GHOST

A blog account of the activities of yacht GHOST.

Vessel Name: GHOST
Vessel Make/Model: Hanse 470e
Hailing Port: Southampton
Crew: Brad and Kat McMaster
06 May 2011 | Melbourne
01 February 2011 | Melbourne
05 December 2010 | Sydney Harbour, Australia
28 November 2010 | Pittwater, NSW, Australia
28 November 2010 | Sydney Harbour, Australia
28 November 2010 | Pittwater, NSW, Australia
23 November 2010 | Pittwater, NSW, Australia
17 November 2010 | Coffs Harbour
12 November 2010 | 100nm NE of Coffs Harbour
10 November 2010 | closing on Australian coast east of Brisbane
08 November 2010 | On route to Oz
07 November 2010 | Baie de Prony, New Caledonia
06 November 2010 | Vanuatu & New Caledonia
03 November 2010 | Noumea, New Caledonia
25 October 2010 | Santo, Vanuatu
14 October 2010 | Aore Island, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
13 October 2010 | Aore Island, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
12 October 2010 | Aore Island, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
05 October 2010 | Aore Island, Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu
16 September 2010 | On route to Vanuatu
Recent Blog Posts
06 May 2011 | Melbourne

It's Official

It's a sad but good thing, we no longer own GHOST. She is now owned by an architect in Sydney who has plans of sailing the South Pacific once again.

01 February 2011 | Melbourne

Reality bites!!

It's been a while since we updated the blog. Apologies for that but we've been busy fighting off the onslaught of reality, not really wanting to admit it's over! After arriving it was the welcome party in Sydney, followed by a hectic week of moving ALL our personal stuff off GHOST. On a side note, it [...]

05 December 2010 | Sydney Harbour, Australia

Pictures from the party & sailing around Sydney harbour

See pics:

28 November 2010 | Pittwater, NSW, Australia

GHOST for sale!

Well it's sad news but GHOST is now officially up for sale!

28 November 2010 | Sydney Harbour, Australia

Welcome to Sydney GHOST

Well it was a brilliantly sunny day as we set off from Pittwater in GHOST, entering the Sydney heads about lunchtime. It was a pretty emotional sail through this iconic harbour which Brad has envisaged sailing into as long as he's dreamt of sailing home to Australia. Soon we were pulling up to the [...]

More Moped Action!

26 May 2009 | Nisiros, Greece
Kat
Yesterday we left Simi early after managing to check into Greece without paying the "agent" an extra 50 EUR fee. I managed to avoid paying the agent in Yat Marine an extra 60 EUR earlier this week too - you have to watch these guys!

After a quick stock up on non-Turkish provisions (gin and pork) in Simi's main (only?) town we headed off West through the Greek Islands.

Yesterday we managed to get some good sailing in cruising at up to 9 knots with one reef in the main but as the breeze built I finally managed to persuade Brad that we are cruisers now and reefing the headsail was a good idea - no, we were not racing the boat next to us!!!

As we neared Nisiros however the wind came onto the nose so we turned on the motor and headed toward what was reported to be a sheltered harbour on the North side of the island, called Palon. We had read in the sailing bible that the depths were very shallow, only 2.4m in some places. Given that we have a 2.3m keel and there was some serious swell we were worried but as we approached we saw them doing work moving breakwater stones to adjust the entrance to the harbour and it appears that they have dredged the harbour too. No worries!

Despite very windy conditions that continued through the night it is a really delightful place, with a church, and around 20 buildings including 2 restaurants... and a moped hire place! We had originally planned to leave today but couldn't resist the opportunity to explore the island which is basically one big volcano that has risen out of the Agean.

After a quiet meal on board last night we set off early this morning on our mopeds and visited the steaming crater before the hordes of tourists arrived. There was a distinctly sulphurous air and in places you could see liquid bubbling through vents in the crater. We topped off the trip with a visit to the volcano museum which lists the volcano as potentially active! We then explored the underground monastry in Mandraki (the main town on the island) and managed to find an internet cafe with cool beers and exceptionally fine nuts!

Later we'll head back to Palon which is around 5km down the road and have a cold beer on board with a couple we met who are moored near us but don't have a fridge, and then we'll head off to a lovely looking local fish restaurant.

Tomorrow the plan is to brave the windy conditions and head to an island called Anti Pasta.. ok well is does have a real name but I don't know how to spell it!

So that's it for now - off to see if I can beat Brad home on the moped - I go faster up hill but he is braver on the corners....

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