Daily Logs

Crazy Horse - March 3

We made it in to Cabanga Yacht Club at 0300 yesterday. Paul and Suzana and their crew from the club were there to greet us and properly get us to the dock. Every time we think we know how we will berth us there is another way of getting secured to the dock. We are next to Voyaguer , tied to them with a bow line to the dock, and an aft line tied to a mooring line behind us. We have certainly had to adapt to different ways of docking during this trip. But we are safe at the dock though somewhat aground at low tides. This is a very shallow area and we had to wait until hi high tide  to get in here. It is a couple of miles after reaching the breakwater and then slowly making ones way through some red and green sticks set up in the marsh. But once we went ashore we were greeted with our. read more...

Cleone - CLEONE Leg 22 Day 5 - The One That Got Away

We lost a massive Albacore today.  Repercussions expected to be serious. And in case you did not know (and I did not), an Albacore is a type of Tuna.  Ours was huge, estimated at forty pounds or so, and in case you do not believe it, we do have some photos which we will show you in due course.  But I am jumping the gun here.  Picture the scene.  As usual, the line was out at the back of Cleone with a tempting lure flashing in the sunlight.  Shayne, hunter-gatherer-in-chief, was asleep after a tiring spell hunter-gathering (actually he had been on watch), Graham was at the wheel steadily steering, Jenni was in the shower and the Skipper sat peacefully at the chart table tapping away at an e-mail.  Suddenly the scream of the reel shattered the silence.  Graham gave a startled cry, and. read more...

Zingara - Via Inmarsat:

Zingara auf Reisen Hallo ihr Lieben! Noch 90 nm bis horta, also wirds ne Nachtankunft. Es geht nun viel schneller als erwartet, auf Halbwindkurs schiebt uns der kraeftige Wind mit 8 bis 9 kts zum ziel, mit 40% gereffter Genua u nur 30% Gross-Segel. Ganz schoen holperig ist die Kreuzsee, garnicht karibisch! Mehr spaeter, ernsti u crew. read more...

Persephone of London - SUNDAY - WEDNESDAY

After a good nights rest we set off to explore La Coruna.   This is a peculiar city, on one hand it is very picturesque as you enter the harbour with its rolling hills in the distance but the other picture is reminiscent of a Soviet Concrete Jungle built in the 70's.   The older part of town is a mixture of narrow streets lined with numerous restaurants with octopus in plentiful supply!   In the centre of town is a large square lined with more upmarket restaurants and a magnificent 18th(?) century building.  It reminded us of the old part of Toulouse.    On Monday Mike and Alex returned to the UK and France (Mike will be rejoining us in November down in Gran Caneria).    Meanwhile, the weather was beginning to change and all forecasts were advising. read more...

Glamorous Galah - Galahs and Serendipity

The Glamorous Galah team are enjoying the chic French atmosphere at Port Moselle Noumea. We caught up with Jaques from Ruby who visited for a few days. He assisted us with some ankle wounds which became infected in Tanna. Apparently it is a common skin complaint!Serendipity is here and we assisted David with removing the boom. We intend dining with him and Peter at petite cafe tonight.Yesterday we chartered a power boat and scoped out the surf on outer reefs. Great set ups but not quite doing it.We are waiting for the stubborn low in the Tasman to move on before making the passage to Oz. At this stage Monday is our likely departure day.Ted. read more...

Sapphire II - 19th July, Sapphire's Farewell

Today the World ARC fleet set off from Vanuatu headed for Australia. We leave the rally here and plan to sail upwind to Fiji, where we will leave the boat for a couple of months, waiting for the weather to be favorable for the trek to New Zealand.Vanuatu has been the perfect last place to visit on this half-circumnavigation. Although the weather has been "iffy" (high winds and frequent rain), the abiding memory is of the charm of the people. They are extraordinarily pleasant , relaxed and welcoming. The villages are the poorest we've seen (rudimentary thatched huts with small vegetable gardens), but while they have no worldly goods they are hospitable, generous and charming. Vanuatu has been the perfect country to provide the last memories of our Pacific odyssey.My memory of the. read more...

