Daily Logs

Graptolite - Has a Day at the Races

17:44.87S 168:18.66E Port Vila, Efate, Vanuatu. 12th July PMA Kiwi called Phil came by the boat today who said he had heard on the yachtie grapevine that we had engine troubles. He gave us a diagnosis then took our halyard away to fix for us. A few minutes later we found the heat exchanger was stuffed with 22 old rubber blades from broken impellers. Itlooks like our days of having to sail into anchorages might now be over.Later we went to a big Efate island event, horse racing. There were many western women tottering about in big hats and high-heels like they were at Royal Ascot and the champagne flowed freely. I won 6,000 Vatu with a horse called 'Texas' (a place I have lived as an expat) all of which I put on 'Tom' to win in the next race. 'Tom' (my second child's name) came in second. read more...

BRIZO - 31 March

It is early Saturday morning and we find ourselves anchored in Hanavave Bay on Fatu Hiva. This is the most beautiful place we have seen so far on our journey, a small bay tucked inside a mountainous entrance with intense green tropical foliage growing from the sea shore to the top of the mountains. There is a small, very tidy settlement here, friendly people with a feeling of comparative prosperity. There are no shops or restaurants but the village is connected by a winding mountain road to another village on the south end of the island where residents can buy their supplies. Even so, we were offered fresh fruit and fish from the local residents mostly wanting to trade for rum! We were also invited into the home of a wood carver to see her wares, we bought a distinctive ebony bowl with. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently in Reunion Island, SW Indian Ocean)

  Monday, 25th October 2010 06.00hrs Skipper got about emails and checking the on board navigation computers. The day was very overcast, Aileen decided for a reason we wont discuss to wash down the decks. It started to rain and she continued to wash down the decks, god bless her! 11.00hrs We got a lift into Avis car rentals from Audrie (her dad owns the pub "Dodo's" across the pier) actually, the pub is just about 50 meters from the boats, very handy for the coffees, and wifi. There were no cars available and Audrie got on the phone and organised one from Weils, but would not be ready until 17.00hrs, so Skipper and Aileen walked into town where we had a light lunch, skipper had a spiced beef dish, very tasty, a local dish with rice. 14.00hrs We paid a visit. read more...

Tucanon - Fleet OK

The tsunami that threatened Reunion this morning did not enter our harbour. All the fleet is OK. read more...

Windflower III - Wir sind in Port Villa (Efate/Vanuatu)

Nach einer 3-taegigen Sturmfahrt mit Windstaerken von tlw. ueber 40 kn fiel am fruehen Dienstagmorgen unser Anker in der Bucht Port Resolution auf Tanna.Waehrend der letzten Nacht der Ueberfahrt sahen wir in unregelmaessigen Abstaenden einen Feuerschein am Horizont,den wir uns anfaenglich nicht erklaeren konnten.Beim Naeherkommen der Insel stellten wir dann fest, dass es sich um Ausbrueche des Vulkans Mt.Yasur handelte,in dessen Naehe wir dann ankerten.Tanna ,fuer uns Europaeer eine unwirkliche Welt.Menschen,die einem mit herzlicher Offenheit begegnen,die in einer Dorfkultur leben mit ihrer jahrhunderten alten Kultur.Huetten aus Bambus undPalmengeflecht.Ein Wohnraum,in dem alle zusammen auf Matten schlafen,ein gesonderter Raum mitFeuerstelle zum Kochen.Sie haben Kindergaerten,Schulen und. read more...

Anastasia - Peat Smoke have arrived

This afternoon we sailed back from Tahuata to Hiva Oa and made a slight detour to provide an escort for Peat Smoke, the final World ARC boat to arrive in French Polynesia.  They had a difficult trip, losing first their big jib and then their Parasailor and having to motor slowly for much of the remaining distance, running very low on diesel as they neared Hiva Oa.   We and three other boats (Trompeta, Matilda and At Last) took David and Caroline up to the Pearl Lodge hotel for dinner, to celebrate their arrival. Peat Smoke nearing Hiva Oa 43F. read more...

