Arriba blog

Four months earlier, after crossing the Bight from east to west, we’d stayed only a few hours in Albany.

Leaving Geraldton on March 29th was a difficult farewell for us.

When I lived in California, we used to say “West is best”, and I think the same is true of the West Coast of Australia.

The title of this blog post might have been “Fremantle to Timor”.

Pirates Down Under?

The Great Australian Bight, commonly known as The Bight, is a legendary stretch of water that tests even the most seasoned sailors.

"An extensive mass of dangers” was how Captain Matthew Flinders famously described the Recherche Archipelago.

You might have noticed that cruising catamarans don't have backstays.

Leaving Eucla, our plan was to sail for Eyre, the nearest anchorage to our west.

The tiny township of Eucla is located approximately midway between Adelaide (1,265 km) and Perth (1,430 km), where the Nullarbor Plain meets the Great Australian Bight.

We continued sailing under full mainsail and gennaker through the night, until the wind vanished around 02:00 am.

Preparing for a big sailing trip always seems to take longer than expected.

In a week or so, I'm setting out on a sailing trip from Adelaide to Perth, a distance of about 1,350 nautical miles, plus or minus detours.

If you find yourself stuck somewhere for a week, few places beat Apollo Bay.

Sometimes, the best things lie at the margins, which is certainly true of Yorke Peninsula in South Australia.

You may have noticed that we’ve had a spate of bad luck.

Summer is an inconvenient time for urgent boat repairs.

Arriba’s fallen mast had come to rest on the port side and, although a few windows had broken during its fall, the hull appeared undamaged.

Today is International Women’s Day, so I’m dedicating this post to four intrepid women who circumnavigated the world.

It was midnight and my watch had just ended.

Three months had passed since we’d sailed from Nouméa to Sydney.

Wow, how time flies!

Have you ever wondered how longitude was calculated before the era of GPS navigation?

Our last day in New Caledonia had arrived, which meant one last chance for breakfast at our favorite boulangerie.

To export or not to export, that is the question.