Why we´re not in the Canaries...

...and not in a rush getting there.

Maybe you noticed it along the blog posts? We have had trouble making our budget work out. Amongst other things we didn´t expect coming we had to buy a complete new rig just before leaving Sweden. Then it continued with a new mizzen, our genoa thore and had to be repaired as with the heater (cold in Scotland so we really needed it there) and the list continued/s. Another thing we didn´t calculate on was having a 50ft yacht - that we actually do have if you count the bowsprit! - at home we´re only 41.

So this is why we we´re still not in the Canaries and in no rush getting there, we decided to stay put in the Canaries for the winter. We could of course continue to the Caribbean and hope for the best, but that involves the risk of having to sell Ingeborg and that´s a risk we decided not worth taking. So we hang around the Canaries, probably we have time to cruise them all... A bit dissapointed yes, but the idea is now alrigh with us. You could do a lot worse, couldn´t you...?  We keep close to europe and in spring when we run out of money we can easily be back in a month or so.

And right now we´re enjoying the coolest country so far - Marocco! (Whistling)

Lunch stop

 At Berlenga Island

Captain Hadley, our irish harbour master in Nazaré told us not to stay over night here at the island. He also said that you shouldn´t approch the island along side cause of the strong current that runs in the sound. In the crusing guide we read that they strongly advise that one crew member should stay aboard and that the island was well worth a visit. It was! A picture explains more than a thousand words... Enjoy! WE DID!

Horror night

We arrived in Lexios, the marina outside Porto, last thursday, four days ago. Since then gales have come and gone, the wind´s yesterday were abround 40 knots and waves around 8-10 meters.

When we came, the staff put us on alongside the outer pontoon just by the entrance to the marina. There was a severe gale approaching and we saw a lot of people putting out extra lines and using the big, old rusty moorings on the stone wall and about everything else they could find like flagpoles and lightposts up on the stone pier to secure their moorings. So we followed their brilliant example, just in case, with about ten ropes out which of two in the stone wall. The wind, SW, increased in the evening making Ingeborg doing the Rolly-Polly and pulling hard on the moorings even though we had bungies. Do I need to write that we didn´t get any sleep? Horror night. A hard slam made Hampus run on deck. The cleat from the pontoon hung in the water with the moorings. Luckily we were still tied to the stonewall but our cleat on the toe rail had taken some loads it wasn't designed for and was ripped off (screws bent 90 degrees, ripped out of the laminate and wood and one side of the cleat ripped in two) together with a piece of the rail. No big deal though. It's an easy fix and it could have been worse.

After much nagging at the marina staff they let us move into the marina and stay at a finger where we should have been put in the first place. They somehow got into their heads that Ingeborg is bigger than she is although she's far from the biggest boat here. Again, we put out mooring lines that made Ingeborg look like the spider in a web and we waited for the next gale. It came with 45-50 knots from the W and later NW. We did a lot better inside the marina and W and NW are better than SW here. Spent a nice day in Porto where we tried some Port....
More pictures below..

/Hampus & Lotta

The bridge...

...over to all the wine cellars. In the distance to the left E. G. you can read Sandeman.

...where every alley leads to a wine cellar. Free tastings at Croft!

Carried back...

Statue of Henry the navigator. The portuguese people have always been skilled sailors. We learnt that during the years they were occupied by Spain they kept their colonies, for example Brasil, a secret...

Tredje gången gillt! (Third time`s a charm)

At anchor in Islas Cies.


We´re down in the boat relaxing and listening to an audio book when a horn´s honking closely. Took a moment to realise it was at us! The spanish coastguard with their craft of 140 feet is just next to us making signals they want to board us. Not an easy thing with a big "tanker" and Ingeborg who now looks like a skiff but they managed without Ingeborg getting harmed and the paperwork was carried out.

The photo was taken by S/Y Oliva how watched safely from shore

The same evening we noticed a flashing light outside the boat. The spanish coastguard once again, now with a smaller craft. They had their attention elsewhere, to the boat next to us, and it struck us then that we earlier forgot to put the anchor lantern up. Easily fixed. Then they came to us pointing to the top of the main mast and we could understand the word lantern in all the spanish. We have ours hanging from the boom, so we pointed to that, looking as law abiding as we could. Some more spanish and it seamed to be ok and they we´re off.
Next day we saw them coming from far out and by then we knew it was us they were after. A third time, the spanish coastguard with a third boat and a third crew. Again we could understand the world lantern. They came aboard and we handed them the copy of the paper from the first coastguards visit saying they were here yesterday. They were apperently a bit confused but since the paperwork was in order, no latern mentioned, they left.
Tredje gången gillt - third time´s no charm.

/Lotta When writing this we´re in Portugal, "no longer on the run".
More picures from Islas Cies below:

Company of dolphins. Islas Cies in the background

 

We had a gang of 20 or so following us, jumping in at the bow and playing around trying to get me wet when standing on the bowsprit. Our lure got caught in a fishnet and we stopped and tried to resue it, then they all gathered in the stern. It really looked as though they we were trying to push us, getting us moving again!

