There’s a really curious side of sailing that may not be immediately obvious to people outside the cruising community. In our little sailing world, word of mouth is everything – where to anchor, where to eat, which marina is good, how much is diesel in the next port, did you hear about that Japanese boat that exited the Panama canal backwards, don’t miss the so and so – the list goes on. The interesting thing that I have noticed is that in face to face conversations the commentary tends to lean to the positive – we tend to recommend things to each other, often boasting about the great deal we got or the fantastic experience we had, whereas online, on forums, discussion boards and mailing lists there is a serious tendency to have a good old fashion whine about stuff… this city is dirty, that marina is overpriced and rude, don’t go here, be careful of this, watch your back – stay at home or doom and gloom shall befall you!!

We had a 12 day wait and took the opportunity to antifoul Squander at Shelter bay marina.

In preparing for the Panama canal crossing, I had done my fair share of online research and truth be told I started believing that it would take a small miracle for us to get through to the Pacific in one piece, let alone with any money left in our pockets – tales of overpriced agents, bonds, deposits, damaged boats, delays, incompetent line handlers, advisors and skippers alike were just some of the stories that I came across. To be fair I am sure that all stories were true, however I’m fairly convinced that they represent only a tiny percentage of what really happens.

Here’s our story…

Pre arrival to colon

I emailed three agents and got quotes ranging from the ridiculous ($3375) to the surely too to good to be true ($1109). Having had friends that went through before us and arranged everything themselves for a total cost of $820  + taxi fees & a solid day of running around – I decided to give the too good to be true guy a go… and it all worked out!

We were pre –registered with Canal authorities before we even arrived in Colon, and I stayed in touch with our agent via email such that we were admeasured 12 hours after arriving in Shelter bay marina. Once the measurement is done you can go into the queue to go through the canal. Our waiting time was estimated at 10 days and in fact ended up being 11 days.

We had a fairly long list of things to do from provisioning to anti fouling and the 11 days flew by a lot quicker then we had anticipated. We were on the hard at Shelter bay marina for 6 nights and in the water for the remainder of the time.

 
A taxi to Colon is $20 but there’s always someone who’s willing to split the ride with you.

Colon is a confronting city at first although we found everyone to be helpful and courteous.

the buses in Panama are the best we have seen – real works of art – at night they come alive with all sorts of lights and decorations.

Squander with brand new antifoul, a greased prop, rudder checked and 3 tonnes of food onboard! 

On the day we were ‘splashed’ back in the water, the young solo circumnavigator from Holland pulled in on her boat “Guppy”
Laura Dekker has just turned 15!!   

 
Squander was soon back in the water and ready for action.
 

Well almost ready – we still had to address the broken spreader.  

with some careful rope work to hold the mast up, we eased the shrouds, climbed to the first spreader and removed the damaged wing. 
before long the new spreader was in place and the rig was back in one piece.

After 10 solid days of going at it, working, shopping, preparing and socialising with boats from around the world, we watched the final sunset on the Atlantic side…

Ashley from Backbeat was mistaken for being Laura Dekker and we didn’t have the heart to tell these guys that they had the wrong girl. 
On Saturday morning Erick, our agent delivered 14 tires  and the necessary 4 125 foot long lines to our boat.

A well timed torrential downpour took care of washing Squander down and before long we were on our way for the 16:00 rendevouz at an area called “the flats” near the entrance to the Canal – we checked in with Crystobal Signal station via VHF at 14:00 from the marina and they advised us that our advisor would be ready to board at 16:30. 
Goodbye Shelter bay – a welcome change to the sweltering heat of the past few days.

the flats some 2.8 miles away.

Fenders, lines and line handlers in place – Rebecca and Mojgan arrived just in time to give us a hand.
 
they instantly took a liking to our Virtual crew member – Michael Spiro who has sent a lifelike action hero doll version of himself for the trip to Australia.

Andy, Gavin (with VM) and Simon 

Our Chamber-mates – a Russian boat on the left and Magnum from California on the right. 
By 16:55 the advisors were on their way and without fuss Sylvestre our advisor jumped onboard and gave us a 2 minute briefing before suggesting we get underway!

We soon spotted the last boat to join our posse! 
We let him go ahead and followed at a safe distance.

Sylvestre was easy going, spoke perfect english and was happy to share as much or as little as our level of interest demanded.

 
As we neared the Gatun locks, Magnum and the Russian yacht caught up and we all rafted up with Squander in the middle.  

The months of sailing with Dimitry paid off as Simon communicated flawlessly with his Russian counterpart – harasho – I loove your socks Man!

A few last minute adjustments….
 
… and we were one happy raftup!

Kara on Magnum contemplates what lies beyond – after circumnavigating the world with her Mum and Dad for the past 5 years – Anne, Uwe and Kara are heading back to San Francisco and Kara will have to go to school – ouch!   
Andy & Simon – always time for a quick snack!
The arrow goes green – clear to proceed.
  

 
the lock chambers don’t look that big from a distance.

steering the raft, took a while to get the hang of turning, and slowing down this 40+ tonne beast.

The shore based line handlers soon had our lines and we were moving into the locks. Interestingly all vessels move through the locks under their own power, including the big ships, the only reason for the lines is to stop the ships and rafts banging into the walls.  

The Chamber is 110 feet wide and 1050 feet long – the biggest ships (known as PanaMax) leave only 2 feet (60cms) of clearance on the sides.
  
before long we were in position – one last look at the Caribbean sea…!

and the locks closed behind us

the locks start filling…. 
… and 15 minutes later we are 10 Metres above sea level
 
One of the few tense moments is when the ship starts moving forward and creates a river effect pushing a lot of water which causes all of the lines to creak as they take the strain of the weight of the three yachts.

Once the ship is in place in the next chamber, we are clear to proceed behind him.

Squander was the main engine however I had the option of asking for assistance through the advisor for extra power on either port or starboard if I or the advisor felt we needed it.

And again the second lot of chamber gates close behind us…

…. as Andy looks on.
 
The water starts filling and we are now 41 feet above sea level 
There are 2 lanes in each lock – next to us a big ship is also going through

being the centre boat, our line handlers had a day off – and got to relax and enjoy the experience.
 
STI Conqueror turns its screws….here comes the wave!
 
….team Helly Hansen!

Pretty amazing to think this has been operational since 1913  with no more then an occasional 12 hour break.   
As we make it through the final lock in one piece, we’re all tired but happy to have made it in one piece.  

We exited the final locks some 30 metres above sea level into the lakes 

The next day we woke up at 6:30 and proceeded to motor through the Gatun Lakes and onto the Pedro Miguel & Miraflores locks some 35 miles away.  

The traffic through the canal is 24 hours per day. 
10 floors of cars….!
     
no one lives on the shores of the lake and wildlife is abundant – birds, monkeys and plenty of crocodiles!

On day 2 there were a total of 6 yachts crossing together with no big ship in our chamber – just a passenger sight seeing ferry..
 
A true Panamax – 13 containers across the back and some 900+ feet long
 
The American navy boys in  a BIG fast speed trimaran.

the dredging division never stops, constantly ensuring the canal is deep enough. 
By 11:00 am we had made it to the first lock and it was time to raft up again.

Going down is a lot more relaxing. We were at the front of the chamber with the passenger ferry behind us and another raft of 2 yachts behind them

the gates close as the big boys turn up

….going down….
 

 
Evita from the UK and another yacht from Hawaii

…. and we’re through 1 – two to go.
  
and through the last one…. 
Quick team photo – 3 April 2011 – Simon, Mojgan, Rebecca, Andy & Gavin

Welcome to the Pacific!!!!!

Big thanks to Ian from Evita for sending these through – they were screen shots of the live web cam

We finally made it to the anchorage outside Panama City where we stayed for two days before moving on south towards the Galapagos…. we haven’t made it very far as there’s very little wind and el Nino is playing havoc with the trade winds… but we hope to resume the journey soon!

The Atlantic crossing is fast becoming a distant memory, as I attempt to recollect the past four weeks of fun times, friends, family – celebrating Christmas and new year, absorbing the vibe of three separate Caribbean nations and feeling like a kid in a candy shop with all of the beautiful, sweet, cheap rum at our disposal!

For those of you that followed our progress across the Atlantic, you may recall that the lack of trade winds in the early part of our crossing was threatening our planned stop in Barbados on the way to St Vincent & the Grenadines.

Squander reaching from St Vincent to Bequia island .

Being budding anthropologists, we desperately wanted to study the people of the nation that claims to have the oldest Rum in the world…

And we weren’t disappointed! The people of Barbados are amongst the friendliest that we have come across thus far. An interesting array of Caucasian & west African races that reflect the history of this island nation named as the Island of beards – after the bearded fig trees trees  that impressed the English colonists back in 1627!

Our Dolphin escort into Barbados

And so with the wind gods deciding to give us a brief three day stop in the nation that invented Rum, we seized the opportunity to live, explore, recharge and sample the local delicacies!

This photo was taken on DAY 14 of our Atlantic crossing by a passing yacht.

Having arrived in the early afternoon, we were informed that the port was full of cruise ships and we had to standby until 18:00 hours before being granted permission to enter port and clear customs.

Bridgetown is over run with cruise ships – up to 5 per day dock here!

We dropped anchor and watched a spectacular sunset, drinking rum and celebrating a successful Atlantic crossing.

Having completed customs and clearance procedures, we moved Squander to Carlisle bay around the corner. The next day we woke up in a crystal clear anchorage, surrounded by white sand beaches, yachts from various parts of the world and the excitement of finally going ashore after two weeks at sea. 

We walked around Bridgetown, the capital of Barbados, got our bearings and committed to spend the afternoon at the rum factory!

Agatha & Andy celebrating our arrival!

The museum – where you are encouraged to bring your complimentary drinks with you for the hour long tour – love this place!!

The tour includes more complimentary drinks and if you are lucky, you get invited for the lock in with the staff of the factory and end up going out with them that night!

Taking over the bar.       
At a little over 10 Aussie dollars a litre, we managed to put some extra ballast into the bilges.

The next day we spent the day exploring the streets, doing some provisioning and catching up on emails. 
Local drinks stand – selling fresh coconut water! 

Bridgetown in the background!

That night we caught a taxi to the south of the island for the weekly fish fry! A Friday tradition where everyone comes out to play, eat freshly caught fish &  macaroni pie washed down with cold beer and rum!

By 10pm the barbecues start cooling down, the rum starts flowing, the music goes up 10 decibels and the night heats up, with the street party going into the early hours of the morning. By midnight we were bushed, still feeling the effects of the museum tour of the previous day – so we took ourselves home to bed.

On the third and last day, Andy and Simon tried getting the dive compressor working – unfortunately it needs a new filter which we haven’t been able to source in the Caribbean.

We also visited the infamous Barbados yacht club for lunch and to pick up some water – they run a hose out to a mooring buoy where you can tie up and fill your water tanks.              
Squander tied to the water mooring, as Andy heads to shore to ask for the water to be turned on!
Simon in the dinghy coming to pick us up from shore as the sunset lights up the sky.

And before long the sun was setting and it was time to say goodbye to Barbados and set sail west for an overnight trip to Saint Vincent & the Grenadines to pick up Amanda and JB who were flying in from New York and Paris respectively.

By Sunday morning we had St Vincent firmly on our sights

Young Island, St Vincent

The welcoming committee following us in – throughout the Caribbean these ‘boat boys’ approach yachts with anything from fresh fruit and veg, bread, fish, as well as offers of whacky tabbacky and help tying up to moorings.

Amanda & JB – guests aboard Squander for 2 weeks! 

Exploring the sights, as our trusty dinghy waits below!

Simon’s new nick name is “Don Simon” and apparently he is licensed to….

After a few days on St Vincent island, we had a Champagne Sail to Bequia island where we would spend Christmas!

Amanda finding her feet!

It’s been a while since we’ve had champagne onboard…?!!

Ag and ‘Manda – a Happy reunion after not seeing each other for 18 months!
… and a traditional Squander dinner!

Agatha brought a xmas tree with her all the way across the Atlantic!

Amanda’s bag was lost in transit which apart from the obvious inconvenience, was also terrible news as i had spent the previous two months ordering parts, flags, books, and other equipment online in the states and had it delivered to Amanda – all of which was now lost. As it turned out the bag, finally arrived some 3 days later and Amanda & Agatha jumped on a ferry to go and pick it up – whilst we had a boys Christmas Eve day out – snorkeling, trying to catch lobsters and lounging under palm trees!!

Life is tough!

Meanwhile on the ferry, the xmas spirit was well and truly alive!

The Bequia anchorage was packed over xmas with a huge amount of Swedish and Norwegian boats and only one other Aussie boat in sight!

We had a great xmas eve, playing frizbee, practicing our hand stands and forward flips and generally reflecting on the year that has been by far the most amazing one to date for me!

JB getting a good run up for his forward flip….

Boom… nice one JB!
Awaiting Rum o’clock!

Through our friends onboard MAD, we were invited to the Norwegian Xmas eve BBQ. Amongst other organised things, there was a makeshift xmas tree that everyone had to contribute something to – the green glow stick was Squander’s contribution.  BBQ’d pork – one to remember for years to come – yum!!!

We have met loads of young Norwegians sailing around the world – they have a great adventurous spirit and are inspirational in their commitment – often sailing on tiny boats with only the bare necessities, yet enjoying every minute of it! The most impressive ones to date are three young girls (24-26 years old), with little sailing experience that decided to cross the Atlantic – awesome!

Mojgan and Rebecca from MAD!

This photo is clearer then anyone’s memories of xmas eve!

The Skipper of Squander – last sighting before a miraculous drenching that may have resulted from misjudging a Dinghy entry – ahhhh…. I am now underwater! 

Morten from MAD and one of the three young Norwegian girls who crossed the Atlantic! 
Amanda & Andy “Angel” Patrick.

Ag & JB!

Christmas day was great fun  – a hungover breakfast followed by dinghy rides wishing other boats a merry xmas whilst drinking cold local beers and trying to find a place for Christmas lunch – Agatha lead the charge and found a place called THE REEF which offered us lobster, pork, chicken fish and beef lunch with a complimentary drink for a grand sum of $25/head – a seaside table for the whole afternoon, and we could dinghy to it directly from Squander – Wow!!

YUM!!!!!!

We also had some presents to open – some from as far away as Berlin – thank you COUSINS!!! Seen here opening my present from Julka, Tomek and Andrzej!!!

With Christmas all said and done, we decided to sail down to Tobago Cays on Boxing day – Tobago Cays is a group of five islands that has been declared a marine reserve – Spectacular uninhabited islands, crystal clear water, great snorkeling and white sand beaches!

Arriving in Tobago Cays at sunset!

Waking up in Paradise!

Maintenance and repairs are a never ending affair – trying to install the new control board for the generator…Still not working properly after 2 attempts!

With work out of the way, it was time to play again…. swimming from Squander to the beach i spotted lunch, but then realized i wasn’t allowed to catch it as it was a marine reserve!
Your lucky day Mister Lobster! This picture was taken in 7metres of  crystal clear water!

Our paradise anchorage!

Chilling on our own private beach!

Andy was a bit bored and decided to engineer a swing on Squander – it has since become one of our most popular pass times! JB Showing his style above!

Don Simon with a reverse pike switch re-entry!

Gavino looking for lobsters from above!

JB taking control of the dinghy as we search for our next snorkelling spot!

Turtles trying to get away from us – Andy and JB got a few good rides hanging on to their shells!

Floating around – Ag, Simon, JB and Andy!

Hi Mum!!! trying to get a brother/sister photo for mum….

It’s not always blue skies – in fact most days you get a torrential downfall for 15 minutes or so – the boat boys hide under a tarp as they sit out the tropical storm!

Amanda getting getting ready for gorkelling – snorkelling with swimming goggles! 

