http://yachtlanovia.com/blog Logbook Thu, 29 May 2008 09:56:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This is not our Logbook in the technical sense of the word, which would be be less than enthralling.  It is rather a selection of short snapshots from our diaries that we hope conveys a sense of what excited and interested us on our voyage.  It is biased towards our ... http://yachtlanovia.com/blog/?p=5 La Novia is in the Pacific. Our transit through the Panama Canal was an exciting and emotional experience after such a long time waiting for this moment. We rode our luck was all the way through from Gatun locks (Colon, Atlantic side) to Balboa, the Pacific (42 miles, 3 locks up ... http://yachtlanovia.com/blog/?p=41 Before we left England, everyone wanted to talk to us about Pirates. This was our chance to meet them. The websites and bars were full of Piracy  Talk. Two years ago a Japanese yacht SY Yume Maru was boarded on this trip and robbed, while taking a route south of ... http://yachtlanovia.com/blog/?p=22 Just after noon 26th April we cross the equator for the first time. Celebration mandatory. La Novia is already over run with small pirates in anticipation. These are proper Pirates, dressed for the part and very fierce too. A mermaid with strange blue hair and a winsome smile has appeared on ... http://yachtlanovia.com/blog/?p=23 Last time we wrote we were setting off from Panama in search of Darwin's footprints in the Galapagos, with the daunting distances of the Pacific stretching out before us. As for Darwin's footprints, they take a little more finding today than they did 30 years ago.  Part of the Galapagos is ... http://yachtlanovia.com/blog/?p=24 It is time to leave Isabella for the Marquesas Islands, a trip that takes most yachts 15 to 20 days at sea. Only 2920 miles to go........not much further than from the Canaries to the Caribbean, but it feels further as you set off. On the Atlantic crossing, you can ... http://yachtlanovia.com/blog/?p=25 Even in the euphoric afterglow of completing the longest passage that most cruisers ever undertake, the mundane imperatives of life still command. First order of the day here was haircuts all round. Boys have been moaning about their hair all trip but the motion of the boat and their incurable ... http://yachtlanovia.com/blog/?p=26 Fatu Hiva, the southernmost island is the least developed of the population centres, home to about 600 people, and unique in being free of NoNos, which pretty much qualified it as our favourite island in the group! After a tough sail down there, hard on the wind, ( how very ... http://yachtlanovia.com/blog/?p=27 We have visited Daniel, the yachtsman's friend for 40 years on Nuku Hiva and signed his wonderful visitors book - nothing less than an history of Pacific voyaging in small craft. This is an unforgettable experience for any Pacific sailor. His book now stretches to seven volumes. Names, signatures, drawings, photographs, ... http://yachtlanovia.com/blog/?p=28 It is time for us to leave for the Tuamotos, the "Dangerous Archipelago" of such fearsome reputation that, before GPS, many yachts would take the long detour North to avoid them entirely. I can think of few places that better illustrate the extent to which modern technology has reduced the ... http://yachtlanovia.com/blog/?p=29