lets-sail-over-the-horizon

[lets-sail-over-the-horizon]

Így élünk mi - púder nélkül

Oké. Szóval 6 napja jöttem vissza a Kanárira, a hajóra. Mielőtt kijöttem, sok emberrel beszélgettem, kérdezték, hogy mi ez a hajózás, hova megyek. Mikor mondtam, hogy hát egy vitorláshajón élek a barátommal, jelenleg a Kanári-szigeteken, a reakció nagyjából 10-ből 9-szer ez volt: ÚÚÚ, aztaa!! De jó neked! Ez mindenki álma! Fantasztikus! Ez egyrészt jól eső dolog, simogatja az ember egóját. Olyan menő dolog, hogy ilyen extravagáns dolgot csinálok és az emberek érdeklődve és csodálattal reagálnak erre az információra. 

Ugyanakkor mindig az van bennem, hogy ó, ha tudnátok, hogy ez az egész mit takar... eleve a magyar embereknek szerintem nagyon kevés fogalma van róla, hogy milyen életvitel szerűen hajón élni - tekintve, hogy nincs tengerünk, a balatoni hajózás meg nem ugyanaz. Mikor megjelent velem a nővérem interjúja (Felmondtam és egy vitorláshajóra költöztem a szerelmemmel), rengetegen csodálattal reagáltak. Hogy milyen nagy dolog ez az egész. Számomra ez nagyon meglepő volt, nem értettem miért tartja bárki is ezt tiszteletreméltónak, hiszen egy éhező kis kutyát sem fogadtam be, egyetlen afrikai gyereknek sem segítettem vele. Valami mégis megfogta az embereket a sztoriban, holott a javáról fogalmuk sem volt. Valahogy az a kérdés merült fel bennem, hogy mitől nagy dolog az, ha valaki olyan dolgot tesz, amivel gyakorlatilag csak a saját malmára hajtja a vizet és nem a világ jobbátételéért dolgozik. Szeretném azt hinni, hogy ezzel az életformával szerzett tapasztalatom és önismeretem majd mások hasznára kamatozik egyszer:)

Most, hogy újra itt vagyok és az élet azonnal csőstül hozta a kihívásokat, úgy érzem, hogy meg kell osztanom a minden napi életem tapasztalatait is kihívásait. Már az előző itt töltött fél év alatt is sokszor éreztem késztetést rá, hogy leírjam az élményeimet, de sosem volt erőm nekiülni. A családomtól és barátaimtól elválasztó földrajzi távolság egy dolog. Ugyanakkor azt is érzem, hogy olyannyira más az életem, a mindennapjaim, annyira eltérő kihívásokkal kell nap mint nap szembenéznem, hogy szinte lehetetlen a hozzám közelállók számára megértetnem, átadnom, miken megyek keresztül. Ebből adódóan úgy érzem, hogy nem csak földrajzi távolság, hanem valami sokkal nagyobb lelki gát épül köztem és a szeretteim között. Szinte elszeparálódom, mintha egy másik dimenzióban lennék.

Ugyanakkor úgy éreztem, túl sok energia szépen, szofisztikáltan és szórakoztatóan megírni a történéseket. Ráadásul nehéz igazán őszintének lenni egy olyan platformon, ami kikerül az internetre. A késztetés viszont most is meg van erősen és úgy döntöttem, inkább írom naplószerűen, nem parázva annyira a stilisztikán. Fontosabb, hogy át tudjam adni a tapasztalatokat, megéreztessem az emberekkel ennek az életformának az esszenciáját. Nem az a lényeg, hogy pulicer díjat kapjak. A célem, hogy közelebb hozzam azokat, akiket érdekel az életem. Gyakorlatilag laza naplóbejegyzéseknek is tekinthetőek ezek az írások, mindenfajta máz és maszkírozás nélkül, őszintén.

Szóval tegnap este lefekvés előtt el kezdtem olvasni Dan Millman - A békés harcos útja című könyvet (amit hamarosan abba is hagytam - nem az én stílusom). Az elején azt mondja, hogy: azért írja ezt a könyvet a tapasztalatairól, mert "az élet nem magánügy". Ha az ember tanul a tapasztalataiból, azt érdemes megosztania másokkal, hogy meríthessenek belőle. Ez lökött rajtam, hogy én is írjak, mert amiben élek, jócskán nyújt gondolkodni valót. Erős hajtó erőm, hogy a megtapasztalásaimat megoszthassam másokkal. Amit megtanultam, átadhassam.

