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Welcome
to the website for 'Teka Nova' the sailing home of Terry Baverstock and
Christine Jarvis |
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April 2009 Dear All, After transiting the Panama Canal we spent 6 days at anchor at Balboa Panama City, to re-cater etc. The anchorage to say the least was horrid and dangerous at times, with pilot and ferry boats etc. going through at a rate of knots. This would send the yachts rocking and rolling badly. If you were attempting to either leave the dinghy to get on board your boat or the other way round, you could easily end up in the water. This is what actually happened to Terry as he was attempting to get back on board, a boat went pass at high speed and the wake surged the dinghy and Terry went flying overboard into the water. It was only David Simpson's actions that prevented Terry from being slammed between the dinghy and the swim platform. However, whilst we are here we are re-united with Geoff and Geraldine of “Blue Dawn” and Georges and Annie of “Trio”, which is always pleasant to meet up with old friends. O n 19th January we depart Panama City (Balboa) for the Las Perlas Islands. We spend approx 6 days cruising the Islands, which were very pleasant. Here we saw Rays flying out of the water, then somersaulting before re-entering which is apparently part of their self cleaning ritual. The locals here hunt iguanas with dogs for food – we gave that delicacy a miss. On 26th January we set off for the Galapagos Islands, which took us 6 days – 875 miles. The passage was pretty uneventful. However, David did manage to catch a Spanish Mackerel and we had yet another bird join us for breakfast. We of course duly toasted Neptune and asked for safe passage upon crossing the Equator. We spend 4 weeks in the Galapagos Islands, which were amazing in their own right. The Sea Lions were funny and cute, and they would happily swim with you. They would also have a nap on your swim platform and if you were foolish enough to leave your dinghy in the water they would be in it in a flash. The Giant Tortoises, Turtles, Penguins, Rays, Iguanas and Blue Footed Booby Birds were great to see at such close quarters. All the Islands we visited were clean, tidy and looked after and the people were very friendly. The downside is the paperwork you have to go through as a cruiser. However, we had an agent by the name of Bolivar, who was tremendous and arranged for someone to meet us at each Island to do all the necessary paperwork. The other couple of downsides were the anchorages, which were very rocky and rolly (you needed to use the kedge anchor). Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz was particularly bad as this also gets exceptionally busy with the charter boats. Also, not sure if it was the time of year or what but the water clarity was not good. We had to change our water maker filters 3 times whilst we were here. Once again it becomes a small world and Geoff and Geraldine of “Blue Dawn” have arrived. They are a lovely couple and we were very sorry to have to say goodbye to them when they left. Blue Dawn was off to the Marquesas and so our paths divide. But as they say “never say never”, we just might catch up with them again around New Zealand or Australia, we sincerely hope so. The other person who pops up in Galapagos is Gasper of who was one of our line handlers through the Panama Canal. Good to see you again Gasper!! On 5th March we depart for our passage to Hawaii. 4,354 miles, which took us 29 days, 12 hours and 47 minutes (just the 2 of us on board). We knew we would probably have to motor for at least the first 4 days to get far enough north to pick up the trade winds, but we got lucky and pick them up a day earlier than expected. As we start our passage through the Islands a Sea Lion floats by, completely on his back, with tail and fins in the air, enjoying the sunshine, it was so surreal it could have been something from Alice in Wonderland. We once again cross back over the Equator and toast Neptune and ask for permission to cross from his Southern Kingdom to his Northern Kingdom and for a safe passage. On our second day out a Red Footed Booby Bird landed on the roll bar of the anchor and stayed with us for 5 days (goes off fishing for breakfast, lunch and dinner). How he managed to hold on with webbed feet, especially in these sea conditions is quite amazing. 9 days into the passage and we have light winds and confused seas, added to which we have the Equatorial Counter Current against us. We probably experimented with every combination of our 4 sails to get the best out of Teka Nova, however, it still feels as though we are in a washing machine. Fortunately, we have the luxury of 2 separate auto helms, so we run one by day and the other by night, this is in order to give them both equal amounts of torture. The night of day 9 we get our first sighting of another vessel, followed by an hour later of a 6” flying fish landing in my lap (Christine), which being night time, came as a bit of a surprise. After throwing back the fish, cleaning myself and my MP3 player off of fish scales the night continued uneventfully – too much excitement for 1 night anyway. Our watch pattern consisted of 6 hours on, 6 hours off during the night (18.00 – midnight and midnight to 06.00) and 4 hours on, 4 hours off during the day. This works for us but everyone finds their own pattern that suits them. On the 6 hour night watches we set up the Radar alarm (so you can actually doze off whilst on watch). The Radar alarm will also go off if a reasonable size cloud is approaching, this gives you time (depending on what mile range you set it) to shorten the sails if necessary. A typical day on Teka Nova whilst on passage on our own, consisted of:- at dawn a patrol of the boat to peel off squid and remove flying fish from the decks and coach roofs. On one particular evening