Indigo Yacht Management: Life as a yacht delivery couple.

2012-01-25T11:52:00.003+02:00

Latest News:
Indigo yacht management is proud to announce their new partnership with Resails. Resails recycles old sails into quality, cool products that they sell on the web as well as in their shops in the USA. They recently opened their first South African shop - The Boardroom - in Hout Bay. You're not only find their whole range of bags, clothing and accessories there, but they also serve great coffee and French crepes in a very chilled vibe. So indeed, worth a visit!
The Sunday Times newspaper ran an article on Resails over the weekend. You can read it here: http://www.timeslive.co.za/lifestyle/2012/01/15/all-aboard
So again, Yachtdeliverynews.com and Indigo will test some of their products on our yacht delivery trips and will keep you posted on all their news. In the meantime, check their product range here: www.resails.com or visit The Boardroom, next time you're in Hout Bay.

Launch Hyppo - Tayana 58'

2012-01-10T17:14:00.001+02:00

Getting wet...our next delivery to Miami.

2011-12-22T13:01:00.001+02:00

It's that time of the year again... we all make new promises and good resolutions for the New Year, so I just wanted to share this with you. This is one of the most positive things I've seen on the internet lately:

"The Holstee Manifesto is a call to action to live a life full of intention, creativity, passion, and community.

The LifeCycle Film came about as a desire to bring the energy and passion behind the Manifesto to life through something we love--biking. As we seek to live mindful lifestyles that leave a positive impact on the people and world around us, biking has become a passion that is much more than a transportation alternative. It is a way of fully experiencing the city we love and all of its details.
This Film is a celebration. It is a celebration of gatherings, of diversity, of life, and of the beauty of shared experience."

Link: http://vimeo.com/34028125

Hope you enjoy, and have a fab festive season.

Indigo improves service... again.

2011-12-19T10:48:00.000+02:00

Indigo will use the new Iridium Extreme satellite phone from our next delivery onwards. This phone replaces our Isatphone Pro that never performed the way it should have done. Our clients can look forward, to better tracking, emailing and other great features.

Iridium Extreme is the toughest handset ever from the only company that offers real global, real mobile, real reliable communications. Engineered with more features and more accessories than any other satellite phone on the market, Iridium Extreme puts more innovative capability — and more ways to connect than ever before — into the hands of people everywhere.

Standardized: A highly capable handset needs a highly capable network to empower it. Iridium Extreme is built with the same reliable voice and data capability that Iridium users have come to trust, and backed by the world's only satellite network that commands real global coverage, pole to pole.

Optimized: From desert to mountain, savanna to tundra, Iridium Extreme puts more powerful capability into the hands of people, around the world. It has more features and accessories than any other satellite phone. It is the only one with real time tracking. It is the only satellite phone with GPS-enabled SOS with emergency services supported by GEOS Travel Safety Group Limited, included at no additional charge. And it can connect with Iridium AxcessPoint to create a Wi-Fi hotspot to keep in touch on your trusted devices — everywhere.

Ruggedized: No other phone in the world has more guts or grit than Iridium Extreme. It is the first phone with military-grade 810F durability. It is dust proof, shock and jet-water resistant. From emergency crews and paramedics to military personnel and government operations, Iridium Extreme is built for the world's toughest, highest usage customers to make the connections that matter under the harshest conditions, anywhere on the planet.

Windy arrival in Cape Town

2011-12-14T17:17:00.000+02:00

We arrived from the Seychelles from another yacht delivery to a very windy Cape Town. The (in)famous Cape doctor wind was blowing 'full-on' and blew 50 knots in the harbour entrance... good timing indeed.
But so good to be back in Cape Town. We'll be home for Christmas, and that's the first time in 3 years.
Party Time!

Overboard bags

2011-11-04T09:35:00.002+02:00

It's not easy to confess; but yes, I do admit... I am a bag snob! Wow; just said it, I feel much better already!
Yes, I like bags; all sorts of bags. I guess it comes from losing or breaking too much stuff while on the water or travelling. So I need to look after my personal valuables and make sure every item has it's specific protective bag. Not only my clothes need the right bag, but also my cellphone, GPS, laptop, camera and other expensive items.
Jo thinks I am mad... until I make a list of all the stuff I have broken or water damaged so far. So indeed, my obsession with bags comes from a history of learning and experience. It's that simple! So I dare say that I have become an expert in the bags field.
These are my conclusions:
1) Waterproof bags generally last a long time, but not so their expensive zips. The zip always breaks or
malfunctions way before the bag wears out. I have used bags from Ortlieb and Pacific Outdoor and the zip always broke way before the bag.
2) Velcro could be an alternative, but as velcro is mostly glued on it will come loose at one stage or another.
3) So yes indeed; a waterproof bag needs to be designed in a simple way without zips or velcro. K.I.S.S (Keep it stupid simple) is always the best.
Overboard bags do just that. Simple design that works with a clever closure or a simple roll-up system to close the bag. The bags are designed by a team of watersport fanatics, and their range is definitely the most complete.
We are using some of their bags on our recent yacht delivery, and the bags have been proven to be perfect. I will post some test results in the near future.
Have a look at their complete range here.

Laid Back in Richards Bay...

2011-11-04T09:32:00.002+02:00

We were concerned about strong winds as we rounded Madagascar, but the weather was kind to us. Light conditions meant we motor-sailed most of the way.
Not so the SA coast which gave us an unwelcome reminder of just how horrible conditions can be. 30-40 knots of wind coming from exactly the direction we needed to go in coupled with a 3-4m swell. Great.
It was a bit touch and go but we made it safely into Richards Bay. Customs came first thing in the morning but it took 2 days before immigration showed up!
The atmosphere here is pretty laid back. There's a bit of an influx of foreign boats as the circumnavigators have to round the Cape - piracy has made the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal out of the question.
Re-fueling, provisioning and a couple of minor repairs need our attention here. Then it's just a case of waiting for a decent weather window to hop down the coast...

latest piracy news - Seychelles

2011-11-04T08:41:00.001+02:00

Apologies for the previous brief entry, but it is suspected that yachties have previously been tracked by pirates through the postings on their blogs...
The Seychelles government is taking the piracy problem very seriously. They should do as their economy is suffering as a direct result. Tourism is down, charter yachts are standing idle and there is a ban on cruising to the outer northern islands.
Leaving by yacht from the Seychelles can be a tricky business. Permission to leave must first be obtained from the port authorities. Heading anywhere north is definitley a no-no. Our flight plan was south to Mauritius and as the south east wind was still blowing (which apparently keeps the pirates closer to the mainland) we were given permission to leave.
Someone had mentioned to us that we would probably get an escort, but we assumed that this was an exageration. Imagine our surprise when a stange looking vessel approaching turned out to be a submarine which shadowed us for a couple of hours as we left Mahe - now that's taking things seriously.

We're sailing!!

2011-10-10T16:06:00.001+02:00

We're on the ocean for a yacht delivery at the moment. As soon as we get to land, we will post more stuff.

Must-Have yacht Delivery Gear: Overboard Waterproof Bags

2011-10-08T14:34:00.001+02:00

As delivery skippers, we all know the importance of keeping our gear dry. Trying to make a phone call or check the handheld GPS in the cockpit on a rolling yacht is not always straight-forward. Over the years, I have lost numerous cellphones, one GPS and have also managed to water damage an expensive satellite phone. It's just not fun, and indeed expensive too! So I am always on the look-out to find a specific waterproof way to protect any electronic device.
During the recent Boat Show here in Cape Town, Overboard Africa introduced their new and very impressive range to Africa. Indigo fell in love with the quality of each product, the extensive range and the value for money of these waterproof bags. Their range really does cover everything. Whatever piece of equipment you want to protect; Overboard Africa has a protective and waterproof bag for you. I-Phone, I- Pad, Kindle readers, camera bags, backpacks and a wide range of kit bags. Any colour, any size... If you don't find it on the Overboard website, you're simply not going to find it anywhere else!
We will test some of the products on our next delivery trip, so please regularly check this blog and we'll keep you posted.
In the meantime, do yourself a favour and check the impressive range on their website: www.overboardafria.co.za.

Our latest delivery from Martinique to Portugal

2011-07-24T20:02:00.000+01:00

Another Successful Delivery Completed by Indigo…

2011-06-20T09:48:00.000+01:00

After a bit of a muddle we eventually sorted out our rigging repair (thanks to Clive!!!) which we were very happy about as we had much more wind on the last and final leg to Portugal.
We had a pleasant and uneventful week’s sailing with plenty of dolphin and whale viewing which is always a pleasure.
A very happy owner was waiting for her boat in Villamoura so we wasted no time in cleaning the boat and making sure all was in order before the handover. Villamoura is an excellent marina, highly organised and with good security. It is in the middle of a resort town so there are plenty of tourists to ogle – quite a different scene from the yachties in Horta!!!
We have spent a few days back in Belgium with family; next stop – home to Cape Town where plenty of work in the form of renovating our new home awaits!

Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow...

