HBYC Cruising World

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T10:16:00.001+02:00

Hout Bay Yacht Club wishes y'all a very Merry Christmas, Seasons Greetings and fair winds for 2012! (and mind those roadblocks)

Christmas 2011 Carriacou, North of Grenada

2011-12-24T10:03:00.002+02:00

Thisyear we think we’ll be spending Christmas in fairly remote Chatham Bayon Union Island belonging to St Vincent and the Grenadines-noshops, no wifi or cellular coverage, but a lovely beach and a few beach pubswith interesting names like Shark Attack! Thereafter we’ll be working our wayup the chain of islands aiming to be in the Virgin Islandsby March, where, hopefully Kate will join us for a week or 2. We got our 10 yearUSAvisas while in SA, so we’ll probably head up through Puerto Rico & the Bahamasand enter the USin Florida.After that our plans are a bit vague but we’ll probably start exploring thewestern Caribbean next season.

2011has been busy and exciting. We left St Maarten towards the end of March and headed for theBVI’s via Anguilla. We spent a month there,loving the beautiful clear warm waters and the more temperate climate after hotand humid St Maarten. We also met up with many friends which is always fun.

At theend of April, we sadly had to start sailing back south to get back to the Grenadines before the hurricane season began in June. Ourroute was St Maarten (just overnight), St Barts, St Kitts, Nevis,Monserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St Lucia,Bequia, Mustique, Tobago Cays, Chatham Bay, Carriacou, andfinally Grenadawhere we were booked to haulout at Spice Island Marina in August. We spent anawful month in the boatyard preparing Sheer Tenacity for her stay through thehurricane season.

Wereturned to Cape Townfor September – October. It was really great seeing family and friends againafter 2 and 1/2 years! Unfortunately, a lot of our time was taken up withmedical issues, dentists etc. and we didn’t get to see everybody we would haveliked to. Please forgive us if we missed you. Steve and Kim are now living inthe Cape so we were able to see them a lot. Westayed with Kate and her 2 gorgeous tabbies, Sam & Max, in Tamboerskloof.She is still with Merrill Lynch and working way too hard! All the family arewell……….we met our new grandnephew, Max, from the UK, for the first time and justmissed the birth of our grandniece, Jessica Mary. It was the first time inyears that the whole family was together in the same city, so we took theopportunity to finally lay Pam’s (Rod’s mum) ashes to rest in the Garden of Remembrance, Christ Church,Constantia.

Wereturned to Sheer Tenacity in the first week of November and launched afterantifouling and checking everything was in working order. It was lovely beingback on the water after the heat and insects in the boatyard. We have been inCarriacou for 2 weeks (and celebrated our 3^rd year of cruising…..weleft Hout Bay on 3 December 2008) and will sail across to Union and Chathamquite soon. We are still really enjoying the cruising life, though we miss SAand family and old friends enormously!

May youhave a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones and we wish you everything goodin 2012.

Withour love and very best wishes

Rod& Mary aboard Sheer Tenacity

"The Road" in Malaysia

2011-11-01T07:53:00.003+02:00

Hi to all

Singapore,being a combination of Country, Island, and City, is a fascinating place. It’splusses are multifold, including, but not restricted to, the following;scrupulously clean, magnificent affordable public transport facilities, Treesand other plant life blooming everywhere, Commercial building architecture thatmust be the envy of the world. But despite having travelled around thisrelatively small island a reasonable amount, I cannot remember seeing adomestic home that was not part of a high rise apartment block. I am not sayingthey do not exist at all, but they are definitely few and far between.

Of coursewe did the “Bucket List” essential of visiting the famous Rafflles Hotel LongBar, and paid a small fortune for an equally famous, or is that infamous “SingaporeSling” drink, part of the fame, apart from the Hemmingway connection, ofpartaking of this frankly disappointing and extremely expensive beverage, isapparently that whilst in the “Long Bar,” it is possible to discard the emptyshells of the free peanuts offered, on to the floor. This for the foreigner mayseem like small change, but in a land that is cleanliness and litter paranoideven to the point of not allowing the sale of chewing gum due to it’s litterrisk, this is really something special; the high they get from litteringwithout the threat of an astronomical fine for doing so, seems to be close toorgasmic.

Asmentioned in our last letter, we were able to see, at a local sports bar, all 4of the World Cup quarter finals, and both the semi finals, and of course thefinal.. In a maybe futile attempt to avoid my blood pressure once againreaching record levels, I will not go into detail of my opinion of certain NewZealand and French speaking Irish referees, but suffice it to say that of the 4semi finalists 1 of them (Australia) should not have been there, and in thefinal another (France) shouldn’t have been there either. In order to avoid acomplete travesty of justice, for once in my life I was on the side of the AllBlacks, something I am sure will never be repeated.

Well, theworld cup final has come and gone, with New Zealand nearly snatching defeatfrom the jaws of victory, and France probably playing their best game of thetournament. One thing to be thankful for is that the refereeing standard wasback to normal acceptable levels. However, the IRB just had to add one morebazaar twist to the whole debacle, by fining the French team $U.S. 16000-00 forfacing up to the New Zealand Haka war dance, and not cowering like frightenedchildren. What is the world coming to? Nanny mentality gone mad.

Well wearrived here in Danga Bay Marina Malaysia, having left Raffles Marina inSingapore some 2hrs 30 minutes before our arrival. This constituted theofficial start of the “Sail Malaysia Rally”, and so far the experience has beenfirst class .The official welcoming banquet / entertainment evening wasexceptional, with each facet of the evening being of the highest order; i.e.service, food (all 8 courses) local entertainment, comprising local dancers,and musicians (live western music all evening) plenty of dancing for thoseenergetically inclined;

So todaywe take our leave of Danga Bay and begin our journey Northward up the Westcoast of Malaysia (via the Malacca Straight) We will try and keep our stagesdaylight ones on this section, in an attempt to avoid any more incidences akinto that we experienced in the Singapore Straight, this also has it’s down side,as we will, (in many cases) have to anchor off shore overnight in relativelyshallow waters. But everything in this lifestyle is a compromise of some sort.

So untilthe next time

Taff,Shirley and Rubbish.

"The Road" in Singapore

2011-10-11T12:09:00.003+02:00

Hi oneand all,

Well, as someof you will be aware, we have finally departed Indonesia and arrived, not inMalaysia as planned, but in Singapore.

Thereason for this ever so slight change in course was brought about by a seriesof events that could have been far more serious in their consequences. We wereon the last leg of our 10 day journey from Bali to Malaysia, only some 35 milesor so short of our destination, when we entered the infamous SingaporeStraight. Unfortunately after 10 days at sea, with unpredictable strong currentsagainst us from time to time, my timing on entering the straight coincided withnightfall, and not dawn as planned.

Undaunted,we bit the bullet and entered the fray to take on the multitude of commercialshipping, which in fairness was not concerned with one little 12M yacht whenthey had literally dozens of craft their own size to contend with. To give amore accurate picture, we set our magic box, the AIS system, to a range of 6Nautical miles and were informed that there were 152 commercial vessels in thatrange all intent on missing each other.

Needlessto say, the current was once again against us, and with no wind to assist us wewere reduced to motoring, at times only able to make 2 Knots headway. At thispoint I must explain that the channel is divided into two “lanes” one for eastand one for west bound traffic. Our requirement was for west bound, which meantthat we had to cross over the east lane to enable us to filter into the trafficin the west lane.

