Daily Logs

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...

Crazy Horse - June 10

Yesterday we spent the day in Vava'u in the town of Neiafu going to the market, checking on the dirt t-shirts we ordered, having the best hamburger in quite a while. While Bill and I were doing all those mundane things Matt was having a wild adventure. Matt, Bob, Moe, and Bev dinghied out to Mariner's Cave about 5km from the harbor of Vava'u. Good thing I wasn't there because I would have been Negative Nancy and worried the whole time. Matt tells the story much better than me but he won't write in the blog so here goes.Apparently, one must the dinghy to the island of Nuapapu and anchor close to the opening of the cave. You dive down about 10-12ft in the near dark, swim about 25-30ft through the entrance of the cave, look up to the surface and then go up. According to Matt it is a. read more...

Lady Kay - Iipona

Hi allMarquesas are really beautiful and totally unspoilt. Visited the 'town' to do customs at 7.15 - all relatively quick, but then had to post off our form in the post office which took almost two hours. You take a ticket and wait for the lovely lady, garlanded with fresh flowers to work her way through the locals' requests, which seemed to take from half a minute to half an hour to sort. Nearly all the local women wear fresh flowers either behind their ears, wreaths in their hair or elaborate necklaces. The town is a few buildings well spread apart and includes the post office, full of fresh flowers, a town hall, a Gendermerie in a small office, a school, the Gauguin museum and a few shops which sell everything from fish lures and clothes through fresh baguettes to building materials.. read more...

Glamorous Galah - Via Inmarsat:

Galahs fly!   Our 24hr distance run is 178nm, which we are all pretty pleased about. We are also on our planned rhumb line. We have been sailing with full main and full genoa, poled out. It was an exhilarating nights sailing and we are all a little tired today but catching more rest time during the day. An unplanned gybe sent the preventer block flying which resulted in a bent stanchion. San blas here we come!Ted. read more...

Pura Vida 6 - DE NUEVO EN ALTA MAR

La nueva tripulacion se ha estrenado con una salida espectacular ya que hemos atravesado practicamente los ultimos la linea de salida con un viento precioso, con la mayor izada a tope y el genova totalmente abierto, hemos ido adelantando a toda la flota hasta quedarnos practicamente detras de los dos barcos mas grandes creiamos que nos ibamos a comer el Caribe.Asi hemos navegado casi toda la tarde hasta que, en varias ocasiones, no hemos podido controlar el barco entrando, en una de ellas, agua por uno de los tambuchos, pero, estabamos tan animados, que hemos continuado hasta alcanzar a uno de los mas grandes en el que van unos rusos acompanados por una monisima chica que anoche deslumbro a uno de la tripulacion, que, al verla y saludarle, nos ha puesto tan nerviosos que por poco. read more...

Asolare - Niue to Tonga

After a fast lively reach south west from Suworrow to Niue the Asolare crew spent four days enjoying the hospitality of the locals and the superb diving. The visibility is extraordinary due to the remoteness of the island and the lack of silt run off the porous limestone cliffs which also provide fantastic caves and underwater landscapes to explore.  There is a sensation of flying when swimming off a steep drop off and a huge population of sea snakes swimming to and from the surface or curling up in groups in the gullies. Lobsters or crabs were found in every crack we shone out torches into in some caves. We had a great time ashore too despite spending  a large proportion of our time queuing at the bank with a yacht club BBQ, a Niuen feast at the opening night of a local. read more...

Quasar V of Lleyn - Log

Saturday 29th MarchFATU HIVAThe Bay of Virgins, where we arrived at about 8 am, is described by Jimmy Cornell (The founder of ARC and World Cruising Club) as the most beautiful anchorage in the South Pacific! It is certainly pretty magnificent, but unfortunately we didn't see it at its very best as it was mainly cloudy with occasional rain whilst we were there.There are only two villages on the island and the others set off to walk to the other one on a long 4-hour trek with some steep climbs! I had a quick look round the village and got roped into lifting an outrigger canoe up the slipway when I should have refused and as I write this am suffering the inevitable back pain!We had bumped into K8 the day before and knew they were heading for the same spot, so when they arrived I invited. read more...

Cleone - Arrival!

Cleone arrived at Nuku Hiva at about mid-night on 1 Apr (ie about 0930 UTC) All well. read more...

