Installing two Engel fridge/freezer units
I install two Engel fridge/freezer units into our new galley onboard our 55 foot Wharram sailing catamaran.
Installing two Engel fridge/freezer units Read More »
Sailing
17 years OLD and time to RETIRE! We bend on new Sails!
17 years OLD and time to RETIRE! We bend on a new Genoa! Plus add small jib to our new inner stay.
17 years OLD and time to RETIRE! We bend on new Sails! Read More »
Playing with acid
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
Catch up Time – Ep17
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
Catch up Time – Ep17 Read More »
Sailing & Cruising with Kids
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
Sailing & Cruising with Kids Read More »
Episode Thirteen – Catamaran or Monohull?
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?
Episode Thirteen – Catamaran or Monohull? Read More »
Episode Twelve – Why go Sailing?
Why give away everything that we had built, for something as unstable as a sailboat?
Episode Twelve – Why go Sailing? Read More »
Episode Eleven – Engine out!
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
Episode Eleven – Engine out! Read More »
Episode Ten – Another catamaran beached!
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.
Episode Ten – Another catamaran beached! Read More »
Episode Nine – To sail or to truck…
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
Episode Nine – To sail or to truck… Read More »
Episode Eight – Beaten by the weather
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
Episode Eight – Beaten by the weather Read More »
Episode Six – Hokkaido Departure….?
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
Episode Six – Hokkaido Departure….? Read More »
Episode 5
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
Episode Four – Sails, mooring ropes and Typhoons.
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 »
Episode Three – Last tour of 2017
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.
Episode Three – Last tour of 2017 Read More »
Episode Two – Getting ready for a cruise
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
Episode Two – Getting ready for a cruise Read More »