Daily Logs

A Lady - Sailing around the World

MONDAY  21st  FEBRUARY  2001        ( Stefan Hyde's birthday ) " Grand Filou " arrived from Rio last night and pulled into the space beside us where " Kalopie " had been. We got up early, and Aileen took off to Mass to pray for Stefan, ( Our youngest child , big child now )  whose birthday is today but he is also having an operation , so fingers crossed all will be well.  Skipper met this South African young fellow on the marina, How small is the world !   well it turns out that this guy is a first cousin of the " Thesen's " of  " Thesen Island in Knysna, where  Sham and Emily live, and his granmother lived in Tipperary up untill her death a couple of years ago.  however he did not have an. read more...

Windflower III - Agulhasstrom;Fluch und Segen

Aufgereiht wie an der Perlenschnur ziehen an Südafrikas Küste ständig Tiefs im Abstand zwischen 18 Std.bis max.5 Tage entlang.Der Durchzug dieser Tiefs bringt starke Süd-Südwestwinde mit sich.Gleichzeitig setzt in südwestlicher Richtung genau entlang der Küste der Agulhasstrom mit bis zu 6 Kn Geschwindigkeit.Treffen Wind und Strom aufeinander entstehen in dieser Region besonders hohe Wellen.Bei Windstärken über 30 Kn (nicht selten)sogar abnormale Wellen bis 20 mtr.Höhe. Die wollten wir auf alle Fälle vermeiden. Deshalb waren unsere Tage in Richards Bay geprägt von der Auswertung der Wettervorhersagen,um eine exakte Planung vornehmen zu können.Vor allem auchdeshalb,weil es zwischen Durban und dem nächst folgenden Hafen East London (ca 260 sm )keinerlei Anker-und Schutzmöglichkeiten. read more...

Samsara - We've arrived in Vanuatu

July 10We arrived last night at about 10pm. About 4 miles out we saw light and thought it was the moon. But no, it was the volcano! Every few minutes there was a flare - nature's fireworks on display! We covered almost 450 miles in just about 58 hours - pretty fast passage.Today we checked in, did a tour of the village and the school. The children sang to us. The island is beautiful, breezy - beautiful foliage. Tonight we go up to the volcano. I'll write about that later, provided of course we don't perish in a fiery eruption.Off to climb the volcano.....Pauline  . read more...

Samsara - 109 miles to Vanuatu!

July 9We left Fiji on July 7, the first few hours were a bit light steering out through the reefs, once outside we decided to set the spinnaker. First time up the sock was wrapped and wouldn't pull up, so we dropped a bit, got the wraps out and went back up. By then the wind had built enough and gone forward enough that we were having trouble keeping control of the chute and nearly rounded up, so back down she came. That was a bit of a fiasco but luckily no harm done. Since then we've been sailing with more wind than expected, mid 20s or so. So now we have 109 miles to go. This has been a fast leg. We can enter the harbor and drop anchor at night, it's not a tricky entrance like some. Hopefully we won't have cloud cover so we have some moonlight to help when we arrive late tonight. read more...

Kasuje - Cape Town

Hi allA short message to let you know we made Cape Town in the early hours of Monday morning about 04.30, just as dawn was breaking over table mountain and the lights of the city were still in full glow. Awesome. We are now officially back in the Atlantic Ocean, heading north and on our way home!!Our total circumnavigation back to Troon totals sum 37000nm, we have eased our way through sum 25000nm, so approximately 2/3rds of our journey is now completed and we have the Southern and Northern Atlantic to cross before we complete our goal and make Troon, hopefully in June next year.Kasuje will be moored here in Royal Cape Town Yacht Club for about a month whilst we return to the UK for Christmas and the new year. We then commence the passage to Brazil in early January and have an eta in. read more...

Crazy Horse - Feb 21

We are planning to take a trip up to the old town today and see some jewelry before we leave. We still have not purchased those blue topaz gemstones that we crave. We have an idea to have our very own Crazy Horse ring made to remember the adventure. We may just purchase the stones here and have it made back home. The stones are cheaper here but the silver and gold are very expensive here. So we will go shopping today before we leave Salvador and get some estimates.Many of the boats will leave today or tomorrow to go to Sao Paolo or just start moving up the coast toward Recife. We would like to be in Recife for the rendezvous on Feb. 28th. But first we want to check out this most beautiful island of Sao Paulo.Yesterday we went to a convent/church that was made into a hotel/restaurant/spa.. read more...