Sapphire II - 8 Jan, Day 1, A Good Day

After completing formalities in the marina (Immigration and large marina bill), and finishing the chores to make the boat ready to go to sea, we left the dock at 1045. It was a nice breezy day with whitecaps in the bay. Gradually, the fleet of 30 or so boats raised sails and positioned for the 1200 start...Sapphire was among the first boats across the line and soon there was just one boat ahead as we reached down the coast. We popped our passion red MPS and within 15 mins were leading. An exciting and satisfying start.We turned west for Panama, put out the fishing line and charged along at up to 12 kts in 25 kts. We favored speed over position and ended up some 20 miles north of the rhumb line, but boy it was fun!At dusk we took down the big sail and decided safety the first night out. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World and avoiding the recession

Tuesday, 8th JUNE 2010    (Presently in Vava'u, Tonga)  07.30hrs  Cloudy morning, we had a little rain overnight, but not much.We had a light breakfast before going ashore for our trip to the Botanical Gardens. Fats decided to stay on the boat while we went off on our trip, he needs lots of rest. The bus ride to the Gardens was a laugh, the bus was old, very old, certainly the last century. It was held together with string and wire, and well rusted. However, it rattled along nicely for 30 mins over the bumpy road to the Gardens, a good crowd on board, maybe 40 in all. We were greeted by Lucy, one of the Matriarch's of the Gardens, and she was good.  Lucy, took us on a 2 hour tour of the Gardens, fascinating stuff, ranging from opening coconuts,and. read more...

Cleone - in Hiva Oa

Even if you don't like him or his works, you can understand why P Gaugin chose Hiva Oa. We spent a couple of idyllic days in Hiva Oa.  There were huge, delicious, if expensive, pizzas to be eaten, and a very good, if rather slow, dinner in the only good hotel.  There was the tedious business of checking in with the charming Gendarmarie (it took Talulah Ruby four goes to complete theirs - hours of work are nominally 0700-1100, but the police depart either if there is no further business or it suits them), followed by a shortish session in the Post Office sending the completed form off to Tahiti.  Then a visit to the Cemetary to see the Great Man's grave, follwed by a visit to the museum in his honour.  I've no idea whether the copies of his paintings are good or not, but it was an. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World and avoiding the recession

Monday, 7th June 2010      (Presently in Vava'u, Tonga)  A nice slow morning, lot of fish swimming around the boat.Most of the remaining yachts arrived during the day, we listened to them all chattering away on channel 77, our working channel. We spent some time cleaning up the boat, and skipper opened up the main water filter to the refrigeration system and watermaker, we were particularly worried about the water maker, as it made some awful noise last night before shutting it down. We discovered gunged up jelly fish in the filters, and this was obviously the cause of the trouble, so we cleaned it all out, and then ran the generator and watermaker and checked they all worked properly,.................and they did... what a relief !. read more...

Ensemble - On our way!

Greetings from yacht Ensemble!Today is the big day where we start our round the world (Part 2) journey.The rest of the World ARC fleet departed from St Lucia yesterday. We are leaving Village Cay Marina, Tortola this morning at 11am and hope to catch up with the rest of the fleet at the San Blas islands in about a week.We spent yesterday provisioning the boat and doing last minute repairs/cleaning. We had interesting 'cat' company - with Richard Branson's "Necker" catamaran adjacent to us in the dock (that's the very large one in the photo).So - 'Bon Voyage' and will chat soon!CheersDave and Magali9Jan2012 008. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World and avoiding the recession at the same time

Sunday, 6th June 2010    (Presently in Vava'u, Tonga, South Pacific)    Donals birthday  08.00hrs Another beautiful day in Paradise. Aileen did a poached egg breakfast for those that wanted it. Vava'u is one of those places that closes down completely on a Sunday, not even the cafes are open. MASS.. 10.00hrs Margaret, Aileen and skipper trapped up the hill to the local Cathedral in beautiful sunshine, a big big white building standing on the top of the hill for all to see. Oh my god!  the music, the singing, the choir, awesome! It is hard to believe that the human voice could be so powerful, put about a 100 choir singers into a confined space and, Walla!.............  Earth shattering. read more...

Anastasia - We are on our way

13:57.2N 62:05.0W  75 miles covered   We left Rodney Bay with the rest of the World ARC fleet at 12:00 today.   The final preparations were not too hectic.  St Lucia immigration was surprisingly quick but checking out of the marina took about an hour because most people wanted to use electricity and water overnight and so there were thirty boats for them to process.  We finally cast off at 11:15.   We said goodbye to Daniel at 11:00.  He is checked into a hotel near the marina for a couple of days because his flight back to the UK is not until the 10th.  Before he left we booked his flight out to Fiji on 16 June and signed him up for all the ARC legs beyond there, so he doesn't have too long to wait before he rejoins us.  . read more...

