Catamaran Moonwalker

Cabedelo to Tobago

2011-11-22T10:08:00.001-08:00

So much happens when you are on the move... since my last post it feels like an year has passed by and not a month!

We carried on up the coast with the ever lasting hope that the seas would be gentle on us and especially Brisa. No way Jose... only when we got around the top and started heading northwest that the seas gave us a break. But we stopped a long the way and broke the trip nicely for Brisa and all onboard.

Cabedelo was good for resting and stocking up. Not much of a city really, but met some lovely people and get most things organized, including patching the code zero which was poked after the Atlantic crossing. Brisa enjoyed the little pool that Phillipe provided at his marina. We stayed at anchor but payed to use the facilities for a week. We explored a bit, even managed to go to the local shopping mall, which was nice and made plenty of contacts whom we are now seeing again here in the Caribbean.

Cabedelo to Natal was a quick passage, windy and with a hairy harbour entrance but once again well worth the stop. Only 3 days to rest, enjoy the local pool (again... we all have wrinkly fingers contantly as Bri just loves it) and Russ made up his mind to finally put the new main up - yes we have been carring the new one for 8 months for godness sake!!! We donated the old one to another catamaran at the marina, the owner Luiz was beside himself with happiness! So I guess our main found a good home, she deserves it for sure.

Natal to Fortaleza was a great passage after we went around the corner of Brazil into "Caribbean waters". The marina in Fortaleza was shit but the manager was lovely and so was the facilities of the hotel, so it made up for the shitty pier. We ended up staying for 4 days. Fortaleza didn´t appealed to us at all. We felt quite insecure actually and didn´t venture much walking.

We left Fortaleza with good winds and in the company of a Brazilian boat called Maruja. Brisa was very taken with Hugo and Catarina, callling them both Vovô constantly. We said our goodbyes and hoped to see them in Salut Islands. We didn´t know how things would pan out with Brisa if the seas were rough so we had a side plan with another anchorage in mind after 450 miles (of the 1100 we had to cover). But the trip was wonderfully uneventful and Moonwalker was on its elements with light constant trade winds. We covered the 1100 miles in just over 5 days.

Salut Isles were lovely, with a dreadful past as the infamous Pappilon Prison of Devil´s Island (which you arenot allowed to visit). We visited the other islands, were very welcomed by all, including the local policemen and the French Foreign Legion represententative whom invited us for a BBQ at his place. No photos allowed though.

Brisa enjoyed the wild life and the chooks - she is adicted to her Cocoricó dvd which have 3 very friendly chooks. We left for Tobago after 5 days on the 10th of November and covered the next 600 miles 3.5 days of all sorts of weather, many squalls on the convergence zone but a pleasant passage nonetheless. Brisa was a bit over it but was rewarded with beautiful mountains covered in lush rainforest, birds galore and clean waters when she woke up at the anchorage in Charloteville in the northeast of the island.

We have been in Tobago for over a week and are fully enjoying the laid back, still 3rd world feel of the place. People are as dark as the night with a smile to dazzle and blind you. Reasonable priced and with surf for Russ, reef and clean waters for Karin and plenty of sand and rocks to be thrown, chewed and kneeded at the beach for Brisa... so we are happy campers.

CARIBBEAN HERE WE ARE!!!!

Still up the coast of Brazil

2011-10-12T07:23:00.000-07:00

We left St Andre, healed and ready for the seas again, carrying on to some of the loviest places we visited in Brazil. Camamu and Tinharé Island with many picturesque places, with many old churches and simple living.

Salvador was a bit of a disappointment, very dirty and ugly. The historical town was incredible though. We took Moonwalker up the river to Maragojipe and thought Baia de Todos os Santos was very nice and welcoming. Itaparica had quite a sailing scene. Mostly of yachties that got there and never left.

We moved up the coast to the lovely surprise of Maceió. We had heard so many bad things about the place we were a bit aprehensive of visiting, and although the reports on the dirtyness of the anchorage and landing were accurate the town itself was lovely. We had a great time there with Valéria em and kids. My brother showed up as a surprise towards the end of the week and we had a lovely time together. This was good bye from them and we kind of managed to convince them that the next visit will be theirs to NZ. We need to keep our kids in touch! Valentina and Brisa got on like a house on fire and loved their time together. Brisa was her usual tick to Eryk and Valéria, she simply adores them! It´s quite amazing to see.

Now we are a couple of anchorages up the coast, passed through Suape and it´s brand new port and ship building facilities with cranes we could see over 15 miles out to sea! We are now in a place called Itamaracá, by the Orange Fort built by the dutch when they tried to claim a piece of Brazil, they actually managed to control parts of the coast for over 50 years. They left quite a mark around, not only buildings but plenty of blond kids and light eyes.

We are now heading to Cabedelo by João Pessoa (which is supposed to be a lovely city) and then Natal a city I haven´t visited in over 15 years! I am hoping to take Russ and Brisa on a buggy ride on the sand dunes of Genipabu. After Natal we are still deciding, but probably Fortaleza and Lençóis Maranhenses are in sight before we head to Devil´s Island in French Guiana.

The good news is that my uncle Tadeu is coming with his family to visit in Tobago! It will be awesome as he has done a circumnavigation over 15 years ago and has since settled inland with a lovely lady and has a 3 year old daughter called Helena Moana. Quite an honour to have him onboard! I am very excited!

As for Brisa, she is coping much better on the crossings. Sea state is still a bit unsettled but getting better as we head north. Wind still good, and we are all getting into the rhythm of sailing and adjusting ourselves to life on the go. Brisa is loving the warm water and is getting confident by the day on the water. She jumps herself into the deeper water and is unmoved about having her head under the water, but we still have to rescue her... a bit of a worry but nice to see how excited she is in the water.

Plenty of photos on the webalbum guys, just click on the photo of Moonwalker on the left side of the blog and choose the album you want to see.

From Rio de Janeiro to Bahia

2011-08-28T05:55:00.000-07:00

How can I put it mildly? This lastmonth was probably the most trying month we have had so far.

We finally started moving north,leaving the easy, gentle and familiar the southern shores of Riostate and moved on, passing through Cabo Frio and Búzios which werecharming but with unconfortable anchorages and messy seas. The swellseemed to come from all sorts of directions.

We ventured our first overnight passagewith Brisa and in our inexperience in sailing with a kid, deliveredher to Vitória in Espirito Santo state with a cold for placing herlittle mattress on the floor of the pod. She has since been upgradedto the couch where she has a much smaller bed because of all thecushions but she seems much happier.

We arrived in Vitória as it´s theCapital of the state where most of my family is from. It´s quiteweird, I walk around the neighbourhood and see streets with mysurname Calmon (my mother´s surname). Then I go up the mountainswhere the other half of my family is from (Dalcolmo) and find thatpretty much 2/3 of the town is somehow related to me. It´s strangelyfamiliar eventhough I never lived in these area of the country.

However what brought me back this timewas to finally introduce my husband to my grandmother Agatha. At 89,I had cheekily asked her to “hold on” until I arrived with Russso I could introduce him and get her blessings. And so it was... Shemet Russ on her hospital bed, had a “chat” to him on which heheld her hands and tried with his best Portuguese to be our lovelyRussell to her. She smiled and trully enjoyed the moment to the bestof her capabilities. A week later she passed on. It was good to havethe closure of seeing it full circle and being there for my whanau.They needed me as much as I needed them.

With that we moved on up the coast,waiting for the brunt of the first day of a southerly front to passand then made our move north. It was, to say the least, unpleasant.The swell came from all directions, but the wind was good andMoonwalker plodded along with Russ trying to hold our speed to around7 knots as the waters where literally infested with humpback whalesas these are the months they come from Antartica to raise their youthand make them plump for their trip south. Very much like in Vava´uin Tonga.

Brisa didn´t take the first 24 hoursvery well and got very seasick. It was disheartening and made for theunfailable question to burn in our minds: “ should we carry onsailing with a sea sick child?” Just so you can get the measureof how bad it was, it was the first time I heard Russ voicing tohimself “ ...so this is the end of our sailing days...”. But likethe wind, thoughts and bad moments come and go, and the next dayBrisa was happy as larry, watching the whales, enchated with theirgiant flapping fins and gracious diving tails in the air. Althoughit made Russ more apprehensive then ever, seeing so many whales wasvery soothing and made the bad moments seem a distant past.

As the winds were dying we decided tospend a night in an arquipelago off the coast called “ Abrolhos”(“open your eyes”) where there were as many birds as there weregoats ashore... it is a national park so it was beyond me why theywere there until I saw that the Navy symbol on the island was a goat.The water was not clear because of the swell so not much of a divingexperience.

Next day we carried on to St André, inBahia state where we finally found a flat anchorage for the firsttime since we left Rio de Janeiro. So we are letting the Bahiawaters, Axé music and cold beers soothe our minds and souls and helpwith Brisa´s and Russ´ teeth!!! Brisa has 4 molars coming all atonce for the last week and Russ took a wisdom tooth out and it´s nothealing very well so we will take our time here and enjoy thehistorical sites around. Historical because this area was the firstlanding of Pedro Alvares Cabral, the Portuguese navigator creditedwith “finding” Brazil.

Paraty & Us

2011-07-01T13:57:00.000-07:00

Life goes fast when we are having fun, especially when you are having loads of it....

The webalbum has been a better update than this blog I must confess, I have been quite good at uploading photos there but not much going on in terms of writing. Far too much to tell, too little time and a little 1 year old girl that has an immense amount of energy and has a fondness to keyboards and is not gentle with them... so I have delayed and delayed until I could not delay anylonger. And yes, Brisa is 1 year old already.

Quite unreal to say the least, I have hardly got used to the idea of being a mum (I still catch myself looking at Brisa and going: Who is this kid?), let alone looking after a child for an entire year successfully (we are all alive and well!) and gee, there she is clapping her hands and demanding another Happy Birthday sang to her! You gotta clap otherwise you are in deep sh#$t mate.

Just on a rapid note on what´s been going on with us before I go back to the little princess...:

We had some amazing times in Ilha Grande, it´s a superb place but Russ needed a sailors fix, finding people a bit like him you know, talk about boats all the time, speak the same language and all that jazz. So we decided to try Paraty. Ah sweet darling Paraty.... what a delightful surprise.

In my very damaged memory, Paraty was a hot, stinky and sticky place to be, historical yes, world heritage status, yes, but stinky and sticky nonetheless and with very corrupt traffic cops. Well we arrived in the winter, and by sea which mean two things: no corrupt traffic cops and no smelly stuff as it´s winter and not hot at all, I even dare say it´s rather chilly for Brazilian standards. And the place is full of sailors of all sorts! Russ finally found his place. Do I have to mention that here as well is made some of the best cachaça (sugar cane spirit used to do caipirinhas - Russ´ favorite drink) in Brazil? Russ has found his place and it´s hard to move him from here... I have tried to convince him to go to Ubatuba, and even Ilha Bela as there is the sailing week happening there at the moment, but he said no, and we went sailing in Saco do Mamanguá for 3 days instead.... no one around, lovely sail, amazing sunny days but not hot and stary nights...

Paraty is a historical town and the locals are doing an esplendid job of maintaining it. It´s simply gorgeous. To add to it is a string of cultural events of all sorts constantly happening. In any given day or night there are all types of music floating down the streets from some pub or restaurant. Even the main street has speakers with lovely national music!

So we beg you to have a look at the photos, Russ did a good job of photographing the old town and recent events.

The bigggest of all being Brisa´s 1st birthday which we celebrated with over 30 friends and relatives from all different parts of the country. It was a memorable 4 days with lots of laugh, love and play. Brisa was an absolute star and enjoyed and was enjoyed by everyone. There are some great photos and some videos on utube.

She is now fully walking for over a month and everyone is very impressed on how she has developed. She is a funloving child with a ready toothy smile.

We now have Enzo my nephew for the next week as he is on his winter school holidays and he has declared to all that he will be a sailor like uncle Russ. Even my niece Valentina (1.9mths), as friday comes, gathers her things and start pointing to the door and saying: Rus, Bri , Ka.... it´s been just amazing spending all these time with my brother and family. We will miss them terribly...

Well, it is a fact, we will be leaving soon, going up the coast and all but we hope many people will still visit and stay with us until we leave the country around November. It will be hard but we got much to look forward to.

Ah, and Moonwalker, well he is enjoying the rest, the light breezes and gentleness of the weather, but not so much the messy kids. Russ reckons we will never go hungry as at any given moment we can find plenty of food lying somewhere onboard thanks to Brisa. We can never catch up to her mess. Russ sighs when he remembers Moonwalker on our childless days, spotless, white, smooth (not sticky and with suspitious puddles everywhere)... ce la vie mon cherrie....(I am practising for the Pacific you know....)

First month of Brazil

2011-05-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

We´ve been in Brazil now for almost a month and we have experienced so much it feels like an year already! We have had many visitors and caught up with many from our family.