To cut along story short, due to our lack of speed and resultant agility, we only madeit half way, and at that point realised that we were unable to safely enter ourcorrect lane, and in particular the far side of it where we should have been.

So wedecided to run down the centre no mans land, subtly sliding from one side tothe other dependant on oncoming or following traffic.

Thisworked satisfactorily, until about 23-00hrs when disaster struck, due to themoonless night conditions, and also in part to our concentration on avoidingthese 300 metre long ships trying to swamp us, we failed to notice largeswathes of refuse, garbage, junk, call what you will, floating on the surfaceof the channel, the result was that suddenly the engine overheated, caused byinduction of vast amounts of this flotsam, some of which managed to get pastout filter systems and destroy the coolant water pump.

It isdifficult to describe the feeling of almost helplessness we endured sittingthere like ducks, amongst all these ships, with absolutely no means of propulsion.This was exacerbated by the fact that none of the ships around us, or any ofthe local authorities, (coastguard, harbour masters office etc.) answered anyof our almost continuous radio calls for assistance. This situation remaineduntil 08-00 hrs the following morning, (without doubt the longest 9 hours of mylife) with Shirley permanently monitoring the AIS machine to identify thegreater of the many evils trying to sink us at any given time, with me dividingmy time between going below to try and fix the engine, (all in vein) withrushing back up on deck shining our million candle power searchlight on thelatest most dangerous vessel and blasting our ships horns in the fervent hopethat they would take the necessary avoiding actions.

On theevent of dawn arriving, with us having launched our dinghy, lashed it to theside of the yacht and used it to give us some directional control with theoutboard motor working overtime, (this also regularly suffered from the prop’being wrapped up in flotsam, but we could at least clear that relativelyeasily) the Coast Guard eventually arrived, and we were towed to an area wherewe could anchor, and use their phone (ours being Indonesian and not functioningin Singapore waters) to arrange a salvage company to tow us to a marina inSingapore; which duly happened 24 hours later.

So herewe are in Raffles Marina Singapore, the last few days having been spent fixingthe engine problem, plus the water-maker unit which suffered the same fate asthe main engine, and of course taking time out to watch the 4 quarter finalworld cup Rugby matches at an Australian run sports bar in down town Singapore.

The onlyremaining problem to be resolved is that the same refuse slick that caused ourengine problems, also managed to deposit bits of old rope and debris around ourprop. So as soon as it stops raining, and the resultant silt level on theharbour water drops, we will dive the boat and rectify that problem as well.

Apologiesfor the negative tone of this missive, but I solemnly promise to be more upbeatin the next one.

Taff,Shirley and Rubbish

"The Road" in Indonesia

2011-09-28T08:42:00.000+02:00

Hi one and all,

Profuse apologies for the long period of literary silence, but Internet, she is not big in Indonesia.

In our last missive we were leaving Darwin Australia, and setting sail for our Indonesian adventure, the first call being Kupang on the island of Western Timor, we duly arrived some 4 days later, and settled down to enjoying the welcoming ceremonies provided by the local government.

This comprised of demonstrations of local dancing, singing, plenty of local food, plus of course interminable speeches of welcome and lord knows what else, all in Indonesian. Due to the fact that we were the only South African registered yacht in the fleet, I was invited up onto the stage to represent the South African flag and receive a Ceremonial scarf donated by the local government. If this means that I am now part of the South African Diplomatic service, I would appreciate someone telling me where I collect my salary.

After all the hype had cooled down, we were left with the decision as to where to go next, I say this as there are about 17000 islands in total (that is correct 17 thousand) from which to choose. Obviously, the direction we needed to take was roughly West if we ever intend getting back to S.A; so we opted for the island of Flores, our first stop being the town of Alor (or Kalabahi). Then on to Lembata, (anchored below a smoking volcano); Then again on to Riung where we celebrated Shirley’s birthday and our wedding anniversary, and our final stop on the island of Flores was at Labuan Bajo.

At all these venues, again there were more of the welcoming ceremonies, more dancing, more eating local fare, and yes another ceremonial scarf for yours truly. When and if, I ever get to Antarctica (or indeed back to Wales) I assume these scarves will come in handy.

Then it was time to go do battle with the Komono Dragons. For this adventure we chose the Island of Rinca, where they have a well organised game park set up with well trained rangers to assist in making sure you get to see these fascinating creatures and, as a bonus, getting to live to tell the tale.

Our next stop was the Island of Lombok, at Medana Bay; by now we were well ahead of the main body of the other yachts in the rally; this was the first stop- over that was privately owned, with an advertised 25 mooring bouys to which we could tie up. (At a price of course). Fortunately we were not the first arrivals, and one of our predecessors had the forethought to come out to advise us that most of the buoys (all the same colour and shape) were in fact sited directly above some pretty vicious and shallow reefs. I am still not sure if this was in ignorance or with some evil intent in mind. Having said that, the staff were all very accommodating, offering services which included food, fuel, bar, shower facilities (the first ashore since our arrival in Indonesia) and Shirley’s special, massage facilities. There was even an exclusive hotel about 15minutes walk away that included the offer of the use of a very high-tech and picturesque swimming pool, even for those of us who were non hotel residents, as long as we purchased food.

Our penultimate stop in Indonesia was at one of the three Gilli Islands (Gilli Aer) which cater for foreign visitors, with an abundance of rustic eating places, diving schools, bars etc,

No paved or tar roads on the island, indeed no motorised transport at all, just pony and trap carts, which could carry two passengers plus the driver at a time. All very relaxing, or would have been if it were not for the high speed ferries that constantly charged through the anchorage on their travels between there and Bali carrying multitudes of European holiday visitors bent on having a diving experience.

(I enjoyed the special “road signs” making allowance for divers crossing the road, see attachment)

Up to this juncture, all the islands we had visited were Muslim dominated, where the people were extremely courteous and friendly, despite the fact that our visits coincided with Ramadan, which meant that a lot of their time was spent obeying the religious rules that abide during this period. Such as either being called to, or actually at prayer, or having to suffer being without food or drink during the hours of daylight. The latter being onerous in the extreme when the ambient temperatures are constantly in the 30 -34 degree range. As an aside, one of our incoming e-mails recently, pointed out that in Muslim dominated areas, the old adage of “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” is more effective if the apple is replaced with a bacon sandwich.

Then it was on to Bali, where we anchored off Lavina Beach on the north coast. Here the predominant religion is Hindu, and whereas the people are just as friendly as those on the previous islands, they, at least those vendors that form an impenetrable barrier along the shore line, do not have any concept of “no thank you” when offering any goods or services .Very difficult to stay polite and calm when up to 6 at a time are incessantly and simultaneously talking and demanding that you purchase whatever it is they are selling. They also have no concept that whereas a group of people can sing together, when they all talk together it just does not work. Having said that, we have enjoyed our stay here, and will leave here with fond memories of the people, scenery, and the culture.

Shirley enjoyed doing a Balinese cooking course with a local chef at a popular restaurant and I got to eat the makings which were rather enjoyable. She promises to make more on the boat.

The attached photographs show Shirley and I having a go at “Bull Racing” Bali style; not quite as stimulating as riding a fully grown Ostrich but at my age, stimulating enough.