Voyageur - Leg 2 - Log 6 Halfway there

22/23 May At dawn the wind died. Looks like we might be doing this for a couple of days at least as a high remains stationary. A Lady have raced on ahead and are now too far away for us to be able to hear them on 4 Alpha and as they are not tuned in for 6 Alpha we communicate by email instead.At 1 o’clock in the morning the log reads 1000nm. We are over halfway there now. The time zones are changing rapidly as we continue to make our easting. When we left Bermuda darkness fell around 8pm with dawn at 6am. Now it is getting light as David gets me up for my watch at 4am with sunrise before 5am. And last night we had the first of a new moon so from now until we arrive in the Azores we will have relatively few hours of darkness which compared to the twelve hours in the southern. read more...

Freedom Found - Log day 2 - still enjoying facilities of Bermuda Dingy Sports & Club

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Anastasia - Bat Out Of Hell

19:17.9S 170:09.8E   Daniel likes to play rousing music through the cockpit speakers and yesterday we had the theme music from Lord of the Rings.  That led to a discussion on what music to play as we cross the finish line.  Given Anastasia's performance on this crossing, and our expectation that we will be surfing down the waves towards Vanuatu with its active volcano spewing smoke in the background, we are going with Andrea's nomination of Meat Loaf playing Bat out of Hell (although we will be singing it as "Cat out of Hell" on this occasion).    The patched up genoa has held up really well.  It was essential for this leg, making the difference between having to sail at 8 knots with the small jib, or 10 knots with the. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Sunday, 20th February 2011 07.00hrs Up bright and early for Mass. We took off in a rattle trap bus with our German friends to the Bonfim Basilica about 5 km to the west. We arrived half an hour before Mass and the place was already jammed and by the time Mass started the people were standing shoulder to shoulder in the Nave, the side aisles, and anywhere there was space. The singing, this time with guitars, and lots of clapping and hand waving, all very moving. Most of the servers were women and all very good looking. At the end of mass, a crucifix was marched through the church with most of the congregation stretching out to touch it as it passed bye. This was followed by a good sprinkling of holy water over everyone. When the ceremony was over, we got the rattle trap bus. read more...

Cleone - Durban to Port Elizabeth Day 1 - Midnight Express

The Agulhas Current is truly awsome. Initially, we were a bit disappointed.  We left Durban as soon as we had a forecast from Roy at Piri Piri Radio, and headed out to the 200 metre depth contour and beyond, just as the book advised, and turned South West.  The South Westerly that had kept us penned inside Durban Marina was still in evidence, the head sea was lumpy, progress was slow and of the promised current there was no sign.  Two other yachts left just after us, the American Phoenix and a little Swedish yacht, Christina.  They both seemed to be catching us up, and the light-weight Phoenix overhauled us.  By this time the wind had shifted South, but still our hourly total of mileage run in the hour was a miserly four or five.  But at lunch time, it changed, and Cleone was starting to. read more...

Anastasia - Musket Cove

17:46.3S 177:11.6E   After a couple of days at the Blue Lagoon we sailed back to Denerau to compete our maintenance and reprovisioning.  We only had one day left, but remarkably everything had come together.  The repaired sails were ready for collection, and the replacement chart plotter and rigging parts had arrived.   The only slight glitch was that the marina had forgotten to pass on our refuelling request to the fuel company.  They said that they would refuel us at the same time as Sapphire if we could move over next to them, which went fine with some judicious use of a roving fender to squeeze Anastasia into the space.   Musket cove is a beautiful resort island just a couple of hours sail from Denerau.  It is here that the ARC yachts are. read more...

