Daily Logs

Ensemble - Day 40 (Feb 18): Tortoise stampede

Greetings from yacht Ensemble!Yesterday we decided to do and island tour of San Cristobal. This involved stopping the nearest taxi - Mike (from Wind Dancer) doing some negotiation in Spannish - and then a 4 hour drive around the island. We drove up into the highlands - and there was a marked change in the weather - with (more) rain and a drop in temperature. First stop was the tortoise farm. This had been established to try and sure up tortoise numbers through a breeding program and seemed to be doing very well. It was a pleasant stroll through the native bush (being wary of the poison apple tree whose sap can send you blind). Magali posed for a photo and if she hadn't moved quickly (in the next hour or so...) may have been the first recorded victim of a giant tortoise stampede. (see. read more...

Crazy Horse - Aug. 25

 On Monday, Crazy Horse and Ocean Jasper actually made it into Port Douglas. We came in on the low tide and barely made it through the Dickson Inlet to the marina. But when OJ pulled into her slip there was a sudden stop and she had run aground only 15 ft of getting into the slip. We had to all waituntil high tide to get into our slips at the Mirage Marina. The name surely suites because there were no marina workers to help or direct us to a different slip. Turns out Port Douglas has this imperative need for dredging for the whole marina and even inlet pass to get into port. They have several dredgers around (but none seem to be working) trying to keep the boats from being hi and dry. So after a couple hours of passing back and forth through the inlet that we knew had higher water,. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - Rarotonga - day 1!

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } Saturday 24th MayWe reach Rarotonga before dawn so slowly meander our way in as the sun rises. It’s a small harbour but clearly marked and accessible. There’s an wrecked trawler parked on the reef at the entrance – apparently there since one stormy night last year when the skipper was the worse for wear ! We tie up stern to on the harbour wall with the help of a local man who catches our lines. It’s a grey drizzly day, but the town is slowly wakening up and is soon busy – the local market is nearby. Everyone who walks by greets us and we get the feeling we’re going to like this place…Into the Blue and Andante of Mersey are not far behind us – Tallulah Ruby radio to say they’re a few hours away.. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 147 - Rocking to the waves!

23 August 2010Voyageur's motion is sweet. In perfect timing as I listen to my Ipod music. We have not touched our sails since day one. These Amels really are the most wonderful low maintenance sailboats. With poled out genoa and full mizzen all we have had to do is take a few rolls in the genoa during the course of the first night. We have not even had to put in a jibe, just a tweak here and a tweak there, a few degrees to port or starboard and that is it. Having an extra crewmember, Peter, has made all the difference, giving David and I few more hours rest. Darwin is now just one day away. The approach is quite complex and it is essential to get the timing right for the tide to take you through the Dundas Strait. We have to get to Cape Don four and half hours before high water. If not,. read more...

Graptolite - Graptolite - Island Night

21:12.00S 159:47.00W Avatiu, Rarotonga, Cook Islands Wednesday 28th May AMWe are still hanging off the harbour wall at Avatiu, Rarotonga.Yesterday we did a couple of dives on the outside of the reef. There werelots of nice fish at 25 metres down but not much that was big and dangerous.Lunch yesterday was a barbecue on the harbour wall. I think it was fromsomebody's freezer that needed clearing out!Last night was an 'Island Night' at the Crown Beach Resort. We went allpsyched up for some eye-catching exotic dancing from young ladies, what weactually got were some very young girls that couldn't possibly be fillingtheir coconut-shell bikini tops. It's not the same thing at all, guys. Thebread-and-butter pudding from the buffet was the best bit.M. read more...

Glamorous Galah - Wildlife galore

Isla San Christobal is way more beautiful than we expected. The village of Baquerizo Moreno is a friendly place which the residents take great pride in. They are very conscious of the fragile nature of their island. At Punta Carola, where we have been surfing, they have even erected a board rack so that surfers no longer lay their boards on the flora.The point is a right hander with a left just over the other side of Wreck Bay. Many seals and turtles swim through the line up while we wait for waves which is enchanting.We will do some more exploring here over the next few days before visiting some other islands in the group prior to our 4th March departure for French Polynesia.Ted. read more...

