Zanshin sailing off Nevis Sailing from St. Kitts to Nevis, the crew on Katzenellenbogen caught this picture of me sailing with the single volcanic hill on Nevis in the background.
Zanshin sailing off Nevis

It has taken quite a while before I've returned to updating this site. As some have suspected, Zanshin was damaged during Irma. She was on the hardstand at Nanny Cay and although she was tied down with screws, she toppled like a domino with all the other boats in the row. She suffered 2 holes in the hull from stands, was dismasted and the deck hardware was bent/broken or sheared off. But I was very fortunate in that my 2 glued-on solar panels kept on charging the batteries and I had left all 3 bilge pumps turned onto automatic mode. Thus the flooding during hurricane was quite limited and the insides were kept dry and clean - unlike everything topsides. It took a long time for Nanny Cay to lift Zanshin and I'm now in the process of getting her repaired. I'll start posting pictures and blog updates in a couple of days!

“Zanshin” is a Jeanneau 57 model sailboat; with 57 feet (17m) there's a lot of room aboard for supplies as well as for people. She was built at the Jeanneau factory outside of Nantes in France, then shipped to Annapolis, MD in the USA where she was commissioned and from there I sailed down to the Caribbean, where Zanshin has been ever since.
Since then I've been sailing up and down the Caribbean island chain exploring the various islands for extended periods. I'm planning on going through the Panama Canal and heading into the Pacific for the long journey across the Pacific. Since the “barefoot route” around the world uses the warm tradewinds that blow to the west it means that heading back east is difficult and uncomfortable. Thus, once past Panama there's no going back and I'm enjoying my time in the Caribbean so much that I'm loathe to leave.
Since I single-hand Zanshin I like to avoid weather and seas as much as possible, which means that I'm most likely not going to sail the challenging route in the high latitudes going past the great Capes of the world - I'll use the man-made canals to shorten the journey.

Click for 2017-05-12 Blog Entry
Blog picture
This site has grown over the years and contains a mix of dated and new material, from manuals and technical details to stories and my daily blog. The blog is in actuality something of a daily dairy and I always post several pictures daily along with a brief description of my adventures (or lack thereof) each day.

Please enjoy browsing the site and, for those who find themselves sailing in unknown waters:

“Immer eine Handbreit Wasser unter dem Kiel.”
(May there always be a handsbreadth of water beneath your keel)

Random Site pictures

Closed cruise ship dock I tied up to the dinghy dock section and the securty guard in the closed facility unlocked the main door to let me out and then back in again after I'd done my tour of Cabrits. I don't know why ships don't go there anymore, but the facility is slowly going to see.
(2013-04-22 13:22:04 NIKON D7000 with a "18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6" lens. [f/5.0, 1/320s] ISO 100 Focus ∞)
Closed cruise ship dock
Sunset over Simpson Bay The last rays of the sun peeking over the houses as seen from my anchorage position in the Simpson Bay Lagoon on St. Martin.
(2015-03-27 18:15:28 NIKON D7100 with a "18.0-250.0 mm f/3.5-6.3" lens. [f/22.0, 1/60s] ISO 100)
Sunset over Simpson Bay
Tohatsu engine maintenance The insides of the 9.8 Tohatsu look surprisingly good, considering that the outboard went swimming last year.
(2015-03-29 13:23:15 NIKON D7100 with a "18.0-250.0 mm f/3.5-6.3" lens. [f/5.6, 1/160s] ISO 100)
Tohatsu engine maintenance
Antigua Sailing Week - Sail Number GRN 7777 Antigua Sailing Week - Sail Number GRN 7777
(2014-04-28 11:09:46 NIKON D7100 with a "18.0-250.0 mm f/3.5-6.3" lens. [f/6.3, 1/125s] ISO 100)
Antigua Sailing Week - Sail Number GRN 7777
Ghalazio Ghalazio
(2017-05-02 09:48:12 NIKON D7100 with a "18.0-250.0 mm f/3.5-6.3" lens. [f/6.3, 1/400s] ISO 100)
Ghalazio
Tip of Green Island The tip of Green Island in Antigua, showing the typical undercut rock formations
[17°4'16.74"N 61°40'35.22"W (facing SE)]
Tip of Green Island
Two Trafalgar Falls in one picture Both falls at Dominica's Trafalgar falls in one picture
(2017-04-01 14:30:25 NIKON D7100 with a "18.0-250.0 mm f/3.5-6.3" lens. [f/4.0, 1/250s] ISO 100)
Two Trafalgar Falls in one picture

[16°59.9741'0"N 61°46.6532'0"W ]
School of Bluestriped Grunts School of Bluestriped Grunts
(2015-04-18 13:02:18 NIKON D7000 with a "10.5 mm f/2.8" lens. [f/2.8, 1/1000s] ISO 200)
School of Bluestriped Grunts
Broken bilge pump The non-return valves for trhe bilge pump had corroded and no longer worked. Once I'd figured out what the problem was it was an easy fix.
Broken bilge pump
Entrance to Hopital de Bruyn The only downside for patients arriving on foot is that this small hospital is at the top of the hill overloking Gustavia in St. Barths.
(2014-02-27 15:39:41 NIKON D7100 with a "18.0-250.0 mm f/3.5-6.3" lens. [f/9.0, 1/250s] ISO 100)
Entrance to Hopital de Bruyn
Zanshin and Zaca a te Moana The classic schooner "Zaca a te Moana" next to us at the docks, She overshadowed us with a hull length of over 140 feet!
(2013-03-29 09:42:42 NIKON D7000 with a "18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6" lens. [f/3.5, 1/2500s] ISO 400 Focus 7.94m)
Zanshin and Zaca a te Moana
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