Tehát 4 napja vagyok a hajón, okóber 12-én, csütörtökön érkeztem. Fél évet töltöttem otthon, áprilistól októberig. Ez idő alatt nagy részt egy tanyán lovagoltattam gyerekeket, biciklivel jártam, betömegközlekedtem Pestre, ahol jógáztam és jóga oktatónak tanultam. Egy nagy családi házban éltem anyukámmal, 5 percre a buszmegállótól és 7 percre a közérttől. A szobámhoz saját fürdőszoba tartozott. A szárazföldi lét minden kényelmét élvezhettem. Gyors és korlátlan internet, mosógép 8 különböző programmal, áram, szuper erős sütő, hatalmas kert, bicikli, tömegközlekedés. Ja és meleg víz, kád és wc, ami gombnyomással öblíthető. Mozdulatlan ágy és talaj a lábam alatt. Barátok és család egy karnyújtásnyira.

A jóhoz könnyű hozzászokni. Ebből a közegből jöttem múlt csütörtökön. Miután drága anyukámtól könnyes búcsút vettem a reptéren, felszálltam a Wizzair repülőre és 5 órát utaztam egy zúgó csőben. Az őszülő, hűvösödő, sötétedő Magyarországról pár óra leforgása után megérkeztem Fuerteventura szigetére. A repülés nem olyan, mintha ténylegesen utaznál, hanem inkább olyan, mintha hosszan teleportálnál A-ból B-be. Ahogy beléptem a terminálba, rögtön éreztem, hogy mennyire fülledt, párás a levegő és, hogy a vastag polár pulóveremre nem lesz most szükség. Olyan volt,mintha átléptem volna egy féregjáraton és az egyik életemből a másikba ugrottam volna. Miután megszereztem a csomagomat, találkoztam Petivel a reptéren és beültünk a bérelt autóba. Fuertén gyakorlatilag nincsenek növények, csak ültetett pálmafák és kaktuszok itt- ott. Az egész sziget egy sziklás hegység gyakorlatilag. Reggel fél 8 körül kel a nap és este 8 körül megy le. Szinte egész évben ez a ritmus.

A hajóra megérkezni fura érzés: az első gondolatom az volt, hogy ez kisebb, mint emlékeztem. A gigantikus bőröndöm alig fért be az ajtón. Persze még kikötőben álltunk, ami egyébként elég nagy luxusnak számít az itteni életemben. Most ki is térek rá, hogy miért is. Nos, ugyebár egy hajó, ha a vízen van menetben, vagy horgonyon (ez ingyen van), akkor értelemszerűen nincs rákötve áram- és vízforrásra. Az áramot a két napelemünk termeli, vizünk pedig a 110 literes víztartályból van - ezt a kikötőben tudjuk megölteni, mert nincs tengervíz tisztítónk.. Ez a víz, ha összehúzzuk a gatyaszíjat, egy hétig is elég (egy átlag ember napi egy zuhanyzása alatt kb 60-70 liter vizet fogyaszt). A napelemeinkből annyi áramunk van, hogy ha jó napos idő van, akkor napközben tudjuk tölteni a laptopjainkat és este mennek a villanyok. De pl hajszárítót, porszívót vagy bármilyen nagyobb fogyasztót nem tudunk használni, mert azonnal leszívja az akksikat. Amikor viszont kikötőben vagyunk, rá vagyunk csatlakozva a korlátlan áramra és bármikor meg tudjuk tölteni a tartályunkat vízzel. Tehát ilyenkor bő vízzel mosogathatunk, mosakodhatunk és nyugodtan használhatjuk az árammal működő eszközeinket. Na már most a kikötő pénzbe kerül - ez lehet napi 7 euró, de akár napi 20 euró is helytől függően.

És itt jön az életformánk egyik legfontosabb tényezője, alakítója: nem vagyunk anyagilag eleresztve(csórók vagyunk). Ezt eddig valamennyire tabuként kezeltem, nem szerettem beszélni róla, mert féltem, hogy az emberek megítélnek. Most már úgy érzem, vállalni szeretném. Szóval mikor tavaly kijöttem, minimális tőkével rendelkeztünk, ami hamar el is szivárgott különbözú karbantartási költségeknek köszönhetően. A bizodalmunk abban volt, hogy a youtube-os videóblogunk hamarosan fog annyi pénzt hozni, ami nagyjából elég a havi kajánk fedezésére. Hogy ezenkívül volt-e bármilyen kézzel fogható terv arra, hogy miből fogunk élni? Semmi. Megmondom őszintén, nekem fogalmam sem volt róla, hogy pontosan mi lesz itt kint. Hogy hogy vág bele valaki így egy ilyen útba? Nem tudom. Valahogy akkor ez nem volt kérdés a számomra. Úgy voltam vele, hogy bármi lesz, megoldjuk.

