Finally ready to go

Now look how beautiful she is. Finally ready to hit the sea again after almost a week on dry. Washed and polished in every corner and with her bottom freshly painted. We are running behind schedule so we'll talk to you again soon when we're out on the sea. Just some few more things to organize and refit and then: The 30 hour passage to Ibiza!

We'll bring our video camera with us so we might give you some real life action from our part of the world, later on. Be safe until then. A&T

More coming

The debate goes on with a very interesting discussion... here. Click yourself through all 11 pages if you like.

And here on Sailing Anarchy ... You'll find it on page 2, after the chat about the religious guys..

Don't we just love the Internet.

/T

The world tour boat

Our beautiful arch in stainless steel is finally with us and perfectly installed. This addition gives the boat a whole new world tour look, we can't wait to get the solar panels and the wind generator in place on it. Alex draw the design himself on this arch and it's perfectly custom made for our needs. And so very beautiful where it stands. /T

The conservative world of cruising?

A very lively debate has erupted after we published a link to our website on a few of the big sailing forums out there. One in particular created such an intense discussion that more that 40 people engaged into contemplating on if our blog was good enough as a cruising blog or not. Most of the members writing on that thread was of course positive, glad to see something new and inspiring but there were some among them who called our blog "too slick, fake and self-centered", also "too sexy". Some accused us for being too commercial and even too professional to suit in the "natural" world of cruising. Ha! Some of the members even accused us for charging money through paypal on our site, where they got that idea from is still a mystery. Have you guys ever sen a Pay Pal sign here on this blog? That specific thread on CF has now been removed from the forum and we're waiting for an explanation from it's administrators of why and for what reason it's deleted as we are sure of that we haven't violated on any of their rules.

In the meanwhile, here's a picture for you all out there: Is this also maybe too sexy and fake to suit in the fine world of cruising? (Our apologize for showing the boat in that terrible condition though. This is taken just in between the sanding of the primer and applying of some more..)

It is just fantastic what emails we've received in the last 24 hours. People from every part of the world have contacted us to tell us how much they love what we do and how we do it, and also some few emails were sent by conservative members of those forums urged us to stop writing in forums such as CF as we are "destroying" the "natural" world of cruising. Very amusing indeed.

To all of you other, positive, open minded people who're reading this blog, thanks for reading, we are delighted by the fact that we might inspire some of you out there to follow your dreams. And a very warm welcome to all of our new readers! /A&T

In this small space

This is what I was talking about. As you clearly can see, we use the galley for two very different type of purposes. But it just has to be like that I guess? Living on 20 square meter (215Sq Ft) doesn't give too much of space to play around with. How do you other people do who's living aboard? I have understood that it is impossible to mix fillers and other powdery substances outdoors while it's windy, but I would like to keep this precious area of the boat safe from those toxic things as well. Any type of advice is welcome. /Taru

More things up

It did start to rain.. but then it stopped. Phew, at last we could start to mount the arch. Hopefully getting up the solar panels and wind generator tomorrow.

Work under progress..

My hard working man has been up at 7am every morning and worked hard on the boat for minimum fourteen hours per day these last seven days. Soon it will all be done, but I'm afraid that I just heard thunder from a distance, please tell me there will be no rain tonight! /T

Checklist this week

I guess we're soon ready to set our sails towards that circumnavigation we've been talking about! Oh gosh what an expensive preparation this is, but on the other hand: How many times in your life are you planning to go around the world? This is such a lifetime adventure and incredible challenge that we do not care if we have to spend our last pennies in order to make this happen. There's anyway always more money to make out there if needed, aren't there.

So we're almost done with our tasks:

• Apply epoxy and primer on the hull
• Two layers of antifouling, one done
• Arch in stainless steel installed on the aft deck
• Solar panels and wind generator up
• Replace the standing rigging
• Install new life lines
• Install the new GPS, VHF and AIS
• Installment of the radar
• Installment of the sonar system
• Cushions must arrive
• Our new SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger must get installed so you guys can see exactly where in the world we are located.