Just a few lines on the complexity of sailing the Indonesian waters, the problems fall into the following categories,

1) The currents between the islands can be varied and often vicious, with many of them transforming into whirlpools which pick up our yacht and throw it around with gay abandon, even at 16 tons.
2) The fact that navigation is complicated by the fact that the charts are often inaccurate, even our electronic charts regularly indicate that we are anchored well inland.
3) Finally, the information, including that related to navigation, provided by the organisers of the “Sail Indonesia Rally” that we joined to ease our process through to Malaysia, is only of any use as a rough guide line, quite surprising when one considers that this is the 11^th consecutive year that the event has been held.

So on Sunday we are off to Malaysia, due to the fact that we have not slipped the boat for a proper clean since we left Trinidad some 2 years ago, the trip will probably take us close on 10 days. But if we get good winds, who knows.

Will write again upon arrival in Malaysia.

Taff, Shirley and Rubbish.

Steve and Renata, Dixi Rollar

2011-09-09T09:43:00.000+02:00

Dear family and friends,after a 36 long hours of motor sailing,beating against 3 to 5 metres waves and winds up to 35 to 40 knots we threw in the towel and decided to return back to Jacaré( what a birthday for Steve!) That wasn't the first time,so sometimes things happen for a reason! As the skipper says: we will try it again in the future. The Federal Policie gave Steve another 53 dias, in mean while we will be eating our fresh ration before they go off(by the way we are eliminating weight,no loosing) and making plans of what we are going to be doing next. Untill next newsletter bye for now. Beijos to all! Renata&Steve

Chester joins Stadt Amsterdam!

2011-08-12T15:09:00.000+02:00

Chester is Roger Orpen's son - he matriculated at SACS last year, and has joined the tallship Stadt Amsterdam. recently seen in Hout Bay. His chronicles will appear here as they come! This will be an amazing experience for the lad, as tallships tend to be . . ..

"

I left early in the afternoon to go to the boat from the local b&b I stayed at. When I arrived I talked up the gangway and was greeted by the first mate. He then hurried off to call someone to show me around and to get me into the swing of things. He introduced me to my buddy, who's name was quite surprising. His name is Oscar which is also my brothers name. I was then
told to follow him and carry all my gear down to my dormitory. Entering the ship was very exciting because of all the intricate wood work. The first thing I thought when I entered my bunker was "ouch, this is going to be a tight squeeze". I unpacked my gear and then was sent to the laundry area to get my uniform for the trip. Straight after that I was given a short tour of the
ship. Following those exiting few minutes I was immediately sent into the routine of life on board. That day we where unloading a truckload of food so that they could supply my South African need for large amounts of food.
The next day after a short power nap of a few hours I began the routine that I will follow for the next 2 months. The boat is like a huge baby which always has to be watched, controlled and looked after. To do this the boat has 3 groups of people, each group is given a colour. I'm in white watch, the other 2 are red and blue. Each watch has been given certain hours in the
day to "watch" the boat. A watch consists of 2 things, sailing watch and maintenance watch. Sailing watch is when you sail the boat and maintenance watch is when you fix something.
Life on board is a bit different for me because I can only speak English. Although most of the fun chitter chatter is said in English. The one thing that I have noticed so far on this boat, is that the people are different all in all. Compared to the way we South Africans act, speak and our general character they are and can be very strange. Which in some situations makes a
conversation either really confusing or down right funny, because of the way people interact with you. Being a South African on board has its benefits, such as the dutch people still make jokes about people in South Africa wrestling lions and acting like cavemen sitting around a fire trying to figure out the next great revolutionary step above dried meat called biltong. The largest and most "clever" of cavemen fighting over who gets the egg shaped ball.
One thing I have noticed is that Dutch people love bread. Lots of it and because of the large supply of food on board I try my best to exhaust that supply with my meat grinding South African stomach. They are all fascinated by how much I eat, but if they came to South Africa they would truly understand the meaning of humans being meat eaters.

Hout Bay she was wild today!

2011-07-24T15:05:00.000+02:00

Some of us thought the wind of last summer exhausted the supply forever. Certainly the last two weeks have been totally windfree and awesome. Not this weekend. I took the unusual step of cancelling Sunday racing on the Saturday already - the forecast showed high South-Easters for 3 days. Its hard to trust the weather forecast when low-pressure cells are involved, but in this case there was a huge High Pressure just below Africa at 1028 Mb. No mistakes here. Hout Bay suffers the wind especially because of the acceleration near the mountains. At the Post Office a huge Bluegum (Australian Eucalyptis) had collapsed into the parking area. Covered the entire car park. The beach road was covered in sand - in fact I saw one car being towed out in the middle of the "tarred road". The pics below show the surface water being lifted 50m into the air, due to the Katabatic Winds coming down from Chapmanspeak. Sailors call the mouth of the bay "Thunder Alley" because it is really quite scary entering the bay under sail in these conditions. And today it was cold as well.

Takes 40+ knots to lift water off the surface!

White water all over the bay. If you look carefully, the small white streak below Victoria road is the NSRI RIB doing their Sunday morning exercises. It was quite bouncy for them even near the beach. Give that boat a Bells!

More news from "The Road"

2011-07-22T12:17:00.001+02:00

Letter from Renata Clarke-Gray

2011-07-01T18:13:00.000+02:00

Hi all! Hope everyone is fine.

First of all, our condolences to the Newman Family on the passing of Fred Newman.

As you all know, we left on the 14th of May on an overcast day with some lightly rain. Well, I wasn’t look forward to the sea sickness part, but finally this time I took some medication that has work. The only side effect was that I was feeling drowning. I was taken 1 a day, just in case!
I couldn’t say the same for the first 2 days for the Skipper. Oh boy! For the first time I saw the man throw up. Well, he said that was the worry about the boat. On the third day he was fine.
Our shower was very nice every time! Where was our friends Liz and Lize on this time?

We saw a beautiful Dorado, about 1.5m long, showing the little ones. Probable was a female. To beautiful to kill! On the day 5, two brown birds landed on the boat.

Day 7- On the doldrums! Flat sea. Blue sky. No wind. Absolutely no wind! Decision to make: Heading close to the shore (that was 200 miles away). For safety, in case we need more diesels. We were 22 miles to the Equator. Towing a fish line, hoping to catch some fish, but not too big. Well, no on this time! The wind came enough to move us along, but with the help of current we were making 3 to 4 knots.

On that night

We saw two satellite and Steve saw a shooting star.

Day 8- Crossed the Equator! We didn’t do the ritual, so Neptune gave us the treatment 2 hours later: Rain squall with wind speed from 45 up to 52 knots. The wave was up to 4 to 5m. I was very in touch with GOD, much so in the night when Steve was doing the watch alone. But the boat settles in and we were sailing comfortably, thanks to a good FURUNO autopilot. I didn’t felt a thing. About 2 hours later everything was fine.

Day 10-When we went to the deck to have a shower, we saw a bird lay down there. Steve picked it up and noticed that the bird’s wing has broken. He put the bird in a shelter place and let the nature take its course. We tried to feed them, but no luck. On the 3rd day the bird has died. I made a prayer and Steve throw the bird in the water.

Day 12-Our Wedding Anniversary! The special lunch Steve made was: kidney beans with onions, spaghetti, caned meet with fried pineapple rings. After lunch the engine was turn on because no wind and the sail were flogging, but Steve saw in the distance lots of clouds, hoping to pick up same wind. As we approached, the wind turns to be a head wind, straight on the bow.