Lady Kay - volcano visit

Hi, we have actually left for the next island, but I'm writing installment 2 of our visit to Port Resolution. After the ceremonial welcome and exchange of gifts were completed we were off on our trip. 10 of us in the back of an open 4 x 4 pickup truck set off along the track to first visit a Kastom village. This is a village that has decided to maintain all its traditional ways and live simply, getting some income from visiting tourists. The track to the village was very steep in places and we all had to hang on tight. The vegetation was amazingly lush with lots of giant tree ferns as well as palms and creepers. However, the stars of the vegetation were the massive ancient trees, some of which had huts built up in the branches. When we arrived at the village we were led to a ceremonial. read more...

Voyageur - log day 184 - It was a braw, bricht, moon licht nicht the nicht! (To the uninitiated - it was a beautiful, bright, moonlit night tonight!)

24 October 2010The start to leg 18 began with a blessing ceremony for the fleet, held on the quayside with representatives from six faiths, Jewish, Hindu, Catholic, Muslim, Christian and Buddhism. A lovely quotation was read from the bible, the book of Matthew, the gist of which was that with Jesus asleep down below, his disciples were in mortal fear of the boat sinking in a storm. It made me smile. It was straight from a scene aboard Voyageur during our rough weather crossing from the Cocos Islands! Crossing the start line for once was not the stressful situation that I had anticipated. We kept to the back of the fleet and glided over it just five minutes after the starting signal. The wind was from astern, easterly, and we poled out the genoa and unfurled the mizzen. In the lee of the. read more...

Southern Cross - March 30

Well most of the third week of March consisted of sailing wing on wing while still heading west towards the Marquesas, with about 1000 miles to go. For the most part we just didn't have much wind, and what we did have was from dead astern, with an average of 6 to 8 knots . Try going 3000 miles at a speed of maybe 5.5 knots. If you want to practice building up your patience then this would of been a trip for you. The nice thing about this, is it made for calm seas, which is a real plus. And what beautiful sunsets we had.We celebrated Dave's birthday on the 14th. Eve and I baked a chocolate cake with a few candles and sang happy birthday in English and German. Then there was St Patricks day, another cake with green icing. The generator broke down several times again. Learned to bypass the. read more...

Sapphire II - 29 March, Travels in Wonderland

After a few days chilling and absorbing the beauty of the island (Hiva Oa) we rented a car and drove to some of the accessible valleys. All of the Marquesas are volcanic and are distinguished by towering pinnacles higher than 1200 mtrs which rise sharply from the sea. All of the ground is covered in luxuriant green with a huge variety of flowering plants and shrubs. Fruit trees (banana, grapefruit, breadfruit and a number of others) are laden down and the ground around is carpeted with unpicked produce (coconuts and lemons especially). The mountains divide the habitable land into valleys measuring about 10 miles deep by 2 miles across. Each valley tends to be occupied by a dominant clan. Imagine our surprise when we found that one of the valleys on the north of Hiva Oa is the domain of. read more...

Graptolite - Sails to Port Vila

17:44.87S 168:18.66E Port Vila, Efate, Vanuatu. 11th July PMWe set sail northwards towards Port Vila but stopped off overnight at the next island of Erromango. We arrived at Erromango after dark and left before dawn so I can't describe the place although in a village near our anchorage at Dillon's Bay there is supposed to be an outline of a missionary chipped into the rock before they cooked and ate him. Medium-rare, I hope.We upped anchor at 05:00 AM and headed towards Port Vila but the strong winds snapped our genoa halyard and our engine also stopped working. The engine was fairly easily fixable but the halyard needed someone to go up the mast. In gale force winds there are usually no volunteers for that job so we ended up motoring most of the way.As Colin seems to have cracked the. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 183 - Lovers of the Sea