The reception, attention and love received has been overwhelming, not only from our family but from many of our blog followers! It´s quite humbling to have so many people so excited in seeing Moonwalker and its crew... they share our dream and dramas and even though I am a bellow average blogger they are loyal and patient, waiting for my updates and photos. Its quite inspiring as we, that live onboard and lead this life, take things for granted most times and don´t quite see what it so special about it.

Myself personally am one of the most skepticals about it... people keep saying I should write a book or something about your lives etc, and I can´t quite see what people think is so interesting about our lives or experiences. Brazil has kind of opened my eyes a bit about the charmed and unique life we live. I kept thinking: “ we are just another couple sailing around” but the sheer discrepancy in numbers of the “doing”, “wanna dos” against the “landlubbers” here, and actually everywhere in the world, is gigantic! People are truly fascinated with what we do and what we see.

One reason I can see is that most Brazilians are connected to the net, not just for emails and work, but they see it as a mobile entertainment and information gate they seek daily. We are over 130 million people guys... it´s a lot of people if you get my gist. They read and access information very easily, especially now with the translating tools available.

A classic example: Russ went to this mechanical shop, that fixes water pumps, water blasters and other related things. He was trying to explain what he wanted and the mechanic guys behind the counter asked him to wait for a sec, picked up a laptop, went into some program online and got Russ to speak to the computer. Russ finding it quite funny said to the computer what he wanted and the computer translated to the boy behind the counter to the amusement of not only Russ but everyone in the shop. There you go, done. My own brother, the biggest geek I have ever known, came up with his flash Google phone and got Russ to speak to the phone too, so it could translate for him... lazy f@#k. Anyhow, the thing needs the internet connection so I make sure we got none so Eryk gets to speak English a bit more. Actually his English is fine and Russ´ Portuguese is getting much better, especially after a few caipirinhas!

We stayed in Rio for 2 weeks, mostly at anchor in Urca, a little heaven in Rio de Janeiro. Very safe and accessible. There we had absolutely everything we needed and Brisa became a local at the kids playground and waterfront. We befriended another couple living on their boat for 12 years. They are from Brazil and have never left the country on their boat, they are perfectly happy to cruise around these areas at their own pace. They were a fountain of local knowledge and very entertaining.

We actually met them because our anchor got stuck… yes… 8 meters of Guanabara´s Bay water… oh boy. Webber was going to hire a scuba tank to clean the bottom of his boat so he said he would help with the anchor, our savior! It was all a bit nerve racking but we got there in the end.

We had quite a few visitors while in Rio and our time there was incredibly pleasurable. Russ said he would even go back! Now that´s something! We were anchored in quite an amazing place really, just below the sugar loaf and with an amazing view of the Corcovado (the Christ up on the hill) and the main beaches of the inner bay, Flamengo and Botafogo.

We did a bit of an expedition into the Bay and visited the island of Paquetá, a very quiet place without cars right in the middle of the Bay. Unfortunately it was raining so not the best of times.

Now we are anchored in Ilha Grande, an island paradise just 60 nautical miles south west of Rio... it is heaven people, just heaven... and I haven´t even gone for a dive or tried to fish. And there are plenty around for what I see just from above water.

Russ has finally caught up with most work that needed to be done and so have I, so we are now, only now, starting to relax into our time after being so long living ashore (for Brisa and I) and after a long passage (for Russ). We got lots to look forward to, so much to see, but we are very excited about the approaching family gathering in Paraty, just another 30 miles south, still in the same big bay that hosts Ilha Grande. We will celebrate Brisa´s 1st birthday with many friends and family coming from all over the country. We have hired a Pousada (guest house) which has a marina in front so we could put Moonwalker there and enjoy the 4 days of holiday planned as it is Corpus Christi holiday – you got to love these Catholic countries... the fun starts on the 22nd and goes all the way to the 27th of June!

After that we travel a bit more around this area then extend Russ´ visa for another 3 months and start heading up the coast aiming to be in the Caribbean for Christmas.

Yes, you guys, we are heading home... slowly but surely. Be there by end of 2012. No work, just fun from here on.

So if you were planning to visit... NOW IS GOOD!

2011-05-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

Russ is here! Actually he has been here over a week but internet troubles, a burocratic but friendly entrance to the country, a sick daughter, and the facility of sending news from facebook made us a bit lazy... Regardless we are here even if writing from a mobile! Russell´s trip was nothing short of remarkable: 12.5 days from St Helena to Angra dos Reis! He covered the Atlantic in a total of 21.5 days, wonder what they would have done if they had come straight. By the sounds of it, St Helena is worth the detour. I will endeavour to have Russ type his own report on the trip, but i can advance it was a beauty. They hit the brazilian coast at Cabo Frio and covered 55 miles under Moonwalkers new kite in 5 hours until Rio where they had to turn on the motors for the following 60 miles to Angra. The only other time they used the engine was to avoid oil platforms of Macae coast in Rio. By far the most dangerous part was entering Angra during Easter time! Brazilian yachtsmen are notorious for their slack attitude to boating rules and Russ saw himself in troubled waters amongst motor yachts going 4 abreast giving no room to him (probably because they didn`t even see him). Easter over Angra was paradise. Checking in was easy and friendly, people are lovely and Brisa is by far our best ambassador. She has been sick with seasonal allergies causing lots of coffs and full chest. Her nose looks like a water tap when we take her for a swim in the sea which she adores. We had my brother and family onboard twice and my uncle Giovanni had a peep when he dropped me off. Next weekend should be fun when we go to Rio to catch up with other family and have a peep at the Rio Boat Show. Another very nice episode was being recognised! Brazilian boaties whom follow our blog were here and came to welcome us to Brazil and wish us luck on our travels. A proud moment for Moonwalker and crew!

Getting closer to Brazil!

2011-04-19T06:15:00.000-07:00

Finally Russell managed to get some news across! All is going well and by the looks of it, the wind is wonderful! The last update he was doing an average of 10knots. His ETA then was Friday the 22nd of April in Angra dos Reis... Brisa and I have our fingers crossed!

He will be arriving in the middle of the Easter Holidays, absolute mayhem all over Brazil... so his timing could not be much worse in terms of getting things done but it will surely give him a lively welcome as everything is jam packed with people.

The down side is that my family is unable to be there as everything is full already and we can´t find any accomodation whatsoever... such a shame. But everyone is getting organized to visit.

I am leaving Brasilia on friday morning with Brisa hoping to either go straight to Angra to join Moonwalker or wait in Rio with family if he doesn´t show up on Friday.

WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!

Moonwalker on its way to Brazil

2011-04-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

As usual a bit late on the update, but life as a single mother ain´t easy!

Russ left Cape Town on the 19th of March with Jannie and reached St Helena in 9.5 days of amazing sailing, especially with the jenika he bought from Quantum for an absolute bargain just before he left. Never saw someone so excited about a piece of cloth... the true sailors may forgive me for this coment one day.

They are now on their way to Angra dos Reis, south of Rio de Janeiro. They left St Helena last saturday, 9th of abril. Unfortunately the radio sched I organized for him with Marçal Ceccon from the yacht Rapunzel is not happening, Russ hasn´t shown up yet. Could be a hundred different reasons, but I am a bit afraid, knowing my beloved husband, that he may have misplaced the frequency or made a mistake with the time difference... but more propably it´s the propagation or someother more reasonable explanation. My imagination flies when we don´t have news!

Imagine them arriving in Brazil and just calling me out of the blue: "we are here!" or worse, calling me just after a few sneaky days of enjoying Brazil! No way José!!!! : )

CAPE TOWN!!!!!

2011-03-21T01:44:00.000-07:00

We are in Cape Town!!!!

Russ and Jannie left Knysna last thursday on a very dicey forecast and foggy afternoon but relatively calm Heads. They had a pretty good trip, which had all the typical elements of sailing in South Africa: motoring for hours, then light breezes with swell, then very strong winds (no more than 35 according to Russ) with rain and cold between Cape Agulhas and Cape Point which was expected, and flat calm seas with a fabulous sunrise arriving in Cape Town on saturday. What a trip...

Myself, Cristina and Brisa drove down, which had it's shares of adventures, staying a night in Stillbaai, being hosted by Fishy and Sonja friends of Jannie and Cris and then in Cape Town by Gerbs and Tami in Durbanville. What a lovely spot that is! The boys joined us on their first night in town, where they could scrub up and enjoy a nice braai. Next day we all came back to the boat and went for a cruise around the harbor, so we could all admire the incredible view of the city from the water. We anchored off Clifton for a little while then returning for some curry onboard.

Our marina is right in town, as I write I can see the stadium and the Table Mountain behind... absolutely unreal.

The plans are still in the air, public holiday today so not much opened so can't really start organizing anything but no hurry yet. Apparently there is a window coming on thursday so the boys may take that one. I haven't booked my flight yet, but all seems to be falling into place nicely.

View from the waterfront in Table Bay. Our marina is just behind the stone wall you can see to the left. Check the new stadium!

Russ and Brisa enjoying the view... priceless moments...

I just can't believe we are about to take Moonwalker across the Atlantic... well Russ is... it's all SOOO exciting... BRAZIL HERE WE COME!!! Brisa and I just have to deal with not having Russ around for a month... sniff...

Back in the water in Knysna

2011-03-15T00:58:00.000-07:00

Moonwalker is back in the water, set to go, wind looking good to the next week but the swell is massive out there… we can’t even leave the Knysna Lagoon if we wanted! The Head are totally closed.

So we are making the most of it! Sally and Peter from Witblits let us use their super duper BMW to go for a drive on the weekend so we went to the Birds of Eden and Monkeyland, a bird and monkey sanctuary close by. The aviary is the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere I hear… it was amazing!!!

As a sanctuary quite a few birds where in captivity before meaning they are quite fond of humans, or not as some loved peeking at Brisa’s toes which she didn’t appreciate at all…

Well, meanwhile swell may drop a bit on Thursday so we will try to sail out of the lagoon and onto Cape Town then. Will keep you all posted. Leave you with some recent photos

Training goes on for the little sailor

The peek from the parakeet

This Macaw was keeping an eye on Brisa's food...

This is what I call: "giving the evil eye"

We didn't see a lemur like this in Madagascar!!!

As zen as they come... ring tail Lemur or the King from Madagascar movie

On The hard in Knysna

2011-03-06T10:47:00.000-08:00

We have been on the hard here in Knysna since last Wednesday afternoon and are slowly getting things done. It’s a bit hard as Russ seem to have to answer the endless questions of yachties as well as the general public that crowds the waterfront area. Moonwalker is quite the attraction here. Brisa comes a close second as people simply cannot believe we are sailing with such a young one. Brisa pleases everyone by screaming in delight at all the attention and by poking her little hands through the draining holes on the deck or peeping through the escape hatch on the hulls to check everyone out and get attention.

Knysna is a lovely place with wonderful people and the yacht club here is one of these rare places where you feel right at home being a sailor or not. Very friendly and helpful to all.

The only problem here is the heads… the entrance to Knysna lagoon is scary at best of times. Russ had no wind or swell but loads of fog which is the very first time we have encountered, ever. Since we have watched the fog engulf the heads and the mountains around it many times bringing that lovely air conditioning feeling to the place. Quite impressive.

We got a photo of Moonwalker arriving in the Lagoon from Shambala I (Jeff and Christie)

The Carlyons pose for a photo like the many tourists at the port.

Captain and crew. She understands "hold on" and "be careful" and both languages no problem.

Moonwalker at the yard in Knysna at the waterfront area, Russ actually missed the waterfront area on the photo so next one I will get it.

In Knysna with Google dramas

2011-03-01T00:48:00.000-08:00

We've been in Knysna for the last week doing all sorts of jobs and getting all ready for our haul out which should be happening either today or tomorrow. All going well but got the fright of our lives when my goggle account (GMAIL) got canceled meaning our email, webalbum, blog got all disabled as well!!! We totally freaked as this is like our diary! I emailed them and got it all sorted, they even SMSed me with a verification code, I was impressed on how quickly they got it all back but not impressed with their total disregard at simply cancelling it out rather than emailing the person first... I am now thinking about different ways of publishing my blog so we don't pass through this again.

Back to what we are here for...: The sail from Cape St Francis to Knysna was quite uneventful for the boys, apart from a plan that decided to do a fly over at mast height to wave to the crew!!! Russ Terry, Jannie and Break (our boat keeper while away in NZ) onboard. He needed all the extra eyes as they has heavy fog as they approached Knysna. It was mostly a motor trip as the wind totally died. We were shocked at how wrong the weather forecast was. Anyhow, better no wind than too much or from the totally wrong direction! They had fun, Moonwalker got into the lovely Knysna Lagoon without problems and we are happily enjoying the lovely town and hospitable yacht club.

Brisa is loving living onboard and all the dinghy trips ashore. She enjoys crawling around the yacht club and up strangers legs while mum and dad have a beer! She is loud and manages to take loads of space eventhough she is only 70cm! Everyone gives her as much space as she wants and she is melting some old crusty and salty sea dogs' hearts around!!! They don't even complain or look annoyed with her endless delighted screams around the bar. She is already having driving lessons on the dinghy by the way.

