Blog

31-10-2011 After the heavy weather Mother Nature threw at me for several days, it now looks like she feels that she has to make amends… So […]

27-10-2011 Another beautiful sunny day. I am sailing on a close tack to a 25 knots wind and heading straight into fast coming towering waves which […]

28/10/2011 The Rollercoaster is in full swing now… but happily we did not do any loop-the-loops so far and I am feeling pretty good actually. Althought […]

25-10-2011 Very early this morning as it was still dark rainfalls, shifting winds and squalls with strong gusts took me out of my sleep and kept […]

26-10-2011 We are sailing close to the wind now and just off course to the south of our rhumb line, but I am happy that there […]

24-10-2011 The sky is a bit cloudier today, but instead of sunlight I now have some wind! Our speed is back to 4 to 4,5 knots, […]

23-10-2011 I catched on some sleep last night as the light wind that is still blowing was just enough to keep the boat on course, so […]

22-10-2011 Our speed has dropped to 1-2 knots.. which is not really something to write home about. But I do, because not much else is happening […]

21-10-2011 We are still making progress under light wind. After a promising start this morning the sun sadly faded again. In this hazy sunlight and in […]

20-10-2011 It is another sunny day today and there is still a nice wind blowing. Everything on Guppy finally has the chance to dry and the […]

19-10-2011 Finally a bright and sunny day! That is good to me and for the batteries.. Along with a great wind and nice waves it all […]

18-10-2011 It is another grayish gray rainy day in Guppyland. But there is a good wind so we are going great under sails. Last night the […]

17-10-2011 How is it possible to be for three weeks at sea and not get good winds for two days in a row .. The weather […]

15-10-2011 The wind faded away to normal and we are sailing into another gray and rainy day.. I feel very tired since I did not have […]

16-10-2011 Nice change; I awoke to the sun shining today. All morning It warmed Guppy and me which gave us a chance to dry up a […]

14-10-2011 Yesterday evening and night felt like I was taking a rollercoaster ride. The waves reached up to more than six meters [20 feet].. really awesome […]

13-10-2011 The wind has become a little too enthusiastic.. She is getting strong and the seas are getting pretty rough.. Different from what things were in […]

12/10/2011 No bird droppings or squalls today but a strong breeze. That’s exactly what we are going for! The sky is still heavily clouded but the […]

11-10-2011 Wind finally! A nice wind that takes Guppy flying forward, so for the first time since our departure from Darwin we are making good progress. […]

10-10-2011 Finally I have some wind, but it is so dark and gray outside that it looks like Guppy will be swallowed by the clouds at […]

9-10-2011 Well, I am still waiting for some wind.. Last night I sailed with the engine on for a slow going 3 knots. So I could […]

8-10-2011 Of course I am without wind again, but at least the sun showed up.. But wait.. maybe I should keep quiet because over the horizon […]

7-10-2011 Well okay, I spoke too soon… Since last night the wind is back to ‘normal’ which means calm winds, headwinds and shifting winds.. For the […]

6-10-2011 Yes!Finally I have wind and it is even blowing from the right direction. With decreased swell but increased wind and in the company of a […]

The news has also reached me by now.. And I want to congratulate the Dutch Nuon Solar team with the Nuna 6 which I met in […]

It’s a pity that I can’t write everything because there are people who can figure out where I am by looking at the weatherconditions I have.. […]

everything good with me… Laura

It is OK with Gup and me. From now on I regularly will let you know how it is going. So I wrote already, my blogs […]

Because the danger of tracing me by information of my blogs , from now my actual blogs will appear some time later. Sorry, but this is […]

It seems that the wind was waiting for me to fall asleep… ‘Yep, she’s almost asleep, in just a moment…’ And then the wind fades and […]

Flap clang, flap clang… Huh? I jumped out of bed, the boat was upright in the water, bobbing wildly up and down the steep waves. The […]

When I woke up the sun was already shining brightly in the sky. I didn’t have much chance to sleep last night as I went by […]

I really hope that the wind keeps on blowing constantly and that it will shift to a better direction sometime because we are still sailing on […]

Finally I have WIND – Hurrah! For sure it could be coming from a better direction but at least we have wind and Guppy is going […]

The wind kept blowing all night, and for a moment it looked like it wanted to shift to a better direction. I was hopeful that ‘Gup’ […]

Beep – Beep – Beep… My alarm system keeps waking me up all the time usually because of nearby ships, but not this time. I went […]

I stretch myself in the cockpit having been chased out by the sun-heated air inside the cabin. I still have no wind and the small engine […]

Well finally the wind has completely left me.. so I started the small engine and for the first time since we left Darwin, Guppy’s nose is […]

After a good night sleep I set sail at dawn and watched Darwin slowly vanish in my wake until there was nothing but water left to […]

To start with I want to thank each and everyone of you who wished me a happy birthday on the telephone, or by SMS and e-mails […]

After eating so many cakes and donuts yesterday I had to spend today resting my bellie and just recovering. It is not everyday that I have […]

After having solved all the known maintenance problems, I went looking for the still undiscovered ones and found that one of the backstays was a little […]

