sailFar.net

here is a better pic of her at her winter mooring. Today I moved her to the 'summer' mooring.

(can´t get it in here... it is in my gallery anyway)

Here is the link to my blog:

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-w3StyOs8eqEUQBf73a3j1RS6TVw-?cq=1

which lets you follow my litle adventure of circumnavigating the Baltic Sea this summer. A midsummer party in the Midnight Sun at 67 degress North is the only fixed point in the schedule this far. The take-off is planned to the beginning of June.(http://[img]http://)[/img]

Congratulations.
Did you named your daughters Oddny and Ludmilla by any chance? ;)

Quote from: sailor on April 25, 2007, 03:48:46 PM
Congratulations.
Did you named your daughters Oddny and Ludmilla by any chance? ;)

Uhrmm, Now what's that supposed to mean??   ??? ??? ??? ???

Believe it is a reference to the name of the boat Rode Orm, who was a literary viking... IIRC. 

Frans Bengtson, Rode Orm - a magnificent Viking adventure and historically correct.

I've never read the book, so I could be wrong... but I'm guessing that it is related.

Quote from: AdriftAtSea on April 26, 2007, 06:06:06 AM
Believe it is a reference to the name of the boat Rode Orm, who was a literary viking... IIRC. 

Frans Bengtson, Rode Orm - a magnificent Viking adventure and historically correct.

I've never read the book, so I could be wrong... but I'm guessing that it is related.

Hm, yes you´re probably right. My excuses. This makes me aware of the fact that I perhaps should inform you some more on this issue.

My boat, Rode Orm, is definetely named after the red-bearded viking Orm, in Frans G Bengtsson's novel. I am 'innocent' of that however, the boat was named by the PO. No objections from my side though, I think she is  worthy any comparison with her famous 'ancestor'.

Frans Bengtsson was a professor at the University of Lund, Sweden; and did not write that much novels or fiction at all. But with his two novels about Orm he really had an instant hit. Great book, and as historically correct as it could be (the facts of the time is not that abundant)

Even though I read it in my early teens, I can warmly recommend it to everyone. It´s about adventures, and gives an interesting insight to a time in history that was unsettled to say the least.

Did you know that 'danish' vikings once held almost all of England? They weren´t stopped until they reached the river Thames...  that is very close to London. 

Back to my trip in the Baltic Sea this summer. I will not follow the viking route through the rivers in Russia. I will go north, all the way to the Botnia(?)  Bottenviken in swedish.  Basically north through swedish waters and then south in finnish waters. Depending on time and wind, we will probably stop by in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on the way south too.  I doubt it that we will do the long bay to S:t Petersburg, but who knows. Must admit that Russia doesn´t appeal to me yet, even though it´s been some years since the Soviet days.

Sorry, this was perhaps too longish.  8)

Hi all. I have been on the water now for a couple of weeks, and looove it. My woman companion is with me for two weeks now, and that´s making life even nicer.

Now, at last I have found internet conection and updated the blog.

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-w3StyOs8eqEUQBf73a3j1RS6TVw-;_ylt=ArSTJ2n.4mmxm9MYW6fjktSsAOJ3?cq=1

Great blog, thanks for writing it!

Thank you Skylark, that gives me motivation to update it. I don´t see much wifis around where I am sailing. But every now and then I´ll be back.

Fair winds// magnus

New postings on my blog. Hard to get internet access in this part of the world. I am truly enjoying the cruise and my life right now, though.

Fair winds, and I hope you all are on the water

new stuff n the blog again

I am in port right now, enjoying a free(!) wifi connection. True luxury,and I am  like a dried out sponge back into the  water trying to catch up on news and where all friends are and so forth.

New entrys on the blog again, together with more pictures

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/rodeorm

I have made a decision today, too. Since 3+ months of cruising in beautiful surrundings, even though a bit on the chilly side, I have not yet got tired of it. Nor have I even for a minute wanted to be at home working instead.

Hence, the conclusion made is as follows: I will finish this cruise, I have got threee more weeks to get back home. Then I will use the upcoming winter season to sell my house, my cars and all other belngings on shore. In the spring I will haul out the boat, give her a major exterior refit and then head out for an open-ended cruise. Planned take-off mid June next year.  Yup.

Sounds like a great plan... :D 

Works for me ;D

I have a 20 footer to finish for a customer, another 25 waiting for a new interior and then we are gonna take a prolonged cruise ourselves. We won't be selling the house though- Laura's son will be living here while we are gone, paying the utilities and doing the upkeep as rent. Since the house is paid for as are all the vehicles, it makes little sese to part with it.

Good to hear, Charlie. Enjoy! ;D

Thanks for taking us all along.  ;D

(http://www.sailblogs.com/member/rodeorm/images/houtsk%C3%A4r2_scale.jpg/) (http://www.sailblogs.com/member/rodeorm/)

Sadly, four months of cruising is over now. I will return to the so called 'normal life' for the winter season at least. The last 110 miles was a terrific broad reach that saw Röde Orm make 7-7,5 knots under storm jib only.
A worthy Finale of the cruise. If you would like to read more about it, check ut my blog again.

Cheers to all of you.

Thanks for sharing your voyages with us. :D

Magnus -

That was a great read! Awesome pictures, too! Too bad it's over - but - time to plan Trip #2! :)

I particularly liked the 'sleigh ride' post and picture. You (and the boat!) seemed to do very well for the wind strengths you encountered.

Thank you so much for that comment Cap'nK!  ;D Glad you liked it. I am working on part two right now.
All of a sudden the upcoming winter months seems like a short time, considering all things I need to get done.

I am also playing with the thought of aborting the original idea to go the southern tade wind route over the Atlantic and instead follow the old viking route via Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Labrador, Nova Scotia and then down the  east coast of the US. A draw back is of course that I would neeed to spend another winter at high latitudes. In a way I figure that 50 winters up here is enough.
On the other hand, my vessel is named Röde Orm, so I may have to live up to it...  ;)

To me that sounds like a great route...lots of rich history along that path.  Plus you'll cruise right by many of us on your way south.   ;D

Quote from: Captain Smollett on October 16, 2007, 01:33:29 PM
To me that sounds like a great route...lots of rich history along that path.  Plus you'll cruise right by many of us on your way south.   ;D

Yes, it seems like a thought to 'drop by' and maybe share a cold one... ;D ;D ;D

getting a bit curious about you folks  ;)

Nothing much happens during the winter season here, but this weekend saw us make a little trip to a foreign country. I e the 15 miles to Copenhagen, Denmark.  ;D Sunny and a very light breeze, just about enough to keep us moving at 3-4 knots.

Since I can´t get any pics in here, you could have a look at
www.sailblogs.com/member/rodeorm

Magnus -

BRRRRR!!!  ;D :D

I like the furry hat - *that* looks warm! ;D

Below is the code you can use to insert pics from your Flickr account into your posts here:

[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2091/2258257726_006a38eb53.jpg?v=0[/img]

Just replace whatever is between the "image tags" ({img} and {/img}) with the URL of your photo (but use the squared-off/straight bracket, not the squiggly bracket I put into this sentence).

The above gets you this:

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2091/2258257726_006a38eb53.jpg?v=0)

Those are some seriously massive stern cleats you have there! I like them! :)

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/9218039@N06/2258257350/)

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/9218039@N06/1456848961/)

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/9218039@N06/1456814401/)

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/9218039@N06/1342780555/)


Thanx Kurt! got that at last...  8)

No it doesn't work. When I preview- the urls are there and the brackets, but then- nothing ???

I copied your code from above:

[img]http://www.flickr.com/photos/9218039@N06/1342780555/[/img]

And what that turns out to be is a URL, a link to the page itself, not *just* to the image.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9218039@N06/1342780555/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9218039@N06/1342780555/) is the page link.

h++p://farm2.static.flickr.c0m/1081/1342780555_73b805939d.jpg?v=0 is the actual photo address (except I made it so it wouldn't work). I got that by right-clicking on the image, and copying it's address, and puting that in between the {img} tags. I'm not sure what browser you are using, but that is how it works for Firefox.

