Daily Logs

Kasuje - Daily Log, Monday 10th March

Poorly at Sea There are certain times, in ones life when a bout of the screaming abbdabs is at the least bloody inconvenient and completely incapacitating. This has now happened twice to me. Once whilst at 4000m high in the Himalayas with temperatures down to -15 and the prospect of a 15 km trek over a 5000m pass, no way back, with no chance of resting, and secondly after just commencing the passage over the greatest ocean on our planet!!............. However 36 hours later ,a lot lighter, and feeling very sorry for myself, I'm back with enough strength and will power to sit here and compose this report.( toilet tissue is posed ready for action just by my left hand)However, once again our hours of meticulous crew training paid off, with Bruce and Angela taking full control of Kasuje,. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 53 - Nothing new under the sun....

18 March 2010And so it would seem but there are small and very subtle changes. As we draw westwards sunsets are later in the day, consequently so is sunrise. Our meal and watch keeping times change accordingly. The arc of the Southern Cross creeps a little higher with each night that passes. Lady Ev IV has been on our tail now for two days and nights. Sometimes they edge a little closer to close the gap, then we pull ahead again. It is as if we are joined by a length of elastic. We chat on the VHF every day with Christos. He complains of the rolling. The wind on the port stern quarter does to a degree create a cross sea but we roll very little in the swells. The fact that we have 1000litres of water capacity contained in the keel, helps enormously to keep Voyageur stable. So does her. read more...

Crazy Horse - spinnaker woes

Crazy Horse was galloping through the waves and making time -10,11, 12 kts then, bam, the spinnaker blew!Not to worry says Bill we can get it fixed along the way. So today we put up the Joshua spinnaker and were really flying down those waves. Crazy was really ploughing through the confused waves. Our top speed with Joshua was 15. Then, pop! The spinnaker blew through the tack ring that was holding the sail to the boat. So now, not to worry, we have no spinnakers left. Both must go into the repair shop. Every time those things go up I worry that someone will get hurt. Fortunately, no one was hurt ornothing else was damaged in the foray.So even though there is some estrogen on this boat there isn't enough to account for Bill and Matt.  Sailing with the spinnaker was exciting. read more...

Asolare - World Arc Leg 4 Day 2

Continued great sailing for all the fleet today with gentle 10 to 14 knot SE winds and a positive helpful current of 0.3 to 1 knot. This means that most yachts are making about 7 knots over the ground (3500 meters below us!).I expect the wind to die a little tonight so making the most of it while it lasts. I will attach a photo of several great white tipped sharks; one took an edible interest in my yellow gloves! If I can work it out, I will try to put two pics in the same frame, one of a startled me in my bright yellow gloves and the other of the sharks. If I cannot work out how to do it the second pic. will follow tomorrow. If you look closely you might just be able to make out a small fish directly in front of and below one of the sharks. ½ second later the fish was a nice tasty. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 52 - Dreaming!

17 March 2010Landfalls of Paradise. That is the title of one of the pilot books that we use for the Pacific. What wonderful images it conjures up for me. Tropical islands, coconut palms swaying in the breeze, pristine white sand beaches, clear turquoise water, lush rainforests, the scent of frangipani, hibiscus, and stephanotis, exotic fruits and vegetables. It is all that and more. It is exactly what we are heading towards. French Polynesia our next landfall is the collective name for The Marquesas, The Tuamotos and The Society Islands. The Marquesas are hauntingly beautiful, The Tuamotos, tiny coral atolls surrounded by a protective barrier reef, The Society Islands, stunning sophistication. We have just over one thousand nautical miles to go to arrive at our first South Seas island. read more...

Kealoha 8 - Off to the Marquesas - the big push !

And so we have started the longest leg of the trip - in fact the longest passage any of us have ever made ( NY to HK flight does not count !!). too early to say but early estimates think we could be doing 3200 miles. Now you would expect a boat such as K8 to take preparations seriously , we were delighted that the race organisers chose to have the official prize giving dinner on Friday night , - avoiding the last min rush , hangover , food poisoning that could come about from a WARC dinner the night before the start . That said - with prizes for "the tortoise" -(the slowest boat) , the Spirit of WARC(a family boat), and tea towels for voluntary radio operators, to name a few - we knew we were never going be justly rewarded for our performance (under engine)on the last leg.Thus, with the. read more...

