So folks, here we are, the adventure is over, done with, finito, basta, rien ne va plus !

And it has been quite an exerience, good and 'less good'.  
Originally I wanted to write a long summary about my fantastic adventures, but then I don't want to bore you. 
So it would be much better if you went back once in a while to one story or the other , and read it again. 
Nothing wrong with that.

You might have noticed that I have not been entirely convinced by that part of the world called 
'PARADISE'.
To be on Christopher Columbus's footsteps was fun, amd I am extremely grateful 
that I have achieved what I set out to do. 
 I also recognise that there are still other areas that I had no time to explore: 
Cuba, Haiti, Panama, South America, 
but unfortunatley I was runnng out of time. 
To sail to and between the Caribbean Islands is not a great challenge, 
the return is much tougher, 
although as you might remember we had faced one of the worst ARC ( Atlantic Rally for Cruisers ) weather conditions in years. 
But that applies everywhere : 
The weather is changing, 
and whilst the seasons might stay we will face more freaky weather condiitions due to climate change, no matter what we think we do against it  : 
More wind, more rain, more snow.

The ARC itself is a fantastic ( social ) experience ,
 bringing together sailors and spectators regardless of their 
background, nationality or boat size. 
 All participants, with few exceptions,  share their knowledge, plans and dreams, which creates a foundation for friendship that hopefully lasts for longer than just one season. 
And we from Champagne have made many friends. 
And are grateful for that.

Having done it once, there is no need however to do it again in my view. 
Although the cruising ground in the Caribbean is stable with steady trade winds and almost guaranteed nice weather, it seemingly attracts more northern Europeans than those sailing already in warmer climes around the Mediterranean, between Spain and Turkey.
 There is no comparison in the world to the european diversity 
which I started missing after a while.

Now I am back home, and happy. 

Regardless where you live, home is where your friends and family are. 


THE FLAG CAN BE ROLLED UP, END OF STORY !


The adventure is over , so it seems.........

Well folk, your are wrong if you believe that. 


There is more to come. Just let me have a brake, ok ? 

Life is full of adventures, you just have to look for it. And I am surely looking for the next one. 


Don't know yet what it is, not this year anymore though, but I will surely let you participate if you are interested. 
In the meantime I will be focusing on my home-page which needs urgent updating and attention. 
So I hope some of you will continue reading my ' mutterings ' , 
and if I can add one last wish : 
It would be great if you could give me a feedback on what you have been reading so far.
 Pls tell me whether you enjoyed this or not, be honest with me. 
There is no writer in the world who writes for himself, so any input from whoever you are would be appreciated.


And with these thoughts I herewith close officially the 
"ATLANTIC ADVENTURES 2012/2013 " !

There is this old saying : 
Nothing is finished until it is finished, 
or something to that effect. 
When you think you have done and seen everything, you start to relax , I guess, 
and that is usually when stuff happens. 
Exactly like in our case !!!!

We left Sicily on Tuesday, the 7th of May, late morning, after a good rest, and some sightseeing. 
Those who know the island will appreciate that I will not even attempt to cover its history, as it is so rich and powerful, so I would never finish anyway, even if I attempted. 
Some notes nevertheless. 
The people there are fantastic, the food is beyond belief, and the country side is dramatic. 
Folk, if you have some time, go there and explore for yourself.

Other than that 
Messina,
 where we stayed in the Marina, 
was totally destroyed ( 90% !!!! ) during an earthquake that lasted only 30 seconds in 1908.  
The locals call themselves "second time lucky", 
as Messina was also heavily bombaarded and again destroyed by the Allies during WW II. 
Nevertheless, a nice city to visit for a couple of days, and some remaining nice features like the dome.

The foundations of few buildings that survived the earthquake are actually 3-4 meters lower than the city,
 as the planners had decided it was not possible to clear up ( in those days ) all the collapsed buildings, etc, 
so the city was rebuilt on top of the remains of the old one.

