bay , South Africa )

FRIDAY    12 th   NOVEMBER   2010 06.30hrs, Skipper heard noise in the Saloon, and thought it was Terry having something to eat, well thats what it sounded like,  But, BUT  it was not Terry,  Our neighbours later told us that they saw a Monkey running off the back of the boat with a bananna in one hand and a bag of crisp's in the other,   Well, did you ever !   cheeky little thing. 09.00hrs  Skipper had a visit to the Doctor again, to be told that he has osteoparisis in his right hip / joint. Gawd , what next ! Of course , Skipper has now a heap of tablets he can take to relive the pain,  11.00hrs S,A Terry and Collette piled into the car and took off for the " Hluhluwe " game reserve This. read more...

Endo 2 - Log Day 2 / Nanny Cay

Nun ist bereits Mai und der Starttermin rückt immer näher. Neue Bekanntschaften sind geschlossen, alte wurden aufgefrischt und die Begrüßungsparty wurde gefeiert.Wir haben gestern mit unserem Einkaufsprogramm begonnen, Getränke sind schon einmal an Bord und heute kamen die ersten Lebensmittel an Bord. Freitag wird die frische Ware eingekauft. Jippy sogar unsere 2. Gasflasche ist wieder gefüllt, so dürfte es immer etwas Warmes zu trinken und zu essen geben - bis wir wieder zuhause sind.Heute abend findet bereits das Abschiedsessen statt - nun die Atlantik Cup Segler starten ja bereits morgen ebenfalls Richtung Bermuda und von dort in die USA. Also morgen um 12 Uhr ist großes Winken angesagt.Wie bereits geschrieben, wir haben wieder eine Reparatur. read more...

BRIZO - 13 April 2012

We stayed at Manihi one night longer than planned. This was because after spending all afternoon at the remote Pearl Lodge Resort enjoying a lovely poolside lunch no one felt like leaving! Ordinarily the resort's restaurant does not get many walk-in customers and is not really prepared to accomodate anyone not staying at the resort. We saw their launch come into town and asked if they could take us for lunch or dinner at the Lodge. They cannot operate the launch after dark because of the hazards to night navigation but called the manager by cellphone to see if we could come for lunch. After checking with the chef that they had enough food, the manager found out they did not have enough staff to serve our party of ten (including the SAMSARA crew). At this point a woman sitting nearby who. read more...

Cleone - Leg 12 Day 5 - Nip and Tuck

Sailing is sometimes hard work, even when the sun is shining. We've had very varied winds throughout the night, and it has been hard work making the miles.  The log shows that the Mizzen Staysail has been up, down, up, down and is up again, and at present the spinnaker is also flying.  But it is not always showing much enthusiasm.  The fact is that with the fine weather - as predicted - and the spectacular rise in the barometer, the sun has come out, there are fluffy rather than serious clouds, and the wind is a pleasant breeze rather than anything else, and fickle with it. So Elizabeth is concentrating hard on the helm, trying to keep the spinnaker full, the Skipper is - as usual - chatting to his mates on the radio and looking forward to his lunch-time can of beer, and Will is, as. read more...

Graptolite - Wahoo!

17:15.82S 160:41.78E Saturday 26th July PMThe wind is now coming from the southeast, as it's supposed to, and it's been very pleasant sailing. The prospect of the crew having a 'chunder in the old Pacific sea' is now past.Colin caught a good-sized Wahoo today. The first for Grapto. It was about 16lbs but we didn't weigh it. For all you non-hunter-gatherers, a Wahoo is a long fish with very good white meat which should keep us going for a few days. Now we will have even more supermarket food to dump before Australia! An experiment with this fish was to just cover its eyes to keep it still instead of our usual beating seven bells out of it with clubs. Thanks for that tip, Joanne. It works and saved us a lot of cleaning up.We have about 850 miles to run before Cairns. Arrival could be about. read more...

Crazy Horse - Nov 13

Yesterday we had a visit at the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park. Jim kindly organized the whole outing quite nicely with Jeannius, Eowyn, Wild Tigris, Ocean Jasper, and Crazy Horse crews in attendance. Our tour guide was Samora who had such knowledge of the area, animals, their habits, and their qualities of making us dinner. Samora made the tour interesting and held our attention until the hunger of food outweighed that of curiosity. We finally did make a stop but you can imagine there are not too many fast foods places in a game reserve in South Africa. We saw a herd of 30 female elephants with 3-5 babies. The two males stayed on the outskirts and didn't join in the departure when the herd left. We stayed a safe distance away in our van.There were too many impalas to count. There were baboons,. read more...