A tavalyi félévünkben, októbertől áprilisig, valamennyit nőtt a videóinkból bejövő pénz, illetve Peti utcazenélt. Gyakorlatilag ebből a két bejövőből éltünk. Mennyi az annyi? Azt mondom, hogy egy hónap alatt olyan 2-300 eurót költöttünk kajával mindennel együtt. Persze volt, amikor segítséget kaptunk, pl barát látogatott meg bennünket és a hajós élményekért cserébe állta a kaját és egy pár napot  a kikötőben. Vagy nagy vonalú családtagok és barátok küldtek némi zsebpénzt karácsonykor vagy szülinapra. Azért is félek erről beszélni, mert úgy érzem az emberek megítélnek: Ingyen élők vagytok! Miért nem dolgoztok, mint minden más rendes ember? Miért erőltetitek ezt a hajózást, ha nincs tőkétek vagy fix income-otok? Miért nem dolgoztok itthon, gyűjtötök és utána mentek? Mint minden rendes ember! Az igazság az, hogy ezt gyakorlatilag senki sem vágta a fejemhez. Lehet, hogy ezek csak az én bizonytalanságaim, belémtáplált sztereotípiák és kétségek visszhangja. A válasz egyébként: Se én, se Peti nem tud spanyolul. Ha bárhol munkát vállaltunk volna, valószínűleg az valamilyen éttermi mosogatás vagy takarítás lett volna, nem túl sok pénzért. Valahogy ehhez egyikünknek sem fűlt a foga, pedig nem vagyunk munka kerülők. Csak nem éreztük, hogy hosszútávon ez megoldást jelentene. Egy ilyen munka mellett a videózásra se idő, sem energia nem jutott volna és téma sem lett volna. Tehát nem próbálkoztunk ilyesmivel. Inkább igyekeztünk a kreativitásunkból megélni és egyébként végeredményben sikerült is. Persze nem könnyű így. Amikor egyik napról a másikra élsz  és akármennyire is le vannak merülve az akkumulátoraid, akár mennyire is eleged van a horgonyon való hánykolódásból, nem tudsz kikötőbe állni, mert nincs rá pénzed. Szó szerint nincs pénzed. Arra akarok ezzel kilyukadni, hogy az, hogy hajón él valaki, az rengeteg mindent jelenthet. Egy csomó olyan nyugdíjas házaspár és nem nyugdíjas meg nem házaspár van, akinek mondjuk valahonnan van havi bevétele, amiből jól él. Kényeztetni tudja magát finom ételekkel, kikötőben él. Ráadásul mondjuk nagyobb hajója van, több térrel, nagyobb víztartállyal és több energiával. A mi 31 lábas  (kb 20 méter hosszú és 2,90 m széles középen) hajónk mondjuk egy tágas lakókocsinak felel meg.

  Szóval ez az egész lehet egy sokkal nagyobb kényelem. Vitorláson élni lehet elképesztő luxus is. De mi nem így éltünk és nem így élünk most sem. Bár most hozzájutottunk egy nagyobb tőkéhez, a nagy része elment különböző tanfolyamokra, eszközökre stb. Ami még meg van, azt nagyon be kell osztani, mert most szárazdokkban szeretnénk a hajót felújítani. Tél végén Peti pedig megméretteti magát egy olyan nagy volumenű hajós vizsgán, ami ha sikerül, gyakorlatilag diplomája lesz a hajózásból - értelmezhető pénzt fog tudni keresni azzal, amit szeret. Tehát most a terv, hogy miután kivettük a hajót egy kikötőben a szárazdokkba, felújítjuk (kb 1 hónap munka), majd Tenerifén maradunk tavaszig. Itt Peti zenél, én pedig jógát oktatok, aztán Peti vizsgázik. Utána pedig meglátjuk. Viszont addig is be kell osztanunk a pénzt, amennyire csak lehet. Így állunk most. Ezeket azért vázoltam fel, hogy érthetőek legyen a körülményeink. 

Folytatása következik...

[lets-sail-over-the-horizon]

It's busking time - Gyerünk utcazenélni (helyszín: The Canary Islands)

[lets-sail-over-the-horizon]

‘the hell I’m doing here?!

