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

“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

Volcanic Montserrat - In 1995 the Soufri�re Hills volcano erupted, destroying the old capital town of Plymouth and causing many fatalities. The pictures are taken from just outside the exclusion zone - one may not approach closer.
(2014-03-23 12:45:27 NIKON D7100 with a "18.0-250.0 mm f/3.5-6.3" lens. [f/6.3, 1/1600s] ISO 200)
Volcanic Montserrat -
Dressing up (or down) for the judges Another yacht with an act for the judges at the bridge opening. I find the Heineken bikini top to be a particularly fine touch.
(2014-03-09 15:04:28 NIKON D7100 with a "18.0-250.0 mm f/3.5-6.3" lens. [f/16.0, 1/100s] ISO 100)
Dressing up (or down) for the judges
Nassau Grouper A rare Nassau Grouper hiding on the bottom close to Ile Creole in St. Martin.
[18°7'2.95"N 63°3'23.56"W ]
Nassau Grouper
Fuel transfer running The transfer of fuel from the 1/4 full second fuel tank to the 3/4 full primary fuel tank is running. If the valve is not closed, the fuel will slowly trickle back to the secondary tank over time.
(2014-02-08 16:49:41 NIKON D7100 with a "18.0-250.0 mm f/3.5-6.3" lens. [f/4.2, 1/60s] ISO 100)
Fuel transfer running
Postponement Flag raised Alfred calls a postponement for the last race group.
[17°0'29.82"N 61°48'21.26"W ]
Postponement Flag raised
Surfing Falmouth A NE swell of over 3 meters and wave periods of around 20 seconds generated a heavy surf on Antigua. I was on boar trying to work while the boat was occasionally rolling heavily so I decided to dinghy over to where the action was and take a picture or two of the surf and surfers.
[17°0'33.88"N 61°46'47.25"W ]
Surfing Falmouth
Classic Ketch in Falmouth Classic Ketch in Falmouth
[17°0'44.73"N 61°46'14.93"W (facing SE)]
Classic Ketch in Falmouth
Marigot Ferry dock This is the new ferry dock, mainly used for the littel ferries between St. Martin and Anguilla, but the far end also serves as the dinghy dock for all the boats anchored in Marigot Bay.
[18°4'6.64"N 63°5'10.09"W (facing SW)]
Marigot Ferry dock

(2012-01-23 15:44:08 NIKON D7000 with a "18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6" lens. [f/8.0, 1/125s] ISO 100 Focus 15.00m)
Sail ANT 4071 - Ortac Sail ANT 4071 - Ortac
(2015-04-27 11:00:27 NIKON D7100 with a "70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6" lens. [f/8.0, 1/800s] ISO 100)
Sail ANT 4071 - Ortac
French bridge is broken The story is that electrical works caused their problem and that the special components needed to be shipped in and are taking their time. Be that as it may, it has been 2 weeks and the bridge is still out of action.
[18°3'39.91"N 63°5'42.84"W (facing SE)]
French bridge is broken
Dreary stratus clouds in Norfolk These clouds and the winds kept up from departing - the night before we left the front passed us with gusts far over 30 knots.
[36°50'40.7"N 76°17'34.49"W (facing W)]
Dreary stratus clouds in Norfolk
Click on one of the random site images to expand or click here to select new images. You can click on the little mark on the image to go to the page(s) where that image has been used.

private

66496 views since 2017-01-29, page last modified on 2018-01-07.