Category Archives: Rancho Relaxo

Gui’s pre-birthday

Posted on Friday July 6th, 2012 by dafdaf

Yesterday we had a little pre-birthday party aboard the Rancho Relaxo. The official date is actually the 9th of July but as then most of our friends will have left, we moved the birthday a few days ahead.

So we made Pizza and had a few drinks and next day Gui was REALLY lucky and managed to organize her birthday present: A surfboard !!!

At first we thought it would be impossible since new boards are too expensive for us. But we found a used one for 90USD and of course immediately made the deal. Sunday we’ll go camping for one night to Puero Chino and then Gui will give it a first try ! Yay !!

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Funny anchoring without engine

Posted on Wednesday July 4th, 2012 by dafdaf

Our fuel problems are not yet finished. Actually today we should have got Diesel and Gasoline… The Gasoline was dark-grey – looked as if someone used it to clean engine parts. And the Diesel ? Well, I put a few liters in an empty jerrycan and put a little fuel treatment on it. Only two hours later I could see the water, bacteria and dirt seperating from the fuel. So all the Diesel and Gasoline went back – we already got enough problems.

Thanks to the dirty Diesel it is that a few days ago we had to enter the anchorage of San Cristobal without engine. The main sail was just put away and we were about to turn portside into the harbour when the engine died. We quickly got the Genoa out and put up the main sail again, after which we came about and set a course upwind, passing the first reef and closing in on the second shoal. After passing that one, we steered hard on the wind to get to a good position in the anchorage. Passing in between the many charter boats. – Should be ok. But what’s that ? Why is that ship (at anchor !) moving forward ?!? No, now we can’t pass in front, whe have to go behind it. But will we have enough room to get to our anchor position ?

So we pass at the stern. And we hardly have enough room to pass the SY Mares. But it’s ok. We remove the Genoa, continue for a few meters, luff up and throw the anchor. It grabs ! We lower the sail and open a beer. Yay ! We made it to Galapagos – action included !

And tomorrow I’ll again have a look at our fuel filters. Probably they are again cloaked with bacteria-mud.  What can we do ? Maybe a few bottles of Grotamar82 will fall from the sky ? Otherwise, we’ll try to use the engine as little as possible and try not to depend on it. Maybe I can install a little 3-way-valve and put a small 10l tank above the engine. That should be enough for emergencies and is easier to clean – and keep clean. Let’s see, whether I can find the parts for that here on Galapagos.

Thanks, SY Mares for the pictures !

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First day at San Cristobal, Galapagos

Posted on Wednesday July 4th, 2012 by dafdaf

Galapagos. Just the name of these mystic islands are connected to so many images and stories. Darwin, marine iguanas, sea lions, giant turtles… And all that (except for Darwin) we’ll see in the next days and weeks.

After our dramatic arrival in the anchorage (a blog post with pics of that will follow !) We soon were greeted by an agent and the authorities. Soon after we missed about 600USD but had clearance for staying 20 days at the island. As the whole archipelago is a national park, everything is quite restricted and one can not sail around with his own ship. On can’t even take the dingy to the beach ! But – well, there are boat taxis for 1USD per (grown up) person.

The first day we went to the beach, together with the crews of SY Tamora, SY Mares and another sailing vessel with two kids aboard. The beach was fantastic and we finally were snorkeling again – after more than two months without touching the ocean. Unfortunately on that day we had quite huge waves and thus the underwater sight was poor. No turtles for us. – Only a few sea lions in the water. And those were more interested in the fish…

But it was great anyway. Everywhere you look, you see beauty. The black, grey and red volcanic stones at the beach for example. Together with the bright green bushes it makes a fantastic background for any kind of picture. And the marine iguanas – well I could take hundreds of photos. Amazing creatures, scary looking but harmless and they are everywhere !

Just as the sea lions. They are everywhere. Everywhere in the town, on the benches, in the boats and dinghies, at the beach. Luckily our boat has no bathing platform and also a high freeboard, so the sea lions cannot enter. But all our friends already had them in the cockpit or on the foredeck. Hehehe. Today I took the sailing dinghy to town – hopefully no sealion sleeps inside, when I get back in a few minutes.

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Pics from the trip Costa Rica – Galapagos

Posted on Tuesday July 3rd, 2012 by dafdaf

Just wanted to upload a few pictures from our last trip. Not much to say as we uploaded all the missing blog posts now. Tomorrow, I’ll post first pics from Galapagos !