Graptolite - Southwest to Tuamotu Islands

10:26.56S 139:49.17W Wednesday 2 April 0500 (UTC-9.5)We got in some food supplies in the morning and stocked up with some more fruit from the mango tree we found yesterday. It must have been a scary sight with the Graptolite hunter-gatherers brandishing boat-hook and machete in the forest.In the afternoon we were invited to a party being held to celebrate the inauguration of the new Mayor of Atuona. There were local girls there doing traditional singing and dancing and local lads dressed in green grass war-dress doing a Hakka. Thankfully, there are no worries about sexual stereotyping here. The food was excellent although you had to be quick on your toes to get the best bits of the roasted pigs.We then had just one final task before leaving, which was to take on diesel. We confidently. read more...

Crazy Horse - June 8

Somehow someway we have lost a day while we have been taking this world tour. I am not sure exactly where or when it happened. A couple of the crews of other boats even had a birthday. Do you not even have that birthday? Or do you save up and have two the next year? This might be a way to combat the aging process!Really, it happened on our way from Raratonga to Tonga. We thought we would arrive on a Sat. and lo and behold it was Sunday. Good thing for Paul in the World ARC or we would have really been confused. Well, I guess -I am still a bit confused. This travelling has a way of making one off balance. And try it on a sailboat where there are angles of degrees of "off balance". Last night we had our World ARC rendezvous. It was quite wonderful. Most of the boats were here and made an. read more...

Wind Dancer - LOG 1: Ready Steady

Inspection checks are through and the preparation for a journey of a lifetime is complete.  Our robust crew is assembled and it’s t-minus 4 till the big kick off.  We had our last evening of excess and now it’s down to business.  We have San Blas on the distant horizon and could not be more excited to visit such a unique and preserved destination.  The Kuna people are said to be one of the last strong- standing independent, self governing entities who happen to have some pretty nice ocean front property.  So Bon Voyage and Happy Trails, next stop Panama.   Wind Dancer Crew. read more...

Samsara - we made it to St. Lucia - late and tired but we're here!

It was a brutal 15 day passage - the first 12 days we had really big winds/waves - last 3 days we had better wind/waves but we were fighting a current that goes North/West - we were trying to go South/East.  All of this was upwind so lots of pounding.....not fun!  Our boat doesn't point all that well - and we "knew"  that when we bought it - but when you actually experience it, it is excruciationg.  Luckily we should have little upwind sailing on the rally. We saw several waterspouts (tornadoes on the water) but thankfully not close to the boat. We had beautiful sunsets and amazingly starry nights away from civilization's lights, and of course had dolphins and maybe porpoises? swimming in the bow wake several times.   So we made it here - we're all. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Saturday, 5th June    (Constitution day, Denmark) Well, well, we had an Interesting day yesterday, and had music in our ears untill 02,00hrs this morning. But now, we have 5 on board again, the last time we had 5 was Panama. Crew :-   Stephen,  Aileen,  Margaret How, Donal, and John ( Scotty) 08.00hrs  We had a slow start, everyone catching up on the sleep. It was a cloudy morning, and no cocks crowing, but we did have birds singing in the background. Scotty was able to identify them all , as he is a bit of a " Twitcher " (bird watcher). Ohhhhh, last night, he nearly collapsed with excitment when he identified these huge flying cats in the sky as "Fruit BATS". 10.30hrs  We went ashore to the. read more...

Glamorous Galah - Farewell St Lucia

We had a fun night with our fellow ralliers last night, thanks to the St Lucian tourist board,WCC and their associated sponsors. Glamorous Galah is ready to head west. We look forward to sharing our experiences over the next six months. San Blas islands, here we come!Ted. read more...

Tucanon - Togo Chasm, Niue

On the penultimate day of the trip to Niue, we removed the sailbag. The batons were protruding by over a metre and we couldn't get them back. The sailbag had moved 1/3 of the way along the boom towards the mast and was getting caught in the pulleys as we managed the reefing of the mainsail. Despite the extra UV on the sail, I have to say that it does look smarter. We have never been very pleased with the sailbag. It ripped within just one week of taking delivery of the boat.After a couple of hours with the wind no more than 23 knots, I had to insist that the afternoon watch put a reef in the sail. This is something we do automatically once the wind hits 25knots. The wind had been blowing 27-30 knots for half an hour and we were sailing in excess of 11knots, surfing off the waves and. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - UA- POU

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Voyageur - Log day 103 - The Kingdom of Tonga - Ancient Polynesia

6 June 2010A very grand title indeed for such a poor country, but its traditions are rich. They wear the 'ta'ovala', a mat of pandanus secured around the waist with coconut fibre frequently worn over the 'tupenu' or wraparound skirt, (the south pacific equivalent to the Scottish kilt!) Alternatively, women might wear a 'kiekie', a decorative waistband worn over a dress or skirt. Loyalty to the royal family is shown by the wearing of such apparel and sets the Tongans apart from the rest of Pacific peoples. Fashioned from the pandanus leaf it comes in many shapes and sizes and from simple design to very intricate weaving but the basic style is the same. The yacht club laid on a barbecue evening and for the first time in three weeks group one and two got back together again. David and. read more...

