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18/08/2012
Anastasia - Lizard Island
14:39,7S 145:27.1E After an overnight reef-dodging run up from Cairns we are now anchored at Lizard Island, in Watsons bay. This morning we went snorkelling on a reef called the clam garden. In the afternoon we walked up to the highest point of the island, Cook's Lookout. Captain Cook anchored here and walked to the highest point to try and work out how to get out of the "labrynth of reefs". In the end he found a way out (Cooks passage), sailed for a while outside the reef and then decided it was better to be inside the reef and came back in through Providence Channel. Cook called this Lizard Island because the only animals he saw on the island were monitor lizards. We were lucky enough to see a lizard on our walk up the island..
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10/10/2012
Indulgence - Blog 3 Leixoes to Leixoes
At the break of dawn our intrepid Skipper arose to walk along the harbour wall to examine the ever changing foggy conditions. He returned to INDULGENCE to tell us that his years of sailing experience and gut instinct told him that we could not venture out of the safety of Leixoes Marina. Reluctantly the crew set about entertaining themselves with Spanish lessons, by discussing the merits of mahogany coffee tables and reliving how the outboard engine had been fully stripped earlier that day.Post lunch saw the majority of the crew retire to the balcony of the local hostelry where beverages were consumed whilst we examined, in detail, the ever changing weather conditions. The remaining crew member rowed intrepidly throughout the harbour identifying various types of crafts.
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15/03/2011
A Lady - Sailing around the World
MONDAY 14th MARCH 2011 01.13,22 hrs We crossed the Equator. The weather was misearble, and we had on all the foul weather gear. We are now 285 miles east of the Amazon River. We had head winds for a while during the day, then going SW, then W, then NW, then N and finally settled into the NE. We had a tough day, but then, so did the rest of the fleet. During early afternoon, it started to rain, well, it just came down and down, for hours on end, we had torrential rain, but so did everyone else, as they said, we all had soggy arses, rain, Rain Rain,, ohhhhhh, By 6pm, we had a strong NE wind, like 28 / 30 knots, but worse to come. We were sailing on a Stb, beam reach , with 3 reefs in the Mainsail, the Genny.
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22/01/2009
Quasar V of Lleyn - log 20th January 2009
Tuesday 20th January 2009 OVERTAKING BOAT KEEP CLEAR Wow, last night's sail was exciting. We had the spinnaker up all night with the wind pulsing to 20 - 25 knots, at times coming forward of the beam forcing us to bear away on a more northerly route. We were gathering the speed of a thousand gazelles - well 8.5 - 9 knots to be precise. I couldn't sleep at all and got up intermittently throughout the night. At 5.30am, Malcy was sitting with gleeful smile in the cockpit: 'we're just about to reel in our first fish.' I looked to our port and about half a mile away was another yacht. We were overtaking her at a fast pace. We called her up on the VHF and heard the dulcet tones of Gerry on Northern Sky. He's one of our favourite skippers on the rally, with his warm personality and.
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05/06/2012
Usquabae of Fife - Monday 4th June: An unexpected anchorage
Monday 4th June and it was good to be off at last. We were glad to take the opportunity of the weather window for a sail to Falmouth, where we will sit out the expected bad weather prior to crossing Biscay. We had a relaxing start to our journey, taking time to get more familiar with some of our newer equipment on board. Although initially motor sailing we enjoyed a good few hours sailing as the wind picked up slightly. About six miles off Falmouth and getting ready to head in, we suddenly were making no way and investigation showed us to be made fast to a fishing buoy with rope around our rudder. Try as we could we were unable to free ourselves and having informed Rally Control of our plight, we sought advice from.
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30/05/2012
Common Sense - Mostly there
‘We joined the Navy to see the world, And what did we see? We saw the sea.’ (South Pacific)That about sums it up: we’ve seen a lot of sea. In all its moods from calm to calamitous, from a dream of surfing dolphins and soaring shearwaters to a nightmare of inky peaks and canyons. It feels as though we’ve made very slow progress – well behind the ARC fleet, most of which have arrived in the Azores or will do so shortly. This is due, I guess, to a combination of inexperience, minor misfortunes and a boat untested in open ocean conditions. But hey! We’ve sailed over 1400 nautical miles on this passage (plus 900 to Bermuda before that, 400 through the Bahamas & 1200 down the US East Coast) and we’re ‘almost’ there! We’re all.
