Daily Logs

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,. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

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 ). read more...

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. read more...

Sialia - Day 8.

Its another hot and sunny day and unfortunately one without wind.The water is calm enough that looking out on all sides we can perceive the curvature of the earth.We are motor sailing directly into the little wind that we do have. We have just under 500 miles to go.  Luckily Mary Ann did an awesome job provisioning the boat and we still have lots of creative and interesting meals in front of us.I actually enjoy the challenge, and, thus far, our crew of five seems to enjoy the results.We even baked a loaf of lemon poppyseed cake for desert last night! Its in stark contrast to the 25-30 kts, squalls and rain we had for several hours last night.Nothing quite like being awoken from a dead sleep to less than a minute later standing on the bow in pouring rain while we tack.Sleeping on the. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

Johanem - first log

Cruising towards Madeira.. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

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             . read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

Scolamanzi - The Catch of the Day!

Johann & Henriëtte ScholtzGone Sailing again....the blue waters of the BVI  is for the moment our backyard !Yacht: Scolamanziwww.scolamanzi.info IMG_5623. read more...

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). read more...

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, (. read more...

Talulah Ruby II - Talulahs troubles.

The message is ready to be sent with the following file or linkattachments:CIMG2518.JPGCIMG2518. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

Anastasia - Magnetic Island and Townsville

0 0 1 204 1169 IADE 9 2 1371 14.0 Normal 0 false false falsePT JA X-NONE/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}19:15.2S 146:49.3E Gradually working our way northwards, the weather is getting warmer by the day.  We had some unexpectedly good wind which meant we could sail most of the way up to Townsville using the. read more...

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. read more...

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.. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

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. read more...

Cleone - Leg 22A Day 1 - Back in the Groove

It's good to be at sea again. Our visit to St Helana was all too short.  Most of us would be happy to have spent several more days there; the Skipper looked as if he wanted to take root there.  But there was something special about sailing away from this little island in the afternoon sun.  Looking back as it faded into the twilight, we wondered whether we would ever go back there (and I think that most of us have promised ourselves that it's a must), and if we did, whether there would be the same sense of magic about it.  But we are here to sail across the oceans and around the world, we've got to walk the walk as well as talk the talk. After an hour, motoring in what little breeze there was was curtailed by having to switch the engine off for the 1800 hours radio schedule.  Amidst the. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 258 - Springing a leak!

12 March 2011The squalls finally died away by late evening and we settled down for a relaxing night's sailing. We put Voyageur on a more westerly course so that the wind was abaft the beam. As soon as it was light enough to see I got David up to pole out the genoa so we could head more downwind. The wind remained steady so we are able to keep sailing. Now we are in deep water, we have the left the local fishing boats who hover around the fifty metre contour, in our wake, and unlike the previous night when we found ourselves in the midst of a busy shipping route, we have not now seen a single vessel since yesterday afternoon. Our old problem with the bow thruster seal has returned. David last changed it during haul out in French Polynesia and with hindsight should have done it again in. read more...

Persephone of London - SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER - AN OVERNIGHT RUN

We had been the beneficiaries of various advice who had each advised us of efficient “jumping off points” on the Portuguese coast to make an efficient passage to Madeira. Many of the boats we had met along the journey thus far had elected to set off to the island from Figuera, or  Cascais and some chose Sines, a few miles south of Cascais.However, we wanted to visit the Algarve coast too and set a course from Cascais direct to Lagos, on the south coast. Our predicted journey time was 24 hours so this was going to be the first night sail since we crossed Biscay.We upped anchor at around midday and motored off in calm conditions, hoping for the predictable sea breeze to kick in in the afternoon. Some minor engine uncertainty...the engine had developed a disliking for tick over or slow. read more...

Cleone - In St Helena

It's a matter of life or death; Give us our Airport, Gordon.  The Governor, Mr Gurr, was away when we arrived, back in London trying to convince the Foreign Office that the decision to Postpone the Decision (UK Government-speak for Cancel Until Further Notice) on the long-awaited Airport was not a good one, and needs to be reversed.  A former Chief Secretary of the Falkland Islands Administration, apparently he comes from a business background.  He should be better able than most diplomats to argue that the Airport is essential to revitalise St Helena, and that the capital cost of the Airport and the accompanying infrastructure fully outweighs the cost of a new Support Vessel to replace the ageing MV St Helena and the £15M a year currently needed in subsidies to keep the island. read more...

Lady Ev.VI - lady Ev. VI daily log v. 12.3. Kapstadt - Brasilien

Bericht Segeln Südatlantik v.Kapstadt nach Salvador (Brasilien)Nach der rauhen, ruppigen und gefährlichen Strecke von Mauritius nach Kapstadt an der südafrikanischen Küste entlang, die wir unter großen Anstrengungen gemeistert hatten, wurde am 8.Januar die Rally Kapstadt- St. Hellena-Salvador (Brasilien) gestartet. Schon kurz nach dem Start in Houtbay verscwand das Regattafeld im Nebel. Der kalte Benguela-Strom machte sich bemerkbar. Glücklicherweise war kein Großschiffartsverkehr zu verzeichnen, obwohl wir uns schon in der Ansteuerung des Hafens Kapstadt befanden. Als die Sicht nach Stunden besser wurde, war schließlich nichts mehr von der World ARC-Flotte zu sehen. Bei mittleren Winden und schönem Wetter ging es Richtung St. Helena und langsam aber sicher hatten wir uns an die Spitze. read more...

