Author Archives: dafdaf

Airplanes above our heads

“The idea is to remain in a state of departure, while always arriving. It saves on introductions and goodbyes.” – a quote from my favourite movie Waking Life.

It’s really hard to say good bye to Guenther who’s been with us for two weeks. We had a great time together and the days passed way to fast. So here we are in St. Maarten and we have to say good bye again.

The journey from Barbuda to here was nice downwind sailing again. A real treat after the upwind sailing of the past weeks. During the night we had a guest on Rancho Relaxo: a small seabird circled our home a few times and finally came to a rest on our outboard engine. We arrived at the Simpsons Bay shortly before sunset and sailed into the lagoon at 17:30 when the bridge opened for the last time that day.

Inside the lagoon we met our friends from the SY Express Crusader whom we had been in search for over the past weeks. And when we dinghied Guenther to the airport, we met Armin and Lutz from the SY Jaqueline. Haven’t seen them since Teneriffe. Heh.

The journey to the airport had a second goal: The landing stripe starts directly at the beach where there’s a nice little bar run by three beautiful girls. And this is where plenty of people stay to watch the planes come in or take off. Our friend left with the only 747 on that day and the police came right before take-off to ensure people wouldn’t climb any fences or try other funny things. The blast was enough to send a few towels and caps into the sea but besides that it was mostly just very loud.

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Fitzcarraldo on Barbuda

I already announced it, so here are the photos of the eleven mile beach. Maybe they make the cold weather outside a little more bearable for you.

The beach doesn’t need a description, I guess. So I’ll tell a little of what we did on Barbuda. This island is the complete opposite of Antigua where there’s the high society of sailing. Here on Barbuda theres NOTHING ! There is a hotel on the beach but it’s far off and there’s no village. But we had a todo: We needed to clear out and thus we had to get to Cordington which is seperated by a lagoon.

So what to do ? We all saw the amazing movie Fitzcarraldo and had the splendid idea to take the dinghy and carry it over the beach and into the lagoon on the other side. This was quickly done and despite being a little exhausting it was fun. We should do that more often. Hehehe.

We drove the dinghy about 20 minutes towards Cordington. This village consists of maybe 200 houses and the offices of immigration, customs and the port office were spreaded across the whole ‘town’. So I ran through Cordington in midday’s heat and filled all needed forms. Afterwards we had a cold beer and soon after drove back to where we came from. Same game: 20 minutes ride, 10 minutes to carry the dinghy back to the beach. And then of course an exhaustive bath in the turquoise water.

And that was prettty much all we did on Barbuda. Spending time on the beach, searching for crabs and shells, swim… It would make a great place to have a beach party with friends. Unfortunately ours are all far away or sailing the south of the Caribbean…

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A night in Antigua

The last days were kind of a rush. We were in Antigua, the starting point of all Caribbean sailing and home to the famous English Harbour. This is also where we were at anchor while we were around strolling in between mega yachts.

Quite fascinating the ships that are on display here. Most of them are deserted – only the crews that are cleaning day in and out can be met along the jetties. We had a fun night out and a wonderful dinner at ‘Sun Ra’. We arrived in the middle of the night and left at 04 hours in the morning to arrive in Barbuda when the sun is high up in the sky to see any rocks or whatever on the shallow beaches of that island.

Antigua was a LosLocos-style short trip and we wished we would have had a little more time. But it wasn’t exactly our type of island anyway.

Tomorrow I’ll post pics from Barbuda. You’re not gonna believe – this beach was crayz !

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Arrived in St. Marten

At 0400hrs in the morning, we arrived in Simpson bay, St. Marteen. More later…

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Beach day in The Saints and towards Antigua

‘The Saints’ couldn’t hold us very long. We spent another day at the beach and had a really nice dinner in the little town. Next day we already prepared to leave again. Oh. And I forgot: The windlass was already prepared before breakfast. Guenther wakes up early and instead of idling around, he found the broken cable and replaced it quickly.

We actually do a lot of repairs these days. An electric cable of one of the solar panels was corroded and got replaced, and while I’m writing this, Guenther and Bruno try to glue our outboard engine together. It was broken at the mounting piece and we’ve got a special metal epoxy to fix it.

