Daily Logs

Ariane - Cocos Keeling

Cocos KeelingLiebe SegelfreundeAuf dem riesigen Schlag von Bali nach Mauritius gibt es zwei Möglichkeiten des Unterbruchs: Christmas-Island und eben Cocos Keeling, wo wir uns nun seit einigen Tagen befinden. Hier konnten wir unsere Dieselvorräte wieder auffüllen. Leider kommt man nicht zu Wasser, also heisst es weiter sparen bis Mauritius. Zum Glück verfügen wir über sehr grosse Tanks.Wie sieht es hier aus? Wir empfinden es als eine Mischung zwischen den San Blas-Inseln und den Tuamotus. Dichter Palmenwald umschliesst einen ganz feinen Sandstrand. Einwohner gibt es auf dem benachbarten Homeisland rund 400. Entsprechend findet man ein Restaurant mit etwa 8 Plätzen, ein Post-Office und mehrere kleine 'Supermärkte'. In Direction Island, dem einzigen erlaubten Ankerplatz, gibt es hingegen. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - exploring the Kingdom of Tonga!

Wednesday 11th JuneIt’s grey but not raining – we decide to head ashore and embrace the Kingdom. Kick off is breakfast in the Tropicana, a buzzing little internet café full of information, good food, crack and home-made pies. We decide to rent a car so Ian and Stewy go to get it organised while Annie goes on the internet to apply for the Ozzie visas. Ian and Stewy get a lift to the car hire place with the local pastor. While on the street, Ian meets a man offering to sell lobsters  - Ian orders 3 in the hope that the weather might improve and we can organise a BBQ for tomorrow.  We meet Norfy on the street and he decides to come with us. Before we set off Annie takes Norfy to the market to bulk buy some necklaces from Mr Tui  he’s delighted.  Off we go with a very basic map. read more...

Lady Kay - Back in port

Hi allWe have returned to port after cruising around Tonga, as we plan to check out tomorrow and get fuel etc. Only boring pics of beaches etc for here, so have included a retrospective shot of Niue - a full-size photo for once as we have internet access in port. The picture shows Michael who has just climbed down a vertical ladder into a picturesque chasm. I elected to wait at the top!Cheers from Jackie and Michaelchasm2. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World.

Wednesday, 22nd September 2010  It was a wet morning, so we just remained on board and downloaded photo's onto a memory stick and did some emails and the blog. We replaced the annodes on the prop. shaft and propellor itself, the existing ones had dissapeared completly, and they were new ones put on in Tahiti last April. They did not last too long.Skipper enjoyed using his diving gear to do the job. His 7lb gas bottle is as neat as a pin, but on the other hand will only last 40 mins underwater at 2 metres.. Later, we checked the rig and skipper tried in vain to refeed the spinnaker halyard down through the mast... there was a blockage at the spreaders. It was a great sight from the top of the mast, the beautiful colours of the water and all the palm trees on Direction. read more...

Sialia - November 15th

In the last 24 hours we reefed the main while close hauled in 27 knots and got a perfect wrap.Then the wind slacked and we are back to full sail and light winds.  Two nights ago we passed close by a cruise ship that did not show up on the radar.Then discovered that basically nothing was showing up on the radar.Gulp.In the morning Paula looked at the metal reflector hoisted at the spreader and suggested it might be interfering with the signal.Down goes the reflector by about 3 feet, up comes the radar signal loud and clear.Yay Paula!Very clear nights so far and no real need to turn on the radar but good to know it is there.At night we are running the nav station unit but not the helm unit to conserve power, and all units off during the day.Burning about 10 amps at night and 5 during. read more...

Anastasia - A beautiful night

8:39.1S 110:04.6W 1345 miles covered  It has been a glorious day for sailing, clear blue skies and a sparkling ocean.  We were just three miles short of repeating Anastasia's personal best of 240 miles.  The wind is down a bit now so we will be doing less tomorrow.  Tonight we have one of the clearest skies so far and Andrea is out spotting constellations.  Jupiter, Venus and Mars are all in the sky together.  Did you know that Canopus, the second brightest star in the sky, was used by the space shuttle for navigation?  The Southern Cross is very clear tonight.   Everything was peaceful until Andrea just emitted a blood curdling scream,  Nothing serious, just hit on the leg by a flying fish.  The fish survived. . read more...