We are tremendously grateful for the discounts and assistance we've received from our partners. Paolo at our local Accastillage Diffusion have kindly provided us with well needed discount on the electronics, life-raft and solar panels while Hallberg-Rassy have been very helpful in guiding for some of the original parts in order for us to make our old lady (almost) look like new again.

There's just a few other things that still needs to be replaced or get installed. As time flies and we need to head out on the sea in just a few days, we'll manage these last things once we're back here for our last weeks in Barcelona in Sept/Oct:

• New sails needed. Elvström or North Sails? Still comparing.
• Self steering, prefarably Hydrovane - or anyone having a better suggestion for self steering? we haven't studied this too much yet.

Let's now cross our fingers and hope that our arch gets perfectly installed tonight and tomorrow, that - along with the solar panels and wind generator are something we simply can't live without one more day as we do not want to waste a fortune on diesel this summer.

The Phuket Photo Walk 2010

Last Saturday (24th July) was the date for the 3rd annual Worldwide Photo Walk, an event which aims to get photographers out snapping pictures of their home towns, all on the same day. According to the website, this year there were over 1,000 walks and a total of over 33,000 registered walkers. I took part in the 2009 walk in Phuket, and signed up for 2010. Last year I had been worried that everyone on the walk would be a super pro with 5,000 dollar cameras, but was happy to see all kinds of people and all kinds of cameras. Part of the idea is to get people to see their town in a different way. You can walk the same street a thousand times, but if you go down the same street with a camera and open your eyes, in the company of other people with cameras, you might just see things in a new light!

In 2009 there were at least 40 people on the Phuket walk, so I was surprised to see less this year. Only about 15 or 20 people met at the Royal Phuket City Hotel. Yeh, the weather may have been to blame. Morning had been wet, did not look promising, but I was determined to be there with my daughter who was 9 years old that day and was equipped with her birthday present, a new Sony Cybershot - her first camera. As it turned out the weather held off. Not sunny, but no rain. Of course the real reason for meeting at that hotel was this:



Sexy girls holding tools.. don't tell the wife. My daughter thought I was silly to take a photo of the sign. We met the other walkers inside Cafe 154, a rather nice coffee shop which is part of the hotel. Good coffee and a huge selection of cakes. I got my daughter a doughnut while our walk leader Kim started to explain about the walk. I think the idea is to walk around in a group, but everyone left before the doughnut was finished, so me and my girl headed off alone.



The Royal Phuket City Hotel is on Phang Nga road, opposite the bus terminal, just a couple of blocks or about half a mile east of the old town which was to be the focus of the photo walk. The exact boundaries of the old town are hard to define, there are older buildings all over town, but in particular Thalang Road and Soi Romanee, which have recently had all overhead cables removed, are of most interest to photographers. The cable removal scheme is due to step up a gear starting next month with other roads around the old town being made cable free. The area just east of the old town has rather more modern buildings and "attractions" ...





We soon reached Thalang Road which is great for photography, day or night. There are small interesting shops, cafes and houses, and with the old "Sino Portugese" style architecture and with many of the businesses being run by old Phuket families, the area retains an old feel. One guy showed us around his hardware store, in the center of which was his house, old style around a courtyard with old teak furniture. He said the business had been started by his grandfather. There are many well kept houses around Thalang Road. The area is looked after by the Phuket Old Town Foundation which is headed by a big local family who also own the Butterfly Garden. Other members include the head of the Chinese Thai Hua school and the Mayor of Phuket who we met a bit later on...





(above) This is an old printers shop on Thalang Road. I'd like to go back and take some more photos. The printing presses look old. No computers or laser printers here - this place is all about printing by hand, old style. Thalang road has many interesting shops and businesses.

