Exploring the World

Operational Again

ajulseth — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:08:00 GMT

African Innovation is fully operational again. But I get ahead of myself. I also realize that on the picture above I'm tied up to the dock, so while I'm not mobile per say, I have the potential to be mobile, or said in a different way: I could be mobile if I wanted to be.

On Monday we were lifted back back on water. On Tuesday I started working on getting all systems ready, so that I can go to Curacao to start my charter on December 16th. My main obstacles were: a) a broken clutch, that needed to be replaced and b) a windless that didn't work properly. Without both engines working it'll be very tough to go to Curacao, because the trip from Aruba to Curacao is against the wind, waves and a 3 knot current. So, I really need to have both engines working if I want to get there this side of New Year's Eve.

The reason I'm huffing and puffing is that it's damned warm (I hadn't opened all hatches yet, to get proper ventilation). I'm also disappointed that you can' hear "Master of Puppets" playing loudly in the background, but such is life with these small camera microphones. Though I said that I was switching out the clutch, what happened in reality is that an Arubian mechanic named Clifford Rosa came and did it, with me watching his every move.

Clifford did an awesome job at a very reasonable price. He worked on the clutch on both Tuesday and Wednesday. What was supposed to be a simple swap-job ended up being a relatively comprehensive switch-out-the-components-job, but the good thing is that I know know how the inside of the clutch looks and know how to replace the different parts. So all is good. I was also very happy to have a 30 hp engine, because we needed to lift it back to work on the clutch. If I had a bigger engine it would not have been as easy. Our only surprise was that when the clutch was switched out, the engine wouldn't start. These problems weren't linked, but it was a bit of a pain after so much work had been spent getting the clutch sorted. I felt very international getting advice from Gideon in South Africa and having Clifford help me here. Between the three of us we got the engine running again and she is now purring like a kitten (much like the other engine), so now all is good. Another sensational thing is that I also got my Windless to work in both directions, so now I can anchor without problems. I say this in a quick sentence, but believe you me, hours was spent getting the problem sorted.

Last evening I met up with Hans and headed over to the Hotel district to enjoy some sensational pizza. It was a nice break from the tasty fresh fish soup I eat every evening at the marina. Hans is a great guy and if it works out, he'll hook me up with some fishing gear, so that I can fish local style, hunting the seas for Tuna and other tasty treats. The cool thing is that Hans will be in Curacao next week, so we can hang out before I start the charter on the 16th.

Tomorrow I need to hoist my mainsail, clean the boat and go provisioning, because if all goes as planned, I'll be heading for Curacao on Saturday ... or Sunday. We'll see. I need to look at a forecast to see when the wind is most favorable ... unfortunately favorable here, means as little wind as possible, because it will be on the nose the whole trip to Curacao.

The only correct thing to do after a day like today is grab a beer and enjoy the sunset ... which I did. Sorry that I am shirtless yet again, but it's just too warm to be wearing ~~clothes~~ T-shirts.

Back on water

ajulseth — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:52:00 GMT

Yesterday I was very conflicted about being lifted back on water, because I only had one working engine, a windless that didn’t work properly and most importantly no place to tie up. Thankfully I had a chat with Ian and Westa (a very nice couple staying in the marina on their Benetau 39). Ian convinced me to go ahead with the original plan and after we devised a clever plan for where to tie up, I was sure. I tried to call the crane operator last night to find out when they were showing up, but seeing that it was Sunday, his phone was turned off.

I was up bright and early at 6:30 a.m. to change one of my propeller zinc anodes and to remove the masking tape from my waterline anti-fouling paint job. At 6:50 a.m. I get a text message: The crane will be there within 30 minutes. My first thought was: SHIT. The masking tape was proving to be a real nightmare to get off, because while I got the tape off, the glue stayed on the hull. So I knew I could look forward to a nice day’s work with turpentine, scraping the bloody glue off, from the comforts of my dinghy. Yay!

They showed up as promised and I was happy to see that it was a big crane. If you ever need a crane on Aruba, don’t go to Arcos, they are overpriced, have old cranes, are unfriendly and unreliable, I know, because I used them to lift me out. I used Albo to put me back in, spearheaded by Henk de Wit and it was a great experience. They showed up as promiced and did an excellent job.

I was overly stressed, because there was a million things to do and they told me they were only operators, I was responsible for the rigging and hooking up of the lifting gear. Now I was very thankful for my summer job at NorSea, because I knew what to do. I was also super helpful for Ian’s help, I wouldn’t have been able to do it without him. Petar was also handy, because he took all these pictures of the lift, so that I actually have some visuals here.

