Logs

Pure Fun - WARC 2024 - 6. Tag Galapagos - Marquesas

WARC 2024 - 6. Tag Galapagos - MarquesasDienstag 12.03.2024, 03:00 Uhr, 1190 sm gesegelt, noch 1810 sm liegen vor uns.Am Donnerstag werden wir das Bergfest feiern können. Dann ist die Hälfte der Strecke geschafft. Kaum glauben. Die Zeit verfliegt wie im Flug. Warum heißt das eigentlich Bergfest auf dem Wasser? Kann nicht googeln.....🤔😂 -> [email protected] Es ist schön auf dem Pazifik....bisher so wie von mir gewünscht. Wind von 15-20Kn, keine Squalls. Danke Universum für die Erfüllung! So segeln wir auch diese Nacht mit 8-9Kn Geschwindigkeit und 18-20Kn Wind durch die schwarze Neumondnacht. Über uns ein Meer aus Sternen. Sooo schön. 🤩 Es ist warm. In Shorts und T-Shirt sitzen wir nacheinander im Cockpit. Die Wache von 2,5 std. geht manchmal fast zu schnell zu Ende. Heute haben. read more...

Corsair - A friend wrote this to me

I thought this might be worth publishing Tribute to Lane.Upon a small sailboat, afloat for days, thirty in count,Beneath the sun's golden gaze and the moon's silver mount,In the vast sea's embrace, where dreams and waves interlace,Here, I journey, I chase, in this endless water-space.With compass and chart, I hone navigation's fine art,Under stars so apart, I learn the ocean's heart.Fishing rod in hand, I seek the bounty of the land,In this expanse so grand, life's simpler demands stand.Pages turn, stories unfold, in books both new and old,Tales of brave, tales of bold, in the sea's untold cold.Ink flows, words spread, on paper, my journey's thread,A diary of where I've tread, by the winds gently led.Through the lens, moments caught, in the sea's wide, wide thought,Memories, dearly. read more...

Pure Fun - WARC Leg 4 Galapagos zu den Marquesas Tag 3

Auf der WORLD ARC (WARC) läuft der vierte Abschnitt. Von Galapagos geht es getragen vom Humboldt Strom durch die windarme wie auch regenreiche ITCZ zur südlichen Passatwindzone. Die Strecke beträgt 2.900 nm. Heute nach 72 Stunden / 3 Tage auf See liegen davon bereits 636 nm im Kielwasser. Jedoch stehen auf der Streckenloge nur 530 nm. Ach wie viel davon war Thema der theoretischen Segelausbildung für Fortgeschrittene. Hier erleben wir es live. Die Wolkenkunde wird lebendig. An Bord wird abgeglichen mit den spärlichen Informationen auf See, mit dem Ausbildungswissen sowie mit der bisherigen Erfahrung. Nachts riss der Himmel auf. Sterne waren zu sehen. Der Wind veränderte seine Richtung und insbesondere seine Intensität. Deutliche Zeichen, wir haben die ITCZ durchfahrenen und das schon bei. read more...

Dilema - Start of World ARC Leg 1

We're off again!Nelson (I believe) said ships and men rot in port and I can now see what he means.Not that being tied up on a cosy pontoon with unlimited water, electricity, showers, restaurants, bars, cafes and a full social programme, including a whole community of new friends to share it with, isn't delightful, but it's not sailing!Our ARC farewell party at the Harbour Club beach bar was on Thursday evening and on Friday we woke to the last day of preparation for Leg 1 of the World ARC;Saint Lucia to Santa Marta. This is about 850 miles and should take us until Thursday afternoon.Wind is supposed to be fresh to start with and building to strong as we approach Santa Marta so it should be a quick sail. We're excited to be starting at last.Saturday morning admin out of the way (pay the. read more...

Serendipity IV - Prepweek and start to World ARC 2024

It was a busy prepweek. Not had we get to know so many amazing people with which we will sail alongside and spend happy times with. We also had to prepare SERENDIPITY IV and ourselves for our first leg from Saint Lucia to Santa Marta in Columbia.Checking the boat and the equipment for the safety check was first priority. Get all the last few bits from the ship chandler’s and some food. Luckily, we did the big provisioning in Martinique already.Michael went under water and cleaned the hull meticulously and Nina went up the mast for a check and a bird’s eye view. Our meals and snack bags for the first days at sea are prepared and our bed in the salon made. We also checked our charts and the weather forecast to plan our route.Last preparation on Saturday morning and a short notice change of. read more...

