• 🇹🇿 Newyear in Zanzibar

    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.

  • 🇹🇿️ Christmas at the farm

    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!

    Halyard wraps

    It sounds tasty but no, you cannot eat a “halyard wrap”. A halyard wrap occurs when one of the lines that go up the mast get entangled in the foresail or genoa. The foresail need to rotate to give out the sail. If a halyard is close to it the line will get caught resulting in forestay jams, bend rods and a broken furler…

  • 🇲🇬️ First passage !

    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.

  • 🇲🇬️ Arrival in Nosy be

    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.

    The engine is running fine but why is there no propulsion?

    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.

    Cracks in the boom

    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!

    About Malaka Queen

    Sailing vessel Malaka Queen is a 53 foot ketch build by Chantiers Amel in 2002. She was bought in September 2017 on the island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

    Sailing the Red Sea

    The Suez canal from the Mediterranian to the Red Sea Here is a proposed route for a 1500 nm south bound Red Sea passage via the Suez canal to Djibouti and the Indian ocean. Note the Red sea is normally RED hot a bit more South, only from October to March the temperatures are moderate. Our Suez canal transit will thus be in September. It must be pre-arranged with an agent which can be the Prince of the Red Sea.