Hogwart's Rules..

I love Harry Potter! Ever since the first book I have been hooked. An original subscriber to the website/forum and an unequivocal enthusiast I have devoured all the outpourings of JK Rowling, sad but true!

When we were in Orlando last year we heard rumours about Harry Potter Land coming to Universal Studios and now it's confirmed that the opening date will be Spring 2010...I am making my reservation now!

On-line conferences!

We have been back up river for a few days. Re-provisioning, refueling and catching up with friends who are returning to their boats after months of traveling/visiting their homes.

It's lovely to see everyone again and hear about their various adventures.

Yesterday was Guatemala's Independence Day and so throughout the weekend the river has been extremely busy with what seems like every boat out and loaded down with parties! A great time appears to have been had by all, I must say that the wash was pretty overwhelming at times. We were sincerely glad not to have been fending the boat off from an unforgiving dock.

I haven't seen too much of TBH. He's busy programming and answering emails. It's amazing this world of ours. Yesterday we set up an online conference, on the boat, via wifi to connect ourselves with Chile via the USA. Makes my mind boggle! We can share computer screens with our customer, talk them through a presentation, in real time and even record the session for discussion at a later date, wow. Fiendishly clever.

Technology and freedom.

As I lay in bed last night, sweltering in the heat, my mind started mulling over technology and what it means to me.

I suppose it was at the front of my thinking as we had rather caned the batteries yesterday and in penance had to switch most systems(including the fans) off to allow some recovery! There is a price for everything on the boat.

With two computers working pretty much all day it is asking a lot of our power system to cope with the demands. I think we are very fortunate that most of the time we manage to satisfy all our need whilst out here at anchor and living life 'unplugged'.

As coverage of Yalaworld grows we are dealing with many inquiries every day. I wonder what the prospective customers would make of where our 'office' is situated? Anchored in an idyllic bay, no roads anywhere near, linked to the internet via a wifi connection that is fed from an aerial on top of a distant hill surrounded by deep jungle.I guess a lot of them would be a little jealous!

And yet in many ways I have rejected much of the technology that surrounds everyday life, even though we are working at the bleeding edge of business development. Strange isn't it.
I have no microwave, no washing machine,dishwasher, food processor or television. Yet I find a simple satisfaction in my choices.

Have I got some strange perverse kink in my personality, some would say yes! As I lay in the silence last night, the atmosphere unpolluted by the humming of an electric fan I felt connected to the world in a different and visceral way. The boat was a living creature, nurturing me safe within her shell, breathing softly to the gentle movement of the water. I thought about what we would do if the batteries died, dead in the water so to speak, but of course we wouldn't be. We are a sailing boat, designed to live by the forces of nature.

Even in our own way we allow a separation from the elements that dilutes the experience. How much more that must be for many of the cruisers we meet who rely totally on their electronics and gizmo's. Why would you be out here without feeling that deep sense of connectivity with the natural world?

I dreamt of freedom. To me the thought of sailing the oceans propelled by the wind, reliant on my own resources was the answer. Was I naive? Maybe in some respects but generally I've found what I was searching for and it is freedom...

Sometimes life is good!

We have had a lovely day.

Our anchorage is just perfect, calm and protected from most weathers. Last night the Tropical rains fell really hard and we were able to fill our tanks again. It's the wonderful part of the rainy season; no jerry jugging gallons of water in the dinghy!

I celebrated by washing the sheets, which quickly dried in the gentle warm breeze.

As the weather is relatively cool, just about 90 degrees today(I did say all things are relative), I had a baking fest. Quiche Lorraine x 2, cherry and almond muffins, potato salad. Yummy stuff.

TBH was kept busy with Yalaworld, it is getting a lot of coverage at the moment and he is fully occupied answering queries and telling the world about his amazing new concept.

So after an hours swimming around the boat we settled down for the evening.

I have been bidding for ages on ebay for a manual coffee grinder. The old fashioned hand operated wall mounted cast iron type. To date I have been beaten at the final fence, usually the internet fails just at the vital moment but tonight I was successful!!!

