Happy 2009!!!

Sun going down behing the "Dois Irmãos" and "Gávea" mountains.
Image by Chico Lima.

The Navigators: Pathfinders of the Pacific

This video is the preview to a beautiful documentary about the navigators from Satawal, Carolinean Islands, in Micronesia. There are nices video sequences of a sailing proa. The video has 7 minutes, and is very much worth a view. I'm very tempted to buy the documentary, which has 59 minutes in total.

Last sail of the year 2008

This year I had only very few oportunities to go sailing. That was the price I had to pay to go building my boat on every weekend.

But the other day my brother showed up, gahtered the family-crew together and we spent a happy day on the water. We were lucky and picked the only sunny day in a long, long sequence of rainy days.

Gentle sailing towards Ipanema Beach, with "Dois Irmãos" in the backround.
The Arpoador Rock in the foreground.

Copacabana Beach with the Christ statue, on the Corcovado Mountain, showing in between the clouds.

Narwal sailing out of the Guanabara Bay.

Paraty - Mamanguá - Trindade

This year we escaped from the Christmas frenezy. We spent a couple of calm and beautiful days exploring the surroundings of Paraty, a small colonial village. The village and its paradisiacal coastline lies 3 hours from Rio, by car, at the Western extremity of the Ilha Grande Bay.

The image above shows the pristine beaches of Trindade. A former pirate hole, back when the gold from Minas Gerais was shipped to Rio de Janeiro, out of Paraty. Legends of lost treasures abound. I kept my eyes open. And indeed found lots of beauty - but none I could carry away with me... except for the pictures...

The steep hillsides were heavy with the lush vegetation, which was glowing in all shades of green after weeks of rain. Our best christmas present were 2 days of sunshine.

Paraty-Mirim: Small valley, with river and beach. Its where we established our basis, in the small pousada Vila Volta. Secluded and hidden in the hills isolated by the forest.

Saco de Mamanguá: The somewhat exaggeratedly called "Tropical Fjord". Nonetheless the bay that reaches 2 miles inland between high hillsides, is of amazing beauty.

Paraty - sleepy colonial village.

The Raft Men

"A raft fisherman catches a wave. It's hard not to like them: strong, masculine, they drink, smoke, and even dance. They may remind you of the American Cowboy but instead of rustling cattle, they wrestle 500-pound wooden rafts up and over crashing waves to harvest shark, eel, stingray and more. Like the West the wilds of Brazil are finally being tamed but not without a price. "

Jangadas, and their sailors from the NorthEast of Brazil are allways a great inspiration. Find more pictures and a great video by the journalist Paul Lima, under: http://www.endangeredcoast.org/index.htm


Thank's to Bob Holtzman, from the Indigenous Boats Blog, for the find.

Life, Family, New Generation

New Generation of sailors: Mariana,

Matthias e Leonardo

New and old happy together: Mauricio, Leonardo, Mariana, Andreas, Lisa e Matthias.

A happy family day, sailing on Narwal. A rare occasion.

Life

Diving with sharks

"One of the most sure ways to embrace risk is to free dive with big gray sharks." That's what they say in this Latitude Index post. Its a good way to get stunning pictures too, I'd say.

Well, ... I felt related to the picture. Reminded me of amateur boatbuilding... ;-)

Rato Skipper

Gustavo Pacheco, a friend and frequent contributer to this blog, has now opened his own blog. He shows us lots of his cool sailing pictures, talks about his rich experience in the sailing world as delivery skipper and boat builder. Gustavo is one of the pioneers of the Open 6.5 construction here in Brazil. Check it out under: http://rato-skipper.blogspot.com/, and find the link on my blogroll.

Image: Of course by Gustavo... Nice...

Still under way...slowly

The last few months have not been to easy. Lots of changes on the project, lots of work and end-of-year related obligations. Therefore, not much has happend, workwise. But all is prepared for me to actually start. Tools, protective equipment, the boat hull and shed -all is in place.

On the other hand, the climate has not helped much either. It has been raining constantly in the last 2 months. I have never seen so much rain in Rio! Due to all the resulting humidity, epoxi work would not be recommended. I'm using this to confort myself a little. It's not helping much. But,... well I tried. Keeping cool is important.