If we tacked to port we will sail towards land at night, but if we tacked to starboard we would be out of our destination. So, we decided to motor through and hope the wind changes long the way. At 15:20 the engine was turn off.

Steve did some maintenance on board. Two of the reefing blocks on the boom were jammed, due to one of the ropes chafed through and had to be shortening. Little of hammering and spray we got then loose.

The sunset was beautiful; the night was beautiful as well. The stars was so bright, we manage to see two satellite. Looking at the sky brought me my childhood! When I was living in Sao Paulo with my family. I was probably at age of 7 or 8 years old. My mother was washing the carpet outside the house and I was helping her. She left the carpet all day in the sun. At night, before she took it inside, I lay down on it and looked the sky, was beautiful as this day!

Day 13-School of dolphin came to give same show for 3 day. We were on the bow of the boat, so nice. I almost could touch them. Lots of yellow seaweed for miles on. The next day, the school of dolphin came again. We were watching them and a splash came from one of them. As we stayed there, one dolphin looked us and then flapped his tail and ones again splashed us.

Day 19-We arrived on the Island from the back side. Long way, but worth it! Both of us were on the cockpit, listening to the local radio station. The water was clear green; the Island was beautiful, hot and sunny day.

As we enter the Boca De Monos, the motor started to miss. When we needed it the most, after running perfect for hours.

We manage to make it through, but when we were almost at Peakes marina the motor died. We manage to get tow on to a buoy and flag down the water taxi to go ashore to do our paper work.

We had spend 11 days in the company of JC, Dan Jelsema and his partner Malva and they daughter Muriel.

So, we are at Ribeira Adventure Club. A nice place to leave your boat. If any of you want more info go to Luciano Zinn’s blog. That is WWW.ribeiraadventureclub.blogspot.com. I will send a new email with more info about it.

We are looking for a crew to going back with us to South Africa in August. So if anyone is interested please just contact us for father information.

Love to you all.

Renata & Steve

More news from "The Road" - in Darwin now.

2011-07-01T18:11:00.000+02:00

Well, as of Wednesday last (22nd June) here we are safely anchored in Fannie Bay Darwin, in readiness to say a final (I hope) farewell to Australia when we leave here on the 23rd July and head for Indonesia.
As those of you who take the time to read our irregular epistles will be aware, the Australian leg of our journey has been, to say the least, a great disappointment. Forgetting for the moment that Australia is by far and away the most expensive country we have visited, the reasons for out disenchantment is primarily, but not exclusively, due to the fact that we are somewhat unusual visitors, in that not only are we on a sailing yacht, but that we have with us Rubbish our pet African Grey parrot on board, who is a lot less welcome than a boat load of illegal immigrants arriving unannounced on Christmas Island.
The over riding pathos of Australian society today, is obviously based upon the historical precedent set, when society was divided into two categories, those that made and enforced the laws, and generally acted as jailers, and those that had to obey. The situation today is little changed, with laws emanating from all directions, Federal. State and Local, in many cases quite a few contradicting each other. So you can imagine the fun the multitude of boys in uniform can have under these circumstances.
Despite negotiating the terms and conditions that would apply to our travelling with the bird prior to arriving in Australian waters, and reconfirming these restrictions in writing, duly signed and approved by the Quarantine officials who inspected the yacht upon our arrival, we have constantly been the victims of varying interpretations of the written word, including adding restrictions not previously mentioned, and blatant disregard of the terms previously agreed upon.
This has resulted in our being unable to take on fuel, or water, without carrying it in cans from the nearest fuel station into the dinghy, (often up to 400 litres at a time) out to the yacht at anchor (not allowed to enter into a marina and tie up to Australia), nor are we allowed to slip the boat in order to clean the hull or effect running repairs below the water line without breaking someone’s interpretation of the rules.
Added to this we are now forbidden from anchoring off any port that does not have a Quarantine office located there. This has been further exacerbated by the fact that only the major harbours have this facility, and about 50% of them have local laws which prohibit anchoring. The net result of these new restrictions has been that we have been unable to visit the famous beauty spots that would have been the highlight of our Australian sojourn, such as the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef. We even had to sail past the port of Bowen (see note later) to visit my ancestors.
In a complete reversal of our written agreement, poor old Rubbish is now condemned to spend his entire time secured below decks, and not only, as previously agreed, when we are absent from the yacht.
For those of you who are familiar with that long standing British institution called the “Automobile Association” or the “AA” I now believe that all the “AA” men must have been trained here in Australia. As the predominant theme we have encountered here has been “Eh! Eh! You can’t do this”, and “Eh! Eh! You can’t do that” no matter what it is., I believe the local equivalent is actually the” AAAA”, or the “Association of Australian Authoritarian A--holes”
Whilst I am in an Aussie bashing mood, I feel I have to suggest that Australians, particularly Sydney Australians should, with immediate effect change their collective noun referring to their race from Australian to Australese. I make this suggestion based on the fact that at least 3 out of every 4 people you see on the streets are either from or descended from, somewhere where the collective noun for their relatives ends in ese. i.e. Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, etc.
Indeed it has been muted that the strength of the local economy owes its situation as much to the diligence of these immigrants as it does to the abundance of natural recourses found under the layers of flies and kangaroo droppings that abound. It is probable, that a constant source of chagrin to the right wing political sector of the Australian Political spectrum could be that, as my old grandfather used to maintain, that “two Wongs do not make a white” he really did have an acute speech impediment on times.
On a personal basis, I have discovered that my ancestors were obviously divided into two categories, One bunch having a criminal bent, but not enough acumen not to get caught, and the balance (to date including yours truly) who got away with years of undetected crime.
I suggest this as there are multitudes of people here in Australia with the surname Bowen, even some holding prominent public office, there is a reasonable sized town Called Bowen,(which we were not allowed to visit) Also a variety of Mango supporting this tag, not to mention a medical reflexology type procedure that is very widely advertised here.. On top of that there are two towns bearing the name of my birthplace i.e. Swansea one in Tasmania and one on the Australian east coast,(which we were also not allowed to visit); not of course forgetting a whole state called New South Wales; which only goes to support my theory on how many careless ancestors I must have.
One of the most original concepts of population control that I have come across is the subtle one developed by the Australese, and that is that they have taken all the cyclists in the country, and removed them off the roads, and moved them to, no, not special cycle tracks, but to join the pedestrians on the pavements. In order to make this concept of population control more efficient, they seem to have instructed the bicycle manufacturers to immediately cease marketing their produce with any vestige of a means of making their presence heard. Yep no bells, nor horns.
Sharing the pavements with this stealthy silent highly mobile form of transport / recreation is bad enough when you can see them coming, albeit often at a fast rate of knots, but when they sneak up behind, often on a pavement only wide enough for the two of us walking side by side, things take on a very much higher level concern regarding self preservation. All very confusing in a country that in all other respects is health and safety paranoid. I even tried fitting wing mirrors to my floppy hat, but the corks obstructed the view. So we have now reverted to the time honoured African custom of walking single file, with Shirley the customary 3 paces behind me. (good protection eh).
The last leg of our journey to get to Darwin was from a city called Townsville, this entailed an island and reef dodging trip north inside the Barrier Reef, (so complex was that section of the trip that we had to use some 27 waypoints or course turning points in 350 miles. Great fun especially at night) which culminated in our taking a short cut through a narrow pass called Albany Passage which helped take us around the most northerly tip of Australia (Cape York).This posed a special set of challenges, as we really wanted to do this during daylight, but to complicate things it was necessary to enter the passage on a rising tide as the tidal current is somewhat awesome. Well I am proud to announce that we hit the entrance (not literally) 30 minutes after sunrise, which exactly coincided with the beginning of the rising tide. Shirley of course maintained that this was pure luck, but I maintain that I must have assimilated some semblance of omnipotence, well, timing our arrival at dawn was pretty good, but convincing the tide to change at the same time takes some doing don’t you agree? So through the passage we charged and out we popped at the northern end like a cork out of a bottle.
Then there was the long slog across the north of Australia via the Gulf of Carpentaria and the Arafura Sea until we reached the Dundes Straight, where we had to bear left to start our duck down towards the Clarence Straight and on to Darwin. It was at this point that my newly acquired control over the tides and currents deserted me for a while, and it took us another 2 days to cover the circa 150 nautical miles to Darwin. A combination of zero wind and a tidal race generated by a 7.000m tidal range can cause havoc with the best laid of plans. But thankfully we arrived at the anchorage again just on sunrise on the 22nd June and by the time we had found a spot to anchor that made allowance for the 7.000m drop in sea level at low tide, I was hard pressed to see the shore without the aid of binoculars.
So here we are in Darwin, and so we will remain until the 23rd July when we join in with an excess of 100 other yachts who have joined the “Sail Indonesia Rally” going to Kupang in Timor Indonesia . Now that should be interesting, all those yachts, travelling to the same destination, at the same time, probably using the same way points on their GPS systems, but all at varying speeds. Should be fun.
Well that’s that for that.

