Check-in/OK message from NextLifeTracker SPOT Messenger

NextLifeTracker
Latitude:38.88349
Longitude:1.4629
GPS location Date/Time:05/18/2012 21:11:09 PDT

Message:NextLife underway

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/7xZw9/38.88349N/1.4629E

If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=38.88349,1.4629&ll=38.88349,1.4629&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

NextLifeTracker

You have received this message because NextLifeTracker has added you to their SPOT contact list.

Every day is an Adventure. Share Yours.
http://www.findmespot.com

Check-in/OK message from NextLifeTracker SPOT Messenger

NextLifeTracker
Latitude:36.69505
Longitude:-2.7926
GPS location Date/Time:05/14/2012 10:23:53 PDT

Message:NextLife underway

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/7uIhz/36.69505N/2.7926W

If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=36.69505,-2.7926&ll=36.69505,-2.7926&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

NextLifeTracker

You have received this message because NextLifeTracker has added you to their SPOT contact list.

Every day is an Adventure. Share Yours.
http://www.findmespot.com

A new milestone

Today we are doing our first day cruise with guests on board. Yesterday Brigitte and Petra joined us for the next 10-14 days. We are traveling east on the Costa Del Sol in dead calm air and sea. 
We now have more than 1111 Nm on our log. For tonight we hope to find a a nice anchorage near Pta de la Concepcion o Mona. That would be our first night on the hook.

Heute machen wir unseren ersten Törn mit Gästen an Bord. Gestern sind Brigitte und Petra zu uns gekommen und werden für die nächsten 10-14 Tage bei uns sein. Wie fahren an der Costa Del Sol entlang ohne Wind und bei spiegelglatter See. Wir haben jetzt über 1111 nautische Meilen auf unser Logge. Für heute Abend hoffen wir auf eine gute Ankerbucht nahe Pta de la Concepcion o Mona. Das wäre dann unsere erste Nacht am Haken.

Gibraltar

Wow, we slept 9 hrs straight last night, that was nice!!! Weird, though, that the shore is still moving... And what a nice and warm day today! We ran some errands like visiting the chandlery, having our wind indicators fixed, grocery shopping, etc. and - you won't believe it - but we had time to play tourist in the afternoon! Took the cable car to the top of The Rock, saw the apes, enjoyed the view. We hope our vacation has finally started. Rolf and I even enjoyed an iced coffee, sitting in a cafe, hurrah! Tomorrow, we will continue to Benalmádena, where Brigitte and Petra will join us on Sunday. They will fly into Malaga, but Malaga turns out to not be yacht-friendly, so Benalmádena it is. The airport is half in between both places anyway.
By the way, Kazaio has continued towards Palma where we will meet again.
A few more words to our past trip: I actually enjoyed the night watches in so far as the time around and just after sun rise is my favourite time of day. It was also nice to sit on the fly bridge and watch the full moon. I did get quite sleep deprived, though, and that was no fun, neither for me nor for the rest of the crew ;-) All three of us (or should I say four and include Sparkles) have lost weight over the last few days. Interesting side effect from night watches, didn't expect that. The fact that  we couldn't see any coast for most of the time didn't bother me at all, quite peaceful actually. The more did I hate Gibraltar when we arrived, with all its noise, missing green space and tons of people - and that after only 4 nights on the boat! Wouldn't have minded to spend more times on the boat, too, quite enjoyed being "stuck" on it, which is all a good indicator for the Atlantic crossing. Some more pictures follow below - unfortunately in the wrong sequence...

