Daily Logs

Voyageur - Log day 174 - Transformation in twenty four hours!

6 October 2010This is more like it. The sun is shining out of a cloudless sky. Voyageur is bowling along under full genoa and mizzen, the reefs having been shaken out for the first time in six days. This morning we emerged tentatively from the cocooned enclosure of our cockpit tent like two mice from their mouse hole and instead of finding an angry cat, the sun shone down kindly upon us. We luxuriated in the warmth of its rays, wonderfully restorative to mind and body. I am sitting making a Mauritius courtesy flag from scraps of material in my sewing locker and have started a new book. David is reading his book. Last night I heard him singing along with his I pod. It was a rather tuneless sound but lovely to hear nevertheless. The seas are still running high but there are now no breaking. read more...

12Moons - Vom Bordleben der 12moons

13 tage sind wir jetzt schonauf dem Pazifik unterwegs nachdem wir am 4.3.1012 auf den Galapagosinseln gestartet sind. Unserer Crew besteht diesmal nur aus Rentnern. Unserem Frührentner Bernd und unseren Spätrentnern Margret, Erich und Klaus.Nach dem Start sind wir schnell in den Passatgürtel gelangt und man kann fast schon von Kaffeesegeln reden. Das Tagesprogramm wird fast schon zur Routine. Morgends wird gefrühstückt, manchmal mit Rührei und Toast oder Müsli bei mehr Seegang. Um 10 Uhr ist dann Funkrunde der ARC Schiffe.Die Positionen werden durchgegeben und natürlich verglichen ob wir auf die aneren Schiffe Meilen gut gemacht haben. Die Flotte ist mittlerweile über mehrere 100 Meilen auseinandergezogen. Wir gehören mit der Gunvör. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently at Sea between the Cocos Islands and Mauritius)

Tuesday, 5th October 2010 (Day 9 at Sea) Total distance of this leg...................2,313 n miles Rugby MattersAs I type this, we have the Muenster music playing on the sound system. It brings back such fond memories. A pity about loosing last weekend, but, but they live to fight another day....................look out Leinster! We will have to get out the flag and give it an airing in Mauritius.  Anyway, last night was a beautiful starry night, but still extremely cold.We observed a number of falling stars shoot across the skies, and no traffic or fishing trawlers to be seen anywhere. 09.00hrs Radio Call .........  todays net controller is Destiny. They are the Catamaran that pushed us to the finish line on the last leg. We recorded the position. read more...

Lady Kay - A trip to town

HiWoke up to a black boat - smut from sugar cane factory. Went ashore in morning to get cruising permit and do shopping. Found wonderful taxi guy called Ravin who drove us around all morning - first to get cruising permit - took hours, mainly because the person typing the permits was unable to type and made lots of errors, including errors of nationality, names etc. Eventually completed and then to supermarket and liquor market. Good range of products and reasonable prices. NZ and Australian wines at good prices were a big plus. Then to a massive indoor vegetable and fish market - great range of produce and cheap. There is a large Asian population on Fiji, and the market seems to be almost entirely Asian vendors. The Asians also run many of the businesses and hold positions of power.. read more...

Serendipity - Busy doing.....not much

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Glamorous Galah - Via Inmarsat:

It was a great day to be on passage yesterday - great sailing conditions using our light weight spinnaker making 6 knots Add to that a 12kg tuna and blue skies. Perfect!David. read more...

Windflower III - Wir sind auf den Fidschi-Inseln

Der Abschied von Tonga ist uns recht leicht gefallen,denn die schönste Umgebung ist bei ständigem Regen trostlos.Nach 3 Tagen mit schönem Segelwetter kamen wir am Sonntagabend, dem 22.Juni in Savu Savu auf der Insel Vanua Levu an.Fidschi empfing uns mit schönem Wetter (siehe da, es geht doch). Bis auf einen mehrstündigen Platzregen war das Wetter gut.Am Mittwochabend verabredeten wir uns mit der Crew von Strega zum Lovo-Essen, bei dem Fleisch, Fisch und Gemüse mehrereStunden in einem Erdofen gegart werden. Es war ungewöhnlich aber sehr schmackhaft.Anschließend gehörte das Kava-Trinken zum Ritual, welches wir sehr ausgedehnt genossen haben.Kava wird aus der Wurzel des Pfefferstrauches erzeugt.Am Freitag früh segelten wir bei schönstem Wetter nach Makogai und ankerten in einer Bucht ganz. read more...