Serendipity - Swimming with sea lions, turtles and sharks

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A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently at sea, the Arafura sea, northern Australia)

Sunday, 22nd August 2010  00.30hrs  Distance travelled, 462 n miles               Wind  .................20/25 knots  E to ESE               Weather..............moderate to flat sea, beautiful night 09.35hrs Radio call, nothing, but we sent Eowyn our position by email. We did see another yacht on the horizon, but could not raise her on the radio/ VHF. Later, it turned out the yacht was Grand Filou. We tried some fishing, but the fish kept gobbling our lures, so we gave up in the end as a bad job. 12.35hrs It is such a pleasure to sail with just the Parasail flying, " KITE " and we have covered another 201 n. read more...

Cleone - CLEONE in Suworrow Part 1

 Another lovely island, with a unique character. Our first couple of days in Suworrow have beenbliss.  For some reason, the leg from Bora Bora was not easy, and despiteseveral days of good sailing, the Skipper and crew were tired, and grateful todrop the anchor once we had negotiated the tricky pass through the reef. And I did not tell you that in the final 24 hours, Cleone covered 160 mileswithout the aid of a current - she knew we wanted to arrive, and arrive indaylight. The first night we made little effort, apart fromthe Skipper who took a short trip ashore.  Here he met the onlyresidents; John the caretaker, his wife Veronica and their four boys aged, Johnthought, (and he sought confirmation from his wife) 13,11 and twins of10.  This is John's. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - Rarotonga Sailing Club

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Lady Ev.VI - Daily Log, 21. August 2010

Wir folgen der Nordkueste von Australien von Cap York nach Cap Wessel, dann zwischen Melville Island und dem Festland nach Suedwest und bis Darwin. Dort erwartet uns auf einem Ankerplatz vor Darwin werden wir von der health-Control erwartet, die uns und das Boot auf manchmal unbemerkt mitgebrachte gefaehrliche Lebewesen und Samen aus Papua-Neuguinea durchsucht. Dazu wird das Boot von einem Taucher untersucht, eine Bescheinigung fuer die verwendete Antifouling-Farbe wird verlangt, von innen werden die Außenbordsoeffnungen verschlossen und mit einer Fluessigkeit gefuellt, die dort 14 Stunden verbleiben muss. Die ganze zeit bleibt das Boot vor Darwin vor Anker liegen; erst nach dieser Zeitspanne erhalten wir die freigabe zum Einlaufen in unsere Marina, wo wir endlich nach vermutlich 5 Tagen. read more...

Ensemble - Day 39 (Feb 17): Swimming with the seals

Greetings from yacht Ensemble!Yesterday we went on one of the World ARC organised boat excursions to three of the small islands just off San Cristobal.We brought our snorkelling gear - and were not disappointed. The first site was a few miles north along the west coast where a small island peninsula forms a natural lagoon. As well as the countless birds we saw marine iguanas, seals and turtles. Then we got to get off the boat and go snorkelling and get 'up close and personal' with some of the local wildlife. Once in the water we were greeted by a shark (a small black tip). No one seemed to mind (least of all the shark) - so we continued to snorkel along the island's shore. The highlights included a play with some seals (they seem to use the bay as a nursery). They are not afraid at all -. read more...

Glamorous Galah - Galah Prose

Here's some prose, a fairy tale, we broadcast as part of the radio sched. Once upon a time, Mr Blues was working on a dream. As he walked; he had nothing to use a gun vor; but the southern cross inspired a vision of a trompeta playing for a king, with a royal leopard- he had a sapphire too.At last the pilgrim saw peat smoke, with a wind dancer performing a beat to the breeze, oh what a sight!Next came a dozen nymphs - Anastasia, Bronwyn, Chessie, Eva, Juba, Matilda, Ruby, Sam, Sara, Sophie and Zoe - all baring their bottoms! It was an ensemble of 12 moons, a sort of rude Luna Verde. Ah, the serendipity of the World ARC fleet sea quest on our way to the glamorous Galahpagos islands.. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - Cook Islands Driving licences!

