Category Archives: LosLocos

30th international dinghy race

Posted on Sunday November 13th, 2011 by dafdaf

Today the crew the Rancho Relaxo participated in the much anticipated dinghy race. – And we think we won. Or actually nobody knows. We didn’t even realize when the race started or when it finished. It was all just splashing water and throwing balloons filled with – or old bread soaked in water… yes – we got dirty and wet.

After the race we met a lovely argentinian family with three kids of which two are the same age as Bruno and Viola. And they’re on long term cruise with next stop in Cabo Verde. Yay !

In the evening there was a big gathering on the beach – so to say a little afterhour to the dinghy race. Many really interesting and lovely people.

Posted in Argentina, It's funny ! Laugh !, Kids, LosLocos, Pics, Rancho Relaxo, Sailing | Comments Off

Preschool, muffins and up the mast

Posted on Saturday November 12th, 2011 by dafdaf

It’s three o’clock in the afternoon and we’ve already been quite hardworking. After breakfast, Bruno went immediately to work with pre-school and today’s subject mathematics. After that the kids and Gui tried a new muffin recipe, decorated the pastries and immediately ate them.

In the mean time, I was up the mast to repair the remote compass and took measurement of our antenna mount where the active radar reflector should be rigged. The electronic compass is now finally working. And since yesterday our ships main compass has working illumination again and Bruno and me installed the last missing part for our desalinator. We’ll check on our way to Cabo Verde whether it really works.

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Interesting Boats

Posted on Thursday November 10th, 2011 by dafdaf

Instead of writing about our ship’s ToDo list and the advancements made on our little projects, I’ll rather show you a few pictures of some nice (and big) sailing yachts that were in port today:

The Cinderella IV is quita a nice little boat. The on board dinghy (!!) has an 115hp engine – which is roughly three times the power of our own ship’s inboard Mercedes. Heh. She’s 128 feet long – that’s nearly 40 meters but has accomodation only for eight ‘guests’ and five crew. So I guess, you have plenty of room on board. A funny little detail: She pulled up at the gas station and before filling up their tanks, the skipper was requesting a sample of the fuel in a crystal glass to look at. When they got onboard the fuel hose, they put snow white towels over every part of the ship that could get in contact and while three people pulled the hose across the deck, one was continously cleaning it !

More beautiful because of her classic design is the yacht ‘Signe‘ with her 115ft (35m). And the ship doesn’t only look classic but despite her rather young age of only 21 years it’s actually made out of wood – which is not so common nowadays. A real beauty. I would have shot a few more detailed pictures but they left the anchorage today.

Then ther was that bright orange colored boat: The rescue vessel ‘Salvamar Nunki’. Thanks to Gui’s efforts we managed to get a guided tour by the Captain of the vessel. Of course the kids wanted to know EVERYTHING and – were shown everything. From the winches to the crew’s quarters, the engine room and of course the cockpit with all it’s electronic gadgets. Quite fascinating ! A few details about the ship: it’s maximum speed is 36 knots and it’s not driven by propellers but by jet propulsion (like a gigantic jet-ski). The draft of this 21m ship is only 80cm – so it can go quite close to the beach. Nice !

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Another (work)day

Posted on Tuesday November 8th, 2011 by dafdaf

“Papi, what are we gonna repair today ?” – this is how Bruno wakes me up nowadays. And every morning I have a different answer. Actually we only wanted to stay a day or two (I know, I repeat myself…) but it’s just soooo convenient to have all shops and toolstores around the corner, so today we said, we’ll stay for another week. Yes, a week because I also ordered new optical sunglasses and they’ll not be ready before that. We also will get a new battery and tank monitor from the U.S. that somehow got wrecked during yesterdays battery replacement. Now the only thing it shows on it’s display is that it’ll like a new firmware to be uploaded – or to say it differently: It’s broken.