Mann, da haben wir doch tatsächlich 9 Stunden letzte Nacht durchgeschlafen, das war toll!!! Komischerweise bewegt sich der Untergrund aber noch immer... Was für ein schöner, warmer Tag heute! Haben ein paar Dinge erledigt, wie Bootausstatter besucht, Windindikator reparieren lassen, einkaufen etc. und - Ihr werdet es kaum glauben - wir hatten heute Nachmittag sogar Zeit, Tourist zu spielen! Sind mit der Kabelbahn rauf auf "Den Felsen", haben die Affen gesehen und die Aussicht genossen. Wir hoffen, daß unser Urlaub nun endlich angefangen hat. Rolf und ich haben sogar im Café einen Eiskaffee genossen, hurra! Morgen werden wir nach Benalmádena weiterfahren, wo Brigitte und Petra zu uns stossen werden (am Sonntag).  Sie werden nach Malaga fliegen, doch Malaga ist nicht gut auf Segelboote zu sprechen, also bleiben wir in Benalmádena. Der Flughafen liegt eh auf halbem Wege zwischen beiden Orten.
Übrigens ist Kazaio bereits auf den Weg nach Palma, wo wir uns Wiedersehen werden.
Und nun noch ein paar Worte zu unserem bisherigen Trip: Überraschenderweise habe ich die Nachtwachen sogar genossen, denn die Zeit des Sonnenaufganges und danach ist für mich die schönste Zeit des Tages. Es war auch sehr schön, oben auf der 'Flybridge' zu sitzen und den Vollmond zu beobachten. Mir hat natürlich total der Schlaf gefehlt, was weder für mich noch für die anderen Crewmitglieder besonders schön war ;-) Alle drei, oder sollte ich sagen vier und Sparkles einbeziehen, haben während der letzten Tage Gewicht verloren. Ein interessanter Nebeneffekt der Nachtwachen, hab ich nicht erwartet. Die Tatsache, daß wir die Küste die meiste Zeit nicht sehen konnten hat mir nichts weiter ausgemacht, es war so schön friedlich. Um so mehr habe ich Gibraltar gehaßt als wir ankamen, mit dem ganzen Krach, fehlenden Grünflächen, und Menschenmassen - und das nach nur 4 Tagen auf dem Boot! Hätte mir auch nichts ausgemacht, noch länger auf dem Boot zu bleiben, haben es ziemlich genossen, auf dem Boot "festzusitzen" - alles ein guter Indikator für unsere Atlantiküberquerung. Im folgenden noch ein paar Bilder - leider in völlig falscher Reihenfolge...

Dinner outside - it's warm enough for it for the very first time
Abendessen draußen - zum ersten mal ist es warm genug

Refilling the Propane bottle - Rolf's way
Nachfüllen der Propanflasche - auf Rolf's Weise

View of Gibraltar and Spain from The Rock
Ausblick auf Gibraltar und Spanien vom "Felsen"

View of the Strait with Africa on the left
Blick auf die Meerenge mit Afrika am linken Rand

Gibraltar's apes
Gibraltar's Affen

Kazaio in the morning sun
Kazaio in der Morgensonne

Rolf und Silke on The Rock... (that sounds weird... ;-)...)
Rolf und Silke auf dem Felsen

Sparkles enjoys the sun
Sparkles genießt die Sonne

Again, Kazaio in the morning sun
Und nocheinmal: Kazaio in der Morgensonne

My company during night watch
Während der Nachtwache war ich nicht alleine

Update on Chester/ Neues von Chester

Written during my night watch on May 4/5, on the way to Gibraltar

My sincere apologies to everybody, being so busy in La Coruna, I simply forgot to update you on what you have probably been waiting for the most. The event that was even worth an entry in the log book: how Chester did on the trip! So, here's the pee-poo-update:

In the end, I didn't feel completely happy with the poo-kopter landing pad. After all, nothing ever landed. At the same time, I saw that my favorite Discount Store in Les Sables (can't even remember how often I went there) offered a very nice, soft and dense artificial lawn for a very reasonable price.  It's quite heavy, too, so it's less likely to disappear over the side  like its predecessor. I now call that 0.5x2m piece the "Poo Landing Strip", or short "PSL". We also decided to put it first in the cockpit and later just in front of the dinghy and thus out of the way. There's no way I would go to the foredeck in the conditions we are in to use the PSL. Can't expect it from the dog either, then. Okay, okay, I keep it short: Chester peed, twice!, on the PSL. The first time on May 2 at 7:45am. And again ten minutes later. You'd think he'd won the Nobel Price going by the praise he got from me! Of course, it was easy enough to get rid of that stuff with lots of water, no harm done. Now, if you paid attention, you would be asking: "well, he peed, okay, but what about the poo? You were on the go for 58 hrs after all!" Well, it just didn't happen. As easy as that. (A lot more happened on shore, though ;-)...Am I going into too many details now? For those that already had enough, stop reading here, do something nice. Good choice! 

For all the others, in case there are some hardcore poo enthusiasts still left, here comes part two, as we are currently on our second over night trip from La Coruna to Lisboa, which could be called "The Night II", like one of those cheap horror movies; and which I am not enjoying one bit more than the first one. At least I seem to have found my sealegs, as I don't feel any seasickness at all. Can't sleep either, though, as I didn't take any pills that come with the nice side effect of knocking you out. 