    - Hugging Irreversible in the marina of Morro Jable, Fuerteventura-

So. My name is Vera, and I’m living on a sailboat called Irreversible(31 feet Westerly Longbow) on the Canary Islands since the beginning of October 2016. Even after half year sometimes I ask myself: “How the hell did I got here??”

As early as I can remember I wanted to be someone who helps others. As a kid I wanted to be a zoologist, later a vet, but after many years with much more wisdom and self-awareness I realized that hippotherapy (horse assisted therapy for injured people) is my path. My passions are horses, kids, dancing and spirituality.

          - Riding Lina bareback, my riding teacher’s amazing mare -

- Volunteering in Camp for the Brave (Bátor Tábor) - a free camp                 organized for chronically ill children -

So what the hell am I doing on a sailboat while I never sailed before?(not too many horses on the ocean) Good question, what I asked myself several times. Well, there are times in life, when you just have to go with the current, wherever it takes you, even if it seems to be sensless.

Everything in my life shepherd me here, to be with Peter and live on Irreversible. Maybe this way, without all the familiar factors – like homeland, friends, family, horses, well known daily routines, mother language etc – I can fullfill my greatest wish much more: develop myself through challanges. Using the little worn-out phrase: leaving the comfort-zone.

Because yes, living aboard a 31 feet boat(let’s say: not too big), being on anchor most of the time, rambling around always is not easy. Especially for someone who has never done this. No broadbend internet, strictly limited fresh water, easily exhaustable electricity storage, small living area, locked together with your partner a lot, the lack of stability… oh my God, I made it sound awful, didn’t I?

- Scrubbing off the animals and plants from the dinghy in Las Palmas ! -

But the truth is: I love it! I love that no one tells us what to do or how to do it – we have to be our bosses, regulate our everyday life, be strict on ourselves to get from A to B (hardest thing: wake up early when you know, that no one is going to scold you, but you have to do it only  because it’s good for you on a long term).

I love that I have never have the chance to get tired of one place, because we are constantly moving to new areas.

I love that ocean life always bring up many unknown feelings from the depth of my soul which I don’t know how to cope with yet, so I always have to train myself. (Thankfully I have very good guardians to help me :))

I love that I learn to value such ordinary things like hot shower and unlimited electricity.

The point is, in this lifestyle beauty is in the difficulty. Let yourself submerge in depth then merge from it and getting better with what you learned. I don’t regret that I quitted university, my jobs and basically my entire life to live this experience, because one thing I know for sure: the things I learn here, the initiations I get through are my most effective and best masters.

And trained by the best masters, once I can be someone who can truly help others!

[lets-sail-over-the-horizon]

Update from La Gomera

/by Peter/

The time has come to update all of you. It's been a while now since I informed you about our everyday life. You might be a bit confused why we post pictures from the Canary Islands when our videos are still showing the Bay of Biscay. Your question is totally appropriate so Let me explain our situation.

 Our voyage began in June 2015. We were almost completely greenhorns. Remember at the first anchorage-above 5-6meters- I almost dropped out 50meters of chain immediately in that excact time when we stop the boat in the wind...surely there was a big pile of chain on the seabed. At that night I was surprised why we teleport in random places in Chichester Harbour. This was my “tactic” until my good sailor friend Nathan saw me, stopped me, and explained me how to set an anchor properly. We did a lot of mistakes, but now looking back I'm grateful for all this had happened. 

So back then (Last summer) We dayhopped - I hope this is the english word) - along the coastline of Britain,Galicia,and Portugal. During these days we were sailing most of the time and at overnights we mostly stayed on anchor because we didn't have money for marinas. We had to face technical problems too and we also had to keep going south. Eventhough we were filming most of the times, we didn’t have enough time to process all the videos. In the meantime when we had opportunity we uploaded videos from Mcdonalds, cafes, petrol stations,a  friend's house, or from anywhere where we could get internet. 

The good news we reached the Canarias where we are able to stay in marinas - thanks to our supporters and friends. Now we have time to make music, and process all the videos. Our goal is to catch up ourselves until the end February- mid March. We are on La Gomera at the moment. In the following weeks our family will visit us and after that We would like to move to Las Palmas- Grand Canaria at the end of march. They say Las Palmas has the cheapest marina of the Islands and hope we will have enough money to take out Irreversible from the water and prepare her Majesty for the ocean crossing. We miss our goodfriends too and hope sooner or later we will reunite with Blue Calpyso and We can start to plan our voyage to Cape Verdes. 