Samsara - Rudder post stringer cracked

March 10We discovered a crack in the stringer that supports the rudder post while working on another issue. We were having problems with the pressure water and when Lee investigated that he discovered the crack and it was flexing open by 1.5mm or so when waves hit us. We weren't taking on any water but this is a serious issue and if the rudder failed we could end up with a large hole in the bottom of the boat. We immediately put a double reef in the main, furled the genoa and put out the staysail to reduce speed and the loads on the rudder. Lee added some temporary bracing and then sanded and added a few layers of fiberglass. We watched it overnight while keeping in contact with the closest rally boats in case the fix didn't work. Today we added another few layers of fiberglass,. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 163 - Welcome to paradise.....

21 September 2010Five years ago we sailed as far as Fiji with Mike and Donna Hill in their yacht Baccalieu. They went on to complete their circumnavigation with the last WARC. Today we received an email. They said "make the most of it for it is the last taste of paradise that you will experience on this round the world trip." Arriving in Cocos Keeling is an extraordinary experience. Topographically they are just like the San Blas Islands or the Tuamotus, coconut palms standing straight and tall like the candles on a birthday cake. But unlike both of these desert islands destinations this tiny archipelago is much more remote than either of the latter. We surfed in here in a three metre ocean swell more reminiscent of our time in the Atlantic. With the ocean floor rising from over 1000. read more...

Lady Kay - Chilling

HiSecond anchorage next to an uninhabited island called Vakeitu. Good evening last night - made Mahi-Mahi green curry with last of that fish, and had Don and Anne over. Today, Michael and I went to explore this island, which theoretically has a path running along the crest and from one side to the other. We took the dingy over, see 'photo, and then worked our way inland, trying to find a path. We got terribly lost in thick wet jungle type foliage and when we tried to retrace our steps, we found we had emerged on the opposite, unprotected side of the island. We eventually made it out, thank God, and walked around to another point where we found the original path to where the now defunct eco hotel originally was. Climbed up this path for the view, but too overgrown to see through the. read more...

Kealoha 8 - Fun and Fishing on the way to Fiji

While we are enjoying fun ride down to Fiji  -  we have, without really trying, managed  to catch more fish then we know what to do with - usually in the form of post lunch entertainment - the line goes zing and up goes the cry of FISH !  - even with just the 3 of us on board we have refined our drill - and have no trouble getting them in ( killing them is another matter  ) - David has done all the hard work on the reel  - although we are convinced that a longer line , coupled with letting them hang out there a little longer while we shorten sail is making it easier to haul them in .  2 fish both HUGE - 1 Mahi Mahi and 1 Wahoo – both over 3ft long!      image001                                     image002 Mahi Mahi           Wahoo   Rosie does and ever improving job in filleting the. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World ( Presently in the Coco's Keeling Islands )

TUESDAY    21st   SEPTEMBER  2010 We slowly crawled out of the scratchers to a beautifull day in Paradise. We had to rearrange our watches, as the Imray cruising book had the wrong time differences on their world map. By now, most boats had arrived, only 4 boats still to come, and they will be here by Sunday. That will be the max. no. we will have seen for a long time. 09.00hrs  We got ready to go by rib to Home Island and catch the ferry to West Island,  this is the administrative centre for the islands. Getting ready included the 4 of us getting into our togs as the rib trip will be wet. We packed all our clothes into the haversacks and put these on when we eventually arrived at Home Island.   We were soaked from all the. read more...

Serendipity - A Comedy of Errors?