Other good news is that Brisa and I will fly to Brazil! Jannie will sail with Russell to Brazil and I am hoping he will allow Cristina to fly and join me on their arrival there. I am feeling a bit torn apart I confess. It was very strange seeing Moonwalker sail down the coast without me on board but I am not ready for such a long crossing with Brisa. I am sure it would be just fine but why take the chance now? So I am giving my nerves this chance to relax and slowly we will build up my confidence in myself and on Brisa. We will sail to Cape Town from Knysna though! It should be a 3 day sail at the most and we have quite a few hiding spots with the South Westerlies come strong.

Moonwalker sailing in the background without the first mate!

Brisa's first outboard driving lesson... we all got dizzy from going around in circles...

From left: Terry (boat builder in Cape St Francis), Jannie (Cristina's husband and Russ' crew to Brazil) & Break (our boat keeper and Russ' colleague at Cape St Francis Resort)

A friendly but a bit scary visit from the skies while Moonwalker sailed along the coast!

All going well Russ should be ready to sail in the next 2-3 weeks. Will keep you all posted

Knysna here we come!!!

2011-02-19T00:42:00.000-08:00

All going well here, Russ got back from Cape Town last weekend after a super fast, interesting and well guided tour of the city thanks to a sexy talking GPS he lend from Tim from TAG YACHTS.

So we wasted no time in putting the new sail up with the help of Jannie and last Monday we went for a test sail around the bay... as usual the wind and the conditions caught up to us and we had a very full on, over powered sail but the main held well and performed very well. Can't say the same about the back stay! Actually it was the pulley that gave out so we were please it happened now so we can get it fixed with plenty of friends to help Russ go up the mast the many times he has done in the last week.

Another accomplishment of the week was the netting of the boat! After over 3000 knots according to Bradley (our fisherman friend) the boat is Brisa proof now! In reality if our little fish decides to go for a swim she will regardless of what we do so eyes on her at all times net or no net.

Boat is looking pretty good now, everything pretty much ready now we just need to haul out and we are set to go. We sail to Knysna this Sunday with a perfect window behind us. I say us but Russ will take the boys for a sail and I will drive with Cristina and Brisa. So many people wanted to come and it's great to be able to offer them the opportunity. We will miss this place... so many great, generous, lovely people...I guess this is the just beginning of a good long lasting friendship with South Africa for sure.

Netting Anti Brisa

Carlyon's at home

New Main Sail!!! Sorry about the photo being sideways, I got no idea why the photos are coming this way...

South Africa update

2011-01-28T04:01:00.000-08:00

I have absolutely no excuses to give as to the reason this blog was abandoned for such long time… I cannot believe time has passed this fast… the only excuse I may attempt to give is that we have not done much in nautical terms since we got back to South Africa therefore I kind of didn’t have much to say about Moonwalker… although I could write a bible about our new crew member whom completed 7 super duper months two days ago… My mind, my body, my entire being revolves around this little creature called Brisa.

So in order to fulfill my intense desire to share everything to do with Brisa I need, for my own sanity and sake to tell you all that she is doing incredibly well at the height of her 68cm, 8.6kg and 4 (yes, four) teeth. She is pretty much crawling already, although it looks more of a hop/dive forward, but she is getting there. Don’t even let me start about walking… that’s all she wants to do to my desperation as I kind of hoped she would be one of those real slow walkers you know? We are about to move to the boat and she is incredibly fast and mobile, I can feel the nightmares moments we will have. However I am impossibly/terribly/utterly proud of my sprout.

You would all be if you could see her. She is a social monster. Shopping with her is a marathon as she thinks the supermarket is a great place to make new friends and insists on not only smiling but having a full blown chat with everyone around, specially all the grannies and grandpas whom love to babble to her in Afrikaans. Mind you she has the same reaction if you talk to her in Xhosa – no actually she loves hearing Xhosa because of all the clicks they do with their tongue while talking – or Portuguese or even English! Yes, she enjoys even good old boring English! As long as you are talking to her, she is “all good” as Nanna Jan would say.

Now that I have taken all that off my chest, I can talk about Moonwalker and us…

We are officially moving back on board next Monday, 31^st of January. We now have a brand new hard top, with an amazing water catchment system, LED lighting, tinted glass sail viewer right above the captain’s chair and fantastic speakers! We will still have the zip up side and front plastic covers as they are in good shape, unlike the old canvas cover. Russ had the full support of the amazing crew at TAG Yachts whom gave him full access to their state of the art facilities.

Another very important modification was the replacement of the Perspex windows in the cockpit for tinted glass. They are now fixed, and water tight, which they weren’t before causing dampness in the cockpit and rotting of the window frames. It looks a treat and we finally got rid of the annoying noise the windows made whilst sailing. Whoever done a crossing on Moonwalker and tried to sleep on the cockpit knows what I am talking about.

Plan at this stage is to move on board, get the final touches, and some sea trials before heading to Cape Town to get the main in order to sail to Knysna, 100 miles West of Port St Francis. In Knysna we will be one the first catamarans to use the brand new trailer the yacht club built. At the amazing, incomparable price of R2500 (NZ$500) for hauling in and out plus 4 days on the hard we are the happiest chaps around. This price beats even Bundaberg (Australia) our best price/benefit hauling out to date. The icing in the cake in this case is being in the heart of Knysna which is probably one the nicest harbors in South Africa.

Once on board I will certainly have plenty more to report specially regarding the much anticipated new main being built by Quantum Sails in Cape Town.

More to come, with photos I promise!

Leaving NZ

2010-10-06T19:28:00.000-07:00

After almost 7 months of New Zealand we are getting ready to depart again! Our new family leaves the country on the 16th of October to South Africa to reunite with our much missed family member Moonwalker. Poor Moonie has been parked up at the St Francis marina since January 2010 but well looked after by Break and many other South African friends.

We plan to stay in St Francis for a while, give a hand at the resort and get the boat shipshape for the leg to Brazil in February 2011. Hope we can catch up with some friends that stayed behind and meet a bunch of new sailors going across the Atlantic too. We will miss all our mates that have already crossed last season as they are all in the Caribe now and moving on by the end of the year.

All going well we plan to stay a wee while in Brazil. I am on the process of initializing a residency application for Russell so he can stay in Brazil without worrying about leaving. Moonwalker can only stay up to 2 years as far as I can gather so will see what happens.

Brisa is growing beautifully. She is a lovely but willed girl, has no problems showing what, how and where she wants something. A worry by all accounts. : ) We are loving parenthood and are dealing with all the hardships and frustrations typical of the job, but are very positive about the future, especially our time onboard.

Bring on another adventure for the Moonies!

Wedding

2010-09-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

It's been so long and I am so late in updating this blog that I feel real bad... but most of you were either there or have spoken to us since so I don't feel so terrible.... but hey, what a day it was!!! We got lucky with the weather and even managed to get a glimpse of the sun at the end of the day. Just magical.

It is all, unfortunately but expected, all becoming a bit of a blur now, apparently is quite common for brides to go through this but I have on top of that the most horrible case of baby brain... according to Russ I am operating at about 70% capacity... actually he said 60% but I am adding another 10% which I think I deserve.

Actually I remember the wedding very well just don't seem to remember talking to anyone! Honestly, I can't remember a single conversation I had! Never mind, all it matters is the images of a very special day in my head. Like seeing so many smiles and laughter around the club. Kids running around with balloons and laughing, Thea on a front pack waving her little arms and legs around so excited, Brisa fast asleep on my step-mum's arms, Freya dancing with Nicolas on the dance floor, my Brazilian girlfriends all drunk and merry falling on the floor or dancing with the singers, Ian "oh so handsome" Blakeman driving me to the club, Glen the MC from heaven, Nath the photographer from hell for making me walk with heels on the rocks in Waitangi! Mind you Russ did help me with that one!! My brother dancing with all the ladies, my dad... oh my dad... so proud and happy. Jan with her cigarette and bubbles in hand, laughing outside on a break from coordinating everyone in the kitchen.... what a star that woman is. Wasn't the food just divine and never ending? Oh so many memories flooding my head now... my husband!!! My husband!!! My husband!! He was so gorgeous with that formal sulu.And his smile, his happiness, how excited he was to have everyone around! Its probably the happiest I have ever seen him.

So THANK YOU ALL FOR SHARING THIS DAY WITH ME!!!!

I am slowly but surely adding more photos to the album, so keep checking it - the link is on the left hand side of the blog.

Brisa Jan Carlyon

2010-07-08T03:05:00.000-07:00

Brisa arrived on the 27th of June 2010 after a full moon and a partial eclipse and much effort from her mum! 16 hours of labor made for an unforgettable marathon but the reward was one of the most incredible moments of our lives.

IT"S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was a surprise we confess as everyone seemed to think it was a boy but how incredible.She is perfect and a good mixture of us. Hard to tell really. When she fills up a bit more. She has already gained weight, is a good sleeper and a great shitter! So all perfect really.

Her name means Breeze in Portuguese and has everything to do with her conception and future lifestyle. Russ and I are totally in love and enjoying every moment of it.

Breastfeeding is our biggest challenge at the moment, but we will persevere as needed and hopefully it will all work out, at least there is plenty of milk!

Will right more soon. Meanwhile another article has been published on the Boating NZ Magazine, looks real good, hope you all enjoy it.

Much love from us three...

Update from Paihia

2010-06-04T15:33:00.000-07:00

Time just flies! We have caught up with pretty much everyone by now therefore the lack of news on the blog... sorry!
But for the friends far and wide we are alive and kicking, and very much living the crazy life as usual.

Russ is back from his two deliveries to and from the Maldives on Naos and is now helping a friend paint his boat. I have been trying to organize baby arrival plus our wedding with different levels of success. I guess most things we will have to be organized closer to time so no much point dwelling on it now.

Baby is still 2 weeks away, believe it or not, such a drag these last few weeks! But all couldn't be going better. I feel pretty good, still fairly active and curious as hell about what is coming. Russ and I attended ante natal classes and that was, how to put it mildly... an eye opener? Enlightening? You get my gist.

But the big news by far now is the return of the Beachhouse into the family! Jan has bought beachhouse back in partnership with our old manager Blair Glentworth, so the entire family is out there working hard to have the place shipshape for a successful reopening on the 19th of June.

Unfortunately Beachhouse was in absolute shambles. The last owner (she bought the business from us and kindly financed Moonwalker) had the business taken from her by the receivers and Jan bought it from them. She hadn't cleaned the place in the last 4 years... is a miracle it was still up and running. But now with all the usual help of the community and extended family the place is going to look as good as before.

So you can imagine how life is with us trying to paint a boat, reopen a business, have a kid and organize a wedding all in the next 2 months... piece of cake! Oh well, as I keep saying, we have never done things the easy, normal way, why start now?

Moonwalker is still safely tucked away in Cape St Francis, getting gannets tangled and hanged from his mast... poor birdies! Thank Goodness we have friends looking after the boat! Otherwise we hear all is good, shame about the water restrictions in the area which forbid people from using hose to clean anything so you can imagine the amount of bird poo is accumulating on the deck...

Here are some recent photos: myself ala Demi Moore (minus make up and hair style) at the rocks in Waitangi with a 35week bump (8 months) and my baby shower at Tiff's house, she is a legend people... breasfeeding and entertaining 20 women and 8 kids... very impressed Tiff! Thanks a bunch for all your efforts!

In New Zealand

2010-04-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

We've been in NZ now for almost a month now, slowly getting things organized for the months ahead. So much to plan and do! But at least we now have more solid plans and dates for the big events:

18 - 20th of June: Arrival of the heir - could be anytime really but this is the probable date.

14th of August: Wedding date! Wedding will take place in Paihia, at Jan's house (Russ' mother).

Meanwhile, Russ is doing some deliveries for Naos, the last one should start on the 21st of April to the 6th of May and once he returns he plans to help Garry Trail in bringing our beloved Chelsea (42ft Morgan) back into sailing shape. That should keep him busy for a couple of months.

As for me, well, I am just growing this big belly, loving it, and trying not to become one of those boring mum's to be that only talks about baby... oh so very hard... I am so excited! Tiff (Russ'sister) has been an absolute inspiration and is full of good advice and let me practice a bit on Thea, which does give you a bit more confidence. All my girlfriends have been just angels, helping, sharing baby things, and lending me the most wonderful gear to make our lives easier while on land. Really have no idea how it is going to be once we are onboard. I guess the best way is to keep it simple and get things as you need them. So hard to plan for something so few people have experienced!

And for the curious, we still don't know the gender, which is a massive challenge for me (I am curious as hell!) but I guess it will all pay off at the end. I am hoping for a healthy baby but if it comes with a little willy I would be very happy indeed! : ) The photos are from our last weekend, Sunday, we went to the islands with Tris (Russ' brother), and at a party we did at Jan's house on Satuday.