The islands looked like a sad dragon lying down in the ocean

The lighthouse

View from the lighthouse

We could see both Vigo and Bayonna in the distance.

A friend on the road

The end of the world...

..as they knew it.

Cap Finisterre, the westernmost head of Spain bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Last night we walked up and almost saw the sunset behind the clouds. Nothing but the ocean, majestic. Closest continent to the west will be America, maybe New York. Once this was the end of the world. Before the maps, gps, plotters. What a world to explore...




The bay and harbor here in Finisterre are crowded with fishing vessels of all shapes. We anchored in the bay surrounded of sandy beaches. When we woke up in the morning there were small motorboats everywhere around Ingeborg, but no one on board. Floats lying around here and there in the water and suddenly we saw fins. Aha, divers! Snorkeling around with milk cartoons on their back. Petter (S/Y Olivia) drove out in the dinghy to ask what they were doing and he got a handful of razor clams in return. "Tienes mucho". So of course Hampus and Petter had to try, in one hour they managed to get two! And the handful he got from the diver was probably from one dive... Hampus referred to them as "the fast bastards". They live in small holes in the sandy bottom and dig themselves deeper when danger´s approaching, fast as hell! Razor clam is a delicatessen cause they´re so hard to catch. Go figure!

The stop before was Corme, but coming in the evening and the town looking rather dull we didn´t even bother to inflate the dinghy and left the next morning. Right now we´re heading for the Islas Cies but heard just a minute ago on the vhf that there might be gale warning for tomorrow so we probably go to Bayonne anchoring outside the marina instead. After Bayonna we´ll make a try for the islands again and then it´s probably Portugal. If you know an anchorage in Portugal well worth visiting, please tell us.


/Lotta. And yes, the two promised degrees was correct. Heard there will be two more around the next bend. Yeah, summer!

La Coruna

After 102 hours we finally reached La Coruna! When heading into the bay the VHF crackeld "Ingeborg, Ingeborg". It was the swedish yacht Olivia who´d seen us on the tracking SPOT, welcoming us to La Coruna. (The SPOT is a relly cool gadget!) There were a bunch of swedish and scandinavian yachts here (crossing the bay of Biscay from Brest)and in the evening we all went out for tapas.

La Coruna seems to be a nice town. Great architecture and a beach close to the city centre. Not that we´ve seen a lot of it yet, a lot of boat maintenance, laundry and hanging out with other sailors have been on the agenda. Altough we seen a lot of it by foot, walking to what must be every chandlery in town. The marina is nice and friendly, and best of all, it´s off season so the marina fee isn´t that bad. To us the season here wasn´t that "off", when we came the sun was shining and it was like a swedish summers day. For the fist time in five days we could actually wear something else than our flotation suits! And underneath that I´d been wearing four layers of clothes.

So here we´ve finally caught up with the weather. From now on we hope to have summer all year round! Today it´s a bit cloudy so we better leve tomorrow...

/Lotta

Monday, Bay of Biscay

Sunlight, NE winds of between 25 and 30 knots 2-3 meter waves. Reefed mizzen, reefed genoa and we're trotting along doing 6 knots. We are enjoying ourselves playing the new game called "fishing boat slalom". You start by finding the one spot in the ocean with most fishing boats, we have 13 in our immediate vicinity going around in circles. Then you try to navigate your way through the bunch while calling them on the VHF without luck. Either they don't speak english, or they just don't bother with sailors. Packs of dolphins are hanging around either as spectators or to investigate our towing generator, which they seem to find very interesting. We are now running with the wind and waves due south with 259M to go to La Coruna, we've done 330M in 54 hours, an avarage speed of 6 knots, not too bad. It's calm enough for hot chicken and I'm no longer sea sick. Oh Joy!!

/Hampus, Langt pokkerivold

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How to kill a morning...

..in the middle of no where, something like 50.38,10700 N 007.18.74600 W. The genoa hallyard broke and down came the sail. It´s not a very pleasant sail today either, bumpy and messy. Standing at the bow sprit it´s a merry-go-round. If you´re sea sick like Hampus it´s hard even standing as far out as the main mast. But we managed to use the hallyard for the jib and get the sail back up in the boat and back in the role. Now I´m inside changing all my wet clothes after "going round with the merry". So this is our first 24 hours at sea. Still doing about 6.5 knots with genoa and mizzen.

Yesterday, before we left, I found my bikini top hanging in the saloon. How come it´s hanging here?, I asked confused. Then I looked at Hampus who smiled and got he message. It´s for motivation! I´m looking at it right now with a smile on my face.

/Lotta

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Towards Spain

We´re off! We´ve finally thrown the moorings and set sail towards Spain. It´s a bumpy ride on the sea today, uncomfortable waves, but otherwise Ingeborgs doing fine. We started with all sails doing 8,5 knots SOG but the wind increased so now it´s genoa and mizzen doing 9-10 SOG. Right now we´re north east of Wexford. Think it will be less wind in the night and hopefully the waves will be more settled when we´re south of Ireland.