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Arrived in Galapagos

Posted on Monday July 2nd, 2012 by dafdaf

Today in the morning we arrived at San Cristobal, Galapagos. The engine died on us while we were navigating in between reefs at the entrance of the harbour but we managed to put anchor under sail. Everything ok.

As you can see, I also posted all the missing blog posts of the last week. Our f****** server again managed to screw with us. Really frustrating !!

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

Towards Galapagos – day 12

Posted on Saturday June 30th, 2012 by dafdaf

Another day passes… we really couldn’t care less. Time looses it’s proportions when you’re out at sea for a while. We had lovely sailing today: The wind freshened up to a steady force 5 and we put a reef in both the main sail and the genoa. The day was sunny and right now we got a bright starry night with a big near-full moon.
Of course the 12th day of this journey was all about crossing the Aequator which is a really big thing – to be on the southern part of the planet. Now after sailing for more than one year, we’re getting closer to what seems to be most of the sailor’s dream: the southern Pacific Ocean.
Tomorrow somewhere at noon or so we should arrive at San Christobal in the Archipelago de Colon (Galapagos Islands). Got about 50 more miles to cover, that’ll take not much more than one night – given the wind stays as it is. We’re still sailing close hauled of course, been doing so all 12 days. And we get accustomed to it ! Something I always thought is impossible or that only slightly masochistic people would be able to do. But – hey – compared to the rolling motion in the trades, here we got a constant angle. It’s quite steady at 20-30 degrees. Makes moving around a little difficult but at least, the pot stays where you put it.

LATITUDE: 00-17.32S, LONGITUDE: 089-08.21W, COURSE: 223T, SPEED: 4.8, WIND: S5, DISTANCE TO DEST: 46nm

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In the South Pacific

Posted on Saturday June 30th, 2012 by dafdaf

Woohoooo !!! We just crossed ‘The Line’ ! At 18:31h UTC we crossed the Aequator at the longitude of 88 degrees and 44 minutes. The countdown was a lot of fun because we told the kids that on the south side of course everything is the other way around and you’re with the feet on the ceiling an the head is downwards. Although the kids did not really believe that nonsense but nonethless prepared themselfes, lying down at the floor with the feet up in the air – just in case.
Up until now everything is quite the same. The water still turns the same way when we flush the toilet and we still walk with our feet on the floor. And it seems, tomorrow we’ll be in Galapagos. Yay !

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Nach Galapagos – Tag 11

Posted on Friday June 29th, 2012 by dafdaf

Gut geplant ist halb verloren. So geht doch der Spruch, oder ? Na auf jeden Fall haben wir heute verloren – ein kleines Privatrennen mit einer anderen Segelyacht, die wir heute im Morgengrauen an Backbord querab hatten, welche aber schon eine Stunde spater vor uns am Horizont verschwand. Tja. Dafuer haben die keine private Muschelzucht mit ! Wir schon – immer wenn uns nach Krustentieren ist, muessen wir nur schnell mal unter’n Rumpf tauchen und schon haben wir genug Eiweis fuer eine Mahlzeit beisammen. Dass uns das auf dieser Reise sicher 1-2 Tage gekostet hat, das muss man als Delikatessenliebhaber halt hinnehmen.
Mal eben ein franzoesisches Butterkeks in den Kaffe getaucht. Mmmmhhh. Also zur Planung: Diese war fuer diesen Toern echt mal gut gelungen ! Gestern hatten wir die letzte Banane, heute haben wir Avocados und Gurken aufgegessen und fuer morgen und uebermorgen gibt’s noch Tomaten, Zwiebeln, Kartoffeln und Limetten. Letztere werden dann fuer’n Anlege-Drink wichtig. An diesen denken wir immer oefter. Der Wind ist uns naemlich treu und so sehr kann uns unser Privatriff am Kiel gar nicht bremsen, dass wir nicht uebermorgen ankommen ! So sind’s zur Zeit noch 155 Meilen, bis San Christobal und der Kurs passt haarscharf. Auch hier nochmal gut geplant. Also das Aufkreuzen nach Sued und den anschliessenden Kurs, der eigentlich anfangs noch etwas zu hoch war. Aber die geniale Langzeitplanung beinhaltete einen kleinen Winddreher auf Sued bzw. Suedsuedost und dieser kam auch heute, somit fahren wir genau auf’s Ziel zu.
Ein wenig einsam sind wir hier. Haben noch kein einziges Kommentar auf unsere Blogeintraege bekommen. Und am Satphone ruft auch niemand an. Kann ich aber verstehen, ist einfach zu teuer… So. Jetzt suche ich noch ein schoenes Bildchen raus und hoffe, dass uns jemand eine Zeile schickt…

