1. What language do you two speak on the boat when it is just the two of you? You seem to speak so many languages.. Sure enjoy your Blog! / Tim
English. Some words comes out in Spanish too but mainly it is english for sure. It's good for us as we both can practice.... other than that Alex teaches me French at times.. unfortunately Alex doesn't speak Swedish or Finnish.
2. Thanx for a awesom blog and inspiration! How long are you planing to sail.. any specific goals, like 2 times around the globe? Are you working to get all end to meet or i the blog and savings enough?
Have a great day / Criss - Sweden
Thanks for reading Criss. No specific plans more than we'll do what we want to, when we can. The new boat must be ready and safe before we cross a new ocean.. We have spent much money and time to make our other boat, Caos, a very safe boat, now begins the job of doing the same with Duende. We will probably stay a few months here in Antigua, then maybe sail a few months around in South America, then Pacific. But can't tell you when. One day we will maybe get around the world.
We don't have much savings left... spent most of it on our first 1,5 year of cruising and on the boat/s. Now we must slave at work as most other! Glad that we can do our job from almost wherever we want to tho. Or almost anyone could do the same I think? It's all about choices and priorities. There's always a way.
Besides of being a talent with wood/joinery, Alex is working as a carbon fiber/composite specialist and he got loads of good job now when the season has started here. I'm working as a freelance photographer and I do quite alright as well during this season. Then we got the blog which is my art project as well as a portfolio but also a quite lucrative business. We make OK money from the blog and the plan is to get enough from it and things in relation to it so we don't have to be working with anything else. Maybe end of this year that dream will come true? Alex has a great (musical) plan that involves this blog, he will get started with it as soon as he's done with the boat later this year (hopefully late spring/early summer). He's normally a successful mastering/mixing engineer when he's not sailing around the world so he's looking forward to pick up that side of life again, combined with our travels of course. We will also open up our market online later this spring so the blog is of much importance to us and so far it has proved to be a very good source of income for us... we got a lot of plans with this little blog for the future so we're very thankful that y'all are reading. Thanks so much!
3. Who's idea was it to change boat? I read it was more speed and space you required.. ? / Pete
It was mainly Alex's idea.. he has for a long time been longing for a project where he can build something with his hands. A Hallberg Rassy is hard to modify to your personal needs and ideas, it's made the way it is and it would be a shame to start dismounting it. Alex will one day build his own boat from scratch so this new Duende is one step closer to that dream as she offers many possibilities for modification.
Also Alex has been frustrated with the (slow) speed of Caos. He raced much when he was younger and he wanted a boat that can give him a real challenge. For me I was alright with Caos, she's safe, strong, comfortable and ok in size... but I do understand Alex's point of view and Duende is a beauty plus the size and speed appeals to me as well.
Besides of being a great boat, we both see Duende as the perfect home and we can see a long future with her. We don't want to build a family with kids and all that for now, but we wanted to have a home/boat which we can slowly build and rebuild to something that suits our life and needs. This boat is equal to a house on land for us as we will be sailing around the world for many more years so it's important we both feel happy with it. It's a family project which we both value very much. Alex will use his skills to rebuild/refit this boat to his high standards and he's happier than in a long time. For him it's important to be able to create something. He's an artist and needs to have a fulfilling project to feel satisfaction in life. For me, I love the size of the galley and saloon of course.. it will be so very much work for us, again, but so far we've figured it will be worth it. We're currently dreaming and planning for all the beautiful things we will do to make her shine as the star she was created to be (and more).
4. Who came up with the idea of this trip? Did you agree from the beginning, or did someone think their partner were crazy? /Celia
Initially it was Alex's idea for us to sail somewhere warm for a few weeks/a month (like Morocco or such) and I asked him why we couldn't sail around the whole world instead? That was when we had dated for a few weeks only and one year later we left. Alex had owned many boats in his past and to sail around the world has always been his dream, for me that dream was created when I met him. I had never sailed before I met him but for now I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else. Read more about how it all started here.. and here's the longer version which explains how we met, who we were before that and all other perhaps interesting things about our past.
5. Hello, I love your blog, especially the great photos you take! So excited already which places in the world you gonna discover and share with us this year (:
My question would be: Is there any specific place or piece of nature you seen so far, that impressed you the most and like sticks in your memory more intense than others? Like the most overwhelming thing you've seen so far on your travels? If yes, which one was it? I mean,you see and discover so much and i'm interested if there was something which was most special/beautiful for you.
Or is it all just so amazing and you can't really make a difference between the places?
Anyways,pleae keep on writing this amazing blog like forever,thanks /; Ines
Thanks Ines, glad you're enjoying our blog. I've made a diagram of what we think is best with each of the Caribbean islands we've been to so far, will show it soon. But best for nature experiences are: Nevis and Dominica, both are very very beautiful and peaceful places, not too crowded nor touristy. I will show pics from the rainforest of Dominica soon, it's so wild and untouched. Feels like the only place on earth where humans haven't destroyed it yet..
6. What brand and how much sunscreen do you use on a daily basis? / Kent in Kansas City
Banana Boat spf 50 (Alex) Jan Marini spf 30 for face (Taru), Vichy body spf 20 (Taru) we have sunscreen on almost all the time.. more when on the beach or sailing of course. Alex is still looking for the perfect sunscreen though, one that is dry, not oily, and works for sailing/surfing/long hours of out door work, any tips are appreciated.
