Standing out on the balcony of our lovely unit is definitely an experience...The sound of the waves, the lights of the fishing trawlers in the distance and the last shimmers of the moon, its magic. I just feel like embracing the velvety night air, its so lovely. I can not believe how lucky we are, here we are safe and sound while others suffer... The world is in such turmoil now, wars, earthquakes and tsunamis, so many people have lost their loved ones, it just makes me think how strange our world is and how everything is so fragile and uncertain. I guess it all makes us appreciate the wonder of life, it is such a miracle and so very short, we really should make the most of it because we never now which day will be our last one........

MF

Here we are, down under, and absolutely loving it. The bad weather did seem to follow us though, as there has been more rain here than in 200 hundred years and poor old Queensland has turned into a disaster zone with all the floods and cyclones. We have fortunately been quite dry and safe. The kids are in school and enjoying all their new friends. I am back in school also studying a Masters in Teaching, it feels strange to be studying after so many years but its great, I can feel those neurones expanding in my brain!!! We have settled in really well here, we are living on land, very close to the sea though. Espumeru is docked at the local yacht club where we put her up for sale. She looks very lonely and she needs new owners ready to take her on for new adventures. For us cruising is over for the moment but who knows what the future brings. We have already met so many lovely people here it will be difficult to leave in 18months time but that is the problem everywhere, we have met so many kindred spirits all over the world, isn´t it amazing.
Niklas has been involved actively in the yachting theme here, racing every thursday at the local club, I again have been exploring my musical side (to Niklas delight) taking up guitar lessons (or should I say sessions) and playing the keyboard. All in all for the moment we are very happy here enjoying life to the fullest.

MF

Hello again to all,

First of all I have to apologize to everyone that there have been no blog entries for quite some time. Many things have happened and sometimes when you do not know what to write it is better not to write at all. Also we have had some problems with power so have left the usage of our computers to a minimum.

I guess the most important thing is that everything is well with the Espumeru gang. Our yacht came back in the ocean in Raiatea and we took her for a test drive to Bora Bora. Everything seemed to work more than perfectly. We spent four lovely days there swimming in the incredibly blue lagoon chasing hundreds of stingrays that lazed around. Bora Bora deserves its position as the pearl of Polynesia.
The boys enjoyed full heartedly being by a beach again. All too soon it was time to leave again. Off we headed again, out to the deep blue sea with some 1350Nm to go to our next destination. On the second day the problems began, firstly one of the propeller blades fell off. Normally this would not have been a major disaster but the yard at Raiatea had installed it longer, as we found out, and the actual screw holding it in place had been cut. This meant that the only way to change the blade would be by drilling it out when the boat was up on land... Well what could we do, at least we had our other engine left, or so we thought... On our one year sailing anniversary, which was a great party, our brand new saildrive exploded. This meant we were now without engines. Well, we thought at least we have a sailing boat we can always sail and with the spinnaker our progress is good. Next our Spinnaker halyard got stuck which meant that we now had only the main sail and the genoa, then the wind died.... You can imagine we were a bit frustrated. So, no engines, no wind, and as icing on the cake Felix got ill with a very high fever and a headache that lasted for days and days. Finally we got wind, too much of it, we now had around 30knots and were surfing down ever growing waves then our autopilot decided to take a holiday and it was hand steering. I have to say that was a bit much, we needed to get into a port and fast. There was a storm warning for the next days with wind speeds reaching up to 55knots, we did not want to be out there anymore. When we closed in on Tonga the wind was all wrong we could not get close to shore and the current was taking us out to sea again, until our dear friends from friendship came out to get us. They towed us in to the safety of the anchorage and for this we will be eternally grateful, Thank you again you guys.

We stayed in Tonga for a week and had a wonderful time with the friendship crew and with our friends from oceanheart, I think we were all sad to leave. During this time, with the help of our friends we stranded the boat and changed the propeller blade, now we had one engine again.

Our passage to Fiji was relatively uneventful and after some five days we were in Suva. Some days later we were joined by Niklas sister and family who stayed with us on board for some weeks. They were introduced to the joys of cruising, unfortunately the weather was unstable in the beginning and the seas rough, the whole family were occasionally green. The weather did get bet though and we had an absolutely fab time together. During our time in Fiji we decided that me and the boys would fly to Europe and visit the family while Niklas and the crew would sail to Australia, we would then meet up there.