Considering this cenario, I can say I'm still under way. Slowly but still moving. Waiting for the breeze to increase, so I can get up to speed again. Wait and see.

Cute litlle cat

I found this cute little cat on the net...

It is called Aventura 20, desigend by "Martin Defline". find it here: http://www.defline.com/gammes/serie/Av20/aventura_20.htm

For some reason it has attracted my attention. It think mainly because of the rig arrangement. In a way it ressembles very much what I have in mind for Arpex. The main difference, except the smaller size, being that this rig uses a fat-head main, running on tracks, while I have in mind to use a soft-wing sail, with a short gaff - Wharram rig style. I prefer that, because of the cost of the tracks required and, foremost, because a softwing-sail can't jam, and will reef quickly, due to the weight of the gaff. Let go the halyard and the sail WILL come down. I am a bit traumatized by mainsails that won't come down. A bad habit I experienced with my brothers 40ft. mono. Unpleasant...

Nomadness

"Nomadness" is the name of a blog I've been following. The author, Steve Roberts, is also the owner of the fine yacht called "Nomadness". The blog reports about his sailing trips in the State of Washington, USA. And foremost it also gives a deep sight into the many of the technical aspects of the yacht. Steve is obviously very much technology orientated and seemingly a gifted engineer. It gives a very interesting perspective on the possibilities of technologocal applications on a nomadic, seagoing yacht.

Personnaly I have a more simple approach to life at sea. But, nevertheless, I find it intersting to watch someone explore the possibilities. I am convinced that all theses equipments and applications will slowly trickle down to a wider user base.

... I love the view from the pilothouse. Reminds me of a well protected cocoon. A place to tackle the elements from a well controlled drivers seat.

I recommend you take a look at Steve's blog. Try the link http://www.nomadness.com/blog/, which I have also included into by blogroll.


BTW: There is more about Steve's activities here: http://microship.com/

Fight Kids

Pictures I took from the TV screen, during a documentary which I found shocking. I've been keeping them for a long time. Today time has come for posting them. The world is definietly marching, head up, into a very wrong direction. It often seems that the dark side is gaining the upper hand.

Where to go, what to do? What is the answer to the escalade of violence? Some events make this a question which needs to be answered on a very personal basis. How can we take care of our loved ones, when others are educating their kids like the ones we see on this images? Or worse not educating them at all. Leaving them, therefore us, at the mercy of their most primitive instincts?

New tools

Yesterday I did important steps towards the actual restart of the construction. I bought a couple of tools, a bigh bucket and sweepers.

The place where I have the boat now was a mess, with dirt accumulated in years of careless use (and no use). Working there was not an inviting prospect. I like to have the place where I work clean. Therefore, I went to it with fervour. In a couple of hours (4!) of furious sweeping, and after carrying away a few buckets-full of dust and litter, I am happy enough to say, now, that the place is ready to see some action. Unfortunately I forgot the camera, and therefore, couldn't register my day's work in pictures. I was proud!

And apart form those sweaty tasks, I went shopping for tools. First on my list was a sander. I was lucky enough to find an orbital finishing sander from Makita on promotion. Can't live without one of those... well, maybe live, but not build a boat.

Next on the list was a hand plane. And I also found an adequate one. Less expensive than I expected. It's a brazilian steel. I thought I should give our national manufacturers some confidence, in periods of crisis. If the steel blade doesn't work properly, I'll change it.

Else, I got some general wood-working tools. I whish I knew their proper english names. Now I still need the eletronic scale for the epoxi.

Rocket Man

See these cool images showing International "flying" Moths!

Found it on Sailing Anarchy.

New activity plan

I'm developing a new activity plan to get things going again. Hope to get some ticks on it during the next weekend.

Saveiros

"Saveiros" are a traditional form of working sailboats, originated in the State of Bahia/Brazil. They were used to haul general cargo, people, animals and also to fish. They are built of wood and carry gaff sails.

Most saveiros nowadays are adapted for turism, daytrips. Equiped with powerfull diesel engines they carry large crowds around the bay. Their masts mere mood enhancing adornment. But some are now used as family boats or luxury cruisers. The image above shows one of those. And the picture below shows one used for daytrips around the bay of Rio de Janeiro.

To be continued...