Kelt 707 with her Skipper Gerhard just ahead of Helgoland. Gerhard just recently has changed his boat to a slightly larger vessel. He is now owning an AMEL MARAMU and will start his bluewater experiences soon. He just passed some picture impressions of his summer cruises in 2011.

I have been in contact with the Stuemer family some 12 years ago, when they have decided to head for a circumnavigation, as Diane, mother of 2 lovely children has got the bad diagnosis of cancer and wanted to spend as much time with her family as possible. The entire Stuemer family enabled the trip of Diane, who died in the meantime. The wonderful website however will remain active for ever.

STRANDED ON SVALBARD
It all got a little tense when the polar bear came strolling towards us while the boat was safely up on the beach. High up on the beach. in fact. The start of our Svalbard adventure was a bit more dramatic than we had hoped for.

We cast off from Tromsø at 12 on the first Saturday in August and set our course North. We took the quickest way out in the open sea and slipped out in to the open sea six hours later. Bear Island next. Continue reading →

Congratulation Laura, that you made it!  SPIEGEL ONLINE

ZEILEN INTERVIEW

Dutch VICTOIRE 933 sails to Spitsbergen (Svalbard)

The Dutch author of many books on sailing Ben Hoekendijk celebrated his 70th birtday and boarded his Koopmans designed Shalom IV, a Victoire 933, to sail single handed to the Lofoten and Spitsbergen. He writes:

The Lofoten are named ‘the Norwegian crown jewels’. They are situated 150 kilometers above the Polar Circle and consist a string of steep islands. I sailed single Handed to this sailors paradise and from there on with my son and later another friend as crew over the Barentszzee to Spitsbergen and back to Holland. The whole three month trip covered 3926 seamiles. My boat is 30 years old and sails like a baby. On my solotrip to the Caribbean some years ago my motor broke down mid Atlantic (without electricity for 850 mile), so I installed a new Yanmar three cylinder diesel for this arctic adventure. And I needed it, because the winds were north from the south of Norway all the way until Spitsbergen. Only on the Northsea and the Barentszzee I could sail wonderfull, while my cherished Windpilot steered. A narrow escape when I slept and almost ran into a tanker made me unsure about crossing long distances within Europa single handed. Continue reading →

Alle Jahre wiieder
schickt die forty-two,
Euuch Weihnachtsbiildeer
und auch Grüße dazuuu.

Diese Weihnachten erreichen Euch
die Grüße schon das zweite Mal aus
dem Pazifik, diesmal aus der Südsee,
genauer aus dem Königreich Tonga,
genauer aus dem Archipel Vava’u,
genauer aus dem Ort Neiafu,
genauer aus 18°39,51W 173°58,96W

Das Bild stammt von unserem
“Lieblingsankerplatz” etwa
2 Segelstunden südlich von hier,
wo um diese Jahreszeit außer uns
keiner mehr ist.

Die Weihnachtstage selber verbringen
wir hier in Neiafu, wo wir von Mike
zu einer Party eingeladen sind.

Wir wünschen Euch ruhige und nicht zu
kalte, doch hoffentlich weisse Weihnachten

Liebe Grüße

Mercedes und Carsten Borchardt

http://www.sy-fortytwo.de