Freedom Found - Log Day 3 - Friday 25 - We caught the big one

After another day in variable conditions with nothing to report we caught a massive 4ft wahahoo and saw our first freighter (at the same time) Great excitement getting the boy on board as it took three of us to boat it with a gaff. Needless to say chicken was put back in fridge, Marko was stood down for the night and Marisa took over to cook a great fish supper - very nice too. Our worry is that we may be eating it all the way to the Azores! Grant, Mark, Marisa & Jorge. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 249 - A mooring for a night.....

1 March 2011I could happily stay moored here. There is always an easterly sea breeze just over the sea wall and apart from keeping the boat nice and cool it keeps the mosquitoes away, although I have to say that even during our stay in the Terminal Nautico Marina we were never troubled, neither surprisingly enough when out on the rios, in spite of the fact that they were thickly lined with mangrove swamps. It was in the upper city of Pelourinho that they were troublesome. But we have been advised that there is no malaria here but there is dengue fever and that can be a nasty thing to catch too. Recife once had a reputation of being a very dangerous place but much has been done to make it a safer place for visiting yachtsmen. All evening, as we sat in the cockpit, small canoes fished the. read more...

Persephone of London - Leg 1 part 2

We left Cherbourg on Tuesday 7th August just after lunch and headed west close to the coast.  Fantastic ride on the tide through Alderney Race achieving at times 12.5 knots.  We passed between the Casquets and Les Hanois before the wind died. We then had to resort to motor sailing for 3 or 4 hours and by 6 am on Wednesday we were  finally clearly of the Channel Islands. We then headed south and at around 12.45 we launched the kite on the new breeze.  So off we went across Biscay on Wednesday, having taken a vote to continue sailing and not stop off in other French ports. The weather window was too good to miss and we were afforded 'champagne' sailing conditions with sunshine and kind seas. The days and nights sped by  (this was always something Karen was. read more...

Quasar V of Lleyn - Quasar v's log 7.1.09

Wednesday 7th January 2009  SAMWISE GANGEE Yesterday evening we had lots of activity on the boat after a rather lethargic day probing along with gentle winds.  We just about maintained an average speed of 5 knots with the spinnaker up; possibly the most tranquil sail we've ever had with flat seas and clear skies. Anyway, I digress, Malcolm and I were having a cheeky gin and tonic in the cockpit philosophising about the wonders of life, whilst the others were having a snooze.  Suddenly the tranquillity of the early evening was interrupted with the fishing reel spinning out furiously alerting us to the rather wonderful fact that we'd caught a fish.  Everyone clambered on deck rushing around, grabbing gloves, life jackets, brandy, lines anything really (the half empty gin and tonics went. read more...

Persephone of London - 1st Leg of Trip South

Monday 5th August - The crew of Persephone, Nigel, Karen, Mike Alex set sail at 12.50pm.  George, Nick and Anna casted us off and waved us a cheery goodbye in a torrential rain storm!It began to brighten up as we left the Solent leaving the dark black clouds behind us.  However, the sea state was NOT good, very choppy all the way down to the Needles. Once out of the Solent the sea state was extremely rough and it wasn't much longer before the mal de mer set in. Karen was feeling a little queasy and was sent down below to rest.   Not long after Alex was struck down with terrible sea sickness and needed to be put in his bunk (not that he was able to stay there very long.  Poor chap spent most of the time in the heads! (toilet for you non-sailors out there). Later that. read more...

Anastasia - Port Vila, Efate, Vanuatu

17:44.87S 168:18.65E   We left Tanna on 14th July.  Looking back there were big clouds of smoke from Mount Yasur, the volcano we visited.  Now we hear that the authorities are warning about increased activity and the danger of visiting the volcano.  We only just got to see it in time.   We are only in Port Vila for a few days so it has been a challenge to pack everything in.  On our first day we went on a tour of the island.  Our second day was abseiling down a waterfall.  Today we did not have any excursions, but since we set off for Australia tomorrow we have spent the day tidying the boat and shopping for the 6 day trip.  The Australian authorities are very careful about boats harbouring non-native species so we have to make sure. read more...

Tucanon - Rio Paraguacu

Monday morning we caught a bus to the Barra supermarket and stocked up on fresh fruit and vegetables as well as some Serrano style ham and cottage cheese. I would have replenished my supply of chocolate snacks but there wasn’t a mars bar or snicker to be found.We checked out of Salvador during the afternoon, giving us 72 hours to leave. All the paperwork was dealt with by the local agent retained by World ARC, although we did have to pay the agent 30R$ for his time. He also should have collected any marina fees due but although we subsequently found out that he had retained money from other boats for the berthing fees, he didn’t ask us for any extra. Not wishing to defraud the local marina, after it had so kindly provided us with free berthing for 15days, Graham, from Eowyn,. read more...