Beyond that , 
what I will describe to you now, 
is either sheer luck or the opposite,
depends on whether you think
 a glass is half full or half empty.

But I will keep it short in order not to bore you with too many details !!!!!!!!!!!!!

We finally left Messina on the morning of the 7th of May, 
and whilst at first it was nice sailing during the day, 
the wind died down in the evening and we continued under engine along the sole of the "italian boot".
 It was about 2 am on the 8th of May, 2013, Fati's watch and me sleeping in the cockpit, 
when I was woken up by a huge torch beam directed at the cockpit. 

Now getting to grip with reality takes some time,
 and having written so many stories about pirates 
I thought at first.....but then it was just the 
Guardia di Finanza, 
doing their 'normal controllo'.
All was amicably done and they were about to leave 
when I realised that our engine had shut down for no apparant reason. 


Even with the help of one of the engineers of the Finanza boat, it wouldn't start again. 
No fuel in the system, fuel pump gone for good !

POP GOES THE DIESEL !!!

The FINANZA
 also organised two elderly mechanics who
 - I must give them full credit - 
finally restarted the engine after 2 days of work. 
The fuel pump was replaced,
 the phasing of the engine re-defined, 
and one broken part provisionally fixed. 

From that moment onwards I did not feel comfortable anymore with the engine ! 


I don't know how to express it, 
but when you need the engine ,as the remaining distance was almost entirely with no wind or against it,
 and with every little noise you think : 
that's it, the engine had it,
 it is no good anymore. 

So we finally arrived on Sunday morning , the 11th of May, in Croatia, 
in Cavtat, south of Dubrovnik. 

CROATIA, OH MY CROATIA !

Sometimes I have the feeling you are still at war with somebody, 
me for example,
or you want to show how tough (and unfriendly) you are in order to restrict too much of tourism !


IS IT JUST INSECURITY 
or even an
 
INFERIORITY COMPLEX ?
?????????????????????????

After clearance with police, the troubles continued. 
The croatian licence for the boat would expire the same day at midnight, and we were advised 
in very strong words,
 that any disrespect of that limit would create serious punishment.
 
Are you serious ????
 
After 13000 miles with almost 9 months of travel, 
after having kept the croatian flag up in all the countries we visited, 
after all the trouble we went through to come 'home',
specifically over the last 48 hours,
 we had more problems during the last 5 days 
than in any of the 9 months of previous travel. 

I can't believe it.

I went straight to my friend 
Ivo Bobic,
 who has this fantatstic restaurant in Cavtat, and ordered my favourite food and wine. 
What else can you do in these kind of situations . 
Just don't get too upset with croatian burocracy !

We left Cavtat without a word, 
made it to a fuel station 10 minutes before their closure on 
Saturday night, in Korcula, 
 ( birth place of Marco Polo ! ) , 
sailed through the night against the wind with an engine running
 that clearly has a problem, 
and arrived quietly in Sibenik, Croatia, 
our home port, 
on Monday morning, 12th of May,
after 8 months and 14 days,
sneaked into the marina, 
put up all the flags from all the countries we had visited,
( 14 in total !!!)
and went to bed. 

Enough, I really have enough.

Yours,
Master Mike !

I dedicate the following lines to all seafarers of the world, 
past and present, 
who battle the elements day in day out, 
without moaning and complaining, 
doing a professional job or their job professionally,
 but always wary of their life threatening environment when the going gets rough.

Well, we had the third gale warning for in as many days and we are now between the Sardinian Sea, roughly in a southerly direction from Cagliari, and the northern part of the Sicilian Channel.
 The wind has turned from a SWerly to a SEerly, a typical Scirocco, 
bringing all the red sand from the Sahara and dumping it on to the boat,
and it is blowing BF 10 again. 

I will try to show you the effects of different wind directions onto the boat in the following videos.
 