Ah, zum Bild, welches unser Webmaster hoffentlich nachtraeglich einfuegt: Wir hatten nachts Besuch an Bord. Ein ‘Red-footet Booby’ (lat.: Sula Sula) ist um 04h morgens auf der Reling am Bug gelandet und blieb dort die ganze nacht sitzen. Erst zum Fruehstueck, welches um 12h Bordzeit stattfand, hat er sich wieder hinfortgemacht. Und auch wenn wir ja gaaar nicht aberglaeubisch sind, aber ein Vogel an Bord bringt nun mal Glueck. Da freut man sich !

LATITUDE: 00-51.32N, LONGITUDE: 087-45.62W, COURSE: 227T, SPEED: 3.9, WIND: S3, DISTANCE TO DEST: 153nm

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Towards Galapagos – day 10

Posted on Thursday June 28th, 2012 by dafdaf

Slowly we start to like the Pacific. We had a little rough start when going from Panama to Costa Rica. And the first half of this trip also wasn’t pleasent, crossing the doldrums. But now that we’ve been sailing with a completely constant breeze from SSW for the third day in a row, we change our minds. The wind is not strong but steady and this means very little wave action. Two ingredients for really nice sailing. And what we hear from the SY Kira and the SY Thor, the wind is light also on the way towards the Marquesas. As the course is a different one and the wind will mostly be from the stern, this means Blister sailing for us ! I really hope, the wind will stay like that. But anyway, that’s the next trip, I’m thinking about. First we have to get to Galapagos !
No real news from aboard the Rancho Relaxo itself. Everybody now enjoys the ride. The children re-discovered the Asterix collection and listen to music all day. The big ones do pretty much the same but go to sleep earlier, since we have to compensate for the night watches. Right now it looks as if we’d reach our destination in about four days. Yay !

LATITUDE: 01-41.60N, LONGITUDE: 086-44.22W, COURSE: 257T, SPEED: 3.6, WIND: SSW3, DISTANCE TO DEST: 232nm

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Nach Galapagos – Tag 9

Posted on Wednesday June 27th, 2012 by dafdaf

Super, der Wind bleibt stabil und wir naehern uns tatsaechlich dm Ziel. Zur Zeit nur noch 303 Meilen !
Und dann hatten wir heute auch noch Fischerglueck ! Endlich war mal wieder ein lecker Mahimahi an der Leine. Mit ca. 80cm genau richtig fuer uns vier. Mit Salz, Pfeffer und Dillspitzen in Butter rausgebraten, mit Sahne aufgegossen und dann die frisch gegarten mini-Kartoffeln samt Schale rein. Unglaublich lecker !!
Gestern wurden wir auf der Pazifik.Net Funkrunde mal von Guenther etwas geruegt, weil wir so schlecht zu hoeren sind. So haben Captain und Helfer Bruno heute mal alle Kabel und Stecker, sowie den Antennentuner der Kurzwellenanlage kontrolliert. Ohne einen Fehler festzustellen allerdings. Dann muss es wohl an der Antenne liegen, was ? Todesmutig erklimmt der Skipper in voller Fahrt das Achterstag, wo auf ca. 4m Hoehe der Isolator sitzt und das Antennenkabel ans Achterstag gefuehrt wird. Oder werden soll. Denn genau diese Verbindung habe ich dann wild umherschwingend mittels etwas Fett und einer Schlauchklemme wieder hergestellt. Heute Abend um 03Z wird sich dann zeigen, ob’s wieder funkt.

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Towards Galapagos – day 8.