Other good news we are going to give a live interview for the Hungarian National Tv (Petofi Tv) on tuesday evening (19th Jan UTC1815). At this moment in time we live day to day but it is part of the experience and we expected/accepted this right from the beginnings.

We are rich without money!! We met so many nice people and saw beautiful places on the way here and there are many more to see. We love to be here and are grateful for evey moments of this journey...even for the hard times. 

We abosultley positive that we sail far and we will find the way to keep going. 

Happy days for all of you

San Sebasitan de La Gomera 15/01/2016

[lets-sail-over-the-horizon]

From Camarinas to Lisbon

/ by Peter/

Let me continue the story of our life aboard. We were still in Camarinas. Even though our Imray Pilot book said It is a beloved attractive destination of cruisers I must say Camarinas is a dirty run-down place with lots of rubbish in the muddy water (sorry my spanish friends) but at least it is protected from all winds and waves.I was looking forward to leave all this behind but we needed wind for this movement. Finally we got a promising breeze and could set sails again. 20-25 kts beam..later broad rich: every sailor's dream. We had the best run since we left England. 9.2kts!!! Downhill :) There were big, I mean big big ocean waves. We sailed around the "end of Roman world"- Cabo Finisterre and were heading to Murros. Good friends of ours Nathan and Lauren from Blue Calypso (http://svbluecalypso.blogspot.pt/) were already waiting for us there. As we approached to the entrance of Ría de Murros the wind got stronger (30kts)and as it usually happens blowed from excatly opposite. We didn't want to use the engine for two reasons: 1. diesel=money (we are sailors anyway)  2. its a 40 years old engine and we would like to safe it for the next generations :)Tacking in 30kts in a  rocky strait is a good fun:) No, it is defenetely not. We decided to turn on the engine eventually because we had a strong 2kts current coming out from the Ría. After about 5 minutes I checked the temperature of the engine- it was in red, overheated. We sucked up something again. . I turned off the engine straight away and I was swearing hard and had the fear that we burned the impeller. Kinga interrupted my bad language and warned me its still blowing 30kts.Main sail up with the 3rd reef on, genoa rolled up small as a napkin - we sailed and tacked into Murros like Kings. We dropped the hook next to Blue Calypso with no problem and opened a bottle of wine straight away to celebrate. We did it!In the next few days we explored the town and I find time to check the impeller. Luckily it didn't burned. My cousin told me:in practice the front part of the exhaust burns first (where it comes out from the engine).The next destination was Baiona. We had to wait for the wind 4 days and were desperate to leave. We motored out to the ocean in the morning. no wind until 3.pm but picked up later on and droped the anchor in Baiona's bay at 1am. We spent the next week here and my "Slash/Jimi Tina Turner Hendrix" look-alike friend Jaime joined us a few days later. He is from Porto and I met him in crazy house party in Wembley, London. He is going to sail with us to the Canarias. Its good to have company, specialy of a good friend.Next port of call was Porto. We all agreed that we do night sailing- just to show Jaime how its gonna work. He threw up after 2 hours about 3 times haha. Kinga was evil, she laughed so hard. Actually I laughed with her. Jaime is not a silent "vomiter" OOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRR. Damn it was so funny. Kinga was happy because she was fine and this time someone else fed the fish. .The sailing was fun in 20-25 kts. We had only the main up.It was down wind (run) so I put a preventer on the boom. A bigger wave pushed the stern to the side we gybed a bit- the main sail waved/flapped one and split in two within half of a second. It was like you cut it in half with a samurai sword. There was ONE tiny hole at the edge of the sail and that one twitch was enough to tear it apart. Bad luck.We sailed the rest of the miles with the genoa to Jaime's city...Porto. We went to the marina straight in Leixoes to sort out the customs.Jaimed jumped home for the car and in the meantime  we entered to Portugal offically in the marina's office. We went back to the boat and were waiting for Jaime to pick us up. Knock-knock. Customs asked permisson to get onboard. An older lady lead the gang of disaster. They didn't speak english, neither hungarian... They saw the crew list: two hungarians,  1 portugese (who is not there). On an English boat!! Whaaattt? The lady started:  Who is he? Where is he? What is your job? How can you afford this trip? And these kind of questions....In the mean time when they were searching the heroin, Lauren came over to say hello (poor Blue calypso- friends of drug smugglers) and Jaime arrived back as well. They did find the big nothing and water under the boat. They searched Jaime's pocket and asked him as well...  