Weltumsegelung

18.01.2014 – 24.02.2014 Florian Our wind transmitter arrived from Austria (the local dealer was not able or willing to do the warranty exchange) und worked (hopefully longer than the last one). The day before we wanted to leave Le Phare Bleu marina on Grenada was a dinghy concert – live band on a barge right in the open bay; everyone sitting in dinghies tied up to the barge listening – it was quite an experience. When we came home after the concert I checked our Dolphin striker and saw that the mounting was broken – departure delayed; we have to repair that. Quite amazingly the next day I found a place that could make a new Dolphin striker within two hours and in the eveninig everything was fixed an ready to leave. Sometimes things work out just fine! We left Le Phare Bleu on February 5th to go north. We treid for a while to go up on the east side of Grenad but had to realize that there was no way we could sail hard on the wind against the waves. New plan – we go around the southern ti...

Florian   14.11.2013 – 17.01.2014 Its been a while. We had a great time on the Cape Verdes. San Nicolau was much more basic than Sal – less tourists – less „tourist industry“. The boat kids where happy with 50 cent, whereas on Sal the „charged“ 1 CVE (Cape Verde Escudo).  On San Nicolau we anchored in Port Taraffal – the „busy“ town of San Nicolau  - it was very relaxing. Friendly people, decent food, good anchorage. After three days we sailed over to San Vicente/Mindelo the economic capital of the Cape Verdes. Mindelo was completely different from what we had seen on the Cape Verdes so far. The biggest difference where paved roads, real supermarkets – a real city; Mindelo has approx. 60.000 people. My parents came for a visit and it was a very, very nice time for us. The highlight was a visit to Santo Antao – the island just north of Mindelo. Contrary to the other islands of the Cape Verdes we had seen so far Santo Antao had some really tropical areas. We hiked the green...

10.- 27.10.2013: Florian We visited the first two islands of the Canary Islands - La Graciosa and Lanzarote. La Graciosa is very „laid back“; no paved roads, only one little village (Calleta del Sebo). We anchored in a nice bay with thirty to fourty other boats that had arrived from Gibraltar. I went running and explored the whole island; we walked several times to Calletta del Sebo and celebrated a catholic mass in their little fishermen church – it was very charming. If you ever wanted a relaxing vacation or you needed to get away from everything - La Graciosa; two weeks there and your are fully recharged. After a few days of rest we moved on to Lanzarote. We sailed down the east coast and took berth in the new Marina Lanzarote in Arrecife. The marina is still junder construction, but the berths are very safe – and inexpensive. We rented a car and visited the whole island. Its an amazing scenery: volcanoes everywhere, some are even active. The last eruptions where in 1824 and the lan...

04.-09.10.2013: Florian: Crossing Gibraltar - Canary Islands The facts: its 586 nm from Gibraltar to the Canary Islands. The exit of the mediterranean is tricky. The weather needs to be observed to find the right „hole“ of northerly winds fort he crossing. Our reality: it is our first major crossing and the first one in the atlantic ocean. Some say you haven´t started a circumnavigation bevor you have not left the mediterranean. And its true: ys long as we sailed in the mediterranean – the mare nostrum = our sea – we somewhat felt like on vacation. Now this should become different. We have heared about the large wavers on the atlantic, large but long. The water is cooler as in the mediterranean and the weather should be more stable as in „our sea“. You need to find the right moment to leave the harbour in order to get well through the straight of Gibraltar. Strong currents are said to be there. All skippers – and therefore us as well of course – discussed in length when we should lea...

Florian: Gibraltar II – Regenerating We are in Gibraltar waiting for the right winds to depart for the Canary Islands. It´s about 600 nautical miles – about 5 – 7 days. What we need are consistent notherly winds; they usually are created if there is a strong high pressure field over the Azore Islands. It´s an amazing atmosphere here in the marina of La Linea. Most of the ships are waiting for the right winds. There are some who are participating in the ARC 2013 (Atlantic rally for Cruisers), an organized crossing of the Atlatic (about 250 ships) that became also a race – even though thats not the reason for this yearly event but rather to cross the Atlantic in a crowd. We are getting our ship ready for the crossing to the Canary Islands. I check the ventils of our motor, check and add the oil of the motor, clean the cooling liquid, check all sails and the mast. Buy new charts for the Canary Islands and Cap Verde Islands as well as the Carribbean (in Austria and have it shipped via UPS...

For my English speaking friends: We have made it through the straight of Messina (between the Italian mainland and Sicily; it was quite scary. The current there – due to the tide - is like a river: I´ve read that it´s also caused by the meeting of two differnet salt water densities of Ionian and Tyhrennian sea. We stopped over in Vulcano and climbed the active Vulcano. Vulcano is a beatifull holiday island – excellent for a laid back vacation. From there we sailed to Stromboli – also active vulcano and a nice – kind of fancy – little island town. From there we are heading north west now – wind and waves against us; stress test for the engine. Now August 12th, we are aiming towards Capri. I´ll keep you posted…

And now to my dear friends, that do not speak German and follow our blog. Well yes it`s true Martina and I have entered into a new life on the boat. We cancelled our lease contract in Vienna, sold our cars and left Austria. Its quite an exciting but anxious feeling to quit your old life and start a new one. Why do we do this? I think it´s because we want to live an adventure. And an adventure it is. Several problems challenge our positive attitude. However – once solved they are quite fast forgotten as well. And we want to see the world before we get old. We have just passed nautical mile 300 and are on the jump across and down the Adriatic sea to the south-east tip of Italy. The wind forecast predicts 15 knots northerly winds. Should be perfect to get there – I´ll let you know!! Keep your fingers crossed!!