Solaris - Pictures and movies from our sightseeing tour on St. Lucia

Katherine, Promise 4 and Lisbeth, Axel & Flemming from Solaris went for an St Lucians Tree Top Canopy Adventure Tour. After a very long drive, we had some great fun in the rainforest!. read more...

Walkabout - And then there were 2...

S18:25 E174:34There has been a lot of radio silence on our blog updates over the last few weeks.It has been a busy time on Walkabout, as we said goodbye to Tom and Bron in Tonga, and then 2 days later welcomed the Gammons x5.I think they probably felt that they had been mis-sold the South Pacific.The first 10 days of their venture was cool, cloudy and very wet at times.Not to mention - very windy.Our passage from Tonga to Lau (Fiji) was tough for everyone.Strong winds, big seas, rain and cold.It felt like the G’s regular summer trip to Cornwall, not the South Seas of the Pacific.On the bright side, everyone remained upbeat, no one was sea sick, which was pretty amazing given the conditions.During the second half of the G’s trip the weather improved, and we headed to Savusavu and then on. read more...

Walkabout - The Day That Never Was

S18:35 W173:52After crossing the equator a couple of months back, we have now crossed another of those invisible lines that straddle the earth - The International Date Line!!In theory, if the Greenwich Meridian (0 degrees of longitude) is the foundation of measuring time, then the international date line should be at 180 degrees West (or East - depends which way you are heading).But the IDL is not a straight line.It zig zags down through the Pacific, tip toeing its way through all sorts of national and political interests along the way.So after some research we discovered that between Niue and Tonga, the IDL is at 172 degrees 30 Minutes West.Celebrations were hastily organised, and at 19.51 last night we crossed the line. Advisedly, I say 'last night', as who knows what day it was!So. read more...

Walkabout - About to lose a day...

S19:19 W171:35We are back on passage on our way to Tonga after an incredible 3 days in Niue. We arrived in Niue in the evening on Friday 7th July in darkness and picked up a mooring buoy with all of the other arc boats who had arrived at various points throughout the day on Friday. After successfully mooring up with the help of Escapade and Northstar in their dingy, we enjoyed our arrival beer with some Pringles and then had the delight of a full nights sleep without any night shifts to get up for - what a novelty! From then on we had a completely jam packed time on Niue without a spare minute but we loved every part. We began by using the crane to lift the dingy onto the dock the next morning which was a new experience for us all but we soon found a routine for it… after checking in to. read more...

Jadamama - Jadamama Bora Bora to Niue

Heno and I said our goodbyes to Maureen and Scott in Tahiti and have been joined by Heno’s dad, also called Henry/Heno, and my cousin Mícheál rejoined us in Bora Bora having last seen him in the Galapagos. I flew home for about ten days from Tahiti to reconnect with family and especially my wife Mairéad who has filled many of the gaps that I have left by doing this trip and yet has been unable to join for any part of it.I owe her and indeed all my family and friends a huge debt of gratitude for their support over the last twelve months that I have spent on the oceans around the planet.Looking back at the Society islands as a whole, we heard Moorea was the jewel and indeed it is a very special place to visit and explore. We loved the hiking, the snorkelling and just the geography and. read more...

Walkabout - Day 7 - We have company!

S18:53 W163:38After four days of not seeing a sole, at 1300 yesterday, we have the best of company join us for our last few days at sea. Mary Doll just pinged up on AIS on the chart plotter and soon after they did, Letitia and Derek called up on the VHF and we all heard a loud HORAY when we answered! It was great and brought huge smiles from us all.Its now 0745 the following day, our arrival day in Nuie and Escapade of London have also just pinged up on AIS so now we are three. It is so good to have company on the water, it feels slightly more comforting knowing there are others nearby, you may not be able to visibly see them but you can call up them up and say hello, and keep an eye on the AIS, check out their speed, bearing and direction in comparison to you. Yesterday was a good. read more...

