Doll

Missing...

Alex and Taru on video

episode 1: an introduction from worldtourstories on Vimeo.

Saturday ... 6.203 miles away

Saturday. I should be waking up, and preparing to go out - boatbuilding. But not today. I´m exactly 6.203 miles away from the construction site. Too far to get there in able time to do some decent work.

Google Earth allows to measure the distance with amazing, surprising precision. It is 9.983,12 kilometers. A long way to go.

I wonder whether Valmir has been working on the boat.... I´m not too confident. My inquiring emails have not been returned. Which does´t say much, because Valmir is not exactly a prodigious net surfer boy. ... So, maybe there has been advance, afterall, despite my absence? Maybe?

Is anyone around? Maybe someone wants to go check out for me? Please? Oh my,... I miss the sweaty action! The slow progress.

Back to B

Strangely enough, comming back to Berlin felt like a homecoming. A little bit. After waking up at 02:30am to cath an early flight, travelling the odd 12-13 hours I felt tired. But going to sleep right away, after checking, and working the emails, of course, was no good. Besides, I was hungry as could be. The last decent meal was "breakfirst" in the plane, still over the Emirates... So I ventured out, for a walk through the center of Berlin, with the setting sun. Berlin is a great city and I enjoyed my walk very much.  

Berlin is a great city and I enjoyed my walk very much. My hotel is in a prime location. So, I could walk over to the main train station, Reichstag, Brandenburger Tor, Unter den Linden, Museums Insel,... I felt a strange urge to see and enter the "Dom", the Catherdral too. Half starved I had dinner in a great place somwhere about the Hacksche Märkte. I was (half) lost by then. After a generous dinner I walked back. Nothing better than a good walk to get over the effects of a log travel.

Blending in

Blending in, razzle dazzle style.

Dhows found on the hard

During this weekend, I had opportunity to see a couple of the Emirate´s attractions. I made a trip to Dubai, and toured Abu Dhabi. Besides the major tourist attractions, like souks, mosques and the odd excentric highrise building, I was very interested in learning about the Arab maritime tradition. Afterall, the traditional workboat, the dhow, is a center piece of the local culture. Before turning towards petroleum, the sea was the major source of income. Either through fishing in the rich fishing grounds, or after the precious pearls, or else through trade with big sailing dhows.

The dhows are still present in the United Arab Emirates, and one can see, that the government gives incentive to keep the tradition alive. Dhows can be seen in monuments around the town, and tourist attractions like the somewhat artificial Heritage Village, allways have dhows on display. Dhows are also still used extensively for fishing and for moving of people and bulk cargo. However, it is allways propelled by a powerfull engine. Sailing dhows are hard to find. After some searching, I found some. But on the hard, not on the water. I was told that they race once a year.... But this years race has been held already. Bad luck.

A museum in Dubai had some pretty images of a sailing dhow from the 1960-ies. Very well built models are also popular and can bee seen in different locations around the town.

The racing dhows are built lightly and have elegant lines, and I suspect that they go really well on a reach. It should be a lot of fun to sail one. Maybe I´ll find some opportunity at some point?

Dhows

Dhows are the traditions workboats, used in the Persian Gulf to transport people and cargo. Some of these traditional boats are still around, and some of the Gulf countries are trying to preserve the maritime inharitage. As can be seen in the monument/sculpture pictured in the image above.

I havent had much time yet to go and find the Abu Dhabi Dhows yet, but Î´ll try to, during the weekend, which in the Arab countries starts today.

 Already this evening I manged to go for a little prospecting around the Marina Mall, in the vicinity of which the Volvo Ocean Race village was stationed not long ago. All I could find were these two shells pictured... Not much more. Let´s see what tomorrow brings.

Sheikh Zayed Mosques - Abu Dhabi

The Sheikh Zayed Mosques in Abu Dhabi is one of the greatest religious complexes in the world. It is situated on my daily way to the premises of my client. From the highway it offers an impressive view.

I haven´t had opportunuty to visit it yet, but I hope to, during the weekend, for it offers an impressive architecture, besides many other special and unique elements:

Natural materials were chosen for much of its design and construction due to their long-lasting qualities, including marble stone, gold, semi-precious stones, crystals and ceramics.The carpet in the main prayer hall is considered to be the world's largest carpet. This carpet measures 5,627 m² (60,570 sq ft), and was made by around 1,200-1,300 carpet knotters. The weight of this carpet is 35 ton and is predominantly made from wool.

Goood morning Abu Dhabi!

The sun goes up within dense sand dust, creating an eerie mood. The vast deserts of the hinterlands produce an ever present dust fog, which also covers everything with its fine cover. This is the view I get from my hotel window.