Because it doesn’t cost much, I sent an Email to Blue Sea Systems and immediately got an unbelievably friendly email back in which they announce to send us a new (refurbished) unit ! WOW, that’s customer support ! Companies of the earth: take this as an example !! Ah, and to stay on the subject: I also sent an email to our battery supplier and got an answer back. But there’s not yet any concrete development, I’ll post later on this very subject.

As you can see on the pictures: Today was sewing day. Gui made beds for the children’s puppets the other day and now of course they needed a bedding. Viola didn’t hesitate and took the needle and sewed away. Bruno and me were doing the covering for the newly installed fridge and mounted the still missing switch for the same. We repaired the pump that get’s the oil of the ship’s engine out (when it’s to be changed) and we also got the last missing parts to install the saltwater pump for the watermaker. So that will probably be tomorrow’s project. We’ve also been on the beach and right after discovered a Bio-Burger restaurant nearby. Yummie !!

Posted in Kids, LosLocos, Pics, Rancho Relaxo, Work | Comments Off

POW ! To the people.

Posted on Monday November 7th, 2011 by dafdaf

The power is back !! Yeyeye !!! Electrical light – without cranking the dynamo-lantern constantly. No fumes of our petroleum-lantern… No. Nice, warm LED-light from the ceiling on the push of a button. Great !

Today I talked with the guys from the shop here and although they don’t have a concrete idea why our batteries died, they still told me that I’m not alone. In fact only a few weeks ago a norwegian yacht passed through and had all six (!!) of their five month old AGM batteries replaced ! So we too now have old school lead-acid batteries. Today I spent a lot of money and got four mainenance-free Vaetus marine batteries with 108 Ah each. Replacing the batteries took the whole day because of our fantastic ‘battery-cistern’. Now my back hurts but there’s again power running through the veins of the Rancho Relaxo !

Many thanks to our readers for all the helpful tips and advices that came in via comment function, facebook and email !! But still, we don’t know why the batteries died…. Today I wrote an Email to the manufacturer. We’ll see if they answer – actually it should be covered by the guarantee…. But who knows…

Did I mention that Bruno with his five years is already a good dinghy captain ? He loves to drive us to the harbour – although even more so when we are only two (because it’s faster !) Hehehe. Also in the pics: Bruno and Viola are amazed by an shop window with slide and snow made from styropor (and both hold an ice cream in theyr hand).

Posted in Hardware, Kids, LosLocos, Pics, Rancho Relaxo, Work | 2 Comments

8.588.100.125 new photos (approximately)

Posted on Monday November 7th, 2011 by dafdaf

I’ve used the last remaining battery power together with the fast WiFi connection to upload a sh..load of new photos. There’s everything. From the coasts of Spain and Portugal, Santiago de Compostela, the crossing to the Canaries, Lanzarote, Teneriffe, the Loro Parque and even a little of Gran Canaria. Enjoy !

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Battery problems – day two

Posted on Sunday November 6th, 2011 by dafdaf

Thanks to the answers of our readers, today I’ve done more tests on our batteries. I’ve tested all batteries while disconnected from the ship’s circuitry U1 is without load. U2 is with a 40watts load, measured after 30 seconds. Here come the facts:

Battery  |    U1    |    U2    |
---------+----------+----------+
Main 1   |  12.62V  |   9.19V  |
Main 2   |  12.72V  |   9.62V  |
Main 3   |  12.71V  |  10.70V  |
Main 4   |  12.52V  |  11.39V  |
Start    |  12.30V  |  11.79V  |

The main batteries are of the type: Effecta BTL-100 (specifications). These are 12V, 100Ah AGM batteries. The label says: cycle use: 14.4V-15V standby user: 13.6V-13.8V
The starter battery is a Vetus ‘marine’ battery of type lead-acid.