Ninfea - Marlin

Marlin Our eighth day of navigation started  this morning  with a nice, steady breeze that gave us good speed toward our destination, somewhere between seven and eight knots, well ahead of our expectations. During the night we had variable conditions requiring several resetting of the sails that were bringing together some activity that did not help a steady sleep. So the nice morning breeze was a welcome relief. Things moved along quite normally. We all are by now well set in the routine, the navigation chores and communication for me, the minor maintenance activities for Francesco and Pino and Paolo’s cooking. Today we had an aglio e olio spaghetti worth of a first class restaurant. In the late morning we put a rod out, just one because the swell tended to mess the. read more...

Cleone - CLEONE LEAVES DURBAN

Hooray! We have left dirty, dangerous Durban where our skipper was slowly, no rapidly, going mad.  A south-westerly wind came through yesterday blowing at about 30 knots, so it was as well we did not leave as planned.  We are now searching for the elusive Agulhas Current, some ten miles south-west of Durban. We are heading for Port Elizabeth - hopefully we will arrive some time this week...... I will try and write about Durban later, but it is not going to be a pleasant experience! Best wishes to all James & Marcel.Yacht Cleone11o18'S 101o40'E. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Saturday, 19th February 2011 We had a late morning, still stuffed after last nights feast. Aileen went off to the computer room with Moe to work on her laptop, and also discovered that Lady Ev VI had left port with out saying goodbye.  Skipper, Herman and Hans made a trip to Marina Bahia in the rib, to visit the chandlery for some pipe, but all in vain, they will have to travel further afield to get what they want. Ohhhh, it was very hot, gosh, it does get hot around here during the day. We had a long chat with Moe, and skipper showed him a photo of the Bubbly Bev which he sent to the blog on the 24 Nov last year, but obviously never arrived to the site. According to the Indian Ocean cruising Guide, the Iridium system has lots of dropped mail, and this photo was one of. read more...

La Boheme - 21 November - Durban to Capetown

After 2 nights at Durban Marina, we are heading South to Capetown. The weather forecast is good and we are sailing in 4 knots of positive Aghulas current. We have made a record 24 hour run at 257 n. miles. Then suddenly at 18.30 a loud bang... we hit something...panic, the boat is not taking water and there is no visible damage to the boat, the whale is directly behind us. We hope it survived this collision. We read about it and the odds are against it happening but nonetheless we did hit the whale. The latest weather forecast shows SW change coming tonight, if it is bad we will look for shelter in Sebastian Bay. At the moment we are sailing in fog visibility 100m, radar is on and we are on careful watch.Anna for La Boheme. read more...

Glamorous Galah

Wow Fiji was fantastic & Cloudbreak was awesome. Something for everyone here. We'll be back! Nato's on board enjoying a boisterous passage.Team GG. read more...

Tucanon - Exploring Brazil

Moe and Bev went off for a few days sailing on Chessie. That left us free to take the boat out of the marina and spend a few days cruising All Saints Bay. We sailed 8 of the 12 miles to Fate Island but had to motorsail for the last 4 miles,anchoring in about 4 metres. Next morning we sailed on towards the bridge joining the mainland to Ilha de Itaparica dropping our anchor near the Tororo waterfall, taking the rib ashore to the beach, which is completely covered at high tide. The water fall was dry. We then took the rib to another beach, no more than 500metres and swam in the warm water. Both anchorages were quiet and pleasant and being in company with Voyageur and Tzigany, the two nights away from the marina were quite sociable.There were a number of canoes, the occupants of which were. read more...

Wild Goose - Light Winds

After exactly 24 hours of motoring, the Wild Goose crew demanded action despite the light and variable winds, and at 1600 the decision was made to take drastic action. The smell of diesel fumes and the artificial sounds of man-made propulsion had to go. The drifter was dug from deep in the lazarette storage locker, under the spare docklines, under the cleaning buckets and life preservers, the dinghy seat, fire buckets, flare boxes and other gear where it has been nestled quietly for 2 years without use. The drifter is a light, spinnaker weight sail that "hanks on" to the spare headstay on Wild Goose. It's a beautiful sail and the new wide angle "GoPro" camera captures its color. The videos, much to large to upload by satellite, are especially sharp. It is pulling us along at around 4. read more...