Walkabout - Another Day for Fishing

S18:37 W165:52The morning shift consists of two important things, getting the blog written but more importantly getting the fishing lines in. We haven’t has much success since the Mahi that we caught on the first day, we did have two bites yesterday at the same time so Andrew was woken up to try and pull them both in. No sooner had he made it up here and started to bring the Genoa in to slow us down both fish decided they didn’t want to be dinner that evening. Gratefully they left both of our lures behind and swam off. We haven’t yet managed to land a double catch at the same time, although it is a goal. It has been quite a slow night aboard Walkabout as the wind has gradually died over the night. We have had sails crashing and banging a little as the wind dropped below 9 knots.. read more...

Walkabout - Day 5: Variable, Mainly Good

S18:23 W163:37Back in the day, when people listened to the weather forecast on the BBC (whether though interest, boredom, inability to sleep or because it was before the news) there were (and still are) a variety of expressions that are used to describe the various facets of the weather.For example, ‘Variable” is used in relation to winds being ‘light and variable’.‘Mainly good’ is used in relation to the visibility.These days we all have access to the weather in all sorts of forms on line.Up until this passage we have relied on downloading Grib files whilst at sea and interpreting them to devise the best weather route.But Starlink has changed all that now.Now we can access all sorts of online weather information and multiple means of generating weather routing.But the general situation. read more...

Walkabout - We are Halfway to Niue!

S17:54 W160:47Morning everyone!And so another day at sea begins… this is day 5 at sea and we have settled into a nice routine at this point. We have just passed the halfway stage of the passage during our sail change this morning - 578.5 miles sailed with approx 520 miles to go! Whoop whoop! The last 24 hours have seen a significant drop in wind so during the afternoon yesterday, the decision was made to drop the sails that we had up at the time and motor through this wind hole. Before the engine was turned on we were hitting the strong speed of 2 knots despite having the blue water runner up to try and get the most out of the light winds but we were not making the progress we had hoped for. In the early hours of yesterday morning, we also hit the point of having sailed enough miles that. read more...

Walkabout - Cloudy days in the South Pacific

S 16:29.5 W 156:14.0Its a cloudy morning out here in the South Pacific, the sun has come up but hasn’t been any kind of sunrise. We had a full moon overnight so it has been something dusk like for the night shifts. The wind is coming onto our port quarter so the big bands of rain off our starboard side shouldn’t be a worry, in theory!! We will wait and see if we have any rain over the next few hours but hopefully it will brighten up. We have had our ARC friends Zissou on AIS for the last 24 hours and now we have another friends boat called Tamlin on AIS around 10 miles in front. The AIS can be strange as often we can’t see anyone but then you will hear someone on the radio or they will suddenly pop up and they won’t be that far away. Yesterday we had no one on AIS but we could hear half. read more...

Walkabout - Normal Service Is Resumed

S15:46 W153:56We are up and running, and getting back into the passage making routine again.After the first night at sea, many things are just the same as I remember them from previous passages.The first thing is that Tom has his fishing licence back (perhaps briefly) as we caught a nice Mahi Mahi yesterday afternoon, so soon into our passage - the Fishing Club is doing well.That led to a rapid reassessment of the meal plans by the Catering Club.Off the menu for last night went the bolognese, and straight on came baked Mahi Mahi - very nice indeed - great job by both Clubs.We went into the night with a plan - sail set up and heading.Discussed and agreed by the Governance and Strategy Sub-Committee.By midnight this was all looking a bit flakey.As ever, the wind gods hadn’t read the. read more...

Walkabout - Overnight motor sail to Huahine

S16:41 W150:58We set off from Mo’orea for my first crossing on Walkabout just after 4pm yesterday evening having enjoyed a lovely few days exploring the mountainous island. Tom and I had a two night stay in a hostel on Mo’orea while Traci and Andrew arrived back on Walkabout and had a day and a half back in Tahiti for boat jobs and provisioning. On the 17th, the two of them sailed from Tahiti to Mo’orea and picked us up from the beach in Opanohu bay where Tom watched Walkabout sail and anchor without him on it for the first time since he joined Walkabout in February! The last few days have included walking up Magic Mountain to an incredible viewpoint over the reefs and snorkelling over underwater Tikis in crystal clear water. We enjoyed three sociable evenings both onboard Walkabout and. read more...

Mistral of Portsmouth - Tuamotus & Society Islands - Video

https://youtu.be/N5X8d6eFo-8Chris & KarenMistral of Portsmouth. read more...