Lady Kay - Blue sea

Hi allContrary to expectations and forecast, we are sailing at a good speed in a southwesterly direction, with no current against us. No other boats in sight at present - we lost sight of them all very quickly. Kerry and I feeling slightly below par as we need to get our sea legs again. Michael fine as per usual.No fishing yet as we are using up some of our frozen stores of blue fin tuna and wahoo. Picture for today is one of a male marine iguana from Espanola. The marine iguanas on this island are brightly coloured, unlike the dark grey ones found on the other islands. Cheers for nowJackie, Michael and KerryIMG_0465_1_1_1. read more...

Tucanon - Dick catches a fish!

Wednesday, the sea was moderate and the waves broke over the bows and occasionally the port beam. The wind was favorable and we were traveling at a good pace, so soon averaged out the slow start to the leg. We are still well behind most of the fleet which appears to be increasing their lead over us.Thursday morning the swells had reduced some, as had the wind, making the boat much more comfortable. The waves of the previous night had managed to assist in the suicide of 25 small flying-fish and seventeen baby squid. We initially thought to use them as bait but as that wasn't successful Dick returned them to the sea and used instead, a lure. The boat was a bit of a mess following the death throws of the fish so Moe kindly cleaned it up as well as flushing out the holding tanks with. read more...

Crazy Horse - St. Patrick's Day

Wish everyone Happy St. Patty's Day. Everyone back home have a safe day and evening. We may have a green beer for the memory of St. Pat and Ireland. Perhaps I could add a little green Crystal L. Our Irish members of the fleet watch out for the leprechaun fairies of the ocean. Our best goes to you.Our number of fish found onboard in the morning has reduced. We still see tons of the flying fish sailing by off a wave. We were going to fly Joshua today but when we saw the waves and the wind weput up the smaller spinaker and reduced the mailsail.We have some pretty good size waves out here today. Not quite as big as our trip to the San Blas however. Sometimes the waves give us a good pound and we just are amazed at their strength.It will be good to see all the fleet safely at harbor in Hiva. read more...

Andante of Mersey - Pacific Leg

We have enjoyed the Galapagos Islands immensely. We were first at San Cristobal in quite a tight anchorage. On going ashore you find sea lions lying all over the benches and the beach. We booked a trip to Kicker Rock on a small powered catamaran. We stopped for snorkling at an island on the way and then the experts snorkled at kicker rock swimming through a split in the rock of some 20 yds wide it was quite a long swim to the other side but they saw manta rays sharks colourful fish etc.Andante was hit by an unkown boat at 0300 in the anchorage this chipped the transom and pushed the pushpit inwards. We can live with this for the time being.Moving on to Santa Cruz we anchored with a stern anchor to prevent swinging. There were plenty of water taxis to take us ashore. We were booked on. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 51 - On the downhill run

16 March 2010We are bowling along under lovely sunny skies, having now passed the halfway mark. The wind has swung round to the east south east but is too strong for us to be able to attempt to raise the ballooner. We still recall our last fiasco back in St Lucia and will have to wait for lighter winds which should not be for at least another two days. Nevertheless Voyageur is comfortable under full main and mizzen and poled out reefed down genoa, and managing just to keep on our rhumb line. Since we lost sight of Liza astern of us, now two days ago, we have not had the merest glimpse of a sail. We are truly alone. Neither are we within VHF range of the group behind, after many days of communicating with them. A solitary swallow tailed gull skims over the surface of the ocean. I should. read more...

Crazy Horse - day 8 to Marquesas

Well, yesterday and day before were filled with crew of Crazy Horse desperately trying to find a freshwater leak inside the bilges.Anytime you find water inside the boat the crew instantly feels a little anxious. We had the floorboards up everywhere and cleaning like you wouldn't believe. We were determined to find the leak. Bill thought it might be the line from the water tank that winds its way around the nav station. So he fixed that line. We still had the water coming in the bilge. We looked everywhere. Well, it turns out it was coming from the a/c drain line. From a man who has spent his whole life needing a/c this is a bitter pill to swallow. No more a/c til we get a new drainage system or at least in a flat anchorage. This constant heel doesn't help with the drainage of water down. read more...

Cleone - Leg 4 Day 1 - She's Heavy but Willing

I don't think that Cleone has ever weighed as much, but we're doing over 6.5 knots towards our fist Waypoint. There is always a buzz amongst the fleet on the day of departure, and a "racing" start makes it even more enjoyable.  Whilst stop-overs are interesting and exciting, and none more so than the Galapagos, we are, after all, here to sail the world.  So whilst sad to say farewell for the moment to our friends on other yachts, the pleasure of finally leaving the Galapagos was no exception.  Sadly three or four yachts were left in the anchorage with technical probles or awaiting essential spares, with poor Basia developing a problem just as she tried to up-anchor.  But the rest of us crossed the start-line in style, including Wizard who had finally managed to catch up by sailing direct. read more...