A Lady - Sailing across the Indian Ocean (Presently at sea between Cocos Islands and Mauritius)

Monday, 4th October 2010 (Day 8 at Sea) We passed 2 fishing trawlers during the night, 1,000 miles from the nearest land. It is interesting the amount of sea birds around the place, some look like shearwaters and of course the usual "Boobies" the same bird as the "Gannet" we get at home. Same bird, different name! We had a much more comfortable night, with the wind speeds ranging in a full cycle from 22knots to 38 knots over a period of 3 to 4 hours. However the seas were not as rough as last night. 09.00hrs Radio call:-  Radio net controller for today and tomorrow is Destiny. Our German friends. We have done well against the fleet again over the last 24 hours, with 13 boats now behind us and 6 ahead of us.  Distance traveled. read more...

Asolare - Suva Suva

1700 (Fiji time) turns out to be a perfect hour to arrive in Savu Savu. We have been chatting to fellow World ARC yacht Cleone on VHF during our approach so we know what to expect, we have safely rounded Point Reef Light and can see the cruise liner Pacific Dawn marking the Nakama Creek entrance. With 4 miles to run and 10 knots of breeze on our starboard beam for the first time today, the evening sunshine picks out the deep greens of the forest, the blues and reds of houses on stilts and just to finish off the picture, a flower patterned green and white bus is trundling along the coast road. Someone comments; we haven’t seen a bus for a while! Our pilot notes from Cleone are perfect. We enter the river, avoiding the big steel mark in the centre, passing the ferry dock on the. read more...

Luna Verde - 2000 mijl

Stille Oceaan, , Zaterdag 17 maart, 10o31' Zuid, 123o02' WestEr is niemand te zien. Ook niet op de AIS en niet op de radar. In de lucht wat passaat wolkjes. Het waait erg onrustig, 6 tot 11 knopen recht van achteren. De genua staat uitgeboomd aan loef en we gaan met 4,5 knoop door het water. De stroom loopt mee, een halve knoop. Bij elkaar toch nog goed voor meer dan 100 mijl per etmaal. De 2000 mijl vieren we met een flesje wijn bij het eten, kipfilet met bleekselderij, geroosterde paprika, ui, wortel, knoflook, gember en mango chutney. Nu nog 1000 mijl te gaan, elke dag heerlijk eten, maar verder alcohol-vrij.Na een vlotte start op zondag 4 maart was de wind al snel op. We moeten verder naar het zuiden om uit het onstabiele weer te komen. De zeilen gaan er op na 8 uur op de motor. Het. read more...

Ensemble - Day 68 (17 March 2012): Still no wind - but fish

Greetings from yacht Ensemble.The seas are flat - and there is still little wind and no current. So it's slow progress. We are only using one engine to conserve fuel and are ambling along at just over 6 knots.With some luck the wind will build and back - and give us a usable breeze.We took the time to transfer 100 litres of fuel from the jerry cans to the fuel tank. Still have enough fuel for about 400nm - but have 600nm to go - so definitely need some wind (and current)!The calm seas meant plenty of time for domestic chores - loads of washing and cooking...We also had time to erect Joel's hammock that was put to good use.We decided to try and break the fishing drought by leaving the lines out overnight. Joel managed to catch a baracuda - but we had another lure bitten off (straight. read more...

Lady Kay - Fish fillets

HiWe are now in Fiji, after completing our first two-person passage on this trip. We had a good trip apart from the last night when we had storms with high winds and torrential rain which reduced visibility to zero just as we were going along the side of the island, which is surrounded by reefs. However, when we reached our reef passage at first light, the rain stopped and it was great to go through the passage into calm waters and clear skies. Had a lovely 3 hour sail up to the port - good winds and flat water - what could be better. Arrived at the port about mid-day and spent the rest of the day until 6pm going through customs, health and quarantine. What a nightmare. Endless forms in triplicate, then turn the carbon papers over and do the other side. All the forms required almost. read more...

