Daily Logs

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Tuesday, 15th June 2010     (presently at sea between Tonga & Fiji) We had a good breeze all night, partially cloudy, no moon, no rain.We averaged just over 7 knots in 12 hours. 06.00hrs We raised the spinnaker pole and goose winged the boat, great sailing now. 10.00hrs       Distance to Fiji....................................278 miles                    travel time at present speed, ..............38 hrs                    ETA   at present speed,.......................02.30 hrs Thursday. read more...

Maamalni - Leg 4 - Day 2 Maamalni calls it quits?

We Quit! It seems that there has been some interest in publishing our various logs which follow our route around the world on s/v MaaMalni, our 52' cutter rigged sail boat. Yes, but if we publish will you quit before the end? we've been asked skeptically by potential publishers. So what do you think? Here is what our day looked like today. We left the Galapagos Islands two days ago bound for Tahiti, a passage of nearly 4,000 plus miles before any land fall. We are desperately searching for the elusive trade winds but we will need to motor 300 plus miles due south from the Galapagos to find them although our intended direction is nearly 90 degrees in the other direction to the west. We've had very little sleep, seas are sloppy, the Pacific Swell is a gentle 8-12 feet but with a strong. read more...

Sapphire II - Day 4, 11 Jan, a Sailing Day

Sailing conditions were interesting today. The wind was from ENE I the mid- teens all day but there were waves and swells of 10+ feet for most of the day. This is due to the coast line of Venezuela projecting seaward at Lake Maracaibo, which, incidentally has historically been a major oil producing region going back to the 1930s. The other effect of the outflow from the lake is that the sea temperature dropped by 2+ degrees and so the air felt cooler, which was very welcome.We sailed all day with the Parasailor and set a new speed record for Sapphire of 13.3 kts while surfing down one of the large rollers. Jerry was driving at the time and was delighted with the performance of his sail.....as we're we all.With winds forecast to build into the 20s overnight, we took down the kite and. read more...

BRIZO - Log Entry 12 January 2012

Last night the wind filled-in as forecast and we were able to shut down the engine at midnight while still making good speed toward our destination. The winds are currently 15-17 kts E-NE and we are sailing with genoa only, making approx 8 kts directly to our waypoint which is 50 nm north of the Columbia/Venezuela border. We have been advised to stay well offshore because of a weather feature of rough seas and light winds where an ocean current meets the tradewinds off the Peninsula de Guajira. Also our insurance does not cover the waters of Venezuela because of the risk to US-flagged vessels so we are staying well offshore.The boat seems to be operating very well, the autopilot has not missed a beat but one of the projects we did not complete was to program the remote control for the. read more...

Wizard - Fatu Hive to Ua Pou

Hi, it's been a while since our last log, we've had and still have problems trying to download photos.We are currently at sea having left Fatu Hiva to go to Ua Pou and are expecting to arrive tomorrow morning. In Fatu Hive we stayed in the most beautiful anchorage called La Baie des Vierges which means the bay of virgins. The anchorage is totally spectacular with huge rock formations overlooking the bay. Lots of the rocks have shapes of faces on them, one looks like a monkey and another like a lion. The locals are incredibly friendly. I had lots of fun with them, chatting, giving the children sweets and painting all ladies, young and old's finger nails in red nail polish. We spent a day treking to a waterfall up in the mountain. It was not an easy trail, but we made it and had a swim at. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 109 - Heading home...

14 June 2010Now into the last day of our mini inter island cruise we tuck into an anchorage (No 6), close once more to Refuge Bay. Tonga is a labyrinth of pretty islands each with its own little white sand beach. I love beach combing or "shelling" as it is otherwise known and in just two days have found four sand dollars, four treasures of the sea, my first ones ever. The weather has been so settled, we have not seen a drop of rain. Every morning though you might have been fooled into thinking there had been a recent downpour, so saturated were Voyageur's decks with the morning dew. The sailors' belief that wet decks in the morning mean no wind, dry decks the opposite has always held true for us and influenced our decision of where to go many a time. So if the theory is still right, then. read more...

