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.

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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 !

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Mr. Mercedes is running again !

Posted on Wednesday June 13th, 2012 by dafdaf

After another day down in the engine dungeon and with great help of Bruno, our good old Mercedes engine is running again !! Yay !

Yesterday – against all odds, we managed to aquire all needed parts for our new tank ventilation and fuel outlet. We got five pre and five fine filters for the fuel and ten bottles of anti-bacteria treatment. We also installed the new fuel gauge that’s connected to our blue sea battery and tank monitor. Now all’s set. Tomorrow we’ll do another few little improvements and replace a leaking screw in the fine filter but hey – the bigger part is done. Uff ! Now I’m gonna relax with a beer in my hand and the view over Golfito bay.

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A week at ‘la casita’ with Memé

Posted on Monday June 11th, 2012 by laloca

So, she’s off, back to San José !! My mother was here the last week and we “shared” the little house she rented for five days. Actually the children moved in since the moment she arrived, and the day after David and me followed, and so, enjoyed the air conditioned, the “huge” kitchen and a 100% dry bed.

Since there is not much to do here in Golfito, exept for buying parts for the boat… well, we stayed inside quite almost the whole time. Every evening we had a little chat on the bench in the terrasse, wondering what do people actually do in this lost corner of the world, at the border between Costa Rica and Panama, with heavy humidity and heat the whole day and the whole night. But the good thing is, we worked a lot on my label Coquito the time we where together… we discussed new ideas for the coming collections and skyped a lot with Annette, our college in Berlin.

And of course, Bruno and Viola where extremely happy to have her near and spend 24h/24h with their “memé”. That made also the farewell a little sad, and they cryed a lot, saying they wanted to go back to Argentina with her – their plan was that we would come and pick up them a couple of days later-  :) So, mum, it was great to have you here, even you didn’t put a foot on the Rancho Relaxo this time !

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Wedding of the bacteria

Posted on Monday June 11th, 2012 by dafdaf

That’s what our friend Guenther called it, when we emptied the jerrycans into the tank and suddently all our good diesel turned into a sludgy mess. Yesterday I finally motivated myself and got down into the engine dungeon to look at our fuel situation. First I connected a two meter fuel hose to our waste-oil pump and got about 30 l of (not too bad) diesel out of the tank.

I then disconnected all hoses and openend our fuel tank to have a first look. Definately bacterias. And lots of them ! I pumped the rest of the dirt into the jerrycans and swiped the whole tank clean. Then I started dismounting the fuel in- and outlets and cleaned all these parts. I discovered that the fuel outlet was a pipe-in-a-pipe and only held in place by a piece of rubber !! – And the fuel meter, which is stainless steel was mounted inside an aluminium (!!) pipe. How anyone doing business with boats would put an aluminium pipe inside a stainless stell tank is a mystery to me. I just think of it as another solved legacy problem.

I also discovered the reason for our mess: It was the diesel we got from the Flamenco Bay Marina ! (Thanks guys !) When I looked into the jerrycans, we filled in the marina, there was about half a liter of diesel left. After a week in the sun, one clearly could see the mud/bacteria seperating down at the bottom. Our problems during our last journey also only started after we put that diesel into our tank. Well, well…..

Now I’m gonna go into town to look whether the new fuel filters have arrived, thereafter I’ll put everything together again.

ps: Yes, we consistently use anti-bacteria additive for our fuel. Unfortunately not the good Grotamar 82, because it’s not available here…

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A torrent of pictures !

Posted on Saturday June 9th, 2012 by dafdaf

I used the good internet connection here in Golfito to finally catch up with our online gallery. I uploaded a total of 1387 pictures into 24 albums ! So for everyone who’s got nothing to do on the weekend: take a peek !

There’s everything there from Cabo Verde and the Atlantic Crossing, our whole trip through the Caribbean up until our last trip towards Costa Rica. Enjoy.

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

It’s one year that we left Berlin !

Posted on Thursday June 7th, 2012 by dafdaf

It’s a cliché: Cruisers loose track of time and don’t know what day of the week it is. But that’s not true. It’s WAY worse ! I sometimes have to think a long time to be sure what MONTH we have. This is mostly because we didn’t experience seasons for more than half a year but track rain- and hurricane seasons instead. After a while I figure out the month but definately have no idea what weekday or exact date we have.

So it’s to no one’s surprise that we forget birthdays and not even realize that we’ve been underway for one year and five days already ! And thus it’s time for a little résumé.