whilst cooking a sizable Flying Fish came through the galley hatch and missed landing in the frying pan by cms – talk about having fresh fish to eat. The mornings are then given over to our general routine maintenance, cleaning of the boat and fixing anything that might have come loose or needed replacing. This is an aerobic exercise in its self owing to the sea states as they had by now got up to 20' foot from 3 different directions. Any addition physical exercise after this (unless playing with trimming sails) was purely optional or just madness. After lunch we would either read books, listen to our MP3 players, watch a video or play scrabble/chess etc. For the last 12 days of the passage we are only on a reefed down Genoa and still hit speeds of 9.9 knots, with winds of 25 – 30 knots. We arrived in Hawaii – Honolulu (Waikiki Yacht Club) on 3rd April, to an exceptionally warm welcome. Everybody, is friendly and helpful, including Custom Officials. The Security Guard at the Custom's Area, tells you to have a nice lunch, even though its 09.00 am. Shop Assistant's actually want to help you. The choice and quality of food is very good. You can get four different colours of cauliflower – purple, green, yellow and white. You could do some serious damage to your waist line here. Across the road from the Yacht Club there is a huge Shopping Mall with all the big names. Fire Engines on a call out tow a boat with them...........how much water do they use? For those that may be interested in joining us our outline sailing program is as follows:- Mid June Arrive Kodiak bay Alaska Mid July Arrive Seeward Alaska Late July Enter inland passage at Cape Bigner/Cross Sound, close to Glacier Bay Aug/Sept Inland passage End Sept Seattle Oct/Nov West Coast to San Diego Dec To Mexico for haul out
Very Best Wishes Christine & Terry ---------------------------------------------------------- March 2009 We are planning to leave the Galapagos Islands on Wednesday 4th March after being here for approx. 4 weeks, 7 Mar - 7 Apr Passage Galapagos - Hawaii 4000 miles 7 Apr - 1 June Hawaii 1 June - 18 June Passage Hawaii - Kodiak Alaska 2100 miles 18 June - 1 July Kodiak Area 1 July - 6 July Passage Gulf of Alaska 650 miles 6 July - September Inshore Passage to Vancouver September - Nov Vancouver - San Diego 30 Nov - 4 Dec Possible passage to North Mexico Early Dec Boat lifted out Mid December Return to UK Mid January 2010 Cyprus April UK May Return to Teka Nova Very Best Wishes Christine & Terry
Jan 2009 Firstly, Many Thanks to all who sent us Christmas Cards and Wishes, it was very much appreciated. Communications from the time we left Venezuela have been restricted by lack of Internet and E-Mail facilities, so this Newsletter will be somewhat longer in order to let friends and family catch up with what has been happening to us. We left Puerto La Cruz – Venezuela on 10th October 2008 for a short distance of 5/6 miles to Isla La Borracha, where we stopped overnight at anchor. This was to clean the prop and check other systems, water maker etc. after being in the marina waters for approx. 3 months, before heading off to Tortogua. Saying goodbye to our friends that we had known for so long now in Puerto La Cruz was especially hard. The passage to Tortogua was pleasant enough, apart from Terry quite badly injuring his hands (long story), which got him out of most duties including the washing up – pleased to report that his hands healed quickly and he is OK now. After taking fishing lessons from Paul of “Dream Weaver” we duly cast our line. Paul had said that we would sure as not catch something where the sea bed shelved off after leaving Isla La Borracha. Sure enough we did, however, whatever it was, it took our complete line with it. We now estimate that our fishing exploits have cost us around £600 for one fish that was caught on the ARC back in 2006. On approach to our chosen anchorage on Tortogua we were surrounded by the biggest school of dolphins we have come across – literally 100’s of them. We dropped anchor in approx. 30 feet of water and it was so clear you could actually see the anchor on the sea bed. After a couple of days we headed off to Los Roques. This had to be the worst passage we have done to date. We were surrounded by big mean thunderstorms, with huge lightning strikes to the sea. One would pass then break up, only to reform and come back towards us (watching them on the Radar) we felt as though we were being stalked. On top of this one was blocking the southern entrance to the Islands and you need to have good visibility to navigate in owing to the reefs, which do not have any markers. We eventually get in and anchor at 08.40 in the morning after 14 hours and 40 mins and a passage of 85 miles, which ended up being 110 miles owing to altering course several times to avoid the thunderstorms. As neither of us had got any sleep through the night we were exhausted and retired to our bed for a well earned sleep. The next day we were sitting there relaxing and admiring our beautiful view, when a weather warning comes over the Radio. Hurricane Omar was expected to pass quite close to the northern side of the Islands and to expect up to 90 knots of wind. No boats were allowed to enter, leave or navigate within the Islands – Deep Joy!! So we set about stripping the top sides, and lashing down as much as possible. We had no time to strip the sails off as the wind was already up to 25 knots. We then sit and watch the wind indicator rise. Fortunately, it only reached 40 knots and our big new Rocna anchor held fast. We spent a further 10 days cruising around Los Roques Islands which are absolutely beautiful – no shops etc, only the odd fisherman’s house (apart from on the main Island). Christine got to celebrate her birthday here, with Champagne and one of her favorite meals – fried eggs and chips!! One of her birthday presents was a hair cut courtesy of Terry with the 1” blade on the