(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1081/1342780555_73b805939d.jpg?v=0)

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2256/2258256710_bc68090e4d.jpg?v=0)


Wow, at last!  Thanx again Capt'n.  Lesson learned. :)

-as a 'bonus' to the rest of you, who had to stand these multiple postings from an illiterate Viking, I'll share this cool picture from la Seine river in Paris. I was there a weekend  in Jan and believe it or not. This 'live-aboard barge' on the river has an Amphibie car on it's erhh, poop deck. A Renault Dauphine,

thats about the coolest tender I've seen in a loooong time  ;)

and by the way, it's Firefox I use, on a Mac

Grog to you all!

Great, glad you got it figured out! :)

I saw that pic at your Flickr, but didn't realize that that was an amphi-car. You're right, that *si* a very cool tender.  ;D I'd like to see how they launch it, though!

Yeah, but hauling that over the stern rail is a tough job. :)

I saw this car too. Those Frenchs... they love to show off don't they ?

Quote from: Manannan on March 10, 2008, 04:14:06 PM
I saw this car too. Those Frenchs... they love to show off don't they ?

You wouldn't be speaking from a certain amount of experience, would you?

;D

(Welcome aboard, Manannan! Grog! :))

Mais bien sûr, mon ami ! ;D
Thanks for letting the ''frog'' in...

Bienvenue mon ami francois  :)

Well,

Serves me right for not taking French back in high school ::).

Fair winds,

Pappy Jack

Quote from: maxiSwede on March 14, 2008, 06:04:51 PM
Bienvenue mon ami francois  :)

OOOps,   mon ami francais.... and nothing else. know what you mean Pappy Jack, but one has to keep trying.  ;)

You know the French if you do not spell or pronounce it correctly they will never forgive you. so let's correct to franÇais :D

hehe, thats true, I just don't know how to type that little 'thing' underneath the 'C'  ;)

Swede-

If you're on a Mac, it's easy... type option-c to get ç or option-C to get Ç :)  On a PC you can use the keyboard viewer application and copy and paste it from that.  I don't remember what the application is called, but it basically allows you to see all the characters you can type.   :)

I am on a Mac - and way too often, wish I were on the boat more often - and you're right! thanks for the tip. worked on my swedish keyboard too. (which have the å and ä and ö) yup, 28 letters in the alphabet.... but the vikings did fine with only 23 or something IIRC  ;)

Wonder where you got those ¨ from....  :P

I bet, your Mac will have the best seat on your boat !!

they have each their dedicated key.

(http://sailfar.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10379/thumb_maxikeyboard.JPG)

by the way how is the prospect of sailing on the Baltic this time of year ? are there a lot of brave souls sailing those cold waters now ? Are the Vikings still a brave bunch or are they getting a big soft ?  :D

Haha, you'd be quite alone at sea this time of the year.  ;D

That said, a small but increasing number keep their boats in the water all year round and sail when the weather permits.  'Moi inclus'

I would have not expected less from vikings.. :D It is so common to see boats hauled out at the first sight of a leave falling down on the ground !
Some miss out the most incredible sailing, a bit chilly, or may be a lot... but the prospect of a glass or 2... of a good old rhum upon arrival makes all that worth while.. But in a way, it perfect there is not too many of us braving the elements in those higher latitudes... that is what makes it so special.
So what am I doing my ass in my old armchair, let's go sailing...

Manannan - where do you live? Are you a French Canadian?

I agree on those rare sailing trips at winter. A high, a light breeze and sun and all the anchorage to yourself...  ;D

Home is whatever I say it is... even if it is just for today and I change my mind tomorrow  :D

Well my home is always temporary.. but for the moment it is back in the old Europe where I come from in the first place. Brittany

Well, Manannan, Bretagne is certainly a place with a fine sailing tradition.

I was living in France as an exchange student when Eric Tabarley won his first solo trans-Atlantic victory. (I guess I'm dating myself!)

Bienvenue!

--Joe

Good point. I like the vagabond  philosophy myself. The reason for my curiosity is that my woman companion is a celt too, from Brittany.

a little chauvinism here,   :D but Celts women are the best, tough breed, strong headed and quite imprevisible sometimes, but always straightforward, you can count on them anytime, they won't let you down.
hey, Oldrig, it is time for another visit in Brittany  ;D

Manannan,

Je n'ai jamais visité le Bretagne; seulement la Normandie. Mais j'étais en France quand Tabarley a traversé l'Atlantique pour la premère fois.

(I hope I got my French spelling right. With Windows, I had to switch keyboards.)

--Joe

hi, Joe
One more reason to visit Tabarly's old playground. You probably will get along fine with your French, otherwise use your hands and shrug your shoulders a lot, that will work too  ;D ;D
Where you live is a beautiful area too, I spent around 3 months between MA and RI, refitting an Alberg 37.
Liked it a lot.

It's been a while since my last update, so here it goes.

My house is for sale, the bizznizz is too, but that won't happen until late fall or during the winter. Those 'docklines are sooo hard to cut'... no fears, though. The process is ongoing and the BIG departure will take place next year.

Now to the positives; they are a few... ;D

In January I met a sweet woman companion who fully shares my passion for sailing. She has been participating in the 'getting-rid-of-all-shore-based-stuff-process' ever since. It's great to be 2 and 'nesting' in our boat/home

The plan for this year is to make another Baltic circle, and return to home port in the end of September(a friend of mine is taking care of the bizznizz for me). In fact we are ready to take off, after a few delays(of course!). One is the repair of the radar that has taken way too long, and then there has been some interest in my house that we have had to deal with.

And now a new delay - albeit easy to live with.  ;) I have been handed the opportunity to skipper a charter boat in Croatia for a week, so first mate and I will fly early in the morning and be back in a week. Turquoise water, crystal clear and warm is a nice treat for a northern guy like me.  8)

Hopefully the radar will be fixed by then and we will be able to cast off those docklines for a summer cruise.

Will update the blog as usual

www.sailblogs.com/member/rodeorm

and some new pics here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9218039@N06/

there's more to come

We would like to wish all the sailfarers a REALLY NICE summer on the water, or where ever you might choose to be.

Magnus & Isa

Cool deal, Magnus and Isa, on all counts (except having to wait on the radar).

(http://www.smiley-faces.org/smiley-faces/smiley-face-groupwave.gif) (http://www.smiley-faces.org)

Have some grog to prep for Croatian Adventure.

GOOD for you.Great pics too.Keep us updated ;)

Thanks for the update, the links and pictures. Have a great time in Croatia!

Hi Guys,

first of all it's great to hear of the SCOOT plans. I 'll support you mentally from over here... 8)

Since mu last posting, we,ve made a week long cruise in Lithiuania. Very interesting, especially our time on the Curonian Sea. In four days we spotted ONE foreing boat. Yesterday afternoon we arrived to Vändburg SE Gotland (Sweden) after a sunny overnighter with a bit too light airs. Tomorrow we'll meet an old friend further north here with a sister ship (albeit 28 ft)

more 'stuff' on the blog

sailblogs.com/member/rodeorm

Setting out for Latvia and Estonia today. Posted new blogg entrys and uploaded a bunch of pics though

Fair winds!

or: 'poop happens'

We are stuck in a small village in Estonia, called Dirham, with a broken engine. It just didn't started and after some investigation was found to filled with water in the cylinders. Last Friday, a Yanmar mechanic from Tallinn, the Capital of Est. and I managed to get the head off. (Yup, quite corroded externally, and thus a beast to loosen every bolt from) He's now taken it with him to Tallinn for cleaning out and - hopefully - returning and reassemble on Monday or Tuesday.

If that doesn't work out, then it's due for a motor change, which could as well be done here, since it would be a fair bit less expensive than in Sweden or Finland for that matter.

BTW; the weather isn't that nice anymore either...   ;)

Life goes on, I haven't felt like updating the blog, but I will soon enough. we are not TOO busy here trying to make the days pass while waiting..

Cheers

 :( Sorry to hear, Good Luck, It's been fun following your blog

Tim

When traveling I cannot always be at the best times for a location. I was at Monitour Falls, NY, not much water comming off the falls but I did see 3 deer crossing it. If it had been peak time with all the water comming off I would not have seen the deer.