To make life more interestingt  we made bets on the ETA. The winner gets a dinner and you´re free to bring someone ;)

/Lotta, on a mission towards the sun
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Waiting for that window...

We're waiting in Arklow for a weather window. It looks like it's coming. We're just hoping it won't close before it's opened. Right now there's a nasty low over the Atlantic, W of the Bay of Biscay which is giving us some strong S-SE winds. When it passes, either tomorrow or on saturday, we're expecting easterlies which will be perfect for crossing to Spain if they only last long enough.We need five days as we have a distance of some 580M. That far ahead the predictions are a bit uncertain, but at least they look good now.

People back home are asking us why we don't make any progress. We are. We might not be putting a lot of distance under the keel but we are keeping up foreign relations and building relationships. We've met so many great people and made new friends. To us, that's half the pleasure. Sailing off season means that marina fees (very few anchorages here) are reasonable and people are more accessible and eager to chat for a while. The other cruisers we meet, few as they may be, are all in the same boat, so if nothing else there's a common point of interest there.

However, autumn is here. The weather is still quite warm and we hear that this has been one of the mildest autumns in Ireland for years but the trees are starting to turn brown or red and the nights are crisp and clear. Yesterday they played White Christmas at the internet café and in the stores you can buy christmas decorations and marvel over the christmas offers! In october, come on! We do long for warmer weather, tapas and cheap red wine. That means it's time for us to get our asses out of the wagon, cross the bloody bay and start bumming around another country and leave the Irish to their christmas decorations.

/Hampus, in Arklow, hiding from Santa.

Ode to the kindness of strangers

So we´re set to go, thanks to a lovely bunch of people. We met two gentlemen in Port Ellen, Scotland, and met again in Glenarm, Northern Ireland, where we also had the pleasure of meeting their lovely wives. Our sail had just torn, making our budget a bit strained and they offered us a mooring in Strangford lough. A lovely offer we took up on and as if that wasn´t enough, the one couple´s been kind enough to drive us around to a sail maker and a chandlery in the area and the other couple invited us to their home for dinner (and laundry). Thank god for the kindness of strangers! Strangers that become friends we hope to meet again.

/Lotta and Hampus

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?

Those of you who are following us on the spot and may wonder: yes, we did turn around and went back to Bangor Marina. A winch broke and a thingamajig holding the jib broke. Not our lucky day. On the "bright side of life" we met our friends Gunn and Ola on Norwegian s/y Idun again and the Dutch couple Jef and Marin on the catamaran Miss Poe and had a great evening. From the lovely Gunn and Ola we got a present - a book about celestial navigation. Since everything else is failing you..., they said. It´s so nice being in the presence of good friends. Thank you.

/Lotta and Hampus

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You win some and loose some...

We finally left Port Ellen, Scotland, and made the crossing over the North Channel to Glenarm, Northern Ireland. It was a gusty sail with temporary winds that made Ingeborg´s bow and front go under water a lot. You know what? The fore peak wasn´t saoked! Not even the slightest bit wet. Luckily we managed to seal the leak.

But as I keep whistling I must tell you that our heater just died. Not nice, Herr Eberspächer is a dear friend to us, here´s humid and it seems to rain at least once a day. I guess you win some and loose some... And talking about loosing, today on the way to Bangor (in Belfast loch) we lost a hatch cover. Over all it was a nice sail, sunny with up to 38 knots of wind (19 m/s) and the tide adding about two knots to our speed.

/Lotta, on the mission to find retailer of Eberspächer in Bangor. If anyone knows where the closest one in Ireland is, please let us know. Haven´t got internet access here.

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Always look on the bright side...

On the way here the genoa shred. Not good, not good at all. Our budget seems to disappear in a faster speed than we´re able to sail - alarming! But on the good side, and you shouldn´t forget about that one;), better here than on the way crossing the Biscay! When we after a bumpy sail in rain and wind and moody about the and just longing for a cup of tea in front of the hissing eberspächer, we climb down only to find that there´s been a rather big leak in the fore peak and everything´s soaking wet. So one day of sailing equals at least three day´s of work; find the leak, dismount the front hatch, replace it, seal, sanding, varnish, do laundry, cleaning.
Well, I try to think of the song "always look on the bright side of life" and whistle along.

We´re in Port Ellen on the little island of Islay. It´s a good place to be "harbored" in, with the most decent harbor fee we´ve come across here, 14 pounds. No facilities but a friendly pub around the corner. There´s eight distilleries on the island. Yesterday Hampus and friend from Norwegian Idun went to Laphroige´s, which is situated just a walking distance from the harbor. The weather´s keeping us here at least one more day and hey!, whistle along, "always look..." we couldn´t go anyway until

Thanks all of you who´s been e-mailing us, it´s good to know that someone actually IS reading what you write. And anyone who IS reading, please DO feel free to comment. It´s good fun hearing from you all!