After 3 great days in Tobago Cays we heard from MAD who were on neighboring Mayreau Island seen in the distance in the above pic so we decided to join them for a night before cruising together back north to Mustique for New Year’s eve.

Don Simon and Mojgan getting sprung by the paparazzi again!

We had a fun afternoon, playing friz, watching Saskia take some new Yoga converts through the basics, eating lunch and finishing off the afternoon with an ultra competitive game of beach volleyball!
The action was heating up on the volleyball court as the “crowds” gathered to watch the spectacle that was unfolding!

That afternoon, an idea was put forward to race to Mustique – we had a forecast of 25+knots on the nose which was going to make for an interesting 3-4 hours. The challenge was on – MAD VS Squander!

At 9:00 am Squander managed to make out of the bay some 8 minutes before MAD, we put the sails up, stacked the rail and were away. To our great surprise MAD were motor sailing and soon started getting ahead of us… We decided to sail on and see what would happen!

We didn’t have to wait long – as MAD hoisted their sails and started heading straight for us, effectively restarting the race!

We put our secret weapon, Andy, on the helm and awaited the re-start!

MAD were soon next to us and nicely powered up at that, punching through the waves… and I hate to say it, that was about the extent of the “race” – MAD were the faster boat and soon we saw them pull away from us.   We tried a desperate tactical move by tacking early and heading for inshore waters in the hope of finding less swell, but even that brilliant masterstroke didn’t pay the dividends that we were looking for – MAD won the race convincingly!

MAD & Squander at the finish line – in Mustique for New Year’s eve!

Mustique is an interesting place, a private island owned by a company which is made up of famous wealthy owners who have large houses in this Caribbean paradise… Bryan Adams, lives next door to Mick Jagger who lives next door to Tommy Hilfiger who looks across the bay at Messieur Lacoste amongst others…

… and then there are the yachties in the anchorage – from all around the world and ranging from 25 foot to 250 foot boats – somehow it all kind of works… and you never know who you will find yourself chatting to.

We also invented a new game in Mustique – we call it Frisbee golf – rules are simple and very similar to Golf – except instead of using a golf ball and club, you use a Frisbee and instead of having to get it in a hole you have to hit a Palm tree – there are various degrees of difficulty – JB seen here trying to make Par on the 7th hole (palm tree)

A bogie in the making!

Whilst the paparazzi was at it again!

And after a few rounds of Friz-golf it was time to round off 2010 with more swing action – JB getting a bit of height on take off thanks to an obliging Don Simon on all fours!

Don Simon performing his latest move – The Buddha! 
Gavino looking for a good landing spot as Agatha and Rebecca watch on

Let go Andy!

Peer, skipper of MAD showing some class upside down!

Agatha doing “The Walk”

And then it was lunchtime… a final healthy feast before the inevitable debauchery of new Year’s eve – hopefully partying with Mick!

After a few sundowners JB decided to get in the mood by rehearsing some classic Rolling Stones moves!

With the pre concert sound check done, we moved the infamous Basil’s bar for a great New Year’s eve dinner!

…and an opportunity to congratulate MAD on their win in the inaugural Mayreau to Mustique upwind challenge! 

Mojgan and the Mahboubi sisters rocking out!

This guy kept on popping up everywhere – Norwegian but we swear he must have had Irish roots!

With 2011 underway, the camera got put away as we partied into the night at Basil’s bar and then at Lisa’s – a local bar that was rammed with a popping, ass-grinding, friendly local crowd, with loud Techno Reggae keeping the party going in absolutely pitch darkness!

We all had a fun night, but still no sight of Mick!

… and the Paparazzi started off 2011 with a pearler!

New year’s day we got straight into a game of Friz Golf, before heading to “Cotton House” for a New year’s day lunch!

and… as we were finishing our food, in walks in Mick Jagger with L’wren Scott and kids and sits at the table next to us…Boom!

The anchorage cleared out pretty fast and the island quickly returned to its sleepy best!

In the afternoon, we took a tour of the island – the airport is busy with light aircraft buzzing in and out all day long – apparently the flags represent the nationalities of home owners on the island!

Bryan Adams has the point, Mick Jagger has the middle bit and Tommy’s joint is on the left of the photo!

Learning how to hold a live lobster – gotta watch the spikes in the tail – keen to catch one in the wild some time soon!

One last sunset in Mustique, before setting sail back to St Vincent to say a sad goodbye to Amanda and JB. Another fun afternoon as we watched and listened to the Jam session at Basils – pretty funny talent quest with rich people’s kids and relatives joining in the fun – amongst others on the drums Nick Mason, drummer for pink floyd and Tommy Hilfriger’s brother Andy rocking out on guitar.

Pre Jam Session – enjoying some sun downers!

From Left to right, Rebecca, Andy, Morten, Peer, Saskia, Gavin, Basil, Mojgan, Agatha, Simon and Amanda – Fun times!  

One last sail before heading home!

The last supper before flying home!

Aurevoir JB… and as JB and Amanda flew home, AJ flew in from Australia as our newest crew member… but more on that in the next blog!

In an effort to give as varied a perspective as possible, I suggested to team SAGA (Simon, Agatha, Gavin & Andy) that we each set a topic for each other and with 3 topics each we will come up with 12 short stories from our individual perspectives.

The idea was embraced wholeheartedly both in terms of setting varied topics and in writing detailed accounts of what we experienced.

Here are the topics by Author, in alphabetical order.

Agatha’s Stories

1. Crossing an ocean – the expected and the unexpected
2. 2 weeks 3 guys and 4 square meters
3. Training and strategy for a JB encounter

Andy’s Stories

1. The boat or my body – Trimming for performance…
2. Adaptation – from racing yachts to cruising yachts
3. Triple hookup and other fishing tales from Squander

Gavin’s Stories

1. Breaking the banana curse
2. Boat speed vs boat safety – the ongoing debate
3. Sail-ability & availability

Simon’s Stories

1. Passage food  &my 3 most memorable meals
2. Cabin A & the vertical hammock
3. Training & strategy for a pirate encounter

Crossing an ocean – the expected and the unexpected

by Agatha (topic suggested by Gavin) | BACK TO TOP

I will start this story with an element of seriousness. It took some time to decide to take on this crossing and I was gripped with anticipation and secretly freaked out.. Taking myself back to the airport lounge when I was leaving Paris I was overcome with a feeling I had not experienced since I was 19 and leaving for my first overseas adventure to Vietnam. The constant questions racing through my head: what to expect, how I will cope, who I will meet and how it will all come together?

Having spoken to Gavin extensively before my departure the following was to be expected… I was in good hands!

Gavin the skipper who is very serious about safety preparation and planning..

Leading by example, with harnesses on.

Andy a young gun with much racing experience under his belt and Simon, Squander’s longest standing crew member who instills confidence with his physique alone.. I had a strong crew – That was expected.

This was a serious challenge I was taking on.. So you can imagine my surprise when I arrived in Las Palmas and found the skipper was skipping off on a romantic getaway and I was left with Simon and Andy.. My booty chasing crew buddies. Unexpected!!!

I soon adjusted to the fact that a large part of sailing is drinking and having fun! And so joined my new crew buddies as we played Frisbee and volley ball on the beach, put in a few solid games at the ten pin bowling alley, got the dinghy out for a skurfing session practice run before the boys invited the girls over so they could show off their skills of balance and strength.

The skipper soon returned from his romantic getaway and we were all whipped into shape.. Toilets needed cleaning, spreaders on masts needed protective covering, provisions need to be bought… Before long all was done and we were underway.. Leaving Las Palmas behind us! Whoo hoo.. I was ready.

Las Palmas in the Distance – Goodbye Canary islands.

Well land had not yet disappeared behind us, the boys drank their last beer and the swell was building. As expected my general sense of good feeling was disappearing with the land and nausea was settling in.. Then with darkness setting upon us, I was slowly sinking deeper into my seat in the cockpit convincing myself that all will be well, when there was a loud click and the whizzing of rope… I knew this was not a good sound.. Voices were being raised to get over the blowing wind to work out what went wrong.. A block slipped on the furling line.. Ok that was under control, only to be followed by the snapping sound as the main halyard shredded.. I sunk lower into my seat pulled my hood over my head and kept quiet.. Maybe I had been too quick to assume what was to be expected.. Can I still change my mind about this adventure? I’m not feeling so good….

With the rising sun came a new day. I had put myself to bed soon after the teething problems and was surprised to find that sleeping on a sailing boat was ok.. The nausea still there and it hung around for the following 48hrs or so but soon after I was starting to feel like a seasoned sailor.

With dolphins on our bow and the fishing line going off on day two I was beginning to understand that many of my hopes could be expected and may be realized. Still I took it easy this first week, I was not doing any night shifts and was exempt from anything that was making me feel unwell… Hmmm I could have milked this situation.

Agatha learning the finer points of rope work.

But from the moment of deciding to take this on I made a decision to get involved and so I was the number one assistant for anything that needed doing.. From cooking to tidying up ropes in the cockpit to being the celebrity guest on night watches, joining whoever was on deck if I woke in the middle of the night.

I was finding my routine and before I knew it the first 6 day leg was over. We were in Cabo Verde and would stay there for a week waiting for wind. Ah, this is where the drinking part comes back into sailing, being an adaptable soul I didn’t have too much trouble here.

Cabo Verde was great.. Mindelo was a small cobbled street town that I got to know quite well going from the market to the street vendor looking for the best fruit and veg to provision for our next leg. The week went by quite quickly and we even managed to take the local ferry and spent a day visiting St Antao, a great island again with a perfect cobbled road taking you over the mountain from one side to the next.

Before long we were moving the boat from the marina to the fuel dock for a fill up and leg two was underway… The trade winds had not yet started and so we were in for a slow start. This is the part I was dreading the most, 2 weeks at sea with no land in sight, nowhere to get away, no way out.. Here we go!

Leaving Sao Vicente Island in Cabo Verde

I think it was a blessing in disguise that the winds were low.. Our first week was so cruisey, with an a average speed of 5 knots I was happy going about my daily routine. I had decided that I wanted to do night watches so we came up with a schedule where I shadow each of the boys on their watches. I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed this, even if on one night watch I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. I think that being awake in the middle of the night and stargazing as the boat glides through the water is an essential part of any crossing.

As good as the slow week was it was bearing its toll when we realized that at these speeds we would get to the other side on January 4th!!!! So as much as I enjoyed an unexpected BBQ on deck in the middle of the Atlantic, and the endless UNO challenges without a worry that the cards may blow away, the building wind was a welcome sight. The change came in at sunset and before long there was wind and rain.

This was to be the first of a few wet night watches to come, but I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed standing in the rain for three hours, searching the blurry horizon for lights that may indicate passing ships and then dodging their course.

We had a good 4-5 days of Squalls and fresh winds.

The best thing about that is how good if feels when that last second clicks over and it is time to wake up the next person and take yourself to bed.

Other highlights have included dragging off the back of the boat with 6000m of water below us….

The skipper getting dragged behind Squander as the wind and current push us along at a couple of knots

Agatha doing some underwater acrobatics with only 5,000 metres of water below her!

….seeing 10 shooting stars in one 3hr night watch, being woken by a 48.5 knot gust with Gavin at the helm and finding myself sleepy eyed and standing at the foot of the companion way with my crew buddies all in our undies and wondering what the hell the skipper was up to, being on an evening watch with a grumbling tummy and the sweet smell of freshly caught mahi mahi curry escaping into the cockpit – my favorite squander meal,

baking banana bread whilst flying along at 8 knots, catching three fish in one go and watching the boys pull them in simultaneously and now with potentially only two days to go the anticipation of reaching the other side!

Bring it on… Expected and unexpected the whole thing has been an amazing experience and one I will never forget. Over and out.

2 weeks 3 guys and 4 square meters

by Agatha (topic suggested by Simon) | BACK TO TOP

Looking at this topic certain stereotypical scenarios immediately come to mind, luckily for me they were not my reality, although bad smells, flatulence, toilet humor, discussions of female conquests and general macho behavior did feature in the two weeks that passed.

Innocent until proven guilty!

Actually I was in the most pleasantly surprised by the level of personal hygiene on board.. With favorable weather conditions we all had daily salt water bucket showers off the back of the boat, there was everything from shaving beards to conditioning hair.. All from the boys.

There was a no sharing of soap policy and ‘happy days’ body moisturizer could also occasionally be smelt wafting through the cabin below and some toothbrushes had individual germ covers on them when not in use. When it came to laundry there was boiling of boxer shorts for that extra fresh clean and an impromptu salt water with detergent boxer and boardies wash too.. Impressive!

Andy leading the charge in the dental hygiene department

To me the most notable of experiences was the consumption of food. I quickly came to realize that I needed to ask for 1/3 portions and even then I walked away well fed.

As for the menu I have to say it was varied and always delicious, but onion featured in every dish.. My claim to not eating onion fell on somewhat deaf ears and so I soon gave up trying.. If possible I put the onion aside and it never went to waste.. And any leftovers I may have had were also soon snatched up.. Although that didn’t happen that often.

3 Dinners and 2 lunches in one fish!

Consumption of food went hand in hand with fishing.. As the more we caught the more there was to eat! I was really hoping for tuna and I did get one but the rest were all Mahi Mahi and the menu that followed was extensive: mahi-nara, fish curry, fish burgers, baked fish, pappa G’s famous fish soup, Samoan style ceviche with lime and coconut milk… The list goes on.

The reels were always out and fishing was a constant topic of conversation. Not having much to add here I soon became the fishing cheer squad.. Whenever the reels went off I could be found scurrying around looking for camera, fishing belt all the while yelling ‘fish, fish, fiiiiissssshhhhhh, fish, fish…’ somehow I think that got me some kudos as I heard one of the boys saying ‘it takes 3 guys and a girl to pull in a fish,  we need all crew on deck to have the lines out in these conditions’ .. Hmmm slowly earning my place in a man’s world.

A still form Agatha’s upcoming video documentary –stay tuned

Then there is the aftermath. Once the fish is wrestled onto the boat, usually by either a gaff in the eye or a welding glove snatching it from the ocean as it was being reeled in, then follows the ceremonial killing of the fish.

Now I love eating fish and so I understand that it needs to be killed, and I can appreciate that a swift hit to the head can be quick and effective, but it is the glint of satisfaction in the eye of the owner of the swinging fist that would make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Then once this was out of the way there was the measure up and the weigh in.

No records here!, but a solid feast nonetheless!

Everything is a competition, and where there is a competition there are trophies. So we had a collection of different sized fish tails hanging in the wind off the back of the boat. Not necessary in my book, and kinda gross but that’s what boys do!

Where’s your mummy, fiiiish!

Boys also do push ups, and so the Atlantic crossing push up challenge was created.. With a boat target of 15,000 push ups. I decided to partake as my name was on the list and I did not want my list to be filled with 0’s. However being a naturally broad shouldered girl I decided that too many were not necessary and would not try to match the boys. They were pumping out anywhere between 200 and 600 a day each!!! And there is talk of 1,000 each in one day followed by a eating competition.. Maybe that’s just how they pass the time when they restrain themselves from talk of ladies conquered due to my presence?? Hmmm, I’ll never know.

Our latest present to self– a hi definition, LED Screen… Boom!

They say that ‘entourage’ is the guys version of ’sex in the city’, I had watched a few episodes and as much as they are watchable and funny at times it is a blokes show.. Needless to say Squander forewent Kris Kringle presents for Christmas in favor of a high definition flat screen TV for better viewing of Ari and the boys… What are my chances of watching ’sex in the city’ one night?? Zero to none, I am after all living in a boys world.

The upside to all this is that I have got to hang out with 3 buff bare chested boys for a couple of weeks, even if one of them is my brother, no girl should go complaining about that and also being the only girl I got the only single cabin on the boat… Thanks for giving that up for me Simon and you can all read about the trials of cabin A in another story on this blog.