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17/08/2012
Anastasia - Cairns Skyrail and Kuranda village
While staying in Cairns we took the Skyrail cable car up to Kuranda village. The cableway runs over the rainforest so you can get to see the tree canopy close up from above. There are walkways through the forest at each of the stops. Kuranda village was larger and more touristy than we expected. Andrea bought a silver wire necklace at one of the craft stalls. We managed to resist buying a certified authentic digeridoo.We visited the butterfly house, which is the largest in Australia, and where they breed local species of butterfly for display to the public. One of these is the bright blue Ulysses butterfly, which is the unofficial emblem of Queensland. It only lives for three days so there has to be a.
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09/10/2012
Indulgence - bLOG 2 - Povoa de Varzim to Leixoes
INDULGENCE pushed off from POVOA DE VARZIM at midday on Sunday 7th Oct. A force 2 from the SE and a flat sea with blazing sunshine (low 20’s) made for perfect conditions for the new crews introduction and shakedown. Departing POVOA DE VARZIM we found ourselves calling starboard and ALL RIGHTS as we cut through a fleet of yachts ghosting around outside the harbour mouth. The gloomy looking crews of the other boats didn’t seem too impressed with our demands….. nor were we, when, we subsequently realised it was a wreath laying ceremony J “Oh dear, what a pity, never mind”.The wind angle allowed us to lay the entrance of LEIXOES in one tack. We trailed ‘The Jap’, our previously successful tuna-catcher, and ate egg’n’onion sandwiches over the.
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22/01/2009
Quasar V of Lleyn - log 19th January 2009
Monday 19th January 2009 MONDAY MATINEE We made slow progress overnight. We had the yankee and mainsail up but the wind was steadily backing and lightening. I could hear the spinnaker calling me from the deck 'let me out, let me out.' I reassured her we would hoist her up at first light. She turned her leech to me in defiance and muttered something about me not having a clew how to sail (tee hee , yes I know I need to get out more). Anyway, up she duly went at first light, on a port tack, and we're aiming straight for our destination 1800 miles away. We glided along at a respectable 7 knots. In the afternoon, post lunch talk had Sam and I discussing the film 'Top Gun', quoting the cheesy one liners like: 'you can be my wing man any time' and 'this is Ghost Rider requesting flyby -.
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15/03/2011
Crazy Horse - March 15
Our position today at UTC 1813 is 01 44N 43 56.WYesterday we crossed the equator at around 7pm local time. It was a long rough day with rain and clouds and rough seas throughout. By the time we crossed the equator we were relieved more than excited. We had been looking forward to it all day but it was a long time coming. So we had our toast to Neptune and our pizza and I was ready for bed. When I chatted on the SSB earlier with Jutta and Jean they had the same kind of day as us. Banging into the waves only going 4kts at times takes a toll on the boat and one's body.But after dinner the wind piped up from the NE and we were suddenly excited that we could finally sail. In fact the wind was as strong as 30kts at times and Matt and I were reminding Bill that we suggested to put one reef.
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30/05/2012
Hanami II - 1er jour a terre
Et bien il etait temps que nous arrivions! La depression, derriere nous n'a pas tarde: pluie, grisaille puis cette nuit jusqu'a 35N de vent dans la marina. Il restait des bateaux de l'ARC en mer, les plus petits, ils ont probablement eu une nuit d'enfer! Ici, au bar du port, le rendez vous des marins c'est plus chaud et anime mais de facon differente. Au programe: nettoyage, avitaillement, blanchisserie, quelques reparations de detail, et un suivi regulier de la meteo.Pour le moment, en partant le 03, ca ne serait pas trop mal. On verra.MERCI A TOUS CEUX QUI SUIVENT LE BLOG et envoient du feed back par mail. N'hesitez pas a mettre des commentaires qui pourront etre partages par tous.A suivre.photo.