Making the best of things is what voyaging is all about. I am sure something will happen good that you will remember.

@ Lynx

Good point of course. There are always some positives, even in the 'eternal darkness' of engine failures.

All the people we encounter here are very nice and I've got a nice photo of my boat from a Coast Guard aeroplane while their boat gave us a tow to this harbour.

We couldn't make it to the harbour by sails, due to a narrow entrance (50 meters wide) and a headwind of about 2-3 knots.  Sometimes it hits the fan, First tow in 30 years of sailing for me, but the CG crew were really nice, did a good job and then offered us homegrown tomatoes (!)  How often does that happen on your side of teh pond?  ;)

Anyway, I talked to teh mechanic this morning, and hypothesis at the moment is that I 'got away' with 'just' a blown head gasket. The valves was fine, and the cylinders look good too. I certainly hope that this means that the Beast will work for a few years more... but we won't have the answer until its reassembled and has had a trial run. There just might be something else broken as well.

One week, on e day and counting... :P

A good way to kill some time when there is absolutely nothing else to do or see is to taste and compare the local brew, after a few pints, you even start to understand the local language, and most of all in this cloudy state of mind you start to enjoy the most boring places and find reluctant natives the most enjoyable people in the world, so even a lonely wharf in Estonia can have its charm.  ;)

It's been a couple of very discouraging weeks in Estonia. Add the 'happy surprise' of having to buy a new engine, that actually cost about as much as I got for my old Folkboat when I sold her.... and it might not bw that odd to find that our mood  hasn't been over the moon lately.

Then add the 'bonus' of problems with the poor installation made by the so called 'pros' in Estonia and well...


Anyway, we are on our way again, right now at Mariehamn, Åland between teh swedish and the Finnish mainlands. Tomorrow morning we're heading SW for the Stockholm Archipelago snd then back to our slip in southern Sweden for the winter. We hope to be back there in the end of this month.

Cheers

The fun is over for this time. we're back in Falsterbo, the SW point of Sweden. We will spend the winter here, my house is sold -Yes, GOOD NEWS - and we'll leave it to the new owners in mid January. From then we will live onboard. The next major project is to get my little business sold during the winter.

Then in April, Röde Orm will get a much needed haul-out with an exterior 'make-over' with sanding and a new paint job.

We had a fast and fresh trip back south during the last 3 weeks, with a mighty high pressure system and a fresh NE wind most of the time. This is very unusual, this time of year we see 80% SW so Lady Luck hasn't forgotten us completely  ;D ;D  Furthermore , in retrospect, the engine was due to be replaced sooner or later anyway, and now it's done. As a side effect of the hrmm., 'not so experienced' mechanics in Estonia, I have gained a lot of knowledge myself in the matter. Hopefully I will be able to use this new knowledge later on, at least in helping fellow cruisers with similar problems.

The blog is updated;

www.sailblogs.com/member/rodeorm

and a bunch of pictures here...

www.flickr.com/photos/9218039@N06/

All the best

Quote from: maxiSwede on September 29, 2008, 03:03:49 AMAs a side effect of the hrmm., 'not so experienced' mechanics in Estonia, I have gained a lot of knowledge myself in the matter.

;D That's a good way to look at it. ;D

Hi folks!

Time for an update. We have been living on board full tiem now since mid January and right now we are very busy preparing the boat for a scheduled take-off in the end of May. Lots of maintenance and repairs going on and next week we'll take her on the hard to do a paint job on the topsides and a new antifouling.

blog updated

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/rodeorm/

Fair winds to all of you

Magnus & Isabelle

Great to hear Magnus, Between  you two and Charlie and Laura, I am really starting to get antsy. I do have to point out in the pic of you up the mast, you don't look too happy.  ;)  ;D

Quote from: Tim on April 23, 2009, 09:14:52 AM
Great to hear Magnus, Between  you two and Charlie and Laura, I am really starting to get antsy. I do have to point out in the pic of you up the mast, you don't look too happy.  ;)  ;D

Told'ya I never liked heights.... It was fine though but I wouldn't volonteer to do it at sea in some waves and I think I might get away with it...

;D ;D ;D

 


Just tell us how you can get away with it.. ??? ???

Quote from: Manannan on April 28, 2009, 02:26:28 PM



Just tell us how you can get away with it.. ??? ???

How about good preparations to make sure everything is in good working order, and then uhh, willing crew?

;D ::) ;D

Wanna know how I get away with it?

Quote from: CharlieJ on April 28, 2009, 05:19:43 PM
Wanna know how I get away with it?

Laura even looks better up there  ;) ;D

Quote from: CharlieJ on April 28, 2009, 05:19:43 PM
Wanna know how I get away with it?

yeah, I kinda had something like that in mind..

;D ;D

This takes time!
We've had tremendous weather with no rain and pretty warm (averaging 5 degrees C in April is very good for southern Sweden) . Now, when we are just ready for painting the lows come in a row. Rain, cold and tomorrow 30 knots of wind....

well, there will be an end to that too.

There's some more pics on my blog

www.sailblogs.com/member/rodeorm

and some more here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9218039@N06

Fair winds to all of you, we hope to untie the docking lines at teh end of the month.  :)

Same thing out here in California, it has been raining for the last few days. Of course we are in a drought situation so I can't complain, though I almost had to tarped the boat again. Be patient it will clear thanks for the pics.

After three weeks on the hard we're getting close to re-launching the boat. We'll probably do that in the beginning of next week.

here's the -nearly finished results

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3606/3548889949_0492b66052_m.jpg)
and another angle

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3641/3548888669_68dd4c5bd1_m.jpg)

the new prop in place

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3597/3549695908_7001e806cf_m.jpg)

the cabin top

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3346/3548888229_9894891eee_m.jpg)

the never tiring crew member - the Aries vane

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3663/3549697698_f2c67b7825_m.jpg)

and our 'work shop'

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2426/3548889223_cae0b81940_m.jpg)


Just some small bits and ends left to finish, then we'll splash her!  Yeeeeeehah!  ;D ;D ;D

SWEEEET! a grog for you both

Wow, Magnus - awesome job! Looks like a new boat. :)

Wanna do mine next? ;D

BTW - sailfarers, if you want to see some really nice photography, go to Magnus' photo stream (Flickr? Linked from his blog, at any rate...). Really, really great imagery!

Thank you CaptainK for those nice words... almost make me blush here  8)


Re my Flickr photos, the not so simple link is this: (also found under 'full profile' on my blog)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9218039@N06/

Have a nice weekend sailFarers!

BTW, We would definitely fly a Sailfar burgee if there was one. Dunno why, but I really feel at home here with you guys. More so than with my fellow countrymen.

Heh... similarly obsessed = nice guys?

Your boat looks gorgeous! how long would it take you to sail it to Vancouver and help me do mine? ::laughing:: I'll be interested in hearing how the new prop works out for you. I just replaced my wheel, and I wavered whether I should go for a 3 blade or stay with 2, and I stayed with two. As soon as I can find a buyer for a kidney (somewhat used) I'm going to get me an auto-feathering 3 blade....

Quote from: Amgine on May 22, 2009, 11:52:38 PM
Heh... similarly obsessed = nice guys?

Your boat looks gorgeous! how long would it take you to sail it to Vancouver and help me do mine? ::laughing:: I'll be interested in hearing how the new prop works out for you. I just replaced my wheel, and I wavered whether I should go for a 3 blade or stay with 2, and I stayed with two. As soon as I can find a buyer for a kidney (somewhat used) I'm going to get me an auto-feathering 3 blade....

Obsessed COULD be the key word here, yes  ;D

Thanks for the nice words re our boat. Mind you the pix are not close-ups . Actually the final finish on the paint job is less nice than we expected. Probably due to a combo of less than perfect technique and a couple rainshowers at the wrong time.  Bah, there is polish out there, and we might use it...someday.