hair cutters. We then sailed to Los Alves for a couple of nights. Equally as beautiful as Los Roques only with 100’s of amazing birds. There was one particular bird (not sure what as we are not too good with our bird varieties) that had bright yellow webbed feet that actually sat up on the tree branches, how they managed to stay on the branches without any claws to hold on with we do not know. Our next passage took us to Bonaire in the Dutch Antilles. Where upon looking for a mooring buoy (no anchoring here) we are being hailed over the Radio by Gary and Linda of “Rainbowrider”. Also here are Jeff and Una of “Dragonfly”, both boats were with us in Puerto La Cruz. Well Gary and Jeff jump into their dingy and kindly hand up the mooring buoy line for us. Teka Nova is secured, however, at one point Jeff is hanging off our bow sprit and then Gary ends up falling in the water. As Gary goes overboard, Jeff just causally says “Oh there you go” and carries on talking to us whilst Gary is struggling to get back in the dingy. It has to be said that both boats had arrived a couple of hours before us and had already sampled the contains of the beer cooler – entertainment valve scored a 10. Bonaire is a delightful place, the people are friendly, even Customs and Immigration!! The food in the restaurants is particularly good here. We also spend a couple of evenings with Gary and Linda (who have their friends Nikki and Dave on board for a holiday) and Jeff and Una. Also Duncan and Janet of “Consort” who arrived a few days after us. We can only spend a week here as we need to get to Curacao to pick up our spares that we had shipped down from Miami. All the spares are in preparation for after the Panama Canal as there will be virtually no technical support after that. So we get to Curacao and anchor out in Expanse Water (remember we are anchored quite away out from the shore). “Consort” is here also and thank goodness that Duncan and Janet have been here before as checking into Immigration and Customs is a bit of a trek and we would probably still be wandering around lost if it was not for these guys. Downtown Curacao has a flavor of Amsterdam mixed with the Caribbean, with a little American in the way of Denny’s and Tony Roman’s. Quite nice really although parts are Industrial. We hired a car and set off to pick up our shipment. We arrived at Florida Express and to collect our shipment where we have to do the following (this will probably amuse all Christine’s friends and colleagues in the freight industry):- 1. We have to take a staff member of Florida Express down to Customs. 2. We bring a Customs Officer and the FE staff member back to FE. 3. The Customs Officer checks our shipment and we pay our bill. 4. We take our shipment and the Customs Officer back to where we have moored our dingy. We had planned on ferrying the shipment bit by bit in the dingy to Teka Nova. However, the Customs Officer says he has to go with us and all of the shipment to Teka Nova to ensure that it all goes on board………..OK small dingy……….large shipment………plus three adults (the Customs Officer is a big guy) – this is not going to work. Fortunately we have a hand held Radio with us and call “Consort” – HELP!! Duncan comes with his dingy and we divide the shipment across the two. The Custom Officer looks at the dinghy and decides that maybe he will skip the ride to Teka Nova and trust us to put all the items on board, without him being there. 5. We then have to drive the Customs Officer back to Customs. We spend a few pleasant days here. Dinner on “Consort” before they left which was a really lovely evening, thank you Janet and Duncan. Low and behold “Rainbowrider” pitches up and the socialising continues. Unfortunately, whilst we are in Curacao we received an E-Mail which showed how bad the security situation had deteriorated in Venezuela with the tragic news that a dear friend of ours (Ken of “Chill”) has been shot and killed whilst at anchor in Isla La Borracha. We have known Ken and Cathy for the past two years, and the first season in Venezuela they very kindly looked after Teka Nova whilst we were in the UK. Cathy and Christine spent many hours together, walking and feeding the marina cats and shopping. We were truly devastated to receive the news of Ken's death and our hearts and thoughts were immediately with his wife Cathy. We leave Curacao on 13th November for the San Blas Islands, (or as the Kuna Indians prefer them to be called Kuna Yala). This is approx. 620 miles and a 4/5 day trip. We take 5 ½ days and clock up 680 miles. We did just about every sail combination and wind angles, including polling out the head sails for some good old down wind sailing. On the 4th day a little bird decides to hitch a lift. He makes himself at home and feels quite safe to even sit on Christine’s knee. He spends the entire night with us tucked up asleep under a piece of kitchen roll in the cockpit with his head tucked under his wing. All night we are being so careful as to not tread on him. Changing sails and changing watches never bothered him. On the way we cast our fishing line out – we are not giving up. We get a bite – fairly small fish who puts up a good fight and gets away, followed by a second bite which turned out to be the contains of our slop bucket that we had just emptied over the side. On the 5th day we are motoring along (no wind) reading books in the cockpit when all of a sudden the fishing line whizzes and the rod is bent double. We look round “HOLY SHIT” there’s a dirty great big whale sitting on our starboard quarter ………..Oh my god we haven’t caught this thing have we?? No No our line is over there but we have caught something. We start reeling our fish in, whilst keeping a very wary eye on the whale, who is slowly dropping back………….thank God. We duly land our 3 foot Mahi Mahi (we have the photo) and thus breaking our “Duck” and supplying us with 10 fish suppers!!........Yeah Ha!!! Well we arrived in San Blas (Eastern Holandes Cays) on 18th November and it is quite magnificent. Pacific Islands in the Caribbean and no Mosquitoes. The Islands are covered in coconut trees, which you are not allowed to take as this is the Kuna Indians main crop. The Kuna Indians are quite pleasant and friendly and will come along side in their dug outs selling eggs, fruit, fish, molas etc. We later find out that Lisa the master mola maker is an infamous transvestite…………umm. There are approx. 