Tangaroa - 23 Nov 2010 SPEEDING ALONG

Tangaroa 23 Nov 2010 SPEEDING ALONGThe wind having become calmer and calmer towards the end of Monday, I took over my watch at 4 a.m. this morning  to find Tangaroa speeding along at 8,5 to 9 knots, making it hard to believe that we are indeed heading for a patch of calm wind. There are still about three other yachts within sight and watching their navlights dance in the dark is comforting.Unfortunately, our generator has been denying us its services, so come daylight, part of our crew will be enjoying a speck of mechanical engineering. We do hope they will be successfull, in the absence of which we may be headed for a true 'back to the basics' sailing experience across the Atlantic. Well, who he needs a watermaker anyway, but I should missing chatting on the. read more...

Tangaroa - 22 Nov 2010 SCHOOL OF DOLPHINS

Tangaroa 22 Nov 2010 SCHOOL OF DOLPHINSWith our second day at sea slowly coming to an end and captain and crew settling into the rhythm of life onboard, we have experienced a true highlight at sunset. What a display of grace and beauty! A school of about 14 dolphins followed the yacht for close to an hour, playing around the bow, jumping and racing one another, much to the kids and all of our delight.Sailing has ben exhilarating for these past two days. Having two young kids onboard we played it safe and only hoisted our brandnew spinnaker well after the start of the rallye. Eversince the parasail has been pulling us along at between six and eightand a half knots and Tangaroa feels in her element. Now, however, it appears we have reached the end of the coldfront and wind is becoming much. read more...

Tangaroa 24 Nov 2010 HEADING FOR THE CAP VERDES

Tangaroa 24 Nov 2010 HEADING FOR THE CAP VERDESAfter the exhilarating past days of rapid sailing we have now entered a patch of calm and have had to turn our engine on at lunchtime. Since, we have been motoring along at a bismal 4,7 knots - the engine just wont rev any higher! According to our analysis Tangaroa has taken on bad fuel in Lanzarote and we are, hence, forced to stop in the Cap Verdes to have the current fuel pumped out and refuel. In addition, the generator has shown a tendency to overheat and shut down service after about twenty minutes. Both occurences are particularly annoying since the two machines were both serviced just receintly in Las Palmas.Lets hope for a quick and efficient mechanic in the Cap Verdes so that we can keep our loss of time to a minimum -. read more...

Tangaroa - 26 Nov 2010 Motoring again in total calm

TANGAROA 26 Nov 2010 Motoring again in total calmThis is our third day of having to use the engine on and off on our way to Mindelo on Sao Vicente in the Cap Verdes. Under engine, we can only advance at a maximum of 5.5 knots, of course, since the bad fuel wont allow the engine to rev any higher than 1650 revs. Considering, we are all still a reasonably happy crew albeit starting to feel very keen to solve the problem and be on our way again. ETA for Mindelo is Saturday night and our hope is to find a mechanic prior to Monday morning. Daniela . read more...

27 Nov 2010 Landfall in Mindelo

TANGAROA 27 Nov 2010 Landfall in Mindelo    Having motored on and off for the past 24 hours with a very nice beam reach and 6,5 knots of boatspeed today just prior to sunset.  Tangaroa is now (22h00 UTC) about to make landfall in Sao Vicente in the Cap Verdes.    We have made it with one spare fuel filter as reserve! The cloudy substance mixed with paraffin we discovered at every change of filters made us extremely uneasy, alertedly listening to the engine's noise whenever it was running and greatful for every puff of wind which allowed us to shut it off.    Some of us also spent a significant amount of time in the engine room, not only repeatedly changing the main engine's filters of which we thankfully were. read more...