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A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently crossing the Arafura Sea, Northern Australia)

Saturday, 21st August 2010  03.30hrs We have covered 285 miles so far, and its another beautiful night at sea. The - KITE - pulling us along at an average 9 knots for the last 3 hours, the moon is shining brightly up there high in the sky, and the boat is as steady as a rock. What more could one ask ! 04.00hrs The moon went to moonbed, so we are left with just the stars twinkling up there, Niall was still on deck and said it was the best nights sail he ever had. We almost had to unscrew him from the deck and make him go to the scratcher.   It is truly fantastic to visit all these out of the way places, places we never heard of in our lives, the first we ever heard of Thursday Isl. was when we decided to do this trip and recieved the itinerary.... read more...

Voyageur - Log day 146 - A walk in the park...

21 August 2010The wind has stayed with all day and dropped a notch down to a more leisurely pace, that of a stroll in the park rather than a jog. Voyageur had two close encounters of the "yachtie" kind overnight. Now we just take in our sails and allow the other boat to pull ahead. It is a waste of time calling them up. More often than not you won't get a response. We are now halfway across the Gulf of Carpentaria. It forms the south and eastern boundary of the Arafura Sea. The name Arafura is derived from the word "alfours" meaning 'free men'. The coastline of the gulf is shared between Queensland on to the east and the Northern Territories to the west. Broadly speaking the Northern Territory land is Aboriginal land and thus can only be visited with a permit. The rest is given over to. read more...

Maamalni - Maamalni - In Port #1 - Bora Bora… The Center of Paradise.

What a beautiful place!A dramatic center island surrounded by an expansive lagoon and coral motu's and reefs.MaaMa visited a number of different anchorages including one on the east side of the island (while trying to find a weather hole to ride out a small storm passing through). Traversing the 'East Channel' was a challenge as there are coral heads lurking at every turn and the Coast Pilot advises that boats with a depth greater than 2.5 meters do not attempt.Well MaaMa is just 2.49 metersso we went for it? and the comfort of the anchorage during the storm was our reward.The other boats in the fleet complained about rough seas through the night. We on the other hand went to the bar at the St. Regis where we were anchored for the night.The next day we jumped into the dinghy and motored. read more...

Glamorous Galah - Shark on menu

Here are the sharks which Dave and Ted caught (photo). Dave did an amazing job of filleting them on the transom. We've since had shark and Vegies, steamed shark (breakfast), flake and chips and a shark curry! Theres about three or four meals left.We had a good run of wind until about 150nm out from the Galapagos when we had to motor.Ted. read more...

Ensemble - Day 38 (Feb 16): San Cristobel - Meet the new crew!

Greetings from yacht Ensemble!We had a nice quiet day in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno. The village is small but pleasant - and has a certain rustic charm. However, the unique attraction lies in the closeness and accessibility of the wild life.Take the water taxi from your boat to the dock and you are greeted by seals, iguanas, turtles and pelicans - all within 5 minutes of the boat and lounging around the shore. There is no doubt who really owns this island.We met 'Betty' when we returned to the boat after dinner in town - and since then she has been a fixture on the back of the boat. She will be particularly useful getting tangled ropes off the propeller and providing fresh fish (if she can be convinced to share!) Magali complains that she snores - (and could do with a shower) - but I think. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently at sea between Thursday Island and Darwin, Australia)

Friday, 20th August 2010  00.30hrs The skies are cloudy and the moon is all covered up, the wind is 27 knot from behind and we also have the benifit of a 2 knot current. 03.00hrs The wind is still holding up, and we have plenty of big sea's, that's the good thing about the trade winds, they usually blow from the same direction and roughly the same speed every day, 20/35 knots, sometimes of course, a little ( LOT ) more and sometimes a little less. 09.00hrs We tried in vain the get the SSB working, but we think all it needs is a code typed into the unit and then we will be in business. However we were still close enough to the rest of the fleet to get them on VHF...... we were all within a 30miles radius of one another. It's fantastic to look at our charts. read more...