Crazy Horse - June 15

We have finally set off to Fiji. We had heard there was a weather system that might be overly challenging so we decided to stay put a few days in Tonga. Now we have set off West to Fiji leaving our new friends on the islands, Windswept , and the World ARC boats behind us. Some of them will be coming West by next week. We will be carefully making our way past the reefs that are between us and Fiji. There are more between Fiji and Australia that we will be keeping our eyes on too.We have enjoyed our visit to Tonga and the surrounding islands. All these islands are similar but each has its own character. Some are more modern and others are like taking a step back in time. We have not seen so many caves til these islands. The snorkeling was good yesterday in the "Japanese garden". Within the. read more...

Ensemble - Day 3: 12 January 2012 - Tuna, Trials and Tribulations

Greetings from yacht Ensemble!We are now half way to San Blas islands - with under 500nm to go.Our position is N 14d 11.72', W 71d 34.52', Course 236T, with winds of 23knots ENE, and a swell of 2-3m. We are seeing scattered squalls - and a temperature of 28C, with barometer rising at 1007.0 hpa.Yesterday was fairly quiet. We had settled into the routine. Magali decided it was baking day and made banana bread and a loaf of wholemeal bread.With the lack of a generator we decided to run the engines to top up the batteries. We still have over 500 litres of water - so no problems there.We'd just settled down for our sunset cocktails when the tell tail 'whir'of the fishing line went. We'd previously decided if it was a dorado we'd throw it back - but it turned out to be a 2kg tuna. After a. read more...

Anastasia - Nighttime visitors

13:02.5N 71:56.8W 652 miles travelled, 450 to goLast night we were visited by two black seabirds that spent the night on Anastasia. Andrea was pleased for the company and crept around during her watch careful not to scare them off. In reality, if you did go near them they just glared at you until you went away. Come morning they had pooed all over the boat, so were not so welcome after that. Now we are a bit concerned about the pictures we have seen of sealions sitting on peoples boats in the Galapagos... This morning Andrea told me that dinner was "catch of the day" so I put out the lines at sunrise and within 10 minutes we had a two foot Dorado to eat. Not so good was putting the lines out to catch more fish and pulling them in in the evening with both lines missing their lures.. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 108 - Recipe for happiness?

13 June 2010 Each and every time we reach a new landfall we say that we will have a rest but each and every time for one reason or another it does not come about. This time however, our time in Tonga, we have truly been able to take our ease. Perhaps the Tongans easy, relaxed and happy way of life has rubbed off on us. I would like to think so. It is one week ago today that we attended the church service in Neiafu. Today is Sunday and here in Tonga the sanctity of the Sabbath is strictly adhered to. No businesses are allowed to operate save the restaurants. Neiafu's streets are deserted and the people go from family home to church to family home. David and I have been aboard Voyageur all day in a quiet anchorage off Lape Island. Even from this distance we can just make out the peal of. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Monday, 14th June 2010        (Presently in "Hunga", Vava'u, Tonga)  Another beautiful day in a beautiful anchorage, surrounded by high wooded cliff's, and a few buildings here and there.There were 4 other boats here, all catamarans, and all chartered from the "Moorings" charter co. 09.00hrs We started the engine and let it run for 15mins to heat up, then we slipped our moorings and headed out through the tiny narrow little entrance, as they say here, "to the left, very deep & very narrow, to the right, very narrow & very shallow". We are now heading back to Neiafu, where we have to check out with immigration and Customs, and get some diesel if possible. The distance is approx 10 miles and there is very little wind - 6. read more...

12Moons - 1. Logbeitrag Start bis Kap GP

Hi friends, folks and family,Hier der 1. Beitrag von Bord der 12moons auf großer Fahrt: 3 Tage und 600 sm liegen nun hinter uns, wir fahren gerade am Kap 'Guajira Peninsula', Venezuela, vorbei mit respektvollen 50 sm Abstand.Moderate Winde von achtern und maximale 2 m Wellen haben uns sanft bis hierher geschaukelt.Dem Start am Sonntag 12.00 Uhr Ortszeit aus der Rodney Bay ging ein missglücktes Ablegemanöver im Hafen voraus, ein beinahe Zusammenstoß mit der Juba, die gleichzeitig vom Nachbarsteg ablegte. Doch Stefan meisterte dies knapp ohne Schaden bei frischem Wind gegen Steuerbord, mit Unterstützung Bennis am Heckfender. Es kann nur besser werden.Nur 10 Sekunden nach Anschuss passierten wir die Startlinie und lieferten uns mit Sapphire und Gunvör ein. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 107 - Earthly tremors!

