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