Anyway, Vancouver and PNW and Alaska would be VERY interesting, but we'll have to stop and do Kurt's boat first so it'll probably take a few years  ;) We're in NO hurry!  ;D

and BTW I am really interested in a feathering prop too. Just didn't quite have the time or money to fully investigate it this time. So we're sticking to our first rule here KISS = keep it simple & strong

fixed 3-blded...

Might not be a giant step for mankind, but for the two of us it sure is... Tomorrow, we are off!  Next stop the Kiel Canal, then the English Channel and further south!  

At last!!  Phew ;D ;D ;D

www.sailblogs.com/member/rodeorm

Hope to see one or two of you on the water some day

Congratulations! Whenever I hear of the Kiel Canal I can't help but think of Riddle of the Sands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Riddle_of_the_Sands) by Erskine Childers, a pre-world war I espionage novel that takes place on the coast in sailboats.

Wishing you fair winds and following seas, but you should have plenty of time to get south.

Congratulations Magnus and Isabelle, looking forward to following you on the blog.

Tim

Fair winds and best of luck!

Fair winds and keep us posted.

Thanks everyone for kind words.

we are currently at anchor in the Solent, between the Isle of Wight and the manland of England after a rather pleasant 7 day long passage. A minor low are passing now and we'll be heading to South Brittany on Thursday if the weather will be delivered as forecasted  ;)

I have a vague memory of some Sailfarer who's living around here...

David Old Jersey - AHOY!!

Fair winds...enjoy yourselves !

Anchored half a mile from Bembridge, Isle of Wight in her Majesty's United Kingdom.

spent three noghts here while a minor low passed with some near gale winds on the nose. We'll probably get up around 4AM tomorrow and make a little jump over to the French side of the Channel. The first Mate is getting a bit homesick  ;)

here's what the little town looks loke at dusk from the boat just ten minutes ago

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2172/3702250800_3dbf071f5e_m.jpg)

enjoy your crossing

Watch the tidal current going through the Needles. There is a good anchorage just west of the area where the current gets tough to wait in comfort.

Plymouth is worth a visit before you turn left and head south.

sail fast and eat well, dave
S/V Auspicious

Good advise there, Auspicious!

There were a little 2 by 2 square in 'Reed's Nautical Almanac' that was conspicuously hidden away on the 'wrong page' that told about tidal streams of 5-6 knots  outside Cherbourg on the French side of the Channel at spring tide.

well, we had spring tide alright, and it was a bit, eh, interesting to make zero knots on the GPS for several hours.

After that we were compensated with 10+ for some hours though. To take advantage of the latter, we ended up in St Peter Port, Guernsey which is far better than a big commercial port like Cherbourg I reckon.

Waiting for something else than SW winds to go on to S Brittany.

BTW,  The Real Ale at the pubs here compensates the fog and cold water. Cheers!  ;D

P.S: Plymouth was on my list too, but doesn't seem to happen this time around D.S:

forgot the pic

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3531/3710243510_988c5f5a6e_m.jpg)

Sweet!

Nice pic, and great report. Keep us updated! How are your upgrades working out in practice?

It's been a while and we have now successfully 'negotiated Chenal du Four and Raz de Sein' ... cuold probably be described as the Cape Horn of Brittany too.

We are in Southern Brittany now where we plan to stay a few weeks with 1st mates family before crossing the Bay of Biscay.

Hope you all make it out on the water....

Cheers

Thanks Magnus, it's great following you two the blog looks great and the photos are outstanding.

Hi all!

Hope you all had a great time on the water this summer. We haven't had wifi much lately, but I just updated the blog and uploaded a bunch of pictures again. We are in Galicia, N Spain after a fast and sweet 2,5 day passage over the Bay of Biscay from Bretagne/Brittany where we had waaay too much nice food and wine... ;D ;D

No hurries here, we'll be coast-hopping south to Lisboa-Portugal during the next few weeks, and then to some of the Atlantic Islands before turning south to Senegal for the winter. Africa needs to be explored... by us, this time!  ;)

Life is great, I only wish I'd done this 25 years ago.   ::)

WTG Magnus and Isabelle!! 

Thanks Tim.

I really wish that everyone with this dream will pull it through and weigh anchor. It's the best thing I've ever done. If it can provide a bit of inspiration to someone, then fine.

Someone said: - 'The hardest part of sailing around the world is probably to leave the home port'.

Anyone knows who said it?  -It seems so true!

Cheers!

It's been a while again so I thought it could be time for  quick update. We are anchored opposite Vigo,Galicia, Spain. Our last stop in the beautiful, rugged and mountainous coast of Galicia, that is so inspiring to explore.

The weather is great, with a mighty High pressure covering half the N Atlantic (!) but that has the side-effect of almost non-existant wind. No biggie, we've got 2-3 days (some 220 miles9 to Lisbon from here so there is no panic. We'll stay a cpople of days more and see what's coming next...

M & I - living the dream, and not dreaming of anything else!  ;D

Great to hear from you. Glad you're havin fun. Pics...we need pics ;D

Pics - of course, thery are all here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9218039@N06/

We made a 'good deal' yesterday. Found an inflatabel dinghy WITH a Suzuki 2 hp two-stroke OB at a VERY good price.

As for the dink, We are more than happy with it, since the old one simply is a bit too flimsy for the job. As for the OB, my emotions are ambivalent to say the least. Without the OB it's virtually impossible to go ashore in anything over 20 knots AND the tide running 2-3 knots. More of an inconvenience than a safety matter for sure but it's not a bad thing being able to go on land when one would like to. Another advantage is of course that in a calm we could actually tow the mor the mother ship with this new set-up.

The downside in my opinion?

The OB stored on the aft pushpit is another item added to the 'clutter' and then of course we'll have to store gas on board too....

Still, I guess the pros are more important.

What are your opinions on the matter?

I think the safety aspects of the outboard far outweigh the cons. :D

I'm sure that there will be times when you are moored and will find that it is quite away to paddle in and you will be glad for the motor

For sure keep the motor. We have a 2.2 hp on our dinghy and many many times on this 7 months of cruising, we would have either not gone somewhere,, or missed fun things without the motor. Many anchorages have distances that simply preclude rowing. Boot Key Harbor for example, where we just left. It was an 8 minute motor to the dinghy dock to get to  groceries, gas, etc. Not to mention the showers, wifi availability and other things, which while not totally a requirement, make the trip much more fun.

We stow our motor in a cockpit locker since we have no stern rail.

Adrift, Charlie and jotruk


thanks for encouraging me. Obviously my 'other half' on board, AKA Isabelle have always been all for this idea...

Guess I am something of a die-hard conservative... but always liked the Pardey-style 'oars -and- yuloh' style.

Since I grew up on a river in northern Sweden,  the beauty of small boats and rowing has a special place in my mind  ::)

Quote from: maxiSwede on March 26, 2010, 03:21:55 PM
Adrift, Charlie and jotruk


thanks for encouraging me. Obviously my 'other half' on board, AKA Isabelle have always been all for this idea...

Guess I am something of a die-hard conservative... but always liked the Pardey-style 'oars -and- yuloh' style.

Since I grew up on a river in northern Sweden,  the beauty of small boats and rowing has a special place in my mind  ::)

Well Magnus, it IS the 21st Century glad at least Isabelle is willing to stick her foot into it  ;D

And the Sprayhood does look awesome!

Oh and pass this grog along to Isabelle for making sure you had a boat to come back to.

Thank you so much for the grog and greeting to Isabelle, sh sends you one too!  ....and then one from me
;D ;D ;D

A grog for you Magnus & Isa, for sharing your adventures on your wonderful boat with us.
May your winds always be fair...

Our lives are taking a somewhat new turn and our voyage will continue from San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico - which is in the Sea of Cortez. 

R?de Orm has been sold in Portugal to a fellow Swedish guy who has been in river rafting and dog sled tours most of his professional life. It's going to be very interesting to see where he's gonna take her. I bet R?de Orm will be heading north again in May next year.

We flew in to Sonora a couple of weks ago after finding the boat of our dreams over here, or so we thought.