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Talulah Ruby II - Talulah tours

Apart from the rain and mosquitoes, Tonga has been a wonderful stop off, very helpful friendly people. We don't seem to have much luck with hire cars, this time we hired a 4 x 4 but managed to get it stuck in the mud and slid down a slope, reinforcements were called trees cut down and the car was manually lifted back on the track by our giant Tongan helpers (thanks guys) thankfully no damage to the car or us. We had a magical evening in the Spanish restaurant (La Paella) on Tapana island, it made our Spanish crew feel quite at home they all got up on stage and sang a few songs for us,last night we organized a beach BBQ with Jus Do IT and had 8 other WARC boats join us so again more singing from the Spaniards,and Gerry (Northern Sky) sang some good ol country music.Today we are snorkeling. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently in the Cocos Keeling Islands)

Monday, 20th September 2010   We had a great nights sleep even though we were rolling slightly in the swell.We had a slow morning, and a light breakfast and then moved the boat closer in towards the beautiful sandy beach, nibbling our way through the reef's and eventually dropped anchor again near the other boats and well in from the swell. Our first impressions were great, this place is another Paradise on earth, Paradise X 12. It resembles those beautiful glossy photo's in the sailing magazines of sandy beaches, blue skies, warm crystal clear turquoise water, palm trees, with the boat tied to the palm trees and all the crew swimming and sunbathing................ well, this is it... and a nice stiff breeze to keep us cool....  There are 27 Islands in this. read more...

Glamorous Galah

Day 6 constant trade winds around 20 knots sailing on head sail and 1 reef in the main average for our last 24 hours was 7.2 knots.   David. read more...

Crazy Horse - Sept 21

Hooray! Hooray! We finally made it to Cocos Keeling. But with much more downpours of rain and lumpy seas as apparently is the way of the Indian Ocean. We are anchored here off the atoll with beautiful blue water and can see clear to the bottom. We had to dinghy over to the beach to check in.We will have to take a ferry over to the other island to do our shopping and adventures. This side of the island is very remote and no stores. It is quite lovely. It reminds us of the San Blas Islands near Panama. The islands or atolls have no mountains. They are very flat and sandy with many palm trees. This is what we think of when we think of a desert island. Seems to be a constant breeze so no need for a/c.There are already 17 boats here from the fleet. We are having a nice reunion with the other. read more...

Ensemble - Day 61 (March 9): All was going well when suddenly...

Greetings from yacht Ensemble!We are now more than 1/3 of the way to the Marquis - with under 2000 nm to go. The winds have been steady 15-20 knots - and we are still managing 200nm days.We have been slowly adjusting our course more Westerly - having reached nearly 10 degrees south- with a fairly set current and winds associated with the Trade Winds.Magali had just come up on watch and we were chatting when all of a sudden we heard a 'snap' and saw the genakker drop into the sea. We acted quickly - slowing the boat - getting Joel up - and then bringing the sail in. We felt like old hands at this after a similar experience with the Parasailor.We got the sail onboard and then resumed our course using the genoa and main - with a negligable loss in speed. The Genakker halyard had worn. read more...

Kealoha 8 - Goodbye Tonga - Hello Fiji

Well Tonga was lovely except that for the 14 days we were there ,we had clear sky's and sunshine for 2.5 days and no rain for 2 more - so 10 days of rain made it seem like long wet cruise in the west of Ireland , except the sea temperature was 26.7 degrees, and we never wore heavy oilskins.The locals were very welcoming - they put a lot of effort in making us welcome - probably the best WARC reception yet.even if all the drink ran out, and a few fun runs ashore - one local publican in particular - Lawrence from the Bounty Bar ( sometimes called "the Mars Bar" could not have done more for the fleet - K8 in particular, everything from organising a private Tongan Feast ( so so food , nice dancing ) to providing us with his own stock of mince meat . The parties continued as ever with. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - 1st day in Neiafu

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }Tuesday 10th JuneIt’s grey, dreich and drizzling – who told us there was a heat wave in Scotland?! Stewy and Brian head ashore 1st thing to try and get Brian’s flight sorted. Ian and Annie stay aboard to do a few jobs and the great ship ship shape. Brian and Stewy are soon back, flight this afternoon is fully booked – Brain has half an hour to get back to the airport. He grabs his bags and he’s gone! We’re sorry to see him go, he’s been great company .Afterwards, Stewy is on and off-shore getting his phone and internet sorted, delivering laundry,  handing the gas bottles in for refilling and delivering the diving kit for servicing and air. Afterwards it’s a late lunch in the Bounty Bar and a pleasant afternoon. read more...