2011-06-01T17:08:00.000+01:00

22 days to cover 2200 nm - you can do the maths... No wind, light conditions and wind from the wrong direction made for a slow passage.
The last few days I lost count of how many other boats we saw tacking backwards and forwards trying to make some headway - I'm still not sure if this was reassuring or not? Everyone here in Horta is complaining about their long,slow and difficult passage, but hey, that's sailing!
The only other problem was the starboard inner top side stay failing. This resulted in us both going up the mast to rig some kind of repair using lines and blocks to keep some tension on the mast. Hmm, 2 Bavarias and 2 rigging failures; mere coincidence or are there other forces at work? Any input from other Bavaria's out there???
It's great to have finally reached Horta, but we are now looking forward to some better wind for the final leg to Portugal...

Weather before leaving Martinique.

2011-05-03T16:03:00.002+01:00

Rain, rain and more rain, that’s the forecast and it’s not even rainy season yet!!!
We have been here for 4 days now and we have hardly seen the sun – not what you expect for a Caribbean island at this time of year!
We have just come from Belgium (which has had the hottest and driest April on record) to this – must be global warming…
Thursday we're leaving for our crossing to Portugal.

Back in Martinique.

2011-05-02T22:33:00.000+01:00

We have arrived in Martinique again for another delivery to Portugal this time. The yacht is a stunning Bavaria 47' in immaculate condition. We met the owner more than a year ago; so it was a happy reunion. She's flying home tomorrow, and we are aiming to leave one of the following days. Weather depending!

In Bruges

2011-04-28T16:59:00.001+01:00

This is where we're spending some time with friends before flying to Martinique for our next delivery. The movie was great, but it's still better in real life! Keep you posted on our next move...

A stunning cloud formation.

2011-03-03T16:06:00.002+02:00

We recently visited friends in Plettenberg and captured this stunning mushroom cloud formation.
Mushroom clouds form as a result of the sudden formation of a large mass of hot low-density gases near the ground creating a Rayleigh-Taylor instability. The mass of gas rises rapidly, resulting in turbulent vortices curling downward around its edges and drawing up a column of additional smoke and debris in the centre to form its “stem”. The mass of gas eventually reaches an altitude where it is no longer less dense than the surrounding air and disperses, the debris drawn upward from the ground scattering and drifting back down.

For some extra rare cloud pictures, click here.

U2 in Cape Town.

2011-02-20T10:49:00.002+02:00

Strandbeesten

2011-02-11T12:41:00.004+02:00

As sailors we are all passionate about nature's elements; a yacht gliding through the water, the wind moving it forward.
Dutch artist Theo Jansen takes all this to a next level. Incredible; you have to see this (Thanks to TED)!

Maybe you remember this BMW ad he did a couple of years ago:

New YachtDeliveryNews site launching soon...

2011-02-09T12:59:00.001+02:00

Worldwide news site about yacht deliveries, skippers, crew, owners, marine equipment and much more...

Holidaying on the West Coast.

2011-02-03T12:33:00.003+02:00

We're enjoying some 'peace and quite' in the West Coast National Park. The National Parks again prove to be South Africa's best kept secret when it comes to price/quality accommodation available in this country. We have stayed in many of the other National Parks before (chalets and camping); they are unique (because of their top locations), clean and are run by friendly staff. It's says a lot to meet more foreigners in this place than South Africans, but maybe this is because the locals are back to work after the holidays? Shame. For those interested: www.sanparks.org or www.duinepos.co.za

What many people knew already, has now been confirmed...

2011-01-27T09:34:00.000+02:00

Good-looking, fun-loving, sporty and sociable. That’s Cape Town in a nutshell, according to the leading travel guide.

Lonely Planet on Monday named Cape Town the second best beach city in the world, while TripAdvisor toasted the city’s accommodation providers in its 2011 Traveller’s Choice Awards.

Cape Town’s impressive coastline pushed it above Rio De Janeiro. Also featured were locations from Australia to the US. The top gong went to Barcelona.

Another successful Indigo delivery...

2011-01-13T06:47:00.000+02:00

As you may have gathered from the last entry: Yes, we have arrived safely in Sydney!

After Tonga, the last leg to Australia proved again to be the most difficult. We had a few days of good wind, before a couple of days of no wind, before being hit by a strong SW wind which is not supposed to be the prevailing wind at this time of year. In summer the predominant wind should blow from the NE, but unless you have been sleeping under a rock lately you will know that Australia is not getting their normal summer weather.

Queensland has been hit by severe flooding with an area of France and Germany combined under water.

Luckily we have not really been affected (the weather in Sydney is pretty bad though...) and Escapade is safely on her ‘home’ mooring at the Avalon Sailing Club after completing a voyage of 10 000nm. Not bad for a 36’ Bavaria!!

Goldfish!!!

2011-01-07T11:40:00.002+02:00

For all of you who have been asleep lately; Cape Town's favourite band Goldfish has a NEW album out:

Enjoy and greetings from Sydney - G'day Mate!

An Unscheduled Stopover – Tonga.

2010-12-18T00:15:00.000+02:00

When modern technology works it is the most wonderful thing in the world. When modern technology fails it is extremely frustrating… We carry a satellite phone on board to keep owners, family and friends informed of our progress and whereabouts. Our (new) satellite phone has failed. The Immersat technology either doesn’t cover the Pacific as well as the service promised or there is some other problem… either way we haven’t had a sat phone network for a couple of days now and we still had about 17 days of sailing before reaching Australia.

As we didn’t know if or when the phone would work again and we were only 100nm south east of Tonga we made the decision to stop so that we could at least keep everyone informed that all is well and that we (maybe) won’t have communication for the rest of the trip…

It’s amazing how used to stuff we become as people were starting to worry already! It wasn’t that long ago that we would do a trip and not have any communication with the outside world for weeks!

Anyway we hadn’t planned on stopping in

Tonga

and I must say we are pleasantly surprised by the place so far. No real tourist infrastructure in place, but the people are amazingly friendly – they definitely live up to their name of ‘the friendly isles’.

The only thing that is out of place here is the gaudy Christmas decorations which is a reminder for us to say ‘Merry Christmas & Happy New Year’ to everyone. We will be spending both on the water but you can bet we will celebrate in our own style!

Nuku Hiva – Bora Bora – Raiatea

2010-11-28T05:20:00.002+02:00

Seven days to cross to the Leeward Islands of French Polynesia; Escapade turns out to be a pretty fast little cruiser (on Pizzazz it took us 9 days). Not much excitement again on this crossing. The topping lift chafed through, so Jo had to go up the mast to collect the line while we were sailing under spinnaker… always a fun event (for me anyway)! We motored the last 2 days, and experienced an impressive thunder and lightning storm.

We’re moored off the Bora Bora Yacht Club, as we arrived late at night and are familiar with this entrance. Most Islands here are surrounded by coral reefs and often have only one way through; it’s not really advisable to enter through an unknown reef at night! From here we’ll move to Raiatea (next door Island) to get the last provisions, water and diesel before sailing off to Australia. We’ll probably leave the 1^st December…the Sydney New Year fireworks better be good this year!

Panama – Nuku Hiva (Marquises)

2010-11-28T05:17:00.001+02:00

It took us 33 days to cross from Panama City to the Marquises – 2 days shorter than last time on Pizzazz. Indeed, the Pacific is A HUGE ocean; bigger than the Atlantic and Indian Ocean combined, and we’re only -sort of- halfway!

We saw 1 ship, some whales, seabirds and dolphins… the endless waves were the only constant…

“So what do you do the whole day?” people ask us. Well, this is how it works:

6.00 Sunrise greets a new day, the night shifts are over; Jo gets up, I go to bed.

8.30 I wake up; make coffee and tea that we enjoy together with some biscuits.

9.00 Jo goes to bed.

11.30 Jo gets up and we have lunch.

12.30 I am off; attending some work on the boat and/or a kip

15.00 Jo’s turn to relax

17.00 Prepare dinner and watch the sunset.

18.00 I go to bed

20.00 I get up, Jo goes to bed. This changes every 2 hours till sunrise, or 6am the next morning…

So one of us is always on watch; most of the time sitting in the cockpit; listening to the SW radio or MP3 player, reading or relaxing. At any time during the day or night, sail changes might be needed, so the one asleep or resting must also be on standby to come on deck to help.

So, yes, sailing can be pretty boring… lots of books definitely help… and we celebrated both our birthdays…

54.10 knots!

2010-10-13T20:33:00.002+02:00

I only just finished the previous entry, and Alex Caizergues has done it already... 54.10 knots and a new World Record! Well done.
A kite and a small board, quite a different set-up (and budget) than the Hydroptere, the previous fastest sailing vessel (http://www.hydroptere.com). Lots of more records to follow as more atomic winds are forecast for the Luderitz Speed Challenge.

We're off to the Marquises... yes, we'll be slower...much slower.

The Luderitz Speed Challenge is on!

2010-10-10T23:57:00.002+02:00

It's this time of the year again... somewhere in the desert in Namibia...Insane; check this:

Records will be broken this year, check it on http://www.luderitz-speed.com/

Panama Canal Transit

2010-10-10T23:15:00.001+02:00

We have just completed our second canal transit this year - most people don't ever get the chance to do this, so we have been fortunate enough to do it twice!
It is quite a stressful part of the trip; rafting up to another boat mid-river, the transfer of lines and then holding position in the centre of each lock as the millions of gallons of water are emptied or filled.
Stressful but still a favourite part of the whole trip. The image of man against nature, of the sheer engineering genius behind the project, really is quite special.

