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.

  • 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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  • The Promised Land

    I am coming to think it may not be a bad thing for a society to have a shared notion of god, even if it is filtered through a religious apparatus. Whether it is one god or many; male, female, bi or …

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  • An Alien in South Africa?

    It is always difficult clearing in and out of a foreign country in a yacht. I rush around all day in an attempt to clear out so we can leave tomorrow. To clear out I have to visit the marina office, …

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  • Leaving Richards Bay

    You can tell by the grins that the test sail went well. I leave Richards Bay in South Africa with mixed feelings: it was where I was diagnosed with Leukemia 12 months ago and where I have been robbed …

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  • Treated But Not Cured

    Consolidation, Round One

    Black, black, exhaustion, darkness, nothing, no energy. I am almost indifferent to this disease. The hospital bed is neither comfortable nor uncomfortable. It does what it …

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  • A 1,300km Tanzanian Safari

    I have the privilige of riding ‘The Beast’ Arthur's Honda 750 'Africa Twin' from Tanga, where Anjea is anchored, to Lake Natron in the Great Rift Valley, at the edge of the Serengeti.The crew for …

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  • Tripping With the Maasai

    Tears stream down my face. I fall behind the others and find a comfortable rock to sit and give myself some time and space. It is as if someone has slipped LSD in my water. I try to absorb the view, …

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