374 Islands, most of which are not inhabited and those that are have no electricity or running water apart from the odd Island. The Kuna Indians live in huts made from bamboo and coconut palms for the roof. The only furniture are their hammocks. Nestor one of the Kuna Indians kindly showed us around his home and village, it was quite unique. We spend several very pleasant weeks here including the Christmas holidays which were celebrated in true style, with roast turkey and all the trimmings, a Christmas tree and lights strung up round the cockpit at anchor off one of the Islands. We also, once again make new friends:- Alison and Derek of "Kalida" Georjes and Annie of "Trio" Geraldine and Geoff of "Blue Dawn" On 28th December we headed off to Panama - Isla Linton for a couple of nights before heading on down to Colon in order to start the process of our transit through the Panama Canal and pick up some spares etc. "Blue Dawn" and "Trio" are here and we spend a few days/nights socialising with them. Terry volunteered to be a line handler on "Blue Dawn" for their Canal passage. This is a good idea to do as it gives you a understanding of what to expect and what you are required to do. In the meantime our friend David Simpson joins us on Teka Nova for a holiday and be one of our line handlers. We also recruited a Spanish cruising couple Gaspar and Inma of “SA Palmereta” as we require four line handlers plus the Skipper. Gaspar and Inma were great company and we thank them very much for all their help. We are duly given our transit date and time for 11th Jan at 18.20 pm. However, our Pilot did not show up until 20.00 pm and we set off for the first three locks (upward locks) that evening (six locks in all over a 48 hour period). Before entering the first lock Paula and Ken of “Suzanne” have to raft up to us for the transit, this is the usual way for small vessels to go through the locks – we were the controlling boat, which means that Teka Nova does all the engine and steering work for both boats. At 23.00 pm we are through the first three locks and our pilot secures us to a huge mooring buoy for the night in Gatun Lakes before taking his leave of us. Our next Pilot arrives at 07.00 am the next morning to take us across the Lakes and through the Canal to the next set of three locks (downward locks) which was approx. 30 miles. Once again “Suzanne” has to re-raft to us before we enter the locks. On the last lock our Pilot asked the Lock Controller to pan the web cam onto us, we know quite a few of you got to see us go through this lock. Geraldine of “Blue Dawn” very kindly spent 4 hours recording the web cam pictures onto a video with music for us. It was an amazing event and when the last lock opened we got to see our first sight of the Pacific. We are at present anchored near Balboa about 20 minutes taxi from Panama City. For the last week we have been involved heavily in catering the boat for the next 2 months to take us through to Hawaii, via Los Perlas and the Galapagos Islands, plus doing loads of last minute jobs and collecting a few more spares. The next Newsletter will cover our most testing sailing passage the 4,000 mile passage from Galapagos to Hawaii, will be we hope the longest we will ever undertake, and the 2,500 mile passage from Hawaii to Alaska will probably be the most demanding. Very Best Wishes to you all. Christine & Terry S/Y Teka Nova -------------------------------------------------------------------------
16th June 2008 Dear All,
19th November 2007 We left Puerto La Cruz - Venezuela for Margarita. Motor sailing all the way as winds and seas were right on our nose. We dropped anchor at 21.00 hours after 14 hours of punching into it. We only intended to stay for one night but the weather forecast for the next few days was not in our favour, so we sat it out for 9 days along with approx 110 other boats that want to head north. However, Harold and Diana of 'Zephrus' have joined us, which makes our stay pleasurable and of course always fun if these two guys are around.
29th November 2007, gives us the weather window to set off to Los Testigos for a night stop before heading straight up to Antigua on a 3 day passage - 360 miles.
We arrive in Antigua on the evening of 2nd December, tired (3 hours on and 3 hours off watches) but Ok after a pretty uneventful passage. We decide to stay for 7 days, however, once again the weather is about to change and we need to take the opportunity of 2 days of weather window to get to the BVI's. So on 5th December we pick up anchor for a 2 day passage to Tortola.
The seas were lumpy and once we started to get in amongst the Islands it became quite busy with ocean liners. At 02.00 hours on 6th December Ocean Liner 'The Crown Princess', doing 18 knots tried to run us down from astern. We tried to contact the vessel by radio but no reply. So we gave him 5 flashes on the search light, which sorted him out and he reluctantly turned to port. Now we are not saying he was close but the gentleman in cabin 204C should really close his blinds at night!!
For those of you who are not sailors:-
The overtaking vessel is the give way vessel, added to this we could not turn to starboard as we had another Ocean Liner coming up on our starboard side. We could not turn to port as the 'Crown Princess course alteration would have to be to port owing to the position of the other Ocean Liner. If we alter too soon we could place ourselves back in danger.