The Saints are really worth a visit. Nice, small islands with beautiful beaches, lots of goats, chickens and iguanas. But we’d like to visit Barbuda and stop vor a visit in Antigua, the birthplace of sailing in the Caribbean.

The ride towards Antigua wasn’t any special. In the lee of Guadeloupe we didn’t have any wind and had to run under engine but the rest of the trip was quite fast with the wind coming from the east. At four o’clock in the morning we dropped the anchor in English Harbour and ate the remaining cookies, Julia and Oliver made for us. (Thanks ! But next time, we need more. Let Guenther pay for the extra baggage !)

Now we’ll try the dinghy engine to clear in and visit the harbour to take a few pics of the mega yachts that are at anchor here. Maybe we’ll meet Taru and Alex, they should be around here somewhere…

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Up north and difficult anchoring

It was difficult to leave St. Lucia but at sunset we put to sea and sailed up north. Again a day of saiing hard on the wind but this time the angle is not that bad as last time, it’s gonna be a bit faster…

Our friend Guenther is steering the Rancho Relaxo and makes her race through the waves. Soon we’re past St. Lucia and pass Martinique by night. Next day we also pass Dominica.  We would have loved to visit those islands as well but there’s not enough time… Our goal are the Isles Les Saintes just south of Guadeloupe.

In the night we enter the archipelago and thanks to the moonlight and our GPS we manage the passage between the little islands. Soon after we find ourselves in the large bay of Terre de Haut. But the water is quite deep (17-20m) and all the other ships use mooring buoys. We can’t find a free one and decide to drop the anchor.

And that’s where our difficulties start: The water is about 10m and we should put about 40m of anchor chain. But the anchor drags and we’ve got to get it up again. But the windlass suddenly doesn’t work and the captain has to pull up 24kg anchor and 40m of 10mm chain by hand. And it takes another THREE tries until the anchor finally takes hold. We still don’t trust it too much and despite being completely wrecked, I am awake for quite some time to listen for any sound. But everything’s find.

Not so much for our neighbours: During the night, Guenther awaks and sees the neighbour-yacht going adrift. He tries to wake them by using a large light he flashs into their cabin but no one awakes. The ship slowly drifts into the bay…

Next day we take a picture of the SY Twizzle, go to discover the island, eat croissants for breakfast, rent bicycles to to go to a near beach. And that’s what we’re gonna do right NOW.

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At the warm waterfall

Way to fast the days run past. The three days on St. Lucia were amazing and we would have loved to stay a little longer. Also because we so much wanted to see our friends from the SY Tamora and the SY Thor. But we’ve gotta deliver our friend Guenther to St. Maarten where we have to be on the 10.2. and there are plenty of nice islands in between that we also would like to visit. So we hope to meet our friends on the San Blas archipelago in Panama.

S

The last day in this – probably the most beautiful anchorage we’ve been so far – we spent walking to the near waterfall. What we didn’t know is that the water runs down quite hot and thus we had our first hot shower since…. Well I don’t know.

The hike wasn’t really one. It’s just up the street and then one has to take a little path through the forest. But it was great ! Afterwards we cleaned up the ship ate dinner and prepared for our next trip northwards. – More on that in the next post.

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Climbing the Piton

At 0730h Guenther’s clock is ringing. But I woke up because of Michele’s boat rocking against the Rancho Relaxo. He’ll be back in half an hour to pick us up. Fine. Breakfast.

At 0800 sharp, Michele arrives with our guide Peter. But Pete was out partying yesterday and has (beside other problems) a huge hangover. After walking for 15 minutes we have fear that he’ll break down and send him back. So Guenther and me are walking up without guide – he’s not needed anyway. The way is quite visible and with the climbing he can’t help much.

Rainshowers pour down every couple minutes and the moisture in the air is incredible. The sweat is dripping off my forehead. We are perfectly adjusted for a climbing session: Both of us are wearing bathing shorts and Guenther even has shoes ! I’m walking bare foot. I also brought shoes but wanted to do it Moitessier-style. It’s really nice to feel the ground, the rocks, roots and the wet foilage on the ground.