The crazy life

2010-02-26T08:15:00.000-08:00

Talking on change of plans and all else... what a crazy life we have chosen. Things have turned around again and plans had to be remade but this seems to please absolutely everyone so all good as Jan would say...

We are heading to New Zealand! Our dearest Moonwalker will be safely tucked away at the marina in Cape St Francis while Russ and I finish our marathon of flights in order to get to NZ. I will arrive in Johanesburg on the 9th of March and have pretty much 24 hours with Russ there before we both catch the same flight to Dubai. There we split again, him heading to Langkawi (Malaysia) and I to New Zealand on a marathon of 20 hours ´till I land on kiwiland again after almost 4 years.

Russ is joining Naos again, the boat we worked from Spain to Panama 2.5 years ago, for a delivery to Maldives. He will be flown to NZ for a break on the 27th of March then back to Maldives end of April for a delivery to Bali, then he can come home and start the biggest adventure of all: becoming a father! As for me, well, I just need to make sure the baby stays in the oven until the 9th month so daddy can be around for the birth!

Meanwhile, Russ is working his arse off in Cape St Francis making sure he gets this jobs done on time, organizing Moonwalker´s and the flat´s packing (incredibly how we can take so much space after so little time on land) and making sure he gets to Joburg on time for his flight. He is going mental there the poor thing. All for a good cause.

And I, well I am in Brasília the capital of my country, watching mesmerized as the celebrations of 50th anniversary of the building of the town (which is a wonder of modern architecture) is obscured by the unveiling of one of the biggest corruption scandals in the history of the country - no small feat by all accounts. The governor is actually in prison! Can you believe that? Neither can I. Well, it´s a nice prison, far from the reality as far as prisons come, me and my uncle Célio have just passed in front of the Federal Police building here where the bastard is in theory incarcerated, and it´s a little luxury lodge. But still, absolutelly unheard of. An acting politician actually in prison during its mandate? It might all end in pizza as we say in Brazil but still it is something, just feel bad for good old Brasília, born of so many dreams of so many visionaries and now thrown into the mud just as it was its time to shine. Ce la vie, especially in Brazil.

I have been informed that Ovation has landed in Rio (my huge congrats to Tony and Darren for the slowest, shittiest crossings of all times) and that Tantrum is 4 days out at the most but still a puzzle where the hell they will land. Still I am honored in having so many good friends about to visit my beloved country. Really wish I could be with all of them here and show them the best of the best and hide the worst of the worst, but I guess they come together in Brazil, as in Brasília.

***Some photos available - check it out. Missing only photos of the most recent addition to the growing Holland clan: Thea Peta Holland, born in Kawakawa on the 17th February 2010. Welcome to our world princess!

Change of Plans...

2010-01-11T22:51:00.000-08:00

Another change of plans you guys...

As you all know, we are really enjoying Cape St Francis and Moonwalker is loving the little marina at Port St Francis. So we decided to stay put for the year and give our captain a well deserved break from sailing. Not that he will just put his feet up or on a surf board for this coming year, he is already up and running, helping at the Resort we are staying here in the Cape. The fact that the surf is just 10 paces away is just a mere detail....

We are both very happy with this decision, as I still get some time in Brazil. I fly out on the 19th of Jan and return on the 8th of March. The plan of going to New Zealand to have the baby and wedding is still up and so far we see no reason to change it. So this year will be full of plane travels and hardly any sailing. Sounds good. We leave for Brazil about this time next year with our baby on board and hopefully some change in the pocket.

Life is good, and our little flat awesome. Amazing how quickly you can get used to the landlubber life...

Check out this gut, I mean bump!

2010-01-05T05:48:00.000-08:00

With Moonwalker at a safe spot at the marina e Russ and I enjoying the rich and famous life of the landlubbers, our bump is growing pretty fast. Here is our look at 16 weeks...

Legend goes that from now on, the bump will grow hugely and quickly which will be a relief for me, as for the last 2 months I look like I have a massive gut rather than a baby bump.

We are loving St. Francis, Fasie and Fiona introduced us to some really cool people and we are having an absolute blast. Russ has been surfing and fishing, and I have been enjoying lovely walks on the beach, the shower, the bed, the couch, the TV!!!! Oh the TV!!! And the easily accessible fridge of course.

We could not be happier. So we must confess a few ideas have been popping on our minds lately... we have given ourselves until the end of the week to make a decision on this next leg of our journey. So stay tuned.

One Great Hop!

2010-01-03T03:44:00.000-08:00

After more than 3 weeks waiting for a window, watching the weather opening and closing, with the forecasts changing sometimes 3 times daily, we finally settled for a 40 hour window that should take us to at least East London on the 30th of December. So after much debate with many cruisers which had conflicting opinions on our choice of timing we set off at 7 am bound for East London 345 miles down the coast. Getting out of Richards Bay was worth the sacrifice of spending a boring New Years at sea.

The passage started slowly but the breeze steadily build up to a nice 20 knots which blew most of the day and part of the night, when it died off a bit but still offered us a steady 10-15 knots. With one reef on the main , our code zero up most of the time, plus 1 to 2 knots of current off the coast, Moonwalker took us a staggering 245 miles down the coast in 24 hours.

Those same first 24 hours saw yours truly spewing her guts out most of the time... just horrendous sea sickness. Never felt anything like it. I gotta put down to the fact that it was the baby's first sail and it was trying to get adjusted. I was just hopeless. Every time I was required on deck or cockpit to work, the body demanded a donation to the fishes. Russ just looked on unable to do a thing apart from literally taking the boat himself non-stop 36 hours without sleep. I guess hence our amazing speeds as he had nothing better to do than sail the boat.

The second day saw us with variable winds from East and eventually South East with the dreaded South Westers being delayed by the lovely high we were riding. So East London went by in a blur and so did Port Alfred at night. Even with light winds of less than 10 knots, Moonwalker was doing constantly 9 to 10 knots proving to us why we love her so much. It isn't the big speeds in strong winds we are interested (which my the way topped up at 22.3 knots, an absolutely all time record for us) but the high speeds she is capable in very light winds. So many times we saw her do 6 knots in 6 knots of wind, and in this case it was like doing 8 in 8. This discounting current which was with us on and off after East London.

New Years was uneventful which on this coast is a absolute blessing. Russ finally managed to get some sleep 30 minutes before midnight, so I heard all the coastal traders, tankers and cargo ships wishing their Happy New Years around the ocean on the radio.We had 3 boats we knew coming down the coast at the same time so it wasn't such a lonely time. The moon showed up for a wee while too, and I wasn't spewing so I was very happy with my New Years indeed.

The propellers worked a dream. She is so much smoother while at sail now and with the bigger blades we are now capable of doing 6.5 knots motoring in perfect conditions! Hows that for an improvement on our original 4.5! We managed to check all this out when we got to Port Elizabeth, the wind died completely and we had nice flat seas to motor on. While checking out the coast we came across lots of seals, sunning their fins, which initially we thought was a lot of tree trunks floating around. They are just so funny and gracious. Penguins and Gannets where everywhere too, so we tried our luck trawling a line out but caught nothing.

We entered St Francis Harbor at 6 pm on the 1st of January in perfect conditions no breaking waves or surges as reported. But we can totally see how getting in and out of this harbour can be tricky. We attached ourselves to one of the local squid boats and had a smelly but lovely evening asleep.

So in short, Moonwalker rocks, we are out of Richards Bay and we are oh so very happy! I will have more cool up dates soon as this places promises... swell coming, J Bay just around the corner, some very nice, hospitable people around. We caught up with Fasie and Fiona from Moonpath too. Super nice family.

Russ has just returned from a surf at Cape St Francis as I finalize this blog, and reported good waves with only surf shorts and a vest. Big smiles on his face...

New Props on!

2009-12-17T01:44:00.000-08:00

So after beaching Moonwalker 3 times we finally got the propellers on! Yeah! It works a treat around the harbor need to try out in the ocean now. Russ reckons it's a bit noisier thanks to the big blades that pass about an 1.5 inch from the hull itself, but it works well and it shouldn't give us any grief while sailing.

We had a little share of dramas and delays since we arrived here on the 13th of October but now we are so very much ready to go! However the last decent weather window happened 2 weeks ago and our friends Ovation and Nero took it and made it to Knysna.

So the waiting game starts, there's been a few false alarms of nice windows forming and closing, but we are feeling good about one coming this coming monday. We hope to make at least to East London. Fingers crossed.

THE NEW CREW ON MOONWALKER!

2009-12-04T02:24:00.000-08:00

Introducing the new crew on Moonwalker, which at the monent is hitching a ride inside mum's tummy (much more confortable I would guess) and stealing dad's space in bed... not quite the crew you would imagine if it wasn't for the image hum??? The photo shows our little one at 9 weeks, 3 cm and kicking and punching although I can't feel a thing the scan showed it clearly. Just amazing.

We will leave the sex as a surprise after much pleading of Jan and Russell. I am a curious creature by nature and a Brazilian by birth (where surprises are unheard off) so this sort of decision didn't come easily. But I promissed and now I am glad I did. How exciting it will be!

We are now at the 13th week so just out of the dreaded first trimester, all happy and healthy. Very lucky indeed for not having morning sickness or any other negative side effects. I only got the good ones: big boobs, enhanced se... oh you don't want to know about all that... but lets just say its good, very good. ; )

So the plan is to carry on to Cape Town as soon as we can and depart for Brazil in January. I will be flying over on the 19th of January for my gourgeus niece's baptism and will stay there as I really don't think it's a great idea to do such a long crossing (3 weeks) pregnant. Realistically if something goes wrong I am totally screwed. I would never forgive myself to letting that happen. Russ agrees so we are looking for some crew to do the crossing with him. As long as the crew is prepared to pay for their flights back we are happy to shout food. Apparently there are plenty of sailors here whom need the mileage to get licenses and are even prepared to pay for it but Russ wants to be able to choose who he sails with so as long as they pay their ticket back we are happy. Russ will be leaving (weather permitting) just as I fly out (19th of January) and sailing to Rio de Janeiro. He should be there in time for Carnaval! If anyone know of anyone interested please get in touch.

VERY HAPPY, BRAZIL HERE WE COME !!!

New Zealand goes to Sth Africa!!!

2009-11-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to say how incredibly proud I am of the All Whites for qualifying to the World Cup 2010 in South Africa!!! It's a huge achievement. Sad we won't be here to see them. GO WHITES!

Richards Bay

2009-11-11T00:54:00.000-08:00

Only now I realized how long its been since I updated the blog and how long we've been here in Richards Bay! Well, can't say it has been the most productive times of our lives as we depend on parts to fix things on board, car to get anywhere around and generally the weather is pretty shocking but we are slowly ticking off things of our 2 page long list.

The highlight of our stay so far has been our 2 visits to the Hluhluwe(pronouced Shooshoolooe)-Imfolozi Park. Our first visit was a 3 day/two nights stay at the park where we saw pretty much all the animals there was to see (Rhinos, Giraffes, Zebras, Antelopes, Elephants, buffalos, etc). I was the only one to see a lion as I did a night safari with the local camp as you are not allowed to drive your car at night (normally you drive yourself around the park and animals). On our second visit we saw a Cheetah and that was just incredible. She/he was kind of stalking this group of antilopes that seemed oblivious to its presece. It was majestic.

I love the Giraffes, they are so elegant and clumsy at the same time, we got a great shot of one drinking water - what an undignified moment for such an elegant creature. But Russ is in love with the Dung beetles... yeah, typical Russ. He reckons that the Dung beetle is not part of the Big 5 but is a certain number 6. Really, I have to give to the little insect, what an incredible life: make a neat shit ball with the help of its female partner; roll it and the female (yes, she hops on the ball for the ride) with its hind legs wherever it needs to be rolled (invariably up hill); then bury it so the female can lay her eggs in it. They do it all day long. The roads are littered with them. I don't know exactly what you all believe in, but hey, I am working hard on my karma here as I really don't want to come back as one of these creatures. No, rolling shit is not my idea of a life surprisinly!

We then went to see the hyppos in St. Lucia, where they are scattered in an estuary, very close to the beach. From time to time the take to the street of the town at night, grassing. Just incredible. Crocs are around too. They are not as big as the Australian ones, but Gee do they have plenty of sharp teeth... However I learned that Hyppos are the biggest killers on humans in Africa. More than sharks or crocs. Knowing that, I was pretty shocked to see local people fishing right next to the hyppo spot and a hand full of paces from crocs! Seems a bit careless to say the least!

Back to the boat reality we are now just waiting for our inner cutter stay and wind gear to come from Durban to get going west. Not much of a hurry but it would be nice to have a change. At least here we don't pay marinas as we are attached to a public dock, but I don't think one can stay here forever. Everyone says that once out of here it can only get better - so we hope as this is a pretty bleak place. I am not quite sure what we had in mind when we got there, but certainly it wasn't this. The weather is improving, summer is coming, but it still blows 25 - 40 knots either from the SW or NE and we don't want to get out of here in these conditions that's for sure. Another sad fact is that there are hardly any anchorages on this coast until you get to Simonstown (just south of Cape Town) meaning you have to stay in marinas. They are so expensive it's crazy really. After we heard as well that after a recent blow 5 boats sank at a nearby marina we decided that this is not a place we want to keep our boat during the winter.