The first one is with a strong wind from behind ( SWerly),off the Algerian coast,  
the second one in the position as described above, with a wind more from forward ( SEerly):

Shortly after I had taken this last video, 
the wind turned into what is defined as a 'Violent Storm' : BF 11, ie 59.9 kts 
on our instruments. It was slightly higher in its maximum force, in fact it was around 63 kts., 
but we really had no time to take pictures !
And just to remember : 
The pressure on sails and rig on a sailing boat does not increase linear to the wind speed, 
but has an extrapolation relation !

And 24 hours later it was all over. Calm and quiet, so we had to turn the engine on ! 

The effects of three days of storm however were clearly visible both on the human as much as on the wildlife side. Everybody is utterly exhausted, everybody needs a rest form the elements, regardless of the species !

We arrived in Milazzo / Sicily on the 3rd of May, cleared for italian waters, re-fuelled, and continued 
through the 'Strait of Messina" into the safe Marina del Nettuno, outside Messina Harbour. 

Another adventure finished, our journey is getting closer to its end ! 
At present, I feel utter emptiness, but I will recover soon.

Yours,
Master Mike

So I get these concerned looks from Fati, but what can we do. 

Seeking shelter in "Barbary Lands" ? 
Which brings me back to that issue of the previous story. 
So let's continue. Who cares for the storm !

THE CHRISTIAN SLAVE TRADE
PART 2

Let's first start with some highlights of this "CSHB" ( Christian Slave Hunting Business ) :
 
1544, raid on Ischia, 4000 prisoners, raid on Lipari , total population of 9000 into slavery, 
1551 Gozo ( off Malta ), 5000 slaves, 
1555 Bastia, Corsica, 6000 slaves, 
and I could go on and on and on.
IN FACT, IT WENT ON UNTIL THE 19TH CENTURY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
And we are talking 'big numbers' here.
The "HUNT FOR CHRISTIANS" got as far as Ireland, 
where in 1631 a pirate called Murat Reis, supported by soldiers from the Ottoman Empire (!!!!!), 
stormed a little village close to Cork ( where our crew member Olaf comes from )
 called Baltimore, 
and took almost all poeple there back to North Africa into slavery.
ONLY 2 EVER RETURNED.
 
Hah, you did not know that, did you ! ? ! 
 
As a result, watchtowers along coastal areas were erected as "early warning system" against these attacks. 
There are still plenty along the Amalfi coast, in case you should visit that area in your summer holidays.  
Or the population just decided to retreat to safer areas, leaving whole coastal stretches or indeed islands uninhabited, like Formentera or the south of Italy.
 If you should ever visit Lecce ( close to Brindisi), a monument of Barock architecture, and you wonder why on earth somebody would build something like that in the middle of nowhere, here is the answer: 
The Pope financed it in order to attract people to return to this region and fight against the pirates. 
Simple, simples !

Now the interpretation of slavery is well connected to the american or caribbean slave trade.

 But in this region it was not only for " work " in the household or hard labour on the field , being 
locked away over night into often hot and overcrowded prisons called 
"bagnios", 
a term today in the italian language describing the 'bathroom' or 'toilets'. 

For the more attractive female population 
it meant the sale on to the " sex market ", 
as "sex slave" or as "stand -by" in 
the "Harem". 

And for the healthy male, 
it meant almost certainly "death" . 
A slow death. 
It meant the service on the rowing deck of a Barbary galley, a pirate ship. 
At least during the time at sea, if not all the time, these poor souls were chained to the rowing bench 
where they sat, never allowed to leave. 
Sleeping, eating, defecation and urination, all in the same place, 
summer or winter,
"until death do they part". 
Sickening !
 And in case of illness or weakness, you only got the whip from the overseer as some kind of medicine. 

Any more questions ?

Of course there was a solution besides certain death in slavery. 
In these regions of the world 
- then as much as now -
money can solve everything. 
You just had to be rich, or a rich family, or sometimes even the (local) church contributed to the ransom money. 

Consequently - again as much as today - 
ransom money supported the development of even larger and better ships and equipment.  
A vicious circle, that never seems to be stopping by any standards over the centuries of history.

