HERE - Polynesian Catamaran Association

TA N G A R O A M K IV - IG A K HA LE EC ruising from U Kto South A frica.VolkerRuge telsthe sfory,Part1Helo to the Sea-peoplein M ilbrook!A Iin al,everything is fine 1have rea lystaded Iiving,It's the greatestthing I'veeverdone in my Iife and it's stilgoing onTo make it shod, it's a bloody goodfeelingto be free!The nextdays Ihad wind from W toSW than S and backforce between 1and 4 Slowly lcam e closer into theBiscay where the nextweatherdepreslnthe beginning itwentanotherway thanplanned butIwasn'tsurprised Ialwaysjump head firstinto the cold water.Butwith a W harram or even bettersay theW harram Scott found for m e, I don'tworry ata I!the boat The port-side was heavilyoverloadedO n th e 25 of Septem ber, l went toFalmouth to finlsh the Iastthings,gettingm entaly ready and fina!check outChecking outin Falm outh is the bestone can do The Customs didn't evenbotherto come down the YachtHavento have a Iook IIeftto the greatadventkSeptemberat12ture on the 27.55pmW ind was force 5 NW , I decided toperm anentnightm are In the m orningwhata greatsunrise.So red'Lovely!And atO2O0pm Ihad aIsails downand thedrags out ltwas a good force7 and lwas heading forthe ScilliesIsles 1 was pum ped up w ithadrenaline andscared to death!Before Istad w riting the repod,Ihave tothank aIofyou down in Southdown foryoursupportand help you gave to me.And finaly som e things addressed:To STpvp+ Yes!The handbrake rubberfromthe rudderconnection broke. Leftthe Pod aftcom partm entfloodedYes!A hydraulic pipe in the steeringsystem broke+ Yes!The engine is too heavy It'ssoldnow!* Yes'Epoxy is the greatest stuffeverbeen invented Fixed the hydraulicpipe with it!To Sco'rT* Yes!The auto-pilotbroke down% Yesl The two G PS broke atthesam e time.A sextantisa m ust!ToMA/TIN(GRot?T)+ Yes! She tells when it'sreef* Yes!An Anem om eteronly scaresyou, but a barom eter is good tohave.lttels you when it'sover .Yes' La Coruna is a nice townand the red wine cheap. . .IT A . ,.A' .w. . :' , .r . + . . . 4. .y .. ... . * .. < F% wi. $W #. '..ïk. .2y);.. wx.. ke. ;Now Ietm e stad withthe repod.Plvm odth to Durban -Non-stop -Part1W hen 1left M ilbrook 1was a bitexcitednotto say spaced out.Firsttime,singlehanded,firsttim e on m y own boaț firsttime on abigcatand the firsttim e sailingon a W harram !Butluckily notto Durbanbut Falm outh Halfthe way to HelfordRiver,Iwentm otorsailing and the troubIestaded.Onedieselpipe broke and thealternatorcam e Ioose,Ieftthe fan beltinstrings.So Ispend a couple of days inHelford fixing the engine and balancingpassthe trafficzones straightaway Sol was clear offwhen the first nightcame I've neverrealised before thatanightcan be so Iong.Neytday,the winddied during the afternoon and the secondnightlwentdrifting AtO7OOpm 1wentto bed and woke up at0700am ldidn't sleep too good lt was Iike asion was waiting for me O n the 3rdOctober,0145,the forecastwas 7-8SW Irealy had som efun in the firstweek!In the nightfrom the 4 th to the 5 th ofOctober,Iwentdrifting again In them orning,Idiscovered thatlhada IeakPage 16