Soi Romanee is the most photographed street in town. It's a narrow street that heads north off Thalang Road to the Mongkhon Nimit temple. It is said that the street used to be full of whorehouses in the old days. Now there are several small cafes, at least one small guesthouse and other private houses. Most of the buildings have been painted up, all the overhead wires are gone, and a lot of that is thanks to Mr Puchong who is a lawyer and owns the Glastnost Cafe. Very nice man. My daughter and I stopped to say hello and found Alasdair (another photo walker) there also. Mr Puchong very kindly made us some excellent Vietnamese coffee.



There will be monthly live Jazz sessions again at Glastnost in the high season starting in November - we went one time earlier this year and we'll go again so I can blog it! As we left the cafe (after all, can't sit around drinking coffee all day! There are photos to be taken!) we met the Mayor of Phuket City, Somjai Suwansupana who stopped to talk to Mr Puchong. My daughter snapped a photo:



Now, I could walk around all day, but my poor girl was getting tired. We stopped for some food at a little restaurant next door to the "Oldest Herb Shop in Phuket". Took some photos first of course. This shop is great. The smells are wonderful. Many Chinese believe in the powers of herbal medicine. I reckon if you walk in there and take a deep breath it might cure a few ills! The owner kind of posed for a photo...





Now, the restaurant next door, where we ate our fried rice, has a secret. The restaurant is on Thalang Road, but if you ask nicely, they will let you walk out the back door, through the stores and you enter the Shrine of the Serene Light, the main entrance to which is up a narrow alley (now being widened) on Phang Nga Road just west of the On On Hotel. It's a lovely little shrine, one of many Chinese Shrines in town, but this one is well hidden!



Well, it was time to head back to the cafe for the post walk gathering.. only half a mile to walk but some little feet were getting tired, so for the first time since Lord knows when, I hailed a tuk tuk. Braced myself for some crazy price to be given for the very short ride, but he only asked 60 Baht and was so friendly and smiley that I gave him 100. If only tuk tuks could be like this at the beaches...



Oh, you can find lots more photos of the walk here:

• Phuket Photo Walk 2010 - 35 photos on Flickr (set)
• Slideshow on Flickr

Back at Cafe 154 for a cold draft Heineken and some chat. Maybe there will be another local walk for photographers next month, Kim suggests Koh Sirey fishing port, early morning. If you want to know more, please do ask! This Phuket walk was very nice for me to walk around with my daughter. I am sure there will be another official walk next year in July, but anytime is good for a walk around Phuket Town.

Related blog pages:

• Phuket Photo Walk 2009
• Phuket Old Town Street Festival
• Glastnost Cafe on Soi Romanee
• Thai Hua School Museum

Dangerous cooking

While Alex is downstairs covering our hull with epoxy, I'm sitting inside trying to work a bit. That's pretty much how our days looks like right now until we're ready to set off. He's in charge of the heavy, physical work and maintenance on the boat, while I'm keeping up this blog, dealing with partners, working on some other online projects and cooking for my man. We have found our perfect rhythm with this division and the must do's of the days goes by pretty easy with no hassle. Besides of when Alex gets into the galley (kitchen), blends the dangerous epoxy and watertite mixes by the zinc and want to mix it all in the same bowls that I use for the cooking! As we both are very temperamental and passionate people, we scream at each other for one and a half minute like we're ready to kill. But then it's all over. Fast and easy. I go back to my computer or cooking or whatever it might be and Alex gets out to finish his work. That's more or less the only type of drama we have in our lives at the moment. Don't you think we need to get out of here soon? To be too long time on land is no good for us! We're in need of other types of action!

That was not what I wanted to talk about though, but I wanted to share with you the ultimate BBQ marinade which will make you want to light your grill every single night. Simple and easy:

Taru's BBQ Marinade for wonderful steaks

Take a small bowl (make sure there's no epoxy residues!), mix all of these things together:

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of chinese soya

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

2 freshly pressed garlic cloves

1 tablespoon herbs of choice

1 teaspoon red-hot cayenne pepper or chili powder

salt, pepper.

Whisk it all together, pour it into a plastic bag. Trow in the meat, make sure the marinade gets all over the steaks. Tight the bag and leave it there for 1-4 hours -depending on how long time you got and then grill your steaks to perfection. Voila! You now got the best tasting steaks in town!