So that means we will not be staying in South Africa for the coming winter and Soccer World Cup as planned initially. We will be heading to Brazil next year, late January/early February. Needless to say I am so happy about that! We will be heading straight to Rio and working our way further south from there. So excited, can't wait!

SOUTH AFRICA

2009-10-15T01:45:00.001-07:00

We are here! 4 and a half days of plenty of wind and a good smacking as we approached the coast that saw us beating into 45 knots of wind... Moonwalker didn't like it at all and she sustained a bit of damage but crew is safe and sound and loving all the civilized facilities! Soon a good update with photos and plenty stories will come. Meanwhile we are just stoked to be here: WE ARE IN AFRICA!

Weather Gods

2009-10-08T06:54:00.001-07:00

And another joke from the weather Gods on us: unable to shake off the sea breeze/land breeze effect from the Madagascar coast we have missed the weather window we wanted. However we have now noticed it was to our advantage as winds where variable on the middle of the channell. So we have been heading south and are now approaching the town of Bello Sur Mer. Apparently this is where all the big sailing coastal trades vessels are build so we are really looking forward to check it out. No sign of a weather window for another 3 days so we might as well make the most of it. We have visited the Barren Islands which are very barren indeed and have been able to do some real good sailing in the afternoons with 80 miles days covered without too much hassle.

Leaving Madagascar

2009-09-30T05:18:00.000-07:00

We are by Bally Bay north of the Cape St. Andre and got notice of a good weather window to go across the channel so have decided to take the chance. Leaving this evening. A bit unfortunate as we wanted to check further south but the anchorages with this weather are not so good and Paul is real keen to get to Sth Africa to enjoy a bit of it before he returns. Its just so hard to leave places we really enjoy! We will keep following the coast south for a few days just in case the weather window (or our minds) changes and then hop across. Its around 900 miles cross to Richards Bay but if a front comes through as we approach the coast of Africa we will hide behind an island off Maputo Bay in Mozambique called Inhaca till we can carry on south. This crossing although short in comparison to our latest ones is very tricky as it involves lots of currents and weather systems that blow through the channel very quickly leaving very few, if any, options of protection so caution and a good weather window are vital. Will keep you posted but should take up to a week to get there we believe. Glad the tsunami didnt get to New Zealand!

Down the coast of Madagascar

2009-09-23T03:18:00.001-07:00

After stocking up in Hellville, which was quite the adventure on itself, and picking up Paul Nissen our mate from New Zealand we started slowly moving down the west coast of Madagascar. When I mean slow I mean real slow as there are so many places to visit! The sailing has been superb: as I write we are sailing up wind at 7 knots taking photos of some amazing local trading vessells. This place just so unreal! The boys from the local boat have just challenged us to a race by pulling their trousers down and shaking their butts at us! Its a laugh I tell you! Chances are they will beat us too! Anyhow just using this rare opportunity where the internet network actually works to let all know we are alive and loving it! We are planning to anchor in Moramba Bay just north of a big town called Mahajunga where we will stay for a few days before doing the big hop around Cape St Andre. We plan to stay on this coast for another 2 weeks before crossing the Mozambique Channel. We have seen plenty humpback whales, turtles and dolphins. Unfortunately no more whale sharks but the hope is still with us. Fishing isnt very good (that is for us, other boats are having more luck) but we have eaten quite a few mud crabs that we trade with locals for caps, plastic or glass containers, even nail polish! We visited an infamous island for its maximum security prison (in 1993 some inmates escaped boarded a cruising boat, killed everyone onboard and sailed away) called Nose Lava. The prison is not abandoned and only 3 convicts live there with their families. Samuel was our guide. He was arrested when he was 23 for murder. He is still doing his time by looking after the remains of the prison. He is 51 now. He showed us the prison, the solitaire cells and the administration building. After he took us to the lighthouse on the island and the fresh water stream. We donated food to the families as they have no support and very little means to buy much supplies. They were very grateful and friendly towards us. Tough life. We learn a new reality of life everyday in this place. Unforgettable moments all around.

Ce la vie!

2009-08-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

Well you all know our French is pretty shit but we are trying with different degrees of success. Unlike the French the Madagascar people find our attempts very entertaining and even try to help us along, bless them! We are now doing a bit of a tour around the area around Nose Be and mainland Madagascar. We visited the island of Sakatia, Russian Bay and Iranja where we had the most amazing time. We arrived early morning before the SW winds start picking up and while having a cup of coffee onboard of Nero, with Bob and Glenda, Russell say something very big floating by the boat. We had heard about whale sharks in the area but were unsure about what it was as it looked and moved like a shark. Russ jumped in the water straight away, Glenda and I scrambled onto the dinghy to catch up and oh my God it was a 6 meter whale shark! We jumped in the water and swam with this gentle giant for about 10 minutes. It turned around a few times to break up out and once it had satisfied its curiosity it left us there catching our breaths and laughing like kids, it was awesome! The day after we where in the water snorkelling when we spotted 2 massive turtles, probably 1.5 meters long (from head to the massive thick tail it has) by a meter wide. John from the boat Dancyn, who is a marine biologist, said they where Loggerhead turtles. He rode one of them for a while even! Just another one of those magic moments we will cherish forever! Now we are in a very calm and flat anchorage just across from Nose Be on the mainland after a 20 miles kite sail. Just lovely. Russ is fixing the back of the port rudder that broke during our Chagos to Madagascar crossing while i clean some of my latest additions to the forever growing shell collection. Loving it! It's life alright!

MADAGASCAR

2009-08-13T06:13:00.000-07:00

We still can not comprehend the fact that we have arrived in Madagascar. Its stuff of childhood dreams! We already saw Lemurs and are on the lookout for chamaleons. People are beautiful inside and out we fell great here although some safety measures are required in bigger and or touristic places. So far so good. Clearance procedures are easy and officials insist in saying the 1st month is free even when they give you a bill of nz$10 to pay, oh well, our French is pretty bad so i will blame on that. The local produce is fabulous and the meat splendid (oh how we missed red meat!). The local rum has provide us with some lovely nights and sore mornings but we love it. They have the most amazing sailing canoes and trade boats (up to 30 ft) with triangular lanteen sails, no engines. All taking full advantage of the land/sea breeze effect. A sight not to be forgotten. Carbon footprint of these people is as close to zero and civilized as you can get. We have visited some very remove villages in the north west, traded with the locals for food and other goodies. You would be surprised how many bananas you can get for an empty plastic water bottle! All in all things are pretty amazing really. We have another 30 of paradise before we are hoisting our sails seriously again to attack another serious piece of water: the Mozambique Channel to Sth Africa.

Chagos time

2009-08-13T06:11:00.000-07:00

Did we say that Chagos is amazing? Yeah We thought so... Ok will tell you why apart from the fact that there are no inhabitants to these islands: pristine water (although on the chilly side), fish that are bigger than the fish books tell you they can get (e.g. Coral trout- delicious), coconut crabs crawling all over the place, stunning shells, turtles totally unafraid of you, birds that simply ignore your presence, amazing coral and diversity of fish. Ok the sharks are a bit freaky but its quite suprising how you get used to their sight. However we must say that on our last few days there a few tiger sharks (probably the most violent species of shark) showed up inside the lagoon in the shallow water (5 to 3 meters deep) to check and snack on a dead Beaked whale that was washed over the reef into the lagoon! So the big guys were out there all the time we just dont see them! We checked them out from our dinghy and they were longer (10 to 12ft) then our dinghy but not as wide. We know that for sure because Russ almost ran over one! Just unreal shit you guys, pardon my french... Well the BBQ on the BIOT (the British authorities in Chagos) boat was a highlight too and we were treated very well thanks to our connection to Captain Bob our ex-tenant in NZ and ex-captain of the boat. If you are reading this Bob, thanks for putting a word for us, those guys really like you and showed us a great time. Weather wise we arrived on a particular windy phase which brought constant 25 knots for 15 days. But we were well sheltered. The only shame is that with big seas we had quite few opportunities to dive the outside walls and pass. The current was quite fierce too so it was out of our league really so we did most of our snorkelling inside the lagoon. I didnt spear fish as it is illegal but with so many sharks around it was too risky. Plus the fishing was good and easy so no need but oh so tempting! We ended up staying for about 25 days as the winds calmed down a a great weather window came up to shoot across to Madagascar. We could not have dreamed of better conditions we where trully blessed. We covered 1540 miles in 8 days and 5 hours. 3 days of over 200 miles days. Our last 48 hours were a bit rougher with the last 5 hours as we approached Cape D'Ambre on the northern tip of Madagascar being particularly nasty as expected: 4 to 5 meters rough seas with 30 to 40 knot winds. We had only the storm jia up for steerage, 3 ropes dragging behind us to slow us down and Russ was doing what he could to avoid us surfing too much. It was intense but we felt safe even when a massive wave broke right on top of us causing the boat to get as close to broaching as I want to get, although Russ dismissed as only water... But the most amazing thing was watching a humpback whale travelling upwind like a massive sports boat, taking off on waves and crashing down. It was an amazing sunny day which made our approach even more special. Once around the Cape the seas flatten immediatly and only the wind lingers allowing us to anchor straight away for a well deserted good sleep looking at the lighthouse. We were in Madagascar...

About to leave for Madagascar!

2009-07-25T02:01:00.000-07:00

Chagos is amazing. We are having a great time, fishing heaps, not as much diving as we would like but our shell collection is still increasing everyday! Shark city here! We have some amazing footage and photos but unfortunately our brand new underwater camera has given up on us already! Still under warranty so hopefully we get a new one in Africa.

We are getting ready to leave in the next couple of days as the weather has calmed down a bit (from the daily 25 - 30 knots to 15 - 25 knots winds)and the seas seem more forgiving. Russ has fixed the rudder and we are now working on the alternator with the help from Darren from Ovation. It's a down-sized community here (from the 25 plus boats to only 6) but a very nice and multinational group (Japanese, Americans, Aussies, but Kiwis rule here!). We are hoping for a 10 to 12 day passage to Madagascar but we will take our time getting to Nosy Be, so we should be back to civilization sometime mid-September. Hope this update finds you all well. XXX

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CHAGOS!!!

2009-07-06T18:16:00.000-07:00

We are here! Actually we arrived 3 days ago, on the 3rd of July but been having far too much fun to stop and email! Sorry! The trip was long, 13 days, but with good winds (sometimes too good). Moonwalker sustained a bit of damage I'm sorry to inform, giving us some serious heart pumping moments: try fishing your rudder casing with you rudder in it, at 3 am with 25 knots of wind... Russell did it! But all good guys, remember? We have 2 rudders! And we can totally fix the other one here. Our fridge isn't working well either, our alternator is gone (thank goodness for our solar panels and the constant SE trades!)and our GPS didn't work for 4 days (hand held GPS saved us)! Oh well welcome to life onboard. Chagos is just stunning, we are loving it.

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See you in August!

2009-06-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

SEE YOU ALL IN AUGUST WHEN WE ARRIVE IN MADAGASCAR!!!

Leaving for Chagos!

2009-06-18T01:30:00.000-07:00

Finally we are getting ready to go! Well, we are two days away still as we will need a day to recover from my birthday tonight, also because you don't leave port on fridays right? Anyway, excuses apart we go on Saturday after visiting the local vege market. All good to go, burtterflies flying around our stomachs and some nervous laughs everytime we talk about it but we are SO READY!!!

For me it's the real deal, once we leave I will finally believe we will go around the world! I kind of had this crazy idea (or hope...) that we would turn around do Micronesia and the Pacific before heading back to NZ, but if we leave West, West it will be from now on. Sth Africa will be our midway point. Looking forward to seeing Chagos, heard so many good reports on it. Madagascar sounds great too, seems like its very similar to Vanuatu on its village ways, very simple, very primitive. Been advised to keep all glass and plastic jars as they still use animal bladders and seed containers to carry water etc. So you can get some good produce for a plastic water bottle.

Well, the blog will be a bit abandoned while we are doing the crossing so we will be back in August once in Madagascar. Promisse I will have plenty of photos and stories to tell!

Thank you so much for all the phone calls we received lately! We still have until SATURDAY the 20th to chat!