Wild Goose - moving forward

From what I understand about search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. is that they are constantly using "bots" to search the internet for keywords; these keywords in websites will help to make the search results for users more effective and relevant. So with that in mind I present the paragraph below, at great satellite data transfer expense (OK, not really that much) in hopes that our problems with Raymarine's new chartplotter, the e7, will be recognized. Please skip to below the following paragraph and continue reading our blog about our journey aboard Wild Goose. >>> Raymarine e7 chartplotter problems. Crappy toggle switch, random shutdowns, lost tracks, random movement of cursor, toggle switch sticks in engaged position. Raymarine e7 is not ready for the marine. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Friday, 18th February 2011 It rained all night again last night, but its another beautiful hot sunny morning in down town Salvador. Skipper took an early taxi to the sail loft "Vinx" and was shown over every mm of the parasail by Paulo, The boss's father, as the boss Eduardo had gone off racing yachts. They did a good job by the look of things, but, we really wont know until we fly it again. The taxi journey was gas and a 10 min journey took about 20 mins because the driver (despite having Paulo on the phone giving directions) just kept getting lost, ahhhhhhhhhhh, however, skipper agreed a price before leaving, so no meter runnig here.  Aileen went off for breakfast with Christos and Joerg, and we are going to some fancy restaurant with them as well tonight.  Back on. read more...

Serendipity - Bobbing on the Oggin

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La Boheme - 16 November - wath out for whales

Wow...what a sight! We have whales everywhere, one only a few metres away from the boat. Awesome! We are on our way to Durban. We left Richards Bay at 6am and we are motoring against a strong counter current in hope of getting eventually of of this. The weather is unpredictable in this part of the world, only few days ago Capetown got 90 knots of wind and the port  closed. We hope this is not the case when we get there. Waldorf salad is on menu today.Anna for La Boheme. read more...

Kasuje - Contrasts!

Hi Everybody, What a country of contrasts!  The last time we did a log, we had just arrived in Port Elizabeth after a tough crossing from Durban.  Yet again we were told that we shouldn't venture into the town centre without taking fairly extreme precautions.  This all takes a bit of getting used to for us innocent old Brits.  As it happens, the day before we left we went into the town centre to get a few things we needed before leaving.  Actually it didn't feel threatening at all.  In fact the centre was beautiful.  It was very clean, wide open shopping streets lined generally with beautiful old colonial buildings and pretty smart shops.  Smiling and, outwardly anyway, content people.  In comparison to Durban, it was very smart and modern. Anyway, in the intervening period Steve and I. read more...

Samsara - We're getting ready to leave Fiji

July 6   We've been in Musket Cove for about 5 days and now are getting ready to leave tomorrow. Musket Cove is a lovely resort island and we've really enjoyed the stay here. We've also gotten to see some most unusual sea creatures. The sea cucumbers and sea nettles are unlike any we've ever seen before. We didn't get to go surfing here - it's all from the boat and I didn' think that would work well for the girls.       Off to the pool..... Pauline. read more...

Ariane - Brasilia - die Hauptstadt

Die Hauptstadt BrasiliaLiebe SegelfreundeGrösser könnten die Gegensätze wohl kaum sein: Von einem Naturparadies fliegen wir in eine konstruierte künstliche Stadt, die vor 50 Jahren als Hauptstadt gegründet wurde. Der Stadtplan zeigt uns ein Konzept, das aussieht wie ein moderner Jet. Zwei nach hinten gebogene Flügel hängen am Rumpf, der Hauptachse der Stadt. Das "Cockpit" beherbergt den Regierungssitz und die Ministerien. Etwas weiter aussen an einem künstlich angelegten See liegt die Villa des Regierungspräsidenten, etwas weiter innerhalb die des Vize. Verkehrstechnisch wurden 6spurige Autostrassen gebaut. Das Ganze ist riesengross, ohne Auto ist man verloren. Eine Metro wurde nachträglich eingebaut. Trotzdem wurden die Fussgänger und Radfahrer total vergessen. Eine Strasse zu. read more...

Hanami II - Telechargement de fichier Grib en mer: Iridium ou BLU ou ... les deux?