22 October 2010Last night we had a great party on the quayside hosted by the Management of the Caudan Waterfront complex and the Mauritius Tourist Authority. The minister of tourism attended and gave a speech as well as the centre manager, Philippe D'Arifat. We were dubbed "lovers of the sea", and, in reference to the rally, I particularly liked the quote, "there comes a time when you have to stop talking about it and go for it". Everyone nodded in agreement. Free drinks for the evening were sponsored by local Rhumerie de Mascareignes and the adjoining hotel did the catering. Paul and Suzana were highly creative with the prizes, every boat receiving something. Voyageur received a prize for the blog..... again! I was disappointed not to win the "tatty World Arc flag" prize or the pole. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently in Reunion Island)

Sunday, 24th October 2010  We are of course sitting on the boat at the quay wall in Reunion Island. The weather is good and sunny. In fact Skipper and Terry were exhausted, so they went off to the scratchers about 09.00hrs. Aileen took off, looking for a church, Neil went off for a walk around the place to do some exploring. The rest of the buddies were still crashed out. 11.30hrs Skipper woke up with lots of chatter in the saloon. This chatter turned out to be Aileen and a few strays she found at Mass and were good enough to drive her back to the boat. In fact they (man, wife and child) were lovely people and he was originally from Madagascar, and now lives in Reunion Island. Skipper and Terry spent the afternoon sorting out the outhaul on the boom. The was replaced in. read more...

Kasuje - Log 11th July

When you fall in love and she lets you down!!! Hi from Skipper Steve.After my last report where I stupidly mentioned that Kasuje was behaving wonderfully well and that I was slowly falling in love with a piece of machinery, I now have to admit that the course of true love is not running fair, and that we have had a bit of a fall out!!However more on that later, after I have described the wonders of the Island of Tanna. We have just left this beautiful place with a heavy heart after what for me was a humbling couple of days with the warmest,friendliest, most charming and happy villagers I am ever likely to come across. The whole village of Port Resolution greeted our fleeting visit with open arms and a genuine warmth which for us from our western culture quite takes your breath away. If. read more...

Glamorous Galah - Tiki tiki

Bernie examined a sacred Marquesans site today! photo Ted. read more...

Serendipity - Cruising Iles Des Marquises

v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} @font-face { font-family: Calibri; } @font-face { font-family: Tahoma; } @page WordSection1 {size: 612.0pt 792.0pt; margin: 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; } P.MsoNormal { MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US } LI.MsoNormal { MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US } DIV.MsoNormal { MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US } A:link { COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline; mso-style-priority: 99 } SPAN.MsoHyperlink { COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline;. read more...

Crazy Horse - Oct 24

We finished the leg from Mauritius to Reunion this morning at 4:45am. It was a wonderful sail with a couple of squalls for some and wind changes along the way. We had a slight bit of trouble with our A sail Joshua getting tangled when we tried to put it up and then sailed nicely with it for a couple of hours. When we tried to take it down it got tangled again so we took the whole lot down. We then sailed with the mainsail and jib with reefs in both the rest of the way. The fleet is tied up at the quay in Le Port. Andrew says he had a great sail but too short.The next issue will be to get a car to see this island. There is supposed to be wonderful vistas on top of these mountains so we should have some nice pictures to share. Seems like the town and all the activities are a good bit away. read more...

Lady Kay - Wonderful village welcome

Hi folksWe had such a event-packed day yesterday that I'm going to divide the day into two and do it in two consecutive days.There is a village of around 200 people, 8 extended families, by the bay in Port Resolution. The villagers live very simply by growing their own produce, fishing and hunting pigs. They rely very heavily on visiting yachts for other basic essentials such as clothes, fishing hooks, cooking pans, paper, pens etc. For this reason they built Port Resolution Yacht Club to encourage visitors. The Yacht Club is basically a large open building with some basic cooking facilities, three guest huts, and a separate toilet and shower hut. The Yacht Club building also serves as a centre for the community, a meeting, cooking and feeding place for all the villagers. The village. read more...