Matilda - In the Land Down Under

We arrived in Mackay on Friday 27th July and cleared customs and quarantine without having anything confiscated; in fact it was a very smooth and friendly process so we were pleasantly surprised. It was one of the easiest port entries we have experienced so far, and the officials even came aboard and completed the forms for us!Anne, Barry and Amethyst arrived on the Saturday and we prepared for the cruise through the Whitsudnays. We saw whales, some as close as 20 metres away, caught a lovely tuna for the BBQ and frolicked on Whitehaven, the most beautiful beach in the world. Our guests had a fabulous holiday and we even managed to squeeze in a visit to Magnetic Island on the last day. To top it all off, we ran aground in the entrance to Townsville marina, which is not something you. read more...

Karma Daze - First Blog

Karma Daze is now in Puerto Calero in Lanzarote and we have come back to the UK for a couple if weeks for family duties. We will be returning to Puerto Calero on the 4th October. The boat will be taken out of the water for antifouling/polishing and fitting a folding prop. After that we slowly sail down to Gran Canary enjoying the islands. We hope to be in Las Palmas on the 25th October. read more...

Purrr-fect - Fish on

On the table that is.More about that in a second.Afew of the rough nights we started thinking what are we doing here.Today we know why.It was a great day. It started with a dolphin show at sunrise.We set the sails to wing and wing (know as goosewing by the Brits here) and had a beautiful down wind sail, with hardly touching the sail, for 15 hours.Clearand partly sunny.And we are rapidly closing on the Azores. As I write this we only have 120 miles to go and should be in late Tuesday evening.Then as Linda was starting to prep a spaghetti dinner,the reel starting singing.We quickly improved our fishing score to Fish 2 (lost lures); Purrrfect 1, as we landed a nice size Tuna.Jim cooked some immediately with his ownblend of spices, etc.It was great and we almost filled our small freezer. read more...

Persephone of London -11TH - 14TH SEPTEMBER - NAZURE TO LISBON

We decided to leave Nazure on Tuesday afternoon and set sail over to the island of "Isla de Belinga"  and take up an anchorage for the evening.      It was a pleasant spot under the cliffs and lighthouse  if not a little 'rolly'.  The mist closed in and it wasn't long before you could only see the loom from the light of the lighthouse and not much more.  The island is a local nature park so we spent the evening listening to the various cries of the many different sea birds.On Wednesday with set off for Cascais (a town east of Lisbon).     This was probably the best days sailing so far in our trip!  We had fantastic breeze, averaging 19 knots, great waves and beautiful sunshine all the way.  We were able to fly the spinnaker for most. read more...

Crazy Horse - March 12

Our position @ 1335 UTC 3 27.S 36 59.WWe were sailing along yesterday and suddenly we had one of our many squalls. After that squall we noticed that our batten from the mainsail was falling out. Being afraid that we would lose it or it would tear the sail , we took the mainsail down to fix it. With all the wind and squalls it was impossible to keep the sail still enough to work on it. The wind was fluky with gusts and then nothing. So we abandoned the idea of using the main and tried to sail only with the jib. Well, that didn't work very well and we really wanted to sail wing and wing. So we decided to motor until things calmed down to fix the sail. It got dark and Bill just decided to wait until morning to fix it and continue sailing along. So in the end we motored all night until we. read more...

Talulah Ruby II - Talulah's Tales

St. Helena was a fantastic Island,with only 4000 inhabitants,the approach by sea made it seem barren, but once reaching Jamestown we were in a long forgotten lush English country town. Everyone waves or says good day, and as it was Wednesday when we arrived ashore, all the shops had half day closing (for those of us who remember such things!) along with a castle and church, a truly peaceful place. There is no airport and no land nearby, so very cut off; luckily for us a supply ship had just called so provisioning was possible, apart from fruit, I only found 4 overripe apples in the whole town. For the younger, fitter crew members there was Jacob's Ladder to climb; 700 vertical steps up a cliff face, whilst the senior sailors retired to the pub. We did however go for a tour round the. read more...

Irena - Dan 14

Vceraj smo cel dan jadrali z genakerjem, saj je pihalo med 9 in 12 vozli. Sli smo med 5 in 6 vozli. Popoldan smo dobili napoved za danes in jutri, ki ni najbolj obetavna, saj napovedujejo vetrove s sunki do 45 vozlov ter valove do 5 me3trov. Do sedaj niso bili najbolj tocni, pa upam, da tudi tokrat ne bodo. je pa res, da pritisk dokaj hitro pada in je sedajze 1010, pred 24 urami pa je bil 1014. Ostali viri, ki jih imam (grib podatki) kazejo na malo manj vetrov, tam do 33 vozlov. Vsekakor bomo to videli. Do Horte imamo se 170 milj in racunalnik kaze, da bomo tam cez 26 ur, se pravi v sredo zjutraj ob 6:00. To mi ustreza, saj nimam posebnega veselja z prihodi v luko ponoci. Trenutno jadramo spolnim glavnim jadrom in genovo. Napoved je sicer bila do 25 vozlov vetra, vendar ga je najvec 17.. read more...

Samsara - samsara won't be able to continue with the rally

August 7Unfortunately the boat requires some repairs and it's going to take several months to fix. We are going to miss all of the participants of the rally and the World ARC family so much!We aren't sure what's going to happen at this point but we may be cruising around here and joining the 2nd half of the next rally - we'll just have to wait and see where life takes us.It's been sad to watch each of the boats leave Mackay and know that we won't be meeting up with everyone at the next port.It's not goodbye - we'll be catching up sometime/somewhere in the future!Pauline. read more...

Page 48 of 224  46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67