Crazy Horse - Oct. 5

Today was a definite change in the weather. Winds have slowed to a acceptable 18-20 kt range. We took down the staysail and the jib and put up the small Asail. We are moving along now at 6.5-9kts of speed. The waves are not as overwhelming but still having whitecaps. This Indian O. is hard to figure out. Just when you think it won't calm down it does. Last night was beautiful with the crescent moon showing up around 5am. The winds calmed down and I could actually get out of the cockpit enclosure and walk around. There were some stars out too for the first time in a long time.One of the families on a Cat named Stealaway was heard on the radio talking by some of the other ralliers. They are not in the ARC but we talked to them on the radio on our way to Cocos. They are a beautiful family. read more...

Anastasia - Another starry night

10:15.7S 127:00.2W  2375 miles covered   We were listening to the BBC world service last night and they were talking about the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, which is dominating the night sky at the moment.  Together they are so bright that they create a silver glow on the surface of the sea, in the same way that a full moon does.   The BBC was also talking about the transit of Venus across the sun, which is apparently a very rare event that happens about once a century.  What they didn't mention, but Andrea found in the Tahiti guide book, is that Captain Cook's first visit to Polynesia in 1769 was to observe the transit of Venus across the sun.  Interesting coincidence.   Currently sitting in 7 knots of wind,. read more...

Graptolite - Hello & Goodbye Yasawa

16:44.75S 177:21.36E West of Yasawa Island, Fiji 26th June 19:00The overnight sail from Savusavu to the Yasawa Group needed some careful navigation through some tight passes and across Bligh Water but we made it OK. By lunchtime we were off a nice looking sunny beach on the leeward side of Yasawa Island where we intended to barbeque the mornings catch of a monster 33lb yellowfin tuna. Can't beat that, we thought.The fly in the ointment turned out to be that the electric anchor windlass had developed a bunch of problems including blown fuses and corroded cables and so we couldn't anchor to have our beach barbie. By the time we had made some running repairs while motoring around in circles, the wind was up and it was getting dark again so we are now heading south on another overnight jolly. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 172 - Crash, Bang, Wallop!

4 October First a hiss, then a growl, finally a roar. Crash, Bang, Wallop! An angry wave takes us on the stern quarter for the umpteenth time today. The wind is still furious, the waves even higher. Last night was horrible again. Frequent gusts to 31knots and rain, yet more rain. My antennae were on full alert. I could not listen to my music, I had to listen to the wind, I could not read , I had to be ready to reef. The ghostly moon came out from its hiding place behind black squall clouds for a few brief seconds as if to mock. It was the same scenario with the sun today. Here one minute gone the next as we steel ourselves for the next squall to sweep over us. But the silver lining is that we are now halfway! Hoorah! And.... there the latest Grib file indicates things might be calming. read more...

Destiny - 4.10.2010

Bergfest und WetterfroschMontag, 4. Oktober: Herrliches Segelwetter strahlend blauer Himmel, Sonnenschein, 34 Knoten Wind aus Süd/Südost, Superstimmung an Bord! Silvia und Anne freuen sich auf einen geruhsamen Tag, vielleicht ist heute ein Sonnenbad im Trapez möglich!? Gerade sind die Damen dabei, eine kräftigende Zwischenmahlzeit - Erbsensuppe mit Croutons - zuzubereiten, damit die Mannschaft a Rua gibt und wir mit einer guten Unterlage das Bergfest begießen können, denn heute um die Mittagszeit haben wir die Hälfte der Strecke geschafft! da beschließt Wolfgang ganz spontan, das Thema - Genua anzugehen. Seit gestern früh lässt selbige sich nämlich nicht mehr über den Rollmechanismus bedienen. Gesagt getan, die Vier (Wolfgang, Hermann, Udo, Uli) werden aktiv. Wolfgang muss im. read more...

Cleone - in Fiji - Part 1, Savusavu

We've just left Savusavu, bound for the island of Makogai.   Before departing from Tonga, we had to complete a pre-arrival form forFiji.  There was a mass of detail required, and ominous stipulationspromising fines and prison sentences if commas were out of place, let alone realerrors of fact or intentions.  Come the dawn of the day of our arrival, andTom arrived in his aluminium dinghy complete with powerful outboard and a broadwelcoming smile, which we soon discovered is the hall-mark of all Fijians. No room on the Coprashed moorings, no problems, use one of the very convenientWaitui moorings, not far from our anchorage and so handy for the jetty that wehave not needed to use our outboard.  We moored then waited paitiently,occupying ourselves by having. read more...