Now the purchase of the new to us boat is done here in San Carlos. The first boat we looked at turned out to provide a bit too much work needed. Instead, we now settled for a Southern Cross 35 'Cutter, which will be named our' Nanna' and become our sailing home nd hearth for a looong time hopefully. In about a week, we'll have access to the boat, it's in very good condition and well equipped too. She is also incredibly strongly built (just like R?de Orm) and is in all respects, a 'big sister' to R?de Orm.

An interesting detail in connection with the boat purchase is that this Southern Cross was my favourite already when I started looking for boats on the net, but it was too expensive for our budget. After these two months since I made a deposit on the other one, however, the price came down quite a bit already and after a few rounds with bids and counter-bids, we finally came to an agreement. We are very happy with it and I have never seen a production boat  which is so completetly uncompromisingly, and knowledgeably, built for long term crusing. I would not trade her in for a Hallberg-Rassy ever.  ;)

Well, everything in life happens for a purpose.


Isabelle used to live in San Carlos a little more than 3 years ago and just before the two of us met.

We are renting a small apartment  in the basement of the nice house belonging to Rosemary and William. They are  friends of Isabelle's since she lived here Deja v? for her and all new playground for me.

Sea of Cortez, which according to Jacques Costeau is one of the 3-4 places in the world with the richest marine life, UNESCO's World Heritage and all - will now be 'discovered' by us with fins and  snorkels during the next few months before we eventually move south along Mexico's coast and then to Costa Rica and out on the Southern Pacific.

Any other sailfarers presently in the Sea of Cortez?

Another exciting possibility in the future is that my old Norwegian friend Per, who's been   living in Mexico for many years, has put me in contact with a few plantations in Chiapas down on the border to Guatemala. It seems like we might well get the opportunity to stay there fof some months, working on one of these 'fincas' and topping up the cruising kitty a healthy bit.

P.S.We started a new blog for the new boat AND this new chapter in our lives.

There's more info on the boat  the url is:

www.svnanna.wordpress.com

Wow! What a surprise, and-  Congratulations, Magnus and Isabelle!!! Looking forward to reading all about how it turns out for you. :)

Hi Magnus, so glad it ended up working out for you. Perfect timing to be down there.

Re;

QuoteAny other sailfarers presently in the Sea of Cortez?

I don't know, but I sure can think of one that would like to be!

Quote from: maxiSwede on November 26, 2010, 03:45:00 PMAny other sailfarers presently in the Sea of Cortez?

Oh, I missed this first time around.

Magnus - Greg and Jill Delezenski (http://sailfar.net/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=732) aboard the s/v 'Guenevere' (http://www.svguenevere.com/) are down there somewhere - unless they've moved to parts further south already... :)

OK, the boat deal is officially done. Contract signed and we are going through the equipment and systems with the (previous) owner the next ouple fo days. Hope to be able to splash beginning of next week, and then anchor out on the bay here.

The next couple of weeks we'' do some daysaling and shorter trips back and forth to get to know the boat.

Life is Good!
It's interesting that after a couple weeks in a house we really miss living at the hook, waking up in the boat, going to sleep gently rocked by the swells in the anchorage.....'dreaming'

3 months has flied by.... and lots of work. Finally the 'to do' -list is checked off, box by box and we're ready to go sailing again. We have been doing 2 dayssails with our new boat, just to get a feel for her, and a couple of days ago I did a daysail on a BEUTIFUL little SailFar -style boat here.

An S&S design 1969 vintage Dolphin 24 with a centreboard, trailerable.

Felt like being back on the Folkboat I once used to have !  ;D

Anyway, we're back to cruising now and will head over to the Baja side in a few days

svnanna.wordpress.com

The Dolphin 24 is indeed a sailfar style boat!


I have one!   ;D

what hull number was it?

Hull # 100 IIRC

Not much internet access in the last few months, but a fabulous time spent in the wilderness of Baja california/ Sea of Cortez. Spearfishing and skindiving and clamming for dinner.... missing it already!

svnanna. wordpress.com

Great to hear from you Magnus, you and Isabelle are living the dream.

Hi Guys, it's been a long time and lots of tacos since I had enough time on internet to 'check in' here.

We have cruised Mexico (Pacific Side) for over a year and are bout to leave for El Salvador. We'll spend the next 11 or so months exploring down to Panama before heading out in the southern Pacific in Feb/March next year.

Lots of updates - but not as many as we would like - on our blog:

svnanna.wordpress.com

A new venture for us is also that we now accept 'paying crew' onboard for a few weeks at a time. This is an onboard school really, where we teach sailing, navigation, snorkeling, fishing and whatever it takes to live  life afloat.

Inquiries always welcome if you happen to know someone who might be in for a 'trial' period before buying and outfitting their own boat.

Cheers, Magnus & Isabelle

Good to get an update and reminder to go catch up on your blog. Awhile back, in response to my saying that I was interested in going to the Sea of Cortez sometime, someone advised me against it, which was the first negative report that I had heard. So I am looking forward to learning what your experience has been.

Congrats on your new venture. Seems like it will provide a good opportunity for others to learn from your experience and boat and be able to make more knowledgeable choices for their own--as you say.

Fair winds,
Jim

Quote from: Jim_ME on March 14, 2012, 02:14:15 AM
Awhile back, in response to my saying that I was interested in going to the Sea of Cortez sometime, someone advised me against it, which was the first negative report that I had heard. So I am looking forward to learning what your experience has been.


Jim

We loved the Sea of Cortez and are missing it already. As always (?) it{s about what kinda stuff you prefer in life...

The things we loved:

Desolated anchorages - beautiful desert nature - incredible fishing- great snorkeling and freindly locals - reasonable prices on everything but marinas and yards

What we think might put people off:

Same as above, Far between stores, not much enertainment, certainly not the best spot for {party people)
HOT and dry in the summer - a lsight possibility of getting hit by a weakend hurricane, holes DO exist though

Fair winds//Magnus

Glad to hear that you enjoyed it, and to learn more about what to expect there. I believe that I would share your appreciation for the natural beauty of the area.

A few years ago my sister and her family stayed at Puerto Vallarta, in a simple hut near the shore. One of the experiences that they enjoyed was to hang out with the locals in the public square in the evening and get some food from venders there...it reminded me of what I had heard or read about the Piazza in Italy or the sidewalk bistros in France.

Maybe this hypothetical trip to Louisiana and Texas could be extended to The Sea of Cortez and even to Ojai, where that sister and family live.

That should be an interesting place to visit--the West coast of Central America. Seems well off the beaten path (at least to someone based in New England). Look forward to hearing about your experiences there.

Again, Fair winds (and many photos)
-Jim

Long time since last posting here.... we're currently in Golfito, Costa Rica after a year and a half in Mexico. It's very clean here, reminds a bit of Europe at times and about twice as expensive as Mexico which came as a shock.

We're way south of 'Hurricane Alley' so no worries about that, but the Thunderstorms almost eery afternoon/evening are just crazy. We know of 3 boats already that got a direct hit from a lightning rod. The boats all came out o it unscathed (as - thank god- their crew) but all electronics fried.... Since we travel w/o insurance (simply cannot afford those premiums) we are currently in the process of reconsidering our plan to spend the rest of the 'Wet' (i.e. LIGHTNING) season in Panama. Instead we'll probably do a straight shot to Equdor where we would be safe and wait there until it's time to head ut in the Southern Pacific beginnin o next year...

svnanna.wordpress.com

Hi Magnus and Isabelle!

I have been following the blog, imagining being back down there. Skipping Guatemala and El Salvador was probably a good thing. 40 years ago Guatemala was a sketchy place and I don't think it has changed much, and El Salvador for the most part was boring. Sorry to hear you may not hang around Costa Rica more.

Just keep blogging wherever you go  :D

I just posted this on our blog, and add it here, might be interesting to someone...

We are currently in Ecuador; Bah?a de Car?quez, a sheltered spot in a river estuary where it is safe to leave the boat for land travel (to Quito, the capital and the Andes highlands) and fly back home to see family and friends. This is exactly what we are planning to do and also do some work on the boat until jan/feb next year it's time to head out the Southern Pacific to French Polynesia.