Telecharger des fichiers Grib depuis la mer semble evident depuis MaxSea ... si l'on possede un telphone satelitte, cependant les tentatives faites durant ces 2 derniers jours prouvent que parfois ca ne marche pas.   Sur les 4 dernieres tentatives faites avec l'Iridium 3 ont echouees lors du raptriement du fichier et en general dans le dernier tiers de celui ci, soit a la fin du processus. La consequence est que "on n'a pas les donnees mais la facture reste et a plus de 1 euro la minute cela devient vite significatif" si le fichier est gros.   En fait ce que MaxSea fait c'est de transmettre une requette "Saildoc" au serveur du NOAA aux USA, recuperer le fichier et le reacheminer vers le Pc depuis leur serveur. Bien sur ce service est gratuit. Ce pour quoi on paye c'est la duree. read more...

Ariane - Iguacu-Fälle und Itaipu-Staudamm

Die Iguacu-Fälle und Itaipu-StaudammLiebe SegelfreundeAm ersten Tag bewunderten wir diese grössten (und schönsten) Wasserfälle der Erde von der brasilianischen Seite aus. Der Fluss Iguacu führte knapp doppelt soviel Wasser wie üblich, nämlich 5000 m³ pro Sekunde!!! Dies sieht natürlich sehr beeindruckend aus, hat aber den Nachteil, dass man z. B. beim "Teufelsfall" wegen der Gischt nicht die ganze Höhe sehen kann; ausserdem wird man auch nass, was wegen der lange ersehnten Wärme nicht unangenehm ist, aber Kameras sind in Gefahr. Die Stege führen teilweise bis 2 m an die Fälle heran! Wunderschön ist auch die ganze Umgebung mit subtropischen Pflanzen. Sehen Sie sich am besten einige Bilder an, denn um diese traumhaften Fälle angemessen zu beschreiben, müsste man Dichter sein...Etwa 20. read more...

Serendipity - Fidgeting in Fiji

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A Lady - LOG DAY 19 :: Brass Monkies

WEDNESDAY  23rd  MAY  2012   Brrrrr, brrrrrr, brrrrr, Its blooming freezing here, clear skies, 10 knots of wind from the NNW and a bumpy sea, ohhhh , its so cold and its only 18.oohrs now,  We all have the winter woolies on at this stage and the nights are so cold its like being in the Antartic.  Distance to our destination :--  416 miles Distance travelled   :-             1,474 miles   We are lead boat at present, but that really means nothing, the final results will depend a lot on the amount of motoring each boat has done over the trip. however, so far we only used the engine onour way out of Bermuda. but will have to use it a lot over the next couple of days as the wind. read more...

Quasar V of Lleyn - log 15,16,17 November

Saturday 15th November  Ripping along with the spinnaker Whilst the weather the previous day had been perfect spinnaker weather, the wind and sea conspired against us today.  By morning, the sea had worked itself in to a choppy frenzy and the wind increased and backed to the north-east. We were woken up by a call from Malcolm on deck at 7.00am "All hands on deck!" As we all emerged from our bunks and lurched in to the cockpit, poor Malcy was tackling the spinnaker on the foredeck. The spinnaker had ripped across the foot; it had got caught in the navigation light attached to the bow. An hour later we had the spinnaker firmly stowed away, replaced by the yankee, which needed to be poled out (the pole prevents the yankee from collapsing, a tendency it has when shielded by the main sail). . read more...

Quasar V of Lleyn - logs 12,13,14 November

Wednesday 12th November DEPARTURE AT LAST AND A BOAT PET AT LAST! Customs and Immigration turned up at 6.30am to check us out of La Reunion.  We left at 10.45am headed for Durban, South Africa, approximately a 1,400 mile leg, taking us around the south coast of Madagascar.  Winds were initially light but soon strengthened to a south-easterly force 3 and we were making good speed on a close reach.   Lindsey put together the lunch; fresh French baguettes, cheeses, hams and salad.  As JB was munching through the lettuce leaves she came face to face with a tiny little baby slug munching its way through a leaf.  There was a momentary stand off before both realised that this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.  Lindsey and JB promptly built it a home in a plastic container and she is. read more...