Bon dia! we are ready to explore the city.We wanted to leave the pontoon when Mr Johnny Undercover agent stood front of us and said the police is on the way to search the boat again....with a dog this time.Alright poor devils....do it. The policeman had never been on a boat before..neither the dog. He stuck and fall on every rope, he put the puppy labrador on the solar panels..and after 2minutes strugling he was able to bring the dog inside. The party had just started. The dog jumped on everything, scratched the stairs, the saloon table, put his balls on the pillows ( i mean the dog) and crushed the oil lamp to the floor. Meanwhile this old lady stood outside with the hope we'll rot in jail.No we won't, because they found the big nothing again. Ahaaaa So it must be on Nathan's boat... Same thing happaned there.Finally we were clear and had an amazing night in Porto. Jaime took us around and tasted Porto's speciallity the Francesinha (little french girl). If you try it make sure that your stomach is empty. Its a mountain of meat between two slice of bread with melted cheese and spicy tomato sauce on the top. People are really friendly all around in Portugal and so helpful-except maritime policia.We had barbeque in Jaime's place and his Mom invited us for dinners for the rest of the week. My friend Magda and her brother Yvan also visited us on Irreversible. They were just beneficent fairies. We got a big bag of food, a special sausage baker dish, and internet from them. It was just an other mirracle. They helped us a lot.After we saw everything in Porto we were ready to sail again....to Aveiro.We had a good voyage, I caught a blue shark-  and threw it back. We were almost in Aveiro When I opened the pilot book to see how to sail in. I read this: Night entry: potential dangers, not recommended even in light conditions.Ok. Not much we can do. Next stop is Nazare. Night sailing in pitch dark with a reefed down (broken) main around the crab pots..  There are crab pots everywhere even 5-10 miles from shore. If its deeper there are fishing nets.Anyway we arrived to Nazare and had one of the best times. The marina was full of every nations.. People were literally lived on their boats. English, french, german, american, danish,norvegian,australian, and hungarian :) you can imagine the atmosphere in the pub. There were lots of stories to tell and hear. All stories worth for a book. Inspiration: a sailing nation, the last nomads of this crazy world.It was time to leave again. Ilha da Berlengas beautiful islands were our next stop.We arrived there just before sunset but we could see the shadow of the boat on the 20m deep bottom. The next few days I filmed the Island,caught fish, and enjoyed the life. Next stops were Peniche - Ericeira ( we were kicked out by maritime policia) - and Cascais.We are here now. I talked to the sailmaker about the repair possibilities and costs.Unfortunately our main is worn because of the caribbean sun ( the previous owner crossed the ocean with it....twice). So basically if we pay for the repair it will have problem in the future for sure. Its a temporary solution. Or and we chose this option: we buy an almost brand new dragon sail which will be converted to our size. Not cheap at all...We didnt want to buy a sail from a second-hand website because we can’t see/sure of the quality and if we are not satisfied its a pain to send it back.Not to mention we are going to cross the ocean with it. we had and have hard times because of this money thing BUT!! somehow somebody gave us a help hand. Szabolcs, Eric, Magda, Yvan, Nathan, Lauren, Sandor, Pal, Sue, Anne, Sue's mother Jennifer, Jaime, and now James. They were all there when we slowed down a bit and gave us a big push to keep going again. All we can say thank you. We keep sailing !! Next stop is not on the european continent: Porto Santo- Madeira here we come.