All in all I think I found myself in a pretty good version of what this could have turned out to be. A decent crew and never short of a laugh. Thanks boys!

Training & strategy for a JB encounter

by Agatha (topic suggested by Andy) | BACK TO TOP

(note: JB stands for Julien Bertin who happens to be Agatha’s boyfriend)

One of the things I was looking forward to on Squander was the no drinking when sailing policy. One of my vices out of the way, then there was a unanimous decision not to drink coffee, vice number two and due to a lack of good produce there was very little cheese on board. Vice number three. Not to mention no cigarettes, little bread, rationed chocolate and biscuits… This was the making of a well needed cleansing.

This was going to be the poster shot for our New age, girls must wear no more then a bikini, meditation camp!

So coming on board this health conscious boat (only when sailing) I thought I would actually give exercise a crack too and get myself a brand new bikini body for Xmas – a present to self and JB off course.

Although at times deceiving due to my broad build, exercise is not my friend. Motivation and consistency are my two biggest foes, but with a push up challenge and numerous other tests of strength already taking place on Squander I was willing to give this a go.

They say sailing is like doing pilates 24 hrs a day.. Your body even works when sleeping to counteract the rolling of the boat. How hard could it be to shed a few kilos in these conditions??

Gathering technique from all around.. Watching Gavin do leg lifts on his back for lower abdominal training, Andy punching out sit ups between his numerous push ups, being reminded of the training program that was implemented by the female crew when Gavin was sailing on Moksha in Vanuatu last year sometime,

Vanuatu 2009 – the training regime set by the girls continues to inspire.

….and even secretly taking a few notes from the back of the health conscious Kellogs ‘fitness’ breakfast cereal that I was unpacking when restocking the boat with food for the crossing, I developed myself a daily routine for which I would take myself towards the bow of the boat and regimentally do my sit ups, leg lifts, butt crunches and lady push ups.. I had an idea that I looked ridiculous performing this daily routine but thought I went relatively unnoticed to the boys.. That is off course until I was given this topic by one of my fellow crew members.. Not discouraged I will be up there again today sweating it out before lunch.

Another very important part to a bikini body is a good even tan.. There is one person that will back me up on this, my long lost tanning competition buddy Amanda Dormer who coincidentally is coming on board at other end. Whoo hoo! Can’t wait to see you and have our dream tanning holiday together – sailing in the Caribbean!

Although sailing life leaves you exposed to the sun all day everyday, a great scenario for working on your tan, most of that time is spent sitting or lying on one’s back. This is not ideal for tanning the backs of the legs and so along with my daily exercise routine I also made an effort to find a good back off leg and butt tanning position again somewhere towards the bow where I thought I would go unnoticed – apparently not!!

As a final note on this I would like to say that all crew have their own routines.. With push ups being pumped put by the hundreds in all places from the bow of the boat to the cockpit and even kitchen floor. So I dare say I am not the only crew member trimming up to impress – it’s just that some crew members don’t yet know who they will be impressing. Look out you Caribbean ladies the buff Squander crew will soon run rampant.

The sad part to this story is that as soon as we hit land all vices are on again, and embraced, so I dare say what effort has been made will not last long, but hopefully just long enough to be dully noted by JB.

Agatha speaking to JB on the wall mounted Satellite phone – we couldn’t find the headset!

JB I will leave you to be the judge of the outcome, but please be kind as much work and it seems humiliation has gone into this exercise.

The boat or my body – Trimming for performance.

by Andy (topic suggested by Agatha) | BACK TO TOP

Exercise plays an important part in the day to day life aboard Squander. Whether it’s in preparation for an ominous pirate attack, making it easier to handle the big fish, or to rip up for the girls in the Caribbean (or for JB in Avatars case) – it keeps us busy for an extended period of the day.

Andy making light work of holding up Squander’s record catch.

We have a rigorous daily exercise program that consists of push-ups, push-ups and more push-ups. Before we left we set a boat target of 15,000 to be completed whilst crossing the Atlantic. About a thousand a day.

We managed to punch out xxxxx, which saw a solid effort put in by all. However finding that happy balance between trimming the boat and trimming your body for performance can be difficult, as seen in this following direct quotation.

Andy – “Simon, should we put up the Spinnaker?”

Simon – “Yeah hang on mate I’m just smashing out another 200. I’m really seeing the results; I’ll be with you in a minute”.

So as you can see it can be difficult to find a happy medium.

Adaptation – from racing yachts to cruising yachts

by Andy (topic suggested by Simon) | BACK TO TOP

The progression from race-mode to cruise-mode didn’t occur overnight for me. The racing mentality that has been engrained in my blood since I was a child is forcefully being diluted. My main priorities whilst sailing in the past had been the following

• get there as fast as possible
• destroy as much equipment on the boat in order to achieve optimum speed
• obliterate as many sails as possible
• Walk away at the end of the race leaving the boat owner with a little trophy, bragging rights at the bar and a $20,000 cleanup bill

Needless to say this is why I sail on other people’s boats and have never purchased my own.

Andy getting used to ‘creature comforts’ around him – which of the items in the above photo would you not see on a racing yacht?!

However now thanks to Gav’s “Go-Slow” program, I’m happy to roll away a little sail while eating dinner, put in a reef on a calm night just in case and delay putting the mainsail up until the current episode of Entourage has finished. Even if it means we arrive a day later, and look like a pack of stiffs at times.

Triple hookup and other fishing tales from Squander

by Andy (topic suggested by Gavin) | BACK TO TOP

Fishing is the upmost important daily activity onboard Squander. Without it, we don’t get to dine on some of finest seafood cuisine a boat galley can produce.

So some people are happy to experience a double hook-up, the process in which two fish are hooked and reeled in simultaneously. Those people are generally referred to as Stiffs.

While we were enjoying our little halfway party on the back deck one afternoon, our centre line took a hit, then our starboard rod, then our port. For the next 15 minutes, Gav, Simon and I fought with 3 Mahi Mahi which were all successfully landed. Once on board a few quick jabs to the head is usually all that is required to subdue our dinner. 2 around the 90cm mark, and Simon’s poor excuse was around 70cm.

Yet no fishing story is complete without “the one that got away”. Early on in the crossing, while Gav was asleep, I put out his favourite lure which he had been selfishly saving. Within 2 hours I was on the other end of a 2 metre Marlin which was leaping out of the water, completing double back flips with twisted pike reentry’s for our viewing pleasure.

However it’s sad to say the Marlin won the day, and alas, another favourite lure gone. Which leads us into another favourite pastime aboard – lure making, but that’s one for Gav to elaborate on.

Breaking the banana curse

by Gavin (topic suggested by Agatha) | BACK TO TOP

Until recently I was under the wrong impression that everyone knew that bananas brought bad luck on boats. To my mind you would be better off walking back and forth all day under a ladder, whilst opening and closing an umbrella indoors, spilling salt in the process and wondering why a black cat kept on crossing your path, rather then sail on a boat with bananas on it!!

So you can imagine my shock and awe when upon entering cruising circles, I noticed bunches of bananas on every second boat. And to my greater surprise these boats were still afloat the following week seemingly with no major disasters.

I recently read a quote that summarised my position on superstition perfectly. “I don’t believe in superstitions, but I do take them under consideration”. So with increasing pressure from banana starved crew and a well timed email from my mother on the health benefits of eating at least 2 bananas per day, I set about finding a cure for the banana curse.

It seems that my little superstition isn’t that rare after all, with Google throwing up hundreds of results about boats that go as far as not allowing anything that has any reference to bananas – banana boat sunscreen, out. Banana muffins, gone. Some further research suggests that the source of this great superstition dates back to the early cross continental trading ships. Apparently bananas give off some sort of gas as they ripen which in turn accelerates the ratę of ripening and eventually spoiling of other fruit and vegetables onboard, rendering them worthless. And so back in the day, long before refrigeration became an option, trading ships would not pay their crews a wage but would spilt the profits of a trading voyage. Sailors being a superstitious bunch as it is, soon noticed that it was ‘bad luck’ to be on a boat with bananas, as much of the cargo would spoil along the way and profits, if any, would be very slight!

Eating too many bananas makes you do weird things when you’re on watch alone at night??!  Simon caught trying on one of our rags!

Having found lots of examples of fellow banana fearing weirdos, tales of perplexed crew suffering third degree sunburn because their mad skipper threw the banana boat sunscreen overboard, as well as the historical basis of all this malarchy, I still couldn’t find any magical spell to protect Squander from the yellow, crest shaped, forbidden fruit.

Banana bread was a hit!

In the end we made up our own approach and ran with it… First it was breakfast cereal with dried bananas in it. The next day the freezer died, we broke the mainsail halyard and the generator wouldn’t start. a mere coincidence I’m sure. Next, the guys bought bananas and lay them on the pontoon right next to Squander. The BBQ stopped working mid steak  feast, the Internet connection died, a bunch of Bosnian-Americans docked next to us and kept us awake all night with verbal diarhea of the worst kind – another coincidence…and then the final step…. We went to the source, negotiated directly with the farmers and bought 12 kilos of green bananas – two whole bunches – one of lady finger bananas and the other normal ones. We hung them onboard and boldly set off across the Atlantic…

I had to dive over to make sure the keel was still attached!

Well the first 3 days we drifted with no wind, lost our favourite lure, caught no fish, the toilet got blocked up, the freezer wouldn’t stay frozen, the brand new speedo stopped working, the generator died again and the green bananas refused to ripen…

But then on day 4 something happened, the bananas turned a lovely golden colour, the wind picked up and at last check, 10 days on we were still floating and happily eating the last kilo of bananas… Now pass me the salt and an umbr…..

Boat speed vs boat safety – the ongoing debate

by Gavin (topic suggested by Andy) | BACK TO TOP

Are we there yet?? When will we arrive?? For someone who generally loves pushing the limits of most pursuits, I often find myself feeling apologetic for sailing Squander in a defensive way, almost always opting for the more conservative option at the expense of outright speed. I’ve had all manner of crew onboard from absolute beginners to racing veterans. The mix has worked very well as there’s been room for everyone to get involved, however it has made it challenging to come up with a constant ‘formula’ that can be consistently applied.

There’s no doubt that I love to get from A to B as quickly as possible. Going fast is fun. Arriving to a new place is even more fun and doing so quicker then everyone else is the best!! So why drop the spinnaker when the breeze is over 20 knots,  or put 1st reef in at night even if conditions don’t demand it, or put an extra few turns on the genoa furler at the expense of 0.4 of a knot??

Time to take in the sights, Agatha got up every day to take photos of the sunrises!!

Once burned twice shy… Having been on many boats that were pushing the limits and seen first hand the occasional ‘oops, that wasn’t meant to happen’, like the time we lay Wahoo, a 40 foot yacht on its side in the middle of Bass strait, resulting in Todd breaking his ribs, or ripping countless spinnakers and other sails on the Farr 40 that we successfully raced offshore in Sydney for 3 or 4 seasons….

Wahoo racing down the east coast of Tasmania as we listened to Todd  grunt with pain every 5 minutes.

Then there was breaking a boom clean in half in the south pacific on a 54 foot yacht whilst sailing in 30 knots with a full main and me personally being responsible for breaking the steering chain on the same 54 foot yacht whilst surfing down 5 to 7 metre waves at 14 knots, being encouraged to try and go faster… countless accounts of others who with the benefit of hindsight realised they should have or could have prevented their mishaps.

July 2009 – Broken Boom on Moksha in Vanuatu

I call it having ’something in the bank’… When you’re alone on watch at 3:00 am, everyone is snoozing away and the breeze starts building, I like the idea that you don’t need to immediately do something in order to remain In control. Like most insurance policies, it’s boring, mostly unnecessary and everytime you go to renew the policy there’s a little voice asking ‘is this really worth it??’

Andy our resident go-fast ‘guru’!

I’m fairly certain it has crossed some of my crew’s mind that I simply don’t want them to have fun. On many occasions I have woken up to the sound of Squander cracking and creaking as water rushed past the hull at 9 knots plus… It’s difficult to brush the proud smirk off my face and go up on deck, and see a sleep deprived, adrenalin fuelled Squanderer oozing with excitement, stuck in the moment chasing that elusive 9.9 knots of boat speed… and then, rather then joining in the fun, I force myself to be a party pooper, and suggest that we slow down, often in a less then friendly, you woke me up you asshole, voice – totally unintended

Breaking all the rules on the 13th of December 2010 – Flying a kite at night, we had both fishing rods out and managed to hook a big Mahi Mahi , then 3 hours later, kite still up, the wind picked up, Squander surfed a very respectable 12.1 knots down a wave, rounded up like crazy, woke everyone up and snapped the sheet turning block – ooops!

But the reason for doing so is simple what’s fun for racing veterans makes it scary for some, dangerous for others and ultimately expensive for me when we start breaking things – and that’s not fun, but neither’s going slow. So the debate will no doubt continue. The lure of a 200 mile day is always on the horizon, (we’re up to 186 Nautical Miles VMG in 24 hrs) and no doubt if the conditions are right we will fly a spinnaker at night again, or sail downwind with a full main in 25+ knots or stuff it all up and get caught by a 50 knot gust like I did the other night ending in a nasty round up, copping a rogue wave over the stern, flooding my little sister’s cabin and sending Andy and Simon flying through thin air in their sleep – and hopefully walk away with little more then a bruised ego!

Whichever way it works out i keep reminding myself that it’s better to get there in one piece a day later, then to not get there at all… now let’s get this boat moving!!

Sail-ability and availability

by Gavin (topic suggested by Simon) | BACK TO TOP

I laughed when I heard this one… So many angles, so much scope – “Hey girls, here we are, we can sail but finding a wife is to no avail!! Boom!!

Friends from Denmark on Squander – August 2010 in Ibiza

Hmmm… Nah I think this topic requires a more scientific approach. E=mc2 – Einstein’s theory of relativity- hmmmm…. Hello… Where did everybody go ??? Did I lose you already…

Well anyway keep that theory in mind I might get back to it, but let’s start at the beginning. Some 36 years ago, my poor little mother gave birth to an over sized bundle of joy that resembled an American size XXL thanksgiving turkey.

Aside from my rather healthy size I was also born with the incurable SAIL virus. Male sufferers of this condition will prioritise their life as follows:

1. Sailing, surfing, snowboarding
2. Adventure
3. Irresponsible behaviour &
4. Lucky last, Love!

Unlike bird flu or the dreaded yet swiftly forgotten swine flu, SAIL has shown no infectious properties towards members of the opposite sex.

Despite holding down a number of relationships that survived that uncomfortable moment akin to telling her you have herpes… “Baby, I have something to tell you… Ah, how do I put this….??” To their credit, a number of women stuck by me, convinced that they had the magic recipe to cure me of my misery! But eventually  all relationships failed because of SAIL. In my last relationship I went as far as announcing my condition upfront and it seemed that I had at last found love with a woman who was also carrying the virus, but as it turned out she had the curable under-35 version of it that miraculously disappears between the age of 30 and 35 and is swiftly replaced with BHABBL – Babies, House, And Boatless Boring Life!

…the days before BHABBL!

I was so distressed when BHABBL ruined my ambitions of sailing around the world with the woman of my dreams, that I set up www.cruisingwomen.org – a support group for women who think they might suffer from SAIL or who have SAILor partners who insist on dragging them to far away paradise islands.

Squander anchored in other idealic paradise

On a side note, SAIL has shown an occasional case of spreading to fellow male members of the human species and  awakening a recessive gene allowing us modern day lepers to adventure around the world in good company. Curiously, there also seems to be a high incidence of turrets syndrome being developed by associates of the infected carriers, generally known as mates. These ‘mates’ who don’t realise how lucky they are to not suffer from SAIL,  will often read our blog and start uncontrollably swearing calling us poor SAIL sufferers all manner of expletives which are not fit for this family blog.

But i digress… I have been told that there are some recorded cases of women being born with the SAIL virus and even some newly recorded cases of a female specific strand of SAIL that lasts for life!