Cleone - in Vanuatu - Part 1,Tanna

We've just left Tanna, bound for Port Villa, the capital of Vaunuatu. How often have you peered into the crater of an errupting Volcano?  Well in my case, never until yesterday.  And believe me, it's an experience which I recommend you don't miss.  In case you were wondering, they claim that the World's most accessible errupting volcano is in Tanna, though I guess if you are in Europe, Vesuvius might be a tad handier.   We arrived in Tanna on the afternoon of 8th July in the sheltered but rolly bay that is the anchorage of Port Resolution at about 3pm local time.  It was well sheltered from the stiff easterlies we had encountered, but even so, a long swell entered the bay, which was never particularly comfortable.  We were all tired after the brisk passage from Fiji, and glad to get in. . read more...

Samsara - on to Tahuata

March 29We left Hiva Oa today. The anchorage there is silty and we couldn't make water (would clog the filter), swim (were told there are a lot of sharks there), and so didn't really want to clean the bottom there. We also had to move as the supply ship for the island is due tomorrow and there is very limited anchoring available when the supply ship is due. So we motor sailed the 5 miles to Tahuata and anchored at a lovely little bay. The water is clear so I went in to clean the bottom while the girls swam around. Sarah yelled "shark" so we all swam for the ladder. There was a 3 to 4 foot shark swimming along the bottom. I don't know what kind but we kept swimming. The shark didn't come back. Tomorrow we may snorkel along the edge of the bay where we've been told there are a lot of very. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Departure day from Mauritius to Reunion Island)

Saturday, 23rd October 2010 Mauritius to Reunion Island  ......................   132miles 06.00hrs Aileen went to Mass, to pray for a good passage.07.00hrs Skipper and Terry tackled the Lazarette and reorganised the whole thing, this included the use of lots of shock cord to keep everything in  place when sailing, particularly in rough weather. This all took about 2 hours, and we were happy we did a good job. 09.30hrs We all toddled over to the outer pier for the Blessing of the boats. This was most interesting in so far that the main celebrant was a catholic Priest (an uncle of Philippe) and the ceremony included, Muslim, Hindu, Chinese, Anglican, and a jewish Rabbi, and each one got a short time for their own speech. Well controlled by. read more...

Andante of Mersey - Fiji and Vanuatu

I hauled out at Denerau. A new marina just south of Leukata Fiji. They refixed my anode, pressure washed  cleaned the prop, and polished the topsides. He would have done the varnish if I had had more time there. We enjoyed the two days at Musket Cove but had to clear out for the Blue Water Rally. It is a lovely resort and we had a great meal paid for by the WARC with all the other boats in Dick's restaurant. I had a good massage there to relieve the strain of boat management and filling in inbound and outbound papers in triplicate. We were supposed to start on Saturday but a trough of bad weather came through with thunder and lightening. Half the fleet started after a delay and a change to sailing instructions to allow the fleet to follow a local boat out through the reefs in what was a. read more...

Southern Cross - Iguana

I saw this on the east side of the San Cristbal Island yesterday while I was walking near the beach just off the path from the Interpretation Center. I think it scared me more than I did it. (photo). read more...

Crazy Horse - Oct 23

All the World ARC boats have checked out of Mauritius and are in process of leaving the port of Caudan Marina in Port Louis. We have had our multicultural, multireligious blessing of the boats and crew. It was very nicely done by a member of each religious group. There was a great finish with some local fireworks to end the ceremony. All of the fleet seems excited to get on with the next leg. There is some feelings of nostalgia by all of us since we had a wonderful stay on this island paradise.Andrew has arrived and as I write this email I can hear the sailing tactics being discussed by the male crew members. We have stated that this trip will be more relaxed but the start always brings about excitement and all previous discussions seem to be forgotten. So perhaps I will stay below and. read more...

Lady Kay - Hair-raising Arrival

HiWe are here in the bay in Tanna, and very glad to be here. The last day we still had the near Gale force winds, but the seas became rougher and rougher so it was not very nice. However, Lady Kay performed brilliantly, we rocketed along reaching 10kts at times and bounced along on the large waves, in good spirits and not even feeling seasick. Unfortunately we were still not able to get to our destination while it was still light and the approach to the bay (Port Resolution) was very nerve-racking. The seas got even larger as the water got shallower and there are no lights or anything to guide you in until you reach the waypoint where you turn into the bay and can then see the other boats. The one high spot though was that we had some spectacular fireworks from the volcano to enjoy while. read more...