On the picture: Argentinean beef served with potato gratin and an apple, rucola and blue cheese salad.

Let's do this

Here's our beauty on dry after been washed. The old antifouling will now be taken off and time for a new coating and epoxy tomorrow. We both love working under deadline pressure and even though we sometimes might be in the last minute with things, we somehow always make it on time *touching wood*. This is the plan:

We must get back in the water and be on our way to Ibiza, no later than Saturday night this week. Before that we'll need to finish the applying of epoxy and the antifouling paint. The new arch must get installed with the solar panels and wind generator perfectly in place. All new electronics and the sonar must get installed. The same with the radar. New life lines shall be refitted and lastly the cockpit cushions must arrive. I guess we trust ourselves and each other on this but the truth is that as long as we're still in Spain and have to depend on Spanish companies, we can never be too sure on getting things done on time. The mañana mentality is not just a saying, let's just put it that way. /Taru

Isle of Wight: Carisbrooke Castle (part 1)

I’m finally able to continue posting about our adventures in the Isle of Wight in March.  This is the first part of our visit to Carisbrooke Castle.

The day after our exciting adventure on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, Stephen and I drove on up to Carisbrooke Castle.  Carisbrooke is built atop a hill and the main walls and keep have been a that location since about 1100 CE.  I have a lifelong fascination with castles and ruins and I would rate Carisbrooke the best of all the castles I have seen in terms of ruins and ancient-but-standing structures.  Perhaps I should let my photos do the talking?

I love how this photo turned out.  It was very exciting walking into the castle and this photo seemed to represent the wonder that lay beyond the gate.

The first known usage of the hilltop dates back to the sixth century AD when the site was used as an Anglo-Saxon cemetery.  It was later used as a defence base against Danish raids and that base was used after the Norman conquest in 1066 as the basis for the first Norman castle on the island.  This was then replaced by the present castle in around 1100 and this gatehouse has been around since that time.  Originally, it was only a tower and the round projecting drum towers were added later.

We took a quick walk around the North West bastion before entering the castle through the gatehouse. 

We caught our first glimpse of the ruins of Carey’s Mansion.  Carey was governor of the island and cousin to Elizabeth I.  His mansion was originally two storeys high and was built between 1584 and 1586.

We turned around to look at the inner gates of the gatehouse.  That is the original medieval gate and you can click on the photos to see them in higher resolution.

The original Chapel of St Nicholas was on the site long before the rest of the castle was built around it in 1100 but it has been rebuilt several times and was last rebuilt in 1904.  In the photos above, you can see Bernini’s bust of Charles I and main war memorial on the island.

 

We then visited Princess Beatrice’s gardens which were completely redesigned and replanted in 2009.  The gardens looked quite exquisite and I am sure that they must look absolutely amazing now in summer.

That building in the right hand corner is the Great Hall and Constable’s Lodging.  That is where we shall visit next time! 

Tonight's read

Alex came home with this interesting book earlier and while he's connecting our new GPS, Vhf and AIS systems, I'm sitting here in our newly refitted cushions/couch drinking some very, very well balanced Pinot Noir and dreaming my night away with the inviting stories and colorful pictures of this book.

The Pacific passage is undoubtably the part of our journey which we look forward to most of them all. And getting to hear other peoples excitement and joy over their first cruise in this marvelous area makes us long for it even more. After only been reading in the book for one hour, I can already highly recommend it to anyone who's planning a Pacific route, as the book covers everything worthwhile. From the weather, winds and currents to port information, what in the nature of the beautiful islands are good to eat, which animals to watch out for, which routes are suggested and what to do if you encounter with the dangerous sea snake whilst snorkeling and much more. A very well structured hand book for the ones getting ready to cruise in the big ocean which covers almost half the earth's surface. The ocean where we'll spend the first part sailing with only water around us and with no sight of land for nearly a month. How thrilling isn't simply that thought alone?!