Samsara - The rain yesterday gave way to a beautiful sunny day today

March 16Yesterday it rained off and on all day and into the night. Our routine was: little wind, all sail out, rain/wind picked up furl some genoa, wind picked up more so furl some more, then the wind/rain shut down so unfurl - repeat numerous times. Then late in the evening the wind shut down so we motored, wind came up around 3am so we sailed for 2 hours, wind shut down so we motored until about 10am this morning then all day today we've been sailing under sunny skies. It was less rolly than usual so I baked some lemon squares (a favorite of mine although Lee and the girls don't love them as much as I do). Even did a load of laundry.So now it's almost 9pm, we've had dinner and put all of that away, the girls are watching a movie on the computer and Lee will be heading off to sleep for. read more...

Glamorous Galah - Via Inmarsat:

Rain and fish. Last night we were hit by a classic tropical rain storm. Initially it included strong wind but it soon died down and we ended up motoring in the down pour for a few hours. Today we are sailing under light weight spinnaker in bright sunshine and dave just caught a 12kg tuna! Plus we are two thirds of the way there.Ah the pacific. Ted. read more...

Windflower III - 20.000Km von zu Hause

Seit 4 Tagen sind wir in SavuSavu auf einer der Inseln Fijis.Waehrend der Ueberfahrt von Tonga hierhin haben wir nach unserer Ueberlegung den von zu Hause weitest entfernten Punkt ueberschritten(20.000 Km).Ab jetzt, wenn wir auch noch nicht die Haelfte unseres Trips hinter uns haben, verringert sich Meile um Meile die Distanz nach Hause.Hier auf den Fijis ist es so wie ueberall im Suedpazifik -ausgesprochen freundliche Menschen die einem immer ihr Bula (Hallo)entbieten.Waehrend einer 3stuendigen Busfahrt(eine Strecke) ueber die Berge zur anderen Seite der Insel ,haben wir wieder einmal den wundervollen smaragdgruenen Regenwald sehen koennen.Ein anderer Effekt der Fahrt war, dass Regina hinterher sagte sie sei an dem Tag 6Std Achterbahn gefahren .Schon abenteuerlich,wie der Fahrer mit. read more...

A Lady - Surfing on way around the world (Presently at sea between Cocos Islands and Maritius)

Sunday, 3rd October 2010 (Day 7 at Sea) Total distance from Coco's Islands to Maritius...........................................2,313 n milesDistance travelled to date.......................................................................1,250 n milesDistance to destination ......................................................................... 1,063 n miles  09.00hrs Radio Net  :-  operators of the radio today is Lady Ev and most boats responded giving their current positions.Again today, we have made ground on all boats in the fleet. 10.00hrs We reefed more sail as the wind increased. We were now past 1/2 way to our ultimate destination of "Port Louis" Mauritius, progress was excellent, having averaged just over 200 miles per day since we left the. read more...

Crazy Horse - Oct. 4

Still the same general weather pattern. Seas are confused with lots of waves coming from all directions. Last night sounded like large logs crashing on the hull of the boat. Everything would go sideways including us. Cups came out of closed cupboards and crashed everywhere. Well, I didn't like those cups anyway. Time for some new Tervis tumblers.Things still rolly and winds have calmed to 25-30kts. Bill says we are moving along and adapting to the conditions. We are averaging 7-8.5 nautical miles an hour. We could go faster if the waves weren't so persistent. Even though these conditions persist it is easy to sit outside in the cockpit and be in awe of the strength and power of the sea. Sea life abounds in all its glory. We see flying fish among the waves escaping the figure of Crazy. read more...

Strega - log 23-06-08

20.05.2008Bora Bora - Cook Islands/RarotongaOn the way to Rarotonga we had strong winds, some squalls with lot of rain. Happy to caught a big Mahi Mahi of 120cm!! We arrived Rarotonga on a saturday morning in darkness. It was market day but we could hardly get ashore because the rain was pouring down. Found a good bar and finaly the sun decided to show up. Next day we rented a car and went aroud the island, it wasn't far but very charming and we found a small hotel where we had a cold beer - nice. It was now time for Izzet to fly back towards Berlin and Strega felt very empty. 31.06.2008Rarotonga - NiueStocked up before leaving to Niue with Windflower. Niue is a gigantic corall cliff with hundreds of caves and other formations. Compared to Rarotonga Niue is very poor, deserted houses. read more...