We can highly recommend the service of Tina McBride; she's been our agent twice now, and does a fantastic job. More info on www.panamacanaltransits.com

Sailing and cycling in Panama.

2010-10-10T22:53:00.002+02:00

There's a long promenade along the ocean from the Balbao Yacht Club (where we are moored) to Flamenca Island. People walk, but mainly cycle.
As most of you know; cycling is my other passion. No question that cycling is THE greatest sport in the world. For those of you who are not convinced, have a look at the following... If this doesn't give you goosebumps, then I guess you must stay with cricket or curling...

http://www.chasinglegends.com

A slow boat to Panama...

2010-10-07T03:06:00.000+02:00

Actually the slow crossing has nothing to do with the boat; Escapade is handling surprisingly well. It’s the conditions and weather that have not been playing ball so far.

The last time we crossed from Grenada to Panama I don’t think we had a day without wind under 20 knots and from the right direction. This time we were lucky to have any wind from the right direction at all and I mean this quite literally. Apart from the first day out from Tortola, which saw reasonable wind (and we made 120nm), we battled with either light conditions or strong winds right on our nose the rest of the way. It took us three days to cover the last 140 miles and that was with the engine running most of the time. Strong head winds and choppy seas saw the boat speed reading 5 knots whereas the actual distance we were covering was about 2!!

How can two trips be so like chalk and cheese? OK, so it was two different times of the year. Hopefully this means that the worst is out of the way and that we will have good wind crossing the Pacific…?

...And the birds?

2010-10-07T03:03:00.001+02:00

OK so the weather wasn’t with us, but the birds certainly were!

Strange as it may sound while we were crossing the Caribbean we were visited by all sorts of birds normally found on land. It started with a swallow that landed after a squall, looking very wet and bedraggled. At first he was very nervous and flitted about the boat. He obviously knew he had to be somewhere but had lost his buddies and I guess his internal GPS was on the blink. After a while he calmed down and after Jan went to rest I began talking to him and he gradually got closer and closer. I told him he was welcome to stay but he had to follow the house rules of ‘no shitting on the boat’. He seemed to listen as he soon came to land on my finger before flitting to the top of the spray dodger, underneath the bimini, where he promptly went to sleep. Our swallow flew off in the morning but was back again that night – who knows where he had been all day…

The swallow was followed by some kind of (sea?) eagle, yes that right 70nm offshore we had a full-on eagle sitting in our mast! He stayed there the whole afternoon, but later, when we had another lightening and thunder storm, he moved down to the end of the boom where he also stayed the whole night. Unfortunately he wasn’t as good a house guest as our swallow and made quite a mess on deck!

Unbelievably these two were followed by a whole parade of others; a small bright yellow bird, a white egret, another yellow breasted bird, a type of white eyed LBJ and another couple of swallows. What were these guys doing out there in the middle of the sea??

BVI update.

2010-09-21T18:14:00.000+02:00

Our time here has been a bit longer than we expected to stay on Tortola, but now we have the all clear to go – the boat is now paid for and we are ready to leave.

I must say that despite the run down state of Hodges Creek Marina we have enjoyed our stay here. It was great to have a car for the weekend and after running around buying the last bits and pieces, provisioning and getting fuel it was nice to have some time to explore the island a bit.

It’s quite beautiful here; the landscape is fairly dramatic for a Caribbean island. The mountains literally roll down to some beautiful beaches especially on the north coast and of course with the passing of Hurricane Igor the surf was definitely up!

Rainy season saw us caught in a major downpour – we have never seen so much rain come down in so short a time. In one hour there was probably as much rain as Cape Town sees in a year and that’s no exaggeration!!

Anyway as mentioned we are ready to leave – next stop Panama…

We always thought cruise ships sucked, and now we know for sure....

2010-09-16T20:50:00.002+02:00

A big cruise ship is in town; so our favorite hang-out internet pub is invaded by way too loud Americans, maybe this video will quieten them a bit...

On August 1, the Pacific Sun ran into a heavy storm 400 miles north of New Zealand, hitting 25-foot-tall waves and 50-knot winds. Its 1732 passengers weren't prepared to endure the madness that ensued. Absolutely crazy.
The video seems like a slapstick comedy until you see people smacking against columns and walls. However, they were lucky: After returning to Auckland from its eight-night trip to the Vanuatu islands, only 42 passengers were injured.
One of the passengers said: "It was like being in a disaster movie. There were screams and people crying as they looked for their lost children."

Thanks to www.sailinganarchy.com

Nasa space picture shows scale of Hurricane Igor

2010-09-16T19:29:00.001+02:00

From the safety of space Hurricane Igor is a natural wonder but anyone caught beneath it in the mid-Atlantic will be hit by 250kph (155mph winds).

Preparing Escapade while keeping an eye on Igor.

2010-09-14T17:54:00.001+02:00

2010 looks like becoming another intensive hurricane year. The BVI got hit by Earl a few weeks ago. Not too much damaged on land, but a lot of yachts got seriously broken. Another two big hurricanes are on their way; Igor (winds around 300 km/h!) and Julia. Both should turn to the north, but the same was forecast for Earl... Anyway, it's still 'business as usual' for now; we prepare Escapade while keeping an eye on the forecast.

For more info on the hurricanes: www.nhc.noaa.gov

We're in the BVI!

2010-09-13T18:13:00.000+02:00

After a short 3 day stop in Belgium, visiting the family, we arrived in the BVI (British Virgin Islands) last Saturday.

The yacht Escapade is seriously secured for the hurricane season that is in full swing now... We hope to leave soon for Panama; another Canal transit, and then on to Sydney. So, yes, a very similar delivery as the last one. Keep you posted!

The world of sailing really isn't that different from cycling.

2010-08-24T08:46:00.003+01:00

Windsurfing and sailmaker company, Neil Pryde (www.neilpryde.com) announced recently that they are now making top-of-the-line carbon race bicycles (www.neilprydebikes.com).
So it seems that there are more people with this communal passion for sailing and cycling. Completely understandable and this is not new of course... some even take this quite literally:

The old days...

and now...

In between deliveries...

2010-08-13T09:12:00.006+01:00

In between deliveries, we mainly enjoy being home. There's something special about settling back into our house after being away for a few months. You unpack your bags, go for a beer and pizza and if the wind's up, get some windsurfing or kiting done. It's the simple things...

As many of you know; besides ocean stuff, cycling is my other passion (although cycling is very popular in South Africa, the professional early season racing scene -'de voorjaar klassiekers'- is unknown here). So I ride my (new) bike a lot, especially as we are blessed with sunny, windless days.
This stunning video I found on the web this morning (thanks to prollyisnotprobably.com). You MUST watch it; It's about the bike... and so much more!

A film by Nick Livesey with Ridley Scott Associates for Rapha

Check out, A Throw of the Dice by clicking here and read the synopsis below:

The film A Throw Of The Dice is Director Nick Livesey's takes on famed Professional Bike Racer and Thrice Paris-Roubaix winner Johan Museeuw.

Historically, 'The Hell of the North' was not referring to the sheer pain and torment the cyclists of the Paris-Roubiax must endure to complete the 275km race. It was a newspaper caption describing the landscape when the race was resumed after WW1 - charred forests, open sewers - a completely decimated and blackened horizon. Run your fingers through the topsoil in that region of Northern France and you are likely to find shrapnel and splintered bones. The race has been shaped by history, and as I discovered so too was Johan Museeuw's brush with fate in the Forest of Arenberg.

The only way to define Museeuw's true 'North' was to meet him in the ancient forest. From there the trajectory of the back story was formed, and thus began the filming process. Nick Livesey

Is Cape Town the best city in the World?

2010-08-12T09:21:00.001+01:00

We have visited some really stunning places the last year: La Reunion (indeed, unexpected - see previous entry), Mauritius, Grenada, Trinidad, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Australia and some other beautiful remote places... We often get asked by people what our favourite destination is, and the answer without any doubt is... CAPE TOWN! It's a pity we missed the World Cup vibe, but we are now enjoying all the upgrades and road works that have been done, the hospitality of the Cape Townians and the great service we're receiving everywhere. We cycled through town (there's loads of cycling paths now) today, around the stadium, had coffee at the Espresso Lab (Woodstock), lunch at Fiesta and ended up for sun-downers at The Grand Beach. This beach bar/restaurant in the middle of town and the Waterfront really is a unique venue! Spoil yourself and go!

We watched the friendly soccer game between South Africa and Ghana at Soccer City in the evening (on TV). Bafana Bafana won.

So the answer is YES!!! Best restaurants and bars, best views, best beaches (best windsurfing, kiting and surfing - I know; the sailing sucks!), friendliest people, best cycling, best price/quality and best service.

SA keep the flag flying!!!

Great to be home...