I had 5 minutes to paint the spots the boat had been resting on, before the lift was executed.

I was VERY relieved when AI had water instead of air under her keel. While we were tied up at the dock I cleaned the deck and refilled the water tank, before it was time to inflate the dinghy, so that we could move the boat to Ian and I’s cleverly devised spot.

With the dinghy on the water we moved AI to the new spot, hanging off the end of the pier, taking up no real dock real-estate, while still being connected to the World and most importantly not needing to use my non-functional windless.

We did row out my spare anchor (Fortress 37), to avoid swinging too much, especially if the wind gets into a fickle mood. With the boat fully secured Petar helped me mount the brand new stack pack … There’s only one thing to say about it: It’s gorgeous!

With that in place, we mounted the mainsail. A Hellish job on your own, but on OK job when you are two.

I decided to mount the old mainsail, even though I have a brand new mainsail. There were a couple of factors influencing me, first and foremost, that Petar was only here for the day and it would take too much time to move all the sail hardware from the old to the new … and I figure that if I can get some extra nautical miles out of the old sail … why not, do it?

The original plan was to also mount the genoa, but the old furling line had snapped and I didn’t have a new one (I forgot that it had snapped), so I need to buy one, before I can mount it).

With the day’s work done, I grabbed a shower and a bottle of Pinot Noir, before we headed over to Westa and Ian to enjoy a delicious 3 course dinner. They invited us over, knowing that on a lifting-in-day, food normally receives a low priority. I was enormously grateful .., and the food was excellent: shrimp cocktail as appetizer, pasta with pumpkin sauce for main course and a delicious dessert to finish it off. Fantastic.

After dinner, Petar did his Everest presentation in the marina bar for us and few others. It was a nice way to finish the evening. After the presentation everyone went their separate ways and Petar and I said our good byes, because we won’t meet again on this sailing trip.

A Brand New Day

ajulseth — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:33:00 GMT

Before Petar sent me the text message that he was going home I was busy deciding on what to do onboard the boat, because it is/was a bit of a mess here.

Thank God I had just bought a new cooler and had restocked it like one should.

The milk is for White Russians (The drink … I have yet to meet Russians here). I ended up sharing a few of my beers with a couple of guys working on the submarine you might have seen in an earlier video. Well, they ended up inviting me to go diving with them tomorrow (Saturday).

It was quite funny, because on the way to the dive-spot, it dawned on Maarten, the other scuba diver, that when he invited me, we were in high spirits due to the beer and he had actually not asked how experienced a diver I was. When he heard that I did my first scuba dive when I was 6 and that I got certified when I was 14, he visibly relaxed.

They will probably use some of the pictures I took on their website. It was a lot of fun and if I’m lucky I’ll get to go inside the submarine in one of the coming days.

I also need to focus on my sweet boat, because there are a few things that need immediate attention. Fist on my list is getting the windless (anchor winch) to work. Right now it either pulls the anchor, up, or if I rewire it, down. From the looks of it a relay is fried, but I’m trying to find out exactly which one(s), or if it is a corroded wire. Second on the list is changing the clutch plate on my port engine, so that it will finally be operational again. The third thing on my list is unclogging the starboard fuel line, with these three things accomplished I can finally be mobile on water.

African Innovation is scheduled to be lifted back in tomorrow, which I really look forward to. There is something wrong with a boat on land … it doesn’t look right and it sure doesn’t feel right. Ah … tomorrow: Monday will be a brand new day.

Crew changes

ajulseth — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:46:55 GMT

It is probably with the same amount of surprise that you read this, that I write it: Petar has decided that the sailing life is not for him ... and this before we even hit the water with the boat.

Yesterday he went into town to do some internetting and in the evening he sent me a text message saying that he is booking his flight home. I know you're thinking that we must have quarreled or fought, or something along those lines, but we didn't. He basically summed it up by saying that it wasn't as fun as he had hoped. No amount of me assuring him that it gets better when we hit the water and start sailing, would make him change his mind. It's a shame, because working on the boat in a marina on the ass side of Aruba is a poor indicator for how the sailing life would be.

Petar left this morning and moved into a hotel in the party district of Aruba, to enjoy life and reflect. I was very sad to see him go, but when this was how he felt, there was little I could say to sway his decision. Luckily he's coming back on Monday to help me put the boat back on the water and to help me put up the sails. These jobs would be very tough on my own.