Ariane - Rio de Janeiro

Rio de JaneiroLiebe SegelfreundeRio ist definitiv eine Reise wert! Die Stadt beeindruckt schon durch ihre einzigartige Lage am Meer und um diverse Hügel oder Berge. Der Corcovado und der Zuckerhut sind eindeutig ein Muss. Sowohl die Zahnradbahn, die auf den Corcovado führt, wie auch die Gondelbahn auf den Zuckerhut sind aus Schweizer Produktion. Besucht man den Zuckerhut, sollte man das Tragseil genau kontrollieren, da der Beisser von James Bond 007 dieses bekanntlich angenagt hat!!! Der Überblick über diese interessante und lebendige Stadt ist atemberaubend. An den Stränden Copacabana, Ipanema und Leblon tummeln sich Einheimische und Touristen. Hier kann man problemlos im warmen Wasser baden. Zahllose Strandcafés laden zu einem Trunk ein. Beliebt und durstlöschend ist der Saft der. read more...

Luna - Log 13 - Det er ischkooldt!

Når søens folk ikke har meget at berette om selve sejladsen, kan man jo altid fortælle historier om andre ting. Og i dag vil det handle om, hvor overraskende varmt, man skal klæde sig på her ude...Det er ikke fordi, det i sig selv er super koldt. Da vi sejlede fra Bermuda, var det da bestemt shorts og t-shirt-temperaturer. Men så snart man ikke bevæger sig (aka sidder stille i cockpittet), så bliver man kølet ned overraskende hurtigt. Og når man så på en nattevagt skal sidde ned uden at røre sig stort i fire timer (sådan har vi inddelt nattens 12 timer i tre lige store portioner), så skal man klæde sig meget varmt på.Vi har alle fundet det lange skiundertøj frem og har 3-5 lag. read more...

Sapphire II - 1 July, Blue Lagoon/Avatar/Cast Away....

...just a few of the movies which used fabulous Fijian locations in their cinematography. We've visited 2 of these and they were striking.The Fijian islands (there are 330 or so), are verdant, hilly and most have deserted long white beaches. In contrast to the Tongan islands they are tamer, marginally more inhabited and English is more widely spoken.The tourist industry is the mainstay, displacing sugar cane, which was historically the cash crop and which encouraged the colonial power to bring in 60,000 Indian indentured workers. We have seen no sign of the ethnic tensions this has created.What we have seen is a myriad of low-cost "backpacker" style resorts on each island catering mostly to 20 something's who come mainly from the US and Australia. There are also 5 or 6 International. read more...

Crazy Horse - Feb. 18

Yesterday we took a trip into the interior of Brazil with Carolina as our guide. The town of Cachoeira was about 110 km from Salvador. It was interesting, a long journey, and not quite what we expected. Some were looking forward to a waterfall. There was no waterfall. But there was a wonderful place we stopped after a long bumpy bus ride for lunch. It was a wonderful hacienda where we were able to rest and have fish, filets, chicken, and local veggies and fruits. We visited a cigar making operation. The women were rolling the cigars and taste testing them as we watched. They make about 600 cigars a day. However, they were expensive -$50 a cigar and we didn't purchase any. We didn't have anyone to buy any for. Our friend Walt from MYC would have enjoyed one but he has passed away. We. read more...

Lexington - Caribbean 1500 Update 2

Hi Friends and Family, All are well on SV Lexington. We are cruising along at a brisk 7 kts trying to make up some time in the lighter air around 30 degrees latitude. Although we have had some equipment failures, we seem to "adapt and overcome".We have about 300 miles to our destination.We're comfortable on the boat.As comfortable as you can get doing everything with your right leg 6 inches shorter, all the time.We hope to arrive at the finish line some time Saturday morning. I had anticipated that the night would be long and lonely.I think I was mistaken here.We have enjoyed sailing much as the night sky is overwhelming.It's getting pretty hot during the day.Bob's HAM/SSB radio has proved to very valuable on the trip.He is able to regularly send and receive email and weather images. read more...