Maamalni - Maamalni - In Port #2 - What price paradise?

The crew of Maamalni really needs to leave port?. It is way too expensive here.The price of a roll of paper towels - $8, a cabbage is $10 and a yachting magazine $30.After having a dinner out, our new crewmember, Larry Heck of Seattle exclaimed, "Compared with the dinner tab, the Tahitian black pearls are a bargain".Little did we think that would lead to actual pursuing and shopping, but this group when faced with the option of going to sea with the fleet or staying in town for another dayof provisioning of course opted for "provisioning" as the beer and alcohol stores from Panama and Ecuador had been serious depleted. If we were to keep ship's crew sedated with grog and morale high, we needed to find what the locals drank.Nothing is cheap in Tahiti but we did find the local 'rock-gut'. read more...

Maamalni - Maamalni - Leg 5: #1 Heading for Suwarrow - "Back in the saddle again"

We finally escaped port with the new outboard propeller in hand and headed for sea.The fleet left Tuesday at noon and we straggled along after them Friday afternoon?. But you might well imagine that once you've missed the starting gun, you just get complacent and go when you think that the wind is right.As we headed for the setting sun to the west, the breeze freshened and we raised sail? for all of 30 minutes.Engine on!So for the next 72 hours, Perkie kept a chuggin'? and when Perkie isworking, it means that we have ice cubes? now I am not sure that 1 gallon of diesel to a glass of ice is a good bargain, but at least the batteries were being recharged and topped off. Larry (a.k.a. Bob), who had been with us for a portion of the shakedown cruise to Kodiak Alaska needed an uneventful. read more...

Crazy Horse - Aug 21

Well, we are sitting here early in the a.m. at our berth in Marlin Marina in Cairns. We stopped here yesterday to take a quick peak at the town and get Bill that passport photo he desperately needed for work. The photo is off to the post and we have had a little taste of the town. It is a quite busy place with a tourist population which is obviously from all over the world. The trips and dive to the Great Barrier Reef is the main attraction. There are hundreds of dive boats of every quality to take the trip. There is even the Nudey Beach if you so desire on Fitzroy Island But there is no shortage of trips to the rain forest, camping grounds, and visits to the aboriginal lands. This is an interesting place and full of energy.There are so many restaurants just in this one place around the. read more...

Sapphire II - Alert !,Feb 15, Day 39

For those expecting daily updates to the blog, you should expect less frequent updates as we spend more time at sea. Communications are deteriorating as we move west, so please bear with us as we try to keep you informed of our progress.We'll probably move to a 5 day interval for updating. We are definitely in the wilds!. read more...

Wind Dancer - LOG 10: Chariots of Fire

After a very enjoyable last hurrah on Contadora, the fleet has managed to get on the move again and relocate to the beautiful and much anticipated Galapagos Islands. The skippers briefing in Las Perlas revealed that the winds would be light and not in our favor for the south east passage. We would have to deal with the ITZ zone which pretty much means dead air and diesel usage. The sail out of Contadora was spectacular with many of the boats setting spinnakers and parasails. The colorful parade out of the anchorage was quite a sight to see. We had great wind for the first evening, but unfortunately with the evenings came light wind and the motor had to be put into gear. Regardless, each day provided new scenery, great sunrises and sunsets and miles closer to our chance to spend two weeks. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 145 - Dash to Darwin

19 August 2010Jeepers! It is so windy here. It comes in great gusts, "bullets" of wind. One minute it is thirteen knots, the next nearly 30knots. We cannot ever remember being in a place with so much wind, for so long except in Scotland! I lift the anchor to head for the start of leg 13 at twelve o'clock. The wind is blowing so hard the water from the anchor wash pipe showers me with salt water. We cross the start line nine minutes late but it was quite intentional. In this howling gale we do not wish to short tack in the confined waters off Port Kennedy on T. I. Half the genoa is all we need as we all tear down Normanby Sound, a three knot current in our favour. The visibility is as poor as ever today. The islands around Thursday Island are in the centre of the windiest trade wind area. read more...