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05/06/2012
Murphy - Sunny France?
Murphy left Plymouth at 19:52 (note patriotic start-time in honour of Diamond Jubilee - not sure whether we can manage to arrive at 20:12!) on Sunday 3rd with both a Plan A and a Plan B (apologies to George Osbourne). Plan A was to head to the outside (Western) edge of the Ushant Traffic Separation Zone, refresh our weather forecast and then, if all was well, head as fast as possible towards La Coruña on the North Coast of Spain, trying to beat the horrible Low steaming into the Bay of Biscay from the West. As soon as we received the new weather forecast it became clear that Plan A was not a goer (too small a window of safety) and so Plan B was enacted - turn left and head into Camaret Sur Mer, opposite Brest. We arrived after a passage that started rough and.
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17/08/2012
Wind Dancer - LOG 29: I Heart the Barrier Reef
Wind Dancer arrived to Port Mackay on the 25th of July after a nice sail over from Pt Vila, Vanuatu. Once clearing customs and quarantine, we organized a tour to fly over the Great Barrier Reef. We drove from Mackay to Airlie Beach about a two hour drive north to catch our plane. About a 12 seater plane, we took off and cruised over the reef for a quick spin. We could spot dolphins, turtles and whales amongst the turquoise waters. Our pilot even gave us a touch and go landing on the water. We then got to fly over the famous heart reef which was a cute find. This was a great way to start Oz off for us all.The Wind Dancer Crew.
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17/08/2012
Peat Smoke - THANK YOU
To the Fleet,Just a wee message to thank everyone for a fantastic birthday. We all had a wonderful night and a very BIG THANK YOU for all the lovely gifts I received. We would also like to thank everyone for making our family so welcome, they all had a fantastic time and were very sad to leave yesterday. Just getting ready to leave a very hot Cairns (30 degrees) sadly, we love it here and will definitely come back! Hope everyone has a great trip to Thursday Island and look forward to catching up again on Tuesday. Cheers the nooCaroline & DavidxxP8140043%20me%20on%20the%20table%20again!!%20compressed[1].
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30/05/2012
Voyageur - Leg 2 - Log 9 The end's in sight
26/28 May After our long and tedious “flat” spot, we have sailed 180nm in the last 24hours without the use of the engine. All the signs had been there from dusk the previous day, with gathering grey clouds heaped up on the horizon astern of us. But everything comes at a price and it was the rain, our first of the entire passage. I realise that David has something in common with Herb. He has always done his utmost to steer us away from bad weather, very successfully too, and one of the reasons I am happy to sail with him. In over 60,000nm he has kept me safe and there have been very few times when I have been fearful. But Voyageur too has played her part. As I have said before she is one great boat.Another spell of motor sailing on and off all afternoon but by the early hours,.
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08/10/2012
Poco Loco - Por un poco de tu amor....
Het werkt hier in Spanje ietsje anders dan in Nederland. Vanochtend om 11.20 hebben we een afspraak bij het Centro de Vacunaciones Internacionales. Een zeer vriendelijke arts adviseert ons om ons te laten inenten tegen gele koorts, typhoid en Patrick nog tegen hepatitis A. Gele koorts kunnen we meteen door hen laten doen, maar dan moeten we eerst even met 5 formuliertjes naar een bank en 38 euro afrekenen. Ok dat doen we, dan hebben we dat gehad. Bij de bank zeggen ze echter dat we een nif nummer nodig hebben (persoonlijk identificatiecode van inwoners van Gran Canaria), eh... paspoort nummer hebben we.. maar nee dat werkt niet. Dus weer terug naar het Centrum en de lieve mevrouw van de balie geeft ons haar eigen persoonlijke nummer dat we mogen invullen en zo gaan we weer terug naar de.