Anastasia - Good winds but confused seas

8:11.1S 106:30.5W 1129 miles covered   We have had good winds all day, but confused seas that have been throwing Anastasia about a bit.  This has been causing the spinnaker to collapse sometimes and then re-inflate with a crash as the load suddenly comes back on the lines.  It only happens about once an hour when we get hit by a rogue wave, but it always sounds bad.  We are cruising at around 10 miles an hour, which is equivalent to running both engines flat out, at 220 horsepower.  That means that each of the three spinnaker lines is supplying power equivalent to that of a small car.  Big forces are involved, especially when the line goes slack and tightens again.   Andrea had a scare when she was wiping down an instrument console. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 162 - A charge to the Cocos Islands!

20 September 2010 It is amazing how quickly the bad times are forgotten when the good times take over. As we surf down the face of the waves at times reaching 9.7 knots under genoa alone, the horrors of the storm the night before last are now a dim and distant memory. We are all having such fun out here. Having rained on and off all through yesterday, David was determined to stay dry. He put up the cockpit curtain. This encloses the cockpit all the way across from behind the helm position and we stay dry. There are windows to give good vision and a zippered flap creating a door. Now David jokes that when we step through it we are out onto the terrace. All that is lacking are a few patio plants! Voyageur senses our urgency and hurries on. We must make the anchorage before dark. We read. read more...

Southern Cross - Sailing

God is Awesome! We are sailing the South Pacific. David. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - Tongan feast indeed!

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }Monday 9th JuneHaving just crossed the International Date Line we will now be ahead of you all back in Blighty . It’s suiting us just fine here at the moment as the customs don’t open in Tonga on a Sunday, so we would have been stuck on the boat for Brian’s last night! We carry on motor-sailing throughout the day, it’s sunny and bright so not too much of a chore. The wind has swung round to the SW now, and we could just about sail if not in so much of a rush. We arrive at our waypoint at the top of the island at 3.30pm and start to make our way round the coast. It’s an interesting coastline; very steep-sided with henna red eroding cliffs and caves. There’s a few isolated little bays and dramatic rock islets rising. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World ( Presently at Sea, Between Bali and the Coco'S Keeling Islands )

 SUNDAY 19th  SEPTEMBER 2010 (Day 6)  Ohh no, we are still having trouble with the alarms, the blinking dept sounder is going off all the time. There are very high clouds, and sheet lightning away to the east this time, All the while, we are Goosewinging and the wind is getting lighter and lighter.  The sails are flogging as we roll like pigs in the swell. I always say, this flogging must do more damage to the sails and rig , than reaching along in a 40knot breeze. And sure enough, the spinniker pole twisted off the bottom 4" of the rail on the mast.  God what next,! Our bad day at the office continues! We rolled up the headsail, left the broken rail and pole on the fore deck and motored westwards. ( the wind 10  /  11 knots. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 161 - A bolt from the blue!

19 September 2010It came as a bolt from the blue. I am sitting in the cockpit contentedly reading my latest novel, it is pitch dark and suddenly a flying fish, flapping furiously, lands in my lap! Recovering my composure I dive below, grab the dustpan and scoop up the flailing fish, tossing it back overboard from whence it came. I got the fright of my life! We had been sailing non-stop for nearly 24 hours in steady east to north east winds of force four to five. Running dead downwind under poled out genoa, keeping a parallel course to our rhumb line, and with just 300nm to go, we felt that at last we were making good progress towards the Cocos Islands. Throughout the day the ocean swell had been gradually building and Voyageur surfed majestically down the waves, her bow dipping and. read more...

Matilda - Back in the Groove

As per usual we probably didn't choose the best initial course and fell behind the pack, but we shouldn't really care now the trades have set in and we are having a great sail in the best of company.As I speak we have around 20 knots of wind and are jogging along nicely. Hopefully this wind will continue, gradually backing towards our stern (as we have been promised) although we could do without the succession of squalls. We have just got around to putting a reef in after Jonathan realised that he had been looking at apparent wind rather than true wind on his watch, and as a result had ridden out a squall that must have approached 30 knots under full sail (I was catching up on some sleep). He wondered why the rig had been singing but our lovely strong boat never missed a beat. On the. read more...