Lady Kay - Suwarrow

Arrived in Suwarrow yesterday morning, after having to put reefs in sails to slow us down so we didn't arrive in the dark.Anchored off the main island on the reef. Were met by 5 or 6 black tip reef sharks who took a fancy to the boat - luckily I had a swim before they arrived. We went ashore and reported to the warden who is here with wife and 5 young boys.They live in a rather basic, but attractive hut on stilts.The island is a solid mass of coconut palms surrounded by white sand and coral.Snorkeling is excellent.Had Anne and Don from Harmonie across for a meal last night and we are going ashore for a fleet barbeque with the warden and family this evening.I have volunteered to bring some fish!Getting ashore is quite tricky as dingy dock mainly collapsed and also very shallow with coral. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently departing Thursday Island, Australia)

Thursday, 19th August 2010     (Judith Meade's birthday, skippers sister) One of the sayings on the pavement on Thursday Island read :-  "The past exists, for the present, to create the future". That's good! The Islands are very interesting, but we wont have time to explore them. We will  just to say we have been to T.I. as we leave for Darwin today at noon. 07.00hrs We all got ready for a trip ashore to T.I. The ferry only runs every hour on the half hour, so we got the 0830. Skipper went to the hotel looking for the lovely Susanne, (rally control) but instead met an Irish lass behind the reception desk. Her name is Sinead, and hails from Dublin, but, has cousins "the Browns" living in Blackrock, Cork. I have said it before, what a small. read more...

Storyteller - FW: Storyteller, day 3

Very little to report today as continue to motortoward Suwarrow. We are making good progress and have just passed the halfwaypoint being helped along by a .5 to 1kt favourable current. Our main concern nowis our rapidly diminishing fuel stock. We will be looking for more favourablewind for the onward leg from Suwarrow to Niue or the Northern Cook Islands wichwill be our next opportunity to buy fuel.. read more...

Seaquest - Neptunus aan boord! Oversteek Las Perlas - Galapagos

Donderdag 9 februari om 12.00 uur klinkt het startsein door de marifoon: samen met zo'n 30 andere World ARC schepen gaan we bij Isla Contadora over de startlijn voor de oversteek naar de Galapagos eilanden. Heel bijzonder! De eerste schepen beginnen meteen hun spinaker of genaker tevoorschijn te halen. Mede door al die vrolijk gekleurde zeiltjes verdeelt het peloton zich al snel in twee velden: de snelle jongens en de pleziervaarders. Hoewel wij vooral voor ons plezier varen, komen we leuk mee met de koplopers. Tja, en dan word je natuurlijk vanzelf fanatiek, helemaal omdat Marcel bij ons aan boord is en ook wel iets met wedstrijdzeilen heeft. Iedere keer weten we er een half knoopje in snelheid bij te tellen, door de genaker bij te zetten en alert te zijn op koers en zeilvoering. Dat. read more...

Destiny - Start Leg 13

Es ist Donnerstag, 19.8.2010, wir nehmen Abschied von Thursday Island. Um 12 Uhr Ortszeit ist Start zum ca. 830 sm entfernten Ziel: Darwin. Leg 13, na, hoffentlich geht das gut, hier kann nur eine Frau Startleiter sein, um den Booten ein sicheres Gefühl mit auf den Weg zu geben: Suzana ist Startleiter. De Startlinie verläuft vom Main Jetty genau nach Süd zur ersten gelben Boje vor der Untiefe zwischen Thursday Island und Horne Island.11:44:50 Uhr: Suzana zählt 10 Sekunden zur Zeitabgleichung. Ausgerechnet jetzt läuft ein großer Frachter durch die Flotte von 13 Booten, um am Main Jetty fest zu machen. Wir legen von der Boje ab, an der wir die letzten 3 Nächte lagen.11:49:55 Uhr: Suzana zählt 5 Sekunden zum Warnsignal: kurzer Ton und Flagge "C" wird gesetzt.11:54:55 Uhr: Suzana zählt 5. read more...