[lets-sail-over-the-horizon]

From Emsworth to Camarinas

So we are here onboard. It was a long way to get here and I am pretty sure that it is going to be a long journey too. We had been saving for 3 and a half years to make this happened and we reached the point where we had to make a desicion. Desicion of - Stay in Uk for one more year-Work and safe more money to sail further (and with the thought in mind there is something to eat.)  OR!! we quit our jobs, and just improvise and go with the flow... That`s sounds much better for our vagabond souls. So we quit  and moved to Emsworth into Irreversible. Its was April 21 2015 and the nights were still very cold and we had only an electric heater - What we didnt know how to use proberly. Kinga freaked out once when it was close to 4celsius at night. Women,,huh :) Luckily it got warmer a bit  and we found out how to use that stupid heater. Every day we got up around 8am and worked until 8pm. There was lot of things to do: We had to prepare the old lady to face the ocean again. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention  she crossed the Atlantic twice with the previous owner so She proved herself. We were sanding, polishing, painting, varnishing, laughing and crying a lot back then. There were about 1000things what had never done it before but there is our secret backup-weapon: Szabolcs, my cousin who is a well-experienced sailor and not to mention: a genious mind. If we dont know something,We send him an email and in about 15mins he sends us back the solution in 3-4 different ways..  And of course in the Yard there were lot of other sailors to ask. Emsworth Yacht Marina is a really cool place. Mostly beacuse of the staff who are working there. Thanks for Neil, Nick and Jeremy who helped us all the time. And there were Phil, Andy,and Roy too who had always something to chat about. Wonderful people - you really understand it if you meet them. We also met Nathan and Lauren from Blue Calypso (www.svbluecalypso.blogspot.com). They are living on 43foot steal boat (What Nathan built by his own two hands) and turned out that they have the same goal - Sailing far. We had lots of fun, Palinka and dinner together, and They also helped us a lot. We became good friends so on the day they left Emsworth Nathan said they will wait for us in Falmouth, and We will sail to the Canary Islands together. We were working all days on the boat when we could. In the meantime I almost cut off my thumb with a knife.The weather was stormy and rainy most of the time which is not really ideal for painting or to climb the mast. A week before the boat`s launch Szabolcs took his holidays to visit us in England and set up the navigation system on the boat. Its basically a box created by him. Contains: AIS, NAVTEX,GPS,Usb internet- wired all together with the logs, VHf radio, and gives wifi network to Irreversible. He saved us a lot of money- (for example We can use a cheap Tesco Tablet computer as chartplotter). Dont worry we have 4 different Gps onboard. Had enough money to buy all the equipment for the boat (Gps,AIS,Navtex,Liferaft,paints etc) and hopefully have enough to get to Canary Islands. Finally We launched Irreversibe on a Friday morning 12th of June 2015. Had a test sailing to Cowes- Isle of Wight. We also set up the windvane steering what we built with Szabolcs and my Grandfather and worked well. After that we had to stay a few days in Emsworth to fix a few issues on the boat and left Emsworth 16th june. It was so exciting, mostly because I had never been a skipper.It was the first time I was in charge. I was always the crew and even If I steered the boat there was someone who had bigger experience than me. First afternoon we made it to Chichester Harbour where we stayed 2 nights to finish some other jobs on the boat.I tried to fix the blocked toilet and We plugged the solarpanles together. 3 days later When We sailed out to the Solent and about 15mins later I broke the kicker... I pulled up the main while the kicker was tighten stiff. Boom. No Kicker. Bravo Peter! We motored to Gosport Where I did my Day-skipper course, and parked next to Nomad 1. Lou my instructor was there, and helped me to solve all the problems. Thanks Lou! Next Day we started to sail west in 25knots of Westerly winds. Actually all the way to Falmouth we had strong westerly winds with rain. Kinga had so much fun and really enjoyed the whole journey- No absolutley Not! She hated the whole thing, and I thought one night She will break the boat with a hammer and send it to the bottom. Poor her! She was seasick,There was no toilet (bucket stories) and she cant stand the cold and rain. Well, It was England.. Our track was: Chichester Harbour - Gosport - Marsh - Swanage - Portland - Brixham - Salcombe - Cawsand Bay - Falmouth. Nathan and Lauren had already been waiting for us. They welcomed us with a nice dinner and cold beer! We spent about 2 weeks in Falmouth- where finally I was able to fix the toilet issue and built a shower too. Believe me:Kinga was a new person after that. We were on anchor in Penryn which is not the best place for a fin-keel boat. on neap tides we were basically capsized because of the low-water...not to mention the stucked anchor. This was the last stop on the English-coast and we spent the most of our savings. Therefore I was frustrated and was looking forward to sail to south ASAP. We stucked in Falmouth. There was no weather window to Spain, so we changed the plan: Lets go to Brest- France. On 22-23 July We crossed the English-Channel. It was a nice run except Kinga vomited again. It looks like normal and regular for her. After she put out the lunch she is always fine. When we crossed the main shipping lane a Tanker almost hit us. I had to turn on the engine to get away from that junk. After 34hours of sailing we arrived to Brest and dropped the hook next to Blue Calypso. We explored the city of Roscanvel and discovered that wine is cheap... and bagette too.In next 4 days We were waiting for the next weather window and drunk wine and ate lots of cheese with Blue Calypso. On the 2nd day`s morning I heard a noise of someone got onboard. The  Coastguard decided to search through the whole boat. They asked us lot of questions and found nothing but our  dirty underwears.At least we entered the country legally. Dont get me wrong. They were calm, polite, and super-friendly with a big smile on their faces. When they saw the empty wine bottles they got even more friendly. It sounds a bit silly but It will remain as a positive experience. After 4days We got our window to La Coruna and left Brest at 6am. We expected 3 long days to La Coruna-Spain,but It was 4days at the end. Biscay is well-known about the strong winds. Luckily we had only 30knots behind us. It hit us on the 3rd morning 2am. Big Atlantic swells and pitch-dark. Kinga enjoyed it very much...No! She vomited every day and freaked out once when she realized we are only on half way. Because it was on the run the boat was more like a washing machine on spine-mode.But life is fun, and its part of sailing she calmed down when we were able to see the shore. After 4 long days we tied to La Coruna`s pontoon. I love spain: chorizo, cheap wine,nice music,friendly people and siesta. Spanish people know how to live. We spend 3 nights in La Coruna and explored the city. We visited the famous lighthouse the Torre de Hercules what was built by Romans, and still in working order. On 4th Aug we were on westbound again. We droped the anchor in Camarinas. In the next month our goal is  to reach the Canary Islands, and make money before we cross the endless Atlantic.This is our situation now. On the meantime I am editing videos, writing songs, sailing, working on the boat.Well, Lets say I am not bored.