Here comes an unedited account o the nine day passage across the Gulf of Panam?, beating to windward to get here.
Unedited? -yes, because it's a log of sorts done hour by hour and reflects the mood I was in at each time, with fatigue and a certain amount of discomfort. No strong winds, but always on the nose, and the seas usually a bit confused, short and steep due to the Humboldt current that also were 'on the nose' making a slow passage despite making pretty good speed most of the time.
We chose to slow the boat down on several occassions since going to windward days on end is hard not only on the crew....but also on the boat.
Hope you'll find it an interesting read.
******************************************

Day 1: 103 miles

Woke up already at 5.15 AM so got an early start. Overcast skies and no wind unless 0-3 knots from all over the compass counts. Dropped the mooring line around 7 Pm and motored out of Golfito while we prepared 'Nanna' for a 6-8 days overseas passage again. This includes unshackling the bow anchors and plugging the hawse pipes (through which the anchor chain goes down the foremost part of the bilge (deepest part of the hull) attaching our jack-lines (from Dacron straps; one goes from the bow to the cockpit on each side of the cabin topside decks. To these lines we hook the tether on our safety harness whenever we go forward. At least in rough weather- and at least in theory but the skipper's reptile brain still most often makes him rush forward whenever I see something that needs attention. Working on it, to be better I mean. Since I've done the vast majority of my sailing on smaller boats, I am completely programmed to always hold on to something when moving around the boat, even in flat calm and at anchor. When rougher I generally don't 'stroll' on deck but crouch to make my center of gravity low, and if it's really rough..... well, let me tell you I crawl on all four and I would like to see the person who walks around. Anyway I AM working on my mindset, to always use the tether (First Mate sleeps better at night if she knows I am solidly attached to the boat if I do a sail change on my watch.)

On a boat there ?'is a place for everything, and everything (should be) in it's place'. That said we are all human with our weaker sides and after a few weeks at anchor or in port, it's amazing how ruddy it can get both on deck and down below.

We spent most of this first day at sea trying to rest, doze, catnap in between turning the engine off: 'The wind is picking up!' hoisting sail, changing course, adjusting the windvane that steers faithfully as long as the wind is reasonably constant in speed. And then 15 minutes later...this process goes in reverse order, 'cause the wind died' and then so on. A bit tiring and sometimes even boring, especially when we are making a modest 3,3 knots of boat speed in 5-6 knots of wind and since the wind is on the nose we are not able to point the way we want to go, but rather some 40-50 degrees off  towards Panama, maybe this country still want us to come there? An hour or two later we are pointing towards Australia, despite it's a couple years too early according to our plans. Then firing up the engine to point on our 'rhumb line' again but still slow progress.

I've said it before, but it's well worth repeating ? This is the doldrums/calms/ intra tropical convergence zone (this puppy goes under many names) In fact, right here, these conditions are dominant almost the entire year round. Gulf of Panam?, we want to get across ? some 585 miles from Golfito and our fuel will last a bit more than 300 miles so we've GOT to sail the boat, take advantage of every wind shift, adjust our sail configuration and area as well as if we were racing. In fact we are racing against spending time merely drifting with no more fuel left than we will need to enter the estuary at Bah?a de Car?quez. We'll get there, but we don't know when. Plenty of food and water on board, no storms in this area, some squalls with stronger winds and heavy rain with thunder to be expected the first couple days out. But thereafter very light winds, mostly on the nose and then the Humboldt current following the south American coastline and hence slow our progress a bit more.

Hanging in there! More tomorrow...

Day 2: 25 nmiles

The night was uneventful. No thunderstorms nearby. Unfortunately no winds over 5 knots either and always from the south which is where we want to go. Hence the engine did the work all night long until 5.30 AM on my watch when a nice 11 knot breeze (yeah, still from south) picked up. Sails up- motor put to rest and we scooted along at almost 6 knots close-hauled for a little more than half an hour. A couple of squall-looking clouds, one in front of us and one on the starboard quarter may be the cause for the sudden wind. Grateful are Nanna and her crew since we've already motored 20 out of the possible 66 hours. Indeed we are racing against being becalmed and using up all our precious diesel.

On a positive note, my work on our old Autohelm windvane seems to pay off, it's been fairly reliable as long as the wind is stable. As you've taken notice of by now it isn't. Good news anyway since the autopilot can get a break too. Grey skies, a bit of  a drizzle around 7AM.

Doldrums. At 2.15 PM we had moved about 12 miles to SW, since this morning. With 2-4 knots apparent wind, Nanna somehow manage to make a couple of knots even though it feels more like drifting than sailing the boat. 480 odd miles to go and about 180 miles worth of diesel left so the rest have to be done under sail. A boat that did this passage a couple years ago, and introduced us to the idea of sailing to Ecuador, took 15 days to cross the Gulf. They didn't want to motor! And he's the guy who labeled me a purist when we first met, though in my mind he is the purest purist.

It could be a lot worse, The swell isn't bad at all, we are warm and snug and it?s actually beautiful at sea and we like to be here. On my night watch I could admire a starry sky for a bit over an hour with the Milky Way like a highway across the vast blackness.

Back to here and now, around sunset the wind had died completely so we furled the head sails, let the main hang there sheeted flat to reduce the rolling and went down below to wait for wind.

Midnight, still no wind. According to the GPS we have drifted less than 200 meters in 7 hours. So much for the current in the area. Beautiful starry sky again with the Milky way right on top of us.

At 2 AM at last some wind! On Isabelle's watch a faint wind of 2-3 knots allowed Nanna to leave a visible wake in the water again. Close to 24 hours like a dead duck floating. May it continue to blow.
The forecast; computer generated GRIB-files 'suggests' a steady 10 knot breeze from WSW for the next 5 days. Do one have to be religious to see that happen?

Day 3: 102 nmiles

Noon, we are able to steer a course straight toward our destination. Boat speed topped a bit over 5 knots but is now down to 3,5-4 in 5-7 knots apparent wind, still close-hauled. As long as we are moving all is good. In fact the ever changing sea-scape is pristine; the dark blue deep ocean water, no shipping sighted since that first night and we both sit long periods in the cockpit, in awe of the serene beauty. No signs of man nor his civilization....errhm, well, sad to have to say so, but out here, more than 200 miles from Terra Firma there is quite a bit of flotsam and jetsam. Sadly, man leaves their track of plastic junk that kills Sea Turtles, who eat it taking it for jellyfish. They must be nearsighted those shellbacks. 444 miles to go to the approach WP approximately 460 to our destination.

3PM Still doing good. 5 knots the wind has picked up a bit. If this would go on, who believes that? We'll arrive Friday at Bah?a de Car?quez.

At 5PM we encountered some squalls and reefed down and continued on our course but at little more than 2 knots. 8.30 PM I shook the reefs out, the wind by then down to 8 knots and we kept going.

It didn?t take that long until we could shake out the reefs. No strong winds associated with the squalls.

Made good progress until midnight, on average 4,5 knots. Apparent wind mostly 6-10 knots. This went on until 4.30 AM when a bad looking squall approached with thunder and lightning. I furled the genoa and hove-to under stay sail and reefed main ant went below decks. Turned out not too bad, not much wind in this one either and the center of it was a few miles off. Still the static  was enough for the anemometer(wind instrument showing speed and direction) to go 'bananas'. Turned off ALL electrics and lashed the wheel. Old school always works! :-D we're really looking forward to get out of 'Lightning Alley'.  We didn't do too bad the last 24 hours, but a long way to go and hard on the wind.

Day 4 ? 109 miles

What a morning. Squalls all around us until noon. Lightning, thunder and LOTS of rain. Good to be on a boat that floats, with all that rain. On a less pleasant note, we've got a leak somewhere. Freshwater in the bilge. Adds another to the ever growing list of boat projects. With a bit of luck, it's a hose fitting and not the tank itself. We still have enough water (remember I said it's raining? ) Despite all the sail- and course changes we made reasonable progress a bit over 4 knots average  in everything from calm to 14 knots of wind. At noon we are moving at just shy of 4 knots with a moderate rain. The heavy rain stopped -at least for a while, the skies are a mixed lead gray and white ? and the wind died out too. A couple of hours motoring and charging the batteries is a welcome break. As an added benefit, it helps to dry out the cabin. Amazing how humid it gets down below with these torrential tropical downpours.