Fishing, Pro Surfers and a Snake

2009-06-04T21:04:00.000-07:00

Swell is down but spirits are up with all the action we have been having around here. The guys from the Aloite Resort are super friendly and the place is super nice. Fishing is fantastic (check the green job fish!), although the wild life is too friendly (check the snake in our galley). Now we are partying with some famous dudes (Check Mick Fanning - world champ - and Adriano -Brazilian Champ - with Karin looking like a dork and Russ smiling away! ) and starting our countdown to Chagos. 10 days to go... In the meanwhile dear friends our mobile is at full speed: +62 813 961 22869 and we should be connection until we leave. Russ and I would love to hear your voices. Call from Skype or just call for a hi, it will lift our spirits even higher. We miss you and wish we could share these special times with you all.xxx

Amendments

2009-05-26T18:31:00.001-07:00

Ok so here we are officially withdrawing our last degrading comments about the mentawais. We have finally seen what the fuss is about! Man the swell is here and it is everywhere! Yesterday we had A frames break totally for ourselves. Russ dropping on double head high waves and I in the water filming and taking photos with my new waterproof camera. I was a bit scared of getting in the water but I totally needed to register the moment. Hopefully we will be able to post some photos and videos soon. Russ had 4Bobs real good head and a half clean waves with only other 4 guys. Rifles is pumping and I had never seen anything like it. Big, long (300 meters plus) waves with unreal barrels. It was water poetry, to make the toughest cry from having survived. A time to remember. Thank goodness Russell didnt have any kamikazi aspirations and stayed put on the dingy with me. It can be a high price to pay for glory and we simply cant afford right now. So we stared, drooled and cheered those demented surfers. We thought of Mike B-S heaps! Man you would have killed those waves we are sure! So needless to say we have postponed our departure by another 2 weeks to make the most of it and to wait for the SE trades to come little bit further north. Keep tuned.

Mentawais

2009-05-17T21:08:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to the famous Mentawais group. And to our surprise we pretty much sailed all the way down here from Telo! Unfortunately the nice winds that brought us down kept us holed up in this mangrove anchorage for 3 days under lots of wind and rain. We were growing mold on our skins! But Russell got a nice session at bangbang and we are hoping to stay at playgrounds for a few days weather permitting. We cant really see us heading to Chagos soon. The trades are still far south so we need to be patient. Officials and the local "kepala desas" are very onto boats here and rarely miss a chance to hassle us for some money. Plus we had some very curious teenagers coming to our boat at 2 am, both times i woke up and got Russ on the case. But what can we do? Apart from touching the boat they have not come onboard although i believe they would given the chance. They are not violent and they are small time thieves looking to get something of the life lines like board shorts etc. Needless to say this isnt our favourite place. If you came this way unless you are very keen on the surfit, have an easy nature and a big wallet, it aint worth it. Stay from Telo north. But we are here and trying to make the most of it. The place is pretty and have a huge amount of waves with a huge amount of people too. Weather is better so things should be on the up.

Heading south

2009-05-08T03:36:00.000-07:00

After 10 great days with Terry and Glenn onboard, we are back in gunung sitoli for a quick stock up before heading south for the telo group. The plan is to reach the Mentawai group within the next 2 weeks. We are looking forward to that as we missed this group of islands on our last visit. Russell is still waiting on the big swell and good quality waves. Although he has been surfing most days since we arrived in the Banyaks, he says the waves are still pretty average. I finally got the hang on how to reload the big gun and must say I am impressed with its power and accuracy. Gone are the days of my blue friend! I have speared 5 fishes with the new gun so far. Nothing massive but good to feed everyone. Glenn and Terry had a go with the gun too and didnt disappoint. All in all things are going well and we hope to be leaving Sumatra for Chagos fairly soon. Got butterflies on my stomach just to think of it!

Back in Sibolga!

2009-04-22T23:29:00.000-07:00

Hey you all, this update should be a more laid back one... I promisse I won't winge so much!!! So here we go:

We spent over 2 weeks in our favourite spot, Bay of Plenty in the Banyaks grounp. Russ had plenty of surf although a bit messy this early in the season. I have had quite a few spear fishing days, nothing big but enough for a feed. Russ caught a nice sweet lip the other day, officially his first speared fish! We had the anchorage for ourselves for about 5 days then Capricorn (Mike & Kym from Australia) joined us, and then Nick from Sea Turtle (USA). It was great to catch up with some friends and have a great anchorage to do so. Nick left and after a week or so, Dancyn (John and LJ, from USA) finally made it! We only had 2 days with then and we did an overnight to Sibolga.

Our clearing in Sibolga was very hassle free, just slow and burocratic as expected. Our first night in Sibolga saw us battling a 50 knot winds, strong rain and (lots of) liughtening for about an hour. We dragged a bit and were too close to Capricorn so Russ had the engine on which could just hold our position. Once the rain abbated a bit and the lightening seemed a bit further away (we were using the old trick of counting between seeing the light and hearing it), we pulled anchor and tried to re-anchor about 4 times (blodly plastic bags...) until we managed to get a good hold. Since then, our nights have been very still which is a relief to the nerves but bad for the nose as the place stinks of rotting fish sometimes!

Russ managed to fix the old propellers at this Chinese mechanic shop (he was trully impressed with the services, and all so incredibly cheap!) so once in clear waters we will change the new ones (bought just 6 months ago!) for the old ones (15 years old) and send the new ones back for a refund. It just simply doesn't work properlly, we bought feathering props and guess what? They don't feather! The rudder arms as well as the back of the boat seem to be dancing to a different tune of the rest of the boat. Russ reckons we are loosing at least a knot in drag. So the new kiwi props propellers are history mates! Bring back the old briskies!

I have restocked the boat and we are not ready to have a fantastic time with our two friends, Terry and Glenn, which are flying from New Zealand to join us for two weeks. After that we will drop them off and start heading south through the Telo and Mentawai group until the SE trades start making their way further north. We hope to be leaving Indonesia late May and arriving in Chagos on time for Russ' birthday on the 7th of June.

I know everyone is concerned about the situation in East Africa, but we don't plan to go to Tanzinia, Kenia or even Seychelles. Our route should see us further South than that, in Madagascar and Mayottes before heading to Sth Africa. By the time we get there, which should be sometime early august, we believe and hope things are a bit more settled. We sure are relieved to not be travelling under an American flag though... our American friends are hiding their flags and only travelling in convoys now... such a shame that things need to get to this level.

So much to look forward too! I guess this year will be full of interesting stories. The only sad part of it all is that I won't have my SAILMAIL to pass information as it happens! I am quite upset about it, but the modem is broken and there is very little we can do here. So while in Indo I can get my GMAIL email without problems but after, from here to Chagos and Madagascar we will be out of the air for about 3 months. Very sorry but if you all had a HF radio we could be in touch!

I did say I wasn't going to winge...sorry...

Anyhow, here are some photos of our latest... Love to you all!

Cruising? What cruising?

2009-04-12T03:25:00.000-07:00

After a string of challenges involving water pumps, post office in nz (whom thought langkawi was somewhere in india!) and outboards, we left for sumatra with rolly seas and average winds. We didnt muck around and used the engine shamelessly. But we manage so sail for a while especially during a 40 knot squall that caught us unaware with our main totally up. Needless to say it was mayhem. To complete the picture we were on the shipping lane with a massive tanker coming for us plus rain so thick that visibility was 20 meters being generous. Russ put me on the radio as captains seem to be partial to female voices... Well got to admit he is right, the ship saw us even before we called it and it was already turning when i called and a funny russian imitating an aussie said "no worries mate". We had no time to laugh as the sail was still up and wind on the up too. Got the damn thing down going down wind as it was far too windy and we were shit scared of pointing up. I actually went on deck fully harnessed up to do that as russ had to be spot on the driving. With much effort, a river of water going inside my wet weather gear through the sleeves of my raised arms and a massive rip from a lazy jack it was all accomplished. What a wake up call from the oceans! We arrived at pulau rubiah in weh at 2 in the morning having done the trip in 48 hours so not so bad. We've been here for roughly 20 days now and have done the banda aceh and northern west coast quickly with lots of motoring and SE winds ( on the nose ). No boats around and no swell to be found. Caught a break and had good winds to sail overnight to simelue. In lassia, an island paradise between simelue and the banyaks group our luck abandoned us and during one of the many squals that pass around this area we got an indirect hit by lightening. Our switch panel went blank straight away. Blood drained from our faces as that could potentially mean the end of our trip for the year. We started counting casualities and in 2 days figured that we had lost our wind instrument, smart regulator and sea talk system of the autopilot which means we have to choose to use the autopilot or check depth cant do both. So of all the bad things that could have happened our luck hadn't deserted us after all it just took a different shape! Oh well, the dramas dont really end there: along the way we lost our sailmail meaning i am writing and sending this from my mobile! Indonesia has this amazing ability of being so backwards and so modern at the same time! And the last but not least of our list of loses is our not so beloved brand new propellers. Russ has given up on them as now on top of not feathering properly they dont reverse. So we will revert to the old props and send this ones packing back to the factory in nz. Ok enough winging. The bottom line is that we will persevere and are keeping to the plan. In the meanwhile most dramas have been put on the back of our minds while we enjoy the pleasures of the banyak islands. Surf is up and so is the fishing. The rain is still around but not much lightening so at least our hearts can stay calm and moonwalker clean.

2009-03-12T00:15:00.000-07:00

Hi you guys,finally we have a weather forcast which looks like we will have a bit of wind to cross to Banda Aceh at the top of Sumatera,only a 200 mile sail but better than a 200 mile motor. We are really looking forward to going back for more surf but also to see all the people we met last year.It really makes it a bit less stressful when you have covered the area before so... bring it on!We have really loved Asia But looking forward to this year and some real sailing in southeast trades all the way to Africa.The boat is in great condition at the moment and with our new solar panels we have basically given the petrochemical giants a big fuck off finger as we no longer run the engine to charge batteries. With some big sailng distances ahead this year I am sure there will be a few bumpuckering moments but the rest of it will be fantastic! Cheers

Well, still in Langkawi...

2009-03-06T02:07:00.000-08:00

A bit of a change of plans will see us here in Langkawi for another week! And I can't blame the Good bye party... actually a bit embarrasing to have a Good-Bye Party and don't leave, but I guess it will be a great oportunity to just do another one before we leave for real!

The plan now is to leave straight from Langkawi to Sumatra as we've been told that boats can get 2 months visa on arrival in Indonesia, instead of getting the social visa (which is valid for 3 months). As we only going to stay (well, officially at least...) for 2 months, then we don't need to go all the way to Penang to get the visa at the Embassy etc. So we decided to stay here and blow more money... YES! More money! Just bought a beautiful 9.8 hp Tohatsu outboard and we are just styling! The outboard weighs only 26kg (instead of the almost 40 kg from our previous 15hp) and is so quiet and so poweful. We are loving it! Should have taken a photo really, forgot, sorry! I blew a bit of money too and went to the hair dresser - again! - and cut my hair even shorter! No photos yet, sorry again...

So the plan now is to get our final touches done and hope to be leaving by next Wednesday with the full Moon. Check the webalbum for some cool photos of the party! I will leave you with a little taster:

Ah, I have added the link to the Brazilian Magazine we've been writing to, we appear on the Editions: 36 to 39 (we have two more articles to be published by them). I am still waiting to hear on the article to be published on Australian Multihull, if anyone sees it, let me know!

Last weeks in Langkawi

2009-02-21T01:25:00.000-08:00

We are entering out third week here in Langkawi and many things have been accomplished. Two new Solar Panels installed, 4 new 6 volt batteries and a 5 day charter with Mister Bill from Singapore! That was a big boost on our depleted funds and a great time! We did a trip around the island and visited anchorages we hadn't seen before and re visited some good old anchorages we hadn't seen since our arrival in Malaysia in March 2008! Charters are a sure way of making good money while having a good time and sharing our quite unique way of life. Big Thank you Mister Bill for coming with us!

All in all we are looking real good to leave Telaga in about a weeks time towards Penang where I am hoping to drag Russ with me, for a good medical check up at the amazing Penang Hospital facilities, in case you don't know, Penang is a major destination for Medical Tourism which is a growing trend in Asia. So all going well we should be leaving to Sumatra by first week of March. Can't wait!

Ah, before I forget, we are updating photos on our webalbum, if you have time and patience go check it out!

Leaving Thailand

2009-02-02T18:25:00.000-08:00

So it's been what, a bit less than a year since we arrived in Thailand waters and of the last year we spent a good 6 months here. The place is not what it used to be, no doubts about that. Especially Phuket. The construction is madneing, the traffic is chaotic and the Thais unfortunately have lost their ways around here, but still, there is something very homely about this place, especially our little corner in Phuket called Ao yon. Over the last days we have been rushing around shopping and doing things for the boat and now are finished with the place and will clear out today and head down to Langkawi - Malaysia t get our new solar panels!!! Our first step towards going across the Indian Ocean.

So I would like to leave here a BIG THANK YOU for all our guests during our time in KRABI! You guys helped us heaps and we hope we have instilled in you a bit of our healthy craziness. LIVING LIFE IS EVERYTHING!