Storyteller - FW: Day 2, motoring

Our headsail furler parts turned up Wednesdayevening even though DHL said they were lost. Leaving Bora Bora three days afterthe official departure was no hardship as it gave Sue's leg time to heal and theweather forecast was better than three days earlier. luckily the supply ship hadcome in so we were able to stock up on pineapples, papaya and spring onions,thing we hadn't previously been able to get on Bora Bora. Since leaving, we haveenjoyed warm sunny weather with 12 kts of breeze. The problem is that it iscoming from directly behind us! If this continues we will have to motor all theway to Suwarrow which is still 500 miles away. However, we have plenty of fueland with surplus power the ice maker is working brilliantly.   Suwarrow has to be one of the most isolated placeson earth. It. read more...

Ensemble - Day 37 (15 Feb): Land ho - Galapagos!

Greetings from Ensemble!We are now safely at anchor in the marina on San Cristobal Island (Chatham), Galapagos Islands.Yesterday, aside from a couple of hours in the morning, there was virtually no wind - and what there was was on the nose - so motored most of the way. To make matters worse we had a fairly strong current also on our nose. I had planned to get in well before sunset - but to make it comfortably we had to use both engines for the last 3 hours. In the end it all went quite well, with us arriving at 17:30pm (16:30pm local time) - so we had plenty of sunlight for dropping anchor - and even had time to clear customs, immigration and quarantine.This went really well, with the World ARC representative showing up in a water taxi with the harbour master, immigration, customs, and. read more...

Anastasia - Crossing the line

At 4pm today we crossed the equator and were visited by Neptunus Rex who put the crew through various ordeals before presenting them with certificates declaring them Most Honorable Friends of Neptune's Court. 31The ordeals involved sea, air and land, with the clouds of the air symbolized by flour and the dirt of the land symbolized by cocoa powder. 32Bertie was not presentable enough to satisfy Neptunus who insisted on shaving him as well. 33 . read more...

Lady Ev.VI - Daily Log 17. August 2010

Wir liegen vor Anker gegenueber Thursday Island, vor der Mangroven-Kueste von Horn Island, an der Nordspitze von Australien... Es ist jetzt 1900 Uhr Ortszeit, der Mond steht im Sueden ueber der Horn-Insel und wir sprechen im dunklen Cockpit ueber den naechsten Tag.Wir haben heute von Suzana Buraca die Unterlagen fuer den Start um 1200 Uhr erhalten, und wir hoffen, dass moeglichst viele WARC-Yachten gemeinsam mit uns den Golf von Carpentaria nach Darwin ueberqueren. Das macht es etwas leichter, wenn auch unsere Erfahrung sagt, dass schon am zweiten Tag keiner mehr den Anderen sieht. Nur manchmal entdeckt man nachts am Horizont ein kleines Licht, von dem man dann gerne annimmt, dass es einer von uns ist. Man fuehlt sich dann doch nicht so ganz allein!!Alle Leute, die Helferin des. read more...

Graptolite - Graptolite - Rarotonga, Wear The Fox Hat?

21:12.00S 159:47.00W Avatiu, Rarotonga, Cook Islands Monday 26th May PMRarotonga brings us back to the English speaking world once more. A bit ofMaori is also useful but not essential to get by. As we approached Rarotongaearly on Sunday morning the temperature fell and we had some drizzly rainjust to make us feel really at home.First impressions of Rarotonga are that it is a really nice place. Thenatives are very friendly, the cost of living high on the hog is much lessthan French Polynesia and the beaches, reefs and mountains are as good asanywhere else in the Pacific. There are some quirky things about the placethough, one of them being that most houses seem to have gravestones ofancestors in the front garden. Also every second building seems to be achurch of some denomination or. read more...