11 June 2010The whole boat shook and woke both of us. David got up to investigate. The night was so still and calm that the reflection of the stars could be seen on the water's mirror like surface. I am convinced we had experienced an earth tremor. Two weeks ago we heard that there had been an earthquake in Vanuatu which will be our next destination after Fiji. Curiously four years ago within 24hours of leaving Vanuatu, exactly the same thing happened. These events are "part and parcel" of sailing across the Pacific Ocean and as ocean sailors we know the risks and therefore must accept them.Swanning it on Tonga!!David and I have always thought of Swans as fast but not exactly comfortable racing yachts. However having been invited aboard Wild Tigris, at 76ft the biggest boat on the rally,. read more...

Matilda - Sleepless in matilda

It just shows how tired we must be that we forgot to report the most exciting news of all in our last blog; yesterday we broke our all-time 24-hour distance record. In fact we seem to have broken it a couple of times since leaving St Lucia, which is great. We made 167 nautical miles in the 24 hours to 11am yesterday, which is better than we were doing in dead calm seas under motor before we arrived in St Lucia. We are definitely getting to know matilda better, but the good winds and currents don't hurt either!We are still having trouble getting enough sleep, especially me (Jonathan). I'm not quite sure what is keeping me going at the moment because it certainly isn't sleep! I'd better head off and see if I can catch a few zeds. We will also take a look at our watch system and see if we. read more...

Tucanon - Suppliers worth using

It is such as shame that there is so little produce in the shops for the local people. Fortunately we have adequate provisions on the boat to enable us not to have to buy anything, although some chocolate would be nice. I looked in several shops but the only vegetables that seemed to be available in tins were sweetcorn and mixed vegetables. This is probably not a problem for the local people but a greater variety would be good for us yachties.I have nothing but praise for the after sales service provided by Panasonic in the UK. I recently dropped the paddle, from the pan of my breadmaker, into the sea. It is lost forever. We sent an email to Panasonic and the immediate response was for them to send us a replacement, free of charge, to the MD of World Cruising club in the UK, who is. read more...

BRIZO - Departed St Lucia!

After waiting an additional three days in St Lucia to complete several significant projects, we departed Rodney Bay Marina Wednesday morning at 10:14. All systems seem to operating well except for Corinne's stomach. The girls have been reading and drawing pictures, hopefully schoolwork will start tomorrow. We have fairly light tradewind conditions with 12-14 kts from the northeast. Since our apparent wind is light we are motorsailing to maintain good speed. We estimate arrival next tuesday afternoon in San Blas Islands but that is a long way off...Our plan is to catch up with all of the other boats in San Blas for the pot-luck dinner ashore and then proceed to the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal on Friday 20 Jan.Not much sea life today, birds and flying fish. We hope to begin. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - farewell Marquesas!

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Ensemble - Day 2: 11 Jan 2012 - Double Handed Routine...

Greetings from yacht EnsembleWe are now at N 15d 39.6' W 69d 20.8' (12 ECT). Our course is 244T. Winds are 20 knots from the ENE and swell has picked up to 2m. Temperature is 31C, blue skies and a barometer of 1007 hpa. Cruisy downwind sailing with the Parasailor!We are now settling down into the 'double handed' routine. We are using a simple rotating 6 hour watch - which seems to be working well enough. We have plenty of 'together' time around the meals - and are not getting too tired.Yesterday's sunset was beautiful and we shared a glass of rose' and Mahi Mahi tatare before I BBQ'ed up a couple of beef tenderloin steaks (yum!).This morning we had a lost starling take a break on board for a couple of hours - but otherwise no wildlife.Today's breakage is the generator. It came up with a. read more...