/Lotta, a bit cheered up by the fact that someone wrote to us about their boat, one just like ours, and said it´s been on a circumnavigation and over the Atlantic twice, this must mean that Ingeborg´s not sinking yet although she´s seems to be falling apart. Darn, I forgot, but now I whistle as I continue to write...

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Dum dum dum dum... (like in the Jaws!)

We´ve ordered a life raft from Ardfern Chandlery and have now anchored in a lagoon just outside the Ardfern bay, waiting for it to get there. Hopefully it will be here tomorrow or the day after. We left Oban yesterday, a nice place with really friendly people. The same day we left we got invited for a drink at Thomas 60ft yacht, we´d rather be there but here!

On the way here Hampus said: Shark! My respone was: Shark! Funnier in swedish where shark means Hello (at least it does in Skåne: Haj!). But it really was one! A rather big one, approximately 2-3 m. Didn´t really know they liked these cold waters.

A lot of you other cruisers have already crossed the Bay of Biscay now. I guess that we´d ought to by now too. We had a long talk about that a forth night ago. We really should hurry before bad weather, but then we would have had to go straight there and just rush by all these lovely cool places. It didn´t really feel any good for either of us. It felt quite the opposite. This is why we, especially I, like to sail, to see new places, meet new friends. Another fact is that I don´t manage to sail on an everyday basis due to my bad back. I kind of dread the Bay of Biscay for that reason. (But hey, that´s another day!) So we decided to do this at our own pace. Don´t know where (and when) it will take us.

If anyone feel up to going with us, crossing the Bay of Biscay, just let us know. We chose the four person raft so there´s plenty of room...

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Scotland!

In Scotland, making our way west to the Caledonian canal. The scenery here is dramatic, green hills and barren rocks steeping into a roaring sea. The same sea we crossed nearly a week ago, the same sea we experienced roaring a bit.

We left Mandal at five pm, the first hours we motored in calm and the last hours we had 30 knots and big waves of 3 meters. We arrived in Peterhead at midnight on the second day and it was nice to have solid ground under our feet again. At once we got to know the hospitality of the scotish people, we got invited to the anual BBQ in the marina. The second day we got offered a ride twice, just by asking for dicections. This is the land of "kindness of a stranger".

I think I have a crush on Scotland and I feel a bit sad knowing we hurry past it. Think I could stay here for the hole year...  Scotland makes you feel melancholic but at the same time free att heart.

On the North Sea passage dolphins came to keep us company, they made severel appearances and kept our mood up in the bad weather. We also had a bird visitor aboard for a little while. Gannets dove into the water from 30 metres above, puffins sailing by. Bioluminescence glowing in the night. Now we´re in Lossiemouth. On the way here we saw a seal, not diving when we passed but curiously stretched his neck. The wildlife here is magnificent.

And of course we had to eat lobsters, even though we´re on a buget. Buying them directly from the fisherman (via recomendations from our harbour master Bertie in Whitehills) we could almost afford them! Cooking them onboard, they made a great feast.

My mum and her friend Lena came with us from Norway. When we told them what an expensive country Norway was, they came loaded with food on the train and boat from Sweden! Maybe that´s the mummy gene? Anyway, they´re two tuff women crossing the North Sea and we were glad to have them aboard!

/Lotta

Norway

What a great place! But expensive. Food is free though if you have fishing gear. Mackerel is caught while sailing and even tied to the dock in the marinas you can drop the hook over the side and pick up fish. The other day we had fresh cod for dinner. Crabs are plentiful too. You catch them at night just at the edge of the archipelago where they come up to eat.

We try to spend as much time as possible on anchor but as the weather is a bit unstable it's not always easy. The archipelago is very deep, even close to land so finding good holding ground and enough room to swing by anchor is difficult. Two nights ago we anchored out in a "hole" formed by a few islands called Valöya. Deep as usual we had to anchor close to land without enough room to swing if the wind shifted. No problem, we dropped the anchor from the bow at 7 metres depth and backed up until we were 15 metres from land, we then pulled a couple of lines ashore to hold the stern. The winds were light and came from west which meant that we had the side towards the wind. Again, no problem, the wind was supposed to pick up and we were expecting a force 6-7 during the night but from SW-S where we had the mountain behind us to give us shelter. Now, the problem was that the wind did pick up but stayed westerly, not good. We didn't have enough room to swing around so we could only hope that the anchor and stern lines would hold. During the night the winds peaked at around 30-35 knots and we didn't get much sleep. The stern lines and anchor chain were like violin strings, but we hadn't needed to worry. The truth is that the boat didn't move an inch. Good anchor and/or good holding ground. I'll put a video under "Pics and Vids of Valöya before the winds picked up.

We're now in Grimstad, just a few M W of Valöya, getting ready to leave. Heading west again, winds against us, again. Lots of westerlies along this coast. We'll see what the sea has to offer for dinner today!