And whilst I could go on muttering forever,  let's cut the cake: 
By the estimate of the historian Robert C.Davies, 
about 1 - 1,25 million (christian) Europeans 
were captured and put into slavery between the years 1530-1780 alone,
which is between 1.8% and 0.9% of the then european population respectively.

 Amazing ! 
And all this "lousy" business only stopped well after the Napoleonic wars (1814) , 
at least of this magnitude.
British and French naval operations can take credit !
 And today ?
 It depends, whether you are a realist or a day-dreamer. 
Whether you include the human trafficking in this "business" or not. 
I guess I don't have to tell you my opinion. 
I guess you might know !

And here comes my input to world justice and political correctness: 

The Pope ( who else ?? ) should file a 'Class A' law suit 
against some of the successor states of those cities and areas as mentioned above ,
for slavery and religious discrimination, 
in this case christianity, 
clearly for some modern lawmakers in Europe a dying and minority religion.  
It will work !  
Lawmakers all over the world seem to legislate for minorities only these days.
So there is a chance !
 Preferably in New York. 
I am sure a smart lawyer will be at hand, probably working on a success fee. 
Why New York ? 
Well, folk, don't you know : 
The american dream, everything is possible in America, specifically in New York ! 
Specifically with a smart lawyer !
Specifically with a smart lawyer from New York !
Do I have to say more ?

And as I turn back to the weather, another storm starts brewing ,
 a westerly, BF10, 
we are 40 miles off Algier !!! , Tunis is still 2 days of travel ahead, Sicily 3-4, and it is 02:00 am in the morning.
Fati said something about 
looking for her 'Barbary' 
to join in for the night watch. 
Or did she mean 'Burberry' ? 

Always the same with these foreigners. 
Pronunciation is everything.


Yours, 
Master Mike !

It is now Thursday, 25th of April. 
After 2 days of a very strong wind from the East we can finally leave Gibraltar. In fact we left already on Monday, but only to go to Alcaidessa , the spanish side of the Bay of Gibraltar, just behind the airport. Reason being that the Marina Ocean VIllage does some dredging, and therefore kicked us out. 
Fair enough.




The forecast gives a strong storm warning for the Alboran Sea ( east of Gibraltar) for Saturday and Sunday. So we have decided to run slightly ahead and slightly south of this storm, and that is the reason why 
we are now on our way to Melilla, 
east of  Ceuta, the second autonomous spanish city on the Maroccan side, and 
only 14km away from the Algerian border. 

We definitely were the attraction for every Guardia Civil and other officers on duty. 
I think 5 surrounded us at the end, very curious, very friendly. Marvellous. 
The 30 empty Jerrycans on deck caught most of their attention.
On a short stroll into the city, I gave back the pleasantries and joined the local folk doing some preparations for the spring festival. 
And all this between some old colonial buildings which reminds the rare visitor of different times. 

Nothing lasts forever.

Consequently from here we will continue running along the north african land mass, and 
I don't like it. 
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Lybia are not necessarily known to welcome sailors, 
and if, then only to get some cash for reasons unspecified. 
Know what I mean ? 
So where is the safety margin ? 
Well, unless we run out of fuel or have a major accident on board, of course we can stay safely away. 
Their land-based radar stations usually call us on the radio ( VHF ) for identification purposes, and 
I don't like that either. 
You never know who is listening in. 
And there are some who might have an interest in a boat of our size.

 Smuggling and trafficking ( of people ) is today as much as it used to be in the past. 
Just more sophisticated, and more hidden and hidious. 
Specifically the traffickers, who run big operations, just tow or sail under engine their human cargo into the Medeterrianian Sea, 
destroy the engine, 
and then call
 "Mayday", 


and each seafarer who passes by is obliged to help. 
SIMPLE !
Specifically the italian coastguard takes the brunt of this "business" ,
as Tunisia, Algeria, Lybia does not seem to have a Coast Guard !!! ???? !!!

