Cabedelo to Tobago

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

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

How can I put it mildly? This last month 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 Rio state and moved on, passing through Cabo Frio and Búzios which were charming but with unconfortable anchorages and messy seas. The swell seemed to come from all sorts of directions.

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

We arrived in Vitória as it´s the Capital of the state where most of my family is from. It´s quite weird, I walk around the neighbourhood and see streets with my surname Calmon (my mother´s surname). Then I go up the mountains where the other half of my family is from (Dalcolmo) and find that pretty much 2/3 of the town is somehow related to me. It´s strangely familiar eventhough I never lived in these area of the country.

However what brought me back this time was to finally introduce my husband to my grandmother Agatha. At 89, I had cheekily asked her to “hold on” until I arrived with Russ so I could introduce him and get her blessings. And so it was... She met Russ on her hospital bed, had a “chat” to him on which he held her hands and tried with his best Portuguese to be our lovely Russell to her. She smiled and trully enjoyed the moment to the best of her capabilities. A week later she passed on. It was good to have the 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 pass and then made our move north. It was, to say the least, unpleasant. The swell came from all directions, but the wind was good and Moonwalker plodded along with Russ trying to hold our speed to around 7 knots as the waters where literally infested with humpback whales as these are the months they come from Antartica to raise their youth and make them plump for their trip south. Very much like in Vava´u in Tonga.

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

As the winds were dying we decided to spend a night in an arquipelago off the coast called “ Abrolhos” (“open your eyes”) where there were as many birds as there were goats ashore... it is a national park so it was beyond me why they were 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 diving experience.

Next day we carried on to St André, in Bahia state where we finally found a flat anchorage for the first time since we left Rio de Janeiro. So we are letting the Bahia waters, Axé music and cold beers soothe our minds and souls and help with Brisa´s and Russ´ teeth!!! Brisa has 4 molars coming all at once for the last week and Russ took a wisdom tooth out and it´s not healing very well so we will take our time here and enjoy the historical sites around. Historical because this area was the first landing of Pedro Alvares Cabral, the Portuguese navigator credited with “finding” Brazil.  

Paraty & Us

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

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!

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!

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

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!!!!!

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

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

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

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!!!

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

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!