Ryfylke, Norway
Phew, this is another first for the year – a report written almost live! Last Tuesday we left the anchorage south of Lerwick nice and early again, around 6 o’clock. It was drizzly, dull and cold once more. …
Sailing around the world on Merrimac, a Stadtship 56.
Scalloway, Shetland
It had been clear for a few days that the weather would improve on the 14th. So where there had been 4 sailing boats in the morning, by midday we were on our own. The English boat La Contenta left for Fair Isle. We also …
Up and downloading files to Navico NOS chart plotters
The Navico (B&G, Simrad and Lowrance) chart plotters running on NOS, so the Zeus, Vulcan, NSS, NSO, Carbon etc. devices have a little known feature that is an enormous help if you regularly need to transfer files …
Westray, Orkney
Last Tuesday we were ready for a change after the metropolis of Kirkwall and all those stones. So, sails up and off to the “Northern Isles”. After trying to anchor in Fersness Bay (too much swell), we settled …
Mainland, Orkney
On Saturday we could finally pick up the car from J D Peace. We handed over four bottles of Brouwdok, but there was so much staff around and not the one gentleman we’d promised them to. Rental cars are in short …
Kirkwall, Orkney
It’s been a whole year since the last update appeared on this blog. All winter long the moment to finish writing up the Atlantic loop here kept slipping through my fingers. I’ll try to make up for that …
Waiting for family on Faial
For about six weeks I was on board alone in Horta, on the island of Faial. Very relaxed: I wasn’t going anywhere and had little else to do than wait for the family’s holidays to start. A bit of work on the …
3,200 miles from Bonaire to Faial (Horta)
I had been looking forward to crossing the Atlantic from west to east for a long time. Sure, we had done east to west, but that turned out to be very easy: point the bow west with plenty of wind from behind! Ten days is …
Diving with Martijn
On our crossing in 2019 André sailed with us. He used to be a fanatical diver, but his ears started giving him trouble. Our ears, on the other hand, he talked right off about how awesome diving was. Yeah yeah, André, but …
Bonaire in lockdown
Until the end of April, Bonaire was in lockdown because of Covid. Even on my own, lockdown was perfectly bearable, with social contact with Uli (Baradal) and Astrid and Stefan (Intrepid Bear) from Germany on one day, and …
Fish under the boat
Here on Bonaire the water is so clear it’s like diving into a swimming pool. Here’s a 360-degree video, so make sure you look around in every direction. The fish mostly hang out under the boat and around the …
Farewell Aruba, Welcome Bonaire
After 4 months I finally sailed from one island to the next again. On Monday evening it became clear that the wind would be lighter all week. On the Leeward Islands it always blows from the east, you see, except when a …