Walkabout - La Ora Na from Tahiti

S17:32.4 W149:34.2 As the more astute amongst you will have realised - we are in Tahiti!!!We arrived 24 hours ago, and as usual, the first day after we arrive somewhere is a bit of a blur, as we try to get the boat and ourselves a bit straight.Yesterday was a big blur, and quite frustrating - but everything is fine now.Arriving here on this date has been a year in the planning - to ensure that we can fly back for Jamie’s wedding.Ever since we knew the dates we have been trying to find a secure berth for Walkabout whilst we are away.There are just 2 marinas in Tahiti and we have been in contact with them over many months trying to secure a berth.The response has always been - we are full and you can’t book, it is first come first served, and you must trust your lucky star!Long story. read more...

Walkabout - As Frankie Valli once said - Oh What a Night!

S17:11 W147:29Lightening, squalls, sloppy seas and 360’s trying to outrun the biggest weather front Walkabout has come across!We left Fakarava yesterday morning at 1130 to ensure we hit high water through the south pass and were met by quite a lumpy sea for the first time in a while! The engine was on so we motored out to get a good sailing angle for Tahiti and launched the BWR in about 11 knots of wind. It was your perfect day sailing, wind behind, sun out and sky blue, what could possibly go wrong!Well, it all began after sunset when we saw lightning flashes in the distance ahead of us, which in the overall scheme of things was fine as the wind was blowing from behind so any squalls and lightning should stay ahead of us. We then noticed more lightning to the left of us and keeping an. read more...

Walkabout - Day 4 - 15 miles to Fakarava, Tuamotu

S15:54 W145:37Our final night at sea and the sun is about to rise above the horizon and we are all looking forward to anchoring off the town of Rotoava and having dinner ashore!Fakarava is the second largest of the atolls that are the Tuamotu archipelago and along with 6 other atolls, forms part of the Nature Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. There are two main villages on Fakarava, Rotoava in the north and Tetamanu in the south where the first Catholic Church was built out of coral in 1874. The island is surrounded by a crown of reed stretching 60 km long and 25 wide.The island is known for its emerald waters, luxurious fauna and flora and incredible diving and snorkelling due to the coral, fish and strong concentration of grey sharks! Sort of puts me off snorkelling and swimming to be. read more...

Walkabout - Day 3 - Nuka Hiva to Fakarava - Slow days at Sea

S13:60 W144:02Hello,We are all trying to get back into the routine of life at sea, you would have thought it would be pretty easy after spending nearly 3 weeks at sea about 10 days ago. It feels like we set off on a day sail that’s just been lasting for the last 72 hours so far. Maybe that’s just all my mind could cope with thinking about after the passage we have done!We are gradually still on the mend with eating bigger and more substantial portions every time. There is still some food we think about cooking and go maybe not today, just a step too far. For breakfast we had eggy bread and bacon sandwiches which smelt and tasted unbelievably good. Lunch was bean salad, coleslaw and wraps and dinner was tomato bolognese pasta while we took part in our daily not so formal SSB call. We have. read more...

Jadamama - Jadamama blog phots

Mountain pass at Anaho and arrival in Fakarava 036F887A-94AA-40C3-B2E8-6E1D4ACB8FE5_1_105_c79657748-B7F8-4266-B3CB-33F74E04EB3D_1_105_c. read more...

Jadamama - Jadamama arrives in Fakarava, Tuamotus

From Ua Pou we made for Anaho which is a calm and well protected anchorage in the North East of mountainous Nuku Hiva. It is surrounded by a reef and beach with just a small village set among palm and fruit trees with the next village a boat ride or a trek over a mountain pass away so the atmosphere is very tranquil. You have to book lunch or dinner a day in advance at the only restaurant but the lobster was certainly worth the wait. We had lunch alongside the beach after a breath-taking morning climb up to the pass where we could see that visiting yachts outnumbered local houses by about three to one.We motor sailed around the island then to Taoia especially to see a famous waterfall that was rumoured to have dried out.The anchorage is an almost magical gap in a rough and rugged. read more...