/Fishing vessel Ingeborg

Skagen, Denmark

Leaving for Norway in the morning. Good thing, we need to live cheaper. One day´s harbour fee (270 Dkr) eats up our budget for one day here. Impossible equation. In Norway we hope to find anchorages (at no cost) and plenty of fish in the sea. Maybe even have a milking cow on foredeck, and we´ll be self sufficient.

Yesterday we threw in the fishing tackle when we started to feel hungry and after 15 minutes there was mackerel on the menu!

It´s been long days of sailing lately. Tomorrow no exception, it´s about 80 nm the shortest distance. And no winds to mention on the weather forecast. We better fuel up otherwise we could be drifting for days changing curtesy flag a million times before we reach land.

Here we come Norway, the land where pizza and a beer cost €15 and where newly caught fish and shellfish is for free!

The adventures awaits! But still...

We´ve thrown the moorings and the adventure awaits! But still, somehow, it feels like a holiday cruise. The farwells on the dock were not prolonged goodbays - I knew I would see my family again. My sister and her daughter are coming with us for the first week, my mother´s coming up to Helsingborg to see us, my dad probably as well and my grandmother´s living here. (Later my sister will come to the Canarie Islands or the Carribean and my mum will also sail with us, maybe in Scotland?) My farwells has not yet begun and I guess thats why. Hampus may have a differt view since I don´t think he´s family will come along so he won´t see them for a while - at least for a year and a few months.  I know he´ll miss them.

The first night we anhored outside the island of Ven. We had a nice cruise getting there but in a slow pace. Kicki, a friend and her son Teo also came with us so with two small children we took it easy in the beginning with mizzen and genoa and later when they felt more at ease we hoist the main sail.



In the night, with gusty winds and backwash waves, we lost our swimmingladder (a detachable one). No more anchoring or swimming until we replace it... Sad to say. From now on it´s harbours and with nearby swimming facilities!

Second day we sailed to Råå, in the outskirts of Hesingborg, to meet with the welder. He´s says we should be off by wednesday. Just outside the pier harbour the engine commited suicide or more correctly took a nap. After a bleed of air and a change of dieselfilter he woke up again and we could yet again take down the sails.

So for a few days we´ll be landlubbers but we need´nt be idle, we´ve got plenty to do...

...for example cleaning the dieseltanks!

/Lotta, with a really truly incredibly sweet boyfriend smelling of diesel

Just for fun

Just for the fun of it...

Yes, she is. And therefore she ought to be stamped as is customary.

How many cranelorries does it take to lift Ingeborg?

If you guessed two, you´re right! One big and one a little bit less big. They needed the weights from both vehicles. She a steady lady of fifteens tons, our lassie.

Strange, when we´ve been on land, tilting three degrees, I´ve felt a bit seasick. You´re not supposed to tilt without rocking. Now we´re back in water I keep forgetting and when we´re rocking I feel even more seasick and it feels like we´re falling. I hope I haven´t transformed into a landlubber...

/Lotta, trying to become acclimatized to beeing back in water after two weeks on dry land

Varnishing is fun! Really...

We're on the hard in Limhamn, Ingeborg looks like a 16th century leprosy colony . Been here for a week now. I'm a time optimist, I thought we would have had her anti fouled and back in the water in three or four days. There's still no anti fouling on... The new rig is ordered and will be here tomorrow. The welder who's going to repair the fitting for the dolphin striker and move the bow roller will be done on thursday, so I guess she'll be back in the water thursday afternoon. The new thru hulls are fitted and so's the new log transducer.

We're leaving one thru hull clean and unpainted to use as a counter poise for the SSB. I've been working for a couple of days on repairing the two spreaders for the main mast. One was rotten at the base and the other one had a previous repair that wasn't up to standard. I wanted to make two completely new spreaders but when I got home with the new wood and had a closer look at it I saw that most of it wasn't good enough. At least we managed to extract enough wood to make two repairs. The scarfs are finnished and tomorrow I'll buy some epoxy that hasn't gone past it's "best before" date and glue them together. The spreaders for the mizzen are getting a new coat too. They won't be completely varnished by the time we step the masts again so my little rigg monkey will have to take another trip up the masts.

Lotta spent the past three days sanding and varnishing wood (still a lot left) and changing the tesxt on the home-board from "Berlin" to "Sweden". She put the first coat of varnish on today and it looks really, really good.

My little artist at work










We're about a week behind "schedule". Not that it matters though. I have quit my job now so with a little luck, or the absence of bad luck, a lot of things will be done. The last spare parts for the engine are on order and will be here on the 7th so I guess we'll leave on the 7th or 8th if the weather permits. Still to much to be done to really feel the excitement or have time to think about it.

/Hampus

It was nice to meet you, Båtsman!

Yesterday we had a new visitor on Ingeborg.  A furry one, a cat named Båtsman.