Tucanon - Pigs wander the streets and open spaces

We left Niue soon after 10.30 on the morning of Friday 4th June. Before we could leave, Dick had to go ashore to check us off the island and to pay the fees for using the mooring buoys beyond the 3 days which had been provided at no charge to us. Oisin took Dick ashore and brought the rib back to the boat, awaiting Dick to call on the VHF when he was ready to return. It was easier than using the dinghy lift, especially when operated by one person and this morning, he would have just tied the rib next to another set of steps, except a freighter had arrived and was utilizing the space.There was only 5knots of wind as we left and although we hoisted the mainsail, soon dropped it again and just used the engines. At lunchtime we ate rolls which I cooked yesterday. I made double portions . read more...

Glamorous Galah

Lets go surfingFrom early this morning we have had fresh E NE winds and each of us has caught the odd swell whilst steering down wind, attaining speeds in excess of 9 knots. Its a confused sea of around 4ft, a little like being in the middle of our Port Phillip bay! Theres a wind chill at night so long sleeved tee with vest on top is the go.Bern is cooking a lamb roast tonight!Ted. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Sunday, 13th June 2010      (Presently in "Kenutu")    Emily Hyde's birthday 08.00hrs We tidied up the boat and gathered up all the washing and got ready to leave after a light breakfast. As skipper had drawn sketches of our route into this Island and cross referring it with the chart reader, it really made life very easy on our journey out of here. We had already decided to spend the night in " Hunga " so we headed in that direction. However, on route, we stopped at a small sandy Island with lots of trees and surrounded with coral. The Island was called "Fonuafo'ou "and had a total height of 24 feet. The Island was full of bird life, in fact, there were more birds here than any other place since we left the Galapagos. There were Red. read more...

Southern Princess - Update

Until we get past Bora Bora on May 18th, and we start reporting to WARC again please go tohttp://blog.mailasail.com/southernprincess  for the latest news.CheersJ&I&L. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - NUKA HIVA 2

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } Wednesday 2.04.2008.All up early – Stewy and Annie go ashore for the shopping and take the car. Stewy has just mentioned that it’s the first time he’s ever driven on the wrong side , when we promptly go over a large boulder on the side of the road! We agree, given the terrain here, we’ll let Dick Dastardly continue driving on the island tours! We find a great little fruit and veg stall , the young girl speaks good English and lets us take her photo. Karen goes to the local travel agent and gets flights booked, Ronnie does dinghy ferrying and we leave Ian to tackle his favourite job – a heads repair! Yes, his work’s cut out for him this morning as his beloved electric thunderbox is smoking! It’s been groaning. read more...

Ruby - logday 2

Bonjour a tous,Un petit mot sur les malheurs de Ruby: Apres une super journee sous notre parasailor nous avons decide de le rentrer pour la nuit. Helas la chaussette nous a laisse tomber et a refuse de descendre. La nuit tombée nous avons pris la decision d'amener le tout comme on pouvait!!! resultat pas terrible, on a failli perdre Jacques qui etait arqueboute pour retenir une parti du spi tombé a l'eau (heureusement il etait attache!), la chaussette doit etre reprisee, la toile un peu dechiree, le casque de maintien de la chaussette fendu! Apres une heure de galere on a tout rentre dans le cockpit et on s'est assis sur le parasailor un peu epuise.Deprime on a decide de mettre le minimum de toile pour la nuit (gd voile et artimon only). resultat on s'est fait double par. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 106 - Solitude....

10 June 2010We love the camaraderie of yacht rallying but now and again we crave our own company and the unique experience of having an anchorage to oneself. No problem if you cruise the west coasts of Ireland or Scotland. But amazingly this is incredibly difficult to achieve in the South Pacific. Refuge Bay, where we have been lodgers for the past week has been filling daily with independent cruising boats. Now boats from another cruising rally from Australia, the ICA, have arrived and then of course the Blue Water Rally follow on from that. We have had the most lovely time getting together with our own select group and at long last caught up with the boys from Skylark. We had not seen them since Hiva Oa in the Marquesas and it was amazing how much news we could muster between us. But. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World with World ARC 2010