Regards to one and all
Taffy, Shirley and Rubbish.

News from the Halls on SV Merlin

2011-01-02T08:29:00.000+02:00

From: Gregory & Emmanuelle

Sent: Friday, December 31, 2010 4:33 AM
Subject: Bonne annee / Happy New year 2011

Hi all,

A year ago we were getting ready to celebrate the New Year in Curacao in the Caribbeans.

With our Pacific crossing, 2010 was a year full of discoveries and sea adventures. It gave us memories that will last for ever. Many miles latter, we are now in Australia in a transition period and 2011 will definitely offer new challenges. Not the same voyage, but we keep our blog updated so get the latest news of the crew and Merlin on http://www.merlinsvoyage.net/

Happy new year to all

Bonjour a tous,
Il y a un an, nous nous preparions a feter le Nouvel An a Curacao. Avec la traverse du Pacifique, 2010 aura ete une annee riche en decouvertes et en aventures maritimes. Tant de souvenirs qui resteront en nous. De nombreux miles nautiques plus loin, nous sommes actuellement en Australie dans une periode transitoire. 2011 sera une annee bien differente.
Le voyage change d’allure. Le blog reste ouvert pour vous tenir informes de nos aventures de semi-terriens: http://www.merlinsvoyage.net/

Tres bonne annee a tous,

Emmanuelle, Gregory, Victor, Felix & Clea

Et Merlin bien sur!

Christmas 2010 Sint Maarten

2010-12-30T18:25:00.000+02:00

Christmas 2010 Sint Maarten
We had set ourselves a deadline…………Christmas in St Martin with friends.

After an abortive start from Prickly Bay, Grenada, we landed up in the superyacht dock in St Georges with an engine needing a new waterpump. We had to get the part flown in and installed and we finally got on our way on 6 December.

We kept on the move ………….almost daily we anchored off a different island and clocked up our 10000nm along the way…………... Grenada, Carriacou, Union, Bequia, St Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, Les Saintes, Guardeloupe, Antigua, St Barts, Sint Maarten! Many of these we’ve earmarked for a longer stay on our way back.

So here we are in Sint Maarten, anchored in Simpson Lagoon with 0.6m of water under our keel. We had a lovely “potluck” on the beach on Christmas Day and since then have been resting and reading and sorting out the autohelm problem that we had most of the way up. Its much cooler here, no humidity, thank goodness, as the water is too dirty to swim in.

Steve and Kim joined us for a few weeks in February in Tobago which was wonderful. We had such fun and were very sad to say goodbye and wish them well for their skiing holiday in Switzerland. They got engaged shortly after their return to SA! End of February saw us weighing anchor and heading for Trinidad for some badly needed work on Sheer Tenacity. This took us 2 months to do and it was with relief that we got on our way at the end of April to Grenada to meet Kate. The time with her went all too fast. She has joined Merrill Lynch and is working way to hard! At the moment she is in Nelspruit with Steve and Kim for the festive season.

Steve and Kim have left Mozambique and have started an online travel agency specializing in adventure destinations in Moz (check out their website www.mozambiquemystique). They have also bought some land in Brittania Bay on the west coast which is very exciting for them.

We went up as far as Bequia before heading south for the hurricane season. We spent the time in Carriacou and Grenada keeping an eye on the National Hurricane Centre website. Very late in the season Hurricane Tomas developed and seemed to be heading our way. We made the decision to stay in Prickly Bay with an extra anchor out. In the end, thank goodness, we had less wind than usual although the airport was closed for a day in anticipation and all businesses bar essential services were shut. Other islands were not so lucky and the torrential rains caused a lot of damage and mudslides.

We will be heading for the BVI’s soon…………really looking forward to that although it’ll probably be very crowded at this time of the year. We may even get to the Bahamas before turning southwards again. Looking forward to visiting some of the places we liked but couldn’t stop at on our way up.

We need to be back in Prickly Bay by the beginning of August (hurricane season again) where we are hauling out. We will be returning to SA for September/October………………can’t wait. We are really missing all our family and friends.

We are still loving life on the water and think that we’ll be spending another few seasons in the Caribbean. We haven’t really covered much at all………its all too easy to get stuck in places one likes!

We hope you had a peaceful and blessed Christmas wherever you happened to be. Our very best wishes for a wonderful 2011 to you all.

Much love

Mary & Rod on Sheer Tenacity

Joyeux Noel / Happy Christmas

2010-12-24T08:32:00.000+02:00

Sent: Friday, December 24, 2010 1:32 AM

Joyeux Noel de la part de tout l’equipage.

Ciel nuageux a Brisbane mais cela ne devrait pas empecher un certain bonhomme d’arriver ce soir.