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22/01/2009
Quasar V of Lleyn - log for St Helena
Thursday 15th January ? Sunday 18th January 2009 ST.HELENA: HELLO; GOODBYE 15th January St Helena first presents itself to us in the early hours of this morning as a dark mass on the horizon. As the morning unfolds the weather formulates a series of grey clouds and choppy grey seas and as we approach this tiny island in the middle of the south Atlantic, her sheer barren cliffs loom in to focus, shielding her from her enforced isolation and the persistent south-easterly trade winds. St Helena is only 10 miles long and 6 miles wide. Her neighbours? She is 1200 miles from Africa, 1800 miles from South America. Her nearest neighbour is the Ascension Island, one of her dependencies, which lies 700 miles to the northwest of her. We skirt around the east coast of her and approach James Bay.
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15/03/2011
A Lady - Sailing around the World ( presently off the coast of Brazil )
TUESDAY 15th MARCH 2011 Our position at 05.00hrs today. :- 01: 49: 267N 042: 20: 119WWe are 260 miles off the coast of Brazil and 120 miles north of the Equator, The weather conditions have detiorated significantly during the night , with winds gusting to almost 50 knots from the NE.The sea state, needless to mention is rough, so the Blog for yesterday is being postponed to some other time. Signed :- Stephen Hyde ( Skipper ).
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13/03/2011
Tucanon - Farewell Recife
The marina almost dries out at low tide and the stench of the mud is most unpleasant. The wall to which we were tied was flanked on the other side by mangroves, where hundreds of egrets nested. Soon after we arrived, someone fired a gun, or set off a fire cracker a couple of times, within an interval of around 5 minutes, sending the birds flying, high into the air but they soon resettled. Amazingly, bearing in mind the proximity of the birds and the quantity nesting, the boats did not get too fouled by guano.Needless to say that at low water, there were a lot of insects, including mosquitoes. Insect repellant was a necessity.The carnivals at Recife and at Olinda had not turned out to be as expected but on the night of the 7th March, while we were eating at a skewer restaurant, one of.
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16/08/2012
Matilda - Fish BBQ at Cape Tribulation
I only have two jobs left to do from the Townsville list, so it was a very productive week spent there. I even got to fly down to Coolangatta for a couple of days and catch up with my parents and my sister Jane, which was wonderful. Kelsey had a friend of hers from Melbourne, Doug, up visiting for the weekend so we also had a great evening out in Townsville before we left for Cairns on Monday. It took a couple of days to get up to Cairns, but we had a bit of wind towards the end which saved some diesel.We spent 24 hours in Cairns to provision and catch up with friends (thanks again for a great night David & Caroline) before setting off up North yesterday morning. We also topped up the fuel and water, but after a full day without wind yesterday we have made a dent in our diesel.
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29/05/2012
Wild Goose - Simple Pleasures - A post by Lisa Goodwin (Finally!)
Simple Pleasures by Wild Goose crew Lisa Goodwin Written on monday 5/28/12Atlantic Ocean - 380 nm to Horta, Azores I woke to sunshine spilling through the small rectangular port hole over my bunk.The light radiating off the mahogany paneling, making it seem alive, and making the whole cabin glow.Basking in the warmth, my senses could tell that our steadfast vessel, Wild Goose, although cutting a good clip through the ocean was sailing on a relatively level keel.No wonder I felt so rested after finishing my 1 - 4am watch .......four solid hours of sleep with out being pitched back and forth in my bunk.Freshly brewed coffee wafted in from the galley.I could hear Hugh animatingly talking on the VHF radio with S/V's First Edition and Sage about the upcoming weather.Linda and Mike were in the.
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22/01/2009
Andante of Mersey - St Helena and Forever Onwards(2)
Three days in St Helena, weigh the anchor and off we go again. Still in the same race but we are drifting back positionally - we are of course very badly handicapped and I dont mean physically - although that might have something to do with it. The wind isn't strong enough for us but most people say that. Anyway our first concern is crossing the finishing line within the time limit (2200UTC on 31st) and our main one is arriving in time for the Heinekin sponsored party on the 1st Feb. We have about 1300 nms to go and both are very much in doubt at the moment. On board bad chesty colds abound. We just hope that all the coughing does not lead to coffins.Our other complaint is aching leg muscles and that takes us back to St H where one of the things to do is climb Jacobs Ladder-a 700.
