26/09/2009
Ok, from my perspective, it is a tough life being a sailor and not all of it is really fun. For we managed to hit a thunderstorm clocking 35 knots on our passage from Volcano to Sardinia. Mum told me the Med only had gentle breezes. Someone annoyed the windgod!! So the lesson is do not trust your Mum - only joking!! Mum joined the chucking club this time on fresh Sicilian swordfish!! Zodiac Zoe and I have started a dolphin tally so far we have seen 9 dolphins and no whales. Today we tested the handheld VHF radio by going in the rubby duckie and reporting to Mum on Nika. Captain Tykes hogged the handset and the tiller the whole way!! Well bye for now, Jesse
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Comments [4]
There are strong winds in the Med, they are the "Le Mistral". They blow off the mountains.
Hope it's going well.
Love,
Uncle String, Sue & William
And make sure Tykes doesn't eat the radio by mistake.
Your loving godfather-once-removed,
Benson
Cousin Dean
Wow, life on the boat sounds fun. It is the last day of school tomorrow and we are going to the farm for the Holidays. write and tell us when you see your fist whale. Talk to you soon,
Angus
21/09/2009, Reggio Calabria
Buonjiorno from Reggio Calabria at the bottom of the "boot" of Italy across from Sicily. We have had a great week since our last update cruising down through the Croatian islands. Our trip up the fjord of Kotor in Montenegro was an absolute highlight. Magnificent mountains right down to the water. The town of Kotor is a really interesting place - poorer and more backward than the Croatian towns but also less touristy which is nice. Our nighttime cossing over to Otranto on the Italian coast went really well. We mostly motor sailed in about 10 knots of breeze. Zoe and Tyler slept through it all blissfully unaware of the engine noise and the rocking and rolling. Grandad Pete the old salty sea dog was in is element. Skipper JD and Bosun boy Jesse "called for herb" at one point and managed to chuck up the lovely tuna pasta dinner. Fortunately for Nika, they were very discreet and avoided spoiling her lovely new white cockpit cushions. First mate Hels found the crossing slightly surreal but exhilarating nonetheless.
Travelling down the Italian coast has been a treat! Lots of historic ruined castles particularly at "Le Castelle" which has an intact 13th century fort which the kids enjoyed running around. Things on the boat are going really well and the job list for Skipper JD is diminishing. We still have some satphone hickups so email not yet reliable and marina internet wifi has proved very patchy. Bosun Boy Jess is becoming a master on the electronic chartplotter having great fun entering all the waypoints. The AIS ship identifier is brilliant - it is a bit like playing a game of "Battleshjps" only for real!!! So in a nutshell the crew are shipshape, Nika is enjoying the Med breezes and behaving herself, Captain Tykes is tying better knots than his Mum and Hels' first year uni Italian is really coming in handy in these parts where people do not speak good English. Next up Sicily and the islands of Volcano, Stromboli etc. Ciao for now!
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12/09/2009
Well what a week it has been!!! Living on board a boat while it is being kitted out and trying to continue the school work with drilling going on around us has been rather a challenge but the good news is we are off and now sailing and loving it!!! Nika is looking great and loving being out at sea again!! Skipper JD is in his element after a hard couple of weeks and is now taking much delight in seeing how fast she can go (I wonder why Tykes only operates at one speed - fast!!!). So far we have managed 8 knots of boat speed off 10 knots of breeže with our new lovely gennaker up!! Kids are in great form and amažingly chilled - their favourite spot is up above the anchor locker watching the water pass by. Grandad Pete is in good form even got to see his neighbours from Melbourne at anchor on a big cruise ship anchored off Dubrovnik today. We had a lovely send off from Ivana and Pasko (the previous owners) and their gorgeous kiddies Pave and Petra. Also got to catch up with Melanie Darvo for a brief stay on Nika before her cruise around with the backpacking crew on a cutter boat.
We are now well on our way down the beautiful Croatian coast. If you ever get over here make sure you get to Korcula and Cavtat, just gorgeous! Next port is Kotor in Montenegro. We are all settling into life aboard - it is a bit like camping although the ipod and the dvd player make it seem like luxurious camping. We are up early, a tiny bit of school work (sorry Mrs Warhurst and Mrs Watson) then a swim somewhere, usually a stop for lunch at a pretty anchorage followed by more sailing and boat stuff!!! All good so dovajenna from Croatia!! Keep up the comments - great to hear from you all!! x
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Andy
Great to hear that all is going well - it sounds like a dream come true!