Quantum Delivery

2010-08-04T09:17:00.003+01:00

I found this on www.sailinganarchy.com

There are always unsung heroes in every endeavor, and in sailing, it's frequently the guys and gals that deliver boats that get the dirtiest, smelliest, wettest, and shortest end of the stick. They put up with our crappy maintenance, they sail with our most blown out sails, they mend the systems that we can't be bothered to, and for the most part, they get it there on time. Sometimes they're paid, sometimes they're not, but without 'em - where would we be? Not racing - that's where. Kudos to Keith Brash and Quantum Racing for the excellent view from the inside of a TP52 delivery from Barcelona to Valencia. Good shit.
Check it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0yddkxAEd4

Back home...

2010-07-28T11:54:00.002+01:00

After travelling around the world (flying + a yacht delivery crossing the Caribbean Sea and Pacific), it's sooooo good to be back home! We spent a really nice week in Brisbane with Jo's cousin and family. Brisbane is a cool city, very organised (as the whole of Australia it seems), people cycling and a beach in a park in the middle of town.

Besides the World Cup, Cape Town has been in the international news with a whale breaching on a yacht in Table Bay.

See the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptvpwF9r4mM

Engine problems in New Caledonia…

2010-07-06T04:10:00.002+01:00

We’re still at the Port Moselle in Noumea. They’re working on the fuel injection pump; yes, about the worst (and most expensive) part that can go wrong on an engine!

So we’ve got plenty of time to explore the ‘not-so-impressive’ town. Luckily there’s a really cool pub/restaurant in the marina (le bout du monde – the end of the world), with great food, a daily happy-hour and free internet. We spent quiete a lot of time there…

They also organise live music, and we saw a young Australian surfing dude playing last Friday. He was absolutely great. I’ve never seen anyone smashing and bashing his guitar, that he played in all sorts of unreal ways. Also playing the harmonica, drum and tambourine at the same time; very impressive stuff. His name is Kim Churchill; check him out here: www.kimchurchill.com

You heard about him here first!

Crossing the International Date Line…

2010-07-02T08:01:00.000+01:00

Trying to keep track of time on this trip has caused no end of mental gymnastics!

Panama

we were at UTC -5 which was also SA and Belgium UTC +2 which made the time -7 hours – reasonably straight forward at this stage.

Then we have to throw in

Angola

(which was where Hugh - the owner of the boat was in the beginning of the trip) which was UTC +1 or -6 hours.

As we sailed further west we had to keep adjusting our time which inevitably caused no end of discussions and mental calculations. At first it was ‘does the clock go forwards or backwards?’ It took a while to work out that we had to go backwards and gain an hour each time, which meant the hours’ difference grew longer.

A simple phonecall to family or the owner took on another dimension as we tried to work out the time wherever they were.

Then the owners of the boat moved to

Australia

which added another element to factor in – we were now at UTC -11 / SA & Belgium (thanks to their Day Light Saving) -13 / Autralia -21!!!

And then we crossed the International Date Line….

Try working this one out – we lost a day (which I’m still not entirely happy about) but our actual time stayed the same… but time now was UTC +12 / SA & Belgium +10 / Australia +2!!

There’s never a dull moment when sailing.

Pacific Ocean Trade Winds?

2010-07-02T07:55:00.000+01:00

We’re not convinced.

After sailing nearly 9000nm across the Pacific we were often left asking the question ‘where is the wind?’

Between Panama and the Marquises we expected the usual flucky conditions when we crossed the ICZ (or the doldrums) but after this we still experienced a total of 3 days totally becalmed and too many days of very light winds where it was a struggle to keep the boat moving…

It took us 9 days to do the 900nm from Hiva Ooa to Bora Bora; not great distances achieved at all. Again we had a day totally becalmed and the rest of the time we had very light wind… an extremely frustrating passage.

After leaving Bora Bora to head for New Caledonia, the first stretch to Tonga it was the same; we had no wind at all for another 36 hours before a light breeze pushed us along. Two days were never the same; some days we had wind and some nights we had wind but it was never continuous. Sailing in trade winds is supposed to be easy, set the sails and off you go for days without any adjustments. I’m not sure how many sail changes we did per day, but we definitely had to work a lot harder than is normally expected in trade-wind conditions!

As we reached

Tonga

the barometer went up and some wind kicked in. At last some wind!! For these few days we had wind from the south which is also not the easterly trade-wind expected. We weren’t complaining!

For the last week of this leg we had a high barometer and wind which finally made us able to cover distances of between 120 & 170nm.

Only 770nm to go to Brisbane – I wonder if we will have wind??

Bora Bora – ‘The Pearl of the Pacific’

2010-06-03T22:24:00.000+01:00

I am not too sure when I first heard about Bora Bora (part of the Society Islands and Tahiti), but after seeing some pictures I knew I wanted to sail there one day. I guess Bora Bora, together with maybe Cape Horn, should be on every sailor’s wish list. My hero Bernard Moitissier threw his anchor out here, after sailing single-handed, non-stop around the world in the first famous Golden Globe Race in 1968/69. He didn’t want to sail back to Europe and civilization and ‘saved his soul’ by continuing to sail another half way round the world to Tahiti. It took him 10 months and 37,455 nautical miles. He stayed on the Islands for many more years. Jacques Brel and Paul Gauguin also sailed into the ‘French Islands’ and never left. I slowly seem to understand them even better now… these Islands are really beautiful, nice people and especially a strong and interesting Polynesian culture (or what’s left of it). People live a simple, good life here; family is important and all seem quietly happy. I know there’s a lot to criticise about the French presence here, and yes everything is extremely expensive! But as we visited a small island today, a local lady that greeted us outside her wooden shack said: “La vie est bonne ici”: I guess that sums it up…

This is what Reese Palley in ‘Unlikely Passages’ has to say about Tahiti:

“Tahiti, with the highest prices in the world and the uncomfortable smell of French colonialism. The food is breathtaking and the flowers a thousand square miles of sea.

There is something peculiarly correct about being in Tahiti. It has always been the circumnavigsator’goal. On your arrival you join the very special club of those who sailed there. You may do a dozen transatlantics, but not until you have made landfall in Tahiti will anyone but your mother consider you a bona fide blue-water skipper.”

Yes, it’s going to be hard to leave this place…

PS. As a sailor rounding Cape Horn, you can get an earring (No way!); when you sail into Polynesia you can get a tattoo…??? Hmmm…

Arrival in the Marquisas!

2010-05-16T01:54:00.000+01:00

Phew, we finally made it! 35 days on the ocean and over 4000nm covered. The Pacific Ocean is huge, bigger than the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean put together and we have only just covered half of it - nearly the distance between Cape Town and Perth, Australia!
Apart from the windvane (the mechanical self-steering mechanism) not working up to expectations we had a good crossing. Not much to see except sea, sky and flying fish, but plenty of time to contemplate... We only saw 2 ships after leaving the coastal regions of S. America - previously we had a couple of encounters of what we initially thought were pirates approaching, but which turned out to be (1) a night encounter with a rubber duck full of heavily armed Columbian Coastguards and (2) harassed Ecuadorian fisherman anxious that we didn't sail into their nets.
Another exciting moment was when we picked up a hitch-hiker - a very tired little bird that was happy to sit on our railing for hours until we unfortunately had to tack, which of course unseated him from his position. I didn't give him much hope of surviving...
Jan nearly had a mutiny on his hands when he suggested skipping the Marquesas and sailing onto Bora Bora - after having to monitor the steering most of the way I was tired of looking at the compass and was ready for a break! ...and I'm happy we stopped. We've only just arrived, but the island of Hiva-Ooa looks pretty stunning. It was the home and is the burial place of Paul Gaugain, and Jaques Brel is buried here too - two great artists whose judgement can't be that bad!
We're looking forward to spending a couple of days here before sailing on to Jan's highlight of the trip - Bora Bora...

Casco Antiguo

2010-04-10T16:33:00.003+01:00

We had some time to explore the Pacific side of Panama, as we were stuck without a breath of wind for the whole week.
The highlight of our stay in Panama was without any doubt the Old City. Stunning architecture; lots of churches and houses; many of them in a dire state, but renovations seem to be happening all over. The whole place has got a Cuban feel; lots of nice bars and good restaurants; with Spanish music blaring from every doorway. We really enjoyed it.
We'll be leaving Panama later today (some light wind!!!) ...next blog entry will be from French Polynesia.

Transiting the Panama Canal

2010-04-05T17:07:00.003+01:00

Wow what an experience and what a feat of engineering!!

Together with Rudy (our local experiened line-handler), Steve (American cruiser) and Simon (Austrlian cruiser) we headed off to 'The Flats' to pick up our (compulsary) Advisor.
Saturday afternoon we tranisited the Gatun Locks, a system of 3 locks which raised us up to the level of Gatun Lake. We were rafted alongside two othe boats. The middle one, a huge motor-sailor, was the controlling vessel. I must say they didn't look too confident and Rudy and McLean (our advisor) were non too happy as the waters in the lock began to boil up and slack lines were evident. The idea is to keep the lines running from both bow & stern to either side of the lock as tight as possible to keep the vessels in the middle and away from the walls. There was quite a tense moment for the vessel on the other side as we drifter slowly to starboard!! No harm was done and after completing the three locks we motored to the man-made Lake Gotun to overnight.
The Advisor was taken off the boat leaving the five of us for a social evening of veggie curry and plenty of wine. The distinct howls of the Howler Monkeys kept us company.