BYE BYE THAILAND, SEE YOU WHEN WE SEE YOU... hopefully for some shopping with the girls in a near - distant future... ; )

New phase new look

2009-01-28T08:16:00.001-08:00

And so we finish our Krabi phase... and the beginning of a new time deserves a new look, and here it is! To my surprise Russ didn't freak as much as you would think. I guess he was trying to be nice... I am stoked. Love it so no words if you think otherwise! : )

Anyhow, off to Phuket tomorrow, much lighter with less hair but with a fat wallet. Two new solar panels on the way! Yeah! We have a very busy month ahead of us with plenty of shopping (for the boat obviously) to do and setting up for the long journey ahead. We will be covering in the next 6 months about the same distance we did in the last 3 years!!! Holly Molly!

Krabi

2009-01-19T05:56:00.000-08:00

We've been in Krabi for the last 2 weeks and are still loving it. The day charters are a heap of fun plus money. We have already saved for 2 new solar panels, just 4 batteries to go! Time is going fast so we have decided to stay here only till the end of the month then start getting organized to go Sumatra. We have decided to bring our date forward to early march rather than late march.

Here are some photos of our surroundings and games!

JUMPING RUSS!

AMAZING VIEWS FROM THE LOOKOUT... Our anchorage and the Railey East

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2009-01-10T00:10:00.000-08:00

Hope you all have an amazing new year and that you are already charging into 2009 with renewed energy!

We spent ours in Ko Lanta, a lovely peaceful island southeast of Phuket. We saw hundreds of lanterns being released into the air, loaded with good wishes and we didn't wast time in putting ours in the air, after all we have a full on year ahead of us! Amazingly the loaded lantern managed to take off into the sky and there it stayed till it merged with the others out of sight. Then the fireworks started! AMAZING! A very loose affair, Thai style, with those ticking time bombs buried into the beach sand. Just brilliant, literally. We explored the island on the following days and apart from the elephant traffic it was all without incidents.

We are now in Railey/Krabi area, rock-climbing central. All the limestone hills here have people scrumbling up them. We love the place and have tried to do some day charters here. A bit embarrassing approaching people on the beach etc, but Russ is great at it and we have scored 3 charters on our first week! How awesome is that? Good money too. So we are not moving at until the end of the month! We are loving it.

THIS IS OUR ANCHORAGE IN RAILEY

Christmas in Thailand

2008-12-31T02:56:00.000-08:00

Long time I know... but we made it to Thailand in grand style - sailing at over 8 knots peaking at 10.2 knots - covering the entire boat in a nice crust of salt. For the first time Russ didn't mind the salt and enjoyed the sail. It wasn't very pleasant as it was mostly up wind and with a short chop but still... anything that makes the captain smile is good I guess. Thailand is a very different place during the NE Moonson, we totally missed it when we arrived here last march so didn't have an idea of the pleasure it is. Constant breeze & lovely temperatures, now we know what the fuss was about!

We had Christmas in Nai Harn in company of some friends from other boats. We had a meal onboard of Moonwlaker then had a dance ashore then back to the boat for dessert and presies! Santa Klaus brought a nice mini dvd player with a 7 inch screen that we can charge on 12 volt saving us some power... life onboard... a bit of a squeeze to watch movies but still...

Now we are in Ko Lanta for New Years to escape the crowds (that are not too bad thanks to the invasion/protest of the airport in Bangkok and the world crisis) and will hang around this area for a wee while.

Cheers to 2009. BRING IT ON!

Rebak Marina

2008-12-08T22:33:00.000-08:00

We've been hanging out at Rebak Marina for the last week. Me, doing good business with my bikinis and practising Pilates with the cruisers, and Russ working hard on Fred's hard top.

It's been a productive week, I have scraped all the old glue from behind the cushions in the cockpit and repainted it all white, next job will be to choose a nice new cover for the cushions. We are slowly re-varnishing all the wooden edges inside the hulls so Moonwalker will be ship shape very soon. Have installed the new windlass (GREAT!) too.

Found this boat with which had Freya's name (Russ' niece) and the boat was from Holland (which happens to be Freya's surname), hence the name on the boom: "Freya Holland"! Had to take a photo and show you guys!

Back in Malaysia

2008-11-27T18:56:00.000-08:00

After a hurried but efficient re-lauching, we have put the new propellers to test and they ROCK! Obviously we still have a bit more testing to do, but Russ believes we got an extra 1.5 knots of boat speed. We increased the pitch on the propeller from 20 to 23 degrees which puts a bit more strain on the engine but it has plenty of extra power for that. So far so good.

Russ is now taking a well deserved rest, especially his back which got a canning during his time in Satun. Tomorrow we are back on track, taking measurements on Endless Dream (Frederick's boat) to build a new hard top for it, then fit the new parts for our windlass. So maybe another 10 days around Malaysia and we will be on our way to Thailand with a top boat to try and do some charter work and top up the depleted coffers.

For me, well, I am a very happy and proud writer of our first published article in NZ! The December Issue of Boating New Zealand Magazine has a 9 page spread on us! I haven't seen it yet and would love to hear your feed back!

Another day in Satun...

2008-11-25T02:51:00.000-08:00

The rain stopped, Russ jumped on his gun, and now Moonwalker has a red bum! The spraying went really well but the blue tape... it has ruined the boot toping, after we had polished an everything! The tape stayed on for only one day and it's supposed to last 7! Anyhow, Russ was about to blow his brains out as you imagine... Now the rain is back so we will paint the cabin top tomorrow weather permitting. Hopefully day after tomorrow we will be out of here. I feel a bit bad saying all this bad things about the place, as the people are just so wonderful here! Last night we were trying to find a restaurant but ended up having this meal with a family at their house. So special. Here are some photos of our day:

Satun - Thailand

2008-11-23T01:12:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately the new crane driver for the Langkawi yard never eventuated so here we are in Satun after a heart pumping approach to the yard's creek. There are absolutely no navigational aid, the place is so shallow that I wonder how any monohulls get to this place! Eventually a fishing boat came and we followed it to the entrance of the creek doing a bunch of zig zags. We had to wait for a few hours to the optimum tide, and once we headed for the ramp, we couldn't see the trailer as it was already submerged in the murky brown water of the river. As we were being hauled out, we realized that the beams they put across the trailer were located totally in the wrong place. Too late, after a loud "crack" we screamed for the boat to be put back in the water. Once in the water Russ hopped off the boat and help the guys reset the beams. This after we had given them the plans, measurements and even photos! Russ even saw that the manager had the plans on his hands and still got it wrong! So Russ put some markings and checked the distances of the beams and back the trailer went. As we hauled out Russ realized they had not followed his markings properly and we had to jack the boat up again the next day to replace the beams. That's when we could see the two cracks under each hull. Thank Goodness Russ can fix all this as one of the cracks actually went through the boat hull, meaning we could see it inside! Oh well, welcome to Satan, I mean Satun... The place is a dump really. But people as usual is very friendly and kind of try to get things done but it's so mickey mousey I would never ever let anyone from here touch our boat! Here is a photo of where they placed our hulls! Just at the end of the beam!

As usual Russ befriended some young locals here and disappeared one night for over 2 hours, leaving me freaking out on the boat. Needless to say the ear full he got when he arrived! Next night the same young group invited us for dinner and out we went to this labirinth of alleyways to get to Loh's house. If you left me there, I would still be trying to find my way out! It was a lovely night. I got a ride back from a local young, how cool is this bike!

The work on the boat is going well, Russ has fixed the cracks and other bits and pieces we had to do, we have polished the hulls and are ready to spray the antifouling tomorrow. The plan is to spray the cabin top too. Now the best news is that our new propellers fit perfectly! We are very happy about that. All going well, in two days we are out of here!

Which yard?

2008-11-14T22:21:00.000-08:00

That's what happens when I leave Russ to do the updates for the blog in English! It's been ages! Anyhow, to tell you the truth not much has been happening here... We were anchored in Telaga unitl this morning, when we decided to move to Cenang, a backpacker hang out in Langkawi. Reason to be here is basically to do what backpackers do: party! We are catching up with some friends tonight and going to the only club we know in the island. Should be fun.

Now, the reason we are STILL in Malaysia, is the eternal yard drama that every cruiser goes through once a year, or two for the lucky ones. Moonwalker hasn't been out of the water for over 18 months! We had booked a yard in Phuket - Thailand, which was the cheapest we had found and knew. However we have been told you are not allowed to spray there, only if you cover the entire boat (even if you are doing only the antifouling!) at a massive cost of over NZ$400! So we started researching again, and found two alternatives: one in Thailand in a place called Satun, and the other a new yard, right next to the main port in Langkawi, run by a French man called Jean Pierre. Satun is well known by the cruisers as a very cheap place with the cheap approach to everything else too, they use a trailer to haul out. Ok by all means but Russ would rather try the new yard here in Langkawi (they use cranes). However, the crane driver whom was to haul us out, hit a buffalo while driving home on his motorbike and managed to plant himself in the hospital! Now we are waiting to see if a new crane driver can be arranged this week, otherwise we will head to Satun in Thailand. By the way both haul outs were cheaper than in Phuket but still much more expensive than in Australia. Just an idea, in Australia we spent around NZ$500 for the haul out (and in) including 3 days on the hard. Here it will cost us NZ$600 just for the haul in and out at the cheapest place - which is in Langkawi.

The propellers are here! They are beautiful and we are very hopeful they will deliver the extra knots we want. Russ and I are scraping and sanding all the wooden trim of the galley and re-varnishing it. It looks great! The wood is a bit lighter now. And we sold our 15hp outboard too. That will pay for the haul out and etc. We were not using it really. And it less 30kg from the boat.

Well for "not much going on here" I managed to write quite a lot... Will keep you posted on our yard saga.

Waterfall in Langkawi

2008-10-28T04:59:00.000-07:00

Here in Telaga Harbour we had the chance to see many of our cruising friends again and have been having a great time exploring the area. One of the great finds is these waterfalls located less than 3 miles from our anchorage. We have been visiting the falls everyday since, enjoying a nice natural jacuzzi and some cold coconut. Not a bad way to kill time until our new props arrive from NZ!

Langkawi - Malaysia

2008-10-21T03:23:00.000-07:00

After visiting the islands of Deudab (where Russ managed to score some nice waves) and Breueh, we got to our little refuge of Pulau Rubiah, where to our surprise other 5 boats where happily moored. Busy! We had a great time with the other cruisers and met some interesting locals. Dodent is the dive shop owner in Pulau Weh and he is the one whom put down the moorings for the sailboats for free! His reason behind that is an attempt to save the very little coral left in the Rubiah area after the tsunami. On top of that Dodent has an amazing coral replanting program which is in full swing at the moment. They place concrete blocks in certain parts of the bay and "replant" some coral on it. Their success rate is really encouraging. Dodent is a kind of lone fighter there though. He is having a hard time with the authorities that don't like the boats moored there in "hiding" and rather have them anchored in Sabang. However the anchorage in Sabang is awful and mooring or not, no one would be there, but the authorities don't see to see that and give poor Dodent a hard time. He is winning the coral battle though and we were very pleased to see an Indonesian so in tune with the ecology and genuinely concerned for the place's future.

Eventually we managed to de-tangle ourselves from Rubiah and headed for Penang, but wind and possible work ended up taking us up to Langkawi instead. So here we are back to Malaysia and slowly getting used to the whole civilization thing: ice cream, ice, tidiness etc etc, however the odd lady covered with a black burka with only her eyes out did wake us up to the fact that we are still very much in Muslim country.

The crossing was great - as far as crossings go - and we managed to sail half of the 270 miles we covered. Now the big surprise was finding a huge water spout on the way! It was terrorisingly
amazing.
Check the photo out

End of our Sumatran dream

2008-10-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

Hi Fullas, we have just left the outer islands off the west coast of Sumatra and are now anchored in a small cove about 50 miles down the west coast from Banda Aceh.

On my last days surf in Lakon Island I got caught up in the lip of substantial wave and had a major freefall to the bottom, not only was it the longest hold down I’ve had this year but I do remember when I was groveling around down there that I probably have broken my board as well. Sure enough a clean snap .Oh well, only one board in 3 months.

In the last 2 days we have had more sailing than the last 3 months and it’s been lovely just seeing how well the boat sails again. I’m sure you guys know what I’m like when I haven’t been sailing for a while. For those who don’t, I am a prick. All good now though.

We are heading for Pulau Weh and islands near ,just off Banda Aceh ,for a food and fuel stock up and clear out with Indo officials, fun.

Karin’s hunter/gathering spear fishing is going well so we are not going hungry. Rice is a stable diet though, just as well we like it. Karin was saying this morning that she’s really hanging for a big steak. The closest I have come to it was some dry buffalo jerky last week in Nias.

Someone please tell America, England and Australia that it is official, there are no pirates or terrorists here, maybe back in 1640,but not now. The people here are normal, just like us ,with family just like us and values just like us, however unlike us they are not so concerned with the current world crisis as they have had more than their fair share of REAL crisis. Even though they hardly have a thing ,they have big smile and have been very, very welcoming to us on Moonwalker.

Cheers for now ,and the worst thing is not having you all here to share it with us.

Please if you read this just drop us a couple of lines!