Ideal - Day 1

Ideal and her crew set out for the Pacific crossing at noon on March 9th. We began with smooth seas and light winds, skirted a few squalls in the night and are now cruising along at roughly 8 knots over choppy seas. We've got 145 miles under our belt and are trying not to think too much about how many left to go. All in all, a good start to the journey.. read more...

Lady Ev.VI - WARC Bericht von Lady EV. VI, Mitte Pazifik, Joerg

16. Maerz 2010Heute haben wir auf der Lady Ev. VI unser Pazifik-Bergfest mit einem Sonder-Bier gefeiert.Nach 1500 nm haben wir den "Point of no Return" ueberschritten, d.h. es lohnt sich nicht, wegen des verschimmelten Brotes noch einmal nach Galapagos zurueck zu fahren und neues Brot zu kaufen, weil jetzt der Weg nach Hiva Oa kuerzer ist und immer kuerzer wird. Alles verstanden?Uebrigens: Verschimmeltes Brot!Wir hatten 20 Stangen Brot in Galapagos gekauft und in Netzen im Salon und ueber dem Navi-Platz schoen luftig gelagert.10 Stangen haben wir schon gegessen und bis auf ein Brot mussten wir dann den Rest ueber Bbord werfen, da das Brot seltsam blau aussah.Hat jemand einen Rat fuer uns?Christos hat gestern zum ersten Mal zwei kleine Brote gebacken, von denen wir eines heute Morgen zum. read more...

Ronja - Pacific passage: Galapagos to Marquesas: Halfway over

Position 06:29.35, 114:08.87WSailed distance: 1500 NMDistance to Marquesas: 1500NmDear readers,Halfway - what a thrill. We can already start to smell land. After 8,5 days at sea, the passage of the first half have been fast. We have to admit that the weather has surprised us a bit, with quite a bit of gray sky's. Mads, our weather router have though promised us that it will change to the better now.The life goes on and we are now completely into the duty schemes on board. The times fly fast away out here also. A typical day looks like.Boat watch 3 hoursDuring night you have a watch duty together with a fellow crew member. The work is typically to secure that there are no obstacles in our way, maintain trim of the sails, watching the radar for other boats and squalls, watching the chart. read more...

Southern Princess - Champagne Sailing

02:26S 92:33WWe have a lovely Sou'easterly breeze of around 15 - 20 knots and flattish beam seas. We are hiking along at around 9 knots SOG (speed over the ground) which includes a 1 knot positive current. Storyteller is just aft of us and we all hope it lasts although the weather forecast says we are going to loose it this afternoon.JH. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 50 - Thing that go "flash" in the night!

15 March 2010Great sailing during the last 24 hours. We had had quite enough of loitering about the ocean. With poled out genoa, Voyageur flew along averaging eight to eight and half knots. By evening the wind veered once more to the south east, so regretfully it had to come in again. For days now we have been waiting, hoping for the winds to back to the east south east so we can get those twin poles out but the wind remains doggedly on our beam. We must be patient. We are only just approaching the half way mark so there are plenty of miles ahead for Voyageur to show what she is made of. The fleet is now well spread out, with 200nm separating us from the lead boat and 800nm in front of the late starters. The early part of the night brought a little excitement. Liza, who was ahead and. read more...

Asolare - World Arc Leg 4 Day 1

After an amazing stay in the Galapagos we are now sailing again, this time en route to the Marquesas about 3000 miles away. Eight rally yachts are still in the Galapagos getting repairs completed and enjoying the islands a little while longer. The main fleet however are enjoying good breezes of 12 to 15 knots and even a little helpful current. We have had a strong adverse current on both leg 2 and 3 of up to 2.8 knots so this is much better and much more typical for this time of year. In about 4 days we should be far enough south to be able to take advantage of the Pacific Trade winds which should be from behind us for a change and enjoy some good down wind sailing! Attached photo is one of a series of underwater photos taken in the Galapagos. Amongst hundreds of fish and mammal spieses,. read more...

Graptolite - Where Are We?

00:44.91S 090.18.46W Sunday PM still at anchor in Puerto AyoraOn Saturday night it became clear why all the restaurant furniture here is so heavy-duty. After dinner with crews of Kealoa and Talulah Ruby in 'The Rock' most of us ended up dancing on the tables. It was just like Yarmouth IoW. There is something about the connection between islands and dancing on tables that needs more research.We had a stressed Sunday morning, getting ready for departure, when our neighbour made a cat's cradle out of our anchor chain and theirs. It got even worse when a few miles after the noon start our GPS stopped working.Not wanting to become a statistic in the Pacific Ocean, we turned back for repairs and to think of alternatives if no local repair is possible. There are another eight WARC boats also. read more...