Bien a vous,

Happy Christmas from Merlin’s crew.
Cloudy sky over Brisbane but that shouldn’t be a problem tonight for Father Christmas.
Love to all,

Emmanuelle, Greg, Victor, Felix & Clea

Latest from "The Road", now at Port Macquarie

2010-12-23T13:11:00.000+02:00

Hi one and all Can you believe it, yes it is that time of year again, when wishes of good will and cheer are the order of the day.
As our desk top computer screen has decided that it has an allergy to salt water, I am not 100% sure where I left off last time, so if I repeat myself you can always blame old age as a contributing factor.
As I recall we were enjoying the hospitality of Australia’s town of Bundaberg, so by the time we left there we had to plan on sailing directly to Sydney (missing out Brisbane and a few other interesting stop- over’s which we will rectify next year on our return trip back up north). Anyway that was the plan, but once again Mr.Murphy and his minions decided otherwise, and during one of the all too familiar periods of 40 knot gales, and with us surfing down wind and current at 12 Kts plus, the knuckle joint (a relatively new one) fastened to the end of the hydraulic steering ram disintegrated. Due to the force of the wind and the prevailing 4 knot current, the rudder immediately swung and jammed itself full to port under the hull, rendering the emergency steering impotent.
So there we were broad side on to the wind and current, heading south at six knots under bear poles with the next stop Antarctica. Needless to say Shirley did not appreciate the pure adrenalin pumping excitement of the situation, or if she did she had a peculiar way of expressing it, but once she was given the responsibility of contacting the local version of the coast guard for assistance, she went below without completing the promised castration of the skipper, and eventually after one of the longest hours on record she succeeded in contacting the relevant organisation, and arranged they send someone after us post haste.
The name of our saviours was the VMR (Volunteer Marine Rescue) who left their base in Port Macquarie at 03-00hrs, and eventually caught up with us at about 06-00hrs that morning. Thankfully after a 5 hour tow back to Port Macquarie, they had us safely tied up to a mooring buoy, with the local press and T.V. outside broadcasting units there to greet us, and yes once again Shirley was prominent on the local T.V. news that evening She will want to start signing autographs soon. Once settled, we were able to not only procure and fit the necessary replacement part, but to spend a week enjoying the ambiance of this delightful town and its residents before setting off once more for Sydney.
So here we are, anchored safely, with the prospects of Xmas, the arrival of our daughter Kim hopefully in time for the spectacle of new years eve in Sydney harbour, meeting up with various friends who intend being here for the festive season, and of course watching the 5th ashes cricket test between Australia and the South African second side.
Well that’s about that for that, here’s wishing you all you wish yourselves for the festive season and the coming new year.
All on “The Road”

The Road in Bundaberg, Australia

2010-11-03T14:21:00.000+02:00

Hi all,
What do you know, we finally made it to Bundaberg Australia, time taken from Vanuatu to here (approx 1100 nautical miles) took one hour short of 9 days during which we experienced the usual mixture of weather en route, ranging from the now familiar mid thirties to zero knots of wind. What made this trip a little different was the fact that the weather forecasting company utilized by the organizers of the Rally, got every single forecast 100% wrong, it almost seemed as if they were 48 hours out of sync, annoying when you get flat calm instead of 35knots, somewhat exciting if you get the reverse.

Apart from that, the organization and reception given by the rally organizers and surprisingly by the Quarantine, Customs and Immigration authorities has been impeccable. The agreement reached with the Quarantine authorities regarding Rubbish is a little convoluted, but there are seven basics 1) the bird is not allowed ashore; 2) The yacht is not allowed to tie up to land, therefore we cannot enter into a Marina, so we either anchor off, or if available tie up to a mooring bouy; 3) The cage has been sealed with their official seals, ( the ones they used were made of plastic, which took Rubbish at least 30 minutes to investigate and destroy, so we now await metal ones); all waste associated with food, droppings, etc. must be collected and stored in official bright yellow heavy duty bags for collection by the authorities for incineration; 4) If we leave the yacht unattended, Rubbish must be locked down below; 6) we must inform Quarantine 48 hours ahead of our intention to change anchorage, and receive permission to do so; 7) The authorities have the right of access on the yacht at any time they deem fit, without prior notification, to check that we are obeying the rules. Needless to say each visit by the authorities is chargeable (approx $ U.S. 90 per visit).

Regarding the Rally itself, it could not have been better organized, people have been super friendly, the functions professionally executed with plenty of food and liquid refreshment for one and all. You cannot keep a good woman down, within minutes of our being ashore; Shirley was being interviewed by the local T.V station, and was prominently displayed on the 6 o’clock news that evening.

Then on Friday there was a Toad race evening, so she went and “purchased” a Toad, which then went on to win the race, in all honesty we have no idea, (nor does anyone else) if our Toad was the one we purchased, as before the race, half of them made a bid for freedom, and those that were not recaptured were replaced. Then all having been identified numerically on their bellies and raced, were found to have obliterated the identity numbers by the time the race was won, so the whole procedure had to be repeated with the numbering system transferred to the backs of the animals, and hey presto, our number 5 reigned supreme.

Since our arrival, it has been a constant run of attending of functions of various kinds set up by the organizers and attended by local dignitaries such as the local M.P.; Councilors; Port Captain; as well as Immigration, Customs and Quarantine officials, also a trip to the Bundaberg distillery and local points of interest, thankfully the distillery was scheduled for the end of the trip, otherwise the rest might have been a bit of a blur. Yesterday was a sort of unofficial holiday when the whole country comes to a halt for the running of the 150th Melbourne Cup horse race, so we all went to the local yacht Club to join in the experience, and I managed to cover the costs for the day by betting on what turned out to be the winner. As a final touch to the whole rally experience, we were awarded a prize for the most unusual yacht paint job; being the only yacht anchored off (the rest being in the Marina) our décor was akin to an oil painting, i.e. better viewed from a distance.

As the official Rally is now over, today (Wednesday the 3rd Nov.) we move from our present location (Bundaberg Port Marina) and motor 10 miles up river to Bundaberg Mid Town Marina, which as the name indicates is located smack in the centre of town, which as well as being more convenient for stocking up etc. is also a lot cheaper.

Well that’s about that for now, will write again when we have something to report.
Taffy Shirley and of course Rubbish.

So Long and Galenaia in Sitka, Alaska

2010-07-15T15:31:00.001+02:00

JOURNEY FROM FANNING ATOLL TO ALASKA (part two)

We are writing to you from Sitka, Alaska where Galenaia and So Long are tucked up in secure berths in the fishing harbour for the winter surrounded by a superb panorama of the snow-capped mountains and hills of Baranof Island, and where the boats are taking a well earned rest.

Most people would presume that in the depths of winter it is cold, icy and snowy at 57ْْ N, but here in South East Alaska and particularly in Sitka the climate is quite benign. It is true that further north and inland somewhere like Fairbanks may be experiencing minus 40ْ C and several feet of snow, but in Sitka rain is more of a problem. We have had two minor falls of snow and some temperatures below freezing and we are sure there will be more frosty days and more snow before spring arrives, but the solstice has passed already and days are slowly increasing in length. There is a joke that there is hardly one month in the year without at least one dry day and when tourists ask: "Does it always rain in Sitka?", the correct answer is: "No, sometimes it snows….."

We last wrote to you from Fanning Island which is situated just north of the equator and about 1000 miles south of Hawaii. We were preparing to sail for Kodiak, Alaska and there was no fresh produce available at all. On Christmas Island with the impressive names of villages like Poland, London and Banana, even bananas were not available. We did however obtain potatoes and onions which had been imported from Hawaii, and we just had to dig deeper into our stock of New Zealand canned goods.

Galenaia sailed from Fanning Atoll on the 28^th of May and Susanne left on So Long two days later. The first 1000 miles was excellent sailing in the northeast trade winds with Galenaia averaging 120 miles per day and So Long averaging 153 miles per day. Our course took us just west of north, each of us heading for a convenient point where we could cross the Hawaiian chain of islands west of Kauai and Oahu. We had no intention of going to Hawaii because of the strict quarantine regulations, and we could not have made it there anyway from Fanning Island because it was too close to windward.

Susanne passed the island chain after nine days at sea close west of French Frigate Shoal and didn't see any sign of the low islands and reefs although only four miles off. Galenaia passed east of Necker Island on the same day, also without sighting any land. Susanne was ahead of me now and had passed at a distance of 147 miles. The day was also significant because we went under the sun, which was on its way north and because there was a full moon.

