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,…

Bread Making Workshop or No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

A couple months ago I taught a bread making workshop to a group of ladies on the island of Rendova. It was the same village that we found Erol to do the inlay work, which is how it all came about. We had spent over a week anchored in the quiet bay and gotten to…

Throwback Thursday; In the Beginning

I started writing Letters from Kate as a weekly newsletter to family and friends in 2008 when we bought the boat. They went out as emails and when I got organized appeared on a page of the website. In 2014 I changed format and started using a more modern blog platform to share our “Letters”,…

TOP TEN PROS AND CONS OF LIVING ON A SAILBOAT

TOP TEN PROS AND CONS OF LIVING ON A SAILBOAT 1. PRO– We travel the world and get to sleep in our own bed every night. CON- I have spent many a stormy night lying awake in my own bed worried we’ll drag anchor and end up on the reef, losing everything. 2. PRO- The…

Exploring the (mostly) Uncharted Vona Vona Lagoon

We weren’t sure how far we’d get. Beyond the depth soundings over the Katherine bar on the western edge, some details around the perimeter and a small scale chartlet of the port of Noro, home to the Sol Tuna factory, the rest the Vona Vona lagoon appeared as an empty grey expanse on both our…

New Year, New Islands to Explore

After over a week of heavy rain and sometimes very blustery winds the weather has finally broken. We are taking this sunny opportunity to escape from the dirty little town if Gizo and start exploring the surrounding islands in the western province of the Solomn Islands.  Our first stop is to check out a cyclone…

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…