6:30 am and a different Advisor, George, boarded and off we went to motor the 28 miles to the next set of locks to lower us down to sea-level on the Pacific side. It was a little tense on board as Pizzazz coud only just make the required speed to get there on time!
Going down is much simpler than going up and all went well until the final lock. This is the most dangerous lock as there is a 4 knot current passing through. This time we were rafted up to only the third yacht that had been on the other side of the motor-sailor (I think Rudy an MccLean had some say in this...)
The boats were travelling too fast for the line-handlers on the wall to keep up. Our Advisor shouted for me to reverse, but the Advisor on the other boat said to carry on. The other yacht lost ther stern line and things started to go wrong! After much shouting (in Spanish) between our Advisors, we eventually came through without any mishap. It was a tense moment and provided a little excitment for the boat load of tourists going through at the same time!!!
As I said, quite an experience...

After all the adrenalin, we were quite exhausted when we reached Balboa. After dropping off Rudy, Steve, Simon and the 14 wrapped tyres we decided to pick up a mooring bouy at the yacht club here and get a good nights sleep before leaving.
Next stop The Marquisas.
Please visit http://www.sailblogs.com/member/pizzazz/ for more info and great pictures.

Grenada - Panama.

2010-03-31T17:03:00.000+02:00

‘Best laid plans….’ nearly always change when it comes to sailing and our Thursday departure proved to be no exception.

Hugh & Glyn had ordered parts for some of the winches on Pizzazz. These were supposed to arrive early in the week. Thursday morning and we were still waiting; Jan walked back to the shop only to be told the parts still hadn’t arrived ‘but they will be here later today’. He was told to come back after 3pm, Island Time!

We were all set to go, so at least we had an excuse for a last cold Carib beer (or 2) and a last dip in the deliciously warm pool (Jan would say too warm!).

Again Jan walked around to Island Waterworld only to come back empty handed. This time the parts had arrived but with no invoice… Jan was told to come back in the morning.

This meant that we were not leaving until Saturday as one of the well known seaman superstitions (which we always adhere to) says you cannot leave on a Friday (the Titanic left on a Friday – need I say more?).

As it turned out we weren’t ready to leave on Friday either. To cut a long story short we did get the parts but despite the fact they were the right parts they didn’t fit (old winches/modified design?). After taking them back the shop the owner suggested we get them machined/skimmed which took the whole day (luckily they could do the job the same day). It was early evening by the time the winches were put back together and in working order.

Saturday morning and we said our goodbyes to John & Shirley (Theswan), Richard (on a 46’ Leopard) and Judith, our next door neighbor (Argi).

Finally the mooring lines were cast and we were off!

We had a fantastic sail to Panama; 1300nm in just under 9 days.

The name Caribbean conjures up pictures of warm blue flat water, but it was a different Caribbean sea that we encountered. Our wind speeds ranged from 15 – 25 knots from behind and swells of up to 3m. We didn’t mind, Pizzazz handled well and flew the distance to Panama. We had some wild nights but overall a great trip.

Next, transiting the Panama Canal and on the Marquises!

Grenada... The Spice Island.

2010-03-17T22:48:00.000+02:00

What can I say…. After almost 30 hours of traveling we finally arrived on the beautiful island of Grenada. It’s not quite up to the lush ideal of your typical Caribbean island at present as the Caribbean is suffering from a severe drought – it looks a bit more like arriving in Cape Town in mid-summer when everything is dry and brown.

We had a fantastic couple of days with owners Hugh & Glyn; it feels like we have known each other for years!!

Also here are Shirley & John who we met in Trinidad last year. They know Hugh & Glyn and when they heard we were coming they made point of being in Grenada to see us! The six of us had dinner together the other night and a fun evening was had by all.

It was quite emotional to say goodbye to Hugh & Glyn on Monday, and especially for them to say goodbye to Pizzazz. Despite only cruising for the last couple of years they have been living on the boat for

the past 10 years. So now we are entrusted to look after their beloved boat and home – quite a responsibility…

We are getting ready to leave for Panama tomorrow. This should be a great shake-down for us to get to know Pizzazz. The distance is 1100 nm which will take us around 10 days…

Grenada to Brisbane (Australia)

2010-03-10T14:42:00.002+02:00

We are flying to Grenada for a yacht delivery to Brisbane tomorrow. We'll meet the owners of Pizzazz on their yacht in Grenada, and will spent the weekend together, before they fly back home (Click here for their blog). We'll sail via Panama, Marquesas, Tahiti and New Caledonia to Brisbane. Keep you posted!

Some more info on cyclone Edzani (8) that hit TLC

2010-03-05T12:04:00.000+02:00

The 'weird' course of cyclone number 8 -Edzani- that hit us on the 15th January 2010.

EDZANI	Intensité maximale
Date UTC (et heure locale)	08/01/2010 à 12UTC (16h Réunion)
Position	16.06 Sud et 77.02 Est
Nature du système	CYCLONE tropical très intense
Pression estimée au centre	905 hPa
Vent moyen sur 10´ maxi	120kt , 222km/h , 61m/s
Rafales maximales associées	169kt , 313km/h , 87m/s
Sens de déplacement	Sud-Ouest
Vitesse de déplacement	8 kt , 14 km/h

Cape Town to S41 16 E86 37

2010-02-23T16:14:00.001+02:00

Rudderless at S41 16 – E86 37...

2010-01-25T08:39:00.001+02:00

We left Cape Town on the yacht TLC; destination Fremantle on the 22^nd December 2009. Our planned route was via the Southern Ocean, 38 – 40 degrees south.

The first 24 days passed without incident; in fact we were having a glorious time. The expected low pressure systems were coming through, but so far the worst westerly wind we experienced was about 40 knots which was easily managed. We were reefing early and the boat was handling extremely well. The lows were followed by the expected highs and we experienced a couple of days with no wind. This was no problem as we had enough fuel and we motored through the calm periods.

All in all we were having a fantastic trip, averaging around 150 nm per day and just enjoying the solitude, the albatrosses and each others company (we had not seen another vessel since leaving Cape waters).

All this was about to change.

After a night of good sailing the morning of the 15^th January dawned bright and fair at around 4:30am (UTC+6) with a strong NE wind blowing. The barometer was high at 1024, down 4 points from the night before, but we were expecting this. After a high follows a low and we were waiting for the wind to back round to the West.

We brought the main sail down and were sailing on headsail alone, at this stage still quite close to the wind (130 degrees; variation 40).

As the wind got stronger and the seas got bigger throughout the day we adjusted our course so that we were sailing at 180 degrees, with the wind and sea on our port aft quarter.

By 12 noon we were experiencing wind speeds of 35-45 knots and the barometer had dropped to 1009, down 15 points from this morning. Neither of us had ever experienced such a rapid fall in pressure. We had reduced the headsail to the size of a postage stamp. TLC was still handling well and the autopilot was coping.

Throughout the afternoon the wind carried on increasing and the barometer plummeted to 999. The wind increased speed to around 50 knots with recorded gusts up to 56 knots (force 10/11 on the Beaufort scale) and the waves had increased to around 8 metres. Things were pretty tense but TLC and the autopilot were still coping. At around 16:45pm we were hit side on by an almighty wave. The boat was knocked off course and the autopilot alarm went off.

Jan and I both leapt into the cockpit. Jan got to the steering first and as he was trying to bring the boat round back on course I saw what looked like a rudder ‘pop’ out of the sea behind us. ‘F*@#k I think that’s our rudder’ I yelled to Jan who turned around and also saw it, before it drifted quickly away. At the same time he felt that we had no steering. Also at this time he had switched the engine on to try and get us back on course, but this only made things more erratic.

There was nothing we could do. We went back down below to assess the situation. Jan checked the steering inside the boat and luckily the rudder stock was still in place. This was lucky for us as at least the integrity of the boat had not been breached. This, coupled with the patchy appearance of what we had seen of the rudder, leads us to believe that the rudder had de-laminated. This does not gel with the rest of the boat whose build quality and attention to detail had been very high. Maybe the rudder has been damaged and repaired at some stage?

TLC shifted around to lay hull or side-on to the wind and sea. We were waiting for a knock-down but again the boat handled herself well. We decided against activating the EPIRB as we felt we were not in ‘imminent danger’. We contacted the owner via sat phone to make him aware of the situation and asked him to notify the Australian Coastguard to make them aware of our situation. At this stage there was nothing anyone could do.

We waited out the night. The wind eased to around 40 – 50 knots. The barometer fell to a low of 991, but luckily things did not get any worse. We did experience some serious knocks, with huge waves crashing into the cockpit. This caused a surge of water coming through the boat, the entry point we were unable to establish.

The morning of the 16^th January we again called the owner and suggested he call his insurance company to see what our options were. The Australian Coastguard made contact and asked if we were prepared to abandon ship which at this stage we were not. They also told us that a tow was out of the question and that the nearest merchant ship available would take approximately 60 hours to reach us. Jan tried to make a plan to attempt some sort of emergency steering. We threw warps out behind the boat, but due to the strong winds (still blowing 40 knots) and huge seas these were completely ineffective and we carried on drifting sideways. We were carrying an old carbon windsurfing mast to use as a boom to attach jerry cans. Jan tried to fashion a temporary rudder using floorboards and this carbon mast but again it proved ineffective as there was no place to attach anything to the stern. In addition the power of the seas was too strong for us to keep the rudder section in the water despite weighting it down with lengths of chain.