He´d followed his family from S/Y Mary unseen and suddenly he was about to climb in through one of Ingeborg´s portholes. When they leave to go sailing round the world in seven weeks he will not go with them. Båtsman is a metaphore for much in life right know. There´s a lot of goodbye´s and hello´s. You take farwell of friends and family and you say hello to new aquintences you otherwise wouldn´t have met. It was nice to meet you Båtsman! And needless to say that goes for the rest of the crew of S/Y Mary too.



That same day we also took farewell of Kaj, leaving our marina for his trip round the world aboard Amelit. I wish you a great adventure!




/Lotta, "touchy feely" after a lot of goodbye´s and after a last night out with my colleagues.

Don't get mad, get even! But with whom?

Right now things don't really go our way. Four weeks ago our dinghy was stolen from the boat. Someone has actually been aboard Ingeborg and stolen little Ingeborg. Last weekend we had someone break in to the car. We had lots of stuff in there, not visible but that didn't stop them. I know, stupid to keep things in the car, but with the move from the apartment to the boat we needed a place to store things that were in transit. The car was that place. We lost a camera tripod, an old laptop that wasn't worth anything but had lots of stuff on it and was supposed to be used for sailmai, so it needs to be replaced. They also took a very nice electrical guitar. I mean who would do such a thing? Stealing someones guitar is like stealing their girlfriend! With all the stuff lost, the dinghy and the smashed window we lost around $2000.

I was hopping mad when we found our smashed car and spent all that day thinking about what I would have done to the little bastards if I'd caught them. Breaking their knee caps with a baseball bat was the high on the "list of punishments". Then Lotta told me about Karma and that Karma would make sure that they get what they deserve. I'm now confident that Karma will bust their knee caps.

We also redid our calculations and came to the conclusion that we'll leave with $8000 less than we need. Oh joy! We'll need to come up with a way to make $650 a month. I guess starvation is a great motivator. Suggestions are welcome. No one said it would be easy, right?

/Hampus, deciding which kidney to sell first.

This is why it´s so hard.

The flat´s sold and we´re now living onboard Ingeborg. It´s been a horrible few days when I´ve asked myself if I´ve made the right decision to sell the flat, just to remind myself it doesnt matter anymore because the flat´s sold and there´s no going back.

This is why it so hard. Every morning I wake up, I go to the window and I see this. Every afternoon I come home and I see this. The ocean, the sky. For me, to be blessed to live like this, it´s freedom.



















Now I hope I can find a different kind of freedom. The ocean and the sky are still there as long as we´re sailing...

Lotta

Just a test

E-mail update test.

Trying to update over e-mail for future use with SSB. Real new post
and nice news coming real soon to a computer near you!

/Hampus

Flippers or a worldradio? Special price for you my friend!

Sometimes I think "what the heck am I doing?!", but as often I think "can´t wait". So I guess I can´t wait to do what the heck I´m going to do...

We´ve set the date for departure to the beginning of july, but as we already changed it a dozen times and the to do list Hampus wrote in reality is as twice as long I´m not so sure. I hope we know when we´ve done the least of the most we´ve got to do. That will be good for our buget too, somehow it´s not as good as we thought it was. (On bad days we ask ourselves if it´s even possible.) Tomorrow there´s a marin yardsale at the sailingclub and we hope to raise some money to spend on other marinestuff. So if you e.g. need an oven, a vhf, flippers or a worldradio, see you there!

On the wishlist there´s, among other things, a Rutland 913 windcharger (to be mounted in the mizzen mast) and something to supplement it with, a tow generator perhaps, there´s no room for solar power. We´ll see, it´s expensive and I dare guess we´re not going to find it at the yardsale.

It´s about now I realise why most people start planning for a trip like this more than six months before departure. But hey, we´re not like most people, whatever that means...

With two months until departure,
Lotta

Another short update

We spent all night yesterday trying to finish the new (modified) instrument panel. We got rid of the old perkins engine panel and mounted the very nice looking VDO-instruments directly in a varnished teak board. We also made a great and I mean GREAT bargain on two Raymarine ST60 instruments, one speed log and one echo sounder. They are also mounted in the teak board. We moved the plotter from the instrument panel to the wheel piedestal and moved the compass from the piedestal to the instrument panel (you don't have to push any buttons on the compass).

Someone asked me a few months ago, how the refit was coming along. I thought "what refit? We're just fixing a few small things". Well, I guess it turned out to be a refit after all. This far we've, in no particular order

• 
  Repaired the main mast
• Installed a plotter, new VHF, NAVTEX, newish autopilot
• Rewired large portion of the electrical system
• Changed calorifier
• Installed a new propane stove with oven
• Cleaned, cleaned and cleaned
• Installed a holding tank for the forward head
• Done minor repairs on the engine
• And a few smaller things

What's still left is:

• Having a new mizzen sewed
• Changing all of the standing rigging
• Finnishing the instrument panel and actually installing the transducers for the new instruments
• Repair the bow sprit that we (I) dented in Germany a year ago
• Repair the dinghy
• Redo the entire propane installation
• Antifoull
• Change water tap in galley
• Change thru hulls
• Change winches and fit new cleats on the main mast
• Modify the bowroller to fit the new anchor
• Stop 1000 water leaks around portholes, deck hatches and sheet travellers
• Make sure the cabin sole can't go airborne
• Build shelves in the wardrobe
• Adjust the oven installation
• Service the engine
• Clean the diesel tanks
• Varnish, varnish and varnish
• Make storm hatches for the "panoramic" windows in the aft cabin
• Install the windvane
• Prepare for an SSB installation. The SSB is high on our wish list now, if only we can afford it
• Have all the paper work ready
• Have our shots for yellow fever and what not

And we're supposed to sail by early June... Obviously, some of the things can and will be done along the way, we'll just have to focus on the most important things. If EVERYTHING has to be done prior to departure, we'll never leave.