Anyway we arrive safely in Village Cay - Tortola - guess which Ocean Liner is docked here also!!
Here we are measured for our new set of sails and that is one of the reasons for being here. We also check with the boatyard to be hauled out in March for re-antifouling plus replacing the shaft, which got bent in Antigua. In addition, have a second auto helm fitted - all work we planned to have done in the BVI's.
We also meet up again with John and Christine of 'Timentide' who we got to know in Venezuela and old friends Dave and Jan of 'Irie' ex 2006 ARC.
After negotiating with boatyards etc. and making sure we were set for Christmas, we take a 10 mile leisurely sail (with Irie) over to Norman Island to pick up a buoy in 'The Bight'.
Here we spend a pleasant 3 days with 'Irie' and new friends Larry and Elisabeth of 'Singoala'. It is also where we find we have a problem with the generator. The generator starts and runs fine but is not putting a charge through to the batteries.
After a few days of staying in bays on a couple of different Islands we head back to Village Cay Marina to get someone to take a look at the generator. Bad news - we need a new one - Oh well it is 25 years old and they have an average life of approx 10 years, so its not done too bad - c'est la vie. As the new one cannot be fitted until early Feb, we set off to visit a few more Islands and get in some really nice sailing.
On 22nd December we go into Virgin Gorda Yacht Marina for Christmas.
With our Christmas Tree and Cockpit lights up we sit back, relax and watch the comedy about to unfold before us.
The comedy being the charter boats with people onboard who have little or no experience in sailing or boat handling.
Well we saw just about everything over the next 3 days. The poor Dock Master by Christmas eve had lost all his pateience, sense of humor and Christmas spirit.
Just a couple of example:-
1. Yacht coming into jetty bow first, one man on the helm one man on the bow. The helmsman asks the bow man to tell him when they are nearly there. There is a great thud as the bow connects with the jetty and the boat is jolted violently backwards. 'Ok we are there' shouts the bow man.
2. Medium to largish power boat (Gin Palace), reversing onto jetty with a pontoon on the starboard side and another Gin Palace the other side of the Pontoon.
The Gin Palace is about to cut it abit to fine round the end of the pontoon - not a problem as this can occur quite frequntly especially if the wind is pushing you on. Just gently go back out and try again.
Dock Master:- 'Go forward please sir'
Gin Palace is still coming in reverse.
Dock Master: 'Go forward please sir'.
Gin Palace is still in reverse.
On the 5th time of the Dock Master telling him to go forward he is now at screaming level and waving his hands frantically in the air, shouting Go forward!!, Go forward!!.
At this point the Gin Palace goes into 'FULL' throtle ahead, however his wheel is over to port. As the Gin Palace hauls forward and to port the sun anwing supports connect with the other Gin Palaces anchor which is in its anchor housing on the front of the boat - but not for long. The long and the short of it was that the anchor (albeit pulled from its housing) won and the Gin Palce with the sun awning became a convertibule - Och!!
When the last boat was coming in on Christmas eve the last thing we heard the Dock Master shout was 'Did you get any instructions before you took the boat'?
Harold, we now know what you mean about the BVI's!!
Christmas day was peaceful and quiet and yes we had the traditionl Roast Turkey with all the trimmings plus Xmas Pud, all cooked onboard Teka Nova of course.
New Year's Eve was spent in Trellis Bay on Beef Island. Entertainment on shore followed by a firework display.
We then set off back to Norman Island and picked up a buoy in 'The Bight'.
Along comes a charter catamaran with 3 ladies and 3 gentleman roughly around our age upwards. They drop anchor in front of us. By the time the boat has drop back they are quite close to us but not too bad, however they are even closer to the shore.
A great debate then takes place on the 'Cat', which resulted in one of the gentleman diving over board to check to see if the anchor is holding - by the way this particular gentleman has only got 1 arm.
In the meantime (its quite windy - 25knots plus), one of their roll up sun mattress blows over board and drifts past us on its way to the shore. This is followed by another gentleman in the dingy to go and retireve it, which is then followed by the one armed man floating by on his back to assist.
The mattress is retireved but the one armed man can not get into the dingy, as he is holding on by the one arm his got and does not have another for the guy in the dingy to haul him in by. So he is hanging over the side for the journey back to the 'Cat'
One of the ladies is standing on the sten of the 'Cat' ready to take the dingy line. The man with the one arm manages to get on the stern of the 'Cat' just as the lady takes the dingy line and gives it a good pull, however as she gives it a good pull her elbow comes out and knocks the one armed man back into the water - it doesn't end here...........
A few moments later the dingy comes past again with the 3rd gentleman and the one armed man. This time to retireve a shoe that has gone over board. The shoe has now drifted onto the shore, so the one armed guy jumps out to fetch it. However, the dingy has gone aground and the one armed man needs to give it a good shove before he trys to get in. The shove works but they are back to the senario of the one armed man having to hang over the side (this time at the front) for the journey back to the 'Cat'. As they go past they shout to us 'You know we charge for this kind of entertainment'
Anyway now its dark and the wind is still around 25knots plus and the sea is choppy. All six of them decide to get in the dingy and go ashore to the bar.