Cleone - CLEONE - Richards Bay to Durban

We left Richards Bay at 6am and arrived in Durban at 11pm last night (2100GMT)   After our big welcome in Richards Bay, we slept long and hard.  Forsome reason, however long or short, a sailing leg always seems to leave theSkipper with a big gap in his total of sleep.  However, making up the gaptakes a few days until land-based sleep patterns become familiar oncemore.  As usual, there was a list of tasks to do to make Cleoneship-shape, and there were, inevitably, parties and the prize-giving, whereCleone scooped a second prize for the leg.  This was pleasing, but onceagain Windflower was worryingly in first place!   Once we settled in, the Norfy's Tours machinery slipped smoothly intogear.  Alex took off with his friends from Strega for a two-day tour of thenearby Game Park, whilst Chris. read more...

Time Bandit - Are we there yet?

36 23N 44 41W 12 noon UTC 23rd May Firstly, for all (or any) Yachtmasters out there....1. What shows a fixed yellow light - or maybe it was a dirty white? 2. and if it's showing 2 vertical reds? 3. and if it has both red and green nav lights? 4. and if it has a flashing yellow above the 2 vertical reds?Answer below.The wind finally gave up the ghost about 6am yesterday and we had to put on the donkey until about noon when a light SSE filled in giving us a pleasant yacht along at about 4 knots until early this morning (like 1am) when again, it vanished. We've only just turned the engine off, hopefully for the last time until we get to Horta although its filled in from the north which is the remains of the "old wind" so it could die before the forecast westerly fills in. As soon as we get. read more...

Samsara - the poor babies are sick

July 1We had a long process checking into Fiji - it's a good 24 and sometimes (as in our case) 48 hour process. We have checked in and are at another port but both girls have been sick for the past 24 hours so we haven't gotten to do too much. Lee went to shore yesterday and got butane (we usually use propane) for the stove. Should work fine. Today I'm going to go to shore for a bit with Sarah if she's feeling better and do some internet stuff. Sam has already announced she isn't going to shore today.We haven't gotten to really do anything in Fiji but hopefully will before the next passage. The ratio of time in port to passages isn't suitable for me - I would like more time in port between passages!Hopefully the little ones will not be ill today.Pauline. read more...

Anastasia - The Blue Lagoon

16:56.6S 177:22.1E   We are anchored in the Blue Lagoon, where the 1980 movie of the same name was made (Brooke Shields shipwrecked on an island with a boy).This is looking more like a tropical island should.  A shame about the cruise liner moored just out of the picture. 29F. read more...

Voyageur - Leg 2 - Log 5 Back to beating - A Great Circle Route!

21/22 May By lunchtime, our fifth day at sea, the skies became grey and overcast. The frontal trough had arrived. We took the pole in just in the nick of time as a sudden wind shift had the wind coming from the north. As the day wore on, it veered more and more to the east, the track appearing on the chart as a nice half moon circle. W e were hard on the wind again.  Our watery world looked every inch the North Atlantic. But the rain that came was not too much and the winds nothing more than 20 knots. By being this far south we had escaped the worst of the weather thanks to Herb’s sound advice. The roast dinner was postponed once more and corned beef hash appeared on the menu. I cannot imagine life without the cockpit tent. Last night was so cold and I was absolutely full of. read more...

La Boheme - 15 November - Zulu dancing

Today we went to a remote Zulu village where the locals held Zulu dance contest. This was magnificent, a true experience not a tourist show. We were the only white people. The stage was an open paddock with the view over the mountains. Watching, we moved (to amazement of locals)to the rhythm of musictogether with them. The Zulu War Dance was a highlight, what an experience! This was a fantastic day compliments of the Zululand Yacht Club.Thank youLa Boheme. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Thursday, 17th February 2011  We had lots of rain during the night, but another hot sunny morning. Skipper had a shower on the marina facilities where he met many of the other sailors, these showers in comparison to other places were small and cramped, and badly in the need of some redecoration. Back on board, we had a light breakfast before going down town to sort out skippers phone once more. Despite being told in Rio that the chip purchased there would work all over Brazil, well it does not and will not. It seems that each state has its own phone network, and all independent of one another, so a new chip had to be purchased, now at 10€, it wont break the bank.  Marcelo's men cleaned the a/c pumps, repainted them and replaced many of the rusty steel fittings which. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Wednesday, 16th February 2011 Another hot day in Brazil. We continued with our house keeping, following that Skipper went to the fishing shop and purchased a few more lures, while strolled off down the street to another Basilica, and said a few prayers for us all, plus all the friends and relations, and their requests.  Later, Marcelo called and his merry men replaced the impellor in the main engine, and cleaned out the bilge, however they broke a wire on the fuel filter when they were changing that, so skipper is insisting they remove it and solder the wire back into place again. Always the same, they fix one thing and screw up something else on the way, so a careful eye has to be kept on them all. It just seems to be part and parcel of boat. read more...