Luna - Log 16 - Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

Vinden er som Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde! Efter en rolig dag med stabil vind og god fart, blev der pludselig helt vindstille et kort øjeblik, vi mistede styringen, og så kom vinden kraftigt fra en helt anden retning. Søerne rejste sig, og regnen væltede ned over os. Det var som nat og dag (eller rettere dag og nat, da det skete i skumringen...) skiftede på få sekunder. Natten igennem har vi så rullet en del pga. bølgernes retning.Dagen i går bød ikke på stort andet end lidt afslapning under det grå og triste skydække, som solen dog fra tid til anden formåede at snige et solstrejf igennem.Vi holder humøret højt og tænker positivt: vi er kommet tættere på Azorerne, og ikke. read more...

Talulah Ruby II - Notes from Talulah Ruby

I am sitting on my watch at 5.30am. reflecting on our time in South Africa,whilst watching an amazingly bright orange sunrise coming up over the stern of the boat.What a hectic Christmas and New Year,with lots of ARC parties,plus six of our family living on board.We did get to 2 Game Reserves,both of which were absolutely fantastic,and drove down the garden route,staying in National Parks and spectacular bays along the coast.We met some great people and have millions of photos and wonderful memories.Now its back to sailing and on with our journey,next is St.Helena on the Cape to Bahia race.We are doing well but the wind has died completely,so we are now forced to motor.We have 2 new crew on board,both friends from Lanzarote,Bernar and Nick (probably why we are doing so well) as they are. read more...

Lady - Passage to Tortola - Day 6

Wednesday November 16th to Thursday November 17th, 2011 At sea Another great day of sailing, even though nothing much has happened.Sailing close-hauled, we had a deep reef in the main yesterday afternoon and overnight, but took it out this morning.Our present wind speed is about 10-12 knots, enough to keep Lady moving at about 7 knots Steve reported that Lady had a nice wash from a squall overnight - Charlie and I slept through it. Although we have no Internet at sea, we can send and receive emails, through the SSB, using our Sailmail account.We receive emails from rally control giving us weather and other information, we also have current subscriptions to a couple of saildocs, which send us the NOAA text forecast for the area and also a grib file showing wind direction in a pictorial. read more...

Samsara - Getting ready for Australia

July 18We've been in Port Vila, Vanuatu, for a few days. Yesterday we went abseiling down a 50 meter waterfall (in 2 increments) - we had a blast! The girls did it too. Sam and Sarah had a guide go along side them but they managed it very well. The park where the waterfalls are is just gorgeous. The setting was stunning, pictures to follow......Now we're doing the provisioning/fueling for the trip to Mackay, Australia. It's probably going to be an 8 day leg (more or less.....). We are working on using up all the meat....on board as Australia is very strict on quarentine items.While here we had a first - the girls found a seahorse near the dingy dock at the end of the seawall where the boats are moored. We were all so excited to sea a seahorse in the wild - we've only seen them in. read more...

INNcredible Sea Lodge - The INNcredible journey has already begun

Our brand new catamaran left Les Sables, France in early June and we've sailed the Atlantic coasts of France, the Basque country, Cantabria, Austurias, Galicia and Portugal. I have posted snipits of this INNcredible journey on our blog www.sailblogs.com/sealodge . Check it out and go back through all its entries, I'm sure you'll enjoy. I'll continue to add posting here and in the aforementioned blog for your enjoyment.meet big blue. read more...