I really should go to sleep now as the clock shows 1:40 am and we're going to haul out the boat early tomorrow morning to paint the antifouling, but I can't let go of this book. It makes me feel like we're on our way already.

Now only 96 days left until departure.

Book: The Pacific Crossing Guide, Second edition by Ros Hogbin and The RCC Pilotage Foundation.

Cakes and secrets

(I have a secret I feel like to share with you all: One of my secret fantasies is to one day host my own cooking TV show, but don't tell anyone!)

Anyway, this cake is so tremendously juicy and wonderful that I wanted to share the recipe with you guys. First time I made it was while we were sailing along the coast and I had forgot to release our gimbaled oven to a fully flexible position. You can only imagine how the cake (and the oven) looked after the boat been heeling on one side only.. Until next time I had learnt my lesson. Maybe it would work in the Remoska as well? Will try to find out soon.

Taru's Fudgy Banana Brownie

2 large eggs
1,3 dl white sugar (1 cup)

1,3 dl brown sugar (1 cup)

1 teaspoon vanillin sugar

1,5 dl flour (1 cup)

4 tablespoons unsweetened cacao
150 g melted butter (5,3 ounce)
2 ripe bananas, mashed.

Preheat the oven to 175°c (347°f). Mix sugar and eggs until fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and mix it all together to a nice and smooth batter. Pour the batter over on a buttered, square pan. Bake for 30 minutes. It is supposed to be soft and fudgy inside and crispy on the outside. Serve with whipped cream and fresh fruits. Garnish it all with some brown sugar on top. Mmmmm.... it tastes like heaven!

If you don't fancy bananas, try mixing with other ingredients like peanut butter, almonds, walnuts or why not marshmallow's.

Bon Appétit! /T

Novi Sad: Fruška Gora

There is no airport in Novi Sad so I flew into Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport which is about 80 kilometres from Novi Sad.  Maja’s friend Dado has a taxi and he met me at the airport.  I immediately knew we were going to get along nicely when he was holding a “Welcome Mandy” sign.  One of the first things he did was to laugh at my English pronunciation of “Belgrade”.  I realised that it is pronounced much closer to the Serbian spelling which is “Beograd” and I have to say it is perhaps the most pointless Anglicisation of a city name ever (considering that “Beograd” means white city and, well, “Belgrade” doesn’t).

We’d already agreed on the €40 fee so I was pretty delighted when he said “highway or scenic route?”  And so it was that we took a route through the tiniest little villages and past field after field of the greenest corn.  Corn prefers slightly less rain than they have received in the region this year and is usually brown so this was quite a sight to see!

My impressions driving through the villages were of vastly differing levels of wealth.  There were several Orthodox churches in pristine condition, a tiny number of sprawling and well kept houses but on the whole, the houses were modest and often in desperate need of repair. 

We soon arrived in the region of the Fruška Gora and drove up the road of the Fruška Gora National Park.  The Fruška Gora is a massive mountain that runs about 80km from east to west.  It is one of the most fertile, beautiful and peaceful places I have ever seen and one of the strongest drawing points for me to return to Serbia.  Dado suggested we roll down our windows and I wish it was possible to capture and record that smell for you.

The scent coming through the windows was subtle and for a moment, I had to filter out all of the scents from inside the car.  It was warm and slightly sweet, like honeysuckle.  It smelled like life, purity and nature and was absolutely incredible.  It made me feel quite light headed and dizzy in the most amazing, life affirming way.

The Most Awesome Taxi Driver in the World Ever™ noticed me trying to take photos from the moving car and pulled off to the side to let me take photos.  I took this quick snap but was really keen to see Maja and so we did not stay long.

---

I did not see Dado again until it was time to go home on the Monday.  Once again, he asked “highway or scenic route” with the biggest smile because he knew which route we would take.  Once again, we wound down the windows as we drove through Fruška Gora.  I was severely sleep deprived and quite exhausted on that Monday morning and it had been quite a hectic weekend but driving through those mountains again certainly perked me up. 