Graptolite - Island Hop, Skip and Jump

21:00.41S 159:29.67W 01:00 Sunday 25th MayAitutaki had to be missed as the winds were not all that keen on taking us there so we sailed for the island of Atiu instead. After timing our arrival to first light on Saturday we found a fairly impenetrable fortress of cliffs and surf with no obvious landing place. Atiu is supposed to be one of the last bastions of the old Polynesian way of life which is not all that surprising given how difficult it is to get on or off.Giving up on Atiu we continued on towards Avarua, Rarotonga. We should arrive there at first light in the morning. As it will be another Sunday in Polynesia, it means that everything will be closed. The practice of eating missionaries should be revived.M. read more...

Anastasia - South Pacific Dolphins

At sundown today we were visited by a large pod of big bottle-nosed dolphins which were playing around, doing barrel rolls off our bows and leaping out of the water.  This one wanted to stop for a chat. 2D. read more...

A Lady - Sailing around the World (Presently in Thursday Island, The Torres Strait, Northern Australia)

Wednesday, 18th August 2010 03.00hrs The moon had vanished again over the tops of the mountains to the west. The skies began to clear, and our next waypoint is Bushy Island. We say bushy Island as if it was an island, but in fact it is just a wee little rock about 5 miles off shore, but an important little rock on our journey and from there we passed Turtle Island on our way to Albany Pass. 09.00hrs We passed through Albany pass. Albany pass, is a narrow passage between Albany Island and the mainland of Australia, namely " Queensland". Its interesting to note that the government of Queensland once considered building a " Singapore of the South " on Albany island. This idea got demolished very quickly when a politician got gobbled up by a crocodile on a visit to the. read more...

Samsara - A proper sacrifice to King Neptune

Feb 14We are still 50 miles from the equator but have been discussing the appropriate sacrifice to King Neptune. Lee has suggested sacrificing Sarah but I'm not sure his motivation for that offer is pure....I'm hoping King Neptune will be happy with our offering of rum instead.We sailed most of the day and at 7:15pm or so we dropped the spinnaker and the main to motor - not much wind. It didn't come up at all last night and we had to motor until morning. Hopefully we'll get some wind overnight and be able to shut the engine off - I can't stand the noise, and fumes - it's terrible when the wind is right behind you the fumes stay close to the boat - not pleasant (or particularly safe). Motoring also means a lot of rolling - the back and forth is kind of annoying hour after hour. We had. read more...

Cleone - CLEONE Leg 7 Day 6 -We're Nearly There!

Cleone lifted up her skirts and flew.  And we've arrived inSuworrow!   For some reason, Suwarrow has moved from being dead up-wind for the firstcouple or three days of light weather, and dead down-wind for the lastthree days of proper sailing weather.  And I know which I'd ratherhave!  Nevertheless, this direct downwind stuff has given us itschallenges.  No sailing boat likes running dead down-wind.  For astart it's slower than sailing 20 degrees or so either way, second it puts youin ever-present danger of gybing (the risks of which we try and minimize byusing a preventer on both the main and mizzen booms), and third, given the firsttwo, it means gybing every so often to maintain your rhumb-line course. This is how we we have spent the last day of our leg to Suworrow.  And nowwe have. read more...

Crazy Horse - Aug 19

We are about 21 away from the main shipping channel that leads into Cairns. We have seen so many ships going up and down the channel and now even across. We have to be ever so watchful in the dark and even in the daylight. The ships come upon us very fast. This is the time when you realize that the open water of the ocean is far safer than this busy channel which has the reef almost right up to it in places.We have just about recognized that we are not going to make it to Darwin in time to see the fleet. They should be off on the leg from Thursday I. to Darwin now. We are just nowhere near close to that start! We are slowly making our approach to the top of Australia. There is no wind and so we are motoring along between 6 and 7 kts.When we went to Mooloolooba we purchased a book by a. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 144 - Wednesday on Thursday Island!

18 August 2010We slept like logs. It was the first time in many days that not only did we not need to set our alarm but we also do not need to move on today. Half of the rally boats are at anchor over on Thursday Island and half of us are here on the other side of the Ellis Channel at Horn Island. This is because the anchorage over on Thursday does not read well. For a start it is on a lee shore. Then the holding is reportedly not good and the shelter indifferent. Tucked in behind Horn Island at least we are in a bit of shelter, the holding is excellent and there is no swell. A regular ferry service across to Thursday Island or T. I. as it is popularly known, meant that we could get over for our briefing notes from Suzana for the next leg to Darwin. We went ashore on Horn, a. read more...