Photos from Sumatra

2008-09-24T23:27:00.000-07:00

Slowly but surely we are loading some of our most recent photos in Sumatra, keep checking us out for the latest!

surf,sailing,sorry motoring Sumatera

2008-09-24T22:36:00.001-07:00

Hi Guys, sorry its been a while,our HF radio and our sailmail system on the boat is on the blink so no 'onsite' communication.Havent posted for a month as we have pretty much been in the middle of nowhere with no towns with electricity let alone internet.We are now in Gunning Sitoli in Nias about 60 miles off the coast of Sumatera.We had to drop off Mike and Adi,friends from NZ to an Airport.They had a 4 hr delay(good for Indo) as the plane overshot the runway and got stuck in the mud!We have had a great time with them,apart from lack of wind(doldrums!!!) and doing a lot of motoring we have had lots of great surf,friendly locals,good snorkelling and parties and talking lots of crap.
My surfing has moved to a new level with coaching from mike and photos from Karin.A few scars though as reef is close and sharp as hell.
As always photos tell a thousand words so when we are in a place where internet is slightly quicker than the stone wheel you will see the paradise we have found.Only 9 private cruising boats on this coast of Sumatera all season.
We will start to make our way back up the west coast to Banda Aceh now and be back in Penang/Langkawi Malaysia by Early november.
If you read this please spend a minute to drop us a note on catmoonwalker@gmail.com.
out of everything ,hardest part is missing everyone at home cheers Russ

surf,sailing,sorry motoring Sumatera

2008-09-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

Sinky Sibolga

2008-08-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

Got to Sibolga this morning, after an overnight from the Banyaks. Plenty of action at night, with boats, nets and a 30 knots squall. Managed to sail a good part of the trip which had Russ stoked. Sibolga doesn't look much from the water but what shocks is the smell... fish sauce mixed with garbage. Had to re-anchor as plastic bags on the anchor wouldn't let it settle. After all the awesome pristine spots we've been it's a bit of a shock to the system, but all yachties say it is better ashore with all the good shops, market etc. We will be finally clearing into Indonesia here, so wish us luck on dealing with the officials.

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really cruising

2008-08-18T00:15:00.000-07:00

We are still in the Banyaks parked just off a nice left hand reef break.You really have to have your shit together as the wave,although peeling,beaks around a reef about a foot under the water. I have a couple of really good reef tattoos on my back through being a little to game or being a little silly.
I am very proud of Karin with her spearfishing,one day she asks me how to load the gun,next day she's bringing home dinner!
This anchorage is great as you can afford to take your mind off the boat and focus on real fun for a while.
All good here!

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Spear-fishing woman!

2008-08-16T02:38:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to you all that I (Karin) am the new provider of the boat! And Russ' spear gun is not as bad as we thought if used at (very) close range! After a short lesson the day before yesterday, I went out on my own to try and get something, came back with an Unicorn fish of about 1.5kg. While not the best eating fish, it was highly appreciated and good sport (he took my spear into a hole where I had to fight him out of). Next day I found a cray and couldn't resist but spear it... not fair I know, but it tasted just delicious! I am totally hooked!

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Bay of Plenty

2008-08-12T02:51:00.000-07:00

We are having such an amazing time! Since our last post we had so many days of idillic surf, weather, clear water, jungle, monkeys and old friends! While at sundowners time, we got approached by a dinghy from a charter boat with some of Russell friends from New Zealand: Terry O'Shanessy, Andrew Mitchel, Hamish McCrostie, Chris Freeman and Mark Sharrock. Russ freaked! The boys seemed to be genuinely happy to see Russ out here, living the dream. What a blast of a time we had with those guys! Their charter skipper, Steve and his lovely Thai wife Anna, where amazingly generous having us for dinner one night. All the boys where having a great time, with plenty of coral scraps all over, but Russ had managed to escape that destiny, until yesterday... yep, good old coral tattoo for Russ the Mus. So one day of rest and pampering for the old man, but today he is ripping again. I can see him on the wave from where I am writing..oopps just got wiped out... We are in a place called by westerners "Bay of Plenty" (so much going on here - jungle, rivers, mangroves, coral, waves...) and by Indos, Teluk Mariabah. A little piece of paradise on the island of Tuangku in the Banyaks. Life is bliss.

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Cruise mode

2008-08-07T22:09:00.000-07:00

After the dramas of the Aceh area we have now settled into cruise mode again. Sails haven't been out of the bag for days as there's no wind and I am getting used to the sound of the engine and burning dollar bills in diesel. A few years ago I didn't even dream of cruising the Northern Sumatran coast but its now a reality. It is bloody beautiful. We are now Island hopping discovering surf breaks,lovely anchorages,trolling in the dinghy for fish,hunting for big crabs to eat at sunset on the beach. Only concern is a nightly thunder/wind/rain cloud. It brings about 20 knots of wind and a massive downpour. I have rigged a rain catchment system on our cockpit bimini and it is working sweet. Tons of water! Just like home. Currently motoring, 20 miles out from Bangkaru Island (position 2 degrees north,96 degrees 06 minutes east) in the Banyak group of Islands, north of Nias. All well and loving it!

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Waves

2008-08-01T00:18:00.000-07:00

After a trouble free overnighter with quite a bit of sailing, we made it to Lakon Island off Simeulue. Our first anchorage saw us just by a little break that was the happiness of the boys. A very quick and sharp take off, but soft smooth waves after. Good training. I did attempt it a couple of times, but must say that the view of the corals underneath, especially with the wave being that steep and sucking up all the water totally freaked me out. But it was deep enough, even for a head dive, which Fred from Endless Dream did, obviously without wanting it. For the first time in days, I saw the boys with a huge smile on their faces. Françoeise (Fred's companion on this trip) and I went for long walks on the island, over huge "gardens" of dead coral, lifted by the tsunami. The coral debri, pilled on the beach made an impressive wall in some areas. A sad sight but it was nature's choice I guess. After 2 days in Lakon we are now 15 miles further south in an island called Simeulucut with beautiful white sand beach, turquoise water and a potential break around the corner we still have to check out. Russ is at this very moment on the top of Fred´s mast, taking photos of Moonwalker and the surroundings. It's hard going so far, but it's getting better by the mile.

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Finally on the move

2008-07-28T01:11:00.000-07:00

After 5 quite boring days hanging at Paroe Bay we finally had break from strong (20 knots +) South East winds and managed to move a staggering 15 miles south to a bay called Dayu. Took us almost 6 hours! No easy task trying to go up wind on 10 to 15 knots wind on the nose. We stopped quite early as Russ is very reluctant to burn diesel and beat into wind. I guess eventually he will give in and just tear up some dollar notes and motor down. It's been already 2 weeks and we made so little headway that it's getting into our nerves, especially with so many reports of good surf down south! So pray for light winds and for a generous Russ!

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Opening our eyes

2008-07-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

We are about 25 miles down the west coast of northern
Sumatra. We are doing short hops into little bays as the
wind is howling and right where we want to go. This is the
area most affected by the tsunami in 2004, now four years on
we see still the destruction and the rebuilding. We anchored
in a small lagoon of Seudu and were welcomed with open arms
by the fisherman and their families.
Moonwalker became a meeting place and a focal point as they
all had incredibly built catamaran fishing platforms
themselves and about the same size. Equipped with our indo
dictionary we spent many hours sitting with groups of guys
on board, drinking tea, just talking. I think the most
incredible thing so far was when one of the group asked us
if the people in New Zealand knew that they had a tsunami
here a few years ago. They wanted the world to know they
were still here and they talked to us openly about the wave.
We assured them that all the world knew about Aceh and the
people here. There were some very sad moments on the boat as
they showed us where the wave came from, how it washed
around the semi-circular hillside, whitewater and rocks 80
to 100ft high. It took the entire village, even the asphalt
from the street , the complete fishing fleet, most of the
families and washed it all into a whirlpool in the middle of
the lagoon where we are now anchored.
International aid is evident everywhere. They supply the
materials and management, locals are rebuilding. For example
Singapore Red cross donated timber to Seudu village to build
5 new catamaran fishing platforms, the last one just being
completed and anchored in front of us. Oxfam built 50 new
houses for the 724 residents left and roading funded by US
AID continues. A massive job that I would not have believed,
if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.
I think the village was happy we came and as always we wish
we could carry more and do more. Maybe having everyone on
board just to take their minds off everything else, share a
coffee for an hour or two was a start.

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Around the corner in Sumatra

2008-07-22T04:52:00.001-07:00

Sailing here has been incredibly difficult. We had another
amazingly difficult sail down the coast and are now on the
north west side of the island. We are literally hiding from
it all in a great anchorage we found after bashing for 4
hours against 30 knots winds to cover 10 miles. Russ was not
happy needless to say. He was a pile of nerves, and thoughts
of home, our house, kept popping on my head (on his too he
confessed)... But once we got here, after Russ had a beer
and the beauty of the place (even after ravaged by the
tsunami - you can see the scars of the hills and all the
houses are brand new) sank in, he stated smiling again. Some
friendly locals came by and on board. They were delightful
and polite. They took Russ to see one of their new fishing
platforms, made on 2 hulls (yes, catamarans!) with wood
donated from the Singaporean Red Cross. All the local boats
have been done recently from donated materials as
everything, I truly mean everything, got wiped out. Haven't
seen a single kid around, or women... don't know, maybe a
sign there aren't any left. Apart from the sad history,
everyone smiles and we feel lucky to be here. Played the
doctor again, giving nurofen for one of the fishermen with a
toothache. We have such a huge stash from our sick days in
Phuket!

It's funny, this sailing thing is hard, we truly hate it,
but once we get to the destination, the hardship seems to
disappear. I can't quite explain it, but it's true, more so
to Russ than for me. So we soldier on. Russ thinks it's a
preparation for our Indian Ocean Crossing, which promises to
be downwind, but rather long. Enough babble... nice to share
though, heart feels lighter.

> ***

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Pulau Weh & SAILMAIL

2008-07-19T00:49:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Pulau Weh after a short sail through the channel, with again sudden winds of 20 knots plus. Tucked behind the back of Sabang, in front of a nice "losmen" (guesthouse) called Freddies. One of the most interesting things we have been seeing, apart from the weather, is the many bunkers on the beaches of northern Sumatra. They are everywhere. I guess it's from the second world war, when the Japanese where around? I don't know, would be nice to know the history behind it. We check one out and it was not only huge but had a massive support for some serious gun. But nowadays only goats stay in them. While I write, Russ has jumped on a motorbike to check Sabang Harbour and the weather on the other side of the island. He is still a bit edgy about the weather but the local people have a very soothing effect on him and he melts every wave, smile, friendly gesture, so I guess we are here to stay (at least until November!)

I want to take the chance to remind you all that I am updating the blog via SAILMAIL, so no photos for a little while. And if you want to contact us don't hesitate to drop a message to our SAILMAIL email, but remember: no files! When do not reply to our emails, make a new one to save our much suffering batteries...

Please let everyone know about the blog as from now on this will be our main channel to keep you all updated.

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testing storm tactics

2008-07-17T23:47:00.000-07:00

When you reach any coast you pretty much feel you are home safe except when you don't have an anchorage and a 40 knot front passes around the top of Sumatera.Tacking upwind in 40 at night isn't much fun so pulled all sails down and turned downwind to get away from the coast and everything hard to hit or so we thought. We were still dong 6 to 7 knot with no sails up and losing ground to where we were meant to be going. Deployed a rope drouge to slow down. Now everything under control. Boat was now slowed but still moving with steerage. We had a bit of moon glow luckily as everything is not so bad when you can see a bit .Karin was at helm, me now sleeping when "fuck", she just sees and narrowly misses (by a foot max)a indo FAD. These are big tied bundles of giant 20ft long bamboo anchored in the middle of nowhere in 300 metres of water that fish swim around under. No light, just a piece of bamboo sticking up, maybe!
By morning,with a relatively good rest,started back up wind, west, to Pulau Weh. Suns out now, all is forgotten. Spurred on by radio call from friends further south with good surf and friendly Indo people.

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Sumatra here we come!

2008-07-16T04:48:00.000-07:00

After a hectic last days, we left tuesday the 15th to Sumatra. The weather has been good, with westerly winds allowing us to sail all the way to the coast of Sumatra. We have sighted land this mid morning but nowhere promised a good anchorage to decided to head up the coast to get closer to an anchorage we know before heading around the northern end of the island. We have to tack our way through as the wind is till westerly 15-17 knots. It's not comfortable sailing and Russ hasn't been able to get much sleep but, I guess that's sailing. We are back in to it on the deep end! Our coordinates for the google earth people: N 05 23.9 E 096 32.4

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Welcome to our blog!!!

2008-07-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

After making all of you suffer through reading my more than extensive mails here is (finally) our blog in English. We will endeavour to keep it as updated as possible as to avoid those painful long emails.

Here you can have access to our most recent photos through the slide show or check out our entire album of our adventures around the world!

Don't hesitate to leave comments, it's a great way to keep in touch.

Hope you all enjoy sharing our adventure more closely.

We love and miss you all terribly.

Karin & Russ