Gradually the cruisers are departing from Fannie Bay. Henk and Sogno d’Oro have set sail two days ago for Cocos Keeling Islands or Christmas Island. Myself […]

I have been very busy for the past days …and it looks like it will be like this for some time.I have problems with the rudder […]

The days just fly by and I haven’t had time to be bored, not even for one second. There is plenty of work to do on […]

There were pretty strong winds blowing as the regatta took place and right from the start I already had trouble keeping the boat upright. Even though […]

Now that I am well rested, I could go over all I wanted to do yesterday and it went a whole lot better. In no time […]

I haven’t had a chance to go to sleep yet and I feel like a whole lifetime of experiences has passed me by since I arrived […]

Unfortunately, I did not not sleep much last night… The wind had increased to almost 30 knots So I had to take down the mizzen sail […]

Bam, splash, congratulations..!I know you can turn my life onboard upside down, but could you calm down a little? WHAM!… No go! The waves have grown […]

Sitting in the cockpit near the entrance to the cabin I was monitoring the fishing ship that had been sailing for half a day 2 nautical […]

Even after a good sleep last night I still feel tired but surely better. There is still heavy ship traffic around and six monsters have already […]

Guppy and I rushed through Torres Strait at 7,5 knots! There were reefs everywhere but I could hardly see anything because it was getting dark. But […]

I am really surrounded by reefs, most of which I can’t see… Guppy is now sailing very close to the wind and there are buckets of […]

The wind is back and Guppy is galloping over the sea at a good 7 knots. There are only 50 nautical miles to go to the […]

After a very quiet night daylight did not show up for work this morning… That is because of pitch-black clouds hanging over Guppy. The mega-squall I […]

Today the waves are higher and they are still coming from two different directions! Guppy is like a rocking horse gone wild and I, well I’m […]

Waves are still coming across from the side but Guppy just merrily cuts straight through them at 7 knots [13 kilometres or 8 land miles an […]

Strong winds still blowing at an angle from side astern and I am still not sure if I should pole the Genoa out on the windward […]

Finally after five days of bobbing, the wind is back! Yesterday evening the threatening squalls that I could see all day on the western horizon, suddenly […]

Bobbing and flapping… 2 knots, 2,5 knots and back to 2 knots speed… There is still no wind but the sky has turned a bit cloudier […]

Wind is getting a little better. Last night I had to run the engine for a few hours but during the day we ran under sail […]

Still only little or no wind… Today I ran a lot to wrestle with the sails, put the pole on the Genoa rolling it in and […]

There is very little wind. I am trying to sail a bit further with every puff there is but the speed does not get over 3,5 […]

At opening time this morning I was already standing in front of the Customs Office door and after running from one place to another I was […]

On our last leg Guppy became slower due to marine growth on her hull below the waterline so I dived into the water to give Gup’s […]

During my time here in Vanuatu I have met many local people including a nice family who has been living here for many years. They asked […]

The wind was whistling in the rigging when I awoke and it was cold – just 22° C [71,6° F]. Here at anchorage the yachts are […]

Today started with a bright sunshine. I give a call to the customs office on vhf early in the morning and since I had catched lots […]

After my night at sea sailing through squalls and thunderstorms I thought that I would have a very good sleep the following night when I took […]

Unlike yesterday, I did not sleep much last night. We were hit by heavy squalls with some thunderstorms that made for a mega-spectacular show. At one […]

I enjoyed a very good sleep last night, the radar alarm did not go off once, not even the device that detects ships at more than […]

Once again the wind has weakened and is blowing directly from behind. As a result Guppy is heavily rolling back and forth and everything that was […]

After a somewhat longer than expected stop in Fiji, Guppy and I are back at sea. Back home I studied the weather charts and they showed […]

I am back from my adventure aboard the three mast schooner ‘Alvei’, and it was super! Sadly there was just a little wind so we could […]

My life is really full of surprises .. As of tomorrow and for a few days I won’t have much opportunity to send in a new […]

Icom America has sent me a brand new SSB radio directly to Fiji. It came in yesterday afternoon, and with some help from Henk of the […]

Fiji Market The market still looks exactly the same as when I was there 14 years ago.   Mum and me on the Fiji Market. Me […]

Since my arrival in Fiji I have done lots and I have met many new people. As I was inflating my dingy people form a closer […]

Guppy and I have come through unscathed from the reefs, and around midnight we dropped anchor off the city of Suva, Fiji – then I enjoyed […]

Yesterday Guppy and I sailed between the first islands, atolls and reefs. I was really surprised to see a mountain rising out of the water where […]

After calm winds for the past several hours there is now a good sidewind blowing so ‘Gup’ and I are heading for the atolls at 6,5 […]

Guppy and I are en Route again. At first the wind seemed to cooperate but later in the day it weakened and now it is blowing […]

There was no wind at all last night and mosquitoes came en masse to visit. So at 3 AM I was awake and I just couldn’t […]

Thank you very much for all the e-mails and advices about my SSB radio. I was given a small handheld transmitter by another sailor, so if […]

With Henk we tried to reanimate my ICOM 700 Pro SSB radio. He has exactly the same, and as a test we installed it in place […]