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21/01/2009
Talulah Ruby II - Talulahs Troubles
Well that was a night and a half !!! At 01:30 lastnight the spinnaker wrapped itself around the furler, the halyards curledthemselves around and around the sail and furling gear, which meant we wereunable to get it down at all in the dark.So we tied the clews to the deck, andwith half of the spinnaker still filling with wind we were still making avery uncomforable 5 - 6 knts. At sunrise we were all up and after strong coffeeBernar was hoisted up the mast on the topping lift, not ideal but the lastremaining rope available. Once aloft Bernar was able to untanglethe halyards and sail,not easy as there was quite a swell running at thetime.What a mission!!. Two hours later we had the spinnaker and Bernar downif a little shaky, and just two small tears in the spinnaker whichwere quickly.
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14/03/2011
Crazy Horse - March 14
Our position 1625 UTC 00 20.S 41 07.WSeems like we have had days of this NW wind on the nose that we can't sail to and can only motor banging on the waves as we go. This is not our most comfortable point of sail and from the sounds of the rest of the fleet they are having the same. Of course this is not sailing at all! Rain , rain, rain. As close to the equator as we are you would suspect hot sun , no wind. But here we have wind from the wrong direction, and incessant rain. Guess we are never happy to hear me complain. If we have to motor if would be better to have no wind than this. From this direction of sailing we can only go to Africa or back to Brazil. Hopefully by tomorrow we will be through the worst of this.Right when I was to come off watch the temperature on the engine soared.
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05/10/2012
VIA CON ME - VIA CON ME - The participants for ARC 2012 VIA CON ME
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} 5.10.2012 Robert has crossed the north Atlantic once and want to be now on the ARC 2012, which is his first time. At the moment, he counting the days and see forward to his arrival in Las Palmas on the 17th November 2012. before he booked we had email contact together, and I saw between the written lines, that he mustenjoy our boat as crew member. He is a funny person and I know that he know a lot of stories to tell us, when we heading to St. Lucia. See his mustache! He would be the right person for our St Nicholas day on the 6th of December! Robert .
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29/05/2012
Voyageur - Leg 2 - Log 8 Following winds and seas
25 May This is a bit more like it. We are in a much better place as of yesterday morning running as we are dead downwind in a west south westerly of 20knots, Voyageur averaging around eight and half knots over the ground. We have been waiting days for this wondering if it would ever come. Again we had another fabulous dawn, on this trip the sunrises much more impressive than the sunsets. The sun as it bursts upon the horizon seems larger and redder than I ever remembered and its ascent so rapid, you have to keep your eyes transfixed as it pops up like a giant red balloon that has been held down under water only to be suddenly released. I shall miss these special moments more than anything else.Last night Herb predicted heavy weather around the Azores on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.
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16/08/2012
Anastasia - Caroline's birthday party
16:55.2S 145:46.9E We have been in the marina at Cairns for a few days now, getting sails repaired and re-provisioning the boat. Yesterday it was Caroline’s (of Peat Smoke) birthday party, and David and Caroline invited everyone, off the ARC boats that are in Cairns, to go for drinks at the Bella Vista bar. It was a lively party which culminated in a massed rendition of Loch Lomond. The evening started with chatting over drinks and posing for photos. F4BBut it didn't take long to develop into a bit of a rave. F4C.
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03/10/2012
VIA CON ME - The participants for ARC 2012 VIA CON ME
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} 3.10.2012 As I get now all crew for the famous ARC 2012 together, I would like to introduce those to you: Today we start with myself, Ingrid and Roland. I know Ingrid and Roland from the ARC 2011 and since then we have a great relationship together.When I told them, that I will participant again the ARC, and ask them, to come again along, there was no doubt and I got a big YES. This make mehappy. As I had bad luck with the yacht supplier and yacht yard in Germany on the island of Rügen (they sheet me, the made bad work) – it wasRoland, which saved me to grounding down…. Ingrid as well keep me alive and I am really happy, to know.