The piton is about 700m high and at some stages we really had to climb. Because the rain makes the rocks and the ground slippery it sometimes can get a little dangerous but nonethless, we made it to the top. It took us about 2 hours and every minute of it was great ! The view from the top is of course amazing. I called Bruno via VHF but he couldn’t see me from the ship. Despite using a spyglass and me waving the yellow cover of my rucksack.

After climbing down we had a ‘Piton’ at the bar on the beach and Gui picked us up with the Dinghy. We really had a great day ! And maybe tomorrow we’ll all walk together to the waterfalls.

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Soufrière, St. Lucia

We made a little mistake. I don’t know how it really happend but we intended to go to Marigot bay and somehow ended up here. But as Soufrière would have been the next stop it was great to save the time we would have spent going in and out of Marigot bay.

So here we are. We are moored to a buoy about 200 meters from the famous Piton. Yesterday we were in the little village that’s 10 minutes away with the dinghy. We cleared in and out again and the officer of the immigration showed us the way to a nice bar where he had a beer and where we also met the officer of the customs. Ha !

In the bar we had lunch and met Jamalai, a local musican who wrote a song dedicated to the LosLocos. We got a few groceries and speeded back to our ship where we met Michel. He wanted to sell us something but as he didn’t have anything at hand that we wanted, he promised to organize a hike for the next morning to the top of Piton. More on that later !

To sum up – we had an amazing first day on St. Lucia. And there will be two more before we leave for the next beautiful island in the Caribbean.

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Peeing portholes and pooping rust

Everybody is busy. Bruno building LEGO, Viola painting with waterolors and Guenther and me replacing an porthole that started leaking.

And since I already had dirty hands, I grabbed the brush and paint and went over the deck to remove some rust. Soon we’ll have to get a few other items off the todo list (the steering chain and cable need a little attention, a winch on the mast is broken and some more painting).

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In Bequia

The Blue Lagoon Marina in St. Vincent was a good place to repair our ship but we didn’t want to spend too much time here. So we filled up the tank and put to sea. (Last time we took Diesel was in Mindelo, approx. 3000 nautical miles ago.)

In the early afternoon we started our trip to Bequia with nice wind from behind and a current that was pushing us in the right direction. Yeah, that’s definately the right direction to sail to. A pity we’re going north tomorrow…

Having arrived in the Admiralty Bay we took a buoy and rode toards the Frangipani-Bar in our dinghy. But we didn’t want to go there and walked towards the ‘town’ instead.  We had to get money and buy a few things for the next days. Afterwards we enjoyed the sunset in a Bar at the beach.

Back at our dinghy we met the crew of the SY Ninita. We last saw each other in Mindelo, Cabo Verde. So we invited our friends on bord and had a few cold drinks and a lot to talk about.

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A day for the engine

Guenther arrives on a sunday. Big mistake ! By tradition the sunday is a workday on bord the Rancho Relaxo of the Seas. And on Guenther’s first trip with us it was Whitsunday when we disassembled our Yamaha outboard. And now, two and a half years later it still runs smooth and starts quick.

Yesterday the engine of the Rancho Relaxo was on the ToDo list. It’s an old Mercedes-Benz of type OM636. This engine was very universally used in cars, trucks, waterpumps and of course in yachts. And ours was in great need of new filters which we replaced and of course cleaned all parts. While doing that we flooded the bilge with diesel (by intention – I swear !) well, well….

After that we flooded the forepeak with a dilution of rust and saltwater. From the chainbox to midships everything was covered with that liquid. It’s something most of the steel boat owners forget: You have to flush the inside of your ship with saltwater from time to time. – To build up resistance !! Hehehehe. Since last time we did that was on the Isle of Wight, it was really time to repeat this exercise.

Heh, of course it was a design error in the water outtake of our anchor chain box. All the water we collecte on our trip to St. Vincent emptied itself to the inside of our ship. A colossal mess !! We had to empty the whole foreship and wash everything with freshwater. Arrrr ! This are the rare moments when I whish we had a fibreglass ship….. But now everything is clean and dry again and we still didn’t find much rust on the inside of our ship.