Irena - Dan 11

Vceraj cez smo imeli prijeten zahodnik, ki nas je poganjal skoraj direktno v smeri Horte. Proti veceru pa je pritisk padel na 1017 in okoli nas so se zaceli nabirati oblaki. V zelo krtkem obdobju se je veter obrnil na vzhod in pihal z hitrostjo 20 do 25 vozlov skoraj celo noc. Pricelo je tudi dezevati in postalo je precej hladno. Jadramo zelo v veter, valove mece cez kljun in precej smo nagnjeni. Se vedno je pritisk 1017, temeperatura je 18 stopinj. Veter se je obrnil bolj na NE tako, da lahko jadramo priblizno v smeri Horte. Do tja imamo se 556 milj. Stanje na barki OK.. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Wednesday, 2nd March 2011 Recife, is the capital of Pernambuco, a region or county on the NE side of Brazil. Recife has a population of 1.8 million people and is a very important City in Brazil and especially for the annual Carnivals. It has fantastic beaches, covered with thousands of scantily clad girls and guys, strutting around showing off their assets, the only trouble with these wonderful beaches is that you are not encouraged to swim, yes, no swimming, that's unless you want to be eaten by sharks,  07.45hrs We joined most of the other sailors at the Yacht Club and headed off in a big comfortable a/c coach for a tour of Recife and its adjoining older city of Olinda. Olinda is a very pretty and colourful city, and was originally the centre of business in. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Tuesday, 1st March 2011 Aileen took off early to one of the worlds biggest shopping centres in Recife and Skipper spent the day, tending to boat matters.18.00hrs The World ARC had a party at the Yacht Club and it was an excellent evening, dancing, music, and a great choice of food and drink. As the blog is typed one day behind and today, Wednesday, we are off on a tour of the city very early...So that's it, Signed :- Stephen Hyde   ( Skipper ). read more...

Hanami II - Un mois depuis Ste Lucie

Samedi 26 may 2012      04:56 UTC   02:56 UTC   37 40.2 N 38 46.3 W Cap  97 Vitesse 6N reste a parcourir 484 miles   Voila maintenant un mois que nous avons quitte Ste Lucie, Le parcours a inclu: Ste Lucie, La Martinique (2 arrets), Les Saintes (Guadeloupe), Monserat, St Kitts, St Barth, Tortola, les Bermudes et maintenant dans 3 jours Horta aux Acores. Cela fait 2620 miles et il en reste encore 1800 a peu pres pour arriver aux Sables: autant que pour faire Bermudes - Acores.   Cette nuit nous avons eu du vent: de WSW puis NE et il devrait tourner NW dans la journee puis revenir W et nous pousser vers Horta. Si cela se verifie, il aura fait quasiement un tour complet en 24h. Avec du vent de NE, pour la premiere fois nous gitons sur. read more...

Talulah Ruby II - Christmas chaos on Talulah

World ARC Disc 8 (565). read more...

Ladore - Blog aufgeschaltet...

Hallo zusammenEndlich haben wir unseren eigenen Blog und werden diesen bald mit News ergänzen. Crew LADORE. read more...

VIA CON ME - Get slowely ready for ARC 2012

Lagos on my way to the Mallorca was one of the bestMarinas I saw. The staff is very helpfull and the discount you get as aparticipant of the ARC 2012 is great! One night free, the others with discount.You find every what you need there. Make a stop here!   Marina, Skipper VIA CON MED320. read more...

Freedom Found - Log Day 2 - Thursday 24 - All quite on the high seas

Difficult days sailing with very little wind. Engine on at 1500 rpm all day. Weather reports collected from Buoyweather suggested the northern route for better winds later Sun/Mon so we have committed to that.Expecting very light winds for next few days. Excellent evening meal enjoyed by all : Pork & oregano alla Marko our Chief chef followed by fresh melon & the best Isle of Wight Bristot Coffee as supplied by Colin of IoW-espresso.co.uk Much thanks Grant, Mark, Marisa & Jorge. read more...

BRIZO - 16 July 2012

We arrived in Port Vila, capital of Vanuatu, late Sunday afternoon. The trip was bouncy with fairly large seas and wind, also a few cases of mild sea sickness on board. We have only three full days here to complete some small boat projects and re provision before heading to Mackay on Thursday. Although we have not had time yet to explore the city, it appears to be fairly large with a waterfront developed for both commercial and tourism uses. We understand that because of it's French history there are some fine dining opportunities ashore and we hope to have time to find out about these. World Cruising has organized an island tour today and most of us will go on the tour. BRIZO Crew. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Monday, 28th February 2011 RECIFE  :  BRAZIL  This is a big city and the skyscrapers stretch for miles along the coast, as we approached the harbour entrance, we could see Tzigane a few miles behind. We had some chat with them on the radio as we rounded the corner and then headed south down the canal inside the barrier or sea wall. It is great the way that cities like this, which basically have no natural harbour, build these huge breakwaters to form a safe harbour inside. We passed all along these old warehouses on our starboard side (R.H. side), and eventually picked up a mooring outside the Pernambuco Yacht Club with the help of an employee of the YC in a row boat.  We decided to wait here until it was almost high before heading upto Cabanga. read more...