Sapphire II - Log Day -1, The Final Preparations

Saturday afternoon in St Lucia and Sapphire is a hive of activity. Fresh produce and fruit has been delivered and stowed. The RIB has been cleaned and a diver has checked out the underwater bits and indeed found a sheet of plastic firmly covering the sea water intake. The bilges are being flushed out with bleach to be sure they are sweet-smelling. Cabins have sort of been tidied up, but it still seems there are many items still to be checked off the list.The fourth crew member, Charlie Marts, is on his way from the airport and I'm about to go check passports with the ARC office.We'll not lack for things to get done over the next 3 or 4 hours so I'll go and get on with it.Start tomorrow,Sunday, is at 1200 and the weather promises to make the passage to the San Blas islands a fast one. 18-. read more...

Anastasia - St Lucia tourist board party

We had fun at the St Lucia Tourist Board farewell party.  Hard not to have fun with free booze and canapés.When we got back to Anastasia we opened the rest of our Christmas crackers.  Some people got two crackers, so "DanielDepp" managed to get an eye patch and a moustache.   There was some contention over the music to play as we cross the start line.  Carmina Burana won the popular vote despite being such a cliché.   80F. read more...

Destiny - Dinner bei Alofi

Kaum hatten wir an der Boje im Puerto del Refugio vor Neiafu festgemacht, da war Alofi in seinem Ruderboot schon an unserer Seite. Er bot uns geschnitzte Masken aus ganz hartem Holz an, Schmuck aus Walfischzahn, frisches Brot zum Frühstück, Wäsche waschen durch seine Tochter, Auffüllen der Gasflaschen und was an Bord noch dringend gebraucht wird. Um nicht gleich abgewiesen zu werden, kam er mit seinen überdimensional großen Füssen vorsorglich gleich an Bord. Wir durften uns in seine Referenzbücher eintragen "er hatte gleich zwei zur Verfügung" und als ganz besonderen Service bot er uns an, ein Hummeressen für uns zu organisieren. Seine Schilderung klang ganz gut und wir freuten uns auf ein Hummeressen am folgenden Abend. Auch der Preis schien uns nicht überzogen und lag nach. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 102 - On to Tonga

5 June 2010Niue is a three day island and anyway our 72 hours were up. Now we are three. Suzana from WARC joined us for the 255nm passage. She stood two night watches for us which meant some extra rest. It was wonderful, a real treat! We were back to light winds again and it was a combination of sailing and motor sailing. Niue had left us a present in the form of a plague of flying ants. When night fell they came marching down the decks, armies of them. I have never experienced anything like it before. By morning however the tidal wave of critters had receded and David's duty at first light was to dispatch them overboard. The following night and we had a unique ocean experience passing over the Tongan Trench. This is the second deepest part of the Pacific Ocean and at its deepest part, a. read more...

Anastasia - No more days to go

The World ARC starts tomorrow.  We should be casting off at about 10 am for the 12:00 start.  I am guessing it will be more like 11:30 before we get off on account of still having to put the cover back on the tender, clear through immigration and check out of the marina.  When we got back to Anastasia we opened the rest of our Christmas crackers.  Some people got two crackers, so "DanielDepp" managed to get an eye patch and a moustache.  There was some contention over the music to play as we cross the start line.  Carmina Burana won the popular vote despite being such a cliché.   808. read more...

Ruby - Blog

The francophone can visit our french blog on: http://rubyworldarc.comHerve . read more...

Voyageur - Log day 101 - Nuie Island of cliffs, caves and chasms

2 June 2010 There are two things that the Cook Islands and Niue have in common. First they are both independent nations but under free association with New Zealand which means that they get a lot of economic support. Second they have a shrinking population, the young people preferring to live and work in New Zealand. That is where the similarities end, for the islands could not be more different. The entire land area of the Cook Islands could fit into Niue. That is not to say that Niue is big because your can drive around the island in one day which is what we did. Irene and Dick (Tucanon) came along too. They call Niue the "Rock of Polynesia", appropriately so as from the sea the island appears like a large flat lump of rock, the coastline indented by rugged cliffs, caves and chasms.. read more...