1. Sexy,
2. Able & athletic
3. Intelligent
4. Loves sailing

I have observed a high proportion of this latest strand in Nordic countries, specifically in Norway but I’m told the Caribbean also has a high concentration of sufferers from all over the world!

So to all you female SAILors, whether you have the virus or suspect you may be infected,  Squander has three infected crew onboard and our latest outbreak is likely to last another 12 months as we cruise the un-spoilt waters of the Pacific on the way to Australia… If you’re suffering and want to exchange stories, we’re Available!!!

Passage food and my 3 most memorable dishes

by Simon (topic suggested by Gavin) | BACK TO TOP

Growing up in a family with 6 brothers and sisters (3 of each) meal times were comparable to a Tokyo train rush at peak hour. My mother would serve up the meals and line them up on the kitchen bench, then call us in from our backyard footy or cricket game. Here is when all hell broke loose with 4 hungry boys rampaging up the back steps, wrestling with the screen door then up the hall to the kitchen hopefully first to quickly eye off and grab one of the larger servings. Being the second eldest I always managed a decent sized portion which set the foundations of a rather healthy appetite

.
Eight months ago when I decided to come on this trip the only concern I had was that the food would have to be compromised both in quality and quantity being that storage  and food preservation issues would result in a rather slight and bland menu. To my surprise when we went to ‘provision’ the boat in Florida we managed to stow 25 shopping trolleys full of groceries into the boats bilges.

Provisioning in Florida – April 2010

From the many different crew members who have come and gone, in most cases there has always been a ’specialty dish’ that he or she has cooked. Many of these recipes have deservedly left the boat with the crew member when their stint was up, but some have actually hit the spot and made it onto the exclusive  Squander Fine Cuisine list – Soy & sesame BBQ pork, pumpkin risotto, spaghetti marinara, lasagna, chicken thigh curry and rice with natural yoghurt (my mum) Thai  chicken pumpkin curry (Andy’s mum), fish soup (Gav & Ag’s dad) the list goes on.

Simon just cracked his personal best, but that’s not why he’s smiling…. it’s LUNCHTIME!

I would have to say though that the 3 most memorable dishes for me on this leg are fish red curry and coconut using one of the now many mahi mahi we have caught. Next it is Andy’s Thai chicken and pumpkin curry. Finally the most memorable meal of this leg would be mushroom cuppa-soup with cheese and tomato on toast while the auto pilot steered the boat and we all sat down and watched a few episodes of Entourage – gotta love that show.

Another Mahi Mahi ready for our dining pleasure!

Anyway it’s 1.00am and I’m on watch and everyone’s in bed so I think I’ll sneak down and finish off the left over beef stew that Gav made for dinner – another winner. Sorry Andy you snooze you lose!

Cabin A and the vertical hammock

by Simon (topic suggested by Andy) | BACK TO TOP

Cabin A for no apparent reason  is the name given to the starboard aft cabin. There are. two other cabins on this boat but as far as I’m aware they have yet to be named….. B & C perhaps? Who knows.

Cabin A – and the vertical Hammock!

A few days ago Gav asked if we could all give each other a topic to write about to help with the blog. Andy’s topic for me was ‘Cabin A & the vertical hammock’. Now I’m a pretty funny guy and can usually see the lighter side of most things but Cabin A… How boring. What was Andy thinking? Maybe he wasn’t thinking. Maybe he was in front of the mirror after his third set of push ups, applying his Happy Time moisturizing cream and kidding himself that all the hard work he’s been doing is paying off.

Speaking of Andy he makes up 1/2 of cabin A, the other half being me. Between us is what’s called a ‘Lee Cloth’ which is a piece of canvas screwed down under the mattress and secured at the top by rope at both ends of the cabin. When in place it’s sort of like a hammock spun ninety degrees – a vertical hammock!! Gripping topic hey – nice one Andy.

For the last 5 months I have had the luxury of Cabin A all to myself with Andy enjoying the privacy of the other cabin when he came on board. That was until Agatha came along and, being the only girl and the captain’s sister, commandeered Andy’s cabin forcing him into Cabin A thus putting an abrupt end to my peaceful little haven.

Being that apart from sleeping we don’t hang out in Cabin A so there’s really not much to talk about. The only thing that may be of any interest is the other night when we were sleeping Gav was up at the helm going against all that he preaches about conservative sailing seeing what speeds he could get out of the boat in the 30 knot winds we were experiencing when all of a sudden there was a 50 knot gust of wind that caught him off guard.

The next thing you know the boat is almost  on it’s side heading north instead of west, I wake up lying on the wall instead of the mattress and there above me is Andy in the vertical hammock.

Well that’s about all I can milk out of this topic. No doubt a Pulitzer is coming my way and I’ll owe it all to Andy, Cabin A and the Vertical Hammock.

Training  and stratergy for a pirate attack

by Simon (topic suggested by Agatha) | BACK TO TOP

We’ve all heard stories in the news of pirate attacks on cruising yachts far from land, vulnerable in open waters. In nearly all these encounters with the dreaded pirate I have never heard of anyone trying to oppose the attack and giving the pirate some of his own medicine. To this I have one word…. Stiffs!

1000 Miles form land this small ship came for a closer look.

What sort of self respecting guy could allow some filthy thieves to try and take from him what is not theirs to take without putting up a fight? None of the guys on this boat – I’ll be making sure of that.

Simon researching the idea of a submarine surprise attack on the Pirate vessel.

I’ve come up with a 10 point pirate assault strategy that hopefully will enable us to defeat our villains.

Not pirates, but an exodus behind us as we leave Cabo verde.

OK, we suspect a pirate attack from an approaching boat and the strategy begins.

1. Gav to go to the sail locker and fill up four 600ml bottles full of fuel then bring the bottles, the remaining fuel and the bucket full of fish guts we’ve been saving back to the cockpit.
2. Andy to get the gas bottle out from under the seat.
3. Gav to go and get the flare gun and while he’s gone I’ll throw the fish guts overboard.
4. Agatha to go down and put the kettle on and cut up the apple strudel.
5. Wait until the suspect boat makes contact with us and ask them would they like to have a cup of tea and some apple strudel that Agatha has just made. Always try and talk about things before reverting to violence.
6. If they don’t want tea or strudel light one of the Molotov cocktails and throw it into their boat.
7. Three of them managed to get onto our boat – Andy  shoots one with the flare gun then I’ll punch him in the head then throw him either back into his now burning boat or into the water where there is now a shark feeding frenzy due to the earlier discarded fish guts.
8. Gav to get the gas bottle, point it in the direction of the second intruder and turn it on. Andy to grab the matches and light the gas giving pirate no. 2 the choice of being incinerated or facing the circling sharks below.
9. The remaining pirate will no doubt be expecting another well planned attack but his demise will be much less dramatic. Unbeknown to him Agatha has got down on all fours and crawled behind him. Then it’s just a matter of Gav giving him a bit of a shove making him topple backwards over Agatha, over the side to his peril below.
10. Celebrate a well executed plan over a few cold coronas in the cockpit !!

That’s all folks !

Tuesday, 16th December 2010 – most things were done, the weather window looked OK for at least 4 days and it was time to set sail for the 900 or so miles from Las Palmas to Mindelo in Cabo verde. A few last minute things, we got the scuba diving compressor serviced, printed up some promotional materials for the best electronic chart swapping network in the world – www.chartswap.net and finally stopped at the local Fuel dock for some cheap diesel, water and a couple of ice creams before casting off the bow lines on what was going to be Leg 1 of a 2 Leg Atlantic crossing to Barbados.

Having said goodbye to many of our new friends and a few of the old ones, we left the 250+ ARC boats, the parties, and the sailor bar in our wake.  The trip was a smooth one and largely uneventful, For Agatha it was her first time sailing more then 24 hours non-stop and was undoubtedly going to take some adjusting to (read her account here), Andy was also getting more and more familiar with Squander having then been onboard for 3 weeks and Simon took on the leadership role of being our in-house safety officer.

We joined the rumrunner net, a daily SSB Radio based “ring-in” of boats heading in roughly the same direction, exchanging tips, weather information, anchorage suggestions and so on which was a good way for everyone to learn some basic radio communications – with the UHF Radio being a big part of our Safety procedures.

Simon’s father was a radio man and the family lineage clearly showed as Simon took over the airwaves. Unfortunately the rather dry aspect of the Rumrunner net didn’t quite suit Simon’s style and he quickly rebranded it STIFF FM and proceeded to hand over the radio reigns to Andy.

Simon’s logo and STIFF FM merchandise worn by yours truly below

Andy took over STIFF FM with great enthusiasm, rising bright and early for 2 days straight before announcing that we had sailed ourselves out of range… which brought an end to out Rumrunner contributions – it was fun while it lasted!

We finally started catching Mahi Mahi too – which has been great fun and great eating. The Mahi Mahi (AKA Dorado or Dolphin Fish) are veracious hunters and tend to chomp at anything that moves… so we decided to try our hand at making Lures – a great pass time and yet another level of competition onboard – who can come up with the best name for a lure!

The early prototypes weren’t perfect.

Andy resorted to writing threatening messages on his creation.

Agatha adapted really well and was soon making good use of a bucket, some assistance from her fellow crew members and some crystal clear, blue ‘eau d’Atlantique’

Speaking of Agatha, here’s an email she wrote to our parents, kindly reproduced with her permission.

Dear Mum & Dad,

It is Monday morning 22nd of November day 6 at sea and i imagine ours is very different to yours. The sun rose at 6:45 am local time.. the moon was still high in the sky and there was not a cloud to be seen.

All crew were on deck shortly after, and as we were running on the engine all night due to a lack of wind, the sails soon went up and we have been trying to get the most out of the little wind there is with the main sail and spinnaker.

Currently cruising at around 4 knots, which leaves us another 17 hours or so before we hit Cabo Verde.

Yesterday was another successful fishing day with the boys pulling in a sizeable mahi mahi once again. The poor thing put up a mighty fight, but it was no challenge for the filleting team, and before he knew it he was skinned filleted and partially frozen, whilst a little was left for what made a Gorazdowski fish soup for dinner.

The lures are out again today.. I am personally hoping for a tuna as we have a good supply of wasabi, pickled ginger and soy on board which I am hanging to sample with some fresh tuna sashimi.

Ag got her wish soon after.

As I write this it looks like the wind has died off totally, as the engines are being started once again and seems the spinnaker has had its time for now!!!… suddenly we now have 22 hours left to our destination.

These little calculations take up a portion of each day, along with a competitive regime of push ups and sit ups.. Andy is leading the way with 500 push ups yesterday!
Other activities have included custom lure making to attract the fish.. and now all shiny food packaging is being set aside for further and more elaborate lures to bring in the fish..

Home made hummus and an attempt at making rye pita bread (unfortunately not so successful) were just some other activities from yesterday.

I hope this allows you to further imagine what our days entail..

And so on the night of the 6th day we pulled into Cabo verde for a week of fun, exploring and meeting more great people.

Squander ready for crossing the Atlantic.

I often wonder what people in third world countries make of us ‘travelers’?

When I used to live in Sydney’s Bondi beach I was often perplexed by the busloads of Korean or Japanese tourists that would arrive on a hot summer’s day, dressed for a Tokyo winter, complete with scarves and sun umbrellas and equipped with the latest creations hot of Sony’s, Canon’s or Nikon’s production line. All most of them seemed to want was a photo with an Aussie surfer on the beach… but every so often there was someone amongst the tourist group that ‘got it’!! They would use their 15 minute stop at the beach wisely. it wasn’t pretty to watch a 50 something year old person who hadn’t seen sun since their 12th birthday, strip down to their underwear and behave like a 10 year old in a fun park as they ran down to the sand and launched themselves into the surf, more often then not right into a rip, but that’s by the by, and besides it kept the lifeguards entertained!

The point is that somehow that act seemed to make that one person far less alien then the rest of his fellow travelers that stood there sweating in their winter gear and collectively shooting thousands of photos of their seemingly mad, lucky to be alive, ‘Bondi Surf Rescue’ protagonist!

It is that kind of awareness, the ‘….Ahhh, I get it now feeling that is sometimes hard to tap into, how do you become the person that isn’t just another tourist following your tour guide or in our case what the lonely planet recommends. Don’t get me wrong, the lonely planet guides are actually a damn good start to becoming underwear wearing, drowning guy, or better still, an independent traveler that gets the  privilege of being accepted into local life for a minute, an hour or even a day. but sometimes it takes a little more luck or more effort – or both!!

Cabo verde was one such country, where effort and luck paid off and allowed us to meet and interact with some local characters that make up the fabric of the city of Mindelo and get glimpses of what life is like here. Although to be fair, I’m fairly certain that at times we stood out like a middle aged, Yves Saint Laurent clad Japanese woman stepping off an air conditioned bus in Bondi beach cooling herself with a battery operated, blue tooth enabled, blackberry phone-fan!

Agatha took the camera out one day and came back with this great series of photos:

Roadside market stalls


With a little research anything can be found.


Hanging out is popular.


Local Hardware store.

That afternoon, the boys went to the fish markets and came back with 6 Coral trout which we barbecued for lunch. Yum!!!

we also had the option of buying fresh lobsters, delivered to the boat by local fishermen!

With our bellies full and a short siesta to recoup some energy, we decided to head down to the beach for a bit of exercise and a swim. It was there that we befriended Kenny and David, 2 brothers 17 & 18, Mindelo locals who were into a mix of break dancing and Capoeira and would train most afternoons on the beach. David, the younger brother was still at school, whereas Kenny had left school at 12 and works painting fishing trawlers when he can get the work… his motivation for leaving school was to be able to earn money to buy nice clothes and cool things. He was a mean break-dancer!

The brothers demonstrating their acrobatics.

Kenny teaching us how to focus on holding a handstand. Simon watches on.

I had a go and managed to hold it for 500 thousandths of a second! 
Next it was somersaults into the water Simon lead the charge on the left

An then there was synchronized tumbling!!

With the sun setting and the appetite levels rising we bid farewell to our friends and headed for the sailor bar for some live music, dinner and a few quiet drinks!

We soon met some fellow sailors… Christian and Anne-Christine, a young couple form Norway sailing alone from Norway to the Caribbean and home via New York, Canada and Greenland – all in 12 months!

Three Norwegian guys in their early twenties who were following the stars on their way around the Oceans, Viking style with no navigation instruments other then a compass!  (Anders in centre of pic above)

… and Espen & May Linn on SY Maggie who have taken 2-3 years off to circumnavigate the world – we may well cross the panama Canal together!

The next day we rose bright and early and caught a ferry to the nearby island of Sao Antao… a beautiful island well worth spending the day on.

Once all the cargo was loaded, we set off for the hour or so voyage across the strait – the trip can often be rough and everyone got given a little plastic shopping bag for emergency use.

The ladies weren’t feeling crash hot.

Whereas this fella was catching up on some much needed rest.

And the horse in a box was just happy to be heading home!

Our little ferry soon docked and we went about finding a guide and car to take us around the sights for the day.

We soon found Piedro and negotiated a good deal for him to drive us around to the major sights in his Prado. the island is spectacular, lush vegetation, mountainous and incredibly peaceful. The main industry seems to be farming and a modest level of tourism.

Looking East, Sao Vicente and Mindelo in the distance.

The lush, farming town of Paul (pronounced Pa-ool) in the valley below.

The view down to Ribeira Grande – the big River

The people of Cabo verde always have time for a chat.

Piedro didn’t speak English, but we managed to communicate in Bitsa, my new favourite language – BIitsaeverything!

The main mountain pass between the east and west coast, is an incredibly well maintained 36km cobble stone highway.

The coastal road on the east and north coasts is equally impressive.

We arrived in Punta del sol just in tome for lunch and to see the local fisherman put their skills on show as they negotiated one of the hairiest harbour entrances that i have ever seen.