Posted on Wednesday June 27th, 2012 by dafdaf

We’ve been tacking against the wind now for EIGHT FULL DAYS ! We’ve got enough ! We’re the Rancho Relaxo – we don’t like this kind of sailing. We want a smooth ride with a breeze from the back. Not going against the wind and living in a home with a floor that’s 30 degrees out of the horizontal !
To get into a better mood, I downloaded the latest weather info. We should still have west-wind, force 4-5. Hehehehe. Right now we’ve got wind from SSW, force 3 and it’s been the first time that we could set a course that will bring us to Galapagos ! Much of this has to do that we’ve been sailing southwards despite unpleasent conditions. But my idea was to get out of the counter-aequatorial current as fast as possible to be able to go westwards – and it seems it worked ! We’ve left the current about 20 hours ago and since then kept sailing towards our destination. Finally the distance to Galapagos has been shrinking for real ! We also didn’t use the engine today, which is a primer on this trip.
So actually it was quite a good day after all… Hehehe. Oh and thanks for the info about ‘Lonesome George’ – who died yesterday. Really sad story. To be the only surviving member of a species for so many years. That is real lonelyness ! Maybe he’ll find more of his kind whereever he’s going right now. It’ll probably not be turtle-heaven, since everyone knows: Our planet is actually carried by a turtle ! (And this turtle – what is it standing on ?!? Very clever question… But see, it’s turtles all the way down !) Hehehe. Probably doesn’t make ANY sense to you. But I read this funny story a long time ago and just had to think about it. Just Google ‘Turtles all the way down’ or something…

LATITUDE: 02-38.81N, LONGITUDE: 084-32.41W, COURSE: 241T, SPEED: 3.2, WIND: SSW3, DISTANCE TO DEST: 371nm

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Wir wollen Sonne statt Reagan

Posted on Tuesday June 26th, 2012 by dafdaf

Uooaaaaaahhh… es regnet. Seit Tagen. TAAAAA-GEN ! Das schlimmste ist nicht der Regen an sich, oder die nun komplett schmodrige, muffelige Foul Weather Jacke, nein. Das schlimmste ist der Wind, der jeder halbe Stunde seine Richtung aendert, oder gar ganz weg ist. Sobald man mit einem Manoever fertig ist, faengt schon das naechste an. Und wofuer ? Ich habe das Gefuehl, dass wir Gestern einen Kreis um Galapagos herum gesegelt haben, in einer konstanten Entfernug von 480 Meilen. Puah ! Ist das frustrierend ! Hier habe ich das Konzept “Kampf um jede Meile” endlich verstanden… Ein Elend… Dann habe ich doch den Motor angemacht und entschlossen endlich ein paar Meilen Richtung Ziel zu fahren. Nach einundhalb Stunden – aufgegeben… drei Meilen hatten wir gewonnen. DREI MEILEN ! Heute sieht es nicht so anders aus, nur dass wir doch wieder einige Stunden unter Motor gelaufen sind, Wassertank voll gemacht und alle Geraete an Bord voll geladen. Aber viel besser voran kommen wir auch nicht.
Jetzt, genug gemeckert, ich werde mich in Melville’s Gedanken vertiefen und versuchen das ganze zu vergessen. Irgendwann werden wir wohl irgendwo ankommen. Ah, sonst … heute haben wir wieder gesehen die zwei treuen Rainbow Runners, die uns seit Tagen begeliten. Wir haben versucht sie zu harpunieren, zum Gl¸ck ohne Erfolg, weil letzten Endes haben wir angefangen sie zu moegen. Wir sollten ihnen Namen geben… “Picachu und Potipot” oder “Atahualpa und Yupanki”(Bruno unterhaelt sich schon mit den beiden.) Gestern haben wir mit den Kindern Kuchen gebacken, lecker !  Waerend David gepennt hat und dabei versucht, sein furchtbaren Rueckenschmerzen zu entkommen.
So und nun ? Schuess Sqalls, schuess tropical storms, schuess f… ITCZ. Hallo Moby Dick ! Cheers Joseph Beuys !

LATITUDE: 03-06.81N, LONGITUDE: 083-25.81W, COURSE: 247T, SPEED: 3.2, WIND: SSW3, DISTANCE TO DEST.:442nm

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Towards Galapagos – day 6

Posted on Tuesday June 26th, 2012 by dafdaf

Well, the most important thing first: Thank you Daniel for repairing our database. Now our website is finally online again and noone has to be worried that we’re lost either at sea or in the virtual world.

