Blue Heron

Vessel Name: Blue Heron
Vessel Make/Model: Hallberg Rassy 43
Hailing Port: Delaware City, DE
Crew: Bob & Eric Frantz
About: Bob retired in January, 2011 from a career as an environmental attorney and manager, and Eric earned his Bachelor's Degree from The George Washington University in Washington, DC in December, 2010. They began their circumnavigation February 6, 2011.
Extra: In the words of that great American author, Mark Twain, “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
19 June 2012
13 June 2012 | Fishing Bay Harbor Marina, Deltaville, VA
12 June 2012
09 June 2012
05 June 2012 | Cannonsport Marina, Palm Beach Shores, Florida
01 June 2012 | in passage to Bahamas
25 May 2012 | Sapodilla Bay
21 May 2012 | Jost van Dyke
18 May 2012
17 May 2012 | BVI
14 May 2012
07 May 2012 | Simpson Bay
03 May 2012 | Charlestown Harbour
01 May 2012
15 April 2012 | St. Lucia
13 April 2012
11 April 2012
06 April 2012
Recent Blog Posts
19 June 2012

The Blue Heron did it!

Today is the 500th day since we began our adventure around the world. We did it! We've completed our circumnavigation! We have not only crossed our wake but have passed the point from which we originally set sail on February 6, 2011. All that remains is to get us and the Blue Heron home. She has [...]

13 June 2012 | Fishing Bay Harbor Marina, Deltaville, VA

Waiting to get back on our way

We passed Little Creek Marina in Norfolk, VA during the middle of the night last night -- that's where our dream voyage began 16 months ago. We then made our way to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay where we were greeted with a howling hello in the form of 30+ knot winds on the nose. Making any headway was almost impossible so, we have diverted for safe harbor once more to wait for this weather system to pass. If anything, the North Atlantic lives up to it's reputation as being predictably unpredictable. Now, we wait (impatiently) for another weather window so that we can make our way home.

12 June 2012

Big Fish - take a look

Our steady progress and, generally, uneventful passage thusfar was punctuated with excitement yesterday afternoon when Eric called out, "I've got one!" He caught a White Marlin in the late afternoon. The fish fought hard and we had quite a time getting the fish on board. The fish measured 6'4" and [...]

09 June 2012

on our way north

This morning we left West Palm Beach at 8:15AM and are making our way north. We're hopeful that weather will be in our favor the entire final passage home -- we'll see. We've started with the benefit of both the gulf stream and favorable winds and are moving along at about 9 knots.

05 June 2012 | Cannonsport Marina, Palm Beach Shores, Florida

weather detour

We're stopping in Palm Beach for a day or so to wait out some weather due to come offshore from the Carolinas. Then we'll continue our northbound journey for home.

Luderitz, Namibia

03 February 2012
Approaching Luderitz after being in Cape Town provided a striking contrast in geography and size. Luderitz is at the edge of the Namibian desert, with no mountains around it, and is a lot smaller. From the harbor approach, it appears to be, and we found out that it is, a relatively small town. The two big industries are diamonds and fishing. And the diamond industry took a downturn over the past few years and that has taken a toll on the Luderitz economy. We found a mooring in the harbor, unloaded the dinghy and headed into town. The place to tie up the dinghy is at the public pier, at the base of the refurbished waterfront. The waterfront is very attractive, but there are numerous vacant stores and a general sense that all the merchants are struggling. As we walked around the town, we could see that quite a bit of the architecture is influenced by Bavarian styles, which is a bit incongruous on the edge of the Namibian desert. It does get chilly though, due to the influence of the Benguela current. The water temps were in the low 50's (F), and offshore at night air temps were in the high 50's low 60's. And the wind blows in the summer. Most days by 10 or 11 AM the wind speeds are building, and by the afternoon are in the 30-35 knot range. It's perfect for blowing all the desert sand around. A visit to the tourist information office gave us some ideas on things to see. At the top of the list was a visit to Kolmanskop, a former mining town about 10 km outside Luderitz. We just had to figure out how to get there. Rental cars were all booked. Taxis were expensive. The helpful lady at the Tourist Information office connected us with one of the guides for the tours at Kolmanskop, who would be going there the next day at 8:30AM. We showed up before the appointed hour, and at 8:30 off we went with Wilhelm the tour guide. On the way out, Wilhelm gave us a bit of the history of the area. Kolmonscop, now abandoned, that was built in the early 1900's to support diamond collection in the area. They refer to it as a ghost town, and, although we didn't see any ghosts, it is eerie, with desert sands that have blown through the buildings, sometimes waist deep. One of the striking things was all the good German technology that had been brought to Kolmanskop. There was an ice making factory, which was right next to the butcher, who could use the excess cold air to keep the meat refrigerated. We saw machines that were used for separating the diamonds from the desert sand. The town even created a small train, which was used for carrying the daily ration of water and ice to each home. For recreation, they built a swimming pool, gymnasium and bowling alley. All in all, we spent an interesting few days in Luderitz and, after stocking up on provisions, we're now headed off to St. Helena.
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Blue Heron's Photos - Main
COP17, TOPtoTOP, and Essenwood Market
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Created 15 December 2011
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