North of Hawaii the winds eased off and progress was slower and So Long pulled away from Galenaia. Susanne had to do some exciting mast climbing after the splice on the lowering rope of the Cruising Chute came undone while flying this huge light weather sail, but despite some big swell running the mast steps on So Long did a great job. We had 54 degrees of latitude to cross between Fanning Island and Kodiak and a change in water temperature from 28ْ C to 7ْ C and consequent weather changes. Later we had rain and drizzle and dense fog and So Long saw two late spring frontal systems passing her track. Susanne arrived off the southern end of Kodiak Island on her 29^th day when someone switched off the wind, and she was motoring in bright sun alongside the snow-capped mountains for fifty miles to the port of Kodiak.

Susanne was 600 miles ahead of me and I was wallowing in dense fog with little or no wind. I gradually used up my supply of diesel and was eventually alongside the southern end of Kodiak Island on my 46^th day out, still no wind and no diesel. She had been in port for 14 days, had celebrated the 4^th of July with new friends and she was getting a bit restless so she motored out to me with a can of diesel. We met in dense fog with GPS readouts given on the VHF radio and suddenly were nose to nose less than 100 metres apart like two ghosts in a churchyard. I soon had the most welcome can of diesel aboard and motored the last 40 miles into Kodiak Port.

It was calm in the area for nearly a month with bright sunshine and locals were sunning themselves in shorts. That was just a bit too much for us with our tropically acclimatized bodies. In fact, on So Long the diesel heater was on in the evenings despite the very short nights in those high latitudes near midsummer. Susanne knew the town pretty well by then and was able to show me the ropes. Honey was pleased to be in this doggy friendly country where the harbour- masters office and many shops had doggy treats ready. Our Customs and Immigration clearance was conducted by telephone and fax to Anchorage in a most friendly way, as Kodiak is not a port of entry. It is one of the busiest fishing ports in the USA and we loved the place. People are extremely friendly and helpful and especially the fishermen. We are used to getting the cold shoulder from them, but here in Alaska they seem a lot brighter than the average fisherman worldwide, well educated and knowledgeable.

We prised ourselves away from Kodiak in late July as we wanted to see more of Alaska in the short summer available and before we settled down for the winter. The good weather had broken now, there were a few small blows, and our most important items of clothing were rubber boots and wet weather gear. We stopped at some superb anchorages, usually on our own, where we were able to watch the Brown Bears (Grizzlies) at close quarters from the boat and from ashore. In several places we were aware of the close proximity of bears by the droppings and by the footprints and even by the smell sometimes. We picked ripe berries which are also a favorite food of bears. Honey had a great time but she was occasionally cowed when she got the scent of a bear.

The salmon season was in full swing and they were trying to return to every creek and stream in Alaska to spawn and then to die. The bears were having such an easy time catching salmon that they were just gorging on the roe and throwing the rest away. Nature seems so wasteful at times but it all finds its' own equilibrium.

We anchored near a salmon hatchery where nature gets a helping hand from man. This place on Afognak Island was very remote and could only be approached by boat or float plane, the Alaskans use the latter like taxies. We were shown around the hatchery where the roe and sperm is taken and the eggs are incubated in tanks. When the emerging young salmon are the right age they are taken up to the lake to be "mapped". After so long in the lake water they are "imprinted" with that specific area so that they will return unfailingly to the stream which leads to that lake after several years of circulating in the North Pacific. Then the fishermen reap their harvest by the millions of pounds. Alaskans are proud of not having fish farms but we wonder if hatcheries are entirely in accord with the delicate balance of nature. Nevertheless we thoroughly enjoyed the Coho salmon (also called Silver salmon), generously given to us by the manager of the hatchery.

We made our way north to the Kenai Peninsula, seeing a lot of wild life, spectacular glaciers and snow-capped mountains. The Gulf of Alaska is not a good sailing area in the summer as there is virtually no wind. We motored nearly everywhere and used more diesel in two months than we would normally use in a year.

In September we settled in Sitka for the winter after a choppy crossing of the Gulf with the first autumn gales. It's been quite an active year for us. We sailed about 10.000 nautical miles in the seven months between leaving New Zealand in February and arriving in Sitka. Of the 146 days between NZ and Kodiak for Susanne on So Long, 54% were at sea and 46% in port.

Of the 161 days between NZ and Kodiak for me in Galenaia 72% were at sea and 28% in port. Interesting statistics from Susanne.

Also in September the last cruise liners to visit the town sailed away and then Sitka seemed to take on a new atmosphere. There were many events not least of which was the re-enactment of the handover of Alaska to America by Russia. The event, now called Alaska Day is especially proclaimed in Sitka where the changeover occurred in 1867. Sitka was the Russian capital of Alaska, previously called New Archangel. It is enthusiastically celebrated by Sitkans over the course of a week. Pipe bands come in from Seattle and Juneau and parade through the pubs after shows at various theatres around town, and there are Parades through the streets.

There is an enormous amount of talent, surprisingly from a city of only 8000 inhabitants, displayed in their cultural and amateur dramatic events. Alaskans are very casual, particularly in dress code. Any function is well attended and people turn up just as they are, many looking as if they have just stepped off their fishing boats, which they probably have.

The mainstay here is fishing and we have tried every type of salmon there is, fresh or pickled or smoked, shrimps, Dungeness crab, King crab and various other fish, not to mention venison, mostly courtesy of our good friend JoAnne whom we met some years ago in Patagonia, and from other generous fishermen.

There is no road outlet from Sitka because it is on an island, like many cities in South East Alaska. Even the capital of Juneau, which is on the mainland, has no connection by rail or road. There is a great state run ferry system called "The Alaska Marine Highway" with good service to all outlying villages all the way to the Aleutian islands and South to British Columbia, Canada.

There are only about twenty miles of road in Sitka along the coast and you would think there would not be many vehicles but there are, and mostly big juicy V8 pick-ups. But if it made sense anywhere to have four wheel drive vehicles, it does in Alaska. The car parks around the fishing harbours have hundreds of parked trucks, some of which never seem to move for months. Plenty of new ones but also many old pick-ups with bumpers falling off and rusted out wings, reminiscent of the early 'Waltons' television series.

Susanne and I are very happy getting around on our bicycles, even in the snow. We bought a mountain bike for Susanne for $15 from the Police auction and they threw in a (new) trailer which has been converted to carry shopping, firewood – and Honey! They even delivered it to the fishing harbour for us.

The firewood is for Galenaia's solid fuel heater, which I only use during the day but So Longs diesel heater has been running non-stop since October, using only one US Gallon per day and with diesel prices only half of what it is in Europe, not a bad deal. Susanne has spent many weeks putting more closed cell foam insulation against the hull and the bronze windows of So Long which helps in heating the boat and reducing condensation.

We were given a very reasonable long-term mooring fee and have a safe and scenic place next to each other at the transient pier on the outer breakwater with a wide jetty acting as our private veranda. The only handicap is not having shore power, but with a change of our interior lights to power saving LED's, we use very little electricity and praise every ray of sunlight of charge on the solar panels, even if the sun is below 10 degrees at noon at the moment.

Our plans are to leave Sitka in the spring and to head South along the coast in the inside passage and to visit remote anchorages and villages on our route to Canada and eventually to Seattle (USA). A journey of about 800 miles in daytrips through mostly untouched wilderness often compared to the Channels of Patagonia in Chile (where we had been cruising all of 2002).