My brother will post the previous blog entries, so I don’t have to write everything that happened during the trip. So we’re still far away from Galapagos and we don’t get much closer despite trying really hard. The wind is blowing from SSW – which is exactly the location of the islands. The current comes with 1.3 knots from the west, so it seems we’re already in the aequatorial counter current. Our idea is to try to get as far south as possible to maybe escape that current and then sail westward towards our destination.
We saw a couple of dolphins and the first birds from Galapagos: Swallow tailed gulls (Larus furcatus) to be precise. We also have followers: a small group of rainbow runners is swimming alongside the Rancho Relaxo. But despite all tries of Bruno – with different baits. These fish won’t bite ! As we were quite hungry we then had the excellent idea to use the harpoon and shoot them, as they’re only half a meter in the water. But no luck. And after we’ve been trying for about an hour, the line of the harpoon broke and we lost the dart !
But even when this trip is a little frustrating, everyone is well (again) and we still have hope to reach San Christobal in time to see the crews of SY Tamora and SY Mares again.

LATITUDE: 03-35.58N, LONGITUDE: 083-13.34W, COURSE: 138T, SPEED: 4.0, WIND: S3-4, DISTANCE TO DEST: 468nm

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Opfergaben an die Herrscher der Tiefe

Posted on Friday June 22nd, 2012 by ogl

Wir haben’s ja nicht so sehr mit Tradition und Aberglaube (Zitat Sebas: ‘Aberglaube bringt Unglueck !’), dennoch opfert Gui, die Arme, zur Zeit fleissig an die Meeresgeister. Der Skipper behaelt seinen Mageninhalt, zeigt sich aber solidarisch und uebergibt die innig geliebte Petzl Stirnlampe (die mit der roten LED) der See. Diese ist erstaunlich wasserdicht und wir sehen sie in der Nacht noch lange in der Tiefe leuchten.

Warum das ganze ? Tja, also Gui macht das nicht ganz freiwillig, es ist das Gegenanbolzen, das die Schiffsbewegungen recht unangenehm macht. Eigentlich sollten wir ja Westwind haben. Tatsaechlich blaests aber aus S bis SSW – und das mit Unterbrechungen schon seit ueber 24 Stunden. Tja. Wetterberichte. Am besten gar nicht erst ansehen, dann ist man danach nicht enttaeuscht. Auf jeden Fall ist das Segeln zur Zeit nicht beonders angenehm und natuerlich machen wir auf diese Weise auch keine grossen Fortschritte. Wir segeln abwechselnd Kurs SW oder ESE, bzw. motoren dazwischen auch mal wieder ein paar Stunden Richtung Sued. Wenn wir unseren Kurs und Geschwindigkeit beibehalten, benoetigen wir noch ca. 20 Tage bis Galapagos. Hihihi. Gut, dass wir fuer den gesamten Pazifik gebunkert haben. So haben wir immerhin genuegend Lebensmittel dabei.
Ach ja und das mit der Stirnlampe ist gestern Nacht passiert, als unsere Rollreffanlage klemmte und ich diese am Bug teilweise in freiem Fall auseinandernahm und wieder gaengig machte. Hierbei flatterte mir die Genua mit ihren Schoten gehoerig um die Ohren und hat mir dann die Stirnlampe vom Kopf gestreift. Tja. Hab erst vorgestern neue Batterien rein ! Sowas aergerliches auch. Ansonsten ? Die Kinder sind prinzipiell wohlauf, Viola ist seit heute morgen auch etwas wortkarg, hat aber das Fruehstueck bei sich behalten. Bruno liest Asterix und schnitzt an seinem Segelboot. Fisch haben wir noch keinen gefangen, doch war Gui vorgestern mal unterm Schiff tauchen und hat sich unsere Entenmuschel-Kolonien angesehen. Die gedeihen hier praechtig ! Aergerlich, vor allem, weil das Abkratzen hier in der Pazifikduenung so gar keinen Spass macht und auch nicht ungefaehrlich ist.
So. Genug lamentiert fuer heute. Positives ? Hmmmmmm. Bisher kein Blitztreffer ! Und unglaubliche Wolkenbilder, ansonsten leider nicht viel. Wir waeren lieber schon da. Kann uns jemand beamen ? Scotty ?? Ps: Vielen lieben Dank fuer die lieben Geburtstagsgruesse an Bruno – er hat sich sehr gefreut !!