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16/08/2012
Anastasia - En route to Cairns
17:02.5S 146:06.5E We are now a few hours outside Cairns, having travelled overnight from Townsville. I have arranged to get the mainsail repaired here because the slab reefing blocks and lines have been chafing and causing tears in the leech of the sail. Bertie and Daniel did an eating challenge on our last night in Townsville. This involved eating a huge plateful of food, including a kilo of steak, in under half an hour. Apparently not many people do succeed, but they both managed it and got the T shirts. Bertie says he has now retired from eating challenges (F3A).
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14/03/2011
A Lady - Sailing around the World
SUNDAY 13th MARCH 2011 Around midnight , we had a mixed bag of good sailing and not so good. However around 04.30hrs, the wind died to 4 knots , so we got the engine up and running again, 09.00hrs, Radio Call, " Voyaguer " being the net controller today. Except for Grand Filou, ( we do not know where she is ) we are lead boat, but not by much. The morning was just tolerable, conditions just ok. We had more avocado and lobster for lunch, Suzanna skipping lunch today. The afternoon just got worse , The wind went into the NW, the direction we are going, and the rain came down in bucket loads. Ohhh the misery of it all, and it went on and on and on, no let up. and to have to listen to the engine working hard to push us through this head wind of 15 knots, (.
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16/08/2012
BRIZO - August 16th
We arrived to Mackay on July 26th and it has been a very busy few weeks. Lew headed back to Ohio to work for a couple of weeks and Corinne and the girls traveled to Sydney for visit last week.After being around the marina for longer than expected the young entrepreneurs aboard BRIZO and Samsara decided it was time to get a job and make some cash. Kathryn, Audrey, Samantha and Sarah sold lemonade at the marina yesterday and made over $145 AUS! So, if you can't be cruising sell lemonade!The new school year begins for the girls today. Lew brought all the materials back from Hathaway Brown and the girls seem genuinely eager to get going! We'll see how long that lasts!We are finally heading out from Mackay to meet up with the rally at Thursday Island. We said goodbye to Pauline, Lee, Sam and.
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29/05/2012
A Lady - LOG DAY 24 : HORTA , FAIAL, The Azores,
TUESDAY 29th May 2012, Its a fresh day here today and very cloudy to boot, The harbour is very well sheltered and a great stopping off place for boats of all descriptions crossingthe Atlantic from west to east. The marina's cannot cope with all the boats at present, so all along the quay walls the baots are rafted 4 to 5 deep .There are still some boats yet to arrive and by all accounts are having a tough time with the windchanging direction every few hours, Voyageur arrived yesterday just as we were on the Ferry on our way over to PICO,We got the 10,30pm ferry across to this Island a few miles to the east of HORTA where we are rafted up with others to the quay wall , On the subject of quay walls, It is tradition here to paint something on the wall.
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29/09/2012
Embla - Embla - log 1
A little presentation of the boat Embla, a Swan 44 mk1.She is a young beauty, only 22 years, completed two circumnavigations and eager to go on a new long journey.ETA Gran Canary, primo November.bilder fra bardoo 076 bilder fra bardoo 016.
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13/03/2011
Lady Ev.VI - Daily Log 13.march 2011
Hallo!Seit wir aus Recife los sind, geben wir vier (Klaus Lang, Christos Dimakos, Uli Kramer und Joerg Schoeddert) uns die groeßte Muehe, gute miene zum Regen zu machen, Wenn wir wenigstens das Trinkwasser auffangen koennten, das wie aus Kannen auf uns hereinprasselt! Zwischendurch gibt es wieder strahlenden Sonnenschein, dann zeigt sich ganz klein am Horizont in Windluv eine schwarze Wolke, die dann schnell und schneller werdend in unsere Richtung zieht. " Gleich regnets wieder!" "Ach was, noch lange nicht!" "Hol lieber deine zum Trocknen aufgehaengten Sachen rein!" "Das dauert noch....Au Sch....alles wieder nass! Haettest du aber auch frueher sagen koennen!"Brasilien verabschiedet sich von uns mit Flaute, und das noch aus allen Richtungen, alle halbe Stunde einen tuechtigen Sqall.