Graptolite - Fiji Bound

18:30.66S 174:29.54W 25 miles west of Tonga, Tuesday PMColin flew off to Fiji to meet up with Belinda early on Monday morning, Jean jumped ship for an easier life on Gerrie's boat 'Wizard' and I cleared out of Tonga with Customs and Immigration. I found I was also still clearing out some of Tonga in other ways too so to be on the safe side we hung around the harbour until this morning.This morning saw the first sunshine we've seen in many days and it seemed a shame to leave but the paperwork was done and so Heike and I sailed away through the western islands of Tonga towards Savusavu, Fiji. It will take three or four days to get there.. read more...

Lady Kay - Cruising the islands

We had a great day in a lovely anchorage, with some good snorkeling around the fringing reefs. Also got some work done - Michael gave the engines an oil and oil filter change and I did a bit of cleaning, washing and tidying. The islands have incredibly lush vegetation and as the sun went down there was a cacophony of noise from the shoreline - frogs, bats and others. I was amazed to see the size of the giant bats that slowly circled over us as evening came. It was still a very grey day. However, this morning the sun came out and we have had some real sunshine for the first time since we arrived in Tonga. We left our first anchorage outside of the main town and carefully threaded our way around islands and reefs to reach another lovely spot. Picture shows us leaving Harmonie behind as we. read more...

Sapphire II - 9 March, No Worries!

Our onboard tracker has not been working since The Galapagos!  So, contrary to what the website may show, we are actually speeding along to Hiva Oa. We have averaged 200 mile days for the last 4 days and expect to reach the half way mark on Sunday, 11 March. Sorry you can’t track us, but we are promised a new tracker at end April in Tahiti. All on board are well and boat is excellent. This is Trade Wind sailing, as promised.. read more...

Crazy Horse - Sept 19

We have managed to flatten out our zigs and zags and have perhaps two more jibes to go before we are at Cocos. We have 268miles to go. This is surely the most wind we have seen since going to the San Blas. It has blown a consistent 20-30kts for the last 6 days. We feel like we should be making better time but we have this wind behind us with the waves knocking us around which slows us down. So I guess we are doing pretty well considering all that. I hope Bill and Matt dig out that staysail from the sail locker today to see if that helps with our speed. Bill has been reluctant to put that up since it is in the sail locker under all the other "faster" sails. You know the ones I spoke of, A sails, Code 0 ,etc. Well, I promised you that story of Jim's. He has given his persmission to share. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently at sea between Bali and the Cocos Keeling Islands)

Saturday, 18th September 2010 (Day 5) 06.00hrs Having had a bad night as in shredding the Kite again, dawn brought a new air of confidence, so we set up a goose winging arrangment and away we went once more.                                 Distance travelled .............................................738 miles                                Distance to destination.......................................326. read more...

Graptolite - Graptolite - Speaking in Tongs

18:39.49S 173:58.94WPort of Refuge, Neiafu, Vava'u, Kingdom of TongaSunday 15th June PMSaturday night we watched the England/All Blacks game in a watersiderestaurant with Nick & Rosie and others.Sunday morning saw the faithful called to prayer and dinghies raced ashorewith smartly clad sailors to one of the local churches. Not me obviously.I'm still recovering from Ebola or leprosy or whatever and anyway communingwith deities is not my scene. Having said that I was curious to see whatdamage the missionaries had done to these unfortunate people and I'd beentold that the singing was good.After lunch Heike, Colin and I strolled down the near deserted main streetfollowing the sound of bells. The big Catholic church didn't appeal. Toomuch S&M and ritual cannibalism for me. The Wesleyan. read more...