Lady Ev.VI - Daily log von Las Perlas über Ecuador nach Galapagos

Ihr Lieben zu Hause,rund 600 SM waren von den Las Perlas- Inseln (Panama)zur Marina Puerto Lucia Libertad (Ecuador) zurückzulegen. Höhepunkt des 4 tägigen Törns war die Äquator- Taufe, Samstag, den 6.2.12 Uhr. In leicht alkoholisierter Stimmung undein wenigmaskiert (siehe Bild boat gmachungallery) genossen wir diese Stunde. Leider entsprach das Wetter nicht unseren Vorstellungen,eswar nämlich relativ kalt und regnerisch. Am 7. (sonntags) machten wir in der Marina fest und es erwartete uns ein rel. großzügiges und gepflegtes Gelände mit allen Annehmlichkeiten und guter örtlicher Versorgung;allerdings kam ein noch nie erlebter Schwell, dazu Strömung Strudel und durch Erdöl verschmutztes Wasser in die Hafenanlage, so daß nur mit langen Mooringleinen ein unruhiges Liegen improvisiert werden. read more...

Lady Kay - Galapagos

We left the Galapagos at 12.00 today. What a fabulous experience. We went on a 3 night tour on a very small cruise boat which took us to different islands so that we could see as much of the wildlife as possible. We snorkeled and went on land trails every day. The wildlife is quite amazing, the whole place is heaving with different species, and the most amazing thing is that they have no fear of humans. We have snorkeled with sea lions playing around us, and large turtles, rays and wonderful tropical fish swimming right up to us. It is not hard to be a wildlife photographer here. On land you have to step over marine and land iguanas and nesting blue footed boobies and magnificent frigate birds. We also saw sharks and Galapagos penguins, as well as giant land tortoises, including. read more...

Lady Ev.VI - Galapagos Archipel

Am 21. Febr. erreichten wir als eines der ersten Schiffe bereits um 17Uhr30 von La Libertad (Südamerika)die GalapagosInsel San Christobal und ankerten in der Wreck- Bay. Nach und nach traf die Flotte ein und wir konnten uns über unser gutes Abschneiden freuen. Bis zur finishing line wurde unser blau weiß rote Genaker gefahren und mit 9 Knoten überquerten wir diese.An Land empfingen uns auf den Piers die Seelöwen, die die Szene total beherrschten und über die man teilweise steigen mußte, um an Land zu kommen.Wir verbrachten einige schöne Tage mit Ausflügen auf dieser Insel, obwohl uns das Wetter (es ist Regenzeit) wahrlich nicht verwöhnte.Am 24. 2. ging es dann weiter zur Hauptinsel Santa Cruz in den Naturhafen Academy Bay von Porto Ayora. Von einem Hafen allerdings ist hier wenig zu. read more...

Southern Princess - Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz

After a 6 hour MOTOR AGAIN from San Cristobal to Santa Cruz we anchored in Academia Bay (Puerto Ayora 00:45S 90:18W ) with a fore and aft anchor. The aft anchor helps keep the bow into the swell which comes into the harbour all the time. It is an exposed anchorage. The Galapagos are a surprising place. Permanent population 30,000 people plus the annual influx of 80,000 tourists has a major impact on the place. Some funny local rules. The water taxis which ply the bay carry life jackets tucked into awkward places on the boat however if you use your dinghy, the port police insist that you wear your life jacket at all times! Fuel at the pump is US$1.02 per gallon but they want to deliver it to your yacht at US$2.35 per gallon and their seems to be a dispute between the water deliverer and. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 49 - Beauty and the Beast!

14 March 2010The Pacific was absolutely beautiful yesterday. The ocean cobalt blue broken with little white crests heaved gently under an azure sky, dotted with puffy cotton wool clouds. Night fall brought an entirely different scene. The wind backed, the genoa started to flog, our speed slowed dramatically, we had lost our lovely favourable current. Voyageur was not happy and neither were we. We needed to pole out the genoa but it is our policy not to go on deck for any change of sail configuration in the night. Nothing for it but to nudge southwards to try and keep the wind in the sails and review our sail plan at first light. Dreamcatcher seem to be struggling also. First they are to port of us, then they bear away to starboard. Their friendly light is lost to us sometime in the. read more...