Talulah Ruby II - Talulah's New Crew

World ARC Disc 8 (569). read more...

Cleone - Leg 22 Day 4 - No Tuna*

The line has been out, the lure is spinning enticingly, but the cupboard is still bare. Actually, it is the fridge that is still not full of tuna, but you can see where I am coming from.  And that's not all.  We have been grimly motoring for the last few hours because Bruce's forecast has been depressingly but predictably accurate.  To be fair, though, we kept kept sailing for long after it was clear that we were going not very far not very fast, even though it meant watching Viva - again - disappearing over the horizon.  At least this time she must have been motoring, and she did not just sail away from us!  The plus side to all of this was that we have had a wonderful and relaxing day.  A lazy lunch, with a beer for the Skipper punctuated a wonderful sunny day.  Once we had put the. read more...

Crazy Horse - March 1

We are motoring up the coast right now about 152 miles from Recife. We have had the wind on our nose the whole way. We have tried to sail, motorsail, and combinations. The wind is just not cooperating with our course. Hopefully when we all take off for the next leg the wind will improve. Thought we were supposed to have SE winds for this time of year. We are getting them from the north.Chessie is about 7 miles inshore of us. We have been staying in contact with them by VHF or SSB the whole way. So far we have not seen any fishing vessels. I did however, see a fishing buoy out here and I am not sure it doesn't have some net attached to it. So we are keeping our eyes open for nets, vessels, and ships. This seems to be the same issue we had off the coast of Ecuador but those fishermen were. read more...

12Moons - in Fiji

FIJI – ein ParadiesWir starten in Tonga mit unserem Lieblingssegel, dem orangen Genacker. Es geht voran, nachts muss der Motor helfen, am Morgen wird die Genua ausgebaumt. Plötzlich ein Geräusch am Hydrogenerator: Ein Monsterfisch schnappt nach dem Propeller. Er ist 150 cm lang, bräunlich und - das ist ganz besonders verwunderlich – er hat neon – blaue Flossen wie ein Riff-Fisch; das bei dieser Größe! Versuche später heraus zu finden, was es gewesen sein könnte, aber das Internet kann nicht weiterhelfen. Vielleicht handelt es sich ja um eine einmalige Mutation? Er folgt dem Hydrogenerator, den er anscheinend für Beute hält, bestimmt eine halbe Stunde. Er ist sehr schnell, so wie wir ;-)! In der folgenden Nacht ist die. read more...

Ladore - vorbereitungen

Erste vorbereitungen sind getroffen:Wasser an bordParasailor ausprobiertStugeron aufgestocktVorfreude täglich mehrWir sind reif für die insel!!!!! image001. read more...

Sookie - Leg 2 Day 9 24th May Need a "Bigger Engine"

After a fantastic performance by Sookie under sail over the past 8 days we have found she is less competitive when we need to rely on engine power alone.  However she is a sailing boat and not motor cruiser. The weather has been much warmer though and under engine the boat has been doing most of our work.  Now the end is within grasp we are calculating our ETA and we guess we shall arrive somewhere around 0400 26th May 2012    Keith, Andy Jay and Pip  . read more...

Aniara II - May 25

25 May We take our official 24-hour-distance at 13.00, local Aniara-time, and it is almost 3 hours ahead. We can anyhow say that our distance will be around 150 NM for this 24-hour-period and we still believe we reach Horta on Sunday, if the weather conditions not change dramatically. We started slow yesterday afternoon and early night but the wind increased and we are now sailing between 8-10 knots with the wind in from the aft. The only special thing that has happened since last log is that we got a completely new dish served onboard yesterday, Fettuccini á lá Gorgonzola, and it was great new experience. Otherwise there are the same dolphins swimming around (water temperature is now below 16 degrees) and the same absence of fish hooked up on our tackle. If we get no fish. read more...