Our chargers were set as follows:
Windgenerator: off at 14.34V
Shore power: off at 14.40V (setting: ‘AGM’)
Solar charger: off at 14.30V, standby: 13.8V (setting: ‘GEL’)
Alternator: off at 13.80V, secondary regulation: 13.90V

For me this means that the chargers were set correctly and even a little too conservative. As the batteries say cycle, max. 15V – I could’ve set the solar charger to ‘AGM’ with a peak voltage of 14.70V. Hmmm. Any more input before I run off in search for new batteries tomorrow ?

Posted in Hardware, Learning for life, LosLocos, Rancho Relaxo, Work | 4 Comments

Lego construction site and dead batteries

Posted on Sunday November 6th, 2011 by dafdaf

I’ve got 56 minutes left, then my laptop will shut down. And I cannot recharge it, because the ship’s batteries are DEAD. Dead ? You say. – Well, yes – it seems so. Today I disconnected every single of our 6 months old AGM batteries and measured the voltage. It was between 12.8 and 12.7 Volt. That’s not much but it doesn’t mean they’re dead yet. The thing is: If we charge them, the voltage goes up and down as if there’s no battery connected: If the sun shines, we’ve got 13.5 volts, if there are clouds, we’ve got 12.6. If I try to connect something power-hungry the voltage goes down from 12.6 or whatever it is to 10.5 volts in a few seconds. This doesn’t look too good.

What I cannot understand: How can those 4x 100Ah AGM batteries that are just six months old already be dead ? We were connected to shore-power many times and the batteries have never been ‘used’ much. – Our battery monitor NEVER showed a charge less than 60% – and this maybe one or two times. I really don’t get it. If any reader of this blog has an idea how I could check the batteries or do anything about this situation – all input is very welcome !!

Posted in Hardware, LosLocos, Pics, Rancho Relaxo, Work | 5 Comments

Beach instead of busy

Posted on Friday November 4th, 2011 by dafdaf

Today at breakfast we decided to stay for a few more days. Senegal would have been really nice – but I don’t and we actually can’t leave in a hurry. Even IF we would have made it in time, we still just would’ve seen Gui’s friends for one or maybe two days. But probably not at all… It’s better to use the last european city to stock up, repair what’s broken and get fit for ‘the crossing’. And we still will go to Cabo Verde but only in a few days.

Posted in LosLocos, Pics, Rancho Relaxo, Sailing | 1 Comment

At Gran Canaria

Posted on Friday November 4th, 2011 by dafdaf

Yesterday we said goodbye to my parents. And as this was the last time my parents will come to visit us for quite a long time, we were all a bit depressive. The best to do in such a situation ? Change of location.

We started the engine in the last sunlight and crossed over to Gran Canaria during the night. There was no wind and we were running under engine for the whole trip. But that’s ok since we wanted to meet friends in Las Palmas and the wind usually blows from NE which would make that trip rather unpleasent anyway. The night was quite chilly and for the first time in about a month I had to use a fleece vest. We arrived at about 10 in the morning on the 2nd November and woke up our friends from the Kira.

We had a wonderful day (and night) together with Tim, Klaus and their guest Andreas. But next day we already had to say goodbye again as they are off towards the west coast to meet other friends. We’ll probably see each other again in the beginning of December on some island of Cabo Verde.

Our day was quite busy going shopping in the supermarket, getting supplies and parts for the ship, doing our laundry, etc. But now we’re pretty much set to leave Europe. We hope we can start tomorrow in the early afternoon after filling up our tanks with water and diesel, going to the post office, drug store and a few other errants. We’ll see. I for myself would rather stay another day or two and get everything really finished – but friends of Gui are waiting for us in Dakar. And they’ll leave on the 12th ! That doesn’t give us much time…

Anyway. The place here is actually quite nice. We’re at anchor beside the big marina where all the spaces are booked for the ARC ships. The anchorage is crowded with friendly neighbours and we’ve met many ships that we’ve seen somewhere else in the past weeks and months. There are plenty of good shops to get last minute parts for the ship and in general I think it’s a good place to start across to the Carribean or wherever.