Cleone - Fw: CLEONE Leg 20 Day 4 - Wind over Current

Subject: CLEONE Leg 20 Day 4 - Wind over CurrentAn interesting day.   Bruce was right about everything except the exact time of the change in theweather.  We made good progress reaching on the starboard tack allyesterday afternoon.  We had put put a reef in the mainsail justbefore lunch, the seas were reasonably comfortable, and by and large we weremaking our six miles every hour.  But it was humid, and the current wasbehaving oddly.  Sometimes it was with us, sometimes against us, andsometimes half-way in between.  Feathers of Cirrus suggested that theremight be some wind on the way, whilst some Cirrocumulus (mackerel) cloudsspelt rain.  In short, the weather and the seas feltunsettled.  Well, this was just as Bruce predicted, and his lenghtyexplanation in his two forecasts so far were. read more...

Irena - Dan 8

Mirno. Nic vetra. Ze 20 ur "motorimo". Sicer je ugodno, ker ni majanja in poskakovanja po valovih, vendar si pa malo vetra spet zelim. Imamo se 948 milj do Horte na Azoris in se priblizujemo polovici poti. Povprecje do sedaj je v redu, saj plovemo s povprecno hitrostjo vec kot 6 vozlov. Ob takem nadaljevanju lahko pricakujemo prihod v Horto naslednji cetrtek. Na bark1 vse v redu.. read more...

Anastasia - White water rafting on the Upper Navua

17:46.21S 177:22.97E   We have been here in Port Denerau in Fiji for a few days for some maintenance work, so Andrea and I took the opportunity to go white water rafting on the Upper Navua river.  The Upper Navua river area is Fiji's first conservation area, established to protect the rainforest from logging.   You get to the rafts after a three hour bus journey (two hours on road and one hour on a logging track) and then twenty minutes of hiking through the forest.  There you board the inflatable rafts, four to a raft.  We were paired up with an Australian couple, Peter and Evette, from Melbourne.  Evette is half Fijian and was bringing Peter to visit Fiji for the first time.  Evette's mother taught her some Fijian,. read more...

Andante of Mersey - Arrival South Africa

This coastline from Richards Bay round to Cape Townhas a very bad reputation for rapidly developing lows, strong currents (upto 4to 6 kts), gales galore and steep seas (4metres quite normal) etc.. Anyway uptonow it is living up to its reputation! The 24 hour before arriving hereconditions were close to the worst we have had all year.  At one point weseemed to be cresting waves with the bow then descending nearly vertical intothe trough with the sea covering the deck and crashing into thesprayhood.  Also we were apprehendsive about our mast as a shroud hadsnapped and wasn't as well supported as we would have liked.  Luckily ourcockpit is enclosed and so long as the covering does not blow away we willmanage to keep reasonably dry.  We didn't eat that evening. We have been here 6 days now. read more...

Crazy Horse - Feb. 16

Our position is 12 58.S 38 30.WWe are back to the Terminal Nautica marina after being out in the bay since Sat. It was nice to be out away from the city and get some of the air and explore around some of the beautiful islands off Bahia. We decided to stay out an extra day to dinghy around some of the beaches and collect some shells. Hopefully we will get out to visit the bay once again before we take off for Recife. There is a river that everyone has been talking about with some nice quiet villages to visit along the way. We might do that before we take off up north for carnival.Tomorrow we have our tour to Cachoeira that we all have been looking forward to. Carolina will be our guide once again. She is from Bahia and is somewhat of a historical expert on this area. We should learn a. read more...

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