  Saturday, 12th June 2010      (Presently in "Kenutu", Vava'u, Tonga, South Pacific) 08.00hrs  Every one got out of the scratchers, having had a good night sleep, actually, the boat rocked about gently all night, but caused no problems to the snoring population of "A  Lady". Another beautiful day, and for us, a LOVELY cool morning, the climate here is great, it never gets too hot, the breeze at present is light, never exceeding 10 knots from the east. This is very unusual, normally its around 20/25 knots being part of the trade winds, but this year has an "El Nino" brewing somewhere in the Pacific, so the temperature of the sea is higher than normal and this effects everything else, particularly the winds and. read more...

Sapphire II - Day 3, 10 Jan, Champagne Sailing

We had benign conditions all day. Around 14 kts wind fro ENE with flat seas. The kite performed very well over night, and we are now able to fetch our next waypoint without difficulty. We did have some little difficulty with battery chargers shut down on high temperature, but resolved the problem.As we close the coast of Columbia the forecast is for winds in the 20s and higher confused seas. We'll see what tomorrow brings.. read more...

Anastasia - Serendipity is still with us

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Ariane - Halbe Weltumsegelung

Liebe Freunde  12.6. um 17.39 Uhr findet das Ereignis statt. Wir sind auf Position 17 ° 06 ` S und eben genau 180 ° E/W. Das ist südlich der Insel Taveuni, die bereits zu Fiji gehört. Wir haben unsere Reise in Denia begonnen, knapp östlich des Greenwich Nullmeridians. Nun sind wir um die halbe Welt gesegelt und genau auf der Gegenseite angekommen! Das ist nicht alltäglich und eine Superleistung, auf die wir sehr stolz sind. Noch immer sind alle gesund und geniessen diese Weltreise in vollen Zügen. Es ist nur logisch, dass wir diese 180 ° Ueberquerung gebührend mit Champagner begossen haben. "Man sollte ein Löchlein durch die Erde bohren und drüben in Denia kurz mal winken," scherzte die Crew.  13.6. Wir treffen in Savusavu auf der nördlichen Fiji-Insel Vanua Levu ein und sind. read more...

Crazy Horse - June 13

Yesterday we had four dinghies and set off to Mariner's Cave.The goal was to dive under the water and through the passage into the cave. Everyone who did the dive were excited and said it was beautiful but erie. You just dive into the wall and must have faith that you will make to the other side to the top and into the cave. I didn't dive but most of the others went. I was just as happy to go into Swallow's Cave which you just drove the dinghy inside and floated around. Later we snorkeled around some of the other islands.Last night we had a night of Spain. We went to a Spanish restaurant and listened to their music. It was wonderful but the amazing thing was that one of our sailor's and his wife were the featured dancers for the night. The crew from Kalliope were wonderful. They danced. read more...

Morning Star - Michael Blog 1

Log 1 Sat Nov 12Michael Tar It is finally confirmed. Tha trip is on. We start after many delays Fri Nov 11 at 1030 from Hampton Virginia to Nanny Cay ,Tortola, BVI. It has been an interesting week between getting used to each other and the boat. The boat is a Kelly Petersen 46 made in Taiwan in 1983. She is a well built boat with a long cruising record that includes 2 Atlantic crossings, so we know she will do fine on this adventure. We spent the Last 4 days while waiting for the right weather window going over the boat, the rigging, the sails, all the safety equipment and drills, and putting everything in its place for the trip. We had eaten out every night at quite good restaurants in Hampton including Brets, Conch and Basket and Java Junkies. Karen The Admiral (owner Carl's. read more...

Serendipity - Eventful 2nd day back at the office

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Voyageur - Log day 105 - Botanical Garden Tour

8 June 2010World Arc organised a day trip to the Botanical Gardens in Vava'u, the only one in the whole of Tonga. The vision of one man, it was created in 1974 and finally opened to the public in 2006. The purpose was to protect the many and varied plant species of Tonga. Lucy our guide, speaking perfect English, was a feast of knowledge. On our way around we saw traditional handicraft skills being kept alive but the lady beating out the bark from the mulberry tree for tapa cloth making was very elderly indeed and made me wonder if these skills were not being taken up by the younger generation. The dexterity of the lady demonstrating pandanus mat weaving was amazing, the same when she made a beautiful woven basket from palm leaves in a matter of minutes. We witnessed the very many and. read more...