And sorry that there wasn’t a arrival-message. Somehow the Spot-location wouldn’t get through – but I’ve placed a nice little anchor on the map just now.

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Cool beer again !!

Posted on Tuesday November 1st, 2011 by dafdaf

Today the kids left their home and stayed with the grandparents in the hotel. They’ll spend the afternoon at the pool, eat together and watch The Simpsons on TV. – And the parents of those wonderful children spend the afternoon…. installing a new fridge !!!

Heh. Well we could have used the time in a better way. But this really was an important item on our todo list. The ancient ‘Combicool’ wouldn’t run on 12V anymore so we were running it via our inverter. That increased the power input again – and the fact that it was running 24hrs/day and the beer still wouldn’t get cold was just enough to get me started. The old unit was quickly deinstalled but getting the new cooler unit inside the fridge took me nearly 3 hours. I could only get in there with my head and one arm but had to drill holes, cut screw threads, mount the evaporator, etc…

But not too much later everything was connected and the new fridge was surring and cooling our precious liquids and refreshments. This will also cut down our power consumption by more than 50% since the fridge was actually using most of the power.

Oh – and I nearly forgot: No, we’re not in La Gomera. After a quick check of the rigging, we WERE sailing out of San Miguel but unfortunately part of the crew was not really feeling well and so we put into the next harbour that was the Marina del Sur. The good thing about that: This place is way nicer than the marina San Miguel and we’ve finally met the SY Nubia !

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Even more Dolphins !

Posted on Sunday October 30th, 2011 by dafdaf

On our way from Lanzarote to Teneriffe we had something in between 30 and 50 Dolphins circling and playing around the Rancho Relaxo of the Seas. I’ve made another underwater video as well as one from above. Enjoy:

First the dolphins from above:

And the new underwater video:

…sorry for the dalayed post but it took me a couple of tries and endless hours to upload the video.

Posted in Animals, LosLocos, Pics, Rancho Relaxo, Sailing, Video | 2 Comments

Saying good bye to Victor and Oskar and workday

Posted on Saturday October 29th, 2011 by dafdaf

Today we had to say goodbye to Victor and Oskar who took the plane in the afternoon to get back to Berlin. We had a intensive but really wonderful week together and the farewell was hard for both Bruno and Victor who had to cry a lot. But the tears were soon forgotten as my parents now stay with us on the Rancho Relaxo. We actually wanted to sail towards Gomera today but as it was already quite late and we were in working mode, we opted for tomorrow.

We re-checked the cabling and tubing of the newly installed watermaker and found a broken O-ring, replaced it and everything now seems 100% right. We might give it a try next time, we’re out in clear waters. We also dismounted the windsteering and put a fitting in place that somehow slipped out of the pipe. That probably was the first service in 30 years. Go Windpilot, go !!!

So now we’re pretty much ready for take-off and if you don’t hear from us the next days, we’ll be in Gomera together with my parents, having a good time at the beach. :-)

Posted in Kids, LosLocos, Pics, Rancho Relaxo | 1 Comment

At the airport – second try

Posted on Friday October 28th, 2011 by dafdaf

…and sucess !! I picked up Gui at around 11 in the morning and immediately afterwards went to IKEA and to the sports-shop (again). Then down the freeway towards the city centre to get two important but still missing pieces for our ship: the new liferaft and a replacement for our ancient refridgerator. Our old liferaft was only for coastal cruising and we missed the last inspection date (on purpose), so we replaced it with a new Zodiac 6-person raft for ocean passages. It comes with an additional ‘grab bag’ but nonethless we also have a watertight barrel that is filled with other important stuff. The old fridge is noisy and consumes 120W continuously so it has to be replaced by a more modern one. – This is a project for the coming days.

On the way back towards the south we picked up Oskar who was windsurfing near the beach. Unfortunately we were a little too late and could not see him jumping the waves… But there’s a nice youtube video if you’d like to see what windsurfing can look like.

