Jasrah News

Tunisia!!!

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 21:36:00 +0000

First sight of Africa!

After having sailed all night, I see the African continent in the morning.

Bizerte

Spend a few days in the fishing port of Bizerte before heading to Kelibia with Sailing Yacht Revolution(on board, a real cool family: Crispy, Fifi and Wes).

Kelibia

Another fishing port.

Beni Khiar

Still heading South.

Monastir and area

Well, this is it. Arrived in Monastir on the 15th October, having travelled 1930 nautical Miles(3474km).

Jasrah will be spending all winter here and me some of it only.

Believe it or not but this little chap is an absolute terror. He looks cute but he hisses at people.

Sousse

A rather touristic place but also quite nice.

El Jem

What have the Romans done for us?

This is the third biggest coliseum in the world!

Karouan

Fourth holiest city according to Islam.

The medina is simply incredible.

Sardinia

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 21:25:00 +0000

Heading South, following the east coast of Sardinia.

The stops included Cannigione, Olbia, la Caletta, Arbatax and Porto Corallo .

Corsica

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 21:06:00 +0000

Nightime crossings are always magic.

Arrival in Corsica

Arrived in Girolata in the morning, a place only accessible by boat or on foot(Maybe parachute if you’re James Bond).

Going down the west coast

Stops included Sagone and Anse de Conca before heading off towards Bonifacio.

Was invited by some nice french people on a sailing boat for a home-made Bouillabaisse with the fish that was freshly caught.

Bonifacio

Stayed in Bonifacio for a few days as the wind was rather strong to cross over to Sardinia. Met some really cool guys(Luc and Arthur) here who lived on their boats.

La mer qu’on voit danser…

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 20:29:00 +0000

Well, it has been ages since I last posted anything, so I’d better do a bit of catching up.

The following pictures are from the South of France as I’m heading East along the coast just before crossing to Corsica.

Arles

Ok, this is not on the coast but thought I’d post the picture anyway.

Marseille et les Calanques

Stopped in Frioul, the island just opposite of Marseille.

La Ciotat

Porquerolles

This is as far as I go along the french coast before crossing to Corsica. Though technically Porquerolles is an island.

Lyon to Port-St-Louis in images

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:13:00 +0000

St-Jean-de-Losne to Lyon in images

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:23:00 +0000

Chaumont to St-Jean-de-Losne in images

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 20:30:00 +0000

Actually the last couple of images are from Dijon and Dole.

Vitry-le-Francois to Chaumont in images

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:52:00 +0000

Reims to Vitry-le-Francois in images

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:31:00 +0000

Givet to Reims in images

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 08:31:00 +0000

Maastricht to Givet in images

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:41:00 +0000

The Maas to Maastricht in images

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:16:00 +0000

Munster to the Maas in images

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:57:00 +0000

4-1 in Munster

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:09:00 +0000

What a nice place to arrive at and what’s more the place where I moored was right in the town center.

The water was so inviting that not only the feathered indigenous were having a swim

but also the rubbered type.

Jasrah in the shade.

As you can see this place is strictly reserved to the perfect english gentleman, according to the sign the door.

Many nice places to enjoy in town.

Germany 4 – England 1

This creates a bit of an atmosphere in town. Needless to say I didn’t leave the Red ensign on my boat…

Even the Police was there enjoying themselves, taking pictures…

and chatting up the girls (well this one must have preferred boys).

Hannover to Munster

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:05:00 +0000

Hannover

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:12:00 +0000

Wow, Hannover is the city to visit on a bicycle!

The parks are really excellent

so is the beer…

Chinese laundry…

Sailing solo?

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 20:05:00 +0000

It’s funny, so many people have asked me if I wasn’t lonely sailing by myself and would usually invite me for a drink or a meal, so much so that I’ve not spent many evenings by myself.

The number of people I’ve met so far is simply incredible.

People are a little intrigued at my sailing project and are curious about it on many fronts.

Simply said, the people I’ve encountered are very nice and like to meet other people and share quality time.

Well, I hope to meet more people on the way, it’s a really nice thing to do even if I’ll never hear from them again.

Jasrah to the rescue

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 21:06:00 +0000

Believe it or not, Jasrah came to the rescue to an hedgehog and two old men on the same day.

Whilst sailing on the canal, I saw something swimming in the canal. As I approach, I see a poor hedgehog who has fallen in the canal and has no means to get out as the banks are vertical.

So, Jasrah went back on her tracks and with a bucket I scooped the poor animal. The little chap was puffing and panting like no tomorrow. After a little break, I approach the side and throw him back on the bank, crossing my fingers he wouldn’t roll back in.

Satisfied with such a good action, I would have never imagined that an hour later or so, I would be towing a sailing boat with two elderly gentlemen who happen to have engine troubles.

The two men were off to the Baltic in search of adventure and ended up having two engines fail on them only a days’ sail from where they left.

Mittelland Kanal to Hannover in images

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 08:31:00 +0000

I planned the journey to take me a little longer but there weren’t so many nice places to stop on the way apart from Sophiental and then a place in Hannover.

There was a huge lock to go through where I had to work my lines down, meaning putting the lines holding the boat onto the next bollard below as we are going down. There was about ten bollards to go down and a drop of 15 meters.

VW Museum Wolfsburg

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 08:28:00 +0000

After a 12km bike ride from my boat, I went to visit the VW museum in Wolfsburg.