We sat at the restaurant perched over the cliff face, sipping on ice cold beers and waiting for our fresh seafood lunch, and watched the spectacle unfold.

The centre of the pic above is the harbour entrance!! The fisherman time the waves and motor in and to the right of the photo.

They wait for a break between sets and motor in. You can see two boats anxiously waiting for the crowd to help them  beach the boats.

Everyone gets involved as boat after boat comes in from a day’s fishing.

After lunch we walked around and checked out the sights and people of Punta del Sol, before returning to the Prado and taking the more modern coast road back to Porto Novo.

We never found out who was behind this sculpture, but it would make a great entrant for Bondi’s Sculpture by the Sea!

Agatha was already tiring of male only company and decided to make friends with the local garrotas!

By 4:00pm we were back in Porto Novo and ready to jump on the Fast ferry home.

This guy  was a riveting storyteller!!

As the sunset we coasted back into Mindelo harbour and for a moment thought we were back in Las Palmas… the marina was full of  ARC boats making unscheduled and out of the way stops in Cabo Verde to pick up fuel. It seems that 2010 will go down in history as one of the slowest East-West Atlantic crossing seasons, with little to no wind.

Does an upside down flag usually suggest Distress ??

With the No-wind panic well and truly gripping everyone, the local fuel station was making some serious moolah as were the local entrepreneurs who started selling jerry cans outside the marina for ridiculous prices. The boat above seen fuelling up on at least 500 litres of diesel!!!

Incidentally, Andy made the observation that Cabo verde has to be one of a very few countries around the world where you have to speak at least 4 languages fluently in order to pump gas… seriously these young guys and girl would switch between Portuguese, English, French, German & the local Creole without batting an eye lid.

The following day, the guys and girls from MAD surprised us with a visit, they too were in the ARC and decided to stop over to pick up extra supplies and fuel, before heading off for St Lucia! See you in Bequia for xmas!!!

Then the biggest surprise of all…. Simon was doing some research on Caribbean islands, when he got distracted by his new appreciation of the joys of Facebook, whereby he found a friend request from his long lost uncle Arturo, who happens to live in Mindelo – unbelievable!

Arturo dropped by for a visit…the resemblance was uncanny!!

We bid farewell to Arturo and decided with all the panic of potential long hours of motoring, we should do an engine service. In doing so Simon discovered a small oil leak coming out of the intake side of the Turbo charger. It didn’t appear catastrophic and with some consultation with a few people in the know we decided to wipe up the small quantity of oil, keep an eye on it and check it out on the other side of the pond.                                 
There was about a half teaspoon of oil gathered on the rim.

With all said and done we went to the local Sailor bar for our last beer, a decent fish burger and to say goodbye to the friendly staff!

That evening, we negotiated with Nena the fuel boss to tie up overnight next to fuel station and be first in line for fuel for an early morning getaway from the islands. The wind was up and it was time to roll… all was going to plan until 3:30am when a boatload of Bosnian/American drunken loud mouths decided to carry on right next to us, waxing lyrical at a 100 decibels delivering the kind of bovine fertiliser that made us question whether consumption of alcohol was indeed a bad idea!!

As it turned out, before long we drifted into sleep and managed to get an extra couple of hours… the morning came and we managed to download weather, top up water tanks (we have 20 litres per day) get diesel and get going.

On Wednesday 1st of December 2010, at 10:30am  we set off heading west across the Atlantic.

Simon holding up a decent Mahi Mahi caught some 300 Nautical Miles off the coast of Mauritania, West Africa.

Leaving Italy in September, we dragged our lines behind Squander religiously from dawn till dusk every single day catching countless Tuna and Dorado (aka Mahi Mahi or Dolphin fish) that kept us fed and entertained.

Albacore or “long Fin’” Tuna caught off the coast of Sardegna in the Mediterranean.

Michelle getting in on the action, this Bonito caught off Morocco’s coast.

Tuna Sashimi and Sushi, freshly made

We also hooked a decent size Marlin about 600 miles west of Cape Verde but after a 10 min struggle and a couple of impressive leaps, the line broke and with it went our last ‘lucky’ lure…. so we set about trying to make our own contraptions, partly to keep ourselves entertained as we still had some 1500 NM to go (10 days) and partly to try and catch dinner… We had a few well documented misfires before finally making a lure that caught us dinner…

By the way, we have found the Williamson Lures to be the best all around for price, quality and effectiveness.

The hook was too far forward, something had a good chomp on the ‘skirt’

Then we discovered Oreo biscuits… The “O” made a perfect eye!

Andy resorted to sending threatening messages to the fish on his lure

We all had differing methods and I’m sure they could be easily further evolved, but as a starting point here’s how I made the lure that ended up being part of the team that got us a Triple hook up when we sailed through a school of Mahi Mahi some 1000 Nautical Miles from land in the middle of the Atlantic!

I call this Lure “Descupa” (sorry in Portuguese) or “the Shcoopa”  because of it’s great scooping action in the water.

What you will need:

- Some strong, reflective packaging (Corn Chip packets, coffee packets, Oreo biscuit wrappers)
- An inch of hose
- A Small sinker
- A hook
- A leader line (strong monofilament)
- Something you can use as spacers between the hook and the head of the lure (not in picture above)
- A cable tie
- Some electrical tape
- Scissors & wire cutters
- A lighter
- Some blu tak or chewing gum

Start by warming up the hose and Squeezing the sinker into it.

this forms the head of the lure

Next take your line and attach it to the hook

Make sure it’s a good knot, towing a 4-8Kg fish at 7 knots puts a lot of pressure on your gear.

Next thread your spacers and decide on how long you want your lure to be. The hook should finish about 1 cm from the end of the lure.

Now decorate your head with eyes… I choose “Oreo eyes” …. then thread the line through the head.

Find a good bit of foil (I find silver works well) but we played with all sorts of colours and attach it to the head using an elastic band.

Make sure you don’t obscure the eyes!!

Now it’s time to make the skirt… cut strips as per the pic below

And then add additional threads of Gold or other colours to make it eve more aLUREing…

Once you’re happy with the skirt it’s time to secure the whole lot, firstly with some Electrical tape and then with a cable tie to hold i all in place.

The final step involves creating the scoop – I Plugged the hose with Blu-Tak but you could use chewing gum, Silicon gel, Sica flex or whatever else you happen to have on the boat.

The idea of the scooper is to push back water and create a “Smoke Trail” of bubbles – this one was producing a 2-3 metre trail once submerged. The scoop also causes the lure to surface and jump every 3-5 seconds.

A strong swivel finishes off the job.

The finished product ready for some field testing.

The lure seen here after we caught a 2.5 KG Mahi Mahi seen in  the picture below – middle fish. the lure survived surprisingly well, some of the skirt was missing and it was creased up but otherwise ready to fight again!

Tripkle Hook up – all three lines (2 rods and a hand line went off at once) we kept all of them and filleted them straight into the freezer ready for xmas lunch!

Morocco is a colourful land of contrasts – be it the deep blue Atlantic ocean meeting the red dry desert, the proud Berber culture mixing with westernised ideals, the traditional Muslim people living their lives next door to Christians and less adhering Muslims, the extremely rich and the extremely poor, the list goes on… It seems that most cities perpetuate this contrast by having an old or often ancient side to the city as well as a new, more modern city.

MOROCCO – 17th to 30th October 2010

The ‘metal works’ area of fez

What is particularly striking is that many of the old cities retain not only the architecture, the primitive sewerage and water supply systems, the smells – good and bad, fashions, shops, markets, but also the way of life, the traditional trades, crafts and modes of transport, whereas 1 mile away the modern end of town works in banks, air-conditioned offices, drive the latest European and Japanese cars and shop in French & Italian designer stores.

No cars allowed in old fez – deliveries are by Donkey or hand pulled cart.

The old city in Fez, is my favorite by far in Morocco and I would recommend it to anyone who visits this part of the world to go and spend a few days absorbing this incredible place.

Simon and Michelle returned to Squander a few weeks ago after three days in Fez, with a multitude of stories, experiences, souvenirs and not to mention  Simon’s ongoing reminder of the dodgy Moroccan lamb or was it the tagine that he ate… apparently Bali belly and Deli belly have nothing on the “Fez express” – ‘cause that’s what you need to make it to the bathroom in time..!

Simon admiring the Camping Gas bottles – we use these on Squander and have often spent days looking for a supplier, never knew they did home delivery!

So with Squander’s water & fuel tanks freshly filled, my latest BAS and tax returns almost finished and the recent memories of Fez still fresh in Simon & Michelle’s minds, we set sail out of the capital of Morocco, leaving behind some newly made friends and a modern city in the making.

It was a full moon, and other then the lack of wind, conditions were perfect for the next 36 hours – with night watches being illuminated by a huge moon that came up before the sun set and set after the sun rose – incredible to see a spectacular sunrise to port and a full moon fairly high in the sky to Starboard whilst sailing along the North African coast.

Sunrise to Port (our left).

The other good thing about full moons is fishing…!! which is of course different to ‘Catching’ but fun nonetheless – our rods were going off all day long hooking all manner of fish, but despite over a dozen hook ups we only managed to land 4-5 Tuna and no Mahi Mahi despite hooking a fair few of them only to see them getaway before we had a chance to slow the boat down and reel them in.

We sent this one back…!

Ahhh… that’s better!!

Michelle got in on the action and landed a great Tuna shortly after sunrise. We made good use of it that evening – a Sushi and Sashimi feast – kirko, if you’re reading this we dedicated this one to you mate!!

We’ve been doing extensive research on Tuna preparation and have drawn inspiration and guidance from as far afield as Japan, New Zealand and California to learn to properly kill, bleed, set and prepare tuna for Sashimi.

Strips of tuna ready to be made into Sushi.

Sushi rice and seaweed sheets – check.

Short on ingredients… improvise – tuna olive sushi!

Et Voila!! Freshly caught, lime juice seared Sashimi and Tuna/Olive Sushi…. served at sunset!

And what a sunset it was! definitely one of the most spectacular ones we have seen in a long time!   

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It seems that every passage, no matter how big or small is marked by something new happening. On our last night at sea this time around, we were motoring and managed to get an old fishing net tangled around our prop. It was midnight and I was alone on watch. Simon’s cabin is right next to the engine and he instantly heard the drop in revs and the banging sound as a big clump of plastic netting weaved itself around our prop and drive shaft – he was standing on deck before I even had a chance to slow Squander down… we fairly quickly ascertained that I hadn’t run over a working net and that whatever it was, the only way to get it off was to go overboard with a knife and torch…

Simon was still feeling crook from his dodgy camel burger in Fez, and so I volunteered to jump in – there was a bit of wind and some lumpy swell around – definitely a new experience – diving under a 10 tonne boat as it lurches up and down whilst moving at 2 knots through the water, holding on to a rope in one hand, razor sharp knife in the other and a torch half in mouth, half out – it was a professional operation – NOT!   it took a while, and wasn’t something I would want to do again in a hurry, but it was worth it as we managed to get going again within half an hour and it earned me a Hot shower at sea – yeaaaaah!!!

As a new day  & Michelle’s final day at sea awoke, the wind started picking up and the fish started getting bigger… the fishing lines were buzzing every hour or so but  today the fish were going to win the day… the elusive Mahi Mahi kept on getting away, however this did not deter us from going after them nonetheless. In the end, not only did  a big one get away, but it got away with one of our fishing rods… it was the skipper’s fault from beginning to end, who set the fishing line out for one last try, forgot to put on the safety line on the rod and managed to put it in the rod holder that wasn’t done up tight enough…. nice one GAV!!!

One of the last known photos of the fishing rod  lost at sea– we miss you!

By mid afternoon we were back in the land of contrasts – this time in Agadir… a kind of Moroccan Los Angeles where instead of a film industry there’s a large fishing fleet. Agadir was completely destroyed by an earthquake in the 1960’s and as such is a very modern city by Moroccan standards. A sprawling, seaside city of lo-rise buildings, industry and 30,000+ beds aimed at European tourists.

Arriving at the Marina – friendly, yet thorough, officials are housed in this building.

We saw a couple of boats anchored outside off the beach, but at 120 Euro per week, we opted for the modern facilities of the Agadir Marina. It is right next to beach that stretches for a good 10 kms or so and it wasn’t long before we introduced our newest crew member, Andy Patrick from Queensland, to beach frizbee – the squander game of choice.

… and of course our other favourite pass time soon followed.

And as evening fell, the mountain behind the marina lit up in full glory, the streets came to life and for team Squander it was time to have one last night out with Michelle who was leaving us to continue her epic journey… I will let Simon take over from here. Simon’s Squander’s entertainer and comedian – keeping us all laughing aboard for hours on end – take it away Seeeemon!

Thanks Gavino. Well as Gav just said, we all decided to go out for one last night with Michelle. The night didn’t start off that well as the taxi we flagged refused to take the four of us in one cab forcing us to get another cab then both of them charging us double the normal fare so we ended up paying quadruple what we should have! Being that the total amount came to a little over $2.75 we decided to let it slide.

After a word or two to the shifty taxi driver we went to find a decent place for dinner then afterwards, at Michelle’s request, to the local English pub to watch her perform Karaoke.

She’d been hounding us to go for weeks and we’d all managed to side step it but being it was ‘her night’ we indulged her and we have to give credit when credit’s due, she was really good. Her rendition of Alicia Keys’ ‘Falling’ left many a Moroccan man in awe. Well done Michelle. Hope all is well in Amsterdam.

And then there were three. With it now an all Aussie guy crew with no exotic females to encourage us to watch our p’s and q’s, we stopped sucking in our guts, exhaled and went on a bit of an exploration of down town Agadir. We ended up at the local souk (market). Now I had only just met Andy and wasn’t sure whether  he was going to be a ‘stiff’ or not, so I kept him under observation for the first few days. He opened his account with a big plus by announcing he has an appetite that rivals mine and suggested we start our market tour with him shouting us a little snack. Next thing Gav, Andy and I are all gnawing on a ‘minced fish ball cooked in beef fat’ sandwich. Awesome. Keep it up Andy – you haven’t consolidated your spot yet but you’re on your way.

Once inside, the market resembled Flemington’s Paddy’s Market in Sydney only a little more old school and a few less birka-clad ladies around. All the expected stalls were there. Fruit and veg, nuts , meat and clothes. One of the highlights of the day was Captain Gav buying us a couple of kilos of the forbidden fruit – Bananas!. “Make sure these are eaten before we get back to the boat boys” was the order.

‘Hey my friend, buy my socks they’re 100% original’

We made our way through the wholesale mayhem picking up some good supplies for the trip to The Canaries. Gav managed to find a guy selling wooden products and went in to try haggling over a backgammon set. After 1/2 an hour of verbal fury he walked out of that stall with a snappy backgammon set and 400 of the 600 Dirham asking price in his pocket – Nice work Gav.

The magic potions made of the local of Argan oil

The local “Fatima’s secret” lingerie stall was doing a bustling trade, with “Bras, birkas & things” across the road in close second.

The most intriguing thing about this photo is the “Inspector Clouseau meets Inidana Jones” guy on the left of the picture.

This guy behind the counter was a bit of a meat head.

Farouk – North Africa’s most famous olive artist.

So much to choose from. In the end we couldn’t make up our minds and just left it.
Andy & Bessie hit it off from word go.


The Doogie Howsers of the Moroccan meat world, these young guns finished their apprenticeships at age 9.

I wonder if this truckie was an Albert Einstein fan who famously said “Life is like riding a bicycle, you have to keep moving to keep your balance.”

After a quiet night we rose early the next day, hired a car (small car!) and headed north to check out the surf. 50 kms later we ended up at ……………. where we found a nice little 4 ft wave. It was great to finally hit a beach with waves after hanging around the surfless Mediterranean.   