7. What happened to the HDPro camera? Why not set up a live web cam over Alex working on the boat, so we can see the weather the scenery and live activities.
Can you charter out Caos, at a low rate so it is always in use? Just generate some income from it while to go forward instead of waiting around for a lump sum?
Did you see the Dutch girl arriving in Sint Maarten on Saturday? The marina at the draw bridge. Looked very very window from the news videos. Simpson Bay I think. There is a monster yacht parked there, just massive, do you know who/what it is. Enormous white thing with a black stripe around it (I think). Here's a screen shot of the massive yacht I am referring to http://i44.tinypic.com/so8v81.jpg /Oswald
Haven't received GO Pro camera yet because of messed up postal service on these islands.. will sort it out soon. We don't want to charter Caos, we want to sell her and move on with our life. We didn't have time to wait for the Duth girls arrivial (youngest person to finish a sailing circumnavigation) but we saw her father at the Yacht Club by Simpson Bay Bridge. He looked excited. I think the boat you're talking about is Abrahomivich Eclipse maybe? The one I have a shot of here?
8. How are both of you financing this trip around the world? I see some photography assignments, merchandising and articles as evidence of some of the income.
Also, once you pass into the Pacific, where will your first landfall be located? /42N
We're working along the way, see answer #2. Landfall for Pacific... not sure.. right now we're focused on making Duende safe and ready, will take a few months. We might then make a season of South American cruising (Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina) before we get out into the Pacific.. time will tell, but South America has so much interesting places to discover so we're kind of figuring it's a shame to miss all that before we set off for the South Pacific. Also for the music project Alex will do later this year, it might be better to be in South America... looking forward to it. Miss speaking Spanish!
9. Hello there!
I'm one of the daydreamers that one day will sail away with my boat and hopefully will meet you in at anchor in a fantastic place in the middle of nowhere.
Do you think your lifestyle will change after crossing Panama channel? South Pacific is huge and quite different from Caribes. Will you be able to update your blog so frequently like you're doing now?
Best wishes! /Claudio Italy
Hey Claudio, our lifestyle will (hopefully) change to more hippie bohemian in the South Pacific and we look forward to spend much less money over there.. Not sure now when we will leave for Pacific though, will do some South America first. Regarding updating the blog over there: It might be a bit slower on this blog during the long ocean crossing. On the Atlantic crossing I had only a satellite connection to use for blog updates but I think I could report quite much anyway. At least once every day. Not sure how it is to find bars and restaurants with wifi in the South Pacific but what I heard from others who've been there, it hasn't been a problem. The reason why I spend so much time with the blog and other online projects now, is because Alex is working a lot. When he doesn't work as much, I will naturally slow down my work as well so we can find a comfortable balance. It has been a good year here in the Caribbean, business wise, Alex got lots of work and I had time and peace to build and expand this blog and our trademark. We do look forward to work less and travel more later this year though.
10. Do you want English lessons as you post blog entries? While your English is 99% accurate there are many small subtle things missed, and unless pointed out will never be corrected. For example the paragraph in this post is 100% accurate except the last sentence: "We look forward to speak to you" which should be: "We look forward to speak[ing] to you" Very small thinks like this all over the place where the use of in should be on, lots of these e.g. "Swing in a liana anyone?" -- this should be on. Anything on the outside is on, anything inside is in. Not trying to be clever but for a non-English speaker unless someone points them out, they will never be corrected and learned.
10. Do you want English lessons as you post blog entries? While your English is 99% accurate there are many small subtle things missed, and unless pointed out will never be corrected. For example the paragraph in this post is 100% accurate except the last sentence: "We look forward to speak to you" which should be: "We look forward to speak[ing] to you" Very small thinks like this all over the place where the use of in should be on, lots of these e.g. "Swing in a liana anyone?" -- this should be on. Anything on the outside is on, anything inside is in. Not trying to be clever but for a non-English speaker unless someone points them out, they will never be corrected and learned.
YES please!! I know my grammar sucks at times... correct me anytime you have time por favor as I do want to perfect my writing, thanks. I know how irritating it is when I read Swedish texts and people use the wrong grammar so I can understand it hurts your English speaking peoples eyes at times!
11. I remember Alex owning a motorcycle before your trip and with his mechanical skills he must have owned a series of interesting vehicles before spending endless hours in the bilge. We read your blog daily from car-obsessed Los Angeles every day. /Bill Price
alex answer: hi bill, yep i owned some nice bikes such as Harley Davidson 1980 883cc sporster, HD 1340 cc springer, HD 1998 1600cc evo dyna superglide, HD 2001 1800cc dyna sport, Yamaha 2001 1300cc, of course all of them with a lot of mechanical tweaking... I bought/sold much bikes back in the days but just like with boats... you don't make much money on them on the second hand market. i also had some nice cars like Alpine a310, Mercedes coupe 300ce and Audi s8.
12. Alex,
Tu as choisi un superbe bateau. Il a une ligne fantastique et ça doit être un vrai plaisir de la barrer.
Pas trop de boulot de maintenance tout de même? / Luc
luc, merci pour le compliment, duende a effectivement une superbe ligne et navigue tout aussi bien, jusqu'à 8 noeuds dans de la mer formee, tout en maintenant une extreme précision a la barre
par contre on ne pas parler encore de maintenance mais plutôt de restauration...
That's all for now,,, more answers coming up later....