Divalee - Still in the fog between Porto and Cascais

39°52 N / 9°15.20 W, 6H55 10/08/12Hi there,After a week spent fighting to leave the Channel from St Malo, then a new fight to get out of Biscay where we were pushed sailing to Santander on the following 2 days by up to 3m swell coming from the west and a ssO F5 wind, then another struggle to get Cabo Finistere passed with winds still coming from the west; we must admit that the main part of the navigation from the 30th of july will has been right in front of the winds using the engine, except the 48h past le Raz de Sein when it was impressive to look at our 43ft running under the full moon at 50° from the wind with the minimum sails surface in a swell up to 3m... to the very southern east part of Biscay :/Main consequencies were that, out of 5 people on board last week, we ended today at. read more...

Glamorous Galah

Our last day on Tanna was rewarded with an excursion to cooks rock and a pleasant pot luck dinner with the remaining World ARC yachts. We have had a boisterous passage to Noumea but should reach the channel this evening. Ted. read more...

Quasar V of Lleyn - Quasar V's log 6.1.09

Tuesday 6th January 2009 SPINNAKER TIME, MOVE OUT THE WAY YOU YANKEES!! Overnight the wind dropped and yes you guessed it, the wind backed round to the South East.  The wind does have a tendency to oscillate in direction and speed which is what we experienced approaching the east coast of South Africa and rounding the Cape of Good Hope (ooh we're such name droppers).  But overall the wind dropped to about 8 - 13 knots by 0800. And that means only one thing on this boat.  NO, NOT THE ENGINE TIME ! BUT SPINNAKER TIME!! So up she went, 1500 square feet of red, white and blue lightweight nylon, newly stitched up from her previous melee with the wind.  And boy she looks good, billowing out at the front of the boat, increasing our speed to 6.5 - 7.5 knots.  But no sooner had she been hoisted. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 248 - Arrival at Recife

28 February 2011Well I said it didn't I, alert and awake and that is just what we were for either of us hardly had a wink of sleep last night. After two days of strong north easterlies this morning it died away to nothing but we had just spent a sleepless night weaving our way between dozens and dozens of fishing boats. Well, we had been warned in an email from Graham of Eowyn. He went out 25nm in order to avoid them. We just ploughed our way through the lot of them but it did not make for a restful night watching. Poor David every time he went below to try and snatch some sleep I was calling him back up into the cockpit. Our decision to come closer close the coast on the fifty metre contour was as a result of the wind direction but it was obviously where all the fish were. I only. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World

Sunday, 27th February 2011    (Annabel's Birthday, 1 year old) The wind was fine on the Stb bow all night, blowing between 20/25 knots. The seas were bumpy and progress was slow, real slow, 3.5 knots at times. We passed again many fishing boats (even at 25 miles off shore) and saw 4 gas or oil rigs, burning off their excess fumes.  08.00hrs Distance traveled in 46 hours.....................307 miles              Distance to destination..............................142 miles The information about the Ireland v Scotland on yesterdays blog was incorrect, and delighted to report that today Ireland defeated Scotland in the six nations cup.   We tried in vain our hand at fishing. read more...

La Boheme - Spectacular sunrise - 6/01/09

We have been sailing for 3 days now. 500 miles behind us and 1200 miles to go to St Helena. Atlantic so far is far more accommodating than Indian Ocean. This morning, we had a spectacular sunrise. I am writing poetry, Ben is writing computer programs and Greg is resting.Anna, Greg and Ben. read more...

Serendipity - Visiting Vanuatu II

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Divalee - Still in the fog between Porto and Cascais

39°52 N / 9°15.20 W, 6H55Hi there,After a week spent fighting to leave the Channel from St Malo, then a new fight to get out of Biscay where we were pushed sailing to Santander on the following 2 days by up to 3m swell coming from the west and a ssO F5 wind, then another struggle to get Cabo Finistere passed with winds still coming from the west; we must admit that the main part of the navigation from the 30th of july will has been right in front of the winds using the engine, except the 48h past le Raz de Sein when it was impressive to look at our 43ft running under the full moon at 50° from the wind with the minimum sails surface in a swell up to 3m... to the very southern east part of Biscay :/Main consequencies were that, out of 5 people on board last week, we ended today at 2 people. read more...

Luna - Log 15 - We are on speed...