We were still 1500 nm from the nearest landfall, Fremantle. A temporary steering solution was impossible, plus hanging around in the Southern Ocean with no steering and the inevitability of another cold front was not a safe position to be in. TLC was laying side-on to the waves; it would only take one big wave to roll the boat.

In the meantime the owner called back to say that we were too far away and ‘not to expect any help from Fremantle. We had no other option but to contact the Australian Coastguard to request assistance and to say we were prepared to abandon ship. We made the difficult call at 3pm.

At 6pm the Australian Coastguard came back to us to say there was an Australian Customs and Fisheries ship about 200 nm away from us and they were on there way to pick us up, ETA 20 hours. We spent another tense night on TLC with wind speeds still around 40 knots and the seas still huge. By the morning of the 17^th January winds had calmed to around 30 knots and the seas to about 5m.

We were in contact with the Australian Coastguard who co-ordinated with the rescue vessel, Oceanic Viking. Oceanic Viking approached us around 15:00pm and we were successfully transferred to the rescue vessel.

We would sincerely like to thank the Australian Coastguard and the crew of the Oceanic Viking for their help and professionalism throughout this ordeal. Without them the consequences do not bare thinking about.

Unfortunately for us the Oceanic Viking is not on its away to Australia but on a patrol mission for the next 5 weeks, so we will be transferred to a French navy vessel going to la Reunion.

We are extremely upset and distressed about finding ourselves in the position of having to abandon such a beautiful yacht. We are completely devastated by the whole situation, and we will need some time to come to terms with this ordeal.

Indigo's video premiere!

2009-12-11T18:54:00.001+02:00

Indigo number ONE on Google.com

2009-12-03T13:14:00.005+02:00

If you search 'yacht delivery' on Google.com; Indigo yacht management comes up first (after Reliance, but they paid for it); pretty cool!! Thank you Google and thank you to our website marketeers. Well done!

Shipping your yacht to its destination?

2009-11-12T10:43:00.008+02:00

This happened while the crane was lifting a yacht onto a ship for another

YACHT DELIVERY (by ship)

1) 65' custom-built motor yacht complete with 4 staterooms, a state-of-the-art galley, GPS System and radar for navigation, twin supercharged diesel engines, etc.

Cost $4,500,000.00

*******************************************************************

2) Champagne, chocolate covered strawberries with cream and music dockside for the excited 'soon to be owners' and a small group of friends.

Cost $500.00

*******************************************************************

3) Two corporate representatives, crane, and rigging complete with faulty turnbuckle.

Cost $2,500/hour

******************************************************************

(Note the guy in the stern)

4) Watching your dreamboat nose dive into the harbor, accompanied by two corporate representatives just prior to 'inking' the final paperwork...

*******************************************************************

Priceless... should have gotten a crew to sail...

Thanks to Signal 94

The South African Coast

2009-10-16T09:42:00.005+02:00

We often sail along the South African coast. As one has to try to avoid the north-to-south Mozambique/Agullhas current, we sail close to the land, and are often surprised by the raw beautiness of our coast. SABC recently showed the documentary 'Shoreline' (www.shorelinesa.co.za) and I believe that it is probably the best documentary ever made in South Africa. The DVD and book will be available in the near future. Watch the promo video here:

Back in Cape Town...

2009-10-06T09:24:00.000+02:00

What better way to celebrate being back home, than to join Cape Town's favorite band Goldfish on the roof of a 5-star hotel. Stunning weather, beautiful people and a 'cool' vibe. For those who don't know Goldfish (www.goldfishlive.com); check this:

... and now it's back to some home renovating projects...

SAIL RELAX EXPLORE - Some great news for you!!!

2009-08-16T18:56:00.000+01:00

Important notice before reading!
While the economy seems to loom rather glumly we have some great news to cheer the mood. Rather than spending your hard-earned money on piles of silly gizmos and quickly-forgotten material goods this year, why not invest in true happiness?
Why not invest in an experience you will never forget?
This year, make an investment in YOU!

Are YOU looking for a very relaxing yet highly affordable sailing vacation in the sun?
YOU may want to go scuba diving, snorkeling, kayaking, kiting, cycling or chill on the beach?
YOU may want to learn about the joys of sailing?
YOU want the option to go out to a restaurant whenever, on short notice, or have a fabulous meal on the boat?
YOU like a chilled white wine with your lunch?

3 Years (2010 - 2013)
3 Unique, personalized 10 days sailing adventures of just the 2 of you and the crew
3 Different locations: Caribbean - Mediterranean - Indian Ocean

Sign up NOW and join Indigo Sailing Adventure for 3 unique sailing adventures at an unbeatable price (Please compare with other charters). Hurry, places are limited to 15 couples!

Don't miss your chance to join us!

IFYOUCANDREAMIT-WECANDOIT!

Contact us for more info, brochure and financials.

Degrad des Cannes, French Guyana

2009-07-29T19:08:00.000+01:00

After beating for 9 days we finally arrived in French Guyana. It was a frustrating leg of the delivery, as of course, the wind was mostly against us. We’re trying to head SE and the wind at this time of year is mostly ESE – SE!

The boat is sailing well despite the conditions – it was worth coming out of the water in Trinidad especially for the anti-fouling!

French Guyana, what can I say except that I hadn’t even heard of the place before. Cayenne is the capital, but the river has silted up and so it is no longer on the water. The ‘marina’ is up another river at a place called Degrad des Cannes. I say place, but actually there is absolutely nothing here. The marina is in a bad state of repair and there is even a notice of closure if certain boat owners do not pay their fees…

We had to hire a car to get anything done. There is no fuel jetty here and so we had to make a couple of runs with our jerry cans to the nearest garage, about 5km away. The nearest shop or supermarket is at least 8 km away on the road to Cayenne…

Cayenne itself is quite a beautiful town in a run down kind of way, and with the country being French, everything is here and available. French baguettes, French cheese and wine at a reasonable price – what more do you need??

We’re just about done here and ready to leave again tomorrow – next stop, Fortaleza!

Pros & cons of being stuck in Trinidad...

2009-07-13T21:20:00.000+01:00

Yes we're still in Trinidad... we've been on the hard for the last 5 days; when the boat came out of the water we found some damage to the gel-coat of the rudder which meant water had got inside and the problem needed to be fixed. The boat also needed desperately to be anti-fouled - judging by the lack of paint left on the hull we don't think this has been done for a very long time! So all in all it's a good job we came out of the water.
One of the pros of being in Trinidad is that the facilities here are excellent, certainly by SA standards. We came out of the water with Peak Yacht Services and we must say they are completely professional and extremely well organised. The yard is probably one of the biggest here and there is room for in excess of 100 yachts and catamarans of all different sizes - it's quite impressive.
Some of the companies here do work on 'island time' but everyone seems to know what they are doing, but some know what to charge too (we were quoted US$45 per hour on one job just for the labour!!). We were also quoted quite a ridiculous price for anti-fouling so out came the rollers and brushes and Jan managed to do the job with my input of course!

So apart from getting some work done it's also been very boring having to wait for the rudder to be fixed and there's not much to do here in Chaguaramas. It's really too hot to do much; temperatures are in excess of 32 degrees with about 90% humidity - a reminder of why we don't visit Durban in summer!
The one highlight though is that it is turtle season here in Trinidad. We took advantage of this and went on a 'turtle watching tour' the other night and I must say it was a fantastic experience. Matura Bay is about a 2 an a half our drive from Chaguaramas so we went with Jesse James (the local cruisers' hero who can organise just about anything!). It was a stormy night with rain coming down in torrents. After standing around in a shed in the dark for over an hour we had written off the evening as a bad job - after all turtles are wild animals and you can't guarantee a lion sighting in the Kruger!
Suddenly radios came to life and the signal went up - a female turtle had been spotted on the beach. Luckily the rain eased as we trekked roughly 3km down the beach in search of the turtle.
To cut a long evening short we had the most amazing experience of watching the whole process of a female laying her eggs. Quite humbling to think this has been going on for millions of years.

Anyway we're back in the water tomorrow which will be a huge relief from the heat and the killer mosquitoes - at least there is a breeze on the water!
Hopefully we will be leaving before the end of the week and let's see how far we get this time!

back in Trinidad...

2009-07-06T20:40:00.000+01:00

Yes we're back in Trinidad... it's proving harder to leave than
antcipated! I'm starting to think we will never get out of here...
After we left last week we hit bad weather (strong winds, squalls and
lots of rain) and a strong current against us. After sailing north and
south for a couple of days and not making and headway east (in fact
the strong wind and current were pushing us back west and we were
losing ground!) the weather made the decision for us to head back and
wait for some better (lighter) wind.
Instead of going through all the paperwork (and beaurocracy) of
checking back in again we ducked into a small bay (Scotland Bay) just
a few miles before the main harbour. This is a beautiful quiet bay
surrounded by mountains and virgin rainforest; very secluded and
peaceful except for the howler monkeys who woke us up in the mornings
sounding like something from a horror movie!
Anyway as mentioned we were waiting for better weather, but now the
owner has decided to take this opportunity to take the boat out of the
water for anti-fouling and to have the rudder checked (as there seems
to be a recurring rudder problem with this model of boat!). We have
now officially checked back in and we are booked to come out of the
water tomorrow and expect to be on the hard for the 5 days. Hopefully
all will be fine and we can plan to get underway again soon... why is
sailing never straight forward??!!