So now I need to actively start looking for a crew member ... maybe I should try to attract a girl that likes sailing ... We'll see ...

Language Barriers

ajulseth — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:20:42 GMT

Yesterday I ran into a "minor" language barrier.

Next time I'm bringing a phrasebook.

Seeing Aruba through a paintbrush

ajulseth — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:51:00 GMT

We didn't have to worry about fading hang-overs, because a Saturday night on Aruba, no matter where you are, sucks ... We hit the most popular haunts and it felt like some sort of plague had struck. There simply wasn't anyone out. When we spoke to some locals the following day our suspicions were confirmed: No one goes out on Saturdays. The good days to party on Aruba are Wednesday through Friday. After all, who wants to waste valuable weekend time being hung-over? This explains why people are slow as molasses in the mornings on weekdays: they are all hung-over!

The one good thing about us not staying out till stupid o'clock, getting completely obliterated, is that we were able to have an early morning. The task of the day was to sand the hull below the waterline, or more accurately: to sand the old anti-fouling, so that it will open up and be receptive to new paint. With the hulls squeaky clean from the pressure washing on Saturday, we rented a sander and went to work.

Petar got the sander (he likes playing with tools), while I went to work with normal sandpaper.

Just when work was starting to get a bit tedious, it started to rain. We were both devastated at this fine opportunity for a break.

There's nothing like a little break to get your mind off work. This sure beats working in an office ;-) The great thing about Aruba is that it never rains very long, so within an hour we were back to work again.

It took us all day to sand the hull and ... well ... Petar started loosing it by the end. Either that or he was working on a revolutionary new sanding tecnique.

We had to squeeze in a morning sanding session, before we returned the sander to the rental place. Then we hosed down the hull yet again, but this time to get all the sand and dust off, so that we could start painting.

We are now trying to put on as many coats as possible with the newly purchased 5 gallons of SeaHawk Islands 44 anti-fouling. I'm applying it on top of the CopperCoat I'm currently using, because it simply didn't work in warmer climates. Put it to you this way: I had stuff growing underneath while we were sailing across the Atlantic. I have seen the Islands 44 anti-fouling on some other boats down here and they had zero growth, hence the switch. From the looks of it, we'll be able to put on 3 full layers ... maybe even more.

We were supposed to go back on the water on Friday, but Arcos, the company bringing the mobile crane that were supposed to do it, all of a sudden backed out. The owner of the company David Fuente is a fickle man and for no apparent reason, he decided that he didn't want to do the job, leaving me high and dry ... in a very literal sense. Thankfully there is another crane company on the island, so now Albo will do it on Monday. Rumor has it that their crane is twice as large, so I'm kind of excited ... boys and toys.

Another exciting update is that both my brother Martin and my friend Topi (he worked with Petar and I on the Vision of the Seas) have pretty much confirmed that they will join the team. Topi will join mid February and Martin a month later. Both will by the looks of it stay onboard till we reach Norway.

I will simply put have a kick ass team, ready for any challenge ... No Poseidon, that was NOT a challenge!

Hard work on Aruba

ajulseth — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:30:00 GMT

What's missing from this trolley?

Answer: Petar's backpack (The one in the picture is mine).
So Petar spent his first exciting hour on Aruba filling out a lost luggage report.

Having overcome that hurdle, we jumped into an incredibly overpriced taxi to Aruba Nautical Club and I could finally lay my eyes and hands on my sweet boat for the first time since May. It was a fantastic moment.

Note that someone parked their boat underneath mine, using it like some ordinary garage. Cheeky bastards, I should charge them.
There's no doubt a long list of things we should have done when we got onboard, like clean the boat, unpack, get settled in and all of that ... We did the only correct thing (if you nodded in approval to the abovementioned things, you are wrong according to ~~90%~~ 100% of the people on African Innovation) ... we drank Rum ... mixed with a sprinkle of coke (please disregard the water bottle on the table).

As you can tell we were charging up on Captain Morgan while playing cyber pirates. Oh, one thing: If my computer looks tiny, it has nothing to do with perspective (well, maybe a bit, but) my computer is tiny. Unlike "others" I don't need to compensate ... My tiny computer can rock it out for hours on end (much like its owner), while Petar had to go searching for a socket to re-juice his Mac. He found it under a light pole, much to my amusement.