Tucanon - Larral joins the nursery team

Sunday, Moe hired a car using his Nuie driving license. He had used this at one of our previous stopovers along with the 2nd part of the UK driving license. The Nuie license shows his photograph, the UK one does not. The Nuie driving license was available for around AU$10 from the police station. There was no driving test required nor was it necessary to prove that one had ever driven a car before. Several of the WARC participants utilized this facility, having left their UK license back in Blighty. It looks more like a telephone card with a photograph but no-one seems to query it.Moe and Bev have spent a few nights at a hotel in the marina with Bev’s parents but have now gone off with them for the duration of their stay in Mauritius. Before he went off, Moe helped Dick transfer. read more...

BRIZO - 29 March

We have been in the Marquesas Islands for one week and have really enjoyed our time here. The islands are quite beautiful, mountainous with lush green vegetation. We arrived at the island Hiva Oa and caught-up with most of the other Rally boats during several events. Yesterday we sailed to the nearby island of Tahuata. We are currently anchored off an absolutely beautiful beach and may spend another day here. Paul Gaugain was one of the Marquesas' best known residents, he lived on Hiva Oa and did much of his painting here. We went to the museum covering his life, none of his original paintings are there but many reproductions are on display. We also took a day-long car tour of the island, it was great driving up in the mountains and rain forests. The roads were very treacherous with one. read more...

Samsara - We've arrived

March 27We arrived yesterday morning before sunrise. We sailed slowly as we didn't want to arrive before the sun came up. The harbor is a bit crowded with all of the WorldARC boats. The peaks are very high and you can't see the masts of the other boats in the harbor until you come in to the inlet. I can't imagine doing it during the night. We can see/hear the waves crashing down the side of the anchorage. It blows up through the rocks and sounds like an explosion. We haven't visited the grocery but have enjoyed a few get togethers in town with other rally participants. Tonight we attended a birthday party for the skipper of Chessie. It was a lot of fun. All of the girls (Samsara and Brizo girls) wore new party dresses. We were all discussing the Marquesas islands we want to visit. Some. read more...

Tucanon - fleet OK

The tsunami that threatened Reunion this morning did not enter ourharbour. All the fleet is OK. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World with the World ARC (Presently in Mauritius)

Thursday, 21st October 2010 (The Year of the Tiger) 06.00hrs Aileen vanished off to Mass again. She has a long list of of friends, and their children and grandchildren to pray for, not to mind our own and add the mothers as well. Aileen's Mother is 90 and skippers mother is 94, and mothers sister Edie is 91. God bless them all! 08.00 ABC cars turned up to collect the rent a car, we got good use out of it during the week, but unfortunately never got to do the golf, because of skippers kidney thing, speaking of which, is doing well but still peeing some blinking blood, and that makes it all very uncomfortable. Ohhhhhh... ohhhhhhh, but it will eventually get there. Later, Terry cleaned up the rib and put back the fuel tanks, plus doing other cleaning bits down at. read more...

Glamorous Galah - Hiva Oa welcome

We.have arrived safely in Hiva Oa, Marquesas. It is probably best known as the final resting place of painter Paul Gaugin. The island has high ridges covered in vegetation which soar up out of the sea. It was great to step onto land and we received a traditional Polynesian welcome. We intend to stay here a few days to refuel and make some repairs then we will head off to Nuka Hiva and then out to the Tuamotos.Tedphoto. read more...

