Tangled Up

Tangled Up

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Looking forward to spending this cruising season in Fiji and New Caledonia.

Recent Updates

Tangled Up - November 13, 2017
Posted:
Arrived in Durban at 8:30am on the 5th of November - about a week ago. It's been an exhausting week and I was pretty exhausted before I arrived. But more on that in a moment. We spent all of five ... Read More
Tangled Up - October 22, 2017
Posted:
Yep, we made it. We tied up to the customs wharf at 7am yesterday morning after 2488 miles and 303 hours of sailing. To celebrate, we opened cans of beer and our last remaining bag of salt and ... Read More
Shortly after dawn approaching Port Louis, Mauritius
  • Had to go around an oil rig outside the port
  • Very cosmopolitan!
  • The customs wharf - well, as close as we could get to it
  • What a tease these customs officials are...! After 13 days at sea, and we can't go ashore!
  • The Customs building - someone buy these people a computer!
  • Aww... how pretty is that?
  • World's unfriendliest marina? A good use for our old Genoa at least!
Tangled Up - October 19, 2017
Posted:
Hi again. Apologies for the delay between updates. A slight technical glitch has kept my updates (delivered by email) from reaching the website. Fixed now, but I've been kept from writing emails by ... Read More
Can you see the fractures developing in this, the gooseneck? Really scary :-(
  • After our disasterous Spinnaker experience, we re-hoisted it briefly to work out all the kinks. Can you see the new tears?
Tangled Up - October 7, 2017
Posted:
Finally made it! We're here in lovely Cocos Keeling, anchored behind tropical-looking Direction Island - white sand beach, palm trees, crystal clear azure water and sharks swimming all around us. We ... Read More
Measuring up for a new sail
  • Delightfully sleepy town centre on home island
  • Look at all the ARC Rally boats in the bay - not enough room to swing an anchor!
  • Incredible colours (note no headsail on the furler!)
  • Lots of little shelters on direction Island with BBQ pits, showers and toilets! That's the Australian influence for you.
  • One shelter has clearly been adopted by the cruising boats and turned into some sort of HQ dotted with memorabilia!
  • Clearly we're following in famous footsteps :-)
  • 2 days spent repairing our close-to-death Genoa in the blazing sun
  • We each took turns - took two people who were not afraid of getting stuck with the sewing needle
  • Good as New again :-)
  • Even withstood days of this without coming undone!
Tangled Up - October 7, 2017
Posted:
Hi again! Well it has been a difficult few days. The wind has been incredibly light - not at all like the weather forecast said it would be back when we left Darwin. I guess that just goes to show ... Read More
Tangled Up - October 7, 2017
Posted:
We've been going for 3 days now and have almost crossed the Timor Sea, heading for the southwest corner of Timor where we'll pick up the south easterly Tradewinds and a raging ocean current - 2.5 ... Read More
Chart showing the whereabouts of strong ocean currents - the big red splotch in the middle - our free ride to Cocos
Tangled Up - August 26, 2017
Posted:
Arriving in Darwin is a tricky business as the city is located just outside Van Diemen Gulf, the body of water that's trapped between the north coast of Australia and Melville Island. To get to ... Read More
Darwin on the horizon
  • Interested?
  • Another celebratory dinner at the Darwin Sailing Club
  • This is Fannie Bay where we're presently anchored - can you spot the crocodile in this photo?
Tangled Up - August 21, 2017
Posted:
We're now well over half way to Darwin, the Gulf of Carpentaria a long way behind us. The wind has been back and forth between 8-15knots, always from the south east, so perfect really. But the ocean ... Read More
Dolphins distracting us while Jason is up the mast
  • Jason doing his best no to toss his cookies!
  • Paul wishing it was *him* up at the top of the mast!
  • Torn spinnaker! Fortunately it lasted us until Darwin where I'll get my needle and thread out
  • The root cause of the problem
  • Overnight hitchhikers (stowaways?) proved to be a problem - no social skills whatsoever!
  • Thinking about getting a ship's cat. Or possibly a falcon!
  • Or possibly a dolphin!
  • Not sure what was happening here...
Tangled Up - August 18, 2017
Posted:
We made it to Thursday Island without incident - the remaining 60 miles through the Great Barrier Reef was actually pretty simple and we joined the main shipping channel heading north up the coast ... Read More
6 knots of current carrying us into T.I., so nothing to do!
  • We thought this was cute until we saw the mess on the deck in the morning!
  • Like crossing a busy road (the downward-pointing arrows are cargo ships!)
  • That's quite close enough thank you!
  • York Island - the very top of Australia
  • Dragged our anchor overnight in the GBR - the black line is a trail that the boat leaves on the screen showing where the boat has swung overnight!
  • Customs House on Thursday Island - very grand!
  • Queueing for celebratory burgers and chips at the pub
  • A pretty relaxed place - unless you're a sailor of course, in which case all you can think about are the strong wind and amazing currents!
  • Just in case you were tempted to take a cooling swim!
  • 0800 CROC WATCH - So cool!
  • What passes for a social event here in T.I.
Tangled Up - August 12, 2017
Posted:
We made it! Yaaayyyy!! We're here, anchored inside the Great Barrier Reef. THE GREAT BARRIER REEF!! Our experiment in extreme sleep deprivation is over and the results are in: IT SUCKS! If you're the ... Read More
Boisterous conditions - confused 3-4m windwaves
Tangled Up - August 8, 2017
Posted:
Hello again. I just thought I'd write an update from around the half-way point. It was 1,400 miles from the pass out through the reef at New Caledonia to the pass that will let us inside the Great ... Read More
Not much wind to begin with - enough sail up to cover a tennis court!
  • About half way and the wind went nuclear!
  • Not much to see at sea!
Tangled Up - August 3, 2017
Posted:
We completed all the preparations for our departure from New Caledonia on Tuesday 1st August. This was actually our second attempt, having tried to clear out the previous Friday, but an unpleasant ... Read More
I've got a loverly bunch of coconuts
  • Much needed exercise on the trail up to the lighthouse overlooking the South Pacific
  • The decaying wharf at Isle Casey, home of Monsieur Chein
Tangled Up - July 30, 2017
Posted:
We've been on a long loop around the south-west corner of New Caledonia, visiting and exploring various islands along the way. We started at Amedee Island, spent a couple of nights at Mato Isl, then ... Read More
Tangled Up - July 26, 2017
Posted:
Well, we've been enjoying a few days of well-earned rest here in New Caledonia after the trip up from New Zealand. We're presently in a giant bay called Baie de Prony on the Southern tip of the main ... Read More
Tangled Up - July 23, 2017
Posted:
We left the shelter of Baie Aleric at 3:30am and motored our way through the pre-dawn darkness up to Noumea. Our aim was to be there at 8am or thereabouts because I had a nagging suspicion that the ... Read More
Tangled Up - July 21, 2017
Posted:
Well, we made it! We even made it before the forecast strong winds set-in! We're presently anchored in a pristine little bay on the southern end of the mainland, called Baie Alric. Sheltered ... Read More
The day before the night of stars!
  • Not much to do on a windless day!
  • Can you make out the Isle of Pines on the horizon?
  • Approaching the Isle of Pines - hoping to beat the wind
  • Happily anchored in Baie Alaric while the wind howls :-)
Tangled Up - July 19, 2017
Posted:
Well it's been a couple of uneventful days - very little wind so motoring. Still motoring in fact. Of the 5.5 days it will likely take us to reach New Caledonia, it looks like we'll have spent 3 of ... Read More
Tangled Up - July 16, 2017
Posted:
We departed Opua Marina the day before yesterday at about 3:30pm with some trepidation as we expected strong Southerly winds from a passing storm. We weren't disappointed with sustained winds upto ... Read More
Tangled Up - December 11, 2016
Posted:
Sitting out the wind in this little inlet having motored back from the Whangaroa Harbour region where we spent the better part of the week in the company of Tracie and Carl on Kahukura. The ... Read More
  • We love breakfast!!!!
  • Cooling off our feet
Tangled Up - December 6, 2016
Posted:
We sailed into the Whangaroa yesterday afternoon and are moored in Pararako Bay (a little sub bay) - unbelievably beautiful and peaceful. We woke to a magical misty, mirror calm morning and I CAUGHT ... Read More

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