Category Archives: Rancho Relaxo

Ready for the next hop.

Posted on Friday November 25th, 2011 by dafdaf

After weeks of intense preparations, the day has come. – Or at least nearly. Tomorrow we’ll be leaving the Canaries ! We stocked up on food, the ToDo-list is (unbelievably !) empty, the tanks are full and everybody is getting slightly nervous. Not really because of the distance to Cabo Verde but because it’s been a while that we’ve been sailing properly. Hehe.

Yesterday in the evening the SY Kira finished shopping and somehow managed to stow an incredible amount of groceries and drinks inside their vessel. Only the now missing boot-topping reveals the amount of food inside. After that incredible performance in real-live-Tetris we opened a five liter can of beer to replenish our electrolytes. I was back on our ship at about 04h in the morning.

Today a couple of friends from the anchorage came by to wish us a good journey and exchange emails, etc. Some of them we will probably see in the Carribean others we won’t meet ever again. But you hardly can tell since everyone seems to change their plans quite as often as we do. What else ? Hmmmm. We got the new persenning for our Genua. We also had last-minute christmas shopping. Allegedly Santa Claus will come around even if we’re out on the ocean. Bruno says he’s got an incredibly fast dinghy – just like the coast guard.

Now it’s time to clean up the ship on the inside. There are still many things looking for a good space to be hidden. I’ll do another posting tomorrow, before we’re leaving. Speaking of: We might be sailing together with the Kira again ! But they have a problem with their spinnaker pole and it might take till monday to fix that. Hmm…

Posted in LosLocos, Pics, Rancho Relaxo, Sailing | 4 Comments

Big shopping day

Posted on Wednesday November 23rd, 2011 by dafdaf

I always loved the pictures of ship’s decks before starting a big trip; when everything is covered with groceries. Well today we also received most of our refreshments for the next two months. Missing are only the fruits and vegetables that we’ll buy tomorrow at the market.

I also always wondered: Where are those yachties storing all that food ? – And today we also were confronted with that problem. We were running out of storage space and had to use a bed in the aft cabin to temporarily keep muesli, powdered milk, etc.

And finally a warning to our readers out there: We bought this lovely looking coffee with a nice sailboat on it’s cover. – It’s UNDRINKABLE !! Do yourself a favor and buy another brand.

Posted in Learning for life, LosLocos, Pics, Rancho Relaxo, Sailing | 1 Comment

Tamora and the shopping list

Posted on Tuesday November 22nd, 2011 by dafdaf

What’s the day today ? The answer to this question will take longer the more yachties try to answer it. But I’ll just ask the computer. Tuesday ? Well… We wanted to go sailing today – didn’t we ?  But that also has become a running gag. But we’ll leave – I promise.

Sunday evening the SY Tamora entered the anchorage and we immediately left the beach party to enter our friends ship. Just seconds after the anchor touched the ground, the crews of Kira and Rancho Relaxo were sitting in the cockpit of our friend’s boat. Last time we’ve seen each other was in Lissabon and so there are plenty of stories to tell. As 217 ships of the ARC-flottilla now have vanished, more and more yachts from the anchorage move into the marina to fill up their batteries, tanks and lockers. Even the LosLocos have started to make a big inventory list and a shopping list. In a few minutes Dieter and Silke of the Tamora will pick us up to go into town.

After shopping we have to check out (officially that is, at the customs), we have to store anchor, fenders, dinghy. Everything else is pretty much done.

Lately we had the discussion whether we’re nervous about the big crossing that’s ahead of us. But without even thinking about it the answer of everyone was: “No. Not at all !” – Well – that still could change. Hehehe.

We also updated our route – cancelled Senegal and made a few plans for the Carribean.

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

At home in Las Palmas

Posted on Sunday November 20th, 2011 by dafdaf

Slowly we’re feeling at home here in Las Palmas. The personnel of the local chandlery knows us by name, the kids have plenty of friends and the days pass by in an instant. Today at 13:00h, the ARC will start across the Atlantic and then it’s gonna be much quieter in the harbour. We’ll commemorate that by having a beach party in the afternoon. Hehehe.

Unfortunately, the Express Crusader also left Gran Canaria this morning. This beautiful, history-charged ship is inhabited by an argentinian family with three kids – despite sailing under the english flag. We’ll gonna miss them and look forward to meet again in Cabo Verde or maybe in the Carribean. Bruno was really very sad today.

Yesterday I built the mount for our tiller pilot and thus managed to remove one of the last items from my ToDo list. After that there was a big children farewell party on board the Express Crusader with 11 (in words: ELEVEN !!) kids. Afterwards Bruno and Viola still had energy left to do the long planned restaurant evening. The kids created a menu and Bruno took the orders with pen and booklet and passed the wishes of our guests towards the kitchen. Viola mixed Mojitos and Bruno and Gui made the Cheeseburgers. It was a wonderful evening with Klaus und Tim from the Kira (where the restaurant was actually planed – therefore the name…)

And now we’ll have to get into the Dinghy to see the start of the ARC 2011 . We wanna shoot a couple of pictures. We have a steady breeze and I guess at lest the racing division will use that to start under spinnaker. We’ll see…

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

With the car in the south and a new visitor

Posted on Thursday November 17th, 2011 by dafdaf

Huh ? No update in three days ? That’s unusual. But of course that only happened because we’re sooooo busy. Hehehe. This monday we rented a car and crossed the island towards the south. It goes waaaaay up on the mountains and it really IS a street as you expect it to be, meandering up the steep slopes of the rocky center of Gran Canaria. On the summit we had a little rest, cool air, a nice view, the driver had a beer and the kids had a donkey-ride.

Then it was downhill for quite a while, passing strange plants. I was just saying to Gui: “Look at that strange trees, they have yellow leaves.” When it came to me. Aaah ! There still is that thing with seasons. – It’s autumn !! *Pfew* Somehow we already ARE a little disconnected with central Europe, it seems. Then we saw another strange thing: A paddle-cactus-tree. Never saw such a plant – and actually I learned that it’s a highly endangered species and ususally only to be found on the Galapagos Islands.

Having arrived in the south, we payed a visit to the Hitch-Hike-Heidi which we last saw in Aveiro (Portugal). The kids had fun without end and the grownups had an endless chat. It was wonderful but way to short. We hope to meet again in Cabo Verde.

Yesterday there wasn’t much happening – but we got a visitor: Klaus from the Kira arrived to meet his parents. And since it was logistically better, he used the ferry to come over from Tenerife. He’ll spend two nights on board the Rancho Relaxo after which Tim will arrive with the Kira.

Today we had big construction works on our ship: five kids were playing Lego. Unfortunately I forgot to document the creations – but I was just too engaged.

Posted in Kids, LosLocos, Pics, Plants, Rancho Relaxo, Travel | Comments Off

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.

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

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 !

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

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.

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

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 !

Posted in Hardware, LosLocos, Pics, Rancho Relaxo, Sailing, Work | Comments Off

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

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….

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

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.

Posted in LosLocos, Pics, Rancho Relaxo | Comments Off

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