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45nm in 26 hours and a new crew member

(For the non-sailor: 1nm = 1 nautical mile = 1.852km)

What wouldn’t we do for our friends ? First we put Guenther on board our friends ship the SY Tamora because we couldn’t make it to Martinique in time and Guenther had to take a plane to St. Vincent. It also was very hard to leave our friends in Carriacou. And then there was the weather – or rather the wind. It came from NNE and that was exactly the direction we would have to sail !

We departed from Carriacou at sunset and already knew that this trip wouldn’t be exactly a nice one. Despite being very short – only 45nm it would take long – that was sure.

And it was exactly as we expected it: it took us 26 hours to do the 45 miles distance (sailed distance: 99 miles !!) And we had to fight for every single mile against a wind with 6 Beaufort and a nasty sea. And to make it not too easy, the current also was against us.

Sometime during the night a wave tore the Genoa and we had a nice hole at the foot. No wonder as we sailed with a heel of 35 to 40 degrees. Ouch !

But we’ve made it and it was worth it. Because now we’ve got Guenther on board. And he’s a really old friend of mine and the one who introduced me to sailing about 13 years ago !

Of course he came with bags full of presents including cookies from great-grandma and grandma, letters, spare parts for the ship. Everybody got something. Right now the capitana together with Viola will go to the immigration in Kingstown and Guenther, Bruno and me will replace the broken Genoa. Yay.

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A last night with the SY Kira

Yesterday we left Tyrell bay together with the SY Kira to anchor in lee of the Saline Island. We sailed for two hours through a maze of reefes and islands to reach a very well protected anchorage in between Saline and White island.

Two hours before sunset we went ashore and started to gather wood for our bonfire. We grilled nine lobsters, two fish and a few mussels and enjoyed a very last evening together with our friends. Later in the night it started raining. For an hour or so we thought we could stay but the wind increased and we put out the fire to leave for the ships.

The children went to bed and we had a beautiful night in the cockpit of the Rancho Relaxo. Drinking the last remaining rum of Barbados and having a lot of fun with our friends. The wind still increased and the whole night we had 6 Beaufort but very calm see. The bay is quite shallow and with 20m of anchorchain on 3m of water we were quite safe.

Next day we had a breakfast together and everyone was quite sad that we would have to go seperate ways. The SY Kira is heading south while we go up north. There is the slight chance that we could meet in the San Blas archipelago but the timing is difficult. So it might have been a farewell for a very long time.

That’s the difficult part – while sailing you meet many interesting people and sometimes we become friends. With Claus and Tim it was as if we would know each other for years despite having met them only three months before. Well. Maybe we will meet again… We sure hope so.

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Cleared out and a night in the wild

Right as we (Tim, me, Viola and Bruno) come back from clearing out, Claus and Gui arrive from their fishing trip. They got picked up by local fishermen in the morning and took the harpoons to catch two fish, mussels and 9 (in words: NINE) Lobsters !! Those we’ll have tonight for dinner.

This means we’ll soon leave the beach bar to sail towards Saline Island. From there we’ll take the dinghy to White Island where we’ll sleep at the beach and prepare our catch at a bonfire at night.

Tomorrow we’ll sail to the north to pick up Guenther in the Blue Lagoon on St. Vincent. So you’ll probably not hear from us until the 28th of jan…

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Slipway Restaurant, Carriacou

Just when we left our little island the other day, we called our friends from the SY Kira via VHF – and they just arrived !! So we made a reservation in the restaurant at the beach to have a really good evening together.

And it was one of our better evenings, ever. The Slipway Restaurant that was suggested to us by Maria was truly wonderful. The place was decorated and crafted with much love. All the details and the decorating woodworking machines make for a really wonderful ambiente. The restaurant is located near the small marina, directly at the beach with it’s own dinghy dock.

The food was great and the drink of the day a 100% hit with us. We stayed until closing hour and left to finish the evening on the Kira. It was a great evening that’ll stay in our memories.