LATITUDE: 05-56.34N, LONGITUDE: 083-14.06W, COURSE: 135T, SPEED: 3.8, WIND: S3-4, DIST TO GALAPAGOS: 560nm

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Day 2 towards Galapagos

Posted on Thursday June 21st, 2012 by ogl

Welcome in the Doldrums !
Yesterday just after sending the email, the rain hit and we were left without wind for a couple of hours. Flapping sails and going nowhere. Well, we knew that this would come. It seems we’ve reached the doldrums at about 07 degrees north. Could that be ? Later in the morning the wind came back and changed direction a couple of times to keep the skipper busy. Hehehe.
It was also during the last night watch that I noticed a flickering in our light at the mast topp. When the sun rose I could see why: The wifi antenna had somehow come loose and was tangling around like a straw in a cocktail glass. So I entered the mast to figure out what happenend and to fix it – only to realise that a change of course would have been convenient, before getting up there. Being at the very top of the mast when tacking against is not very enjoyable. I needed both legs and arms to hold on most of the time and thus it was quite difficult to secure the antenna using electric tape and a string. I was down a couple of minutes later, not exactly feeling very good. But the antenna is safe. Hehehe. After that we had breakfast and sailed until about noon when another rain sqall hit, after which the wind completely died.
So right now we’re sitting becalmed and are drifting with a speed of about 0.6 knots towards northeast. Not exactly helpful. But we can’t run the engine everytime, the wind is out – we don’t have enough diesel for that. So we’re sitting it out and try to cook something while the boat is shaking in the swell. Speaking of – we’ve got a swell of about 1.5m coming from the west. So there IS wind somewhere out there….

LATITUDE: 06-36.12N, LONGITUDE: 083-32.74W, COURSE: 356T, SPEED: 0.6,
WIND:0, DISTANCE TO DEST: 577nm

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Erster Tag auf dem Weg nach Galapagos

Posted on Wednesday June 20th, 2012 by dafdaf

Jetzt haben wir’s endlich geschafft, uns von Costa Rica losgerissen und die beschwerliche Reise ueber den Aequator nach Galapagos begonnen. Die Wettervorhersage war gut und bisher koennen wir uns auch gar nicht beschweren, denn seit wir das Festland hinter uns gelassen haben, segeln wir mit 3.5-4 Knoten Richtung Sued. Der Wind hat vor einer Stunde ein wenig weiter auf Sued gedreht, das ist aber vermutlich der massiven Gewitterfront zu verdanken, die sich da vor uns in den Weg stellt. Tja. Mal schnell Email abschicken, dann Stecker raus und durch !
Ansonsten alles super hier, kaum Geschaukel, gutes und ausreichendes Essen, (noch) kein Motorlaerm und auch ‘nur’ noch 610 Meilen vor uns. Sieht doch gut aus ! Im Augenblick geht die Sonne rechtz spektakulaer unter und faerbt den kompletten Wolkenhimmel rosa ein. Super ! Morgen haben wir das SatPhone im uebrigen nicht nur von 12-13h UTC an, sondern auch tagsueber, da ja Bruno morgen (offiziell) 6 wird.

LATITUDE: 07-05.69N, LONGITUDE: 083-18.93W, COURSE: 160T, SPEED: 3.5, WIND: SW3, MILES TO DEST: 609

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Off we are towards Galapagos

Posted on Tuesday June 19th, 2012 by dafdaf

Ready to go. We finally were able to clear out and do all the paperwork. We got about 20 kilos of fresh fruits and vegetables, the kids had a final ice cream and now that the the tide is turning, it’s time for us to get going.

We’ll try to get rid of the green stuff that started growing around the Rancho Relaxo during the last weeks so we’ll maybe be a little faster. The wind will not be *that* bad. It seems we’ll have a force 3 from west for the first days. That way we’ll go south as far as possible and then head west for the islands. Well, we’ll see…. We’ll keep you informed.

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Last night in Costa Rica ?

Posted on Sunday June 17th, 2012 by dafdaf

Actually we wanted to leave tomorrow with the outgoing tide. But just now we learned that the guys at the customs office will not be working tomorrow. We’ll still give it a try and maybe we can leave without the customs papers. Otherwise we’ll be here for another night and leave tuesday afternoon.