Serendipity - Not much happening here

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Asolare - It's all a matter of judgement!

It is raining again! This time we have the full works; thunder, lightening and torrential rain. As the front goes through the wind has risen briefly to 35 knots, just long enough to consider starting the engine to ease pressure on our mooring. However, we are in a perfect place, we have taken one of Fred Fisher’s moorings for the night in Viani Bay, and with our lightening conductors out we should be safe enough. The compressor is on again, but somehow the noise seems less, maybe I am getting used to it’s diligent hammering or maybe the results of its work make the whole process more agreeable.  Thinking about it, the “schwsssss” of the last air-tank being disconnected is identical to the sound of our first gin and tonic opening. No wonder it is a mighty fine. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 171 - A test of endurance

2 October 2010The seas were monstrous today, between 5 and 6 metres, the wind more squally, with frequent gusts of thirty knots but at least the rains are less. Thirty knots I can cope with, forty knots and I am scared. Rod Heikell says 'with days of solid torrential rain along with the almost continual cloud cover, the effects on morale of sailing in the ITCZ zone should not be underestimated'. Our morale, like the seas is running high. We know Voyageur will get us to Mauritius and beyond but we must not make the foolish mistake we made yesterday of poling out in heavy seas. David and I cannot leave the helm. We have to keep constant watch ready to adjust the auto pilot according to the direction of the waves. It is wearisome. We bounce around all over the place. The tea and coffee cup. read more...

Ensemble - Day 67 (15 March 2012): More flying fish - less wind

Greetings from yacht Ensemble.Yesterday afternoon what little wind there was disappeared and we finally had to put the engine on. This is the first time since we started that we've had to use the engine - and traditionally this leg has scant wind - so we can't really complain. Just over 900nm to go - so should be there in about a week.In the morning Joel and I played around trying to get the parasailor up. It is the first time we've used it since the mast eyebolt came off - so it was still tangled. We finally got it up only to find it had a number of small tears - and a larger one near the starboard side of the wing - so we put it back in the bag. The wind died soon after - so no big loss - speed wise anyway. Will try and get it repaired in Tahiti.Yesterday we set a new record for flying. read more...

Graptolite - Stuck in a Rut in Vanua Levu

17:16.54S 179:04.39W Wednesday 25th June PM south of Savusavu Bay, FijiThis week has seen us exploring Vanua Levu (which is the big island in the north of the Fiji group). On Sunday we rented a 4WD car to look at the western side of the island and came very close to not making it back as the dirt roads here are so very nasty. The next day we stuck to the heavily potholed sealed roads to take a look at Labasa in the north. A walk in the Waisali Rainforest Reserve on the way was an interesting but sweaty experience. Labasa turned out to be an Indo-Fijian town from the days when sugar-cane was king here. The place could have been anywhere in India and was well off the tourist trail. After a quick curry weheaded back to the more Melanesian Savusavu in some heavy rain that flooded the streets. read more...

A Lady - Struggling across the Indian Ocean, on our way aruond the World

Saturday, 2nd October 2010   (DAY 6 at Sea) Well at 00.00hrs, the wind was still howling out of the SE at 35/45 knots. We were well reefed down and sailing along very nicely, just on a port broad reach and the occasional huge wave breaking right over us, so we keep the wash board up and the hatch closed, and boy oh boy, is it cold! (skipper has 4 layers of clothes on, plus hat and gloves). 09.00hrs Radio net:-  the controller today is Lady Ev. We managed to recieve the positions of all boats, and we made ground on every boat in the fleet, but keep in mind some boats left 2 days ahead of us, and others 1 day ahead, so we have a lot of catching up do and we will not catch up with them all. 12.00hrs Distance. read more...

Anastasia - Need more sail

10:30.3S 124:42.5W 2231 miles covered Every day one of Andrea's first tasks is to throw the nights haul of suicidal flying fish overboard. So far 22 fish have boarded Anastasia. This morning she found two fish and one unidentifiable blob on the deck. On closer inspection it turned out that one of the fish hit the boom so hard that one of its eyes flew out of its socket and landed several feet away on the deck. Sorry, we didn't take a picture for the blog. It has been another slow day and Andrea decided that we might go faster if we increased our sail area, so she hung a load of knickers out on the line. They don't seem to be catching much breeze, mind you neither does the spinnaker in the background.551. read more...