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A day on White Island

Yesterday we climbed over the hill beside Tyrell Bay to catch a few of the neighbouring islands to the west. Amazing view – and once down there we had the great idea that I’d walk back to get the dinghy and then we ride out to the small uninhabited island.

Bad ideas are usually the best. That’s what I thought about when I was gliding out of the bay to pass the rough landscape of Carriacou. Alone in a small dinghy with an 30 year old 4hp engine. Hehehe. The ride was long and there were plenty of rocks and submerged reefes but 40 minutes later I saw my family waving on the beach.

We put everything into the dinghy and rode another 15 minutes towards White Island. One island and four people a great feeling to have a whole island for oneselves. We strolled along the beach for a few hours, swam in crystal clear water and just before sunset drove back to Carriacou. A wonderful day !

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On the next island

This must have been the slowest passage EVER ! We left St. Davids bay at 15h UTC and arrived 07h next day. That’s a 16 hours trip in which we sailed about 45 miles giving an average speed of a whopping 2.8knots !

The start was good, running before the wind along the south coast of Grenada. Rounding the SW-tip of the island we hoisted the main sail and had little wind. But that freshened up only half an hour later increasing to a stable 5 Beaufort. We made a leg out to NW and tacked back towards the coast 2 hours later. Just to find ourselves in front of the harbour of St. Georges. We’ve made three miles in nearly two hours !!

The current runs strong along the coast of Grenada and the next idea was to run under engine, just a few hundered meters off the coast. Here the current was slightly less and we made slow progress towards north. It was a little frustrating to run under engine the whole night but as the wind was coming from NNE and that was exactly our direction – we had no better option. We arrived in the dark, around 03h local time. While entering the harbour we nearly hit a large towing vessel that sat in the entrance of the bay without light. Funny – nearly all the amateur sailboats had their anchor light on but NONE of the four professionally operated vessels. Heh.

So we dropped the anchor in five meters of clear water and fell into the bunks minutes later. It’s always exciting to wake up and then have a first look at the island you just landed on. – And it looks nice ! The island is green, a few houses here and there, a sand beach, palm trees. Everything you’d expect of an island in the Caribbean.

We’ve found the internet in a cafe at the beach called ‘Lazy turtle’, have a cold pineapple juice while the kids explore the beach. Afterwards we’ll walk over to the other side of the island and then wait for our friends, the SY Kira to arrive !

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Towards Carriacou (2nd try)

Yesterday we said goodbye to our friends and sailed out of St. Davids Bay and to the east, to round the island of Grenada on the atlantic side.

Big mistake ! In the beginning we had 5Bft. that increased to a steady six after a while. The swell was quite enormeous and together with a current of two knots against us, it was too much. After two hours of tacking against, we turned back to have a few drinks with the friends we left in St. Davids bay.

So after a nice evening and a quiet night we’ll now give it another shot. This time, we take the west side of the island. Hehehe.

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Adrift on the reef at night

The children’s birthday was just over as Robert and someone else leave with the dinghy towards the anchorage. Where are they going ? We hear that supposedly a yacht’s anchor is slipping and the boat is drifting towards the reef with nobody on bord. !

A few minutes pass. We search the horizont for lights or shadows but can’t find anything. A employee of the marina is trying to get the owner of a (the ?) yacht on the mobile phone. But to no avail. Now Volker also leaves. He’s got Jonathan, the Canadian with him and they also disappear in the darkness. But they took a VHF with them and a few minutes later we get some details: Yes, a yawl drifted out towards the reef and is already hitting the ground with every wave. They try to pull and push her off the reef but need more dinghies.

So I we go out in our dinghy and stop on the way to get another boat for help. But as we’re still talking with the skipper of the danish yacht, Volker informs everybody that they managed to free the yacht that is now been driven back into the anchorage. It seems that the beautiful wooden yawl was moored to a buoy and the rope or chain broke in the night. Luckily our neighbor saw the shadow of the boat drifting by and alarmed the others. Without him (and the help of many) this beautiful, historic ship would’ve been lost.

The whole story of course get’s a differnt meaning if one knows the history of this amazing yacht. The Apollonia was in the news before, when during an atlantic crossing, two people were murdered. The book is available here (german only, sorry).

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