Well the first thing we heard was ahhhhhhhhhhh as the first wave must have come over into the dingly, followed by someone shouting 'This was one hell of an idea'!!!
Entertainment value - Priceless!!!!!!!!! for everything else there is Barclaycard.
Over Jan and Feb, we have our new sails, second auto helm and new generator fitted, plus a rigging check and some replacements to that as a result. In between we have had friends and family visit us, which has been great plus get to see some lovely places and get some great sailing in. Also met up with Paul and Mhairi old friends of Terry's who happened to be chartering a boat out here.
On 4th March we were hauled out for the re-antifouling, new sea cocks, new water maker and a new anchor housing for the big new anchor we bought. We will be out of the water for just over a week - if were lucky (Carribean time), after which we have Terry's daughter coming out to visit, followed by the new davits fitted to Teka Nova. Hopefully, that will tick off all the big items we had planned for the boat before going through the Panama Canal next year.
5th March had dinner with Bob and Sally of 'Exceat' ex 2006 ARC, which thinking about it we probably have not seen them for a year now. Great to see you guys.
We are still really enjoying this life and are both well.
Thats all our news for now, please let us know your news, we would love to hear from you. Please bear with us if you do not get a response for some days as the internet connection is still as frustrating as ever, up sometimes but mostly down or intermittant and of course we could be out at sea where connection is not possible.
Also we have discovered that we have not been receiving some E-Mails that have been sent to us, apologises to anyone that has not receive a response from us, we are not ignoring you, please don't give up and try again.
Very Best Wishes to all Christine and Terry
Date: Friday 26th October, 2007 Pleased be advised that our Mobile phone does not work in Venezuela, at present we can only pick up E-Mails. 24th May 2007 After being launched back in the water we visited, with Neil Jarvis onboard, a couple of bays around Grenada before departing on an overnight passage to Los Testigos Islands (90 miles). We had a fabulous night sail averaging 7.5 knots. Teka Nova was going like a train, what a difference the wash off and re-anti-foul made. When we started reaching speeds of 9 knots plus we thought it would be a good idea to slow her down. The auto-pilot coped all the way. Los Testigos Islands were lovely, only 168 people live on the mainland. You first have to check in with the Coast Guard (friendly and helpful) before anchoring off the Islands. The snorkeling was particular good. On one particular day we were both reading in the cockpit, when we noticed a fishing boat of medium size with 10 men onboard getting very close to us, we began to panic when they started throwing lines onto our boat. We then noticed that they had Teka Two (the dinghy) in tow. Teka Two had come untied and drifted out to sea, neither of us had noticed. The fishermen went and retrieved it and brought it back to us. If it had not been for the fishermen we would have quite wrongly thought Teka Two had been stolen. The fishermen well deserved the beers we were able to give them. Los Testigos Islands are well worth a visit if you are sailing in the area. On 3rd June at around 06.00 the Dutch set sail, followed by the German yacht, then us at 06.50 and Fabio awhile later to Margarita (Porlamar). Well once again we had a great sail. The winds picked up and we started to catch the German in his lighter weight fibre glass yacht and make on the Dutch concrete yacht. We just drew level with the German when the winds dropped and he pulled away from us but we are still making on the Dutch. The winds pick up again and we take the advantage of this. We catch and overtake the Dutch yacht. The German just slips into the harbour before us but we have our anchor down and the beers out before him. The Dutch yacht comes in and salutes us shouting over "you won". Now we have to say we were not really racing but this was a bit of fun and we have never caught up, let alone overtaken another yacht, so we were particularly pleased with Teka Nova's performance. About an hour later Fabio sails in, grinning, he has caught a big fish, (hence his delay) and invites us to dinner to share his catch, what a gentleman. Fabio starts with sushi - he has marinated the fish with olive oil, lemon juice, pepper and capers. This was followed by lightly baked fish and vegetables - it was absolutely wonderful and a perfect end to a perfect days sailing. The latest update on our fishing is still nil to us and 2 lures and a complete line to the fish. A couple of days later we were chatting to the Dutch:- Dutch: “You were sailing very well and fast that day”. “But our boat is very heavy, she is made of concrete and weighs 26 tons”. Us: “We are steel and weigh 32 tons”. YEAH!!!!!!!!! We stay in Margarita, at anchor for approx. 3 weeks whilst we have a sun cover made for Teka Nova and covers for Teka Two. Whilst we were there an unexpected storm bounced off main land Venezuela and came through the anchorage. Teka Nova started dragging her anchor and we just managed to start the engine in time to avoid hitting another yacht by inches. The wind got up to 50 knots, yachts were dragging their anchors everywhere and some collided with others, (approx. 