There is a rather impressive collection of veteran cars (of many makes) . The beetle below is golden, got diamonds on it’s bumpers (I don’t think they’re real though) and beautiful cloth on the inside.

Needless to point out that this is a one off, it was the millionth beetle built.

The rest of the visit was rather disappointing, the factory visit was closed, being Sunday.

Then there was these really nice buildings presenting the different brands of the group (VW, VW commercial, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Lamborghini and Bugatti) but you’d get the same sort of experience visiting your local car dealer!

You get to sit in a car and that’s pretty much it (oh, that was not the case with Lamborghini and Bugatti). Not much technical stuff or history. I was expecting to be totally blown away by what VW could do in such a great environment.

The experience with Bugatti consist of seeing a car with a mirror paint job, surrounded by mirrors and neon lighting (ok nice pictures but that’s it!)

As for Lamborghini, there’s a car hanging on a wall, a lot of smoke(some going up, some coming down), a few light, strobing and very loud sound effects…

Basically if you are in the area of Wolfsburg, save your 15 Euros and go clubbing, you’ll get the same experience and maybe more…

Lubeck to Mittelland Kanal in images

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 08:21:00 +0000

Note that I’ve forgotten to put the tracker on some sections and there are a couple of impressive pictures that you will have to search for manually on the map.

Going through a lock solo

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 08:19:00 +0000

Before leaving for this journey, my main concern was whether I would manage to go through the locks by myself.

I’ve seen many pretty traumatic experiences with several people onboard (including myself), so the thought of doing it alone was not putting me particularly at ease.

Well, I’m happy to say that I think I’ve cracked it ( Touch wood)!

The approach I’ve adopted was after a bit of thought and slightly perfected with the experience.

This is not rocket-science and it’s surprising not more people use such a technique.

Funnily enough I met a few days later a couple from the Netherlands who use a similar technique, the only difference being there is one person to do each task but that’s not a big issue.

So here it goes:

Have a prepared boat.
- Loads of fenders all around the boat (I’ve got 14!)
- Fender planks on each side put well forward so that they come in contact first with the wall.
- Long lines on each side, from bow and stern leading to amid ship.
Choose your side.
- Choose the side of the lock where your prop-walk kicks your stern to (in other words, when you put your engine in reverse, which way does the rear end of the boat kicks to).
- If you have no choice in the matter, just go a little slower on your approach and then you’ll be a little faster to get to your lines and stop the boat.
Work those lines baby.
- Stop the boat close to the wall having the bollard midship, using the reverse to get the rear close and make use of that board to rub against the wall if need be(it’s there for that).
- Run to your lines mid ship and pass a loop from each side and hold her there. In other words, don’t pull the whole line through but just what you need and leave the rest on deck. This also makes it easier to pull them off and feed them into the next bollard (above or below)
Chokes away!
- When ready to go, take off bow line
- Keep stern line and put engine in reverse if you need to spring off the wall, if there’s a bit of wind pushing you on wall.
- Engine forward and get that stern line back.
Bow to the delirious crowds.

This should explain how this all works.

I might try and do a video of the whole operation and hopefully it won’t all go horribly wrong!

Luebeck

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 08:19:00 +0000

Just by chance, I called my friends Bernhard and Brigitte(who also own a Great Dane 28) to see how they were doing on their journey to Stockholm and they told me that they had delays and were still in the region of Luebeck.

So we managed to meet up and they gave me the grand tour of the town.

The central square of the city

The Devil who thought they were building a winebar when in fact it was a cathedral, was so furious when he found out that he tumbled this block over. The builders promised they would build a cellar for him if he didn’t destroy the whole cathedral and so they built a cellar, next door under the town hall.

The oldest bakery in Luebeck has just been closed thanks to European laws. Sometimes you have to wonder how we managed to survive…

Lot’s of pretty little streets and passages.

After many hours walking, we went to a local pub where they make their own beer and had a buffet, consisting mainly of roast pork and sauerkraut.

That just hit the spot!

Dyvig to Luebeck in images

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 22:39:00 +0000

Mayday, Mayday!!!

noreply@blogger.com (John D Willimann) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 22:20:00 +0000

Well, believe it or not, I had to issue a Mayday today as my engine decided to stop as I was passing a headland with a head wind and waves.

Every time I tried to start the engine, it would loose power and stop again. Eventually had to issue the Mayday and got a tow to Groemitz(No link with Wallace and his dog, as far as I know).

Having arrived in the port, a few friendly people helped my tie the boat up to the pontoon by the crane, one of them being from the sailing school. He told me that if I needed help sorting my motor out, he could help.

The harbourmaster told me that I couldn’t leave the boat in it’s current location and gave me a spot but he seemed unwilling to understand that I had no means of moving the boat without any assistance. He simply told me that I needed a little boat to tow it but failed to suggest who could do this nevermind have a boat from the harbour do the job. I think it was time for him to go home…

Anyway the guy from the sailing club came out and helped me move the boat.

After a couple of hours, speaking with the lifeboat and then sorting out my engine, I decide to go to the local pub where I meet a guy who has been many times to Tunisia as he works in the textile industry, he told me that I will most probably enjoy the place and that Monastir was a good choice.

find out if I could leave the boat at it’s present location. but he told me to move the boat