Holg Back at Sea - 26=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=B022.17'S 175=B0?=03.82'E

26°22.17'S 175°03.82'E

Hi guys,

As soon as DHARMA BUM III was in the water again, there was talk of a ferocious storm with up to 70 knots coming our way. Doesn't make for good sleep and I kept hoping that my friends were trying to scare me. Not so. Inside our sheltered anchorage in the river in Whangarei we measured 50 knots, but out brand-new anchor just dug itself deeper and deeper into the mud.

In the very last minute I managed to sell out little car and then we were off, as there was one of the vaunted weather-windows opening. Everything went smoothly for the first day, although the swell from the storm was making for a bumpy ride. Thanks to the "Paihia Bomb" (an anti seasickness cocktail) nobody had to throw up and I stopped taking the medicine the second day.

On the fourth day our local weather-guru told me that things might "get hairy". They sure did. The weather got worse and worse, my two girls were terribly seasick and when it was blowing constantly at around 40 knots, I took all sails down. The wind-generator worked itself loose, the bimini couldn't take it any more and at the top the wind howled with 60 knots. Not good, that. That was the day our friend Martin drowned in Ilan, Taiwan.

Abut 36 hours later the wind had died down enough, so that we could set sail again and since then we have been busy repairing things and cleaning up. The bimini is up again and the KISS wind-generator is lashed in place. The last few days the weather has been just about perfect - very light winds and a smooth sea. That's what we like and progress be damned.

Now the question is whether we should stick to our original plan and go through the Torres Strait and Darwin or spend another season having bonfires at the beach in Vanuatu and the Solomons. Our friends on WAKATAITEA and ZANGEZI will be there and we are very much torn as to our immediate destination. Madagascar and South Africa would mean that our circumnavigation could be finished in one year. That would mean the end of this lifestyle. Asia is another option as it is probably the best place to get our boat back into proper shape. The South Seas with their friendly islanders, snorkeling and unspoiled beaches are yet another option.

We'll probably let the wind decide and see where that blows us. :-)

Greetings from Aurora Ulani, Liping & Holg - DHARMA BUM III

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