----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.

Martinique

2009-06-14T21:18:00.000+01:00

We are currently in Martinique; delivering a Hunter 420 to Durban.

You can follow us on the owner's website: http://www.panalt.co.za/hunter

Things don't always go to plan...

2009-06-01T12:49:00.001+01:00

After spending quite some time preparing for our next delivery to New Zealand the boat proved not fit to do the task.

We left Cape Town only to discover some quite serious problems, pulled into Mossel Bay and after some makeshift repairs headed back to Cape Town in the next available weather window.

It was a difficult decision to pull out of the delivery as it is the first time we have had to do so. Obviously the owners were extremely disappointed, but in the end it came down to our safety and there was no other choice – the boat unfortunately was not up to such a long crossing in the Southern Ocean.

We have been quite stressed and down about the whole situation, but out of every cloud there is a silver lining.

We now have a new delivery this time from Martinique in the Caribbean back to Durban here in SA – at least we hope to be a bit warmer on this trip!

Indigo's 10 commandments for a successful yacht delivery.

2009-05-19T10:26:00.000+01:00

Delivering yachts is a funny business. Youngsters who have just obtained their fancy yachtmaster certificate might do your yacht delivery for free. Bad idea! If you want to hear some horror stories, we can tell you a few. For G*&%$'s sake; it's YOUR yacht we're talking about!

What you need is EXPERIENCE; loads of it.
So we came up with the 10 commandments for a successful yacht delivery:

1. SAFETY
Make sure safety is not just a ‘marketing term’. Safety of your yacht and the crew is Indigo’s number 1 top priority.
If your yacht has no EPIRB we will supply one for the duration of the voyage, at no extra cost.
We get regular weather updates and carry our own PFD’s.
We will never push your yacht unneccessarily and will endeavor to sail conservatively.

2. EXPERIENCE
All skippers involved in the yacht delivery business must have the right certificates and qualifications to deliver your yacht. What is much more important is experience that comes with the amount of sea-miles. Forget the young ones who have just obtained their yachtmaster diploma; they might be great sailors, but they often lack the experience of ‘being on the water’. Be wary of some delivery agencies; we know, because we started as one many years ago. They too often employ young skippers with the minimum nessary mileage, so they can pay minimum wages. In the end, the important question is, who will sail your yacht?
With Indigo you get experience; tons of it!

3. COMMUNICATION
Make sure your delivery team carries a satellite phone. They have to be able to contact you with their progress and information about the boat and its where-abouts. For peace of mind, you want to know at all times, that you are able to contact your yacht.
Indigo not only phones the owner on a regular basis, we are also able to send and receive email while on the water.

4. CREW
Most deliveries fail because of crew problems. Crew often leave the yacht halfway on the trip because of tensions on board and character clashes. Most skippers choose their crew in the yachtclub, and hope it will all work out. Skippers seldom sail with a permanent 1st mate or crew. Indigo’s delivery team is just us; the skipper with his partner of many years; so no crew hassles! We also have references that you as an owner can contact directly. If it’s necessary to have an extra crew member we will only employ someone that we personally know and trust.

5. KNOWLEDGE
Besides delivering your yacht, a skipper needs to be a hands-on technician. Your yacht has to arrive in a better shape than when it left the harbour. Daily care for your yacht and problems that arise have to be dealt with immediately. Small problems on a boat can quickly become a disaster!
Besides delivering yachts, Indigo does yacht surveys, so we have got tons of experience with the technicalities of your yacht.
You will receive a written report of the state of your yacht before and after the delivery. We assist you with recommendations, repairs and fitments.

6. COST
Make sure the contract stipulates what is included and excluded in the delivery price. Too many deliveries go sour after the termination of the delivery, because of disputes about money. You should always be able to ask for an ‘all inclusive’ quotation for the delivery of your yacht.
Indigo makes sure that all parties involved are happy with the agreed price. We are definitely not the cheapest, but make sure that you get the best price/quality deal.

7. PEACE OF MIND
A proper contract should be in place, stipulating not only the price, but all aspects concerning the voyage and your yacht.
Indigo has often been praised for our professional contract.

8. FLEXIBILITY
You want to get to know your yacht? You want to join on a leg during the trip? You want some sail handling lessons after your yacht arrives? Make sure it’s possible.
Indigo will welcome you onboard and teach you the ropes of your yacht.

9. EQUIPMENT
Indigo carries laptops for weather updates and routing. We carry our own GPS and weatherstation. We have navigational software onboard, and are able to phone and email you with our satellite phone.

10. TESTIMONIALS
Make sure that the crew you choose has solid references.
Indigo can give you personal details of previous clients that you can contact personally.

Back to Mauritius

2009-04-17T10:08:00.001+01:00

We delivered Winddancer 2 to Mauritius. The 2 boats are now lying next to each other in Grand Baie (north Mauritius). They're definitely an eye-catcher with their orange branding. You'll find more info about them on http://www.passionoceane.com/.

Back in Cape Town, we enjoy lots of sun-downers, and are preparing the next boat for a long delivery to New Zealand.

Indigo is proud to present you a unique world sailing &kiting expedition.

2009-02-26T11:11:00.000+02:00

While the economy seems to loom rather glumly we have some great news to cheer the mood. Rather than spending your hard-earned money on piles of silly gizmos and quickly-forgotten material goods this year, why not invest in true happiness?
Why not invest in an experience you will never forget?
This year, make an investment in YOU!

In September 2010, we will embark on a 5 year worldwide itinerary with a limited number of carefully chosen individuals. We are men and women with a sense of adventure, who are passionate about exploring some of the few remaining untouched areas of the world- and we're doing it in style. Style to us means doing the things we love while contributing as positively as we can to our environment and the communities we visit. We are looking for others who share our sense of style and quest for adventure, who are willing to take risks with us, knowing that each sailing adventure will be a unique experience and well worth it. Ownership shares in The Indigo Adventure are offered on the basis of sharing the expenses and benefits. Each season we'll design a selection of 14 day Adventure trips that are each unique and crafted around serious exploration. Professional crew, a beautiful catamaran, breathtaking places all add up to a truly wild expedition. Don't miss your chance to join us!
The trips will be 14 days of expedition based adventures. 14 days of kiting in paradise, exploring the unknown, surfing where none ever have, or sailing passages across the big blue. The focus will be on kiting places and waves that have never seen kites, pushing personal boundaries and taking the sport to new levels. You decide what you're after, pick the trip that suits your pleasure, then join us for an adventure of a lifetime. Our Adventures to remote and windy locations around the globe will be the opposite of Cabarete and Hookipa. No crowds, no rules, no limits. If you can dream it, we can do it.
Want to surf breaks only accessible by boat? Make a blue water passage to remote islands? Kitesurf an uninhabited atoll? No two adventures are the same - you will have to choose wisely.Contact us for more info, brochure and financial's.

From Belgium to Port Owen.

2008-12-15T11:21:00.000+02:00

We spent some time in Belgium, celebrating my dad's 80th birthday, and making the first snowman of the winter. We got back to Cape Town, during the first heatwave of the summer! The South-Easter kicking in nicely, and Random back in the water; she really looked 'new' in her fresh dark blue paint job.
Jan, the owner of the boat, together with his friend, came down to sail the last leg to Port Owen. Two days of easy sailing; overnight anchoring off Dassen island, stuffing ourselves with fresh crayfish. Sailing past the Saldanha heads and St Helena Bay, we sailed upon the Bergrivier for Random's new homeport of Port Owen.
Another accomplished delivery; and we're now getting ready to sail to New Zealand.

Volvo Ocean Race or Vendee Globe?

2008-11-07T14:29:00.000+02:00

The Volvo Ocean Race is in town; and we had the privilige of having a look behind the scenes yesterday... a bit of a circus, but all very impressive.
This weekend the Vendee Globe starts in France; they're expecting a million (1 000 000) live spectators to watch the start!
Now that's something else.
The Vendee Globe is defenitly my favorite and I believe it put the Volvo Ocean Race sailors a bit to shame. Check the video:

Vendee Globe 2008 2009 teaser
Uploaded by VendeeGlobe

Enjoy!

2008-11-03T13:45:00.000+02:00

Sailing the SA coast - not for wimps!

2008-10-29T11:43:00.001+02:00

We’ve just
got back to Cape Town after bringing a 40’+ steel boat down from Richards Bay – what a trip!

As usual the SA coast lived up to its reputation of being unpredictable and just plain tough sailing.

After finally getting our liferaft serviced and safety inspection done, we left Richards Bay on Saturday 11^th

We made good progress until off East London we were hit by about 30-35 knots of SW wind with a nasty short choppy sea against us. We battled on for hours, at least with the Agulhas current we were making about 8 knots!

