Now it is time to fullfill my promise to bring a female sailor of the Tanga sailing club to Chumbe Island as a favour for all she did for us. We will go there first then I sail to Dar Es Salaam to pick up my friend at the airport. Malaka Queen on anchor near Chumbe Island Chumbe island is a nature reserve and zero emission eco-lodge. The lodge uses only rain water which is collected via a special roof construction and kept in cisterns under the 7 houses and the central building.

With 3 fellow sailors on board we sail from Tanga to Njao gap at Pemba Island. Another ship sails with us at the same time. We are lucky, we catch a nice golden dorade on the way, fish for dinner!

One evening in the bar of Tanga Yachtclub I spot a new group of 8 who just have arrived on a small boat. It looks like they had a tough time sailing upwind to Tanga. We start talking. They are German and Swiss and came from Dar Es Salaam and will go back tomorrow to celebrate newyear in Ras Nungwe in the North of Zanzibar. But they are clearly not happy to be all together on the little boat.

Back on the ship after 2 months in Holland via Dar Es Salaam with 40 kilo of marine parts! So glad to find it back in good condition on its mooring. The watchmen looked after it well. I meet my sailfriends, the bartenders and the drinkers again in the bar of Tanga Yacht Club. Stephan says: we all go up to the farm on the mountain in Moheze for Christmas, come!

In the bar of Crater bay marina on Nosy be Madagascar I meet world-sailor Stephan. He tells me: your boat cannot not stay here. Every year from December to May cyclones develop below the equator and often hit Madagascar. Some pass west of Madagascar through the Mozambique channel and may hit Nosy Be. So do not leave your boat there. Tanga in Tanzania is a safe place to leave your boat and it is out of the cyclone belt.

Welcome to the beautifull island of Nosy Be, Madagascar! Where, how? Well let me explain. In 2015 I decided to go sailing and after spending a few thousand miles on other peoples boats I decided it was time to buy one for myself. As there are so many brands and types on the market, it took me almost 2 years to find out what would suit me best: a Super Maramu.

If you see this in your bilge you better start investigating...take the Vetus flexible coupling appart and look at the state of the rubbers Mmmm that looks bad....so that is the reason why I found constantly rubber bits in the bilge! So this is going to be an extensive repair. Remove the shaft brake. To remove the brake disk and Vetus flexible coupling you have to lift the engine and pull it back which requires the removal of everything that is potentially causing interference such as the exhaust, syphon and tie-wraps holding the wiring to the engine frame then hoist it using a mizzen mast halyard on the main winch as it weighs 250 kg.

Booms work together with the rigging and masts to hold your sails up and without these essential parts you cannot sail. Here is what happened to our main sail boom. When the boat was bought back in 2017 the middle sheet attachment on the boom was 'different'. A few Super Maramu's I saw also had this arrangement so it seemed fine. A factory original SM has 3 equal plates A 54 has a combined plate for the sheet But read on and please learn from my mistakes!