Matilda - We're off at last!

Well, it's been a long time in the planning but we are finally off on our circumnavigation!We had a wonderful start and after an afternoon and a night on white sails being very prudent, we have dusted down the Parasailor and we are sailing along nicely. We are just north of the Columbian border at the moment, but a long way off shore. Last night was just magnificent as we left the Parasailor up and made excellent progress. The wind is said to increase closer to the land, so we will probably drop back to white sails only again tomorrow.It has been a few days now since leaving St Lucia. It has taken us a little while to send emails and update the blog because with just the two of us on board there hardly seems time! Jonathan is having a lot of trouble getting to sleep, so he is quite. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Friday, 11th June 2010      (Presently in "Vaka'eitu,  Vava'u, Tonga)  02.00hrs Skipper and aileen were woken up by a voice shouting in the distance, cripe's where is that coming from! The shouting began to get nearer, so we went on deck to investigate. Criky, there was this little local motor launch ( no more than 20' long ) just ahead of us, about 6 guys in the water with lamps on their heads and diving up and down to the bottom. The lads had no diving gear, just the lamps, and the boat had huge lights shining into the water, and a strobe red and white light going also. They got closer and closer, until they were only 5 feet away from " A  Lady" . The lads, still diving up and down to the bottom, and bringing up sacks of. read more...

Glamorous Galah

Rhumb line feverWe have managed a 24hr distance of 163nm. We are still poled out with the genoa but have gybed it 4 times in order to stay close to our plotted rhumb line.We are all more rested today as we get used to the routine of passage watches.Small porpoises played in our bow wake this morning. But apart from the odd sea bird theres been no other sea life. We cannot see any other yachts either, most are north of us. The yellow brick plotter should show that.More tomorrow,Ted. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 104 - Fan of Fans....

7 June 2010Everybody who knows me from the last rally knows I am a fan of fans! I started collecting them when in Spain and it has continued ever since. Rosemary of Crazy Horse gave me a beautiful one from Moorea. On our previous rally, Stephen of Spirit of Affric gifted me one in Bali. I further added to my collection in Phuket, Thailand, and now having seen all the ladies in church this morning with their woven pandanus ones I will take myself down to the market and select one to add to my collection.It was prize giving time again for Leg 7 with Ciao once more winning their class. They really are invincible. After dinner, held at the Mango Restaurant, we were entertained with music, the waitresses giving a traditional Tongan dance display, then everyone joined in with disco dancing. It. read more...

Sapphire II - Day 2, 9 Jan, Parasailing!

Day 2 was announced for me by the whine of winches above my headat daybreak as the crew enthusiastically tackled the hoist of the new Parasailor. Up she went without any fuss and flew beautifully. The sail is made by the market leader for paraglider wings and has an airfoil cut into the centre of the large sail. It is performing very well in the lighter airs and of course we are hoping to see some strengthening! Given our "adventure" with the sails predecessor when crossing the Atlantic we have been super diligent at preventing chafe with Kevlar wrapping and moving the sheets from time to time. By evening, we were so comfortable with the sail that we opted to leave it up for the night!The crew on this leg have been fantastic. Scott, the Kiwi skipper has exerted super-human efforts to. read more...

Samsara - Day 2 of the rally - much nicer than sailing upwind!

Jan 10We started a few minutes late but we made it to the line! We've had 2 beautiful days of sailing. Samsara is much better off the wind than pointing. Yesterday morning we had dolphins playing around the bow for a while - they swim along and you see the back/fin, then sometimes they turn a bit on the side to look up at us while we're on the bow enjoying their antics. Amazing! We've also started getting back into the school groove, and I'm even cooking a hot meal occasionally. After only 2 hot meals in 15 days on the last passage the kids really appreciate a hot meal.Pauline. read more...