I’m not sure what it is about forests and mountains that appeal to me so much.  Perhaps it was the fact that I was a Brownie and we learnt all about the woodlands folklore including owls, pixies, sprites, imps, toadstools and all kind of magic.  Whatever my motivation might be, I will certainly be returning to the wonderful city of Novi Sad and I’ll be sure to take a proper walk in the mountains next time.

 

The Most Awesome Taxi Driver in the World Ever™ stopped again in the same place and insisted that I get out of the car to take some photos.  I am so used to my friends and family shouting at me for stopping to take photos that it was quite a surprise to be encouraged so much to do so!

Of course, with that little detour and subsequently getting stuck behind a truck, we found that we were running slightly late and that meant that Dado had to drive at 140 km/h up the highway when we finally made it there.  The one similarity between South Africa and Serbia (which is certainly not present in England) is the absolutely crazy driving.  As we overtook five or more cars at a time on narrow mountain passes, I thought that if I were to die then at least I would have been able to breathe in the fresh mountain air of the Fruška Gora.  Gosh, I seem to fall in love with places and cities really easily! The Husband should count his lucky stars that I am not that way with people!!

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Whenever I can, I fly out of London via London City Airport (LCY).  Apart from being really close to my house, LCY is just a short train and Docklands Light Railway ride away from our house.  LCY itself is the easiest airport on the planet to go through as there are hardly any queues and more polite businessmen than families and children. 

Big fishing

This is a part of the big tuna we cought on our last passage between Mallorca and Barcelona. Weight around 12 kilos (26 pounds). The Shimano Tiagra 50W LRSA 2-Speed Reel works perfectly with fish in this size and bigger and it's a real pleasure to work with./A

More from Formentor

So where was I? Ok, this is the early morning in the bay of Formentor. Beautiful and serene. No one was awake at this time besides me and some fishes under me in the sea grass that I accidentally had to witness very closely.

I woke Alex up and we swam to land for breakfast by the Barcelo Hotel. After eating we got our fins on and snorkeled for around 90 minutes from one side of the bay to the other. A perfect start on a lovely, sunny day. I just recently got familiar with this other world, below the surface, and it's a shame I never got introduced to it earlier. Feels like there's so much I have missed out on! The life underneath our own is absolutely marvelous. So quiet and in total peace within itself. Can't wait to get somewhere even more beautiful where we can explore other oceans and their creatures. (Sorry not much pictures from below down as the underwater camera we got sucks. Will get a new one asap)

We left our bay around lunch time and headed for another creek.

Feels like he wants to get out surfing. It's a shame that the waters and the choppy waves doesn't allow it around here in the Mediterranean. Can you feel our frustrating need to get to the pacific?! Diving in colorful waters! Surfing! Exploring new worlds!

Analyzing which new GPS to purchase. (Decided to go for the Garmin GPSmap 720s Chartplotter/Sounder.)

Later on that day we realized we had to stop somewhere to repair the halyard winch before sailing back home.

Were supposed to leave that night for our passage back home but the small town, Colonia st Pere, turned so incredible beautiful by sunset that we just couldn't leave before getting to indulge in the peaceful atmosphere, at least for one, single night.

Got my heels on,

and we went for dinner in one of the small restaurants by the beach.

Had a wonderful magret de canard in sweet pear sauce and a juicy piece of butter cooked salmon while dreaming and talking about our future adventures, and the meaning of the ones that had passed.

As none of us are particularly interested in football, we were in our own little world while everyone were inside watching Spain beating Holland. But we surely got notice of it when all of a sudden people came out from everywhere screaming and singing and lighting fireworks on the streets. Perfect entertainment just in time for our dessert.

Stayed in the marina until the next day and then back home the night after.

A very harmonic and relaxing weekend. Like most of the times when it's only the two of us. Us two with our Caos and the nature. Somehow it feels like that constellation has became our small family in a weird, wonderful, new way and like we said millions of times before, we can't wait to get the hell out of here (Europe) and take it all to the next level. /T