Southern Cross - March 15

The "Jolly" crew of Southern Cross are doing fine.Its been 12 days out at sea. We've traveled a little more than half way now. Which means we ONLY have 1300 miles to go. The seas have been mild to say the least. The Pacific trade winds have come through up till last night. We had a lot of small squalls, so we brought the sails down for the first time and motored through the night. Now that the sails are back up today we get to throw the fishing lines in. Have to dig out another Cuban Reel with a bubble lure. Two days ago, must of been a huge fish, hit our favorite colorful lure and cuban reel which was held on with a bungie cord, as we all heard it and then looked, we watched the bungie cord snap in two and jump in the water. Another win for the fish! Which brings us to our favorite fish. read more...

Destiny - Destiny 3.10.2010

Sturm, Wasserfluten und nächtlicher Regenbogen. Das Abenteuer Weltumsegelung wird immer faszinierender! Seit sechs Tagen sind wir auf hoher See, auf dem Weg von Cocos Keeling nach Mauritius. Runde 1000 von insgesamt 2350 Seemeilen haben wir bereits geschafft. Trotz schlechter Wetterprognosen sind wir planmäßig am Montag, 27. September, gestartet. Schon kurz nach dem Start sehen wir eine bedrohlich wirkende, tiefschwarze Wolkenwand. Was solls, wir sind guter Dinge, schließlich haben wir Ähnliches schon öfter gesehen und erfolgreich umschifft. Diesmal jedoch segeln wir mutig mittenrein, es wird schon schiefgehen. Geht es auch, wir werden mächtig nass und so bleibt es dann auch für die nächsten Tage. Kräftiger Seegang, Regen und Sturmböen mit in der Spitze 50 Knoten Windgeschwindigkeit! Die. read more...

Lady Kay - Celebration-mahi mahi

Lots of celebrations today. We have crossed the antemeridian so it is now closer to England to keep going West than to go East. Michael caught this beautiful mahi mahi. It took about an hour to bring it in on the rod. Then it took about another hour for Jackie to prepare it into fillets and steaks. so we are not doing badly on the food front. Third cause for celebration - it's Michael's birthday. So a mahi mahi fest is in order.We are now in sight of Fiji, lots of islands, reefs, big and small. We should be at Lautoka tomorrow morning - all being well. The weather which has been beautiful and sunny is now starting to change and it is becoming more cloudy and threatening to rain or worse.We are in sight of three other boats sailing to the same destination at the moment so we are not. read more...

Lady Kay - Blue water cruising

HiAt first light today we sailed through our first pass between islands and reefs into Fijian waters. The sailing has been great - flattish seas, clear blue skies and enough wind to keep us going at 5.5 to 6 kts most of the time (we have had to supplement with a bit of engine now and then). Harmonie is still within sight, but no one else around - not even close enough to respond to our SSB mid-day call. No fish yet, apart from the one that got away.Picture today is of Vavau Yacht Club - scene of the World Arc pig roast, and a popular spot for cruisers.Cheers from Jackie & Michaelyacht club. read more...

Crazy Horse - Oct 3

WELL, today I can actually see some blue sky! Seas are still lumpy but we only have 994 miles to go. Today is Sunday and in the old days when the kids were young we made a point of having family dinner with my sister, her family, and my parents as often as we could. So today we will have an old fashioned family dinner with the three of us. The choco bars are in the oven and I will make a roast chicken with stuffing and all the fixings. We are about ready for a bit of comfort food with all this drab weather. Not that we don't eat well here. We have done very well in that dept.With a little sun we could even manage to dry a few thing out. Everything is damp and my toes are actually shriveling up! No towels have dried in the last week. All our clothes are just a bit damp. How we appreciate. read more...

Glamorous Galah - Via Inmarsat:

A dark sky fortold us of last nights thunderstorms in which GG reefed handled well. Part of yesterday was spent baking bread & banana cake..mmm. Bernie. read more...