2am, and a change in watch saw me coming onto the helm. Jan had had a tough watch and was wet and cold from the constant smashing of the waves. The lights of East London were on our starboard and had been there for hours. It didn’t feel like we were moving at all. As we changed watch Jan suggested heaving–to for a while. I had just checked the GPS and saw that we were making about 7-8knots and told him I would battle on. Jan stood in the companion-way asking if I was sure; I was struggling to keep course when not one but three consecutive waves in about as many seconds came smashing over my head. Suddenly heaving-to was a great idea!

Sometime mid-morning things had calmed down enough to motor on. During the night we had drifted about 25nm in the right direction with the current - that’s an average of about 5nm per hour!

We pulled into Port Elizabeth around 2am, exhausted after getting little or no sleep - there had been too many rattling sounds on the boat as we had been tossed around by the wind and the sea.

Three days in PE and the forecast kept changing as one coastal low after another appeared.

We saw a gap to get to Mossel Bay, a step in the right direction at least! It was going to be close but we decided to go for it.

We left PE and the SE wind forecast never materialised. We motored through the night waiting for wind. 5am, just before daylight and the fog closed in. On the ocean in fog, close to land with plenty of traffic around - not fun. I kept expecting a big ship to come looming out of the fog bearing down on us as I strained to see though the dense whiteness.

12 o’clock, seven hours later and the fog slowly lifted to reveal land in sight. We were about 15 nm off Mossel Bay.

We carried on motoring.

Suddenly we could feel wind, but again coming from the SW, directly on our nose. It built up quickly. We brought down the main, just in time as before we knew it we had 40 knots of wind against us. We put up our storm sail to steady the boat and headed in.

Luckily there were a couple of guys on the jetty to help us in – it was pretty tight but we made it!

Three days in Mossel Bay watching the weather.

Another boat pulled in; the crew, tired, also complaining about the unpredictable weather.

Eventually what looked like a great forecast – SE wind all the way to Cape Town from THREE different forecasts.

Time to leave.

It was still blowing a light SW wind when we left, but the forecast looked good and we thought the wind would swing around soon. It didn’t. It dropped.

We motored through the night.

The next morning and still no wind.

Signs of something up appeared around us – cirrus clouds signalling change, birds sitting on the water, a halo around the sun, a huge swell coming from the SW. Were we in for some bad weather?

We had a sat phone on board and used it to call for a shipping forecast. “No, no wind until tomorrow lunchtime when you should get a moderate S Easter” came the reply.

As night closed in the wind picked up, from the SW of course, and getting stronger and stronger. The wind kept increasing and the swell was huge. With no current off Cape Agulhus to help us we weren’t making any progress. One course took us too close to land and the other too far south – we decided to heave-to (again!). We spent a wild night below listening to the wind, the waves crashing into the side of the boat and hoping that nothing would break. We must have had about +/-45 knots of wind – so much for moderate!!

The next day the wind did swing around to SE, but instead of a ‘moderate SE’ it again built up to gale force. It was another long day and night as we battled around Cape Point and headed for home.

We finally pulled into the RCYC around 7am (2 weeks after we left R Bay), exhausted and relieved to reach dry land!

Home Sweet Home!

Richardsbay... again!

2008-10-21T15:59:00.001+02:00

Another local delivery saw us again in Richards Bay recently. This boat had been lying in Richards Bay for a couple of years and so needed some work and the safety certificate before we could even think of leaving for Cape Town.

The servicing of the liferaft, which had to take place in Durban, took 2 weeks, and so we were left to our own devices at the club.

All South African yacht clubs take note; Zululand Yacht Club has to be the friendliest and most supported in the country. The atmosphere is great and there is always something going on, whether organised by the club or just amongst the members themselves.

The Monday night cruiser’s braai is very well attended and usually accompanied with some impromptu live music. Tuesday night is pool night, Wednesday is ‘Happy Hour’, Thursday is well Thursday & Friday the club has ‘live music’ which may not be to everyones taste but it is certainly very entertaining! Watch out for rugby on Saturday afternoons, and did I mention that some sailing gets done in between!

The club probably has the most beautiful setting with large green lawns, a swimming pool and plenty of braai spots if you feel like doing your own thing.

We spent a great couple of weeks getting to know everyone and probably now know more people in Richards Bay than in our home club in Cape Town.

Cruisers take note, if you need a safe place to leave your boat, or are looking for space to take your boat out of the water to do some work on the hard, then Richards Bay fits the bill.

We were also impressed with the great services provided in the area; our stove was serviced (and cleaned) the same day, and Frank came to look at the engine the same day we called (a Friday afternoon – unheard of in Cape Town!) before giving it a full service on the Monday.

A big than you to everyone in Richards Bay for making our stay so good we were (almost) reluctant to leave!

Mauritius via the Southern Ocean.

2008-09-19T12:54:00.000+02:00

Delivering an open catamaran to Mauritius via the Southern Ocean can be a wet and wild experience... especially in winter! The 39' Scape yacht is designed for day chartering, so the cockpit is very large, but also very open and very wet. The yacht is known to be fun to sail, and to be fast. Well-known sailor Greg Davis has the first Scape yacht ever built, and has clocked 29 knots sailing her.

Leaving Cape Town with a perfect NW windforecast, we were soon beating into a SE wind as we passed Cape Point, heading out into the ocean. The light headwind stayed with us for the next 2 days, so we motored most of the time.

The wind finally came through on day 4 together with a nice pushing swell, so we explored the full potential of this yacht. Twenty knots of wind, full sails up and surfing down the waves at 18 to 22 knots. Standing behind the wheel, feeling the boat accelerating, and getting the spray on our faces, we were completely stoked! The boat felt great, and we averaged 250 nm for a couple of days running.

The weather was very squally, with rain and variable wind under every cloud. Numerous albatrosses kept us company plus we had an encounter with a sleeping whale on a crash course; luckily Jo spotted and avoided him at the last minute; thanks!

It really was a wet and cold ride; and it was only on day 7 that we were able to soak up some sunshine, and dry all our clothes.

We changed course to a more NE direction; the seas got a bit calmer and the albatrosses disappeared.

It only very slowly gets warmer, but the course is good and Jo surfs the yacht to it's topspeed of 24.2 knots... waouw!

We were beating into a headwind for another 4 days before rounding La Reunion and then onto our last straight course to Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius. We arrived in the evening, not knowing that the harbour closes at night and we had to spend our last night floating in front of the enterance.

It took us 14 days to sail the 3000 mile. Yes, the island rum tasted great!

Stunning Sailing footage

2008-07-07T12:19:00.000+01:00

I found this on You Tube. The sailor uses a kite and camera to make some really awesome sailing footage. Nice little boat too!

Richards Bay - Durban - Cape Town

2008-04-16T11:26:00.001+01:00

Phew – what a trip!

We left Richards Bay on Thursday, 3/4/08, at around 8am with light conditions. The wind died completely around 9am and so we sat waiting until around 1pm when eventually a breeze picked up again.

Unfortunately we had engine problems on the way out – the boat had been standing on the hard for a while (+/-3 years) in Richards Bay which is not good for an engine! The decision was made to pull into Durban as there would be hopefully someone to fix the problem – you can’t attempt the SA coats without an engine.

We arrived in Durban later that same night after a beautiful afternoons sailing – this boat really sails well.

Bad news in Durban – the engine is completely stuffed and so another solution had to be found. Eventually a 15hp Yamaha was sourced but again it was not straight forward as a bracket had to be found and modified – many thanks to Seaport Supplies and to Hewitt Yamaha in Durban!

We also lost a crew member in Durban who unfortunately received some bad news and had to leave…

Wednesday, 9/4/08, dawned bright and fair, and it was time to leave again. The outboard solution worked better than we had hoped for and we were soon back out on the ocean.

4 days and 21 hours later, without stopping, and after some interesting weather including the biggest lightening storm you have ever seen in your life, we pulled into Hout Bay.

We think this was pretty fast – anyone know what the record is for sailing Durban to Cape Town?

Waiting in Richardsbay

2008-04-02T12:22:00.000+02:00

We're in Richardsbay to bring a 40' yacht down to Cape Town - so nice to be back on a yacht again after all these months cycling through Africa.

The yacht looks sleek and fast; she's built in New Zealand and has been converted to a racer-cruiser.

On arrival we fitted a brand new mainsail and did a few last minute odd jobs. We did the provisioning yesterday and then proceeded with the overcomplicated check-out formalities!

The Zululand yachtclub has a nice vibe; lots of cruisers working on their yachts together with the local yachties. We were invited to the cruiser's braai on Monday evening, a regular event, with lots of people attending (members and cruisers) and it really was a great evening...

We are basically ready to leave but of course now have a southerly wind. It's just a question of waiting for the wind to change direction which should be happening sometime today...

Back in Cape Town

2008-03-20T13:44:00.001+02:00

Yes, it seems like we made the 'blog'- step... and yes, it's a week already since we got back.
Strange feelings being back home, not much has changed... well, I suppose we have. Trying to get our lives on track again, sorting out all sorts of things. We found out that we still have a car, a scooter, a bank account and house left. So far so good.
The trip has been great; please check www.najo.co.za for the latest update.
Jo and myself are leaving for a delivery from Richardsbay to Cape Town next week Sunday... gives us something to focus on.