BRIZO - 09 March 2012

We continue to fly down the course with the very favorable tradewind conditions, covering over 900 miles in less than 5 days. By early Saturday morning we will have covered 1,000 miles, one third of the total distance on this, the longest leg of our voyage. If we can maintain this pace we should arrive in French Polynesia Thursday 22 March.Onboard life has settled into a pleasant routine: we have a very comfortable watch schedule which takes advantage of each individual's tendency toward being a night-or-morning person; Corinne and Diana have been alternating days for meal preparation; Lew and Hubs are chipping-away at boat projects; and Kathryn and Audrey are trying to stay focused enough to get their schoolwork done. The girls are both working on special projects for school and are. read more...

Cleone - CLEONE in Tonga Part 1

Wonderful, funny place, Tonga.   We've sat here now for several days, with the rain pouring down for much ofthe time and squalls of wind lashing around us, and all of us rather at a lossas to what to do.  Luckily we are in a well-protected stretch of water,with plenty of secure moorings.  But competition for them has been fierce -it's the law of the jungle out here - as well as World ARC, the Blue Water Rallyand a third (from New Zealand) are also congregated here.  To be fair, itis us who should have moved off by now, but there is really no reason for us todo so.  This is the only really secure anchorage around, and conditionsoutside the island group are appalling.  Quasar, who have happily justmanaged to rejoin us after major but successful repairs,. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World with the World ARC... ( Presently at sea on our way to the Coco's Keeling Islands )

FRIDAY  17th  SEPTEMBER 2010 (DAY 4) 00.00hrs   Two ships passed us going in different directions, Its always nice to see traffic at night, even if they come close, as one of these ships did....................She passed 1 mile astern heading north, posssibly going to Singapore. The refrigeration system is very slow to cool down, despite the new pump.  There is always something to keep us busy if not stressed out. But thats boats,   " cruising down the river "  remember that ! 06.00hrs  Dawn was very faint,  Of course as we go west along, the clock needs to be adjusted to match Dawn and Dusk, we will have  to do this over the next 24  /  48 hrs. So each day , dawn gets later and later. and dusk. read more...

Ensemble - Day 60 (8 March 2012): International Woman's Day and Flying Fish Frenzy

Greetings from yacht Ensemble!Another good sailing day - covering 200 nm in a day - with winds 15-20 knots, and seas slight but building at 1-2m. We are averaging between 8 - 9 knots - the only problem being at this speed the ride is a bit bumpy - and it is too fast to fish!We lost another lure today - this one in spectacular fashion - with the fixed line going taunt and when the line broke - the 10mm chord wipping back into the salon (unfortunately no fish attached). The method has promise though - and I figure if we get the aim and the tension right the fish will end up in the galley sink...We did however manage to catch 10 flying fish - sizes ranging from 1 cm to 14 cm. Tomorrow we will try them on toast!From a culinary perspective we did fine - with Magali cooking up a pepper sauce. read more...

Anastasia - The wrong way round the M25

8:05.4S 101:27.5W 827 miles covered  We passed the quarter-way point today and are on target for a 16 day crossing if everything goes well.  We have had one minor glitch so far, the mainsail outhaul (a line which pulls the back corner of the sail down to the end of the boom) snapped and disappeared inside the boom.  Unless we can come up with a way to fish it out then we can only use a portion of the mainsail (the reefing lines have separate outhaul points on the sail but make it smaller).  It is not a big issue right now because it was time for us to turn directly towards the Marquesas, which meant switching to the asymmetric spinnaker and that is more stable if the mainsail is reefed anyway.  Estella has noticed a small hole right in the. read more...

Lady Kay - Tonga anchorages

HiSorry again for not writing a log for a few days, it is the frantic social life when we arrive in port!, coupled with the need to fix things and buy things.After about a week of constant toil, the toilet situation has now been fixed, after removing enough limestone from the pipe to form a whole new reef.We have now been able to start doing other things like cleaning the deck etc. We arrived in Tonga at night, with bad weather brewing.We somehow managed to get into the sheltered anchorage at night, despite the GPS chart showing us as being on land.Very difficult to negotiate all the narrow channels through the little islands, but we did it and moored up to the dock at about 2am - to be woken and told to move at 7am as tenders from a cruise liner were going to be coming in.Found a. read more...