Graptolite - Climbs a Volcano

19:37.57S 169:29.79E Port Resolution, Tanna, VanuatuA very interesting day today. We had a formal ceremony in the morning with the Port Resolution villagers where there was dancing and an exchange of gifts. We gave them some western bits and pieces and they gave us baskets of fruit and vegetables, banana leaf hats, grass skirts and one very frightened-looking piglet. In the afternoon we piled into the back of pick-up trucks and bounced along a dirt road to another village where dozens of men and boys gave us a display of dancing while wearing nothing but penis-sheaths. We didn't see any women there. Who knows what the women traditionally wear. Moving in the trucks, we bounced through a forest of giant tree-ferns up the side of an active volcano and then stood on the volcano's rim as. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 182 - Three day tourists

20 October 2010We hired a car for three days with John and Jenny and drove out and away from the hustle and bustle of Port Louis to the south west and saw a different side to the island, a softer, prettier side. There is one good motorway grade road running through the centre, however the "B" roads are in a rather poor condition, the pavements infinitely worse. This island puts me in mind of mainland Fiji, with its jagged volcanic peaks, acres of sugar cane country, dilapidated ramshackle towns, its colourful multi cultural population. From the south east right up to the north east coast there is fringing reef and we looked out to see the Indian Ocean surf pounding upon it, memories of our rough and tumble crossing still very much in the forefront of our minds. How soothing and. read more...

Matilda - The End is Nigh

We made a decision yesterday not to motor in time for the finish line (today) as the winds were enough to sail on, we are enjoying it with no great need to rush, and using up a very expensive tank of diesel just for finishing a bit earlier just to get the last day of the festivities did not seem worth it. Of course today the wind has got up to decent levels for the first time in weeks and so we are now worrying about finishing in the middle of the night tonight (so we'd have to bob around until daybreak - not safe to anchor in a strange place in the dark). Typical.Strangely enough we are not desperate to reach land at all. Despite making just about every dud course decision we could have made and the weather conspiring against us to make it an exceptionally long crossing, we have. read more...

Graptolite - Crew Member Quits On Passage

19:37.57S 169:29.79E Port Resolution, Tanna, VanuatuThis one was rough! Big seas and 30+ knots of wind for 470-odd miles. Early on Monday morning the skipper was woken by a loud bang and a shout from Colin in the cockpit, "Martyn, Martyn, we've lost the rudder", "We're all going to die". Maybe the last one was me. Maybe it was just in my head. One of the two ships wheel was spinning and Colin was fighting the other one while everything was bouncing around. It turned out that 'Otto', our trusty autohelm, had broken a control wire during a particularly nasty gust. It was impossible to repair at sea so we had to hand-steer from then on. "So what?" I hear you say. Everyone has seen films with some unfortunate lashed to the wheel, rounding the Horn. It needs to be said that I rarely touch the. read more...

Cleone - Leg 10 Day 3 - Rock and Roll

The wind and waves continue, we rock and roll to them. There was not much change in the wind, but the weather has cheered up considerably.  We are therefore hoping to make our land-fall before dusk, and to join the other World ARC yachts in Resolution Bay in time for the official welcome and so on, which start tomorrow.  Meanwhile the 30 to 35 knot wind continues to give us a fast and bumpy ride. We have had to strip the damaged sail off the foil because it had started to flap in the wind, which would have led quite rapidly to its complete disintegration.  This was hard work for the three of us working on the wet foredeck, which was pitching up and down excitingly in the ten-foot swells.  But it was just after dawn, the sun was shining, it was already warm, and land was in sight.  Soon. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World with the World ARC (Presently in Mauritius)

Friday, 22nd October 2010 06.00hrs Aileen went off to her now daily routine of Mass. On her return she then went off with the driver for Caudan Marina, to do a tour of her own with him around town, he does delivery trips every day, so this was a handy way of getting around town and also having someone with first hand local knowledge.Meanwhile back on board the boat, the rest of us had a light breakfast, well skipper had a light one of just cornflakes with banana, and of course a nice cup of Mauritius tea, the rest ate for themselves. A short time later, we set about trying out our new 12v pump for the freezer. Would you believe that no matter what we did, we just could not get the blinking thing to work? We checked back through all the wiring to the electrical panel to see if there. read more...

Glamorous Galah

Arrived in Hiva Oa around midday yesterday. We were greeted with traditional dancing and a spread of local fruits.   We all had a great nights sleep and now we are ready to do some exploring.David. read more...