Ensemble - Day 95 (Thursday 12 April 2012): The Pacific Paradise Pizza Tour

Greetings from yacht Ensemble.We've spent a pleasant day at Takaroa with the crew from Seaquest. We'd anchored in the Eastern part of the lagoon, opposite the causeway and about 10m off the coral. A beautiful spot - with a constant 10 knots of wind helping to keep the boat cool. It would have been interesting to explore the rest of the lagoon - 12nm across - but it is riddled with pear farms and fishing nets - and you are supposed to be escorted - so instead we decided to have a leisurely day on board.Seaquest invited us over for coffee - that turned into lunch and beers ( - so the work on the generator will have to wait for another day). After a swim and a nap we planned to go onshore and explore the town. Unfortunately (predictably) - once Magali's head hit the pillow it was lights out. read more...

Hanami II - Derniers details

Nous voici donc a Nanny Cay apres les formalites d'entree faites a Road Harbour au terminal du ferry.Pas de probleme particulier pour cela mais il,faut mouiller, alller en annexe a la petite marina de la pointe sud puis aller a pied au terminal: 10 minutes.Comme partout il,vaut mieux utiliser eSeaClear! Et bien sur je ne l'avais pas fait! Donc retour au papier et au carbone.Ici il faut payer les formalites en dollars US: 21 dollars, heureusement car je n'avais pas plus et le premier distributeur et a 5' a pied.Ensuite direction Nanny Cay, ponton C17, etroit, en debut de ponton, accessible en marche arriere seulement et avec usage immodere du propulseur d'etrave. Bien sur on a fait le gasoil avant.Ensuite le classique, enfin, si l'on peut dire:L'electricite d'abord. phase 1. Ici. read more...

Samsara - snorkelling fun

April 11Today we snorkelled right outside the pass into the lagoon at Manihi. It was fabulous. The coral wasn't very colorful but the variety and density of the coral was impressive. The number and variety of fish was amazing. There were schools of bright purple fish, neon blue trimmed fish, yellow......the variety of fish swimming altogether was wonderful. We were swimming through schools of fish. After that and an exciting run back in the passage in an outgoing tide (not easy!) we swam in the shallow water and saw one reef shark who promptly left when he saw us.For lunch we went to the Manihi Pearl Beach Resort. It has over the water huts, beautiful beach bungalows and lovely restaurant, grounds.....the prices are very high, an over the water bungalow is over $800 for a night for two. read more...

Cleone - Leg 12 Day 4 - Wizard Dismasted

Why are you on a Rally, and not sailing around the World at your own pace?  It's a fair question! It was noon, and the daily radio schedule was in progress.  Gerry from Northern Sky was running the net in three languages with his usual calm professionalism.  Most of the fleet had had a difficult night - there had been some vicious squalls around, with teeming rain.  Propagation was poor, and the continuing bad weather had kicked up some awkward seas.  But the positions were coming in smoothly, though Cleone's operator (unusually, Elizabeth) and the others were bouncing around and finding it a challenge to write down the details.  The postions are given in alphabetical order, so it was not until the end that we learned that Wizard had lost her mast.   Gerrie, Wizard's Skipper, was calm on. read more...

A Lady - Dreaming of sailing around the World (Presently in Richards Bay, South Africa)

Thursday, 11th November 2010    (Paul Hyde's birthday) Another beautiful day, Skipper got up early and did the blog, the emails and a breakfast.The weaver birds provided the early morning music and this relaxed everyone on board.We had a great laugh over the breakfast recalling last night and all the shannigans. It was a great night to remember. We had a lot of trouble with the shore power, so we ran the generator for an hour or so, to charge up the batteries, and do the breakfast... 11.00hrs The mighty 5 piled into the rent a car and headed North to St. Lucia. This is part of their National Park System, and is very close to the coast. The river and lakes all drain into the sea at St.Lucia and is a very upmarket place... St Lucia is 120 km north of. read more...

Voyageur - The story so far....