The next morning we started bright and early, rented a car from the cheapest dealer on the Aruba: $175 for a week. Not bad to be honest. We are now cruising around in style in an early 90's Chevy Cavalier. The first order of the day was to stop by East Wind Marine Services to pick up 5 gallons of Seahawk Islands 44, so that we can put some anti-fouling on the boat that actually works in warm climates. While picking up the Islands 44 we were told why we had heard sirens at 7am this morning. A 10 year old girl was killed while waiting for the schoolbus. A car tried to pass a car, lost control, rolled and killed the poor girl ... incidentally the driver was also killed. We talked about it afterwards and agreed that you never know when something like this could happen, so it's very important to live now while you can.
Moving away from deep thoughts: The rest of the day revolved around getting various painting and sanding supplies, so that we can prepare the hull for the anti-fouling. In the evening we hit the night life and quickly discovered that a Friday night in Oranjestad (the capital of Aruba) SUCKS. So we headed out to the area by the hotels. This area had much more to offer and we spent an enjoyable evening watching people drool over 2 scantly clad, what to me looked like Russian prostitutes (I hope they don't read this blog), promoting Hondas ... Apparently that's Honda's grand marketing strategy here. Parading Russian hookers around their cars, playing loud music and flooding everything with bright lights ... amazing.
The next morning we shot out and after 5 hours of searching got a hold of a high pressure washer, that we immediately went to work with on the hull.

My camera and I really appreciated that little deluge. In terms of swim-wear worn onboard, everything is allowed, as seen by the eastern European and Italian speedo look, sported by Petar. It's very brave ... alas not for me.

Who said that cleaning couldn't be fun?

We only rented the pressure washer for 4 hours, so it sounded like a bad joke, when I told Petar that I couldn't find the car keys when we really needed to hit the road in order to avoid penalties. I went through, my pockets nine times, searched the cockpit, the salon, searched my pockets again, looked around the boat, did some thinking and finally realized where I'd dropped them: In the ocean, when I went swimming. With no time to spear I put on my freediving fins, grabbed my mask, shuffled backwards into the water and went hunting for me keys in a HUGE lagoon. To my immense surprise I found them ... so we were able to return the washer with only minutes to spare. So from now on ALL keys go on a floater key-ring, no exceptions ... Can't have this happen again (as we say in Norwegian: fadese).

Now the hull is nice and clean, and ready to be sanded. We will start with this task at the crack of noon when our hang-over fades, because now it is time to hit the nightlife yet again.

Fort Lauderdale

ajulseth — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:49:00 GMT

After a nice and non too strenuous flight (we basically slept the whole way, owing to the late night in Lisbon) we finally got to the Sunshine state.

The next 6 days was spent sight-seeing, going to museums and ... I can't think of a third lie ... hmmm ... Actually we spent the days, catching up with friends and shopping.

I first caught up with Kely on the Liberty. It was awesome to see her again. The ship was huge and I was very thankful not to be working there. She gave me the grand tour, which also included a ride on the Flowrider. I sucked, but it was fun ...

We finished off the day by enjoying a tasty lunch at Hooters.

A lunch I suspect I enjoyed more than Kely. Don't know what makes me think that.

I also caught up with a very old friend of mine: Naomi ... well, she's not very old, she's my age, but we've been friends since we were 14, when she was the first girl I ever asked out on a date ... Needless to say we had some catching up to do. I was very impressed with what she had accomplished since then. Her artworks were out of this World, as was her atelier. I wish I had a place like that.

We also spent substantial time in the Mazda 3, so generously lent to us by Petar's uncle and aunt: Dubravko and Vlatka, whom we were also staying with. They gave us a room each while they camped out in their room with their youngest daughter. We are very indebted to them for their help and very generous hospitality. Dubravko and I spent a few very nice evenings chatting over a couple of excellent bottles of red wine. This while Petar was out "exploring" some new acquaintances ;-)

Petar and I also squeezed in some time on the tennis court where I was duly cremated ... and in the pool, where I could finally shine.

After 6 fantastic days staying with Dubravko and Vlatka it was time to board the plane yet again, but this time we were finally bound for my lovely boat on:

The adventure has started

ajulseth — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:05:00 GMT

Petar and I finally walked off the Vision of the Seas at 12:45 on November 19th. Needless to say it felt great to be off what by now felt like a prison. Doing an 8 month contract is not to be recommended. Having said that, I still had a lot of fun, but I was very ready to move on and get back to sailing. Before I get back to Aruba I had an overnight in Lisbon, followed by 6 days of shopping madness in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale.