Matilda - Japanese Fishermen

Where's the Japanese phrase book when you really need it??!? And we really needed it last night.Yesterday went very smoothly, in fact I even produced my personal best culinary work in the galley. I made a goat's cheese tart (basically a quiche) from scratch including the pastry, with onions, tomatoes, olives, herbs, etc. It turned out pretty well, even if I do say so myself. After eating, Heather and I had a nice cup of tea and congratulated ourselves yet again on managing to miss virtually all of the squall activity (we have seen quite a lot of squalls most nights, with thunder, lighting, wind and rain). So far we had only really benefited from them, with a little increased wind and a light deck wash on rare occasions.Last night all that changed. As usual the wind picked up after dark. read more...

Asolare - Vanua Levu, Rainbow Reef and Sharks..

Just over half the size of Viti Levu (The Big Island) Vanu Levu is Fiji’s second largest island. Again volcanic in origin it is apparently home to nearly 140,000 people although so far we have seen just one, Fred Fisher. A big draw for us is diving and the 32km Rainbow Reef here on the south west coast of Vanu Levu is apparently one of “the” places to dive. Approaching Asolare this morning in his aluminium dory, Fred Fisher, son of Ned Fisher the authority on these waters quoted in our trusted pilot “A Yachtsman’s Fiji” by Michael Calder, was about to shape our day. With Fred’s tales of the Great White Wall drift dive and it’s glide through cave, Blue Ribbon Eel Reef, The Zoo and Cabbage Patch it did not take long before we were planning an adventure. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World ( presently at Sea )

Friday, 1st October 2010    (Day 5 at Sea) We had another difficult night at sea, blooming mountainous sea's and a wind that would peel the hairs off a Monkeys tail. We seem to be making good progress, but it does not show on our daily log, even down to other yachts reporting bigger daily milage's than our selves and yet, when we check all the daily lattitude and longitude positions, we actually made ground on every boat in the fleet, from a mere 3 miles to over 60 miles, something is not adding up and we haven't figured it out yet. 09.00hrs Radio Net :-  A Lady's turn today to, so skipper was the radio controller (on the SSB) for collecting all the positions of all the boats and logging them, plus checking that all boats are safe and. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - still on route!

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }Sunday 22 JuneAt 2am we round Cakau Lasemarave giving it a wide berth due to our lack of confidence in the chart plotter! Before Ian goes off watch, he and Annie jibe, set a new way-point and head NW towards Savusavu. We’re now on a course of 297’, wind-speed 10 knots and we’re doing 5 - 6 knots SOG. By dawn there are several islands of the Lau Group visible all around. The sun is shining and Stewy gets the line out for the “glorious hour”. At 10.30am we’re passing midway between Cicia Island to port and Mago Island to starboard, heading towards Vatu Vara Island with approximately 90 miles to go to our destination. We continue on the same course of 297’ all day. It’s perfect conditions; blue sky, gentle seas. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 170 - A new day, a new month!

Friday 1st OctoberWe are feeling much better about everything today. A less boisterous night allowed us to catch up on lost sleep, luxuriating in the comfort and snugness of the sea berth, we showered, we tidied up down below, I took up the blog again, David even read a book. I sang along to the strains of Rihanna and Toscana. I was cheerful again. Tiny patches of blue sky peeped through dark squall clouds and for the first time since leaving Cocos, and we have had no rain for several hours now. Having reached 17 degrees south I think we have at last come through the ITCZ. It certainly feels more like trade wind sailing now with steadier winds of force six. Having left in three groups, the fleet is spread out, hundreds of miles separating the lead boats from ourselves. Consequently the. read more...

Samsara - Reading matters....

March 14The good part of being at sea is that we have time to catch up on our reading. For Lee that means plowing through the several years of magazines he didn't read while we were at home. He's making some progress but he also plays computer games so he isn't getting through the magazines as quickly as I'd like. I have been reading a number of novels, several historically based novels, a self help book, a classic.... Now I've started "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham - revised version. This will take more than a few days to go through! We have had good wind so far, only a few rain squalls, and all is going well. We still have 1307 miles to go and it is likely the wind will lighten up further along....so we are probably looking at 9 or 10 more days.I made flan for dessert. read more...