Crazy Horse - June 4

We are still motoring along trying to get into Tonga. Not much wind today sothis is the flattest I have seen the ocean in a long time. There is stillthe ever present rock which is a good way to get sleepy.I hope Joe of Brown-eyed Girl writes in the blog about his and Jerrod'sadventure with that tremendous marlin which by the way got away! I heard himon the SSB with Bill last night and he was so excited and animated about thefishing expedition. It will make good readiing and a good reason why manypeople love this trip so much. You just never know what can happen next.Hard to even expect to see a fish that big much less have the opportunity tofish for one off one's sailboat!!!We are not quite so energetic on this boat. We have spent a good part ofthis leg reading the books we have borrowed. read more...

Ensemble - New Years in the BVI

New Years Greetings from Ensemble.We've just finished a wonderful week with Rod & Dalma, Csilla and Dominic on Ensemble celebrating New Years in the BVI. We started in Tortola (dinner and rhum cocktails at 'Pussers'); spent New Years on Jost van Dyke - Diamond Cay (BBQ and Champagne for the big day), recovery at 'Foxy's' with a great lobster dinner; a quiet day swimming and relaxing at Whelk Bay, Peter Island; then lunch at 'the Fat Virgins' cafe, and a day snorkelling and dinner at Biras Creek, Virgin Gorda. Finally back to Tortola via Spring Bay. Copious amounts of good food, It all went so fast!We are now recovering at Cooper Island for a couple of days before provisioning in Tortola and sailing to the San Blas Islands for the rendevous with the rest of the World ARC.CheersMagali. read more...

12Moons - Vorbereitungen World ARC

Hey friends and folks, here the second report of our voyage: As a very special trip, World ARC members were invited to do a daytrip into the rainforrest of St. Lucia. There in a special camp, we could climb between the trees, hanging on ziplines, flying like a bird from tree to tree. It was a great experience and we all had a lot of fun.   Be greeted Annette, Benjamin, Christine, Stefan und Johannes. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World.

 FRIDAY   4th  JUNE  2010     ( Presently at Sea between Nuie  and Vava'u , Tonga )  05.30hrs  The wind direction changed so we jybed the boat, or should I say, the spinniker, This was the first time we ever did this on this boat and it proved easier than anticipated . It was just great sailing with the Kite up all night. 06.44 hrs  We are Sea now for 24 hrs , so the following is our position. :-                                Position  ........................................... 18:56 S      172 : 55. read more...

12Moons - Grenadinentörn und Startvorbereitungen

Liebe Familie und Freunde,hier der erste Bericht unserer Reise:   Unser Flug und die Ankunft in St. Lucia war problemlos, was fehlte, war die Tasche mit den Ersatzteilen für das Boot, (3000 €) weswegen Stefan etwas nervös war. Zum Glück konnte Christian das in Frankfurt managen (die Teile waren dort nicht eingeladen worden wegen unklarem Inhalt) und wir hatten die Zusage, dass die Tasche eine Woche später in jedem Fall ankommen würde.   So klarierten wir hier aus und in Bequia ( St. Vincent und die Grenadinen) ein. Am 3. Tag ankerten wir im Horseshoereef und schnorchelten dort 2 Tage zwischen Rochen, Schildkröten und Korallen, natürlich auch vieler bunter Fische und einigen anderen Touristen.   Anschließend segelten wir nach. read more...

Strega - log 01.04.2008

Fatu Hiva die Zweite und kein Aprilscherz:Die "Bucht der Jungfrauen" ist wirklich Atem- und vor allem schlafraubend. Wir hatten während der Nacht 6 Ankermanöver und mussten schliesslich gegen Morgen klein beigeben und haben die "Jungfrauen" verlassen. Immerwährend slippende Anker bei Fallböen bis 40 Knoten haben den "klügeren nachgeben" lassen...Dann also in die " Baie du bon repos" - so früh haben wir noch nie geankert. Diese Bucht zwar nicht so spektakulär, dafür wir allein und viel Platz zum Ankern und schwojen. Der Landgang dann, nach Durchquerung des kleinen Dorfes, sehr beeindruckend, denn nach dem letzten Haus hatte man den Eindruck mitten durch den Djungel zu laufen. Aber immer noch eine schmale Betonstrasse und so hatte man den Eindruck duch ein gigantisches Gewächshaus zu. read more...

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