/Hampus & Lotta, in the middle of EVERYTHING

My life this far.

I was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1979. I'm now 31 years old, weighing 15.000 kg with a 50 ft LOA. The taiwanese craftsmen who built me did a good job over all but cut a few corners where no one would notice. When I was finished I was put on a freighter together with 5 of my sisters and after two days we were shipped out. I had no idea where I was going or who had bought me. The older boats at the shipyard had talked about far away oceans, some beautiful, some terrible and fraightening but all beautiful in their own way. They also talked about their owners, some would take very good care of thier boats, some would neglect them completely. What would my owner be like? Would I be a wreck in 10 years? What oceans would I get to see? I was scared and excited all at the same time.

The freighter who carried us in her belly told us strange tales about salty water, white beaches, colorful corall with thousands of fish, fierce storms and wonderful creatures called dolphins who would come to play and sing. Oh, how I longed to see those things!

After 28 days I woke up and the freigheter was silent, her engines shut off. In the morning I was off loaded and put in a cradle, people around me talked in a language I didn't understand and the weather was cold, I felt so alone. I was put behind a large building, I couldn't see the ocean but I knew it was there, I could hear the large ships coming and going at night. I sat in my cradle for almost a month, then one day a truck came and put me on it's trailer. After several hours I was put in a new cradle next to a dozen other boats, I could now see the marina that would be my home for the next 10 years. From the other boats I learned that I was in Germany.

The next day I met my owner for the first time and all my worries went away. He was an older man with white hair and a gentle face. I could see on his face when he laid eyes on me how thrilled he was, there was a big smile on his face as he ran his hand along my hull. He told me he would take me to the Caribbean and maybe even around the world. What joy! The next nine years we spent cruising the Baltic, just him, his wife and me. These were exciting times, with East Germany and the Soviet Union just around the corner. We needed papers, a thousand stamps and a permission just to leave the territorial waters.

In 1988 my owner left his company to his son and he told me that it was time for us to sail away. We spent almost a year to prepare, my owner was with me almost daily. Then one day he didn't show up, the days went by, then the weeks. One day he showed up with a young couple in their thirties. What was going on? They all climbed on board and I could hear them talk. My owner told them about our trip and about his company and about his son. His son was ruining the company that my owner spent a lifetime building. He would have to go back and I was to be sold. I was heartbroken!

The young couple loved me and they bought me right away. The day they came to take me away I could see the pain in my owner's eyes as we left. I was moved to a small and very beautiful marina, the Naturhafen Krummin. My new owners treated me with love and affection and took very good care of me. The new marina was beautiful, especially in springtime when the sun broke out over what could have been a mirror and the morning mist came creeping from the yellow reed. In 1989 the Iron Curtain fell and it got easier to visit other countries. We continued to cruise the Baltic for almost twenty years. I got to see the children and grand children of my owners grow up and I got to take them sailing. The last few years I was mostly kept in my marina and was used as a summer house. My owners still took good care of me and kept me varnished and good looking. Since they didn't sail me much though, they let my main mast rot and my standing rig was in poor condition. I still hadn't left the Baltic.

One early spring day in 2009 I had a deja vu. My owners came with a young couple in their early thirties. This time I knew what was about to happen. The couple had a long look and they talked to my owners for a long time. They then went away and I didn't hear anything for a week. Then my owners came and made me ready for the water, the young couple had bought me, they were swedish and seemed nice, the boy was called Hampus and the girl Lotta, funny names I had never heard before. I had visited Sweden many times and I loved the country although I found some of the native boats a bit unfriendly.

One day in early April my new owners came and my old owners handed over my keys and papers to them. Hampus and Lotta stayed with me the entire weekend before they went away again, they talked a lot about their plans and I realised that I would be sailing again. I could hardly wait! I was left alone until the beginning of may when they came with two friends and sailed me to Sweden. Hampus got help from the same friend who helped sail me home and they spent a month repairing my main mast, it's now as good as new. We spent the summer cruising the coasts of Denmark, Germany and Holland and I got to taste the North Sea for the first time, it was very exciting and I wanted more. With subtle hints I pursuaded Hampus and Lotta to take me further. They are now preparing to go to the Caribbean! I will finally get to see those white beaches and play with dolphins! They are getting me a new mizzen sail and they bought me a new shining wind vane. I'm getting a new standing rig and a million other gadgets. It's like being born again after more than thirty years. I'm so happy and I can't wait to set sail together with my two new friends!

