sailmarnie

A long absence from the blog but here is the update on the intervening months. On returning to Virginia Beach from 'out west' I enjoyed kayaking in the bay, dog walking Polar Express - Kelly and Craig's golden retriever puppy from the neighbourhood, cycling in the state park and visiting friends and sushi restaurants - such a change from papaya salad! We took a short trip to the UK as my children Natalie, Alastair and my parents Charmian and John were having the annual weeks holiday together and with it being the height of summer - it was the best time to be in England - barging on the canal, shooting clays, walking the hills and exploring historical local towns/castles. Towards the end of the vacation we were invited to join Norfolk friends Christie and Tom ... read more

Our trip 'out west' started with 6 hours of flights to Idaho falls using free United airline tickets we'd earned by being bumped off a flight last year whilst returning to Virginia, enabling us to get an earlier nights sleep, after a very tiring day of delayed flights. This two week exploration of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana was unplanned but for a vague idea of viewing a number of properties based on a desire to have a ranch and horses and to explore the vast wilderness discovered by the pioneers in the 1800's on horseback. With over 60% of these states being national forest and BLM land, millions of acres are available for trail riding - even north into Canada. The first evening was spent in mackay, a one horse town offering excellent angus steaks and ... read more

The last week in Thailand was spent working in our green, cocooned Marnie, straightened up before leaving her on the hardstand for four months. The shade cover offers 80 percent UV protection which will hopefully maintain the brightwork until our return (6 layers of Epifanes). Daily thunderstorms added to the humidity and temperatures in the upper 90's making physical exertion draining. After a long flight to the US via China (30 hours) the jet lag is phasing out although we continue our 3am waking routine. Refreshing weather has been perfect for gardening at Lovetts Pond and the Canada geese delight us with broods of goslings on the pond. I offered my dog walking services to a neighbour in order to get a dog fix and have an adorable 5 month old golden retriever called Polar Express ... read more

Since arriving at Boat Lagoon on 24 December 2010, a miraculous transformation of an already exquisite vessel has begun. The painting of the entire exterior is underway as Marnie sits under a tent in the boatyard at Boat Lagoon being beautified. The interior has been remodelled with a double stateroom being created out of our starboard crew quarters and it is turning into a playroom with great bookshelves, enclosed TV screen for those rare occasions we watch DVD's, huge storage to get the excess 'stuff' out of sight and a great big bed with loads of headroom. Quite excellent craftsmanship by Mr Phon and his team and Samran's team of painters are doing a great job on the exterior. We are staying in the resort adjacent to the boatyard which is conveniently placed for the swimming ... read more

The Taj Resort and Marina, on Rebak Island, was home for Marnie during the month of October. Early December arrived and with it our departure for Penang, Malaysia, a 70 mile passage south to apply for Thai visas. 2010 ends with our arrival in Phuket with 22,000 miles under the keel since leaving Virginia Beach. Once the docklines were released at Rebak we headed for Telaga Harbour; a shot hop for fuelling and good quality food at the restaurants. As wind is an unusual occurrence in this area, we were delighted when three hours into what we'd anticipated as a motoring passage, a 15+ knot wind on the beam enabled us to raise the flags and sail for 4.5 hours. Strong currents on leaving Langkawi and on the final approach slowed us down, and it took ... read more

A marathon entry - my apol0gies, but hopefully it's worth your time and the bother! Finally we have an internet connection which will allow for an upload, fingers crossed that's an accurate statement. Photos from the past two months are downsized and ready to go, but I may have to wait until we reach Phuket before displaying them because the connection has dropped several times since writing these few sentences. Here goes, finger's crossed, Marnie's adventures - Darwin to Langkawi .............. 24 July 2010. 08.30 sailed from Fannie Bay, Darwin after three weeks in the Northern Territory in the direction of Kupang, Indonesia. We left well in advance of the 11am race start for the Sail Indonesia Rally participants, which was not being organized by sailors, and had over 100 vessels crossing a start line. Our ... read more

Internet connections in Indonesia have been pitifully slow, hence there's been no opportunity to update our travelblog. We make landfall in Langkawi, Thailand in less than one week (about 450 miles to go), and there's a better chance of high speed access, so I will upload text and photos then. Just spent three days in Singapore for a city break and thoroughly the enjoyed it after the problematic waste management issues in Indonesia (litter everywhere). Much love from Tigs and Walter xXx... read more

An enjoyable, safe but tiring crossing to Darwin as we simply hadn't experienced passages in months and night watches never fail to exhaust. 26/5 An early start to Magnetic Island with a washdown overnight to rid us of the salt buildup. Last night stayed in Shark Bay, Cape Upstart which was named by Capt. Cook as many of the areas around here were, and as for the charting of this stretch of coastline. Few revisions have been made in later charts. Funky winds due to a low pressure offshore which have unsettled our usual S E trades. The inner barrier reefs are to the west of us and NE are the outer reefs. 100 gallons of fuel equating to 50 hours of motoring (350 nautical miles). Overnight at Horseshoe Bay and were surprised by the welcoming ... read more