We were back at the ship in the late afternoon where my parents spent the day with Viola, Bruno and Oscar. Together they collected more wood so we could have a nice bonfire on our last evening together.

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At the airport – first try

Posted on Thursday October 27th, 2011 by dafdaf

Today we were up to the north again to get Gui from the airport. Underway we payed a visit to the old home of Victor’s family which is a nice appartment near the beach and with ocean view. The town is really cosy and romantic, has it’s own small beach and is not yet to be found on any tourist maps. The kids were throwing stones into the ocean while the waves tried to get the kids wet in return.

North of Santa Cruz we spent the afternoon at the beach trying the new watersport gadgets (masks, snorkels, skimboard) while we let the time pass. I was at the boatshop to get my ordered parts and then – well then I got the call from Gui that the plane could not leave Buenos Aires and she’ll try to get on to another plane soon. Hmmm. Ok. Tomorrow we’ll give it another try.

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Victor arrived !

Posted on Sunday October 23rd, 2011 by dafdaf

After counting the days for four weeks, yesterday he finally arrived. Victor – Bruno’s best friend arrived at the airport. They’ll have each other for one week – hopefully that’s enough. There’s so much to talk about and so much fun to be had….

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The search for a new residence

Posted on Saturday October 22nd, 2011 by dafdaf

Yesterday we (again) said goodbye to our friends from the SY Kira who are now at the neighbour island of La Gomera.

As we’re waiting for Bruno’s best friend to arrive today, we still are in the same (shitty) harbour of San Miguel in the south of Teneriffe. We *would* like to go somewhere else but that has prooven to be quite difficult: On the west side there is ONE harbour with a convenient location: Colon. But the harbour is full – really full. The next one would be Los Gigantes to the north. But that’s again too far from our parents who are in a hotel a little north of Las Americas. Up until now going for anchor was not a choice because I’m alone with two kids and getting them in and out of the dinghy several times a day is not that funny. Also there doesn’t seem to be any good anchorages in that part of the island. And finally – on monday and tuesday there’s gonna be west wind. Meeeeeh. So it seems as we’ll be stuck here for a few more days.

Next challenge: Gui wanted to apply for a visa for Senegal in Buenos Aires just to find out: there is no consulate in B.A. !! So she probably has to go to Las Palmas for that visa. But we might wanna go there anyway as a friend of Tim and Klaus will arrive there and we’ll have a Bud Spencer & Terence Hill evening. Hehehe.

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Visit from the parents and a lot of work

Posted on Wednesday October 19th, 2011 by dafdaf

Yesterday at 0400h in the morning we got into the car and with two sleeping kinds on the backseat, we drove to Santa Cruz to get Gui to the airport. We didn’t actually sleep that night since our friends from the SY Kira arrived around midnight and – well after a welcome drink (or two) it was already time to leave.

Gui will stay a week in Argentina to visit her parents. For me it’s the other way around: on the same day in the afternoon my parents arrived to stay with us for the next two weeks. They brought LOOOOOOOTS of presents and a big bag of food: my grandmother made ‘bratknoedel’ and lots of cookies. We got homemade marmelade and my sister made gingerbread for us. After unpacking and a taste of good austrian food we fell into the bunks.

Today was work day: I installed the rapaired gooseneck, the Kira brought with them from Lanzarote and afterwards started with the watermaker. We actually bought it in Germany before leaving but neither had the time nor the need to install it earlier. But now that the trips get longer and the atlantic crossing is nearing it’s time to get independent of the water hose. I placed the watermaker underneath the saloon bench and my father did a nice little control panel and made most of the electrical installation. In the evening the installation was complete. Tomorrow I’ll check everything for errors and maybe give it a try (but not in the harbour)…

In the meantime my mother was playing Lego with Viola and they went to explore the marina area while Bruno was with Tim and Klaus, helping to repair their wind generator. And it looks as if they succeeded this time !

