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Psst, if you stumble across a wayward container full of boats, marked 505 Worlds, please, please send it fastest way to Bridgetown, Barbados.

The, uh, California container is awol.

It could arrive on the 25th . . .

It could arrive on the 26th . . .

Let’s go ask that guy over there, the one with the fishing pole. His guess is as good as any.

Written by Ben Ellison on Apr 22, 2013 for Panbo, The Marine Electronics Hub

WHEN IT CAME TIME to leave Dakar, I found we were, almost literally, hanging by a thread. I had anchored Crazy Horse, my Alberg 35 yawl, on about 100 feet of three-strand nylon rope, plus there was a 30-foot chain leader. On hauling back all the rope, which I had to do by hand, as we had no windlass, I discovered the rode, just a few feet back from the chain, had almost chafed right through. Two strands were severed entirely; the third was cut in half.

Magnus Olsson passed away yesterday. The legendary Swedish sailor was beloved by the sailing community the world over​. Like many others I'm sure, he was one of my heroes. As a sailor for sure, but also just as a person. What follows are some of my experiences with him since we met in 2011 at the ARC, my simple way of remembering someone who is impossible to forget.

We went to the market this morning where I thought about asking the boy selling fish and turtles how much he would charge me to take back Banana Ice Cream Goldfish, but I didn’t because Ali loves that thing, even if she won’t admit it. She changed her water this morning and spent the rest of the day talking about how active the fish was now thanks to all of that fresh oxygen in the water (thank-you Google for providing us with way more information that is necessary for a two dollar fish).

I don’t often do this—bag on companies—so when I do you can be assured that their products are indeed crap.

Irish Radial sailor Annalise Murphy takes you inside the commitment, discipline and hard work required to claw your way toward the top of an Olympic dinghy class:

Annalise Murphy - The Journey from Atomic on Vimeo.

Have you got what it takes? 

(via)

We were at the beach today and Ouest was running around picking up dozens of sliced in half oranges, melon skins, and all manner of other fruit that could only have come from some cruiser’s boat, when she spotted a giant white blob floating in the shallows. She ran over to grab it too when I yelled at her to stop. She jumped back just in time for it to roll over and reveal itself as the humongous fish head that it was.

“It’s a fish head baby, you don’t want to pick that up.”

The Papillon crew is a family divided at the moment.  While the girls and I visit long-lost friends and relatives, Erik is on the boat, hard at work welding fuel tanks and replacing swage fittings.  It is a little disconcerting to be so far apart after 2.5 years of togetherness.  The girls and I miss him.  But I also worry.  Because I get emails like this:

MY LAST POST about that abandoned Swan 48 floating around south of Bermuda has created some buzz it seems and numerous people are now making noises about retrieving it. To help inform and inspire would-be salvagers, I thought I should share some of what I know about these boats. I've sailed them back and forth between New England and Caribbean several times and have also raced a bit on them—around the cans and in one Bermuda Race.

Written by Ben Ellison on Apr 18, 2013 for Panbo, The Marine Electronics Hub

“No way!” That is Ouest’s latest saying. She doesn’t say it like a valley girl or anything, she says it clearly and directly.

“Ouest, can I have a bite of your ice cream?”

“No way!”

“Ouest, instead of turning four on your next birthday will you turn two? I want a chico girl, not grande.” (She talks about her next birthday all the time. It’s eight months away.)

“No way! No! Me grande girl.”

Really hard to imagine that someone somewhere is gloating over the same images of the Boston Marathon bombings that are making me feel ill. Thoughts are with all those helpless innocent victims.

While all that is going on our lives proceed without worries. News like this only invades us at night after the kids are in bed and we have time to go online. We’re fortunate.

I spent a day hanging out with multihull designer Chris White a while back and came away all buzzed up over his latest idea. The basic concept, as you can see in the image from his website up top, is pretty simple: two jibs and no mainsail. What isn't immediately clear from the photo is that those aren't conventional pivoting wing masts behind the sails. The masts in fact rotate through a full 360 degrees and have controllable flaps on their trailing edges, so that they too can act as sails and create lift at any wind angle.

We arrived on Saturday morning, just before noon. Saudade​ made a faster passage than I'd expected, averaging about 7 knots for the duration of the 850 miles or so. In perfect weather. For photos, check out Mia's post here, at 59-north.com. 

Written by Ben Ellison on Apr 14, 2013 for Panbo, The Marine Electronics Hub

We got our first pet today. Ali and I have never gotten a dog of our own because of the responsibility. I mean, who wants to saddle themselves with something that could possibly be dependent on you for like eighteen years? Not us. But then today Ali and the kids went off to the Saturday market and came home with…

…a Betta. Yep. We’re looking at up to four weeks of daily feeding and attention. As if we didn’t have enough on our plates—now a fish too. I know, right?