Now Tiare is out of the water, I take down our Sillette Sonic Drives to replace the anodes, bellows, shaft seals and clean and fill the corrosion pitting on the lower legs, then give acid washing a go before acid etching and a repaint. Last winter I discovered that the SB side leg had …
Well it has been a few months since the last video. Quite a few things have happened. Winter has gone, Spring has been and gone and we are now into the rainy season. Sam our eldest son is now in living in Japan, Tom has gone up to Hokkaido for six months as an IT …
Plus I take a quick look at the Bali 4.0 and the Lagoon 42 catamarans. These are the plastic fantastics and floating apartments that talk about in the “Cat or Mono” video I posted . They may not be good upwind or heavy weather sailboats but the designers have got it right for practical design …
Four days in Yokohama at the Japan International Boat Show. Read More »
Introduction But the biggest factor that makes taking kids cruising and the level of success is you. Its how you approach the issues of safety, health, education. And it’s your OWN expectations that are going to influence your life afloat. In my mind, there is no doubt that taking your kids for an extended cruise …
How can I afford to go sailing, to stay out there?
Well, that is a very good question.
So if you are interested in how you can afford to sail once you have cast off the ropes that bind you to land-based living read on.
Are Catamarans faster?
Are Monohulls more traditional and romantic?
Are Catamarans more expensive to buy and maintain?
Are Cats nothing but a modern floating apartment block or the safest way to cross an ocean?
Can a Catamaran out sail a monohull upwind?
Self-righting, sinking or floating?
Why give away everything that we had built, for something as unstable as a sailboat?
As usual with a Wharram catamaran this is not complicated. With a few basic tools, a simple homemade (boatmade) tripod and one of the mainsail blocks, plus plenty of humour, it makes for an enjoyable day, well at least for me ! Taiga helps me pull out the motor and the Beast add his …
This years winter projects and beaching a power catamaran. I go over what I hope to achieve over the next four or five months aboard Tiare as I get her ready for another season in Japan. Australian cruising friend Graham visits Yuge Island and beaches his Malcolm Tennant power catamaran for a prop clean. …
Decision time. Do we wait for a weather window or give up and truck her down to Osaka? The last episode on the frustration to sail SV Freelancer, a 28 Bristol Channel Cutter out of Hokkaido and down to the warmer seas of souther Japan. While waiting for a weather window to open I …
Waiting for the break in the weather before winter sets in and it gets too cold. The break never came. The adventure of sailing down from Hokkaido in the top of Japan to Kagoshima at the southern tip of Kyushu wasn’t to be. The weather beat us and ground us down. Weeks of waiting for …
Seven days after leaving Hokkaido we are still in Hokkaido. Sailed as far as Esashi, 90Nm south of our start point before the weather turned. Been stuck in port waiting for a weather window for the last week. Weather has now turned to full on winter mode with gales, snow and big seas. But …
Video put together on my phone as we wait for a weather window to sail south from Hokkaido to Kagoshima. Test the new Pelagic autopilot do some last minute maintenance and repairs. Go for a test sail and wait out a monster storm. And finally get that weather window. Has been a slow week …
Just a few more days until I fly to Hokkaido and sail a 28 foot Bristol Channel Cutter through the Tsugaru Straights between Hokkaido and Honshu, the main Island of Japan and then head off down the Pacific side of Japan keeping close to the coast so as to avoid the fast flowing “Kuroshio” current …
This week we remove the sails, survive two very wet typhoons and I get ready for a 1200 Nm adventure sailing from one end of Japan to the other, Hokkaido to Kagoshima, on a newly refurbished 28 foot Bristol Channel Cutter. The sail from Hokkaido to Kagoshima will be a true adventure for me! I …
Episode Four – Sails, mooring ropes and Typhoons. Read More »
Plans made a few weeks before certainly don’t hold up to the reality of a strong North Easterly and with the largest typhoon of the year just a couple of days away I make a dash back back to the safety of Yuge Island as soon as the tour finishes.
This video is a few days early as I will be away most of next week on tour. This week we have another group of girls onboard, we put down a new mooring (the third leg) build a couple of Fender Boards and then get Tiare ready for next weeks adventure, a sail around the …
Tiare is beached for a few maintenance jobs that can only be done out of the water. I learn the meaning of patience and we also make her ready for a lunchtime cooking group. At the end of the week I start getting ready for putting out a “third leg” on our mooring. Tiare is …