Southern Princess - We use 18 Litres per hour flat out. The locals provided less than 20 gallons per hour!

Puerto Baquerizo Moreno Isla San Cristobal Galapagos  00:54S 89:37WOriginally called Chatham Island in the days of Darwin and the British ruled the world. Very rolly anchorage with long swells coming in from the Pacific. Both sides  of the entrance had breakers with the southern point having a well established surfing break.Well what did we see? Me, not a lot and I think Irene even less. The WARC team were established in an upstairs bar/restaurant called the Hotel Restaurant Miconia. Food wasn't bad but they put the booze in the fridge a couple of hours before Happy Hour so consequently we had warm beer over ice on one occasion. I went ashore twice while we were here. The harbour is full of seals which decide that they want to have a sun bathe and they launch themselves onto any vaguely. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 48 - Go with the flow

13 March 2010COUNTER CURRENT! These words appear in big bold letters in the left hand side corner of our electronic chart. Last night we had up to one knot of favourable current with us. This morning at 6am the log read 1000nm, one third into this passage. The actual distance through the water was 900nm, giving us 100nm for free! It is wonderful that now into day six we are still sailing along without having had to use the engine. It would be unbelievable if, as on our Atlantic crossing and across the Caribbean Sea we were able to sail all the way to Marquesas. What is going to happen as those capital letters edge closer to our track only time and tide will tell. For the moment we are content, and happy to let Voyageur carry us onwards and westwards.Flying the flag.....Our World ARC. read more...

Southern Princess - Hotties on the Equator (with credits to Sue Donovan)

I must give Sue Donovan credit for the title. One night she and John did have a hot water bottle. Irene and I would have had one however we left it too late to order. What a contrast! We departed La Libertad at around 14:00 for the road trip to Guayaquil and the new international airport. It rained all the way and we drove through rivers and streams to get there. We have great pictures but without wifi I can't get them to the blog site. Sorry Guys!. What we didn't realise at the time was that we were driving through the start of one of the biggest natural disasters that Ecuador has suffered in recent years. By the time we got back to Guayaquil four days later it was isolated in a virtual sea of flood water which stretched as far as we could see in any direction as we approached the. read more...

Graptolite - Loaded to the Gunnels

00:44.91S 090.18.46W Saturday 8th March Puerto Ayora.A chap has just turned up to fumigate the boat. I have no idea why. We have no bugs. Seems to be some sort of official requirement.Heike joined the crew yesterday. All ready for one of the longest stretches of open water on the planet. Heike has already taken charge of provisioning and Colin and myself were used as pack-animals at the local Farmer's Market early this morning. Provisioning here has been difficult as the only supermarket is not so super and has been  virtually cleaned out.Departure for the Marquesas is tomorrow.M. read more...

Crazy Horse - ship routine

When I expressed to other sailors on this ARC voyage that I was concerned about the length of this leg of the voyage I got similar answers. Don't worry you will get into a routine and time will pass quickly. Well, they are right. We are getting into some kind of routine of sleeping, eating, repairs to be made, game or reading time, and general work duties. We all take our regular watches from 8pm to 10am. Then we get a little relaxed about who is on watch. We try to eat breakfast by 10 and then change sails if necessary for the day. We clean and do engine maintenance and other repairs after that. Of course there is the net at noon where we catch up with how all the other ARC sailors are doing and where they are located. Matt and I have beenhaving a sort of Olympic scrabble. read more...

Ronja - Boarding - Lure Wanted - Concerts

Pacific passage: Galapagos to Marquesas: Day 3, 4 and 5Position 05:01.72, 105:51.11WSailed distance: 1000 NMDistance to Marquesas: 1998NmDear readers,We can tell you that there has been some excitement these three days. 450 Nm out at sea two of the World Arc Yachts reported that they had been approached by two small open fishing vessels which had tried to climb on board the yachts. One of the yachts is sailing in a group of 5 yachts which have developed, of which Ronja is one. They did not think that they where harmful in anyway, they just wanted to come on board to sell or ask for something. They did however not allow the persons come on board, which they respected and get out of the way.Later that day the wind picked up and it developed quite nasty waves. We were in an area where we. read more...