Ensemble - Day 76 (24 March 2012): Arrived in Hiva Oa

Greetings from Yacht Ensemble.We arrived in Hiva Oa at 7:15am local time and were greeted by a beautiful rainbow over the entrance of the harbour (and the associated squalls ...). It was good to smell land again!We had decided against the double risks of arriving after dark and motoring through the night on low fuel. In the end we did the last 60nm under sail with winds variable of 4 - 10 knots (at one point the wind vane looked like the second hand of a clock) - while being drenched in tropical downpours - so not the most pleasant of nights sailing.We arrived in the harbour to find the marina full of World ARC boats. Fortunately - Daniel and Jonas from Gunvor were there to help us with our kedge anchor and we were safely nestled in towards the back of the harbour.We took the dinghy in. read more...

Lady Kay - michael hard at work

We are on passage to a place called Tanna in Vanuata. The wind is very strong at the moment. It has been up to 40 knots but it has settled down now to vary between 20 and thirty knots. Needless to say it was a rough and very bumpy night, with waves breaking over the cockpit. Despite having our smallest sails up we are making very good speed - perhaps unsurprisingly. We are often averaging in excess of 8 knots over the hour. Unfortunately the sea is quite rough too, making it a rather bumpy passage. Things shoot around all the time. Still the work of the boat must go on, and hear you see Michael in the midst of all this changing the gas bottles. Without this we would not have the cups of teas which keep us going day and night.Best wishesMichael and Jackiemichael hard at work. read more...

Crazy Horse - Oct 22a

Last night we had a spectacular night of Mauritian food, dancing, music, and colors right here in the harbor. The people here put on a wonderful spread of traditional food, music, and dance. It was one of the nicest celebrations that we have enjoyed on our World ARC trip. One of the producers of rum on the island, Rhumerie Des Mascareignes, donated the rum for the night. That seemed to insure that all of us would be relaxed enough to participate in the festivities and the dancing. Paul and Suzana had a wonderful ceremony giving out fun prizes to all the boats who participated in this leg. We all agree that Paul and Suzana have done a wonderful job of keeping the fleet under control and informed the entire trip. We liken their task as comparable to herding wild cats- almost impossible!One. read more...

Crazy Horse - Oct 21

We did the underwater walk yesterday and we all survived! It was great fun as the large van came to pick us up and we took an exciting ride to the other side of the island. That is the windward side of the island and it has a great reef about a mile off the shore. We arrived to catch a small boat to take us out to a landing platform, from which we got suited up for the great adventure. The headgear with the air apparatus weighed 40 kilos which we decided weighed more than Jutta. The water temp was quite a shock but other than that we had a great time going down about 10-12 ft to take pictures, hang around, and feed the fish who ate right out of our hands. We were only down about 20-25 minutes but that was enough for me. My hood kept getting fogged up and I had to splash water inside to. read more...

Kasuje - log 7th July

Hi from Skipper SteveWe have just made landfall at the island of Tanna in the Vanuatu group after a rather bumpy passage from Fiji. For the sailors reading we had constant 30 - 35 knot winds gusting to 40 knots for the whole passage,sailing on a beam reach with just a handkerchief of main and Genoa. However the strong conditions have given us a speedy crossing (460nm in 60hrs) and we are here ahead of our schedule. For the first time on this leg we have a new moon to see us in and what a difference a little bit of moonlight makes to the enjoyment of night sailing.The crew are reasonably well, Chris as ever in good form, Dawn and Robert enjoying the experience more, as each hour passes and they become acclimatized to the motion, but poor old Mike however has had a dreadful time with Mal. read more...

Samsara - Almost there......

March 24Lee and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary today. We're still sailing along, had the spinnaker up most of the day but now at 6pm we're under main and genoa. Hopefully the wind holds out for the night and we don't have to motor all night. Usually it's particularly light around 3 to 5 am. We expect to arrive early Monday morning, and at least 2 other boats should be arriving within a few hours of us. I've gotten most of the laundry done over the past 2 days while the wind was light and not too much rolling, but we still have some cleaning up to do of course.This morning we had no water in the starboard tank, and we had 1/2 a tank last night, so we had to investigate and discovered a hose clamp had rusted through and the water pumped into the bilge. Since we were motoring we. read more...