To summarize this is the beginning of the end. The end of a very long voyage for us aboard our beloved Amel ketch, Voyageur. We launched from Yatlift boatyard in Turkey in May 2009 where we bought her, having previously sailed around the world on Stella, a smaller version of the Amel. Our destination was Gran Canaria, in the Canaries for the start of ARC 2009 which took us across the Atlantic to make landfall in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia where we spent Christmas. From there we struck out in early January 2010 on our second circumnavigation this time with World Arc. Oh what amazing adventures, exhilarating sailing experiences we had over the course of the next fifteen months, covering 25,000nm across three oceans, arriving back once more in Rodney Bay in early April 2011.  Now having. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 193 - Windows of Weather....

9 November 2010We have now formed ourselves into several groups and each day there is a small window of opportunity for each group to scoot across the Agulhas current and down into Richards Bay. One group arrived yesterday morning and Tzigane and Drammer of group two arrive today. Our group is the largest with six boats, Voyageur, Thor VI, Jeannius, Tucanon, Lady Ev VI and Ariane, all due in sometime during the night or early morning of the following day. Just before midnight we reached our waypoint of 28 degrees south and 34 degrees east, the eastern limit of the Agulhas Current. The plan now was to head straight towards the coast as quickly as possible so that when the wind backed and strengthened as it was forecast to do, we would have the waves coming more on the quarter. The. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - final preparations to leave!

Friday 25th JulyWe’re up early and allocated jobs for our final preparations for leaving: Alex does customs and gets a few final groceries.; Ian and Annie go to the patisserie to stock up on bread and pies, and go to the local market for the fruit and veg; Phil cooks his macaroni cheese for the voyage, Annie makes a pot of soup and Ian fixes the third reefing line. Kevin sets up the man overboard life-tag system and goes to check the fuel berth opening times for the morning. The boat is ship shape and we’ve never been so organised. The warm clothes are also looked out for easy access as we are now, without doubt, heading into the cold! The front passes through during the day and for the first time since we got here, it rains. We discuss weather with Alberto from One Life, and. read more...

Anastasia - Half way to the Tuamotu

11:26.4S 143:03.2W  248 miles covered, 254 miles to go  We have had a fairly consistent 14-16 knots of wind throughout the trip, which means we are several hours ahead of schedule at the moment.  Our plan was to arrive in the early morning, giving us plenty of contingency for arriving a bit later, but the down side is that we have no contingency for arriving early.  If this wind keeps up then we will have about 6 hours to kill before we can try entering the lagoon.   We could start to gradually reduce sail now, but you can bet the wind would die down and we would end up having to motor to get there in good light.  Instead we will get to within 40 miles and then switch to our small jib, which should take us in at about 4 knots. . read more...

Asteroid - Log #1 -T minus 8 Days

Hi there all.Well this is the first of many blogs from the crew of Asteroid.Just to introduce ourselves.We are a family of five - Mum, Loretto, Dad, Brian, with three children, Cliona (age 14yrs), Ciara (12yrs) & Jack (7yrs). We will be joined on our big adventure by Tracey, (Irish), Billy (English), Manfred (American) and Roger (Welsh/Canadian).So a good mix of crew and it also means we will hopefully get some decent sleep on the journey!We are now in the US Virgn Islands availing of the wonders of Cost U Less and have just completed a MASSIVE shop.Doing a "dry goods" shop for nine people to last approx six weeks is a huge undertaking but I think (hope!) we have achieved this.The dingy was weighed down and did several trips groaning under the weight of tins of tomatoes, corn, pasta,. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World with the World ARC ( presently in Richards Bay, South Africa )

WEDNESDAY   10th   NOVEMBER   2010 We all were very slow in getting up today, It was a wet and windy morning. Skipper got into the blogs, and emails, in fact the emails all came in twice and Skip is still suffering from the hip trouble. He is taking lots of pain killers, Doc advised against taking too many anti inflamitories, as they thin the blood too much. 11.00hrs   Skipper and Aileen went to the Hospital, Charles ( the YC manager ) had made an appointment with the doctor and his wife " Pat " drove us there and collected us again later,  Neil, Terry and Collette had a relaxing day around the boat. Meanwhile, skipper had lots of tests done and paid the bills. All very good and economical, compaired with home. 17.00hrs" Pat ". read more...