The motoring came to a natural ending. After taking a nap I discovered that we had a nice 8 knot wind on the beam, so enough battery charging. The next few hours were pure magic. Nanna moved along at 5,5 knots almost without a sound. Smooth; even the seas had laid down, almost flat. This is one of the reasons nothing beats being at sea on a sailboat. In a single day you can experience misery, horror, worries and then divine existence and all the rest is washed out of the mind. It's like Life in Technicolor compared to the low resolution Black&White regular landbased 9-5 variety of life in the modern society.

I sat for a good half an hour before sunset  in awe of the infinite landscape of Sea and Skies and the rendezvous between the two. I simply love the light at sunset, I guess it reminds me of the Magic Nordic summer nights where I grew up at 63 degrees North.

Obviously there is an end to moments like that too,and for the rest of the evening the wind was very light and pushed Nanna south at a couple of knots. 350 miles to go and we still have an 'emergency' cache of diesel worth 190 miles. That said we are not even halfway 'home' yet. 'Isla  de Malpelo' a tiny island in the middle of nowhere...excuuuuse me,,, the ocean. It is Colombian territory and reportedly a Navy Base so no place to go for a walk.

More or less becalmed until 9 PM, conveniently for my watch the wind picked up again to 8 knots average. A couple hours ago we had sheeted the main and stay sail amidships, furled genoa, to reduce the banging and flogging. But now the genoa went out and sheets eased to -that's right ? closed hauled position again. So far the grib-files haven't been that far off actually. About 60 miles before we pass Isla Malpelo but way too far off to see it. Tomorrow morning if the wind keeps up the good work?

Midnight. I've never seen the Milky Way as crystal clear as tonight and the stars are twinkling at us. Need to learn the constellations of the southern hemisphere. 4 degrees North now 55 miles from Malpelo and of course we are pointing right at it. Can't point higher so will have to tack some 15 miles from it unless the wind decides to veer a bit. 5 knots on the boat in 8-9 of wind. Back 3 AM, time to hit the bunk, we do 3 hours on- 3 off.
6AM it's pretty smooth sailing. 6-10 knots of wind but unfortunately right on the nose so we're on our way to Isla Malpelo. Will tack 20miles off it if the wind doesn't change. No wish to get involved with the Colombian Navy at this point. 109 miles made good the last 24 hours so not too bad considering. Of course we've sailed more, our track in the GPS is far from a straight line, but that's what comes with these conditions. We simply choose what's best for the moment and take it from there.
And so to the GOOD news ? Right now we are just shy of 300 miles from our approach way point at our planned landfall. Getting there albeit slowly.

Day 5 ? 112 miles

Getting too close to the island we made a 3 hour tack to west which means pretty much away from where we want to go. Sailing indeed is a slow means of traveling. The wind is still in the 6-11 knot range, fairly stable but from the southwest. Completely overcast skies but no heavy thunderclouds in sight  which is highly appeciated. Just before noon we tacked again on a course close to our rhumbline.

Turns out today provided the best sailing so far on this passage. 10-15 knots of wind, close-hauled as ever we scooted along at 6 knots average, not bad for a heavy loaded cruising boat with a 29 foot waterline. Even some clear skies in the afternoon to cheer us up and provide the always welcomed charge on the batteries. All afternoon our course hard on the wind is 144 degrees true and the rhumbline 166 so not that far from ideal. We passed the high (258 m) Isla Malpelo, a ragged rock with steep to sides and we certainly couldn't detect any Naval installations or signs of human activity but on the other hand we stayed a healthy 14 miles offshore of it.

One milestone done with, 252 miles to go as the crow flies. Unlike the crow, we have to tack (zigzag) back and forth to take us to windward so more likely 320-ish miles to sail. We already covered a bit over 350 so we're getting there!. If the winds stay this way we'll continue 120 miles on this course and tack outside the Colombia/Ecuadorian border. Then 150 miles south to the approach of the Bah?a.

9  PM . We do want to get some sleep at night and all the stars disappeared shortly after nightfall. Meaning there is a certain risk for squalls. Some of them have violent wind but so far we have been lucky enoug not to experience more than 16-18 knots maximum. Anyway we decided to be conservative during the dark hours, so furled the genoa and still close-hauled on stay sail and mainsail. Slowed us down about a knot, and I confess I grunted  a little bit but the motion gets so much more tolerable. Especially forward of the mast. I tried to get some sleep in the v-berth but that didn't work out that well. Listening to our 240 ft of anchor chain 'jumping up and down? in the chain locker is not my idea of peace and quiet. Weird that we don't hear it in the salon, Nanna is a quiet hull as such with a cored sandwich construction, This also makes for a very stiff hull,

If it seems like we do not quite know the boat yet it?s perfectly correct. During the 18 months we've had her we hardly ever encountered more than 10 knots of wind. Mostly we've had to practice how to keep the boat moving in zephyrs and winds in the 2-7 knot range. Beating to windward for some 600 miles off shore is a decent 'shake-down' cruise. We get to discover what works well and some little details we'll want to change. Talking about shake-down cruises....the Swedish/American couple Deborah Shapiro/Rolf Bjelke on their steel Joshua  'Northern Light' did a North Atlantic circle as  shake-down after re-rigging the boat and equipping it with furling head- , mizzen, and mainsail. Hats off to those folks who lately spent 4-5 years circumnavigating Antarctica and the sub antarctic islands. No,no, I truly admire their voyages but not the cold and stormy stuff for us!

Day 6 ? 97 miles

The wind kept about the same speed overnight and we made progress while taking turns getting some important sleep too. 6 AM with the current GPS position and on the working hypothesis that the wind direction and speed will stay the same ? does that ever happen, hah?!- we have 200 miles to go but given the extra tack or dogleg out at sea again we will have to cover approx.300 miles. Current is an unknown in this simple calculation, but we know it's there. We also know it sets northward thus against our desired path. That's the sum up....we lost some 12 miles by reducing sail during the night but we were just too tired to keep pushing the boat hard. Still deadly tired actually, it takes some practice to be able to sleep when you regularly levitate from the bunk and then land again fractions of a second later. Between 3-6 I slept though, simply exhausted.  Oh, do we like this? You bet! :-D

Now there is a slim possibility this last leg will turn out easier. I just downloaded grib-files on the HF radio and they suggest that the wind will pick up a bit today but also turn slightly more favorable in direction....we'll see.

1 PM- Making good speed under main, stay sail and partially furled genoa. Considering all the shipping from the Panama Canal we haven't seen too many freighters. 3 during the first night out of Golfito and half an hour ago another containership. More interesting was the almost surreal encounter with two open boats(pangas) with twin outboards and 3-4 uniformed guys in each. Since the wave height is about 2 meters they seemingly popped out of nowhere a quarter of a mile off our port beam. The guys looked at us and we took the opportunity to inspect them through binoculars. The pangas were painted 'Navy style' with a star in a circle. Nothing more came out of this unexpected encounter, so much more unexpected since they were 130 miles off shore. The nearest shore being the border between Colombia and Ecuador. Really weird, sitting there bobbing up and down quite wildly on the choppy seas waiting for....who knows? Not us apparently and we appreciate that.

The wind has started to pick up a bit and the genoa is furled. This slowed us down from 5ish to 3,5ish knots but at a slightly better angle towards Bah?a. This of course comes at the price of going head on the seas, which is far from comfy. Expect them to settle down shortly. The gribs have been surprisingly correct so far suggesting 15-20 knots from a more westerly direction then down to 10 knots tomorrow. Will see about that.

9 PM the wind is a steady 20 knots which is manageable but the seas are surprisingly short and square and spray is flying over the entire length of the boat and now and then solid water wipes the foredeck clean. Still flying full main- and stay sail and are fore-reaching at about 4 knots to stay reasonably comfortable. Sleeping when off-watch is difficult but we rest and doze as much as possible.
165 miles to 'goal' but tomorrow morning we'll have to make another tack to west to stay clear of the coastline with a healthy 40 miles or so. The wind should lay down a bit during the night and tomorrow if the grib is correct and thus make life a lot better.

