The planet Jupiter takes about 12 Earth years to make one orbit around the sun and we took 12 years to sail around the world on our Lagoon 440 called Impi. Unlike sailors who opt to sail in the company of others, we mostly sailed alone, and we mainly explored the Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia going backwards and forwards between the different islands and countries as to remain safe in cyclone season. Marquesas Islands – French Polynesia From the time we departed we had this vision in our heart and mind that we wanted to explore French Polynesia and New Caledonia. The magic of French Polyne ..read more

Our Harken winch for our main halyard starting ‘playing up’ and typical of Brent’s style, the minute we find an symptom we immediately work on a cure before we have a total failure. The symptom was that the winch on a fast setting would tend to ‘chatter’ i.e. it would not have continuous motion and would ‘stutter’ for want of a better word or way of describing it. After stripping all the components down and making sure there is no obvious mechanical issue with the winch, gearbox or electric motor our attention went to the ‘Harken Control box’ or solenoid . The solenoid takes its signal from th ..read more

Today was an eye opener for us to realize why as sailors we need to have a plan in place for unexpected medical emergencies. A good friend and fellow sailor who shall remain nameless to avoid embarrassment took a bad cut to his leg today after taking a tumble on the boat . Fortunately the situation was not life threatening and a neighboring boat friend went to his rescue – packing closed the wound and making sure he got the necessary medical care … great job . After trying to call us on VHF several times we hadn’t responded as we’d turned the radio down in the anchorage due to the constant cha ..read more

Mares’ tales and mackerel scales make tall ships take in their sails. This is an old saying which goes back to early seafaring literature and as we were sailing to Ile des Pins yesterday we were reminded of it.  The photo above was taken on our passage. The mackerel sky is composed of billows or waves of cirrocumulus clouds which resemble scale patterns on a mackerel’s back.  Mares’ tales are the streaks from cirrus clouds (see below). The appearance of both types of clouds together signal the approach of a warm front or Low.  We would see blue skies with a leading edge of cirr ..read more

A few weeks ago tractor maker John Deere has agreed to give its US customers the right to fix their own equipment.  Previously farmers were only allowed to use authorized parts and service facilities rather than cheaper independent repair options. Since the bill’s introduction in Nebraska, John Deere and company announced they would sell machine serving software to farmers amid ‘right to repair’ complaints.  This bill provides farmers and independent repair shops with the necessary digital tools to repair agricultural equipment. Why are we talking about this on Impi’s blog which is l ..read more

Do we have a technique to minimize the impact of high waves on the structure of our catamaran? This is a question we were asked recently by social media friends after they completed their first offshore passage. In considering an answer I think there are 4 main areas namely rigging, weight distribution, reefing and steering. However before discussing this I want to turn to boat maintenance. Boat maintenance We’ve been in many storms over a decade of full time sailing on our Lagoon 440, the worst ever being a 3 day storm with winds over 70 knots, deploying a warp to survive it. This kind of sit ..read more

Do you love smoked salmon? Here is an easy way to combine it with rice, cucumber and cream cheese to make an easy light lunch or snack. Ingredients 1/2 cup of sushi rice 1 tbsp of cider vinegar a little salt 8 roasted nori sheets half a cucumber 6 tbsp of cream cheese 100 grams of smoked salmon pickled ginger, wasabi and soya sauce for serving Method Start by washing the rice in a fine colander until the water runs clear. It is important to do this as otherwise your rice will be stodgy. Boil the rice with a little salt and 1 cup of water for about 15 mins. Turn the heat off and let it sit f ..read more

In June 2022 we sailed from Australia to New Caledonia as the borders finally opened.  Unfortunately, we had been long awaiting Starlink and therefore did not buy Predict Wind with Iridium Go.  We are always on a budget because as you know we do all our sharing for free. As the journey was only 4 days or so, we employed a weather router and did our homework on shore.  When we saw a suitable weather window which the weather router agreed with, we left.  The window did have a low which was tracking southeast at a good speed and it looked as though it was not going to affect u ..read more

Today has been an awesome day with lots of activity so at 4 pm now I am getting hungry! So I am looking for an afternoon appetizer… Ok l am looking into my fridge and I see zucchini and cheese. That’s it I can make zucchini tots! It is a sunny day so I can cook this in my ninja Air fryer without having to use fuel! Ingredients 1 zucchini grated 1 egg white 1/4 of of a cup of grated hard cheese 1/3 of a cup of panko bread crumbs 1/4 tsp of salt cooking spray Method Grate your zucchini and put a little salt with it, leave to stand 10 mins or so. Squeeze the grated zucchini through a cheese cl ..read more

We are having some warm rainy weather here so the zucchini are growing fast! Can you identify with having too many zucchini? Well here is a lovely way to dress them up into a fancy affordable appetizer. Ready in 25 mins for those friends who are turning up for sun downers unannounced! With thanks to Camilla who shared her harvest! Ingredients 1 zucchini also known as courgette in French speaking countries 25 grams of Parmesan which can be substituted by any other (vegan) cheese 2 square sheets of frozen puff pastry measuring approximately 20 cm by 20 cm a little salt 2 tbsp of poppy seeds or ..read more