Oh – and if you think the photos look a little better – it’s because now we’ve got a new and really nice DSLR camera ! YAY !!!

Posted in LosLocos, Pics, Rancho Relaxo, Work | 5 Comments

160nm on the Atlantic Ocean

Posted on Saturday October 15th, 2011 by dafdaf

“Courage can’t be bought !” That’s a truth – and where our friends Hille and Markus took their courage, I honestly can’t tell. But we really had second thoughts when they asked us to take them to the airport on Teneriffe. But as it showed itself, our worries were quite out of place: Hille is one of the few people that are truly seaworthy. And we’re not sailing the lakes of Berlin. No. We’re out on the atlantic ocean with 3000m water under the ship and wind with 5 to 6 Beaufort. The waves got quite good at the end of the trip and the whole journey was done without mainsail but only with Blister or Genua which makes it more unsteady.

But despite that, Hille had no problem going inside and making sandwiches for everybody or reading Asterix in the cockpit. Markus also was quite unfearful and gave up his permaplace on the cockpitbench to go Dolphin-watching on the forepeak or to help stowing the Blister. And both have taken part in doing nightshifts, cooking or pulling ropes. Short: they were both well integrated.

While our guests had their first night at sea, we slipped past Gran Canaria and made our 3000th nautical mile. So if my general-plan works out we’ve already made 1/11th of our way around the world. Hehehe.

The next day we had a prolonged visit from Dolphins. And a big group it was this time ! As we approached the coast of Teneriffe, the wind increased and we were quite fast with only the Genoa set and travelling at a speed constantly greater than six knots. We rounded Punta Montaña Roja during sunset and our friends couldn’t hide their delight when slowly the marina came in sight.

Only 10 minutes after parking the ship we were on our way through the ‘Ballermann of the Atlantic’ in search for something to eat. Funny that the restaurants in this town seem to oscillate slightly. Anyway. One hour later we all sank into our bunks and slept like the stones at the end of mooringlines – only to be awaken by the alarm clock at 0600h ! Our friends have to get to the airport. Oh no ! The holiday is already over ? Well, yeah. We were one week late because of the weather and so we had only four days with our friends from Berlin. But these were truly wonderful ! Many, many thanks for your visit !!

Posted in LosLocos, Pics, Rancho Relaxo, Sailing | 3 Comments

The Oasis of Lanzarote

Posted on Saturday October 15th, 2011 by dafdaf

As we haven’t seen much of Lanzarote, we went on a little trip together with Markus and Hille. We explored the island in the rental car and were amazed by the beauty of the harsh volcanic landscape. The whole island is quite dry and when sailing past it’s coast we were astonished that someone would even want to live there. But during winter when a little rain falls, the volcanoes are covered with flowers and grass and everything is green. I would so much like to see that. But by then we’ll probably be on our way to the (green) carribean. ;-) There’s also wineyards on the slopes of that volcanoes and they don’t even need to be watered artificially, they live on the moisture of the evening damp.

So we were driving with the car around the island and I have to say: it’s really one of the best things to happen to this island that the architect Cesar Manrique persuaded the government to disallow the construction of high buildings and the ban of billboards. So you only see nice little villages with white, cubic buildings. And I guess – hundreds – of roundabouts with flowers and cacti.

The destination of our cruise was Puerto del Carmen, where we were invited by Heidi und Udo – friends of Markus. And so it happened that when the sun set we found ourselves in a beautiful green oasis in the midst of black volcano slopes. The garden – which consists of hundreds of plants, a playground, small guesthouses, a pool and much more is setup like a labyrinth with little caves and walls made of volcanic stone. One is surprised that it took (only) 16 years of work to build that wonderful place with it’s many little details and I won’t even start about the house itself or the music-cave or the appartments. It’s just amazing. So after an extended tour through the garden of eden we’ve had barbequeue, endless chats – and for the kids a box of Lego. Truly a perfect last evening on Lanzarote !