Graptolite - Ueberraschungen fuer den Gourmet

Heute hat es unseren "Sailmaster" Colin endgueltig hingerafft: Anscheinend ist ihm das Essen beim Buergermeister von Atuona nicht bekommen. Jedenfalls hat er Bauchkraempfe und Durchfall und verweigert derzeit jeglicheFutteraufnahme. Vielleicht liegt es aber auch daran, dass er derzeit weder fischen darf noch Tuna bekommt..Martyn hat mich heute in weitere Geheimnisse der britischen "Nouvelle Cuisine" eingeweiht, die viel mehr als nur Wildschwein in Pfefferminzsauce bereithaelt: Koteletts in Senf-Ketchup-Sauce, Schweinebraten in Cola-Sauce..Wow! Wenn man dazu noch eine Buechse Gemuese aus der bordeigenen Kombuese kredenzt, verblasst dagegen jedes Captain's Dinner auf einem Kreuzfahrtschiff! Und zum Fruehstueck durfte ich eine weitere Delikatesse kennen lernen: Toast mit Scheibletten-Kaese. read more...

Crazy Horse - June12

What a wonderful night we had last night. Bob and Maggie organized the whole thing and the rest of us just made some extra food and attended. Setting-There is this wonderful sandy beach with palm trees surrounding us, a fire that has been going for several hours and on that fire is fish and lobsters sizzling with butter and coconut sauce. Stars are out in full and you can hear this sound of waves in the background. This was truly a feast and wonderful company. Vilde, Bob, and Jack even played the guitar and sang us some tunes. Some of the tunes were even in Norwegian. We had about 18 people and somehow there was plenty of food and drink. This was a night to remember as tops for me and the crew of Crazy Horse. Anyway thanks to our friends Bob and Maggie from Ocean Jasper who made it a. read more...

Anastasia - I like the moon

13:48.8N 65:23.4W  264 miles covered I like the moonBecause it is close to us I like the moon But not as much as a spoon   No we haven't totally cracked up on day 2 of the journey.  That quote is from one of the YouTube animations the kids used to like when they were younger.  It comes back to us when the moon makes its brilliant appearance each night.  We took this photo while we were having dinner, sitting on the "patio" in a gentle breeze (26 degrees) looking back to the east. [World Cruising note: photo can be seen under Boat Gallery pages]   Not much to report today.  No fish on the line.  We did a 200 mile day yesterday but now it is a gentle 16 knot breeze pushing us along, so Anastasia, laden down as she is, is plodding along. read more...

Maamalni - MaaMalni escapes Puerto Ayora! Heads west for Leg #4

After over a month at Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos, the crew of MaaMalni had worn out their welcomed. The cruising permit had expired three weeks earlier, but as we were waiting for essential parts and could not leave, the authorities had no choice but to accept us. Now essential systems are those that you must have to make any lengthy passage, such as water maker, ability to recharge the batteries and refrigeration. You know basic utilities: Water, Power and Cold none of which come with a 4000-mile extension cord or pipeline. And wouldn't you know it, we get to the Galapagos and things turn "pear-shape". And of all place, a port that is really inaccessible to the rest of the world. The day before we are to depart for a 24-day passage (read - no accessto anything but sun. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Thursday, 10th June 2010    (Presently in Vaka'eitu, Vava'u, Tonga)  Another beautiful morning in paradise, with a nice 10 knot breeze blowing througn the boat, keeping us nice and cool. We all went for an early swim, followed by a light breakfast. Skipper went up the mast with the camera's to take photo's of the beautiful surroundings, the mast being 25 m high.Donal and John winched skipper up the mast with the electric winch, simple. At midday, we decided to leave this anchorage and go to a small beautiful Island on the east coast, called "Kenutu" and is one of the most beautiful anchorages in the Pacific. However we abandoned that effort after an hour of trying to pick our way through the large coral reef we had to negotiate on the way, when the. read more...