Delivery to my daughter ready for them to bring out at their next visit. I am so excited...

And finally a wonderful sunset just to round off a happy and fulfilling day. Sleep well...

Some People...

What is it with some people?

Here we are anchored in the most beautiful natural surroundings. Butterflies flit like painted rainbows over the boat, startling white cattle egrets fly like origami birds from one side of the bay to the other. Vultures soar on the thermals as the day builds heat over the land and the indignant squawking of a flock of parrots fills the air as they untidily flap their way from tree to tree.

The wind rustles the leaves, small wavelets slap against the hull and the buzzing of insects and croaking of frogs all add to the symphony of nature.

Then BOOM, BOOM YEAH, OOH BABY!!!###

Why oh why do some people have to play their stereo systems at a level that must be unimaginably painful up close and downright antisocial even a long way away? Is it compensation for a small dick? A desperate' gee mom look at me ain't I clever' personality deficiency?

Well it's horrid, and a really nasty form of environmental pollution.

Why the world is not my oyster...

..well could be 'cos we sail a Bowman!

Enough of this wit and on to the main event.

It's almost two years now since I started to write this blog, my how time flies when you are having fun...

Just about five years since we made the momentous decision to turn right at Gibraltar and set sail across the Atlantic. Boy were we novices back then! When I think back to our passage from Gib to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands I grow cold. Like many moments in my life I fail to recall exactly how a decision was reached, just the vague knowledge that somewhere along the line this is the right thing to do. TBH was always keen to tackle the Atlantic but I rather fancied the more hedonistic lifestyle of swanning around the Med for a few years. Needless to say we crossed the Atlantic, he's very good at letting me believe that I am in control but getting his own way all the same. Still I don't hold it against him, much.

Those six days around the coast of Africa were hard work. I suffer from seasickness and the washing machine like motions of the sea really were not at all helpful. But we made it, in one piece and invigorated by succeeding in the challenge that we had set ourselves. We felt that we had made the leap from Cruisers to voyagers.

And now the time for decisions comes round again. Life has become more complex since the launch of Yalaworld and for the first time in years we have to consider longer term responsibilities as we decide where we head for next. As the business moves from embryonic to growing I find myself weighing up all the options. Sounds good doesn't it!~ Just wish I could come to some decisions!

Kamchatka, Japan, Aleutians still top the list but realistically will probably have to be deferred a while until we can safely be out of communication for long periods of time.

So the big question is ... North, South, East or West? Right now the world seems a much bigger place than an oyster!

Clean Sails.

It's been a busy few days as we have got to grips with cleaning and refurbishing the fore sails. After two rainy seasons they were beginning to take on a rather nasty green hue!

I was pleasantly surprised that the staysail was in much better shape than I had expected. It's UV (sun-protection) strip was beginning to show signs of wear in a couple of places but on close inspection, once we took the sail down, these are easily repairable and we don't need to replace the whole strip yet.

We last had these sails overhauled in St Marten and that's back in 2005. Then we replaced the UV strips on the staysail and yankee and had both of them restitched. We have had to make the odd repair since but nothing more than a few stitches or a small patch.

The staysail is our 'storm' sail too. Being a cutter rig when we reef down the main with three reefs in bad weather we can balance beautifully with the staysail. The two sails balance us extremely well and we can keep good power( and steerage) even in very high winds.

So it's important that the staysail is in tip-top condition. It's the one we rely on when the going gets really tough.

Mind you it's hard work cleaning them at anchor! Not a lot of space! We took the staysail down and one of us feed it in sections to the other who, with the help of a bucket of oxy-clean and a stiff brush, put plenty of elbow power in to scrubbing off the disgusting green mould that was taking over. Well worth it though as it looks fantastic this morning.

We jumped over the side as soon as we had finished to cool down and get clean, bliss.

Now the Yankee to do, that's somewhat bigger and will take longer, oh well.