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21/01/2009
Cleone - CLEONE Leg 22A Day 3 - Cleone's Spinnaker RIP
A bit of cloud, a bit of wind, and she's gone. To the ordinary, earth-bound man, clouds mean two things. The sun isgoing to go in, and there is a possibility that it will rain. To theyachtsman, it probably means more wind as well. At sea, the windnormally arrives before the cloud and the rain. Today was noexception. The kite was flying in all its full-shouldered magnificence -you've heard it before, I've banged on about it often enough. It had beenup for two nights and two days, and the Skipper had visions of flying it forever, certainly he had no intention of taking down before we crossed thefinishing line, some 1500 miles away. At just past eight this morning,Graham, Mandy and the Skipper were in the cockpit, watching the squall as itmeandered towards us, watching the white.
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20/01/2009
Cleone - Leg 22A Day 2 - Gliding Along
Situation - near Paradise. Despite the light winds, we have made good progress over the last twenty four hours. Bruce's predictions - ever accurate - were for light South-Easterly to South-South-Easterly winds. So, to Graham's concern, almost as soon as he got up, the Skipper dragged the Spinnaker from its lair in the walk-through-cum-workshop-cum-sail-locker-cum-technical spares store, which lies just behind the Navigator's station. Within a trice (actually it was nearer twenty minutes - Ed), it was flying bravely with the pole to port, and our speed, which had eased progressively through the night, rose once more to a respectable level. Respectable is a relative term; aboard Cleone it means anything above six knots, which even allowing for the difference between nautical and.
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13/03/2011
Crazy Horse - March 13
Our position @ 1309 local time is 1 36.S 39 24.WWe are motoring along quite well at 7-8kts. There are no winds to speak of now and no waves. So our ride is smooth for the moment. All that could change in an instant with all the squalls we keep having. Last night during Bill's watch one popped up suddenly and really gave us a good drenching and winds backed around until we were in the hove too position. Then the wind backed around the other way and we were sailing again. They are forecast every day in our weather reports. We did stop the boat long enough for Bill to fix the batten that had worked its way out of the pocket. He put a big bolt with some washers through the sail pocket and the batten. That way it won't work loose again. With the carbon fiber sails that we have that was.
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10/08/2012
Anastasia - Magnetic Island and Townsville
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29/05/2012
Scolamanzi - Arriving in the Azores after one hell of a crossing!
What a relief!We made it to the Azores!! Only the two of us!! Thanks to a wonderful Captain!!! (and I have to say a great yacht too! Thank goodness for cats!) It was a long but interesting crossing with many great moments, lots of time to read and very little sleep - due to the massive swells that would not allow too many moments of lying in the same position! But we got through it in one piece and no damage done to the boat! What a blessing! If I listen to what the other yachts have gone through, I am just relieved that we are ok and were on a Catamaran and not a mono-hull! The second last day was just about the only day that the Captain thought it wise to put his lines in the water!... Long and behold, only 20 minutes both reels started to sing! I could not.
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28/09/2012
Puddle Jumper - The final countdown
With less than 60 days to go things are beginning to take shape. After a very long and troublesome harvest I am heading back to Puerto Calero ( Lanzarote) to have minor repairs sorted. Boats arebeginning to arrive in the marina and we met two crews last time we werethere..
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08/08/2012
Glamorous Galah - Sydney for Galahs
After basking in the Aussie sunshine and friendliness of Coffs Harbour, we cast off around midday Monday. After a pleasant motor sail down the coast with whales and dolphins for company, we have arrived at the Prince Alfred YC in Pittwater.The weather is superb and we are making the most of it before a change tomorrow. Bernie even put his name down for Wednesday afternoon sailing and has headed out to free on a local yacht!We were going to catch up with Dave and Magli, but they are in Brisbane overseeing repairs to Ensemble.If there are any other ARC ralliers in the area - look us up on dock C33.Ted.