80 yachts in the anchorage), Genoa sheets were being pulled out of their furling and shredded and sun covers were ripped to pieces. We were OK and did not sustain any damage but had to hold Teka Nova on engine power for an hour and ferry glide around our anchor, as we could not get the anchor up in the weather conditions. On 26th June we pick up anchor at 05.15 and head for main land Venezuela – Puerto La Cruz (Bahia Redonda Marina) to berth Teka Nova for the hurricane season and the trip back to the UK. We had concerns regarding coming to Venezuela owing to the bad write ups surrounding the area. However, we are very pleased we came and the local people are really friendly and try to be helpful. You just have to be careful about walking out of the Marina at night etc. Really no different to some parts of the UK and in St Lucia, Rodney Bay people were mugged in the Marina, you just have to be sensible. There is a good write up in August’s edition of “Compass”. So don’t be put off it’s a great place to come. There are a great bunch of cruisers down here, majority are Americans who are very sociable and great company to be with – we are having a “blast” On 17th July we head back to the UK. Once again, unfortunately, we were not able to get to see everyone we would have liked to. However, many thanks to everyone for your hospitality and putting up with us, especially Neil Jarvis who ended up with us for an extra 2 weeks owing to Christine having an accident and damaging the base of her spine. A special thanks to Geoff Green who got Christine back on her feet and moving around again. We arrive back in Venezuela on 17th September. We would like to say a huge “Thank You” to:- Cathy and Ken of “Chill”, for looking after Teka Nova in our absence. Many thanks Guys!!! We will stay here for a few weeks, whilst we carry out maintenance tasks on the boat, changing oil and fuel filters etc. the usual stuff and wait for the hurricane season to pass. We will probably go out for 1 or 2 day sails to the islands close to Bahia Redonda before heading north to St. Martin. Very Best Wishes
Date: Thursday 24th May, 2007 Dear All, Firstly, we have our mobile phone back and working, although we are unable to retrieve our voice messages from it, text messages are OK. Our website is back up and running, many thanks Philip. WARNING this is a long E-Mail as we have not written for so long - apologies. SPECIAL NOTES We would like to send our Love and Very Best Wishes to Terry and Nicola Flinn of "Flinesse" and James of "Apparition" for a safe and speedy Return ARC. Good Luck guys and let us know how you got on. Hi Paul Tyminski, how are the repairs going - let us know how you are getting on please. UPDATE After spending New Year in Nelson's Dockyard in Antigua with Terry's daughter Julia and her friend Clare, the weather (strong winds and high Then came the three stooges - Terry, Mike and Chrissy. Well what a laugh we had, it was something crossed between Benny Hill and Black Adder. So off we take them to Guadeloupe, calling in at the Saints, Dominica, Martinique, where we bumped into Bob and Sally of "Exceat" and then Rodney Bay in St. At this point we still had our fuel contamination problem. So we bit the ballet and opened up all 4 fuel tanks and pumped £600 worth of fuel away. However, on the good side we re-met up with:- Terry and Nicola Flinn of "Flinesse". Terry Flinn and Terry Baverstock were in the RAF together - small world. Here we also made new friends:- Tom and Colette of "Prim Teaze of Leith". All above were ARC yachts. We then left and headed back to Antigua to pick up the "Boys"- Terry (he who came back for more), Geoff (neckachief that doubles up as a spare Q flag) and Tim (I'm in the Pink). Here we also bump into:- Bob and Sally of "Exceat" again - hope you guys are well and that we catch up soon. Tony and Kay White, who were on holiday in Antigua and thought they would just pop along to Nelson's Dockyard to see if we were around. Tony was a colleague of Terry's with Monarch. Great to see you guys, please keep in touch. We leave Nelson's Dockyard with the boys only to get a rope (an entire slim Once again, we take leisurely sails around Antigua with the "Boys", as they only have a short time with us. Again this was a delightful week, spent with three very dear and gentle friends. We guess they must have enjoyed themselves as they are already talking about another "Boys" week with us. Here we have included a note from Geoff Green:- February 19th 2007 "In what became known as, ‘The Boys Trip to Antigua’, Terry Bown, Tim Melton and I joined Teka Nova at English Harbour. Apart from a one day outing, this was my first proper sail; eight days on the ocean waves. Christine and Terry never failed to amaze us; Christine produced fantastic meals on a cooker the size of a matchbox and Terry’s ability to overcome problems on board and still make our stay great was remarkable. My cough, which I’d had for months, disappeared and I experienced the best sleep I’d had for a very long time. Secluded coves, swimming off the boat in turquoise seas, magical white beaches, sundowners at the end of the day and a memorable trip around Antigua. Fantastic. Thanks a million to you both. Much love, Geoff" We finish up in Falmouth Harbour where we are along side with the likes of Leander Check them out on their websites. Here, we once again meet up with:- Brian of "Scraatch" James of "Apparition". Great photo Colette - many thanks for that. Unfortunately, after all our efforts with the fuel tanks, we still have the problem. So we order a fuel conditioning and polishing unit. Time to go back to the UK and do a whirl wind tour to catch up with as many friends and family as possible. Many thanks to you all for your understanding that we had a very limited time but it was great to see all of you that we did manage to get to see. On 8th April it was back to the Caribbean - tough life. After we arrived back at the boat in Antigua, we were joined by Peter and Lynne Mallen. We headed south back to Guadeloupe, The Saints, Dominica, Martinique and then St Lucia - Rodney Bay where we collect the fuel conditioning unit. From there we started further south into new water for us, first being Soufriere Bay (still in St Lucia) where the Pitons are. If you have not heard of them there a a set of pointed hills that made a fabulous back drop whilst we were at anchor. On the way down (between Antigua and Guadeloupe) we came across a pod of Sperm Whales (30 - 40 feet