The wind kept up at 17-22 knots over night and we kept fore-reaching at 4 knots average under our reduced sailconfiguration.

Day 7 ? 123 miles

Just after breakfast the wind dropped to 12-15 knots and we unfurled most of the genoa(which has a high cut yankee style clew and is essentially an enlarged yankee jib)and the speed raised to 5,7-5,9 and a smoother ride too when the waves successively lost part of their bite and became more rounded and friendly-looking. As a crow flies, we've now got 124 miles to the approach WP (plus another 20 to the 'waiting room' where a pilot (mandatory) is called upon to safely pilot us through the tricky, reef strung entrance channel over the bar to the estuary. Or so the book says. This has to be done at high tide, so unless we can manage a perfect timing for the high tide, we'll have to drop the anchor and wait or  just sail around in the area until it's time for us to sneak into the shelter of the peninsula where the little town of Bah?a de Caraquez is situated. If the wind direction stays the way it is now, we will have to tack a couple times and sail a total  distance of 230 miles which indicates arrival Sunday afternoon. Early this morning I downloaded (on the HF radio) the latest version of the GRIB-files and it suggests that the wind will die out a bit more AND veer towards west. That would be great, since we could steer a more direct course and gain distance and time. Or if the wind would die out altogether, we?d motor the last few hours and make some water.(remember the leak?)

A few unknown factors, as always, which makes sailing always interesting, often rewarding and sometimes frustrating. Patience is a good feature in a sailor, and I am working on it! ;-)

11 PM Unknown factors...oh yes. Off Punta Galera and Cabo San Lorenzo an unknown( or just forgotten) factor showed us small humans just how much our plans are worth. The Humboldt Current -pushing colder water from Cape Horn all the way to British Columbia and Alaska. This ocean current meant serious business and it turned out to be a huge mistake to get in close (if 25 miles is close) to shore outside these places where this current turns right along the coast into the Gulf of Panama and encircles the Gulf to be 'spit out' southward off Punta Mala close to Costa Rica. 1-3 knots is serious business for a little sailboat tacking back and forth to make it's way against it. Long story short, we kept busy most part of the day and the night just to make it around to then be able to steer to our destination.
It would have been indefinitely better to have made enough westing a day or two ago.

3 AM At least we are moving on quite fast, even if the distance to go is about the same as 5 hours ago and despite sailing  longer distance than any of the other days, we made good less than ever except that day we were bacalmcd for most part. Anyway, next change of watch we'll tack again and hopefully we will be able to point a straight line from there on. This last(?) detour leg is already over 30 miles and we'll add another 15 on this watch. The wind? Still around 10+ knots so according to the gribs. They've been accurate on everything except that it didn't turn westerly.

6 AM ? finally time to tack and make way south. We.ve now sailed 50 miles on a course 274 hard on the wind port tack. Gray skies, 10 knots of breeze,6,2 knots boatspeed and almost flat seas as daylight arrives. Too overcast to sea the sunrise.

Day 8 ? 113 miles

Started in a lot more positive way. We got 60miles done in less than 9 hours. Finally the wind decided to obey the GRIB models and veer slightly west. Enough for us to steer 145-150 true and make a long leg and clear the Cabo de Fransisco with reefs and other 'obstacles'. From here on ( 5 PM) we've got 75 miles to go course 169 degrees. We'll stay on this tack until we get on the shelf closer to land and then motorsail (given the wind comes down a bit more) and if so arrive at our destination tomorrow afternoon.

Did I mention I am a born optimist? Yeah, in my dreams the above would happen, we kept on making a longer leg along the shore, then a slightly shorter one off-shore. Kept repeating this so by now we've got some practice on the drill.

Day 9 ? 95 miles

Came alight with skies as lead gray as in November at 63 deg N where I grew up. What happened to the tropics? In all honesty it has to be added that yesterday provided a bright blue sky for most of it. For once. Anyhow, we are now 14 miles north of the magical line, the Equator, and 50 from the- by now almost illusive Bah?a ? but with our zigzagging path on the chart, we'll need to cover another 85 or so before 6.30 AM tomorrow morning when the tide is high and the pilot called in.

4 PM quite constant wind 10-18 knots and also constant in direction. But by now, we've gotten used to it! ;-) Anyhow, we'll cross the equator within an hour and be 'in place' well before the high tide tomorrow morning. Hope we will 'have to' slow down not to arrive several hours in advance.

4.45PM ? We crossed the equator! A life long dream is fulfilled. That is to sail on my own keel to the Southern Pacific. Technically we are in it now. A toast -in a good sipping Tequila ? with the powers of the sea (Neptune, Manannan, and the old Norse variety)where of course both the ocean and Nanna had their share. My first crossing 'the line' and Isabelle's second.Yeeehah!
6.30PM   Fired up the engine to run the watermaker for a bit since it won't get used in Bah?a's silted river water. As an added advantage we could now steer right toward the last little cape to pass. Punta Pasado S 00.23 W 80.33 and save us a few miles. We intend to sail a bit back and forth just outside the area where the pilot will meet us tomorrow morning since anchoring in the ocean swell is too uncomfortable.


After a quite uneventful night slowly sailing, even slowing the boat down not to arrive to early to the waitingroom at Bah?a, we arrived at 5.30 AM as confirmed by e-mail correspondence with the staff at 'Puerto Amistad' (port of friendship) ran by a US/Colombian couple we found the spot empty except for  a couple of pangas coming in from a night's fishing. Called them on VHF radio several times but no answer. Then tried again a bit after 6 just to find out that Ecuador is an hour ahead of us -still on CostaRican time- so the pilot had already been at the spot but turned back in just before we arrived.

The irony of this is that we really tried to 'kill' 5-6 hours last night not to arrive tooooo early ;-/. Well mistakes are easily made, we were not informed about the local time being different, but neither did I ask. Since the longitude is about the same as CR I had no reason to believe Ecuador would be an hour ahead and in fact on the same time zone as Panam? which is quite a bit eastwards of us. No big deal, we'll be busy cleaning up the boat and get some well needed sleep.

Some short facts of the passage:

Time from departure to arrival: 9 days minus 1 hour (not counting the numerous hours spent slowing                   the boat down or being becalmed
Hours motoring:       26
Miles:            Approximately 600 for the charted route
            covered miles over ground 844 (gps tripmeter) due to tacking
Average speed over ground:   3,9 knots. Unimpressive for sure but includes 20 hours becalmed.

Conclusion:         Passages against prevailing wind and current better be avoided, but are probably the most effective way of really get to no your boat and reveal potential problems that needs attention.

We're looking forward to explore Ecuador the next few months and also deal with everything on the boat that should be checked, replaced etc. before heading out to French Polynesia in the early months of the coming year. A haul-out to replace the cutlass bearing and stuffing box(keeps the propeller shaft in place and keeps it from leaking) and another few coats of bottom paint.

Questions and comments always welcome! Cheers...

What a wonderful read, thanks for taking us along  :)

Been wondering how you two were doing, congrats on getting to the other hemisphere.

Thought I would throw the link to their blog in here;

http://svnanna.wordpress.com/2013/04/18/paradise-found/

In the Gambiers, french Polynesia since 9 months. The tranny borke down shortly after we arrived, and that led to a complete rebuild in situ. Then we really started to love the place, made friends with locals etcetera. Hurricane season down here right now so we'll wait here until late MArch to move on. Isabelle just return from a 3 month spell in France with her dying Father

We are now looking at enjoying snorkeling and freediving on the various motus until it's time to leave the Gambiers. Internet is very slow and extremely pricy here, that's why my blog entrys are text only and not many log-ins to forums either.

We wish everyone on Sailfar a happy 2014, with as many sea miles as you'd like!
Magnus & isabelle on NANNA
svnanna.wordpress.com

Hi Magnus and Isabelle, good to hear from you. I have been following the blog, and am glad to see that Isabelle is back. Glad to here also that you are enjoying your forced stay in Gambiers, what a terrible place to get stuck.  :P

Great to hear from you Magnus!!!  Have fun!!!