Windflower III - Auf zu den Marquesas

Am Sonntag machen wir uns auf in Richtung Marquesas,einer Inselgruppe die zu Franzoesisch-Polynesien gehoert.Die Marquesas sind die Inselgruppe,die auch am weitesten entfernt von jedem Kontinent liegt.Ca.600-1000km suedlich des Aequators und ungefaehr 1600km nordostwaerts von Tahiti. Um sie zu erreichen planen wir fuer die ca.6000km lange Strecke 3-4 Wochen ein. Dabei werden einem die riesigen Ausmasse des Pazifiks in Erinnerung gerufen. Dieser bedeckt etwa 1/3 der Erdoberflaeche und ist damit groesser als alle Landmassen der Erde zusammen. Wir freuen uns auf diesen langen Schlag und hoffen,dass wir mit guenstigen Passatwinden und dem Suedaequatorialstrom diese Passage zuegig ueberwinden werden.Viele liebe Gruessedie Windflowercrew. read more...

Windflower III - Galapagos-Auf den Spuren Darwins

Eigentlich hatten wir ja angekuendigt,noch ueber unseren Aufenthalt in Ecuador zu berichten.Doch die Ankunft auf den Galapagos mit vielen neuen Eindruecken laesst das auf dem Festland erlebte bereits wieder in vergessenheit geraten.Am Sonntag um 1300 Uhr erfolgte direkt aussehalb der Marina von Salinas der Start zu den Galapagos.Paralell zu der Kueste,an Salinas und La Libertad vorbei bot die ARC-Flotte wieder ein beeindruckendesBild. Bei gutem Wind zog sich das Feld schnell wieder auseinander und nach einem Tag waren nur noch 4-5 Boote um uns herum am Horizont zu sehen.Leider schwaechte der Wind ab und zu allem Uebel setzte der Humboldstrom mit 3Kn gegenan,so dass wir mit ca.4-5 Knunserem Ziel der Insel San Cristobal entgegenfuhren.Vorteil der spiegelglatten See war aber,dass wir. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 47 - Showing the colours.....

12 March 2010When you have had a day of sailing at speeds of ten to ten and a half knots then to idle along at between five or six knots just does not seem good enough. That is what happened yesterday morning as I began my watch. Overnight we had been a group of three, Brown Eyed Girl who we had not seen since the previous day, Dreamcatcher and ourselves. Not long after sunrise Brown Eyed Girl suddenly accelerated and shot off over the horizon with Dreamcatcher not far behind. Poor Voyageur was left high but not quite dry. I have decided that Voyageur has a mind of her own and it is she who decides what speed we are going to go. It was as if she was in "irons", slow sluggish, awkward, a bit like me for the first half hour when I come up on watch. Of course it had nothing to do with my. read more...

A Lady - " A LADY " Sailing around the World, ( presently sailing from the Galapagos to the Marquesas Islands)

Before I start on the blog, its amazing the things that happen when sailing in these waters, but just now I heard a faint rattle, like something hitting the canopy or the railings or something, I couldent figure it out, looked around the deck and nothing there, I definatly heard something !  you know on a boat at night, your ears are fine tuned to the slightest strange sound or if the motor is running , the slightest change in pitch causes alarm bells to ring......... Its 03.00hrs , so I decide to make a cup of "Barry's" tea, so into the galley, which has its red night light on, so its dim in there. Oh shit ! what do you think I just stood on, yes a big flying fish, The strange sound was him crashing through the Galley window, poor thing. THURSDAY  11th. read more...

Graptolite - Explores More of the Galapagos

00:44.91S 090.18.46W Wed 5th March Puerto Ayora.No tortoises, giant or regular-sized, so I'm not happy. We went to South Plaza Island today which is stuffed with land iguanas, sealions and all kinds of other birds and beasts creeping around under big cacti but not a tortoise in sight. Swam with some Galapagos sealions and the crews of Harmonie, Quasar and Viva after lunch.It looks like our tortoise fix is going to have to be Lonesome George and company at the Charles Darwin Research Station later this week. Jacqui has suggested I give Lonesome a place on the crew so he can see the world and get some new girlfriends. His rope-handling and knot-tying skills will have to be checked out first.M. read more...

Graptolite - Santa Cruz

00:44.91S 090.18.46W Puerto Ayora, Academy Bay anchorage.We arrived here on Sunday and anchored in the bay along with almost everyone else in the world doing a circumnavigation this year. There could be sixty yachts around us all preparing for the run to the Marquesas.On Monday we went to the island of North Seymour. All the birds and animals, even fish, here are ridiculously unbothered by us eco-tourists and loaf around so people can have a good gawp. In fact, they are sometimes difficult not to tread on. We quickly had our fill of land iguanas, frigate birds and blue-footed boobies and other exotic birds nesting onshore and Galapagos sealions, marine iguanas and crabs playing on the beach.The colours here are one of the more striking things. Santa Cruz island, where we are anchored, is. read more...