in length) who gave us a wonderful display of jumping out of the water, doing somersaults then crashing back down again. Then down to Bequia (Beck-way) - population 5,000. When you hear the Conch Shell being blown it means one the the local fishermen have just come in with their catch and you go and buy it from them. So far our efforts of fishing have produced a big fat zero!! Thanks Martimus for the tips, we will let you know how we get on. Peter and Lynne depart for the UK, hope we did not wear you guys out too much and that you enjoyed your trip as much as we did. We stay in Bequia a few days to fit the fuel conditioning unit. Fuel unit fitted we then proceed to pass all the fuel through. Next day we sample our fuel.............we have clean fuel for the first time in 5 months. We can also condition and polish other boats fuel!!! There are quite a few boats around who do not know they have the fuel "bug" problem and it is only discovered when the engine stops. We have been fortunate (albeit painful) whereby we have a system that allows us to to be able to draw off the bad fuel from the bottom of the fuel tanks, thus keeping it away from the engine. Now having this new unit means we do not have to do this every other day. It cleans fuel at 500 litres per hour and you don't have to stand and watch it. Next stop was Union Island - population 2,000, where Christine saw a cute baby turtle as we were getting ready to drop the anchor - no I didn't drop it on him but Terry nearly ran him over. Christine's colleague back in UK Onward to Carriacou - not sure of the population but they all seemed to be very tall and there were quite a few handicapped, very strange place, also had a run in with the customs officer. One of the great things about the Carribean is that you have "boat boys" come out to your boat selling fresh bread, fruit and veg etc. beats queueing at Tescos. In Carriacou we even had our wine delivered £3 a bottle and home delivery - not bad. Then down here to Grenada, St David's Harbour - saw a couple of large turtles float by us on the way. People here are very friendly and try to be helpful. We have been hauled out to have Teka Nova's bottom scraped and re-anti-fouled. She has more growing on her bottom than there is growing on the coral reefs. The shaft to the prop also needs to be re-aligned as a result of the rope in Antigua being caught around it - it actually bent it!! We have also met up with Susan and Nick of "Flying Start". Its great listening to Susan and Nick, they have quite a few funny tales to tell, which have had us in stitches - a great couple. "Flying Start" was the yacht that came across the immigrants whilst on the ARC. They stood by them throwing bottles of water to them until a rescue ship could pick them up - 14 hours, in seas with big swells. They were awarded "The Spirit of the ARC" trophy, which was well deserved. Susan and Nick introduce us to new friends:- John of " Ocean Harmony" from Canada who was also on the ARC. Safe journey home and hope to see you back out here soon. And so the socialising continues........................ Neil Jarvis joined us on 22nd May, when we will start heading for Venezuela for the hurricane season. Well we are going to wrap this up for now, as you are probably bored by now (or have fallen asleep) with all our babbling. Miles to date since leaving the UK - 6,265 Hope this E-Mail finds you all well. Very Best Wishes Date : Mon, 1 Jan 2007 Dear All, We hope you all had A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Firstly, our mobile has given up and we are currently without one that can As per our previous E-Mail we arrived safe and sound in St Lucia on Friday The week before the ARC was amazing, over 200 boat crews working every day Some yachts had it harder than others i.e. the boat opposite us an Oyster The departure from Gran Canaries was terrific with the dock sides lined with For our particular group of boats the start time was 13.00 (26th Nov). We Well we were off and on our way, all hoping for a good crossing with The first 24 hours we sailed very conservatively in order to allow the crew The first few days saw very light winds with varying directions due to the Whilst we were still north of the trade winds the sea states became very We did get to see dolphins and catch one fish, which the two Ian's cooked Overall we faired well (just a broken bracket fitting for the pole and a On arriving in Rodney Bay, St Lucia each yacht was met day or night by ARC We arrived in the morning so all the crew retired to a local restaurant for In general on Teka Nova we had as a crew a relatively easy passage, with two The Atlantic crossing experience remains one of the World’s great Ocean We departed St Lucia (Terry and Christine) on 21st December for a night stop On 29th Julia (Terry’s daughter) and her friend Clare arrived to spend 10 That’s all for now. Best Wishes Dear All, We forgot to mention we logged 2,884 miles on the ARC crossing. Since leaving the UK on 18th Sept and arriving Antigua on 23rd we have done Best Wishes
Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2006 Dear All Many thanks to you all for your kind messages. We are currently berthed in We will be writing at greater length over the holiday as we currently have This message is to wish you all a very special and happy Christmas and we With lots of love and best wishes Terry and Christine xxxxxxxx PS Important message our mobile phone has packed in completely and we are Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 Dear All, Just a short note to say that we arrived safe and sound on Friday 15th at An amazing trip and adventure. We will update you all with more details when we get up to Antigua - the Many thanks to everyone for your messages of Good Luck and Congratulations Very Best Wishes Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2006 Dear All, >Date: Tue, 07 Nov 2006 22:57:37 +0000
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