But let's get back to the poo issue. About 8 hrs into the trip, Chester quite obviously had a problem. You learn to read your dog after a while... So out we go with lots of praise and my "go didi" and "go dada" commands, as well as "here!" and "now!".  Mind you, that wasn't some crazy baby talk, those were my and Chester's secret code words for 'going to pee' (didi) and 'going to poo' (dada). I didn't even mind that Chester stuck to the cockpit area. I thought that it would be no problem to pick up some brown balls and sausages with the poo bag as usual. (Too many details even for the daring rest now?) I thought, that it would hardly leave a dirty spot anyway. Man, was I wrong!!! I missed to consider that dogs can get diarrhea, too! Okay, definitely too many details now. Just one more thing to give you a picture of the whole situation, not just part of it: imagine, it's dark, you are standing on an oversized rocking chair that seems to be high on some Extacy pills, somewhere in the middle of the ocean (well, not quite, but that's what it felt like), your husband is trying to keep up with the buddy boat while making sure that the boat coming towards us won't run into us, while you have to clean up a a load of shit without accidentally stepping in it because the boat is so bouncy, AND while, at the same time, preventing the cat from sneaking around the corner to be washed overboard and never be seen again  (or whatever Sparkles intended with that act. I do hope he's not suicidal.)

Now, as a conclusion - as there will be no more sequel to the pee-poo-story - at least I hope so! - let me say: no worries, traveling dog owners, what has to come out will come out. Just give it time. And maybe train your dog early on to do business on command. Helps with the communication. Poo and pee help desk out.

Arrived in Gibraltar/ Sind in Gibraltar angekommen

This morning, we arrived in Gibraltar, after 3 1/2 days and 4 nights going non-stop, which makes it 622 nm for this trip and 1043 nm in total since we left Les Sables, with the only stop being La Coruna. We all arrived safe and sound, though deadly tired and swaying like drunkards when walking on shore. Sorry, will write more when I feel more sober again ;-)

Sind heute morgen in Gibraltar angekommen, nach 3 1/2 Tagen und 4 Nächten auf dem Boot. Dieser Trip war insgesamt 622 nm, was uns auf satte 1043 nm seit Les Sables bringt. Mit nur einem Stop in La Coruna! Uns geht es gut, allerdings sind wir todmüde und torkeln wie Betrunkene sobald wir an Land gehen. Werden mehr schreiben, wenn ich mich wieder nüchtern fühle ;-)

Sunrise on the way to Gibraltar
Sonnenaufgang auf dem Weg nach Gibraltar

Check-in/OK message from NextLifeTracker SPOT Messenger

NextLifeTracker
Latitude:36.14962
Longitude:-5.36127
GPS location Date/Time:05/07/2012 23:23:58 PDT

Message:NextLife underway

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/7puNa/36.14962N/5.36127W

If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=36.14962,-5.36127&ll=36.14962,-5.36127&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

NextLifeTracker

You have received this message because NextLifeTracker has added you to their SPOT contact list.

Every day is an Adventure. Share Yours.
http://www.findmespot.com

Check-in/OK message from NextLifeTracker SPOT Messenger

NextLifeTracker
Latitude:36.52895
Longitude:-6.77911
GPS location Date/Time:05/07/2012 09:49:53 PDT

Message:NextLife underway

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/7pUb_/36.52895N/6.77911W

If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=36.52895,-6.77911&ll=36.52895,-6.77911&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

NextLifeTracker

You have received this message because NextLifeTracker has added you to their SPOT contact list.

Every day is an Adventure. Share Yours.
http://www.findmespot.com

Check-in/OK message from NextLifeTracker SPOT Messenger

NextLifeTracker
Latitude:38.63551
Longitude:-9.51102
GPS location Date/Time:05/06/2012 02:31:29 PDT

Message:NextLife underway

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/7oeOT/38.63551N/9.51102W

If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=38.63551,-9.51102&ll=38.63551,-9.51102&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

NextLifeTracker

You have received this message because NextLifeTracker has added you to their SPOT contact list.

Every day is an Adventure. Share Yours.
http://www.findmespot.com

Check-in/OK message from NextLifeTracker SPOT Messenger

NextLifeTracker
Latitude:40.57927
Longitude:-9.44424
GPS location Date/Time:05/05/2012 09:54:41 PDT

Message:NextLife underway

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/7oATT/40.57927N/9.44424W

If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=40.57927,-9.44424&ll=40.57927,-9.44424&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

NextLifeTracker

You have received this message because NextLifeTracker has added you to their SPOT contact list.

Every day is an Adventure. Share Yours.
http://www.findmespot.com

Check-in/OK message from NextLifeTracker SPOT Messenger

NextLifeTracker
Latitude:41.57561
Longitude:-9.41479
GPS location Date/Time:05/05/2012 01:48:30 PDT

Message:NextLife underway

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/7nxtz/41.57561N/9.41479W

If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=41.57561,-9.41479&ll=41.57561,-9.41479&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

NextLifeTracker

You have received this message because NextLifeTracker has added you to their SPOT contact list.