Crazy Horse - repair ongoing

As we were sailing along today I was reminding Bill of some of the items that were not working or were in need of repair. We ended up in one of those couple discussions I will call it. As I was on the third item to be looked at Bill was pulling his hair out reminding me he can only do one thing at atime. Let me see, the toilet backed up, the drain for the shower was not going down, and the electric winch was not wenching, the sail needed to be reefed, and the auto pilot was squeeking. So you can see all is not paradise in paradise. We have our little issues on the boat as any one who has a boat knows.Taking a shower can be a challenge when you must keep one toe in the high side of the drain to make the water go down.Sometimes I feel like a gymnast when doing this or cooking when. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 46 - Gobble, gobble, gobble.

11 March 2010 Twenty four hours of fast sailing Voyageur is gobbling up the miles. We managed 500nm in three days. At this rate we may achieve our estimated 18day crossing. This would be wonderful for last time it took us 22days. We have not had to touch the engine since our second day out so long may it last. The grib files certainly show the wind staying with us. David is gobbling up the paperbacks. He is well and truly settled into cruising mode. We must have in the region of 100 in our onboard library partly thanks to Pat and Tony Pellegrini, Voyageur's previous owners who left us so many, so plenty to keep him going. He devours on average one book per day. We are gobbling up the fresh provisions. I always say to people buy what you think you need, double it, treble it. I should. read more...

Graptolite - Sailing the Galapagos Islands

00:47.41S 090:04.69W lunchtime Sunday off Isla Santa FeLast night in Puerto Baquerizo we had simple local fare for dinner. Mostly lobster. The restaurant had a problem with big black beetles running aroundon the tables. One climbed up on a grizzled old chap sat near us, which threw him into a panic. Said it reminded him of his ex-wife. How we laughed!Shin woke in the early hours thinking he was having another nightmare but it turned out to be a couple of sealions fighting on the back of our boat. I don't know why they were squabbling as Grapto has twin ship's wheels andthey easily could have both pretended to drive.We had an interesting bit of navigation about half an hour ago. We nosed into a sandy bay on the north side of Isla Santa Fe with the GPS telling us we were well inland and up. read more...

Graptolite - Meets the Locals

00:53.76S 089:36..82W Puerto Baqerizo Moreno, Isla San Cristobal, 1st MarchToday we got up close and personal with the local wildlife. A trip out to Kicker Rock had us swimming with sharks and turtles. On the way back we swam with sealions and marine iguana.The sealions are probably the most fun. On the beach they are smelly, noisy and ungainly. But none of those things in the water. The beach near the anchorage is thick with sealions and given half a chance they climb up on the boats at anchor for a spot of sunbathing or sit behind the wheel and pretend to be sailing. The local boat-owners have to put barbed-wire up to keep them out of the cabins.I can't think of much that is nice to say about marine iguana. We don't have much in common with them and conversation is difficult. It's. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 45 - In the groove!

10 March 2010Yesterday Voyageur got into her groove and so I think did we. Throughout the morning the winds gradually increased to force five. Now she really started to tramp across the ocean occasionally reaching nine to nine and half knots. By the early evening we were level pegging with Brown Eyed Girl. They cannot shake us off nor can we them. David replaced the accumulator tank and the repair would appear successful. Time will tell. We are still taking the precaution of switching the pump off after every use. We do not carry a lot of bottled water so it is imperative that we keep the tank topped up. I spend much of my time checking the fruits and vegetables and in food preparation and cooking. Lunch is a salad until the fresh stores are used up then I cook. Dinner is always a hot. read more...

Crazy Horse - fish onboard

We have been inspecting the decks every morning and been keeping track of the record number of fish we have been catching. Today seems to be the winner. We had 5 flying fish and more than forty squid. Matt and Bill counted more so I am giving you the lower number-I think they stopped counting.We have been reading the tales about squid and the sizes they can grow to be. One sailor reported catching a huge one on his reel and tried taking it off and was treated to a nice spray of acid in the face and on the clothes. It supposedly tried to pull him in the sea! According to the Cruising Chef Cookbook he says the deep sea squid can achieve a weight of over 300lbs. I don't think we will be catching anything or serving up anything that immense. We usually look at them and heave them overboard. read more...