Another bonus of having a car was that we got to check out a few cool little beach towns. One town in particular stood out, Taghazout. We stopped there for some lunch and to check out the local surf culture. We took a look around and stumbled upon a surf shop which was selling ‘authentic’ Billabong board shorts for a fraction of the price. We actually couldn’t tell whether they were fake or not so needless to say we collectively walked out with 10 pairs – wardrobe sorted for the next few months.

They say that car break ins are common in the beach carparks – not today boys!
Scenes from Taghazout.

The Africa Surf Shop selling original Australian, made in China, Billabong board shorts for $20.

That afternoon we headed back to the boat to finish off a few  jobs in preparation for our leg to the Canary Islands. One of the more pressing items was to repair the dinghy which had a slow leak. You’ll understand the necessity of a reliable dinghy a little later on.

So with our work done and the boat ready to set sail , we thought we should invite our Swedish next door neighbours over for a drink. They were quite happy to join us for a quiet drink as they were planning on leaving bright and early the next day for the Canaries. Henrik, Kirsten and Kalle were the three people in question, Henrik and Kalle best friends and Kirsten, Henrik’s sister. These guys are on their way around the world in a boat half the size of Squander. They say that its a little crammed but comfortable enough, but after the ‘quiet’ drink we ended up having with them I don’t think that the Queen Mary would be comfort enough for them the following day.

After spending a good two weeks in Morocco it was time to set our sights west,  so on the morning of 30th October we left Agadir en route to the Canary Islands and beyond.

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CANARY ISLANDS – 31st October to 17th November 2010

On the trip over from Morocco, we couldn’t stop hooking tuna on the fishing rod that Gav didn’t drop into the ocean. Unfortunately the freezer on the boat was playing up and we were only able to keep two and throw the rest back. 8 lucky tuna live to see another day – Oh well, we’re after dolphin fish anyway.

The following afternoon we landed in Graciosa, a small island at the top of Lanzarote. We anchored at Playa Francesa at around 4pm and got word of a beach Halloween party so we decided to check it out. Unfortunately instead of the bikini clad girls that we imagined, it was a party for families with little kids and turned out to be the third most boring event I’ve ever attended. Fortunately a storm blew in and the party prematurely ended so we got to go back to the boat to eat our fresh tuna and afterwards watch a few episodes of Entourage over a few rums. 

Playa Francesa anchorage with a volcano to the right soon to be conquered by Gav, Andy and Simon.

There are no sealed roads on Graciosa.

We spent the next few days checking out the island and its main town Caleta del Sebo. A cool little town centred around the marina with laid back bars and cafes that we used wisely to pump a few Euros into the Island’s little economy.

On our final day on Graciosa we decided to do 2 things that we don’t get to do that often these days – wear shoes & walk. We had been hanging out on the boat every day being looked down upon by the highest volcano on the south of the island and decided we had to climb it.

Andy and Simon negotiating the steeper than it looked ascent in 50 knot winds

View from the top. Squander hiding in the crowd.

Not only did we climb it but we made our descent on the other side and trekked back around the island checking out the beaches and coastline. 12 kms in total – We’re not forgotten.

The next morning we were having a bit of a sleep in after our Everest like climb when Jim, an English guy on another yacht, came over in his dinghy and asked if we could give him a hand. The wind was up and he had a problem with his engine and needed us to push him with our dinghy when he raised his anchor so he didn’t get blown into the rocks. Gav was busy plotting our course to the next island so Andy and I went to sort him out. “ Andy you stay on my port side and give me a push. Simon you can raise the anchor” says Jim. I asked Jim where the switch for his anchor winch was but like everything else on Jim’s boat it was broken. “You’ll have to pull it up by hand” Jim say. 45 metres of chain later, we finally got Jim on his way. “I’ll buy you boys a beer in Rubicon if I see you there” were Jim’s parting words. We saw him in Rubicon and he didn’t buy us a beer….Stiff!

We hired a car in Lanzarote and went exploring and in search of a wave.
The old trick of wait for a van full of surfers and follow them from a distance to find the local breaks.

Hi everybody, Andy here – I’m new on the boat and thought I would throw some initial words down… As I understand it, Gav had huge ambitions for this trip. A direct quote from his advert on Findacrew.com – “My partying days are mostly behind me, we will be in search of unspoiled bays… avoiding party towns and tourist traps… blah, blah, blah”. As you can see from the following photos he has failed miserably. Nothing un-spoiled about air hockey, bowling, Sega rally and a good old fashion bender chasing girls. – Andy out!

Andy ended up air hockey king but I smashed him in bowling

We left Graciosa on the 3rd of November and headed down to Rubicon Marina on Lanzarote island, where we got a berth in the marina and did a bit of maintenance on the boat. Ran into Jim a few times but never managed to get that beer he promised… Such a Stiff. 

From Rubicon it was an overnight hop to Las Palmas, the capital of The Canary islands, on Gran Canaria Island. We had to be there by the 8th of November to meet two rendezvous’. Firstly Agatha, our floating crewmember was flying in to rejoin the crew for the Atlantic crossing. Great to have you back on board Ag. Secondly, the ubiquitous Juliana, our friend from Ibiza, was also flying in to catch up with our fearless leader.

We arrived a day earlier which gave us time to clean the boat and generally get it ready for female company. Agatha is good value and I’m happy she’s coming back but the down side is that I now have to share my double cabin with Andy as she gets the single to herself.

With the boat all clean and Andy relocated into my quarters we decided to go and check out the local sailor bar. Now it usually takes us 1 or 2 days to find our feet after landing in a new place but today it took just one afternoon. Introducing Mojgan and Rebecca. Two Norwegian girls of Persian decent on a boat called ‘MAD” who are participating in The ARC, a rally for cruising yachts starting at Las Palmas and ending in St Lucia in the Caribbean. We got talking to these girls and before long they became part of our posse joining us for our new found hobby…… bowling

Supercoach Simon… “If you just hold the ball like this Mojgan, let me put my arm on your hip… yep that’s it…, nice form”

Rebecca had her own style – Looks ok but ended up in the gutter

Just one more game… then back to the unspoiled bays. Gav was the king of Sega rally  but I smashed him in bowling.

Andy and Rebecca in a bit of road rage.

The next day our two new guests arrived on their respective flights. Agatha in from Paris and Juliana from London. We all met at the local bar for a drink then dinner at Pier 19 – good food and lightning quick wi fi internet. Then it was back to the boat for our jetsetters to get some rest.

The next 8 photos were taken over the following 3 days. You may or may not notice but there seem to be no images of Gav or Juliana. I wonder where they got to?

Denise, Rebecca, Agatha and Mojgan

With our new crew down to 3, Andy, Agatha and I hung out with Mojgan and Rebecca getting in on the official ARC party where free food, beer and wine was on offer. A good night was had by all, especially Agatha who led from the front after a good nights rest.  

Mojgan took a liking to Simon, wrapping him up early…

Now the following 5 photos show the benefits of having a reliable dinghy. Andy and I recently serviced the outboard, cleaned the fuel filters and threw some new spark plugs in – she’s purring like never before. 

Real subtle Andy…..

Skipper’s away, the crew at play – nothing like skurfing in a packed anchorage!

Nice form….

Anyway I think I’ll hand the blog reins back to Gav for the next series of photos which incidentally were taken over the same 3 days as the above ones. Back to you Gavino.

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Thanks Simon… nice work, I think we have definitely tapped into a hidden blogging talent and look forward to some READER COMMENTS!!!

Yes, when the skipper’s away the crew shall play – it was great to come and hear all the stories, meet new members of the cruising posse and recount some of my own experiences from a great three days exploring Gran Canaria with Juliana.

I sheepishly suggested to Juliana that we could visit a rum distillery… and to my surprise she supported the idea wholeheartedly… the 100 year old local producer in the town of Arucas holds approximately 2 Million litres of rum of various vintages and has started a fun tradition whereby famous people either autograph or paint a barrel – they wouldn’t buy my story of being a friend of a kinda infamous celebrity in the infamous town of Manly in Australia

A rum tasting at 11:00 am is always fun!

Then it was time for lunch in the town of Teror.
Before finding our hotel hidden in the middle of a Banana plantation.

The next day we explored the North western part of the island.
There was a BIG swell hitting the shores which added to the eerie isolation of this area.

Abandoned vineyard??

And time for an afternoon swim followed by an ice cold beer….! nice.

We spent the rest of the afternoon slowly exploring the dramatic western coast, before realizing that we were some 50 kms away from the hotel we had booked for night two – it was at 2000m, on top of a mountain that was accessed by a winding, single lane track…. nothing like a few games of Sega rally the night before to inspire putting a manual, 1.3 litre hire car through its paces, hammering up a mountain road with a sunset in the background…. oh and Juliana enjoyed it tooo!!

We arrived just on dusk, having gone form 28 to 15 degrees and thick fog.

The next morning we were greeted by some sensational views, blue skies and the realisation that it was time to say goodbye again. Thanks for a great couple of days Ju, hope everything worked out in Belgrade!

I dropped Juliana at the airport, and spent the afternoon putting final touches on my side project – www.ChartSwap.net – a website for buying, selling and swapping second hand electronic charts & cruising guides.

By the time I got back to Squander it was early evening and we all stayed aboard, cooked dinner and exchange tales from the previous three days.

The next day we ran around buying bits and pieces for Squander, fixing what needed fixing and putting final touches on the preparation for another Atlantic crossing. We got a lot done including replacing the Speed transducer, getting gas, buying a new flat screen TV for Squander, restocking our grog supplies, buying some scuba diving equipment, getting the Scuba diving compressor serviced, replenishing our fishing equipment and a bunch of other small things.

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Incidentally, as I write this, the fishing  has taken a positive turn… preview from the next blog below!

More of this to look forward to in the next blog!! This one metre long Mahi Mahi was caught 200 miles off the coast of Mauritania on 21 November 2010.

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Back to the canaries and some more parties…

Friday night, we invited the MAD girls and the crew from Birka (www.28fot.com) for a few pre going out drinks. 

Simon setting the rules early – we come as a package Mojgan – it’s ME &THE BEER or nothing at all – now gis a kiss!

ANDY: Looks like your partying days are behind you Gav…… Better stick to those unspoiled bays…! GAV: see what happens when you leave permanent markers lying around young kids!! 

Martin (MAD), Gavin, Agatha, Mojgan, Piers, Rebecca(MAD), Simon & Andy – incidentally MAD stands for Make A Difference – a charity project run by Rebecca and Mojgan helping street people get back on their feet by helping them develop business ideas.

Time to say goodbye to The Canary Islands and head for Cabo verde.

Andy’s super work softening the spreaders to save the mainsail over the next 20,000 miles home. 

and we’re under way – Agatha is adapting really well seen here having a shower off the back of the boat….as Andy contemplates a new haircut  – you heard it here first!

Until next time readers.

Simon & Michelle left for Fez 2 days ago, something about Simon wanting to buy an original Fez hat?? and left me alone to sort out my BAS, last year’s Tax return and do some much needed research & planning on the next phase of the trip – how exactly will I squeeze sailing across more then half the planet in less then 12 months is still a slight mystery, but one thing is for sure – we won’t be bored!!!!

Desperately seeking reader/researcher/summariser!!

So… back to Cagliari in southern Italy. I will never forget that town as long as I live, not because of its narrow streets, big harbour or many fun bars… but because of that dreaded unlocked wi-fi spot, the only one in Italy it seems, that allowed my iPod touch to get online and download a facebook update that announced to me (only 2 weeks after the rest of the world found out about it it seems) that Luciana was engaged to be married – yes, if you’re on facebook, then you definitely didn’t hear it here first… so apologies for being Hendo with the late news to all of you facebookers!

With that ‘interesting news’ in hand, we sailed out of Cagliari. It somehow seemed that the weather gods were mysteriously synchronised with me. In the next 3 days the weather played out my emotions to perfection.

First there was a blinding white light, or was that the headache after the quiet night out to celebrate my newly discovered eternal freedom….

Then came THUNDER AND DARK CLOUDS and to be honest they lasted longer then necessary – no really… we had a storm, and very uncomfortable seas for a good 24 hrs which was an unfair, yet extremely well handled introduction to sailing for Michelle our new crew member!

But as they say, every storm has to end sooner or later and as the chart plotter and instruments proudly announced that Ibiza was getting closer and closer by the hour, my mood lifted and with it the mercury rose on the thermometer, the clouds parted and we had ourselves a new day…

by the end of day 2 at sea we were humming along at 7.5 knots, with an inspiring sunset, great music and a chunky freshly caught Tuna for dinner – did someone say plenty more fish in the sea??!
 

And so it was that we arrived in the middle of the night to a great anchorage near a tiny fishing village on the Spanish island of Formentera. The next morning was brilliant, warm – sun was shining and we had free wi-fi again… hahah this time it was put to good use – we jumped on Skype and organised a couple of Parties to go to in ibiza! I might add that Ibiza has become the only place on the planet without surf  to make my “favourite places I would consider living in” list…!
 

What to do in Paradise?… work of course… hahaha Some months ago I met a fellow Aussie – Rosco – who described Sailing around the world as “Working on fixing broken sailing equipment in exotic places”.

Thankefully, nothing was broken as such, so we decided to work on our breath holding ability here by cleaning the entire hull which was starting to develop some speed reducing growth – Now Squander as beautiful as she is, is a well endowed lady with a fat ass, ahmm should I say…. a “disco butt” to match the best of them – so it was no small job for Simon & I to freedive with a snorkel and fins for 3 hours whilst scrubbing her derriere!! 
 

We love having girls onboard!! Squander seems to come to life – The fun of men behaving badly really wears off after a while and it’s an incredibly welcome change to all involved to treat our olfactory receptors to smells that are not derived from competitive noise attenuation! Not to mention the vacuum cleaner gets to see some daylight, the tea towels get boiled (WTF???!), the carpet stain remover gets opened … ahmm shit – we’re giving it away! Seriously though, great to have you onboard Michelle!
 

As the sun set on Formentera, Squander was squeaky clean, the mood had been restored and we decided to sail a few hours north to EsPujols – beautiful white sand beaches, crystal clear water and no crowds – such a stark contrast to when we were in this area some 2 months earlier in the peak of the European summer.

 
The only sailboat in the anchorage, Squander looks on as we explore the shore.

Should have been here last week!! This bar had its closing party for the summer 5 days earlier… as we admired the location and the potential of this establishment, Simon proudly announced “well I’ve found my wedding venue, now i just need a bride” – ladies you heard it here first… if this strikes you as a place you might utter the words “i do! “ email your profile photos to us for consideration. 
 
Where to next?? Ibiza in the distance, Squander makes the cut again and in the foreground a reminder of how much of the world there’s yet to see.
 

Ibiza here we come… again!
 
Introducing…. or should I say re-introducing Juliana… fun loving, Jet setting Ibiza local, who calls London home, hails from Sao Paulo, has a slight Aussie accent after living in Sydney some years ago and…. god I wish I was a gambling man – this has good odds – may yet become Squander crew member of the year in 2011!

Ju happened to be in Seville seeing U2 as we were battling storms in the med and suggested that instead of continuing on to dreary old Gibraltar, we all rendez vous in Ibiza for a couple of closing parties… what a great idea!

When we were last here, we researched what to do and where to go – and despite all of the recommendations as a “must do” party, we never made it to the Monday phenomenon, in an old airplane hangar near the international airport, known as Circo Loco at DC10 – so it was with great enthusiasm that we accepted the invitation to go to the party of all parties – the DC 10 Circo loco closing party in Ibiza!!

Despite being mates with the crazy clown, we had to pay the entry fee, which at $50 Australian Dollars was by far the most reasonable of all closing parties in ibiza – Space was charging $100+ just to get in… and once inside at all of these venues drinks are a mere $20 a pop!!! …. so, the idea is simple – get loaded before you get in, careful you don’t over do it and top ya self up once inside!
 