 Legally the Italians can not avoid but bringing the people from these boats onto land, mostly Lampedusa. 
The rest you know......

And it is not without precedence.
 We are following the "Barbary Coast", a term that sent 
fear and awe down every decent ( christian ) captain and seafarer. 
Because it was home to the
 "Barbary Pirates" (sometimes also called Barbary Corsairs ) , 
named after the local inhabitants of this
 stretch of north african coastline between Algiers, Tripoli and Tunis,
 the Berbers. 
Of course different tribes, but still one people.
Full of natural harbours, hideouts, backed with rough mountainous "Hinterland" for both "watchtowers" as much as retreat areas in case of attacks, it was the ideal place for a certain type of piracy that was unique in the sense of its purpose : 

to capture 
 CHRISTIAN SLAVES 
for the islamic markets 
in North Africa and the Middle East. 

Unbelievable ? 
You bet it is, but it happened ! 
And it was dreadful as any other piracy business, however this was more.
 In addition to capturing ships around the coastline, 
they sailed far and away to raid 
( european ) mediterranean coastal towns and villages, 
and even ventured as far as the British Isles and Iceland. 
They called it "razzias". 
Now you know where this one comes from !

When and how did it start ? 
Well, again the 16th century is a good starting point, when Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli had come directly or indirectly under the sovereignty or influence of the Ottoman Empire as the so called Barbary States.

Before that it was small day raids by moorish and indeed christian pirates. but the arrival of 

Privateer and Admiral 
Kemal Reis in 1487 changed all this. 
This guy actually is the one who 
defeated the Venetians in August 1499, 
one of the first naval battle in history that used 
cannons on board of ships ! 

From here onwards, it became 
"BIG BUSINESS"

It became religious, it became personal !

And it was just the beginning. 
But seriously, nobody should complain. 
They used the same principles with the "Letter of Marques" 
as we know by now did indeed 
the english, french or any other nation in the Caribbean. 
And almost with identical consequences, as far as the development into "ugly" piracy is concerened. 
In the first phase ( 1518 - 1587 ), 
the privateers were admirals of the sultan,
 ie "employed" directly by Constantinople, and later ruled by the local Ottoman governors, the "pashas". 
All for the nominal "fee" of 10% of the loot ! 
Sounds familiar ?????
 Privateering at its best. 
Not only true locals, but also converted ( dutch ) and other Europeans joined the party ( later ) . 
As the pirates grew stronger, they started to ignore the 'officials' and purely worked for their own 'pockets'. Sounds familiar again ? 
Gosh, why don't I just copy my previous mutterings . 
History is repetitive. 
And even that I have said before. 
Nothing new, folks, nothing new ! 

And here we stop.Otherwise you fall asleep ! I will continue this interesting story soon, 
don't you worry !


Yours, 
Master Mike

And now that we get closer to Gibraltar, the traffic increases substantially. 
Hardly did we see or indeed meet a vessel at sea, but now, what a difference. 
You can see on the plotter ( navigstion instrument)
 on its right the Strait of Gibraltar, 
and the left top corner is Cabo de Sao Vincente. the SW  corner of Portugal.

Each triangle represents a vessel that has this identification system on board called 
AIS ( Automated Identification System ). 


When you go with the cursor over any of these triangles a seperate screen will tell yu everything about it :
 Name, phone number, destination, speed, course, etc. 
Fantastic ! Whoever invented it should get a medal. 
Collision avoidance has become much better. 
All commercial vessels above 220 BT have to have one, and a 'lighter' version is available for  leisure boats .
 LIKE THE ONE ON CHAMPAGNE ! 
Now the big guys can see us !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But we are used to this by now. 
The boat is big enough, we hardly see each other during long distance sailing. 
Just for lunch, really, and that by appointment ONLY !
Or the kitchen stays cold and I find my food in the fridge. 

Never mind, there will be better times ahead. 

IT MUST !  

YOURS
MASTER MIKE

TODAY WE ARE 21 DAYS AT SEA !