Graptolite - Mal de Mer

17:22.39S 162:42.76E Saturday 26th July north of New CaledoniaIt's a bit rough here. The crew have been looking greener than they have since starting out across the Pacific and Heiki has had to be drugged up with scopolamine patches which is my most serious pharmaceutical in the medicine chest for the 'Seekrankheit'. It seems to work very well.We hear Gerrie on 'Wizard' to our north has lost his mast and sails over the side yesterday which makes me even more pleased to have waited for my rigging spares to arrive before setting off. Our rigging is getting a good rattling even though we are mostly just motoring into wind.As nobody is eating much, the annoying thing is that it looks like we are going to have to dump a lot of food before we get to Australian waters. The weevils in the ship's. read more...

Irena - Dan - 7 do starta ARC Europa 2012

Spremljanje ARC Europa 2012 bo letos potekalo preko naslova, ki sem vam ga poslal na Facebook. Tu lahko spremljate kako bomo napredovali in tudi kaj doživljamo. Teden dni pred odhodom sem privezan na boji pred otokom Marina Cay. Jutri bom odjadral do Nanny Marine na otoku Tortola, kjer se pocasi zbirajo jadrnice s katerimi bomo skupaj prejadrali atantski ocean, tokrat od zahoda proti vzhodu. V dveh letih bom tako naredil krog na Atlantskem oceanu.. read more...

Samsara - pearls!

April 11We spent several hours yesterday afternoon on a pearl farm tour. The owner took us into the lagoon where his oysters were on lines strung along between buoys. We pulled a number of lines with 10 or so oysters each and took them to the hut on the beach where we proceeded to open the oysters looking for pearls. Someone commented that it was a lot like a casino - the "will we" or "won't we" be winners and find a pearl? We all came away with several pearls. Then the owner gave us a demonstration of how the grafting takes place. It's really interesting. I didn't know that they could implant the same oyster several times, going bigger until the 4th time then the oyster was finished. The oysters are quite different from the ones in the Chesapeake Bay - they look more like scallops to. read more...

Ensemble - Day 94 (Wednesday 11 April 2012): Takaroa - Landfall in a Pacific Paradise

Greetings from yacht Ensemble.This morning we arrived in Takaroa, the Northernmost atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago. The atoll is about 15nm long - and has a bit of a tricky entrance with only a 3m draft and a current of up to 9 knots - but we managed this without incident.We'd spent most of the night sailing - and making a fairly leisurely 5-7 knots in 10 to 15 knots of wind. The day's sailing had been mixed - with winds from 5 - 18 knots - swinging from NE to SE - so plenty of sail changes.Yesterday afternoon's sunset rendevous of tuna ceviche and champagne was rudely interrupted when both rods went off in seconds of each other. Unfortunately both managed to escape - one breaking the hook and the other 'bouncing off' when we had him above the water.Today we look forward to a nice swim. read more...

Endo 2 - in Nanny Cay

Hallo an alle Interessierten,  die Endo 2  liegt nun in Nanny Cay und wartet auf den Start Richtung Heimat. Wie immer sind noch einige Reparaturen durchzuführen und wir hoffen das Ersatzteil hier zu bekommen.Bei 30 Grad und Sonne fällt der Gedanke an die Abfahrt jedoch etwas schwer, vor allem da das Wetter in Norddeutschland noch aprilmäßig kühl sein soll. Es trennen uns ja allerdings noch ein "paar" Meilen - und mal sehen.....Bis zum Start werden wir noch einiges zu tun haben und die Zeit wird wie im Fluge vergehen.Bis zum nächsten Maldie Crew der Endo 2. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - still weather watching...

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }  Thursday 24th JulyStill waiting for a proper forecast – it seems there may be a window of opportunity for us to leave on Saturday and get across before another front comes through next week. Alex looks up Oz websites – it’s still looking ominous. As we’ve got the car another day we decide to head out of town to visit Tjabaou Cultural Centre, named after the pro-independence Kanak leader who was assassinated here in 1989. The building is a series of tall wooden structures designed by Renzo Piano,who also helped design the Pompidou centre, and is a striking contemporary design very much in harmony with the surrounding landscape. There are 3 grandes cases on site and several exhibitions inside. There’s art and photography from most. read more...

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