Kasuje - Galapagos and Charles Darwin

Hi all,Just a short log to let you know that we have made landfall at the Galapagos Islands. We entered the harbour at 10.50 on Thursday morning. We will stay at this anchorage for a day to catch up with the maintenance jobs and refuel before the short passage across to the island of Santa Cruz. We will anchor there for a week. Bruce and Angela  are staying on Kasuje and Rubina is joining us on Thursday, whilst I'm booked on a five day mini cruise around the islands, can't wait to see those Boobies!!!Just as a footnote, it was just over 150 years ago that Captain Fitzroy brought a young Charles Darwin to this very spot, and started the revolution in thinking and our view of the natural world. An awesome thought as we sailed in today.The logs will probably dry up a bit for the next few. read more...

Lady Kay - arrived at Galapagos

@page Section1 {size: 8.5in 11.0in; margin: 1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; } P.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman" } LI.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman" } DIV.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman" } A:link { COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } SPAN.MsoHyperlink { COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } A:visited { COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } SPAN.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } SPAN.EmailStyle17 { COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-style-type: personal-compose } DIV.Section1 { page: Section1 }Hey finally made it to the Galapagos Islands (San Cristobal) this lunchtime after a trip. read more...

Ronja - Pacific passage: Galapagos to Marquesas: Day 1 and 2

Position 03:03.4S, 94:43.4WSailed distance: 288 NMDistance to Marquesas: 2698NmDear readers,We are well on the way over the Pacific, towards the Marquesas. The start at Galapagos where spectacular with almost the whole fleet at the starting line. There were some few boats that were not able to take the start. Special thoughts from Ronja to you all. We dearly hope you get your boats ready and start the chase to catch up with us. The start went off in light winds, and Ronja got well positioned in the middle of the fleet. After the busy and rolly harbor in Santa Cruz, it was just a thrill to be at sea again.The life on board has started to get well organized. The watch duties have started and we probably need a couple of days to get into the rhythm.The first night - always special - started. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 44 - Catching up

9 March 2010A busy day for both of us, David putting a chemical weld patch over the tiny hole in the accumulator tank, leaving it overnight to harden. Thank goodness for such an efficient watermaker. We got our tank capacity up to over 900litres. At last we can relax a little. We celebrated with a long shower each and I did a bucket of laundry, but we are still careful not to leave the pump on just in case. Now I felt free to blanch some of our fresh vegetables and freeze them before they went off. A very slow start in light force two to three winds. So much for showing off flying the mizzen ballooner. We were much too much taken up with our water shortage crises to dig it out of the locker. Lady Lisa flew theirs from the very beginning and are now 40nm ahead so it would appear to give a. read more...

Graptolite - Arrived Galapagos

00:53.76S 089:36..82W Puerto Baqerizo Moreno, Isla San CristobalGrapto arrived at 06:22 local time with just a tiny bit of diesel left in the tank. Over 870 sea miles were logged which was several hundred miles more than expected due to the adverse El Nino disturbed current against us.On the approach, about five miles out, we got our first smell of land in five days. It was mostly vegetation with perhaps also a hint of tortoise poo. The sun came up as we neared the finish line and there was a really good pink sunrise on display. Four or five boats, like us all waiting for daylight, arrived at the same time. Some sealions came to say hello as we anchored in the bay.Charles Darwin has long been something of a hero of mine. Not particularly for coming up with the concept of natural. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 42 - Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink!

7 March 2010One hour after crossing the start line of Leg 4 we had a little more excitement than we had intended. Our water tank capacity was down to 200 litres. It was time to make some water. To our horror there was not a drop in the tank! The pump was on and it had all run away into the bilge. It was definitely time to make water, so we spent the next two hours replacing what we had lost and another hundred litres more. That got us out of immediate danger. Then it was time to find out why we had lost all our water. A hole in the accumulator tank. So David removed it, put a bung in the pipe and will try to make a temporary repair which will get us to Tahiti. We made another three hundred litres so were able to relax a little. Until we have a full tank we are being careful, and forego. read more...

Maamalni - Leg 3 - Day 1: We are way behind the fleet

Yahoo, we are out of the harbor! Not a moment too soon, the crew was about to mutiny. The list of things that the new crew have noted that would be on the luxury cruise line would include: Never having to worry about repairs; Meals would be prepared for you: Laundry done and air conditioning all for considerably less money. Although they admit there is a certain charm to sweating in bed with a fan blowing on you it can actually be cooling. The first 24 hours saw no wind but calm seas. The rest of the fleet, well ahead of us reported in the daily radio net that they were all motoring against an adverse current running as much as 3 knots against them. Our first night out was calm with overcast. The boys got up early (after Suzan and Kristi stood 'Dog Watch' from midnight to 6AM) and went. read more...

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