Walkabout - The Marquesas

S9:51 W139:09Since our arrival in the Marquesas on 2nd May, we have visited 4 of these stunning islands and are loving it here! We arrived on Hiva Oa in a small anchorage and were met by Cheryl and Heikki from Zelda who we first met on the ARC+ in 2021. They were anchored in the north of the island and had a hire car for the day so were happy to pick us up and take us into town where we purchased sim cards, withdrew some local cash, picked up some supplies, visited the gendarmerie to finalise our check-in and then met up with fellow ARC mates for some lunch.The people of the marquesas are extremely generous and friendly, we were waved over by a chap on our walk back from town who asked where we were from and offered us a hand of his bananas from his plantation. We took as many. read more...

Walkabout - Day 1 - Nuku Hiva to Tuamotus

S10:39 W141:22The biggest tuna we did catch!Walkabout is once again on the move and are currently on passage to the Tuamotus. These are an archipelago of atolls rich in sea life, coral reefs and tidal ways that can be tricky to navigate. We are looking forward to exploring a few of the atolls before making our way to Tahiti and rendezvous with Bron on 3rd June! It wasn’t long before we left Haahopu Bay yesterday morning that the fishing line was out. We had our share of near misses with some BIG fish of late, namely a 10kg+ Tuna we weren’t able to land and then a Sailfish that we fought with for 20 minutes before it took our line and lure! And boy did it put up a fight, jumping and somersaulting out the water!!On this occasion, we happily landed a large 8kg black tuna, not 100% sure what. read more...

Misty of Mylor - Misty's blog: Mountain hopping in French Polynesia

It’s April. I am currently in Rangiora, 200 nautical miles from Tahiti. It’s 28 degrees (at 8am) but feels more if there is no breeze. During the day it’s sunny most of the time and at night we have showers and thunderstorms.French Polynesia is one of the most remote places on Earth anyone can travel to. So far We have visited the Marquesas (Hiva Oa, Nuku Hiva and Oa Pou) and Tuamotus (Kauehi, Fakarava and Rangiora). The Marquesas Islands have mountains, loads of green vegetation, jungles and waterfalls, while the Tuamotus Islands are atolls. They are flat, full of palm trees and the middle of these islands have a hole formed by the crater of an underwater volcano. It’s like a lake surrounded by a halfmile land ring with usually one or two gaps where boats can sail in and out.All these. read more...

Jadamama - Jadamama blog from Ua Pou, Marquesas

We arrived in Hiva Oa late on May 1/early May 2 after over 20 relatively peaceful days at sea punctuated by the odd excitement such as a fish, a boat or a weather event.The last few days were a bit more difficult as the weather deteriorated and we had lost our starboard steering due to a break in the cable.Heno and Polly rigged a back-up system with dyneema and some u-bolts which got us in but there was another cable also perilously close to failing. We had no hand steering and were completely reliant on the autopilot system, even in the anchorage, until Heno put a longer term fix in place. Hiva Oa is a forbidding island to arrive at as sheer rock rises up to a volcano crater that is shrouded in clouds.Jurassic Park is certainly an image that springs to mind !As it was dark when we. read more...

Walkabout - Quick Update - Land Ahoy!!!

S9:53 W138:49Through the pitch black of a moonless night, we are able to make out the outline of islands!We have 12 miles to run to get to our anchorage in Hiva Oa.Nearly there!We should arrive around sunrise, and then try and find somewhere to anchor - apparently it is rather busy in paradise.Further update to follow later, one we are secure.A,T&Tx. read more...

Walkabout - Day 18 - We found some wind

S9:15W133:48After days of on and off motoring we now have some steady wind, since the last update the wind has built gradually as was predicted. We were able to fly the BWR the whole of yesterday making great progress until around 5 in the evening. But at that stage the wind had reached 17-18 knots and we were storming towards Hiva Oa at 8-9 knots. It was great to make such good speed but with the forecast only set for the wind to build on what it was we had to bring it down. We reverted back to 2 reefs in the main and 1 in the Genoa both on the starboard side with the main on a gybe preventer. We were still making good speed, as the evening was drawing in we had a squall come past with some rain. We hadn’t seen a squall in a good 10 days, maybe as we are getting closer to land?? We put. read more...

Walkabout - Day 17 - Holy Hydrovane said Skipsy - It's a Blooming Miracle!

