Just as soon as I finish the last blog post, the wind drops, the rain stops, and the squall moves off. The sky brightens, and through the haze the sun glistens off the ocean, as if beckoning me. Now or never, I think. I start the engine, throw off the lines, and motor out of…
Ready to Go
I’m sitting in the cockpit, sheltered under the dodger, while outside it’s howling 30 knots and raining hard. It’s Tuesday morning, 8:30 AM. I’m all ready to cast off, but for the moment I’m pinned down by this tropical squall blowing over us. Five action-packed days are behind me. And all in all, things went…
Let Life Take You – Back to JACE
Life doesn’t always move in straight lines. Plans drift, markets stall, and sometimes the sea decides the timing. As I often tell the kids: “let life take you.” And this year, it seems, life is taking us back to JACE. The market is slow, and JACE is a special boat built for a very particular…
Completing a journey and a chapter
Our trip is now nearly over. Sitting at the southern tip of St. Vincent, all that still awaits us are the beautiful Grenadines, and then our final destination, Grenada. It may sound like a lot, but in light of all the cruising we have done over the past two months, it’s really just a small…
On our way back
After Bini leaves us in Martinique we take some more time in the marina of Fort de France to take care of a few chores. Water has to be refilled, laundry washed and the fridge stocked up. We try to take care of as much as possible, with well stocked stores and good coin laundries,…
Das gab’s noch nie – das hatten wir noch nie!
Guest post by Bini Als ich mich vor zwei Wochen auf den Weg in die Karibik gemacht habe, wusste ich, dass mir ein ganz neues, besonderes Erlebnis bevorstand. Meine persönliche Segelerfahrung resultiert aus zwei Törns auf der Ostsee, die wir als Familie Ende der 80er-Jahre unternommen haben. Nun sollte ich Segeln unter gänzlich anderen Rahmenbedingungen…
Heading south with Bini
After the kids departure we have a full week with my sister Bini. And what a wonderful week it is. The opening act is something special, even for us: a night sail. It is born out of a quandary. A massive winter storm system is passing eastward over the northern Atlantic. Its counterclockwise winds are…
Our stowaway “Tante Bini”
“She is here, she is here! Awwww, Bini!”, the kids exclaim as we approach JACE. Everybody is so excited. My sister Sabine, or Bini, is an absolute sweetheart and much adored “Tante Bini” by her niece and nephew. Her visit onboard has been highly anticipated. We carefully planned her visit to overlap with the kids for…
Exploring northern Antigua
The four of us haven’t sailed together in a couple of years. And our 5-month trip on “Towanda” lies almost ten years in the past. The kids where but 12 and 10 then and as lasting as the memories are, that adventure seems ages ago. Now we have two weeks with our two grown, independent…
Christmas afloat
They have arrived! After so much anticipation we are at the small Antigua airport. It is surprisingly busy with quite a few flights touching down in short progression. We wait patiently. Or not so patiently. Customs must be very busy and it takes quite a while. But finally we catch the familiar sight of our…