[lets-sail-over-the-horizon]

Peter:

My story is going back about 23 years to my childhood. My grandfather was a sailor, so every men of the family is a sailor now. I used to spend the school summer holidays at my grandparents house at Lake Balaton in Hungary. Every day...almost every morning I got up with my grandfather and went sailing on the Hungarian sea.We had endless fun and adventures as we explored the beautiful Lake and it`s wildlife and nature.. At the afternoons my grandfather read me books about the first Hungarian circumnavigators ( Nandor Fa and Jozsef Gal). We had a look on the maps as well to see where they were sailing. It was fascinating to listen these stories from my grandfather and I remember as it was yesterday. One of a windless afternoon when we stucked in the middle of the Lake I told this to my  grandfather: Grandpa! I am going to circumnavigate the Globe one day. He said: Hmm, Well....Go for it! As the years passed I turned my attention to music and I had turned my back for sailing for a few years. I just did not see how can I afford this sport. Back then I was so fustrated about my financial situation ("no money inna mi pocket"), had no job, and as a musician had not much of perspective to buy a boat. In 2011 one of my best friend played in a show-band and had a good chance to get in a tour with him in Spain for 6months.This event had changed my whole life.Our accomodation was really close to the beach and basically we were free until the evening`s show. Our life was simply - morming till evening:playing freezbe, jumpig in the water, snorkeling...hard life isn`t it?:) The beach was front of a marina`s entrance so I was able to see how the sailboats set sails and cruised behind horizon. I admired all of them and decided That is What I really want to do. So from that certain moment I did something (even it was just a small thing) to get closer to this goal every day. That summer ended and had to go back to Hungary. I had no chance to find a job again, so there was only one-way: "dishwasher carrier" in London....again. In the previous years I had been living there, and did all the shit(est) jobs that you can imagnine. Cleaning toilets, cleaning rubbish bins, loading trucks, washing dishes,,,even scrathing chewing-gums in Piccadilly Circus. This time I could go back to my previous job to a parfum company`s warehouse. Not a dream job, but finally I had chance to make bigger steps towards sailing. Luckily There was a reservoir with (Queen Mary) sailing club within a few miles and I could start the whole sailing thing from the basics again.There was a big sailor life and race on every wednesday sundays. I spent most of my free times over there... Kinga and me started to date a year later and I told her about my goals..I think she didn`t take it seriously back then. She had homesick for a few times, and tried to persuade me to go back with her to Budapest.. There is no f#@%$^n way!!-was the answer from me. We lived in a really small room so if the weather was kind we could get outside. We went dingy sailing with Kinga, and for my big surprise she didn`t scream when we almost capsized :) Right then I knew she is the future crew! She liked it! A few weeks later my cousin invited us to help him deliver a boat from Greece to Croatia. First leg was 36hours upwind with big swells..Kinga`s face was pale white and her smile wasn`t true.. She was considerably seasick.We had all type of conditions from windless days to force 8. When we flew back to England she didn`t even want to talk about sailing..:) 3months later we bought Irreversible, and Kinga proved she is not a queen-type pinky princess and she climbed the mast as a volunteer in January.We quit our jobs 4months later.....and here we are. We are living on a sailboat, and getting ready for the adventures..