Drinking in the carpark brought back memories of Thursday nights at Epping pub, when as poor UNI students, we would go to the Coles supermarket car park across the road, throw down a half bottle of vodka and then go to the pub – c’mon – someone here has to remember those days!

This photo was meant to have a plane over our heads, but they fly by so fast that we missed it!

This Motley crue seemed to have all sorts of dares going on! or so we hope…

Pretty in pink – old Cesario wasn’t sure if he was Arthur or Martha!

Big Simon bitterly disappointed when he realised it wasn’t a jet plane, but a measly twin prop!

Carpark time with an esky on the hood – love it!

Juliana, Arancha & Sergio!

Ze Plane, Ze plane!

We checked out the lineup, and confirmed that we ran the risk of showing our age as I didn’t have the faintest idea who the headlining DJs and artists were, but nodded my appreciation nonetheless and made a note to google it as soon as I got near a computer…!

In saying that, as soon as we made it inside, we were in good company – it was great to see Marge looking as sexy as ever. She impressed us by bucking the trend to go easy on kids these days – in fact she seems to have adopted some of homer’s eye popping child rearing techniques when it comes to handling Bart!
 

Hello!!!

Simon, protecting Ju from the overzealous cop who pulled out his gun…. and squirted water in his handcuffed girlfriends’ face!

and on that note the party went into overdrive…. as planes roared over head, the sun set in the distance and we had one of our most fun nights in Europe!

The “slightly military PAN AM airways hostess” was having so much fun she was on the phone trying to cancel her tour of duty!
 

Absolute legend from Argentina – Sergio rocking out!

 
Don’t feed the animals… Simon befriending wolfman!

Simon continues his lifelong mission to befriend BIG UNITS – generally classified as massive monsters that most of us would shy away from at the best of times! This guy was self appointed as being responsible for closing the closing party! Nice keys mate!

And so the party wound down, Ibiza hung up its party shoes for another year and we had a couple of really fun days, hung out and relaxed but somehow didn’t take many photos… so you’ll have to take my word for it!

A special mention has to go out to Macao Cafe in Santa Gertrudis – great food and a wicked way to spend an evening – Thanks Juliana!

Before long, the 5 days of fun had ended and it was time for all of us to return to our respective realities, For Sergio and Arancha it was back to work, For Juliana it was a flight back to London and for Simon, Michelle and i it was time to leave the Mediterranean.

We sailed into the sunset with a great breeze behind us, however it didn’t last for long – the med gave us one last slice of what it does best – too much wind or NO WIND!!
 
At least it was warm and Sunny – motoring for 2 days in dead calm conditions – lucky we picked up some extra fuel in Ibiza!

Michelle getting stuck into her Kindle – that thing has web access anywhere and its free to surf the web on it!

The next day, approaching Gibraltar, we got caught in some annoying freezing cold Squalls and rain showers – not to mention the fog – first time I have not been able to see Squander’s bow whilst standing behind the wheel – seriously freaky with all of the traffic around us – Also the first time we have truly relied on the Radar for navigation – now I get why people sing its praises!

The marinas in Gibraltar were full, so we decided to try out the newly openned (September 2010) marina at La Linea de Concepcion – www.puertodeportivoalcaidesa.es – plenty of room, cheaper then Gibralatr and great facilities – only prob was that Wi-Fi was seriously overpriced!

Gibraltar was only a 10 minute walk away and so the next day we decided to go in and get some duty free supplies.  Gib, as it’s affectionately known, is a funny place – a tiny triangle of land at the southernmost  tip of Spain that belongs to the UK. The border is the widest point and only conceivable place for an airport runway – so, as you cross the border, (i.e. landing strip) you occasionally have to pause as British airways or Easy Jet steal the limelight!

It never ceases to surprise me how cultures survive borders – especially so in Europe, where a 10 mile trip can mean a monumental difference in culture, scenery and language.

And so it was somewhat predicable, that the first British thing we came across was in stark contrast to the excitement of Spain – This company has been in business for over a century! 

I love the “brand consistency” – it’s ALL bland!

But we didn’t go to Gib for the sights or the culture, we went there to buy 7 year old Havana club rum for under 10 quid per LITER!! and with Squander equipped with 10 solid liters we cannot complain…. in fact just to make sure our ships stores were ok, we kindly accepted an invitation from Lance for a rum tasting evening aboard “alf a bet” – a hilarious night that almost saw us moving to Wales for a few weeks – thanks Lance, Rhydian and Lauren. See you again soon!

Lance played footy in Australia in the 70’s, as well as some serious rep footy in Wales. I won’t given away his vintage, but it’s impressive and he still holds his own…. seen here suffering the pain of doing a one legged Squat – undefeated!

The next day our new Welsh friends were leaving their boat and flying home for a couple of weeks. We bid them farewell, went and filled the tanks full of duty free diesel and went out for one last night at our favorite Tapas joint in La Linea de Concepcion – http://www.haciendapatagonica.com/

Michelle focused on her complimentary “Chupito” – a shot of Schnapps!

Early morning departure from Gibraltar.
 
As we sailed across Gibraltar straight, an interesting cloud moving towards us – miraculously it produced zero change in wind. I reckon if that was coming towards you off Sydney you’d be in for a good 30-40 knots!!

There was also plenty of traffic to dodge coming in all directions and at pace!

Looks like MSC are good at “container Tetris”!!

and by the afternoon we had negotiated our way out of the Med, caught another Tuna along the way, and rounded North Western Africa into the Atlantic – it feelt good to be on an Ocean again!!!

We sailed overnight in fairly calm conditions and by the following morning we were entering the river that separates Rabat and Sale in Morocco!!
 
The pilot guiding us in through the shallow and at times sketchy entrance.

I felt a little like David Attenborough observing wildlife when I noticed that in the late afternoon every park bench in the city is occupied. It seems young couples don’t go out for coffee, dinner or drinks but instead they do “bench time” – they meet on park benches and sit there for hours courting – awesome!

So fun times in Rabat, Simon and Michelle came back from Fez, and tomorrow we plan to sail down to Agadir – it should take us 2 days or so.

Au revoir mes amis!

and so it was that we sailed into the sunset on a Monday afternoon with so many great memories still fresh in our minds.

5.5 days after leaving the Azores – approaching Cabo Sao Vicente, Portugal

The trip to mainland Portugal was fast – we covered around 1000 miles in just over 5 days averaging 7.4 knots. Unfortunately our rudder developed an ear piercing squeak as well as continuing to vibrate and move around – we knew it was time to address the issue once we arrived in Europe.

Almost there – Lagos here we come

View of Lagos from the top of the mast

But in true Squander style we had some partying to do before getting too involved in work and maintenance.

Dmitry and Luis were set to depart Squander and return to their lives ashore. Dmitry had spent 2.5 months aboard and had really become a solid part of the team – we were going to miss our Russian connection. Luis had only been onboard for 3 weeks but also left his mark.

Dman is a big fan of stripy shirts

We quickly got our bearings around Lagos, and what we couldn’t work out for ourselves we supplemented by chatting to the locals to work out what’s on where… we wanted beach party atmosphere and found it at the Bahia bar – a great Sunday afternoon session, live music, fun people and a balmy summer night – yeehah!

Sandy & Mandy rocking out

After dancing till midnight we were hungry and a little on the wobbly side – we headed back to Squander for a healthy meal of BEEFARONI – it was a joke purchase in America – a 1 kilo tin of macaroni with beef sauce – yum!!!

Cougar alert!!! Lady, you’re old enough to be my mum!

Dmitry took himself off to bed whereas Luis, Simon and I hit the town for round 2 – we ended up at Joe’s Garage where Dan the barman whom we’d met earlier in the day did his best to look after us with free shots and Pints of rum & coke – I don’t think responsible service of alcohol has quite made it over here – we again danced till closing – meeting countless people including big Bill – the owner of Joe’s whom we were set to meet on many occasions in Lagos – this really is a party town!!

Action befriending the bar staff

Joe’s Garage

Whytes – The cavernous underground bar

The rest of the evening is fairly hazy – but we all regrouped onboard the next day and other then a few sore heads all was in order!

The week was spent relaxing, going to the beach and partying most evenings. We bid goodbye to Dmitry and Luis and by Friday morning it was time to set sail again – not far this time – only 30 miles or so to Vilamoura to go and pick up my sister Agatha who was flying in for the weekend from Paris.

Coastal sailing in the Algarve

Sunset in Marina Vilamoura

Before leaving we booked Squander in to be lifted out of the water the following Tuesday. I was very impressed by Sopromar in Lagos who were very helpful, reliable and like many of the Portuguese people we have met spoke near perfect English – great to deal with.

Vilamoura was an interesting place – it seems to be a package tour destination for mostly British people, with many of the bars, restaurants and cafes catering to English tastes. We jumped online and tried to find some more local/traditional entertainment and weren’t disappointed – there was an opening party at the old Niki Beach resort on Saturday night as well as a great Balinese inspired bar/club open till 4:00am right next door to the marina… plus a beach on our doorstep as well as bunch of good Portuguese seafood restaurants which we found in the back streets away from the hustle and bustle.

After a late dinner of Portuguese Sardines (def my favourite dish in Portugal) Simon & I stationed ourselves at the bar at “Agua Moments” in Marina Vilamoura and waited for Agatha to arrive – she finally made it by 1:30am and in true Gorazdowski style came straight to the bar from the airport and tucked into a couple of quiet mojitos… good to see you sis!

Agatha learning the Squander salute

As 4:00am was approaching we met a great local couple who offered to give us a lift in their dinghy from the bar – a short 200 m by boat that saved us having to walk right around the entire marina. We invited them back to Squander for a nightcap before finally retiring for the night.

Agatha introducing style and her signature bloody marys

The next day was a cracker with the sun shining, and hardly any wind – we decided to stay another night in Vilamoura and headed for a relaxing afternoon at the beach, followed by a late seafood lunch complete with local beers and Mateus wine.

As evening was nearing we decided to have a little siesta which lasted till 8:00pm… we finally got up, had a few drinks and a bite to eat and headed out to the white party at around 10:30 – we managed to get ourselves on the guest list which saved us 20 euros each ($30) – and thank god for that – we only lasted 10 minutes there – an amazing venue but the mixture of less then inspiring music,  a stiff crowd and $15 drinks meant that it was time to head back to our favourite bar – Agua moments.

Agua moments with its own pontoon

This place was unreal, Balinese inspired, outdoor bar/nightclub with a very local crowd, well priced drinks and a fun DJ pumping out the tunes on the water’s edge at the marina – and the best part about it we got there by dinghy and parked it in the dinghy carpark… I wonder if there are rules against drink-dinghying??!

It was there that we met Rita and Marta – 2 cool girls from Lisbon – Rita’s a Soap opera actor here in Portugal and she had a mini fan club on the dance floor – in true Squander style we whisked the girls away in the dinghy for a round of sunrise drinks aboard. We eventually said goodbye to our new friends in the early hours and settled down for a short rest. We woke up around midday and set sail for Portimao.

We were hoping to anchor along the way, go for a swim and have lunch, but the swell had come up overnight and we couldn’t find a good shelter. Eventually we decided to head for the protected anchorage in Portimao, fire up the BBQ and have the last of the meat that we bought in America – we’ll miss those steaks!!

The last of the steaks
Portimao Sunset

Well after sunset, we jumped in the dinghy and went ashore to check out the town – very touristy and not really our scene but cool to check it out anyway.

In the morning we weighed anchor and set sail for Lagos – actually we motored the hour or so as there wasn’t much wind. We pulled into Lagos, tied up and went to one of our favourite cafes – Lazy Jacks for lunch with Agatha before putting her on the train to Faro.

Bye Sis… see you onboard again soon!

The next morning it was time to focus on Squander – we hauled her out of the water and the guys at Sopromar dropped the rudder and went about machining new rudder post bushes made out of Polyoxymethylene (POM).

A rudder-less squander

Straight into it – cleaning the rudder post

Rudder back in

Lagos Marina

The maxprop – is that the source of our vibrations???

Simon and I attacked many of the jobs onboard from fixing leaky water hoses, sorting out the gas oven regulator, replacing the furler block, replacing the anchor light  bulb ($45 friggin dollars for a light globe!!!)  finally sourcing the right o ring for the deck wash filter and a bunch of other stuff.

We also gave Squander a good wash and shampoo as well as polishing her topsides… and so with the rudder firmly in place and one last night out in Lagos, we set sail for Cadiz in Spain – world cup final fever was awaiting!

Lagos by night

Live music in the town square

Simon doing a bit of street art

Local sushi restaurant in Lagos – all you can eat for 15 euros!
The Spanish navy patrolling the waters

Approaching Cadiz

Two days into it and Spain is living up to expectations !!

Having sailed overnight from Portugal, we were pretty tired. So after a quick swim at the beach and some local fare on the way home we decided to have a siesta… a long one – we woke up at midnight – perfect!! just in time to go out and party.

many of the clubs here don’t open until midnight – by the time we managed to get organised it was 1:00 am – we drifted towards the centre of town and found a cool little bar that was going to be our place to watch the world cup final the following evening. We had a couple of beers there and headed for Imagina  – my new favourite club – great vibe, unreal music and a cool crowd.

Chicas espanolas – is that Elle’s Spanish daughter?!  

It was 8:00am by the time we finally made it to bed… a few hours sleep and then off to the beach again… life is tough.

It seems we weren’t the only ones with that idea!

a popular spot!

It was world cup final Sunday and the first time Spain had ever been in a world cup final – the nervous buzz was palpable!! … (incidentally apparently New Zealand was the only team to not lose a single game in the world cup??!!)

Freshly caught Tuna – a healthy breakfast at 2:30pm!

We showered up and headed straight for the little bar we had found the night before – when we got there it was full of Spaniards who welcomed us with open arms, offering us seats and beers – unreal vibe and awesome to watch the game in such great company!!

A couple of stand out classic dudes made the whole experience even more real – one guy was so nervous he sat outside the bar the whole night just waiting for the game to finish – the entire bar kept on making fun of him by doing the occasional coordinated “GOOOOOOOAL…!!!”

When the game was finally over and Spain had won the bar owner pulled out a hose and sprayed the entire bar – people were dancing, jumping for joy, hugging and crying…

Soaking wet, slightly tipsy and in the best of moods we bid our new friends goodbye as they thanked us for being their “Kangaroo good luck charms”!

The pressure is off – smiles all around – we are the champions!

We headed straight for the big central area where everyone was again jumping for joy and celebrating – having soaked up as much joy as we could we decided it was time to hit some more bars – and that we did – Woodstock Bar, followed by a great little club whose name we don’t know and then a finish at Imagina again….
Quick food stop


Midnight and the celebrations spill onto the streets!

Action befriending the locals

Half Hombre half Torro!

Time for a break I think – some healthy eating and exercise before heading for some more fun in Ibiza!

LATE UPDATE: We stopped in Tarifa and love this place. So will stay here for a week or so before heading to Gibraltar and onto Ibiza.

You can get it diggin’,
You can get it riggin’,
Or straining ’till you thought you’d burst.
You’ve sure got a thirst….
A hard-earned thirst needs a big cold beer, and the best cold beer is Vic – Victoria Bitter.
You can get it drivin’,
You can get it strivin’,
You can get it any old how…

Matter of fact, I’ve got it now

 
Leaving our Dolphin friends behind, we first sighted land at around 7pm and by midnight we were coastal sailing, inhaling the sweet smells of land and looking forward to our first rum and coke – apart from a quiet wine at the half way point, we had abstained from drinking for 2 weeks!

