The Slog

Not a Blog but a Sailing Log. My musings as Anjea sails me around the world and I make feeble attempts to grok the meaning of the universe along the way.

  • The Dragon's Long Game

    This post is somewhat different to my usual reflections, but over the past seven years of sailing through Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, and now Europe, a stark reality has become …

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  • Amsterdam

    Marnix, Hugo's brother, is taking us for a tour of Amsterdam in his little boat. We could never have done this on our own. I'd be lost on those canals in five minutes and it would be quite …

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  • The North Sea

    We have just left the Caledonian Canal at Inverness in Scotland. The breeze is as light as expected and we only set the main to steady the boat, but as we motor out of Inverness Firth the breeze …

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  • Neptune's Staircase

    Blue skies, a light breeze, calm seas and good friends on a boat. It's hard to beat. Summer has been slow to make an appearance but started tentatively the moment we entered the Caledonian Canal …

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  • A New Camera

    I bought a second-hand Nikon D800 as a replacement for the trusty old D700 that is now so salt-encrusted that half the controls don't work. I was tempted to buy a new mirrorless camera but couldn't …

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  • But What Will the Children Think?

    Sorry, no photo to prove it, but I thoroughly enjoy my Christmas Day swim. This annual ritual would be unremarkable in Australia but here in Ireland it's quite something. I've heard of places such as …

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  • Saamaka River Experience

    The Saamaka are the Maroon Africans living along the Suriname River. No, that's not them above — they're my wonderful companions on this adventure!

    The Suriname River is big, flowing about 2kn at …

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  • Brazil

    Brazil is a vast country of more than 215M people, 2.7% of all humans. We saw only the Northeastern tip of it. But what we saw has us regretting that we did not go further south and take in more of …

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  • Out of Place and Time

    Crossing from Walvis Bay

    It is my watch. Merel has found the source of the annoying noise we both heard last night — the lower stays are loose! The lowers stop the mast moving from side to side and …

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  • High and Dry in Sao Luis

    We are now on our third tide cycle in the strangest marina I have ever been in. Whenever the 6m tide goes out Anjea is left stuck in the fine sandy mud, completely aground, until the tide returns …

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Not a Blog but a Slog: a Sailing Log of course! Don't forget to look at the Gallery too.