The longest I at least have ever done . 
And still 425 nm to go. 
But the end is coming nearer, and everybody gets more anxious. Over the last days however, to be precise since last Sunday morning, we have had no wind. 
We tried everything, the tuning of the sails, the Parasailor, but nothing made the boat move through the very light wind and the heavy rolling sea. 
The storm that passed finally north of the Azores was extreme and heavy. up to 60 kts and waves up to 15m !!!! Lucky us that we stayed in the south of it. But whilst it brought us good SWerly winds of still BF 8, sometimes 10, it now had exhausted itself and has moved further to the northeast. 

And the only reminder of it are these huge rolling waves coming in from the NW. 
One of my crew called it "Ocean Breathing", and the comparison is quite accurate. 
But if this is the breathing side of things with long waves of between 5-7 meters,  
I definetly don't want to be around 
when the ocean has a cough. 

From here onwards it is only about "fuel" and "fuel consumption". 
We are for cautious reasons actually not heading straight towards Gibraltar, but to the SW corner of Portugal, 
Cabo San Vincente. 
From there the marinas of Lagos or indeed Villamoura are in reach, in case we need re-fuelling.  
And from there we can easily run down to the Strait of Gibraltar with the prevailing northerly winds. So the scene is set. Anxious I am nevertheless. It is a tight call.  
And the hours under engine tick away , and no wind in sight. 
Sailing is always unpredictable, 
but what is the option ? 
To buy a Motorboat ?
 Kiddin' me, with all the noise at all times around , the rolling of the boat, , the swimming appartement house with flowers, and the G&T bar in its centre. 
Not for me. 
A boat is much more stable when it heels in the wind. And the excitement when you can feel the elements. 
Sailing is "APHRODISIAC" for the burned out mind, 
it relaxes you, and makes you wonder:

ARE THERE SAILING-BOATS ON OTHER PLANETS ?

 I mean this is a deep and important philosophical question. 
Who cares that  other people try to save the world in the meantime, get involved in anti- deforestation, anti-nuclear power plant, anti-public spending and any other anti-demonstration they can find . In response, others produce anti- depressants. 
But it is always 'anti'. Always negative. 
Is the human mind only happy when it can find something that makes us 'un-happy" 
Why not 'pro' ? 
That is much more positive. I am in support of 'pro-sailing' on other planets. That sounds right to me. Or pro hugging in replacement of certain dubious religious celebrations that only stir hate and resentment.

"YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE RIGHT ATTITUDE, MAN"  would my Rastafarian friend 'Vision'  from Saint Lucia say. 
And he is right. It is all about attitude ! 
 And this dear Reader, brings me to the last of my many stories from the Caribbean. 
The Rastafari(an) Movement .
 Forever embedded with music lovers -  and who isn't - via Bob Marley and the 'Reggae'. But what is it, do you really know. 
OK, let me 'enlighten' you :

 There are disputes whether it is a religion, movement, ideology, or else. 
Who cares. 
What is important is that its followers wear a badge with Haile Selassi's picture, encompass the 'spiritual' use of cannabis ( who in the Caribbean doesn't ? ) , and reject the western society ( called Babylon ) because of its decadency, but also because of its exploitation of the slave trade. 
Some of the Rastas or Rastafaris call for the 
re-patriation for the descendants of these predominently african slaves. 
I just wonder: 
Have they ever been in Africa, lived there, done it ? 
May be as an eye opener they might like to re-consider their 'core philosophy'. 
Anyway, it is a minority, even in the Caribbean, but on Jamaica there are about 100.000 Rastafaris, which is 5% of the local population. 
Other than that, people like you and me. 
But surely very philosophical in their speech and phrases. So next time you see one, have a look for the badge and say :

 Hey,Brother, what about your ATTITUDE today? 
In case you should survive that question, you will survive everything everywhere.....like in New York !

 


Yours,
 
MASTER MIKE,


 the last real "Rastafari" DJ in mid-Atlantic.