Now I am writing this entry from the arctic circle, and arctic it certainly is, all the time below zero and an abundance of snow. It felt strange leaping from the tropics to the North but everything has its charm for a while, the boys have been introduced to winter sports, Max has loved it when Felix again has non stop complained about the cold, I guess he takes after me in that. During this time the Espumeru has continued with its adventures, experiencing a cyclone in Fiji, and some other very interesting weather conditions. They made a pit stop in Vanuatu and visited the volcano. They also stopped at an island of New Caledonia, waiting for a suitable window to navigate the coral sea. They should arrive in Brisbane during the weekend, tired but probably very content to reach their destination. We will fly to meet them tomorrow, as our visit to the North is over for this time.

Our year of cruising is coming to a close, we will dry our feet in Queensland for some time and experience a ´normal´life again, how strange but also exciting, new adventures await us. The boys are looking forward to going to school and friends, if they are happy so am I. During this year I have learned some invaluable lessons, you can sail halfway across the world and realize that it is not a place that makes you happy it is a feeling. Also everything has its time and place, there is a time to fly and there is a time to rest your wings, We have been flying long and far, now we deserve a good rest.

I will let you know how we settle back to life on land.

Lots of love to everyone and fair winds to all of you who are still out there.

MF

Here we are in Raiatea, French Polynesia, hauled out, looking longingly back out to sea. When leaving Tahiti for Moorea our leak suddenly got much worse, water was basically pouring in from the broken engine seal. We knew that sailing to Australia without fixing the problem was out of the question. Other cruisers were talking about Raiatea Carenage saying it was the best and cheapest place to haul out, we contacted the owner, Dominique, and received the news that we had to wait until the end of the month. Now we only needed to get to Raiatea, about 120Nm from Moorea. Some nice people we met gave us some sealant which kept the leak under control which made it possible for us to discover Moorea and Huahini before Raiatea. Our favourite spot so far was Huahini, absolutely beautiful. It is the agricultural heart of French Polynesia where all the vegetables are grown. If you are looking for action Huahini is not the place to go, it is very quiet there. We had an excellent time though swimming and relaxing, we even went to a Polynesian dance show and a magnificent meal at the Tiare beach resort. After spending five magical days there we sailed the thirty miles to Raiatea to fix up our boat.
After waitin g some days at an anchorage Espumeru was hauled out of the water on rails with the help of several divers. We are now on ground and have been working on the boat, sandblasting and antifouling, etc. The engine seals should be changed today and tomorrow, if everything goes as planned we should be back in the water by Friday. This would mean that kit would be Bora Bora for the weekend and then off to Tonga. We met some friends here, their boat had broken from the mooring and drifted on the reef. We have been neighbours for the last days and even managed to have a great barbecue here. Max and Felix have also made friends with two local girls from a boat nearby. So it it has not been too bad to be on tierra firma for awhile, I have to say though we can´t wait to get back in the water.
MF

Espumeru in Tahiti!

Our passage from Fatu Hiva to Tahiti was one of the most pleasant ones we have experienced so far. We had quite light winds but enough to keep a decent speed and no seas at all, it was sailing at its best. We buddy boated the whole passage with another boat and had a fun time chatting along with them throughout the days. It took us six days to arrive but the days flew by, the weather was fabulous and the fishing was good, Niklas caught a 30kg wahoo, that he actually managed to pull up all by himself while everyone else were fast asleep, unow our freezer is packed.

We arrived in Tahiti early in the morning and navigated through a very narrow pass inside the reef. It is absolutely beautiful here and the people are very friendly. We have had fresh baguettes and brie which is heaven and happy hour cocktails. The kids have been running around and enjoying the terra firma, they even played with some local kids. We have snorkelled and seen some small but very colourful fish and are planning to do a gtrip to the other side of the island for some body surfing. We are very happy here and it really feels that we have reached a milestone by arriving here. It is understandable that people call this paradise and get stuck here for much longer than planned.

We had some fun news at the immigration office, Espumeru has been here before, she has actually travelled through these waters in the past, no wonder she glides through the ocean with such ease here, she is in her element and feels right at home. Incredible that we are here, on the other side of the globe by boat, we do feel a slight sence of achievement and enjoy with full force this lovely tropical island.

MF

Everything find, we have reserved space in the marine Tahiti where we stay at least a couple of days to get water and electricity before we anchor in the bay!

So now we have gone 4570NM since Panama (rumb line, in practice, certainly with some 6000NM Detour to Ecuador and the Galapagos). Soon, we have gone half around the world that is 180 degrees 10800NM if we'd have gone straight ..... In practice, we are approaching 15000NM
"A normal Scandinavian sailors sail around 300nm/year during his vacation so say we have done 50 years in 8 months !!!!"