Ensemble - Day 66 (14 March 2012): Happy Birthday Joel

Greetings from yacht Ensemble.Today the wind picked up a bit to 15 knots - and we managed reasonable speed, although more South than I would have wanted. Seas were calm - and none of the threatening squalls materialised.Neither did the fish (despite the slower trawling speed). Try as we might we couldn't catch a Tuna for Joel. Those Japanese fishing vessels really must have cleaned them out! (We have seen 3 Japanese fishing boast in 4 days - the only ships we've seen).Kindly, the Gunvor passed on the fleet positions by Email - so we now know where we are in the fleet. It looks very spread out - with over 400nm between the first and last boats. We're pretty much in the middle of the fleet - but further south than the other boats.It was Joel's birthday so Magali cooked up a storm.We. read more...

Cleone - arrives in Fiji

We arrived off Savusavu at 1957 GMT, or just before 8pm Fiji Time. And as predicted, it was well after dark, and we have had to anchor off and await the new day.  We followed Yacht Windflower in and chose to anchor near her, rather than in our chosen spot.  This was just as well.  Daylight has revealed a mass of fisherman's buoys around the Skipper's spot, and he wouldn't half have got into trouble if he'd tried to drop the hook there in the middle of the night. So a spot of breakfast awaits, then the dear old (and I mean old, Ed) Skipper can go and fight the bureacrats and get us cleared in.  Then we can all leave the boat and enjoy the delights of Fiji.  From here it looks great - a beautiful bay, and what looks like a steaming thermal spring just on the edge of it. All well with us,. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 169 - A full blown gale

30 September 2010 Last night was the worst night David and I have ever spent at sea. I think it was the same for the rest of the boats. Everyone seems to be having the same weather and the same winds but apart from a couple of bumped heads and getting very wet, thankfully everybody is ok. The seas were enormous with waves coming from different directions. In the blackness of the night, rogue ones creeping up on you would take you unawares and explode against the hull. From dead astern, the waves would roll underneath Voyageur's hull, then to rise, towering up in front of her bow where they would break in spumes of frothing, fizzing phosphorescence all around us. The rain was monsoonal in its quantity and strength. The wind rose to force seven gusting eight, howling around us, shaking the. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 168 - Looking on the bright side

29 September 2010We left in the company of Tzigane with the other yachts not far behind. One hour into the trip a new forecast was sent out. Another low was developing and we were to head south as quickly as possible, down to 15 degrees, 30 minutes, 300nm away. We put Voyageur on a course of 220 degrees and hurried on our way. If I looked to port the sky although cloudy was bright enough. However looking out to starboard the sky was as black as night itself. A tough day and night followed. The seas were rough, the wind gusting to nearly 30knots, with driving rain just for good measure. Mind you we were going well, covering 187nm in 24 hours. At first light just after I had taken over my watch from David I noticed that the uphaul for the pole was shredded and nearly parting. We took the. read more...

Southern Cross - Sun

The sun came up again today. Just over half way. What day is it anyway? David. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - half way to Fiji

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }Saturday 21 JuneMid-summer’s day at home! …. Does that mean it’s mid-winter here?By dawn, the wind has dropped to 15 knots. It’s a clear blue sky with a few puffy white clouds and we’re doing 6 knots in 12 – 15 knots wind, still goose-winging. There’s a problem with the deck speaker which has stopped working. Ian,( who’s condition is improving), gets to work to try and fix it but to no avail – we’ll try and get it looked at in Fiji.  By 10.30am we’ve covered 174 miles since leaving Vava’u. As the day progresses the wind eases and we average about 5 – 6 knots SOG, wind-speed 10 – 12 knots. It’s slow progress but very pleasant, relaxing sailing; the sun is shining, the sails are still. read more...

Lady Kay - sunset at V'avua Tonga

The harbour at Vavua is just a bit like Falmouth. You go through a tortuous valley, probably a ria, sunken valley like Falmouth until you arrive at the harbour of Neiafu. give or take the odd palm tree it is very similar in scenery. within the valley it is like Fowey. The wind can be howling outside but inside you are completely sheltered from the weather. The island is very beautiful and the people very welcoming. Staying there seemed like one long party. The weather sadly was a bit like Cornwall too, lots of rain and grey clouds for much of our stay. Very strong winds blew outside.However as we left for Fiji the weather changed, sunny and light winds. That's sailing - either we complain the wind is too strong or we complain that it is too late. Anyway in very pleasant weather we are. read more...

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