Every day is an Adventure. Share Yours.
http://www.findmespot.com

Check-in/OK message from NextLifeTracker SPOT Messenger

NextLifeTracker
Latitude:42.59242
Longitude:-9.38025
GPS location Date/Time:05/04/2012 17:49:44 PDT

Message:NextLife underway

Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/7nncV/42.59242N/9.38025W

If the above link does not work, try this link:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=42.59242,-9.38025&ll=42.59242,-9.38025&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

NextLifeTracker

You have received this message because NextLifeTracker has added you to their SPOT contact list.

Every day is an Adventure. Share Yours.
http://www.findmespot.com

Some more pictures/ noch ein paar Bilder

Les Sables: Lagoons in a row 

Les Sables: Beachview

Les Sables: Beachview

Les Sables: Stormy seas

Les Sables: Flying dog ears and sea foam

 

sunrise during my nightshift - a beautiful morning on May 2
Sonnenaufgang während meiner Nachtwache - ein wunderschöner
Morgen am 1. Mai 

Sparkles' house

La Coruna: Dinner at El Charrua

El Charrua: This is turning into a gourmet trip

El Charrua: Another amazing dinner with great friends

in the marina, looking towards Erwin, Kazaio and a cruise ship
in der Marina mit Blick auf Erwin, Kazaio und ein Kreuzfahrtschiff

getting used to the Spanish way of eating: start at 10pm, dessert around 11:30pm
die spanische Art des Essens: Abendessen um 22h und Nachtisch gegen 23:30h

The Bay of Biscay Crossing

We are in Spain! Arrived in (L)A Coruna on May 2 at 9:10pm, safe and sound, relieved and happy, after about 58 hours and about 400 Nautical Miles. Being welcomed, what a great surprise!, by no other than Gonzalo and the Crew from Kazaio. But let’s start at the beginning.

April 30 promised an okay weather window with May 1 supposedly being really nice. We decided to leave on the Monday, April 30, after another boat having rafted up next to us and us getting a little scare when being told that nobody has the keys to move it so that we could get out. They found the key, though, and that started our Bay of Biscay Crossing. It was a little rough at first, especially for the cat (hint, hint!), but we didn’t think much of it. We are much wiser now. We also now know, that we should probably have returned right after our wind indicators started to fail, which was pretty much right when we got out of the harbor. But we didn’t. Oh my, that day – and especially the night – will always be remembered. We call it “The Night”. It was rough! We had the waves against us, mostly 2 m high and very steep, sometimes up to 3 or 4 m high (that’s 9-12 feet), so we pounded into the waves like crazy. The boat got slammed by the waves every few seconds, making it sound like it will break apart. Do I need to mention that neither one of us was feeling very well? We didn’t quite follow the example of the cat, but we certainly felt pretty uncomfortable. Imagine when you were a little child and let a little stick float in a creek, watching it bouncing between the rocks. That’s what I felt like (the stick, not the little child!). Or imagine going towards Tofino on the narrow, winding road, up and down, and going way too fast, almost “flying” down the tops of the road. The content of our cupboards sounded as if we were having a “Polterabend” (German tradition where people shatter china before a wedding for good luck). Well, I guess you get the picture. We did 1 hour watches, couldn’t take more, so we could sleep for 2 hours afterwards. Did I say “sleep”? Trying to, anyway. Rolf slept on the couch in the salon, and I under the table – voluntarily! Nothing would have made me go below into the cabin, where the feeling of seasickness got even worse. We lived off butter cookies, crackers and bananas – IF we felt like eating at all. The worst thing was, that we were only making about 2 knots while we had planned for 7 knots, so with all that, we were not even getting anywhere. That “state” lasted for about 26 hours before it got better. And it did get better! Now comes the good part, the sea got smoother, we changed to 2 hour watches, we did sleep, we did eat, and we were accompanied by dolphins most of the time. I even cooked – Spaghetti Bolognese, which we enjoyed immensely. Most of the second part of the trip was so smooth, we quickly forgot about the first part. That’s the great thing about the human brain. We really enjoyed this second part. And when we got close to (L)A Coruna, no other than Gonzalo called us on the radio. What a surprise! We had thought we would only see him again in Palma. But here he was, about 2 hrs ahead of us, also going for Marina Nautico that we had picked earlier on. The whole trip ended with a very happy reunion and an amazing dinner at Comarea’s. Great wine, great Tapas, great friends.

Enjoying great company and amazing food
(Erwin, Gonzalo, Sylvain, Tito, Rolf, Silke at Comarea's in (L)A Coruna, Spain
after crossing the Bay of Biscay April 30-May 2)