S8:42.4 W130:58.0The miles to go are gradually coming down - less than 500NM to go now.We have just clicked through 12000NM since leaving the UK.Interestingly, Tom has done 5000NM of these miles with us since joining Walkabout in February - that is some big miles for someone new to sailing!And earns Tom a new tattoo - a swallow - which is the traditional sailors tattoo to mark every 5000NM sailed.I think it would look nice on his neck - just above the collar line.Others may have a different view….!!Yesterday was a bit frustrating - all the weather indicated that the wind would be filling in and we would be making reasonable speed under sail.There were many false dawns to the arrival of the wind, and a bit of Hokey Cokey with the sails and engine as we tried to make reasonable. read more...

Walkabout - Day 16 - Motoring on a flat Pacific Ocean

S8:26 W128:33The last 24 hours has seen Walkabout change from a sailing boat to a motorboat! With flat calm seas comes very little or no wind at all. It was in the forecast and so expected and the prediction actually arrived when they said it would! As we move to single figures on the wind front, we can sail with lighter sails either our Blue Water Runner or G1 but when the true wind drops below 8 knots coming from dead behind on a regular basis, its time to start up the engine. We certainly wont be able to motor the remaining distance but we can motor through a low wind patch to where we can pick up more wind and sail the rest of the way to Hiva Oa. The forecast is telling us that the wind will pick up from later today (we hope) and will increase to 20+ knots for a few days driving us. read more...

Walkabout - Day 15 - Hot Hot Hot

S08:15 W126:19By around 8am yesterday we we already sweating up on deck. Due to the lower winds we don’t get any breeze on the boat at all. With no clouds in the sky the sun was beating down, we are all very grateful for the Bimini keeping the sun off of us. We managed to make some good progress with the BWR (Blue Water Runner, a sail for dead downwind) in the morning even with the light winds (around 7-9 knots). But at around midday we were bobbing around a bit to much for our liking. The engine went on and we had to get used to the low drone of 2000 revs again. Throughout the day we kept an eye on the wind, but as soon as the wind would pick up again and we would talk about sailing, sure enough the wind would drop back to the point it wouldn’t be worth it. Because of the low wind the. read more...

Jadamama - Jadamama blog- Back to life...back to reality

So I left the lads facing into the ‘big jump’ across to French Polynesia, and I can honestly say I never wanted more than to just go with them. I flew to Guayaquil, in Ecuador, on to Madrid and back to a (remarkably dry and warm) Dublin. But sadly I my adventure had to conclude in Galapagos. It’s funny coming back everyone asks ‘how was it?’, ‘it must have been the trip of a lifetime?’, and the only honest answer is – yes it absolutely was! It really was everything I could have imagined and more.Galapagos was spectacular. From about 150 miles out, it was a breath-taking blur of sea-life - sailing through pods of pilot whales, to enormous sperm/Brydes whales, to playful dolphins at the bow. Red-footed boobies hitching a ride on the boat, to swimming through shoal after shoal of fish,. read more...

Walkabout - Day 14 - It's WAHOO kind of day

S7:29 W121:31Not quite sure what happened but the rod and line went back in the water yesterday!Since leaving St Lucia on this epic journey, it has become a bit of a tradition that fish only bite when we have multiple things going on! No sooner had we made a sail change to the G1 to increase our boat speed for the last few hours of daylight, dinner was being prepped down in the galley, when we all heard the fishing reel whistle notifying us that we have something on the hook! We all quickly made our way to the cockpit, Andrew picks up the rod and begins to reel it in, Tom and I furl the G1 to slow the boat down and give Andrew the best possible chance of reeling our catch in, we also turned slightly to windward to de-power the mainsail and so at 4 knots boat speed Tom takes over the rod. read more...

Walkabout - Day 13 - The wind playing tricks

S 07:03 W118:57As I came up to take over from Andrew on my night shift Andrew told me that once again the wind had made a 40 degree wind shift and was now at 130 degrees, we were no longer on a heading to Hiva Oa, more like Hawaii!! This has happened the past 2 night as well. We have made our sail plan and gone into the night happily and it has lasted well, until the early hours where the wind decides that it is going to take us on its own course. In some cases this hasn’t been to bad but other times it has been a pain and only increases our overall miles sailed. Andrew decided at 5am that we needed to take the BWR down and put the main up (with 1 reef in) and pull the Genoa out. This was great for me and Andrew as we were already awake. Not so good for Traci who was fast asleep. We soon. read more...