We wish you all a good year and fulfilment of your wishes and resolutions,

Tony and Susanne

PS:

At the website below is Susanne's story which was printed in German from the Trans-Ocean magazine complete with photographs:

www.bluewater.de/revierberichte/australien/nz-alaska.htm

Last year Susanne sent out our newsletter from Fanning Island via the shortwave radio and Pactor modem from on board So Long. Shortly after the system crashed and some of your replies were lost. We apologize if yours was one of the lost e-mails. The system should be running again this year but meanwhile we welcome your replies on the susanne_tony@web.de address.

News from the Halls

2010-07-10T13:57:00.000+02:00

Hi everybody,

Some news again from the Halls after a long silence.

Where are we? What are we doing? What did we do, what did we see?

So, here are few lines to give you a brief idea of our adventures since end of February, our first 4 months in the Pacific Ocean.

Lots had happened and all of the detailed stories are on our blog (www.merlinsvoyage/net) with lots of photos. So please don't hesitate to go back to it and browse the photos (check the galleries under "Pacific crossing"). We are trying to post news regularly on the blog so family and friends are up to date with our travels. Feel free to leave some comments as we like to get them!

Mamouss (Emmauelle's mother) joined us in Panama at the end of February. She came to help us with the sailing and cooking on board, especially knowing that a long crossing was ahead of us. There is lots to do on board: cooking, cleaning, doing school with the boys and now also Clea, doing the watches (at night) and of course looking after Merlin "who" is the one working 24h/day, whatever the environmental conditions.

The transit of the Panama Canal went smoothly. Quite stressful at the beginning because it is a big myth for the maritime world, lots of stories, good ones but also bad ones. However, we had 3 super extra crew to help us with the lines while we were in the different locks. It was very emotional when the last doors opened onto the Pacific. It is a big dream coming through and a big ocean await for us.

We stayed too long in Panama City getting ready for our long crossings. However it is never too long when it is about being safely ready! We shopped like crazy to provision for a least 3 months. We were filling up all the empty spaces: we had flour packed away with our tee-shirts and beers in the kids lockers! Greg worked hard on Merlin (new batteries, servicing the motors, ). The water line got even lower when we filled up with water (we are trusting our watermaker but you never know) and even lower when we filled up with extra diesel (here too, we trust the trade winds but you never know).

We left for Las Perlas the 18^th of March. This archipelago seemed really pretty. However, our friends on Nika convinced us to join them as there was a good weather window, which lasted only 36 hours. The spinnakers were out even with very light wind but we had to motor as from time to time there was really no wind to push us. No luck neither on the fishing side as the score was 5 to 2 for the fish.

After 9 days we arrived in the Galapagos. We visited 3 of the islands: San Cristobal, Santa Cruz and Isabela. We were surprised to see that these islands weren't so touristic. We really enjoyed our time there, trying to explore everyday and take advantage of being in such a special environment. The flora and fauna are of course just amazing. We also felt that some of the "special features" weren't so special when you came from Cape Town, for example swimming with the penguins or the seals. However we felt privileged to be there, to have enough time to explore this far away paradise. We also felt very special to be part of the sailing family which crosses the Pacific and meets up in the Galapagos as their 1^st stop in such a crossing.

We had to leave to start the longest crossing of a "normal" around the world sailing tour from Galapagos to the Marquises, which is more than 6000km. We weren't too sure about this long passage mainly because we haven't done such a long one before. Everything went really well. No bad weather. A disturbing side swell at the beginning but Merlin is such a good boat that knows how to reassure us and Greg is such a great captain! Lots of green flashes, lots of Monopoly games, lots of reading (mainly thrillers, they go very well during night watches) and lots of pancakes evenings. We had our routine (watches, school, cooking, playing) and this long time at sea went very well and without problem. When we saw Fatu Hiva (our first stop in the Marquises) at the horizon after 17 days a happy excitement grew on board. We were glad to see land again, smell the earth again and meet some people again. We spent 2 ½ weeks in 5 islands of the Marquises. They are all so beautiful. High mountains dropping into a clear transparent sea. The landscapes were really amazing. Lots of treasures in land, very friendly people who gave us lots of fresh fruits and were telling us stories about their land. However with our time frame, set mainly by the weather resulting in having in New Zealand or Australia by November, we had to go.

We left for the Tuamotu on the 16^th of May for "short" navigation of 5 days. We had the perfect start: good wind, spinnaker out doing 9 knt, tens of dolphins playing around Merlin and another green flash. However, after 12 hours the wind did not want to cooperate anymore and we had to motor most of the trip (good fore our water line but bad for our diesel stock). The Tuamotu are atolls where you enter through a coral pass. The passes of the Tuamotu need to be entered at the right time because a strong counter current can push you on the coral heads. So every entrance or exit you try to calculate the time of the tide coming in or out. It is very easy to be wrong as the available tables are always for other atolls and local conditions vary the times by an hour or two. We had a great smooth 1^st entrance into Kauehi and discovered living in a lagoon of clear turquoise water. The Marquises are all in height and shape, the Tuamotu are as flat as a pancake. Very different landscapes but these atolls are so beautiful, We didn't discover too many of the little lost paradises as we decided to enjoy where we were. So after Kauehi, we stayed 10 days (4 different anchorages) in Fakarava. We went diving with the sharks and lots of colorful and impressive tropical fishes. We weren't bored by all this diversity and snorkeling in the passes using the current to push you in the lagoon was such a great experience. Greg was frustrated when we were in the South side of Fakarava as he hurt his back and couldn't move for 2 days. So no diving (apparently this pass is world known for its beauty). However, he joined us snorkeling few days latter.

Mamouss had to go back to France and "normal" life again so we headed to Tahiti beginning of June. We met up with some cousins and a friend. We were discovering the city with all the noises, the pollution but also the shops! It was too much of everything for us after so much simplicity of the islands. We went shopping again for the next 3 months (but in French Polynesia it is less fun as the prices are really steep knowing we are travelling with our SA rands). We are now in Huahine, one of the Society islands, about 200km West of Tahiti. Less boats and very pretty.

We are slowly going West and should leave French Polynesia around mid-July. Then it will be the Cooks Islands, Tonga and Fiji. We are not too sure of the rest being either New Zealand or Australia?

Keep an eye on our blog www.merlinsvoyage/net and don't hesitate to leave comment or drop us an email with your news or views as we would love to hear from you!

Cheers

Emmanuelle, Gregory, Victor, Felix and Clea

On sailing yacht Merlin

Cell 00 689 23 15 83

Check out the web updates on www.merlinsvoyage.net

News from Dixi Rollar

2010-07-10T13:51:00.000+02:00

5 month already pass and here we are preparing ourselves to go back home.You all probably are thinking why so soon?
Well, we just did the crossing for 3 reason:
1) To see my family and friend after 6 years:
2) Have a holiday and
3) A shake down cruse for Dixi-Rollar.
Yes, we were surprised how Jacare has changed and Brazil became expensive.The beer is still cheap and cold, the weather is 29 degree in winter and partly raining.But most of the Brazilian have become over weigh and are not so hot anymore.
I have eliminated some of my weigh(Not loosing it,because if so you will find it and that I don´t want!)
Looking forward to getting together with our family and friends in SA again.
Love Renata and Steve