Southern Cross - Update

Yesterday afternoon we saw a whale just off the bow. I think we scared it because as we went past where it came out, there was a stain in the water. It only came out of the water a little, however it was only 10 meters from the boat. After it went back under, we didn't see it again. Still, very cool. Also yesterday, Steve hooked a sailfish, it got off the hook, but he did see it jump. We had some good rain last night, but not enough wind to speak of. David. read more...

Strega - Strega log 21-05-08

Left Rangiroa a bit earlier than planned, motored all the way in to Papeete-city marina. Felt weird to hear cars and airplanes outside, now that we were used to the tempo of the atolls in Tuamotos. Jörg left the boat and flew home to Berlin. The job-to-be-done-in-tahiti list we made earlier got shorter every day, cleaning, polishing, shopping and more. In the evenings we went out for dinner and beer, favourite place for beer, Les Trois Brasseurs. Left Papeete to join the Tahiti Pearl Regatta, due to start in Raitea. Kieran from WARC joined us as journalist/crew, good help and a lot of fun. Also Uwe from the german Yacht Magazin join us on STREGA and help to sail succsesfull the regatta. First night of the regatta we all ancored outside a small motu for a great party, great dancing with. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - Market day - Rarotonga

Cook Islands 020Cook Islands 020. read more...

Voyageur - Log day 143 - Escape from Escape River!

17 August 2010The alarm was set for 06.30am but we were already up and about. We peered out of the fore hatch across the bay and the gloom of our surroundings said it all about how I felt about the place. Lying in my bunk last night my imagination had run riot. Every time I heard noises through the hull I imagined the crocs lying in wait. By 07.30 we had enough light to see the pearl rafts. I have to lean right out over the bow to put the clip on to the spade anchor. Normally this does not faze me one bit, but now I don my lifejacket and clip on to the front forestay. If I fall overboard then it is curtains for me! Going out over the sand bar the wind was back up to thirty knots which made for an exciting exit into the lumpy seas but we still had 2.6 metres under the keel with a rising. read more...

Matilda - Doldrum Blues

Our decision not to head as far south as originally intended (and usually recommended) has come back to bite us. The wind is light or non existent and if it does appear it is usually attached to a strong local current in the opposite direction - very frustrating. As a result we have been motoring way too much as we do not want to miss anything of our allotted time in the Galapagos. Going by the SSB net we are not he only ones and can only hope there is a plentiful supply of the (very expensive) diesel when we get there. Hoping to arrive tomorrow evening, but it may be the morning of the 16th, all being well.We have also acquired a stowaway, some form of gull who landed on our deck 3 days ago. We made the mistake of giving him some bread and water, with which he had a snack, drink and. read more...

Destiny - Waldbrand

Wir sind am 16.8.2010 bei Thursday Island in der Torres Strait, dem windreichsten Gebiet der Erde, angekommen. Selbst an einer Mooringboje festgemacht, ist es eine unruhige Nacht. Beim letzten Schluck auf eine gute Nacht haben wir auf der gegenüber liegenden Prince of Wales-Island ganz im Osten ein Feuer gesehen. Es sah aus, als ob ein Indianer ein kleines Rauchzeichen abgibt. Eine Flamme war nicht zu sehen, aber zunächst stieg eine schmale Rauchwolke zum Himmel, um dann vom Wind in kleinen Wolken weitergetragen zu werden. Beim Frühstück heute Morgen lagen Rauchwolken über den östlichen Bergrücken der Insel und als es heute zum Abend dunkel wurde, sahen wir hinter den Rauchwolken Flammen lodern. Der Brand hat sich inzwischen über mehrere Kammrücken auf der Insel ausgebreitet! Kilometer. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - En route to Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Cook Islands 006. read more...

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