Crazy Horse - Sept 18

Right about now all my muscles are tired of constantly bracing myself so I don't bump into something. Just walking a straight line up to our cabin can be worth a few bruises. The wind has been blowing 25-30 knots for the last two days with gusts up to 35. Think we got that wind I talked about that is more than our fair share. Waves are 6-10ft but hit us at all angles. Well, we are in the Indian Ocean so what do I expect? It is a wild ride. Crazy H is handling it well but making all kinds of creaks and groans I haven't heard before. We only have the mainsail up double-reefed and are still going from 7-10 knots.Yesterday, after talking about A sails we decided to put up our small A sail with the double reefed main. Well, did we ever fly. We went 9-11knots for 4 hours. Then. read more...

A Lady - Fw: Sailing around the World ( presently at sea, between BALI and the Coco's Keeling Islands )

THURSDAY  16th  SEPTEMBER    2010     (  DAY  3  ) Again, a lovely starrey night and we still have all the lightning away to the North of us.Otherwise, an uneventfull night. We often do our emails and the blog during the night, and tonight we have replied to a Mr Mike Dicks, who sent us an email through the World ARC, inviting us on " A Lady " to his house in the Coco's for dinner. He owns an Oyster, and is considering taking part in the next World ARC in 2 years time. Talking of Blogs, according to Niall O'Rielly and Stefan, Kieran Jameson, Mr Watson, Mr Mc Sweeney and many others in Dublin read our blog, we will have to meet them all when we return to motherland and have a real Guinness, washed down with a. read more...

Ruby - leg 3 Galapagos Marquises

Parmi les derniers à franchir la "Start line" des Galapagos car nous avions décidé de partir avec le Parasailor et le spi d'artimon: Beaucoup de choses à faire, équipage réduit et surtout le pilote auto n'était pas trop d'accord pour se retrouver seul au milieu des 30 bateaux.   Le soir plus de vent on a donc tout affaler et déclaré quelques heures moteur. Le lendemain, cap au sud ouest sous génois et grand voile pour trouver du vent. Mercredi au petit matin 4 bateaux dans un rayon de 2 miles,c'est fun après trois jour de mer, quelques échanges en VHF, et vers 12h nous prenons le "grand virage" cap au 260 pour les Marquises.Parasailor et spi d'artimon sont mis en place avec quelques. read more...

Wizard -

Wizard flies Kites in an effort to catch up. Sailing Yacht Wizard has been at the back of the ARC fleet since St Lucia when they had to return from the start line to complete some major repairs. In Panama, the South African crew were held up yet again for 21 days as visas had to be arranged for the French Polynesia Islands.  Arriving late and wanting to see the Galapagos Islands, Wizard finally lifted the anchor and sailed out on the early evening of 13th March, 4 days behind the rest of the ARC fleet.  Every effort is being made to play ‘catch up’ with the rest of the fleet. And any material that can help catch the weak winds that we are unfortunate to be experiencing is being put up. Kites are being flown from every angle under the watchful eye of new crew. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 160 - Single Sideband Blues!

17 September 2010Two nights ago we had the first signs of a favourable current, the south equatorial current, and by this morning it is even up to a knot at times. Since reaching the 10th degree of longitude this is what we had been anticipating having had a counter current against us since the start, Now Java curves away to the north and the Indonesian fishing fleet are gone from our surrounding seas. Many a loom of light we have seen just over the horizon but that is as close as they ever got. Tomas (Destiny) following Stephen's lead of the night before did a roll call of the fleet at the 9pm listening watch. Now only 6 boats checked in. Leaving aside the two newest additions to the fleet that leaves only four boats that have been on the rally since its inception, tuning in. I know I. read more...

Samsara - Fixing what's broken

March 7We spent most of the day fixing the gooseneck connection for the boom - all but 1 screw had come out where the gooseneck attaches to the mast and the boom was about ready to come free, but luckily we found it in time and spent several hours at the mast putting the boom back on - hopefully the screws hold. We'll have to keep an eye on that each day to make sure they aren't working back out. Of course the vang is still not fixed completely and the boom coming loose caused that fix to come apart too so we basically have the boom tied down at this time. But we have a pretty good idea how to fix it once we hit a larger island, may not be until Tahiti. After that we spent a few hours setting up the whisker pole, then furling and resetting on the port side. Then we pulled it down and are. read more...