After a day of walking around in town, nothing is better than a glass (or two, obviously) of wine. then we proceeded to dinner to enjoy some fantastic fish and a bottle (or two...) of local red wine. Yummy.

After dinner we sampled the local nightlife. I impressed the Hell out of the two girls we ended up chatting a bit with, when I not only guessed the country they were from, but also the part of the country they were from, without actually hearing what they were saying.

They were from Oslo, so it wasn't a huge leap of imagination. You can read more about them in their blog. They introduced us to the massive local Caipirinhas and after chatting to them, we went on a bit of a bender ...

It was a grand night of mayhem, finished off by a diving tournament ... After all, we need to get ready for returning to my boat ...

After only 2 hours of sleep it was time to board the plane to the airport and next chapter will take place in:

My future plans

ajulseth — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:22:00 GMT

The last update should have brought you up to speed what I have been doing these past few months. In this post, which will hopefully be a bit shorter, I'll address what my future plans are, because to put it mildly they have changed drastically.

Originally I cast off from Norway in September of 2008, with the intention of circumnavigating. For a number of reasons I'm abandoning that plan. I have decided that when I return to Aruba in November, I'll set sail for Norway. It will be a slow sail, because I'm planning to spend around 5 months in the Caribbean before I sail back across the Atlantic in April/May. When I return to Norway my intention is to return to university to get a Bachelor of Science in Navigational Engineering or Nautikk as it is called in Norwegian. This will enable me to work on the bridge on the big ships. The bachelor will take 3 years, but I believe it is a smart investment in my future. I haven't decided where to study yet, but right now Tromsø is a favorite, followed by Horten/Tønsberg and even Ålesund. We'll see. Right now my focus is on finishing the job here in style, before I return to Aruba and really enjoy the Caribbean.

Things are working in the right direction, because I already have one crew-member for the entire trip home. Petar Pecanac, the Chief Photographer on the ship I'm working on, has already “signed on” for the journey home on my boat. Petar is new to sailing, but he brings excellent mountaineering and outdoor skills to our team, he has amongst other impressive tops, climbed Mount Everest, Cho Oyo and Mount McKinley.

An as of yet unconfirmed member for the homeward journey is my brother, Martin, who will finish his Masters Degree in New Zealand sometime at the end of this year (2009). He would be a most welcome member to the team, but we have to see how his plans pan out.

In preparation for the journey home, we are now investing in instruments to start a boat band. Petar is buying a saxophone, I'm buying a guitar and if my brother joins he'll be joining the band as our percussionist. We are now looking for a bass player, preferably female, along the lines of Bolt Thrower's legendary bass player Jo Bench.

My plan quite loosely is to finish my contract here on November 19^th and fly to Miami for a debrief with Onboard Media (my current employer). This would also give me an excellent opportunity to take advantage of the cheap prices on boat things in Miami. I'd also meet up with Petar in Miami and from there we would go to Aruba. We'd spend the first two weeks getting the boat ready and have her on the water around December 10^th – 12^th. The plan then is to spend Christmas and New Years sailing around on the ABC's (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao). I have good friends on Aruba that I want to hang out with and sail with before we continue onwards.

The 5 months in the Caribbean will be spent sailing slowly from the ABC's to St. Maarten which will be the starting point across the Atlantic. The plan is to do the Caribbean properly and really see and explore the islands like I didn't do when I first came across the Atlantic. We plan to do it in style: eating, drinking and exploring like there's no tomorrow.

The trip across the Atlantic will take us to either Bermuda or the Azores and from there Ireland and Scotland, before we head to Stavanger, probably stopping by the Faeroe and Shetland Islands on the way.

Planned arrival date in Stavanger will be around the middle of June2010, though it could be later, depending on weather and how much time we want to spend in Ireland, Scotland and the various islands we pass.

The only minus with the crew, is that it's turning into a sausage party, so I'm thinking about putting the following contact ad into circulation:

Looking for you!

You must be female, interested in sailing, traveling, the outdoors and music. Needs to be adventurous and ready for new challenges. Would be good if you're either a doctor or an engineer of some sort. Cooking skills would be greatly appreciated, as would a figure that would do credit to small bikinis.

Am I asking for too much ;-)

I'm really looking forward to the trip home. If it sounds interesting to be a part of a leg of the journey, let me know!