We are thinking of you - we have the globe out and have plotted your course.
All is well with us, loving the coming of Spring. Lauren and I are off to Tassie for a few days in the hols, and then with the family to Dubbo zoo.
Love to all
Sal & Charlie (home from school with a bug)
I concur with Benson - dunno if 8kts can be classified as motion. It sounds more like just drifting around to me... :-) Try using some of the sails. These are the white sheets in blue bags stowed under the bunks. You hang them from the mast somehow....
I'll get Simon to report back to NCC-PS that you only do school work in the morning!
Keep up the posts we love to follow your big adventure!
04/09/2009, Split, Croatia
After a frantic week packing up the house and moving to my mum's at Greenwich Hels and the troops headed off to Hong Kong for a 2 day stopover. We were spoilt rotten by Kimberley (JD's sister) and Roly and the Chubb family (dear friends Justine and Greg and kiddies). We arrived in Split on Monday, kids very excited to be reunited with Skipper JD. The weather has been really hot but thanfully the marina is right next to some beautiful beaches so swims all round are the order of the day. We have now completed the customs export and got to sail out to the outer island Vis to satisfy the police that we had been to Italy and back (a weird formality when you export a boat). Nika is now dressed with the Aussie flag looking resplendent - although as there is so much work to do down below is a bit of a building site!!! Thanks to Craig Chalk and a bunch of friendly Croatians we are powering through the job list while I keep kids entertained and on track with the dreaded school work (not much done to date but hoping for some more enthusiasm soon). Kids having a ball riding around in the rubby ducky on their own - Captain Tykes the original rev head is a complete boat boy and is much more chilled than on land which is quite interesting!! Split is a beautiful town with lovely old buildings and lots to see. Ivana and Pasko the previous owners have been legendary in their support as we bumble along trying to fit our mass of gear for a year in our lovely Nika. The comms are not quite set up yet so we are unable to skype or use our sat phone but soon we will be in the high tech boat world!! Grandad Pirate Pete arrives on the weekend and estimated departure is around 7-8 September. Until next time, Dovajena (goodbye in Croatian)
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DD from the Beijing Hyatt office, love D & C
Good to hear you are in Europe and getting organized for the big trip. We should be taking of in about a month from Almeria Spain. Enjoy and hopefully everything goes smoothly.
Mira and family onboard Espumeru, also joining the ARC
03/08/2009, Sydney
Nika is a Bavaria 46 cruising boat. JD was lucky enough to sail on her for a week with his Dad which gave him a chance to check her out in all conditions. She is a 2007 year model and has been used as a charter boat in the Adriatic based out of Split. She has 4 cabins 2 heads (for non-boaties this means toilet) and a nice open plan feel. On deck she has 2 wheels, a back swimming platform, a dinghy, and teak decks.
We will be adding a bunch of other equipment which will make blue water sailing more comfortable. Extra items include: a Schenker water maker, a "smart regulator" to increase power generation, a assymetric gennaker, a cutter stay and storm jib to reduce mast pumping at sea, Raymarine Gold level chartplotter and extra navigation from cockpit, Lifetag system, Personal EPIRBS, new liferaft, BBQ to remind us of downunder, a TV/DVD to keep the munchkins happy, and the list goes on!!! Kerching Kerching goes the credit card but in my view you can't scrimp on safety stuff!! We will also install a Radar and AIS transceiver system to warn of ships, an Iridium sat phone and an HF radio for communication at sea and for weather updates.
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We will monitor your adventure and will feel so jealous!! Good luck! The Chalks
03/08/2009, Sydney
So how did this big trip come about? You may ask .... have we always planned to sail around the world? In a nutshell, not exactly. In typical Dransfield fashion, there is nothing quite like a project and nothing quite like a project with a tight timeframe. To cut a long story short, it has been 3 months since Hels' big birthday at which it was announced we would go on a big sailing adventure. In that time, JD has finished work, we have bought a boat in Croatia, entered the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) and planned a trip. We have now done a bunch of sailing courses, bought a bunch of boat equipment, spoken to a bunch of sailing friends, packed up a house, enrolled the kids in Distance Education and in 3 weeks time we will set off on our big lifetime adventure. All very exciting ... naturally a bit daunting ... but heh you only ever live once and pre-kids we used to be quite adventurous in our lives. Lately, living in our gorgeous house in beautiful Curl Curl it is now time to break out and have a year off!! Bring it on we say!!
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