Graptolite - Graptolite - The Tongan Two-Step

18:39.49S 173:58.94WPort of Refuge, Neiafu, Vava'u, Kingdom of TongaFriday 13th June AMThe kava night had to be given a miss which was a shame. Somebody seems to have slipped a very nasty bug to me recently causing someunpleasant effects that do not need to be described in detail, although Iwill say thank goodness for the type of compact bathrooms you get on boatsthat allows the simultaneous use of both toilet and washbasin. This is thefirst problem of its type for me since setting out so I've done quite well.There are reports of others in the fleet also affected. Jean has also hadthe same trouble for the past couple of days but has perhaps not had thesympathy deserved.Complications also with deteriorating weather and Belinda arriving in Fijiby air on the 17th is making life difficult.. read more...

Graptolite - Graptolite - Tongan Feasts

18:39.49S 173:58.94WPort of Refuge, Neiafu, Vava'u, Kingdom of TongaThursday 12th June PMWe arrived in Tonga early on Monday and found a mooring off Neiafu.We did the usual diving trips on Tuesday in some sea caves and reefdrop-offs. The coral here is amazing with fans and soft corals of allshapes, sizes and colours.There have been a few Tongan feasts to get through since arriving, alwayswith some unfortunate piglets getting turned into table decorations. Thereare a lot of piglets happily running around the streets here that seem tohave no idea what's in store. Tonight's extravaganza will be a kava ceremony at the 'Bounty Bar' whichapparently involves getting anesthetised drinking something like dishwaterout of a big bowl. I'll let you know how it goes. If I can.M. read more...

Glamorous Galah

Hi to all our family's & friends!We are settling into life at sea & have champagne sailing conditions.About a 1/4 of the way there.Bernie. read more...

Crazy Horse - Sept.17

Today I thought that I would write a little about types of sails that I havebeen talking about recently. Some people who have emailed me have asked mefor some clarification. What makes all the terms we use hard to understandis that some of us sailors further confuse the issue by interspersing thesetypes of sails and calling them by different names. So I have taken theliberty to consult our Basic Sailing book to make sure I don't confuse theissue further.When we have been talking about Joshua it is an A (asymmetrical ) sail whichis used to sail at wind angles of 80-130. The tack of sail is held down offthe bowsprit of the boat (front part that sticks out). This sail is notusually used for direct downwind sailing and doesn't need a pole.When I talk about the small spinnaker it is the A. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently at sea, between Bali and the Cocos (K) Islands)

Thursday, 16th September 2010 (DAY 3) Again, a lovely starry night and we still have all the lightning away to the North of us. Otherwise, an uneventfull night. We often do our emails and the blog during the night, and tonight we have replied to a Mr Mike Dicks, who sent us an email through the World ARC, inviting us on " A Lady " to his house in the Cocos for dinner. He owns an Oyster, and is considering taking part in the next World ARC in 2 years time. Talking of Blogs, according to Niall O'Rielly and Stefan, Kieran Jameson, Mr Watson, Mr Mc Sweeney and many others in Dublin read our blog, we will have to meet them all when we return to motherland and have a real Guinness, washed down with a Jameson. 07.45hrs We put up our great KITE and with the benifit. read more...

Southern Cross - Month of February

As we set sail for the first time in the Pacific Ocean, we headed for Las Perlas Islands.Our first stop was Contradora Island. While we and the rest of the World ARC group anchored on the south side we enjoyed a beautiful white sandy beach in front of a large hotel with a restaurant, which was very accommodating to us. We were all using their internet while eating their food and drinks. Not real good WIFI but we all kept trying.The World ARC provided several cocktail evenings, one with a bonfire on the beach, one very nice large dinner party with entertainment that was held at the other hotel on the north side. Trust me when I say fun was had by all.While on the beach there we met a local couple Paula and Henry, who invited six of us to join them in an afternoon gam. While anchored in. read more...

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