Ariane - Tonga

Hallo liebe Seglerfreunde  Wir sind wieder unterwegs zwischen Tonga und Fiji. Somit haben wir wieder etwas Zeit, einen kleinen Bericht zu schreiben. Tonga, die Schweineinsel: Die Einwohner der Gruppe Vavau besitzen nur relativ wenige Hunde im Gegensatz zu ihren Kollegen auf anderen Inseln. Dafür spazieren im Garten neben den Hühnern eben Schweine umher. Der Grund ist einfach die Selbstversorgung. Grundsätzlich sicher keine schlechte Idee, wenn man bedenkt, dass der tropische Garten viele Gemüse- und Obstsorten hergibt. Somit muss auf dem Markt gar nicht oder nur noch ergänzend eingekauft werden. Dies hat jedoch tiefgreifende Konsequenzen für die armen Besucher wie wir. Die sogenannten Supermärkte führen das elendeste Sortiment, das wir auf der ganzen Reise. read more...

Serendipity - An uneventful first day back at the office

v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}Monday 9th January 2012  Caribbean Sea 13 52.9N 64 51.9W Today’s blog by Mr Grumpy   (NB Slightly different communication protocols now apply; see end of this entry).   Now started  on Leg 1 of the World ARC, we find ourselves back in familiar territory:  sailing downwind in 15-18kts of wind in bright sunshine with scattered clouds – the odd squall to avoid. Typical trade wind sailing.  We have our standard twin headsail rig up and are bowling along quite nicely. It is easy sailing. We could deploy the cruising chute (aka small spinnaker – the “Frog Sail”) but  that would up. read more...

Southern Princess - He/She it's a problem to choose!

Taiohae Bay Nuku -Hiva                        08:55S 140:06W What to do here? Helicopter ride? Go to Daniel's Bay and have a look at the third highest waterfall in the world? Yes let's do that but beware the NO-NOS. These are a very small sand fly, just visible to the naked eye which bite with a vengeance. Advice is to go ashore in long pants, tied at the ankles, socks, long sleeve shirt buttoned right up at the neck and lots of bug spray. The NO-NO's bite comes up in a very itchy blister which last for a few days, and if you scratch them you run the risk of them getting infected! Are we going? Don't know yet. It's a 2.5 hour walk into the falls and with all that gear on sounds very hot. Let's do lunch while we think about it. Lunch was fantastic, Keikahanui Nuku Hiva Pearl Lodge,. read more...

Graptolite - Manhini Shaken Not Stirred

"...a dramatic story of life, death, and the epic struggle of man against the forces of nature....gripping....compelling....a story as spellbinding and harrowing as any novel."So reads the blurb on the back of the book I'm reading, called 'Rescue in the Pacific' about the 1994 "Queen's Birthday" storm. It's nothing like that here and now. In fact it's very pleasant indeed. The depth sounder and radar/chart-plotter problems seem to be sorted although the GPS is still down. It should stop us getting complacent in the Tuamotus which are almost entirely made up of coral atolls and reefs.The idea now (according to my in-house tour guide) is to go first to the atolls of Manhini and Ahe. A lot of pearls come from these areas apparently. Then we are going to Rangiroa, maybe for some diving. It. read more...

Ruby - log day 1 first day out of 460!

Bonjour a tous. cette premiere journee ne nous place pas tres bien au tableau mais il reste 6 jours avant les San Blas! 153 Miles pour les 1ers 24H. Apres une petite pluie en fin de nuit le beau temps s'est installe. Nous avons hisse le spi ce matin et le bateau marche nettement mieux. cote peche (pour les amateurs) rien a signaler... le rosé est bien frais et le moral est bon.. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World and avoiding the recession with the World ARC 2010

Wednesday, 9th June 2010   (Presently in " Port Muarelle "  The Island of KAPA, Vava'u, Tonga)  Another beautiful day. We had a light breakfast on board and plenty of chat, thats the great about having women on board, never a silent second... Its amazing how they can keep talking, non stop for hours on end. Wonderful!We completed the documents required for our trip to Fiji and sent these to the Fijian authorities via satellite from " Cafe Tropicana". Lisa, the owner of the cafe, was great and did all the necessary copying, pasting, and sending them to where ever they had to go. It seems she travels to Fiji every so often, and keep in touch with the authorities there, and acts like an advance clearing house in Vava'u. Later, Skipper had coffee wilt Bill,. read more...

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