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

Finally the full refit of Zanshin is finished and it is time for these web pages to once again be filled with a bit of life. After a lengthy refit after the ravages of hurricane Irma, Zanshin is finally back in the Caribbean and ready for further adventures.

“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 2020-02-19 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

Clean propeller The prop is now nice and shiny after using some elbow grease and 150 grit sandpaper.
[18°24'1.52"N 64°38'1.22"W ]
Clean propeller
Start for the Around the Island Race Start for the Around the Island Race
(2017-04-29 08:33:20 NIKON D7100 with a "18.0-250.0 mm f/3.5-6.3" lens. [f/5.3, 1/640s] ISO 100)
Start for the Around the Island Race
Oil drum BBQ The BBQ is being fired up in preparation for making dinner later on. This is an excellent use for old and disused oil drums.
[18°43'24.09"N 64°22'53.69"W ]
Oil drum BBQ

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Friedemann and Wellon With a backround of waves smashing on the rocks, Friedemann and Wellon are enjoying their first real sailing day of their charter, as the winds had been too light in the days before.
[17°56'33.22"N 62°51'17.43"W (facing SE)]
Friedemann and Wellon
Blue Tang Shallow waters around the northern side of the anchorage at Anse Colombier on St. Barths.
(2015-05-18 15:38:29 NIKON D7000 with a "10.5 mm f/2.8" lens. [f/5.0, 1/100s] ISO 100)
Blue Tang
Maltese Falcon stern The logo and stern section of the Maltese Falcon.
[17°0'44.71"N 61°46'19.06"W (facing W)]
Maltese Falcon stern
Bobby Dazzler wave Bobby Dazzler wave
(2017-05-02 13:45:03 NIKON D7100 with a "18.0-250.0 mm f/3.5-6.3" lens. [f/4.5, 1/400s] ISO 100)
Bobby Dazzler wave
Anchored in 10 feet of water I didn't need to put out much chain to get the 4:1 scope in 10 feet of water off Green Island in Antigua
(2017-04-22 17:16:21 NIKON D7100 with a "18.0-250.0 mm f/3.5-6.3" lens. [f/8.0, 1/25s] ISO 100)
Anchored in 10 feet of water
Solar MPPT Controller panel The 6 panels each have a dedicated Genasun controller to optimize power generation. Each controller has a small shunt attached so that I can later measure each panel's output.
(2015-03-02 16:22:51 NIKON D7100 with a "18.0-250.0 mm f/3.5-6.3" lens. [f/5.6, 1/8s] ISO 100)
Solar MPPT Controller panel
Flying around Fun with a powerful dinghy, a spinnaker halyard with line extension :)
(2016-03-17 17:42:04 NIKON D7100 [f/5.6, 1/100s] ISO 100)
Flying around
Yet another rust bucket. Yet another rust bucket.
[17°54'20.78"N 62°51'56.52"W (facing SW)]
Yet another rust bucket.
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.

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139710 views since 2017-01-29, page last modified on 2020-02-10.