Dagen stod først og fremmest i fartens tegn. Endelig, endelig fik vi vinden ind fra SSV, så vi kunne sejle en forholdsvis roligt og behagelig sejlads med en fart af omkring 6,5-7 knob...og det var jo noget nyt :-)Undervejs på dagen var vi helt oppe at sejle omkring 16,2 knob ifl. plotteren. Men...vores bedste bud på dette absurde tal (som sammen med nogle andre lignende peak-værdier i en periode forårsagede lidt nervøsitet om GPS-computeren) er, at der har været nogle problemer med en GPS-satelit , eller der har været atmosfæriske forstyrrelser. Under alle omstændigheder var det forbigående, men en spøjs oplevelse.Medvirkende til den gode fart har også været en masse strøm, som har. read more...

Serendipity - Visiting Vanuatu I

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Voyageur - Log day 247 - The Brazil Current

27 February 2011If only I had read the pilot book a little sooner. The answer was there for all to see and guess what? Our perverse little current is called the 'Brazil Current'! It is created by the part of the South Equatorial Current that is deflected south as it approaches the coast of Brazil. By mid afternoon after thirty hours of motoring, a real soldiers wind came up and hey ho, we were off. With full main and genoa we were averaging between six and seven knots, double our speed of the last day. Off with the engine and on with the generator. We needed to make water and lots of it. We had deliberately kept the tank low as the water in Salvador was questionable and we prefer to drink from the tank rather than bottled. The rio water was too muddy and murky so this was the moment we. read more...

Poco Loco - On route to Las Palmas

Portimao en AlbufeiraDonderdag 09 Augustus 2012 door MargoDinsdagochtend zwaaien we de Donkertjes uit. Het was heerlijk al die drukte en gezelligheid om ons heen. Met zijn viertjes gaan we weer verder en we verhuizen naar Portimao, waar we het anker uitgooien vlak voor het strandje. Lies en Max gaan met de kano naar het strand terwijl Pep en ik de dingy in de marina aanleggen en het stadje gaan verkennen. Het is best een behoorlijke wandeling vanuit de marina en als we de eerste toeristenwinkeltjes zien verschijnen, draaien we om. We pakken een terrasje voor een koud biertje en zien Epke Zonderland goud winnen! Heerlijk. Woensdagochtend als we wakker worden waait er een krachtig oosten-windje (zeldzaam), en we besluiten om nog even in de baai te blijven en te wachten tot de wind. read more...

Time Bandit - Time Bandit & The Three Bears

37 41N 40 15W 11:00 25th MayWe don't know how we sailed 2700 miles to the Caribbean with 5 people on board as, with just two of us we keep bumping into each other, mostly when, like Baby Bear one of us is wandering around looking for the softest, quietest bed."I think I'll try the forward cabin". "No, it's too noisy with the staysail moving""I think I'll try the saloon" "No, its too bright during the day"....... and on it goes, usually while the other is doing something in what ends up being the "best" cabin. As for the porridge.........We had a better day yesterday in that we sailed. No engine and enough breeze for a steady 4 knots. As the afternoon wore on, the boats 60 - 120 miles behind were reporting 18 - 20 knots. We had been sailing with the genoa poled out and the gennaker flying. read more...

Cleone - Leg 22 Day 3 - More Wind Less Wind

On the pace throughout the night; today progress has slowed. We have made cracking progress so far, but during the course of last night, as predicted by Bruce, the wind began to ease.  Luckily we are being treated the same as everyone else; even Branec, miles ahead as usual, reported only eight knots of breeze.  But the difference is, he will be making eight or more knots through the water, whilst we are languishing at about 5.  We had the galling experience of more or less catching up with Viva during the night, and then seeing her pulling away steadily come the day, despite our efforts with our spinnaker.  And we could see no sign of how she did it! Meanwhile, on board all is well.  Nausea is a thing of the past and the crew falls asleep more or less on demand.  The sea sparkles, the. read more...

Andante of Mersey - Start of the Cape to Bahia Race.

After fitting the new sails with the boat number as per sailing instructions, refuelling, reprovisioning and generally getting Andante shipshape we were ready for the start of the Cape to Bahia Race.At 1130 on the 3rd Jan 2009 we all assembled at the Royal Cape Yacht Club for a blessing for the boats and the race. A jazz band started playing afterwards and the whole atmosphere was jolly.We had previously had a Race briefing from both Andrew Bishop and Eric Wells the Race Officer. We left the berth at 1230 and motored slowly to the start line. we were probably a bit too early as I could not see the start line. I could only see the first rounding mark and now the only rounding mark as there was a late change in the course. Eventually I found the start line and got myself into a reasonable. read more...

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