Holiday Reading Roundup: Super Typhoons, Safety Gear and Spots to Slip the Boat

It starting to look a yacht like Christmas! The weather report is looking a little wet for the 24th & 25th ’round these parts. Which means we might have ample time to curl up under the Christmas lights and catch up on our reading. In case you are in the same predicament here are a…

Hidden Haul Outs In the South Pacific

It seems appropriate that as we FINALLY leave the boatyard here in the Philippines a round-up of yards that we have used and discovered on our travels through the South Pacific is published in Cruising World Magazine. If you are looking for a place to do work, hide during cyclone season or store the boat…

Top Ten Ways You Know You’ve Been Sailing in the South Pacific for a Long Time 

Top Ten Ways You Know You’ve Been Sailing in the South Pacific for a Long Time You can communicate a whole range of greetings and emotions with your eyebrows alone. The smell of rancid coconuts rotting in the midday sun doesn’t bother you anymore. When you ask a local a question and they answer “YES”…

To make a Brummel Splice in Dyneema

This time last year we were bashing to windward with our newly installed dyneema inner forestay and staysail flying. It made the three day trip from New Caledonia to Vanuatu a whole lot easier. Read about how to splice dyneema in the June issue of Cruising World Magazine!

Markets: Food for the Soul

Amidst the unfamiliar countries and uneasiness of travel the markets are where I find a connection to the people, to the landscape. Although I have a deep and passionate relationship with food this is not why I seek out these places. It is the everyday-ness of the market that I crave. Disconnected from family, country,…

Lukim Yu / Goodbye

Sometimes it feels like this voyaging life is nothing but a long string of emotionally draining good byes. People often like to say that it isn’t really “goodbye” but more of a “see you again” but that is nothing more than a play of words to pacify the heart. Sure the world is a small…

Galley Notes; Breakfast at a Volcanic Vent

A big complaint about cooking on a small sailboat in the tropics is how hot the galley gets. Sure you can bake on the stove top, use a pressure cooker to cut down on cooking times and barbeque almost everything but sometimes that is just not enough. Whenever possible Steve and I like to make…

On Watch

I am writing to you from Port Resolution, our anchorage at the island of Tanna. Tanna, well known for Mt.Yasur, an active volcano, and delicious coffee grown on the island, is only 135NM south east of Efate. On paper that would be an easy overnighter on Kate. In the real world it took three days…

It is 5 o’clock somewhere…

Sailors have always had a bit of a reputation when it comes to booze. Way-back-when rum or grog was actually a daily ration, it often being safer to drink than the putrid water supply on board. And when the crew finally got a night ashore, sometimes after months or years at sea, it was not…