But where should I begin ? As always, a few numbers will get me started: Since we left Berlin on the 2nd of June 2011, we’ve been sailing on 137 days and stayed at anchor on 228 days. In that time, we’ve covered 8843 nautical miles – or 16377 km – which is about a quarter of our planned route around the globe.

Many things have changed since we left. In the beginning it was quite hard for us to be comfortable with such little space and limited ressources. But now we’ve got used to this permanent living in camping-style.  We learned to cook with exoctic foods, learned to fish with the line or the harpoon and can fix things with improvised tools. Gui and me reallocated some of our body-fat and transformed some into muscles. So we didn’t really loose weight but feel a lot more fit and healthy. With the kids that’s not an issue but they are very happy and balanced and are never ill anymore. They enjoy being in the nature with the family and friends but they (and we) miss our family a lot and of course also our friends at home.

But the most change we experienced is in our sailing abilities. Gui and me both just have the minimum sailing-license and only had 2500nm (me) and 500nm (Gui) of sailing experience before we left. If it would’ve been 100nm, the difference wouldn’t have mattered because all we think to know about sailing, we learned on this trip ! A voyage of 50 miles was a long one when we left – now when we sail, say, from DomRep to Panama (800 miles) we hardly do any preparations. We leave as we are and don’t give it much thought, as we’ll be there in a week anyway. In the beginning we only felt safe and comfortable when we were in a marina or harbour; now we try to stay at anchor whenever we can. One has more privacy, doesn’t have to pay, the wind always comes from the front and one can jump into the water if it’s too hot.

If you would beam us back to Berlin right now – what would we do differently ? Well, we still would leave with all the chaos and a half-prepared ship as there is plenty of time underway to fix and improve things ! We would probably stay on sea until we reach La Coruña, maybe make a stopover in Morocco but then spend 4-5 months in Senegal, Gambier and Guinea Bissau ! Europe we’d skip entirely. There’s nothing new there – we know the culture, the cities, the people. It only got really interesting once we reached Cabo Verde. And  this archipelago really was one of the highlights of our journey so far.  The trip through the Caribbean was great, but we’d skip Barbados, Antigua and the DomRep and would spend a lot more time in Grenada and the Grenadines, probably go down to Tobago (not Trinidad !), Venezuela and Colombia. Yeyeye. Would, should, had…. Anyway: Afrika rocks !

In the end the route is not too important since most people will discover their real preference while underway and everyone will have different experiences. We had friends that we’ve saild with for quite some time and although we seem to get along very well, they sometimes hated a place that we loved and the other way around. I guess, everyone will discover different things, even in the same countries. Plans increasingly become subject to change, the longer one is underway. I think it’s good to have a general idea when one would like to be where, but don’t get too specific. The longer you’re underway, the more vague the plans get. Right now we’re thinking of spending the taifun season in the Tuamotus and plan for a work-stopover in New Zealand. Although we initially didn’t want to go there at all. What’s really gonna happen, you will probably be able to read here on this blog.

We would definately want to do the trip with the Rancho Relaxo of the Seas again ! The ship is absolutely amazing ! It’s got enough space for us and our things, sails not as slow as one would think and is strong as a tank – in short, we love it !

Posted in Learning for life, LosLocos, Pics, Rancho Relaxo, Sailing | 3 Comments

First day with Bruno’s new camera

Posted on Thursday June 7th, 2012 by dafdaf

Just wanted to upload a few pics that Bruno (and Viola) made today. Nice, aren’t they ?

Obviously those two were taken by me:

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

Bruno turns six a little early

Posted on Wednesday June 6th, 2012 by dafdaf

Bruno’s birthday actually is when the northern summer starts, on the 21st of June. But since right now we’re with his grandmother, we decided to celebrate a little earlier. Yesterday we started preparations and Bruno, Viola and me made muffins, and sandwiches for today in the morning. As soon as the kids fell asleep, Gui decorated the table and hid the presents – with hidden hints, where to find the next one.

Bruno woke up first and everybody jumped into his bed to give him a first happy birthday kiss. Viola led himinto the little living room and the celebrations began. And somehow, magically we found the perfect gifts: a big set of cooking utensils, a little digital camera and a SKATEBOARD ! Our little hero is just as happy as we are. Now we’re off into the jungle to test Bruno’s new camera.

Posted in Kids, LosLocos, Pics | 2 Comments