 
Almost in “race mode” hand steering towards the finish

“Pico” greeting us from the neighbouring island

Having motored into the Harbour at around 3:00am in the hope of quietly tying up till the morning, we were soon interrupted by a voice on Channel 16 on the VHF – “…yacht entering Horta harbour this is Horta Radio… you’re advised that you have to anchor overnight and wait for customs to open…”  – I politely explained that we were having problems with our anchor windlass, we were tired (read thirsty) and we were hoping to tie up somewhere – the well spoken voice on the radio explained in perfect English that they understood but could not do anything for us at this point…

The harbour was rammed with boats and I didn’t like the prospect of hand dropping/raising the anchor in a crowded anchorage… so we reluctantly turned around and headed back to deep water, with Dmitry on the helm and Simon and I with our troubleshooting hats on, multimeter in hand (thanks Todd for the present!) focused on fixing the windlass… it took us 1.5 hrs to get it sorted (i.e. work out how to “hot wire” it) and we headed back into Harbour… no sooner had we got within earshot of the anchorage that the friendly voice was back on the Radio advising us that we had clearance to tie up at the commercial shipping dock… yeehah…

Dmitry after 2 rum and cokes – as a container ship ties up in front of us

And one behind us too.

We watched the sun rise over Horta and realised that if nothing else, we would be in some good company – the little harbour and Marina was a temporary home to at least 50-60 yachts from all around the world. Most of them making the pilgrimage from the Caribbean back to Europe.

By 8:00am I had consumed my fair share of Rum and decided to leave Dmitry and Simon to enjoy the morning, whilst I lined up to be one of the first in the Marina office to check in, go through customs and get the necessary clearances into the European Union…. It was all sorted by 10:00am and we were soon rafting up in our new home for the next week. The Marina was so crowded that yachts were rafted up 3,4 and 5 deep.

Squander rafted up three deep, we had to hop over the yachts to get to shore.

We’ve got a little tradition on Squander that we do our best to clean up the boat for any new crew arriving – as much as it no doubt makes it more pleasant for new crew joining it’s also a good excuse to get stuck into a bit of cleaning for  a “reason”… Luis was due to arrive at 13:00 and we had our work cut out for us… no sleep since midnight, a few rums under our belts and 2 weeks of Atlantic crossing mess to cover up, ahmmm I mean clean up in under 3 hours… we got stuck into it and we all agreed that we did a great job!! hahhah… sorry Luis…!

“Action” getting stuck into a bit of house work

Luis’ first moments on Squander

Having met each other and showed Luis our Video of the Atlantic crossing, tested out a few tall stories on him and consumed more rum, we all agreed it was time to find the infamous Peter’s bar. Hey Luis, you speak Portuguese right…Can you ask where’s

National Holiday in Horta – the streets were quiet – where’s this Bar?

Finally found what we were looking for.

Having had a couple of beers we decided to head back to the boat, have some food, shower up and come back later – still no sleep…

 
And come back we did…. time and time again!

The friendly staff of Peter’s bar.

It can be said that we had many a great night there, with new and old friends alike. It could be said that there were some taxing times with the Skipper of a boat that has the letter Q in its name falling asleep at the Bar, matter of fact many things could be said but this is a family blog and we prefer to not say certain things, however the following pictures should do enough talking…!

Happy 30th Birthday Luis – Tequila all around!

Asleep at the computer… this blog writing takes its toll

A quiet evening with the Crew of “Ocean Lady” 
Luis got “Squandered”

An “Action” sized beer

Action doing his post night out workout  

Nahh Gav, you can’t go drinking these tiny beers 

Heading for a night out with The “Circus” crew 
Thomas and Dmitry building Russo-German relations.

“Poor Clowns” – The new Boy band from Squander and Circus

Luis befriending the lovely Nikolina from Sweden (sailing from the Caribbean to Sweden with only her Dad!!!) – By the way if you’re reading this the Captain knows about your Yaegermeister tricks!!

Parties aside, we had a lot of fun exploring the island of  Faial, fixing a few bits and bobs on Squander and generally enjoying ourselves outside the boundaries of bars.

The murals with Pico Volcano in the distance

There’s a great tradition in Horta amongst visiting yachts to paint a small mural on the breakwall to commemorate your voyage – it is said that it will bring good luck on the ensuing passage to Europe.

Basecoat, a couple of beers for inspiration and…

Voila!!

We also seemed to spend a lot of time entertaining aboard Squander which was great fun… On occasion pulling out old favourites like “shrimp on the barbie” and fish soup in honour of Luis’ 30th Birthday – Amanda, Patrick and Thomas joined us from “Circus” with Amanda delivering a killer cheese cake with candles and all!!

 
Night view from Squander

Once round 1 of parties was complete and we had pumped through many of the jobs that needed doing, Luis and Dmitry suggested we hire motor bikes…

Servicing a winch – tick!

they came back with 2 scooters for the 4 of us to share… Simon and I looked at each other with slight discomfort as we weren’t sure how to explain that in Australia it would be fairly uncommon for us to ride a small scooter whilst holding on tight to another dude… it all somehow worked out and before long we had a scooter each and we’re off terrorizing the streets of Faial. 

Giving our photographer the bird… 
Dmitry was firmly in charge of our destination – VOLCANO!            

Once back safe and sound at the Marina, Thomas, our new German friend from “Circus” suggested that we should all go and watch the World Cup game between Germany and Australia – still remembering the glory days of the 2006 World cup (Bring back GUS!!!) we proceeded to dress up Dimitry as our team mascot and head in to the slaughterhouse – a bar full of Germans!! hahahah well we all know the result… we left soon after with our tail between our legs and with one happy Thomas!!      
And so it was after sightseeing and partying with people from all around the world – Shout outs to the legendary  Norwegian dudes, Diego and Nina from Italy and Switzerland, Assa from New York, Grant from OZ, Charlie and crew from “Naroly”, old acquaintances from Laurel Blue, and so many other great people we met – it was time to move on – we had one last little party and left Horta 4 hours after our planned departure time – partly because one hungover Russian crew member disappeared for 1.5 hrs – it turned out he really felt like tea and cake and was sitting in a cafe the whole time….

And so once all were onboard again, we cast off from Horta and set sail for the island of Terceira happy and excited to be heading for the week long San Joaninas Festival that was due to start in 2 days time.

We sailed the 100 or so Nautical Miles, giving Luis a taste of Squander actually sailing as well as giving everyone a chance to get some much needed rest.

We arrived in the Port of Angra do Heroismo late in the evening and decided to anchor out until daybreak.

As day broke, a cool little city greeted us…
  

We proceeded to check into the Marina, and after being told that it was full, we managed to snag a spot in the outside berths that proved to be just fine for us. This was to be our last stop before the final 900 Nautical miles sailing to Portugal so we were keen on making it a fun stop.

The town was in full swing and we couldn’t believe our luck as we joined the opening parade in the streets, partying till the early hours of the morning.

The locals spared no expense in dressing up the town, with lights, music in the streets, various stages, food stalls and a great carnival vibe that lasted for a week.

The Terceira Robocop angels.

One of the many Tapas stands that we visited over the 4 or so days there.

One of the stages right near the marina – empty at 10:30pm –jumping at 1:00am

Some funky moves going down as the band pumped out hit after hit!

  
1:00 am and the streets are alive with young and old alike. 

The Brazilian Caipirinha Guy was a local hit.         
Hmmm… freshly baked chorizo rolls 
Amanda and Patrick – owners of “Circus of Southampton”  – a beautiful Grand Soleil 46  

Now aside from the parties and religious connotations of the San Joaninas Festival, Terceira and specifically this week is famous for bullfighting – at first we were a bit reluctant to support this ‘sport’ – however at the 11th hour we decided that we had to see it for ourselves in order to form an opinion… and so we headed to the “Praca de Toiros” and were pleasantly surprised by a mix of tradition, bravado, showmanship and outright courage!

450 KG of Bull charging at you – quick get the pink cape!

This guy was awesome – many a close call on his horse! However our favourite were the bull tacklers – a group of fairly diminutive guys whose job is to tackle the bull head on – see the video below – crazzzzzzzy!!!!

VIDEO HERE

There were some classic faces in the crowd

Including one satisfied Dmitry with beer and pork rolls in hand!

Speaking of which, this guy seemed to enjoy his pork rolls too!

We came back from the bull fight  very impressed and decided to head out for one last dinner in town. The local girls that we had met were encouraging us to stay till Wednesday when the BIG party was on, but a mix of one too many hangovers as well as a weather prediction that suggested we needed to go now or not for another five days  meant that we made snap decision to leave the next day – Monday.

Before leaving, we were invited to a great little local restaurant for lunch – “Adega de Sao Mateus” – it was fantastic. Sampling local delicacies like Cracas, Boca Negra, Cherna, Garoupa and Lapas amongst a host of great freshly caught seafood, . Thanks Patricia & Barbara – you were great hosts and we wish we could have stayed longer. 

Leaving Nassau wasn’t as easy as we thought. The generosity and hospitality of our new Bahamain friends was second to none and it seems that the Weather gods conspired to keep us there for one more night – which turned out to be a brilliant way to say goodbye to the Bahamas – with a home cooked feast at Geoffrey & Rosa’s house, with the whole family coming over to say hello – a beautiful baked hog fish, home made coleslaw, banana fritters (whose name we cannot recall) & plenty of amazing rum all served with plenty of that unbeatable Bahamian hospitality that we have grown to love!

Thank you – especially to you Amanda, you rock!

We’ve packed away the dinghy on the foredeck

So we left Nassau in a stiff Nor easter which was meant to be an easterly and it soon became obvious that we would be beating into it – punishing the boat and crew alike – Todd and I had a quick look at the charts and decided to head for Grand Bahama – a 150 NM detour, but one that would allow us to ride “the magic carpet” of the gulf stream as well as hopefully avoiding the high pressure area with no wind which was forming north of the Bahamas.

How to turn an 800NM trip into well over 1000 Nautical miles

The plan worked well – the wind settled overnight and within 24 hrs we were travelling at 9knots over the ground picking up up to 2 knots of current.

It was a great trip, with plenty of time for fun, games and the odd bit of thinking time.

We’ve all, at one time or another in our lives, strived towards something we really wanted – in my younger years I worked crappy jobs whilst studying to save up enough money to buy an old VW kombi Van – the work sucked, but the appeal of buying my first car kept me going with a smile on my dial.

A bit of downtime on watch – Nath finding innovative ways to keep his hand warm

Since then there have been many situations where I have resorted to imagination as a way of justifying and motivating myself through difficult situations – “imagine the day I don’t have to wake up and go to work, imagine the day when I don’t have three proposals hanging over my head, budgets to meet, clients to see, staff to hire, meetings to go to… imagine the day when I’m sailing under a star lit sky, on a balmy summer evening, listening to great music, the boat is self steering on auto pilot and I’m suspended in the moment – it was on the 4th night or so, the conditions were so calm that we decided to do one man watches and get plenty of rest – we were motoring in calm waters.

I came up on deck at 3:00am and no sooner had Dimitry gone to bed, that the wind came up – a perfect 12 knot breeze just aft of our beam – I hoisted the main and as the wind swung further back I decided to pole out the headsail – within 15 minutes Squander was flying along in the calm seas, steady as can be – I looked up at the sky and thanked my lucky stars – and they replied – with a huge shooting star lighting up the night sky.

Sun rising as my watch comes to an end

It was at that moment that I recalled all those times when I would day dream about this precise moment, those 6:00 am rises when the surf was pumping but instead of hitting the waves I headed to the office to try and get a head start on the day, those evenings when instead of catching up with friends for a beer I’d be finishing proposals at my desk till 9 and 10pm, those sunny summer days – when I hated looking out of my office window realizing I was committed to the indoors instead of being out there – That moment alone, on a solo nights watch, made all that hard work worthwhile – and there have been many such moments in the past 18 months with hopefully many more to come – It seems that dreaming about better days seems as important as remembering the shitty days once your dreams start becoming reality!

The trip from the Bahamas was largely uneventful as far as sailing goes, but being an inventive bunch we kept ourselves well entertained…

Paper Airplane  flying competition

The competitors’ airplane design varied greatly

On the 14th of May at approx 29N 77W we had the inaugural “Airplane Cup” where Russia took on the might of Australia and came out second best – see the video below!

Name a food game

Very simple game that kept Strike and Action entertained for hours – you start with A (eg Apple) then the next person names a food starting with B (eg Bread) and so on until you get to Z or someone gets stuck – might seem trivial but how many foods do you know that start with X??

hahah – yeah it was a slow trip!

Search for Russia’s next male model – dimitrij does blue steel

This man not only has “the look” but also managed to sneeze 17times in a row – impressive huh??!

Hooking a huge Marlin
Whereas not exactly a game it certainly broke up the boredom – as those of you that have been following the blog for a while know – our fishing has been really bad to date – we’ve caught 2 Barracuda and a beautiful big Snapper – but nothing else???!! A mix of doing a lot of upwind sailing & shallow water sailing I think has contributed… anyway – late one afternoon one of the rods went OFFF – whizzzing like crazy – I tried putting as much drag as possible on it and it didn’t even begin to work… within 20-30 seconds I could see all of my 500M of line disappearing – we had hooked something huge – I grabbed the fishing rod and just held on to see what would happen.

Just as we thought the monster at the other end was going to break off all of the fishing line – a huge MARLIN jumped into the air some 300-400 metres away and freed itself from our lure – a bitter sweet result as we’re glad we didn’t unnecessarily kill a 2-3 Metre fish but it would have been fun to fight with it for a while and it certainly would have provided some great entertainment!

Casino 31degrees North was setup in international waters aboard  Squander. Games of 21 were fiercely fought between players and the banker alike – we’re not sure who won in the end as thankfully the wind came up and broke up the fun.

Spot something – anything!

A ship, another yacht, a bird, flotsam, a huge blue bottle

400 NMiles from land, motoring in dead calm conditions for 36 hrs – great excuse for a BBQ!

Salt water spa bath – Squander style – one day we were all getting a bit on the nose and needed a good wash. The sun was shining and all 2,500m of water under us was blue and calling – we were sailing at about 5 knots with very light breeze behind us so we decided to try and get dragged / washed behind the boat – Action volunteered to go first but only lasted a minute or so as he opened his eyes under water and thought the rudder was a huge shark fin – we all ended up taking turns, enjoying the afternoon & getting a good wash in the process!

Action looking for sharks


Cap’t Gav no longer in command of his ship

Getting out was not as easy as it seems – Dimitrij demonstrates

DJ Strike Harvey’s greatest hits at full ball were also a memorable aspect of the trip – in fact we will miss old Nath a lot as he’s forever providing entertainment, laughs, ingenuity and not to mention his constant efforts to produce extra wind – whether we need it or not!

Nath’s favourite hour or three – sunset drinks

We tried having a rule that we were allowed to start sunset drinks when the sun was about the height of a beer above the horizon – Nath pondered this idea for a while… it was  3:00pm and things were fairly thirsty onboard – he disappeared down below, put his PARTY playlist on at full ball and came up with beers for everyone proudly announcing a solution to a problem that we didn’t know we had – rather then waiting all those hours until the sun goes down towards the horizon, we can stack 4 beers on top of each other and use the sun’s decent to pace ourselves as we consume them…so brilliantly STRIKE!

Nath’s leaving Squander in the next couple of days and heading to Canada to spend the summer in Muskoka teaching water skiing. On his last night at sea he took charge of the stereo and entertained us with all sorts of tunes at full ball – with the highlight definitely being the change of watch wake up – listening to Pink Floyd’s “comfortably numb”, travelling at 8 knots under a star lit sky at 3:00am – brilliant (well for those of us that were on watch anyway – sorry Simon and Todd hahahahh wakey wakey fellas!)

Nath’s last night at sea on Squander

We arrived in Bermuda almost exactly 7 days after leaving Nassau – and although it wasn’t a particularly fast time – we were happy to be in port, having not only completed our first decent long passage but also really enjoyed it!

Land Ahoy!

The markers north of Bermuda warning about the outlying reefs

Entering St George’s Harbour

Leaving the Atlantic behind for a week or so

Todd and his phone – the story unfortunately doesn’t end there… but more on that in the next blog post!