Big, daring development projects abound in the city. The seemingly attractive coastline of the Persian Gulf seems to receive little attention. I haven´t seen any sailboats on the water yet. Upon inquiry I was told that to find dhows I would have to go to Dubai. Let´s see... maybe I will, during the weeekend.

Hallo aus Berlin!

It hat been exciting to re-experience Berlin. Last time I´ve been here in the late 90-ies. During this time Berlin has changed dramatically. The eastern part has been effectively integrated into the town. Massive investment has developed the infrastructure, providing great quality for the Berliners.

The city is very international, open and has a puslating art scene. Bars, restaurants, museums galeries abound. There are so many things to do,... and so little time to take advantage.

Tomorrow I´ll be travelling to Abu Dhabi... I´m quite excited to see that too.

Mrs. Arpex

Inspection by Mrs. Arpex

Adri insisted on a last inspection visit befor my leaving. And of course I concurred to that. A quick visti to say goodbye... We'll be back!

Identity continued

I have received a couple of positive comments regarding the little identity "logo" I have developed for my boat. Thanks for that. I do like to hear other opinions and points of view. Keep them comming.

The logo is thought to be displayed on the mainsail. The "harpoon" will be repeated in small details, like the dark green stripe aling the hulls, and other locations. I tell you,... I have lots of fun developing this!

Next steps

I'm done with building for now. In the last two weeks I have been able to dedicate a significant amount of time to the construction of Arpex. Having left my company, I was "in between jobs". This concentrated dedication has pushed the project a significant step forward. My objective is to launch in 2012. Much is yet to be done, so I needed to push.

Now I'm on a new job assignment. And this one will take me abroad for a while. As of tomorrow evening, I will be taking the plane to Germany - Frankfurt and Berlin. Other interesting destinations will follow from there. After a period of pretty stationary living in Rio de Janeiro, I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to travel a bit.

Worried with the construction hyatus, which would be a consequence of my absence, I've tried to scheme out a configuration, where I could subcontract portions of work. In preparation, to check out how it would work, I have contracted Valmir to finish the ama. And he has been doing a fine job. Over time we have done lots of talking about what I need to be done on the boat, and how I want it. 

My plan was, if everything went right with the ama, to have him work on the main hull during my abesence. But for that to happen, I would have to finish some structural portions of the work myself. This would be mainly to close and laminate the bow, laminate the cabin decks, and thoroughly epoxi coat the cabin. The idea would be to have Valmir prepare the anti-skid pads for the cabin decks, and fair the cabn to make it ready for painting.

And with a considerable effort, I have achieved the required milestones - in the last minute - and have agreed a working scheme with Valmir. He will prepare the decks and cabin in a way, that, when I return, I will finish the rudder and steering, close the rear deck, laminate, and then paint it all over. The ama willl be also ready by then. I'll be very close to launching by then.

But still lots of things will be missing: The deck between the hulls, the fittings, the mast, rigging, sails, engine mount.... It will be a race in order to finish in 2012. But it is possible. Lets hope Valmir does his part in the next 3 months. All I will be able to do is watch from the distance. Not a position I like. But I'll try to think of other things too.

Praia do Diabo

The Arpoador Rock actually is a dividing point between two beaches. One is the famous Arpoador beach, or "Arpex". The other is called "Praia do Diabo" - "Devils Beach". Supposedly some dangerous currents make it a somewhat dangerous playground - hence its alarming name. Nevertheless, it offers attractive views, out to the ocean.

Thanks to my friend Christian Gaul,, for offering a different perspective of this lovely landmark. Much appreciated.

Done for now...

It has been a run against the clock. Since I'll be leaving for a while, I wanted to leave things well ordered, and sfter having done a significant step forward. The price for it, is a week and a half of intense work on the boat, meaning, thus, that that I'm dog tired now. But the price is cheap - and I got there.

I'll tell you more after some rest.

Happy Birthday Rio!

Im quite a bit late, with my congratulations... But I guess, Rio won't mind. Being a little late is usual here in town. Unfortunatly. ;-)

Nevertheless, 447 year ago someone decided to start a city in this sunny, beautiful part of our planet. And were still here, alive and kickin'!! Still beautiful, still sunny! Hope it stays that way.

As it seems I'm going to leave this nice place for a short while. If everything goes as planned, I should be taking a plane to Europe, as of Monday. But, being a cautious fella, I'm only going to tell as soon as I have ticket for that.

This should also be the offical end of my sunrise Sugar Loaf picture series... This one is the last I took on my matinal way to work. Sorry, but change allways has good sides and bad sides. And I guess we had plenty of these... Ok, I can't get enough of them myself, but I'll find an other theme. I promise.

Thanks to Guilherme Licurgo for the nice picture on top of this post - taken from Arpoador Beach - Arpex.