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13/03/2011
A Lady - Sailing around the World
SATURDAY 12th MARCH 2011 We had plenty of lightning during the night, We do not like this when it is close, we have seen too many boat electronics and electrics completly destroyed by lightning strikes, including our friend Siun on " Liberty" when she and her family were struck by a bolt of lightning near Panama early last year. Shortly after midnight, we had a dancing class, yeah, dancing around in circles, the wind died down, and then began to go around in circles, and we did the same too for about an hour, but ebventually we copped on and started the engine and motored. about 2 hours later, the wind filled in from behind, 17 /18 knots, so we shut down the engine and off we went on our merry way under sail again. The.
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19/01/2009
La Boheme - 19 Jan 09 - on the way to Salvador
1644 miles to go and we are taking it easy as the wind is gentle, barely 10/15 knots. We are testing our new spinnaker and I am becoming (with every day) more creative with our meals. Tonight we are having for dinner fresh pasta with walnut and rocket pesto, St Helena broccoli and parmesan, followed by desert of marengue with coffee and chocolate mousse decorated with peach slices thanks to Australian Goulburn Valley tin. We are studying books on Brazil and discussing how to protect ourselves against rat invasion from shore.. and of course discussing how to sail faster.La BohemeLatitude 15.46'SLongitude 10.25'W.
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25/09/2012
Easy Rider - Log 1 EASY RIDER.
This is our beautiful Voyage Cat.....Just resting up outside of St Tropez!I might add the crew are equally beautiful but more of that later! Getting very excited about this adventure- they say it's not a race..but hey! Never been one not to step up to a challenge!Our first leg is from Cartagena to Las Palmas departing November 3rd! That should get us finely honed! That's the theory at any rate....ETA Nov 10/11th! See you all in Las Palmas! Looking forward to meeting your all. In case you are interested I'm a G&T gal! The boys don't drink much......apart from the odd crate of beer. Each! I'll be back..soon! I just love to talk. Soy EASY RIDER & FRIENDS 001.
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29/05/2012
First Edition lll - you can feel it in the air
last night on watch while eating black eyed peas and rice, comfort food from the American South, the air was moist and heavy, the invisible layer of salt on all surfaces, which is hygroscopic, has caused the cushions become moist and the cabin floor wet and slippery. The barometer had dropped to 1002. No change in the barometer at daylight as I sip tea, but the waves are building. A blanket of thick stratus clouds are blanketing the sky from northwest to southeast. Signals that a storm is coming soon. We are using the 20 kt winds from the west to push us to Horta, but soon we must consider whether to continue toward Horta in what is predicted to be 35 kt plus winds and 15 ft seas. This boat plans to "hove to" a sailing term that means idle in place in relative comfort and let the storm.
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29/05/2012
Luna - Log 18 - We finally found it :-)
Efter at have søgt i snart to uger fandt vi den langt om længe: Nordøstpassaten!I går var endnu en dag, hvor vi blev rullet rundt i skæve bølger. Vi søgte først sydpå og siden nordpå igen i løbet af natten, og så i morges midt i den stille vind, var den der bare lige pludselig. Vi har nu sat butterfly, og kursen er direkte mod Horta :-)Delfiner har i flere omgange sprunget lystigt i vandet omkring Luna som for at ønske os tillykke med fundet.Solen skinner, himlen er blå (og de fleste skyer hvide...) og alt er skønt./Luna & BesætningPS. Mon man skulle skylle fiskelinerne igen i dag?--After searching for almost two weeks, did we find it at last: The North-east Trade Wind!Yesterday.
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07/08/2012
Anastasia - The trip to Airlie Beach
20:15.5S 148:42.9E Today we are anchored off Airlie Beach. We went into town to take a look around and found a pleasant seaside town, rather different from the tired nightspot we had been led to expect. On the way over from Whitehaven we passed some houses that had Andrea wondering whether it might be nice to live in the Whitsundays. Views of the ocean and of humpback whales. Andrea house spotting 3FF A passing humpback whale. There are laws in the barrier reef area against approaching whales, but this one surfaced right next to us so we just turned off the engine and watched it pass by 400.
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