Cleone - Leg 10 Day 2 - The Sturmfock

Now we know what the Sturmfock is, and when to use it! The promised wind arrived with a vengance, and with it torrential rain.  It built up through yesterday afternoon, and soon it was blowing at 30 knots from the SE, just off the port beam.  We had taken two reefs in the Mainsail, and rolled away a bit of the Genoa - the Mizzen was long since folded tidily along its boom and out of the way.  The wind was freshening further, and at 5pm it was time to reduce sail again.  We have had trouble with our furling Genoa before, and as we were furling it once more, it split horizontally.  We furled it completely as quickly as possible, and have had no time since (nor the conditions, come to that) to examine it further.  So there we were, in half a gale, and no foresail, and no inclination to. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently in Mauritius)

Wednesday, 20th October 2010 05.45hrs Aileen hopped out of the scratcher and set off for early Mass.07.00hrs Terry and Skipper set off in the car to fill up the petrol containers for the rib. We also decided to finish the shopping, but, but the flipping Jumbo's supermarket was closed and not opening till 09.00hrs, so we did a short trip down to the coast and watched fishermen get ready for their day... Later, we returned to the boat and gathered up the togs and sun creams, towels and flippers and headed off again, south this time to a beautiful beach called Flic and Flac. Neil went on his merry way to complete his PADI course, in fairness to him, he had to do a lot of study before going, as this thing  includes a written exam, as well as the practical thing of. read more...

Serendipity - In Gaugin's footsteps

v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} @font-face { font-family: Calibri; } @font-face { font-family: Tahoma; } @page WordSection1 {size: 612.0pt 792.0pt; margin: 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; } P.MsoNormal { MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US } LI.MsoNormal { MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US } DIV.MsoNormal { MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri","sans-serif"; FONT-SIZE: 11pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-US } A:link { COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline; mso-style-priority: 99 } SPAN.MsoHyperlink { COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline;. read more...

Wind Dancer - LOG 16: Kaoha Nui Mes Amis

In order to explore a little more of the island, we rented a car for the day to see a couple of the further away beaches and find the famous ma’ea archaeological site.  Unbeknownst to us, renting a car entails getting a Toyota Hilux and being shown how to operate the four wheel drive.  The roads that are paved are in great condition, but once you get passed town, there seems to be a less of a need to continue with the asphalt.  Hence the off-roading trucks.  It was great fun to drive around the island and walk out to beautiful scenic points, see the lush landscape, the jutting topography and sporadic groupings of goats.  The rest of the fleet are starting to arrive into Atuona and the anchorage is getting pretty full.  We will make our way up to Ua. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently in Mauritius)

Tuesday, 19th OCTOBER 2010 06.00hrs Aileen up and off to Mass again. Its another beautiful day in Paradise again, and we spent some time planning our day and decided we would do the Tea trail. 08.00hrs The diesel truck arrived. An interesting here, there is no fuel berth at the harbour, or in fact for yachts any where in Port Louis, so we were lucky that the World ARC were able to organise a truck to come to the marina, otherwise it was going to be delivery by jerry cans. We took on board 650L of fuel, which just about topped up the tank.  Skipper took the last of his tablets and did the blog, while A did a quick trip around the town, Neil had a day off from his diving course but decided to stay around locally while the rest of us went off on the Tea. read more...

Lady Kay - Leaving Tahiti

HiWe left Musket Cove first thing this morning. We are at the most distant end in the 'photo. We had to spend an hour getting out through two reefs, but once into open sea the wind came up and we have been going like rocket. Just about to put in a reef in the main sail as wind now force 6. Sea also getting quite bumpy. We hope to arrive at Tanna, the most Southerly of the Vanuatu group in three day's time. We have to start taking our anti-malarial tablets tomorrow and continue for two weeks after we have left Vanuatu.Hoping for a continuing good sailBest wishesJackie & Michaelmusket cove. read more...

Page 71 of 223  69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90