/Ingeborg

No longer unbearably cold! And thoughts on economy.

I think that spring might be here! We've been able to work on Ingeborg this weekend. We ripped out the old autopilot anno 1979 and installed a "new" one. I bet it's no older than 15 years! It's an Autohelm 6000 and we got it for free! We hooked it up to the old Robertson hydraulic pump and it worked. Of course, I got the cables wrong, there were two ways of connecting them and Murphy, as usual, couldn't mind his own business. I wasn't sure wich side was wich on the pump so now it steers to port when it should go to starboard, but it's an easy fix. The reason we changed pilots is that the old Robertson had a broken compass and since we got this one for free it was clearly cheaper than buying a new compass. Comparing the two, the Robertson is a Rolls Royce and the Autohelm is a Volvo, but a newer Volvo. We're also making a new instrument board and with half the stuff ripped out of the old one and all the tools lying around down below Ingeborg looks like a war zone.

We've had no luck in selling the apartment. We'll give it a few more weeks then we'll try to sub let it. I hope the the entire project doesn't fall with the apartment... I'm a bit worried.

We also have to order a new mizzen and it won't be delivered until the end of June and we had hoped to be away by the beginning of that month. Doesn't matter though, there's no rush, we're just eager.

With all the things we hadn't forseen, but should have, costs are piling up. There's the mizzen, the new standing rig and a bunch of other things. We had hoped to leave with at least 200.000 SEK ($27.000) on the bank account and live off it for at least 18 months. I actually don't know how we're going to reach that amount but we'll go with what we've got and see how far we get. Maybe working along the way is an option? I work with marine electronics and navigation equipment so it might not be impossible... Any advice, short of selling organs on e-bay, on how to put an extra $ in the wallet while sailing is apreciated.

/Hampus

A new adventure

So this is us, after a rough sailing in a hailstorm (40 knots) but ending in a beautiful dark grey sky with magic beams of sun.

I´m not a sailor at heart, like Hampus. I´m more of a traveller, a vagabond who happens to go by salingboat, happy to reach the next port. It´s not that I don´t like sailing, I do, it´s just that I prefer to visit new places, make new acquaintances and explore the culture of a foreign town, country or continent. And now I´m somehow on my way to the Caribbean - sailing?! But after all, I do like seeing new places and people and I do like sailing. But things change, and maybe by the time we reach our destination I´ll become more of a sailor and less of a traveller?

As I embark on Ingeborg and on this journey I also bring a lot of fears with me. Most of them concern my bad back. Since a carcrash, 18 years ago I've got a bad back and I´ve gone through a arthrodesis and just about a year ago I got hit from behind and got a whiplash. It scares me to be this fragile if it ever would come down to "man against nature" and the fact that I´m in a lot more pain out at sea. The good side of it is of course that there´s no cars on the sea...

So this is me. Looking forward to a new big adventure in my life and to be a part of Hampus' lifelong dream, but a little uneasy because of the fact that I sometimes feel like I´m in the shape of someone twice my age.

The photo summarizes a lot of my feelings about sailing, it can be beautiful, breathtaking or scary - but it´s always nice to make landfall and have gained a new experience. It´s freedom.

Lotta

Where to draw the line?

Well, where do you draw the line? How much stuff do you buy and how many spares do you bring? Every little thing we buy will shorten our potential time away. It's easy to focus on all the things that you need, instead of trying to focus on how little you need. Do we really need all the things that we think we need now? Isn't it better to leave with less than you think you need and buy it along the way if you find that you miss it? A lot of the stuff that is on the wish/need/want list are things that I've done well without for many years and 1000's of miles. I think I'll post the list here some time...

And regarding spare parts. What really sucks about them is that you always need the one thing that you didn't get. So why get any at all?

We just get scared looking at the sum at the bottom of our list. Of course the boat has to be in a sound condition. But apart from that what do we actually need, to sailg away? I guess that's a question to you readers. All 7 of you :)

/Me in my most optimistic and cheerful mood

Just a short update of present plans.

In december we suddenly decided to leave. The date is set to... well some time between may and july this year. Only a few months left and there's so much to do. Ingeborg needs new standing rigging, new thru hulls, new anti fouling, something to sort out our charging needs, we need to mount the windvane, install the "new" used and completely free autopilot and a thousand other little things. On top of that we also need to pack up our regular lifes.

When all is done we just hope that there'll be enough money left to buy ketchup for the rice and beans to keep our teeth from falling out.

But boy are we looking forward to it!

Yeah, the destination. We don't have one really. Or we do, but we won't tell you just in case we end up somewhere else. A clue though; I've heard that they are really big on pina coladas and coconuts...

/Hampus

Not dead...

I know you think this blog is dead. It isn't I promise. For reasons I can't go into here we just need to wait a little while longer before giving you more news, be patient...

/Hampus