Today I posted a couple of not so nice photos – showing some of mine mosquito stings. (And these are NOT the worst I’ve got !) These nasty little creatures somehow don’t get along well with our european blood. The stings get infectious and red and we have little wounds that excrete water and stay for more than one week. Only Bruno, Viola and me have these – it seems Gui’s got antibodies. It also only started when we came to Costa Rica; we didn’t have problems in Panama. Another reason to get going quite soon. Because even with smoke coils, sprays and mosquito nets we still get bitten sometime.

Today I spent most of the time up the mast and pulled the radar cable out to reconnect it. But without success – the radar antenna still isn’t working. I checked and measured the connections of our ST40 gyro-compass that’s also mounted up the mast. But we’ve only got readings in between 0.5 and 1 Megaohm. The resistance should be: Red to Green: 4-10 ohm, Red to Yellow: 4-10 ohm, Green to Yellow: 8-10 ohm, Screen to Blue: 8-10 ohm, all other combinations OC.
So I take, the compass is also dead&gone. Which means 66% of our Raymarine gear stopped working after one year. Well, well. We’ll manage without…

When we pulled the radar cable up the mast we damaged the LAN-cable of our wireless antenna on the mast, so I had to re-solder that as well. While doing this, our soldering iron broke. Not exactly a successful work day, eh ?

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Like groundhogs.

Posted on Friday June 15th, 2012 by dafdaf

I’m not sure if that’s a good development: The sleeping capazity of the laziest crew of this world always was impressive – but during the last weeks we managed to increase it dramatically !! Maybe it’s a reaction of our bodies to the long ocean passages that lie ahead ? The kids ususally sleep about ten hours in one go and when we’re at sea even more. Gui can stay horizontal for twelve hours+. But I – the always busy and dutiful skipper (hahahaha) usually never sleep more than eight hours. So what is the explanation that during the last weeks we go to bed at the same time as the children and don’t get up earlier than when the heat is already unbearable around nine in the morning ?!? Tssss.

To put an alarm to counter this natural requirement would feel wrong somehow. But it also makes me think: Maybe it’s the heat during the daytime that’s soaking up all our energy ?

Anyway. Soon we’ll be at sea again and then our watches will bring order to our sleeping habits. We’ll be at the lookout for other ships and trimming the sails while the other one will be dozing downstairs. That way it’s a maximum of six hours of solid sleep during the nighttime and the kids’s will take care that we don’t get too much rest during the day. ;-)

The mast-climbing action was delayed because today we don’t have cloud cover and I’d probably get burnt by our black anodized mast. But nonethless we managed to do something useful: We took the Rancho Relaxo to the neighbouring marina and got 205 Liters of the (allegedly) finest Diesel. As our fuel tank was nearly empty we now finally know it’s capazity: 125 Liters it is. And another 80 Liters we carry in jerrycans. That will enable us to motor for nearly three days straight. Not too much as we’ve got 720 miles to cover with the current and wind against us – but comforting nonethless.

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

Third workday in a row

Posted on Friday June 15th, 2012 by dafdaf

I’m not used to work that much anymore. No, no. And definately not in these circumstances with that incredible heat. But – hey – at least I got two amazing kids who happen to help me a lot and keep the mood up. (Ok, ok. Not always…) So today we finally installed that active Radar-reflector that we had lying around since we left Europe. It’ll come in handy on the next longer passages, I hope. While Gui was in ‘town’ to finally clear in (after a more than a week that we’ve been here, hehehe) – I installed the unit on the mast of the wind generator and put the cable through the ship. And that actually was most of the work because of course all stuff has to be moved from one corner to the next, all floor boards have to be removed, all the stuff has to be moved to the saloon bench and so on….

After half a day of work the cable was finally where it’s supposed to be and it also seems to work. Although we’ve still have to test it with an active Radar in the vincinity. I also installed a pre-filter in the seawater system to protect the pump in the kitchen and the watermaker from bigger parts entering through the hose. We put the bolt holding the forestay that keeps moving to the starbord side back to where it belongs, we put a new switch for the electric bilge pump, refilled engine oil, etc.

Yesterday I also took the kerosene stove apart and cleaned everything so now both flames work perfectly again. Tomorrow we’ll try to repair the electronic kompass, reconnect the Radar and fix a couple of other minor things…. But then, I guess on monday we’re finally ready to leave ! Yay !

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