When we set sail on the newly renovated Trekker II, I know I speak for everyone when I say, we were eager and anxious, but ready for the journey ahead of us. After months of preparation, it was only normal that we would be excited to be sailing all the way to Rio, and for […]

Saturday morning the ship started heading in around 7 am and we were joined by 2 tugs. We pushed alongside the key and were nearly ashore.  First, we needed to wait until the health officials had inspected us as they did to the entire boat, and this took some time. We were then escorted off […]

Mark, Wesley, Richard and Peter decided to wake very early at 4 am, to be able to see the moon and the sun in the sky (as it was rising at the same time).  The moon has been waxing since we left and is due to be full tonight.  After waking and looking out our […]

I woke this morning feeling like the wind was whistling through my head. The wind had picked up and we had changed direction slightly. It blew into our cabin through the port hole window and caused such draft round the cabin door in its path, that there was a strong whistling sound throughout the night. […]

This morning we are now UTC -2, so we could sleep in for another hour before breakfast. This morning’s breakfast consisted of toast with Feta and cream. A somewhat unusual combination, but the guys made the most of it by using flat bread with jam and cream. The new breakfast waffle! After that I spent […]

This morning I was woken by Sean’s alarm clock and we headed outside to see the sunrise. We also tried to see if the satellite phone would work as for the previous two days we had been unable to get signal. At first it seemed that this would be an issue again but finally we […]

Monday morning Richard was to wake us up at 5:30am to see the sunrise, but I think that damn monkey came on board and put a sleeping pill in our flavoured water. We only woke up at around 11:30AM which left us enough time to shower and head down for the 12 o’clock lunch. After […]

The clocks went back another hour at midnight and we are now on UTC -1. I slept well after last night’s proceedings. I woke up just half an hour before breakfast, and Sean who had just woken up, managed to get to the bathroom first for his early morning shower. I had to chase him […]

We woke in the morning feeling rather shell shocked with the proceedings that went down the night before. The crew were obviously very shaken and no one really talked too much. People walking around in a daze doing the duties as previously instructed by the company. Sometime near lunchtime we were asked if we had […]

I awoke this morning feeling a lot better than the previous day, the drain on my energy seemed to have lifted and I felt well rested and no longer stressed about what had happened over the previous two days. We had breakfast and chatted a lot over coffee. Shaun and myself now discussed what were […]

We woke in time for breakfast and headed down to the officer’s mess, there we were greeted with a wholesome scrambled egg breakfast. The cloud from our adventure was still very real but we tried to lift our spirits through idle chat. The crew were doing their best to make us feel at home, although […]

I was down below sleeping in my bunk at just after 14h00 when I heard a loud noise and much activity on deck. I sat up just before we crash gybed and fell through the bunk’s lee cloth, as we did so falling into the saloon table. I put my pfd (personal flotation device) and […]

In the morning, we all woke up still very shocked and tired. It was hard to imagine what we had went through and it felt almost imaginary. We met in the general mess hall and were offered a scrambled egg mix that was very tasty. The crew were very friendly but reserved as it was […]

At 12pm I return to deck for my watch. The sea is choppier and the wind has picked up. Richard, Shaun and Sean had rolled away the Genoa as they were struggling to hold the course in the very choppy and windy sea, although we are back up at 12 to 18kts after dropping some […]

It’s a new day with new challenges. The crew are doing their shifts. Mike, Peter, and Shaun are now suffering from early voyage sea sickness. Sean P has a very mild case, the result of working on the foredeck in some rather bumpy sea. Fortunately, most are coping better than previous trips, I have been […]

I felt surprisingly calm heading down to Trekker II the morning of our departure. I was pleased that we had spent some nice family and friend time the previous evening for New Year’s Eve down at the boat. This was particularly relevant as one of my biggest fears, probably more accurately apprehension, was spending such […]

What an awesome start for us! We crossed the start line in 4th or 5th place, made it to the Milnerton Bouy in 4th and then out to the Bloubergstrand buoy and out past Robben island. The wind was light and non-existent when we came out from the V&A Waterfront. There is a channel over […]

Well it’s a over  week since we docked in Rio and, I still feel the effects of the sea legs every now and again. I am now sitting in my office again typing up the final blog and it’s hard to believe that not so long ago, I thought we would never get to the […]

Paradise! Wow how beautiful is the coastline leading to Rio Brazil, and then you have Rio! Our first sight of land in 31 days was instant relief. I woke at 6am hoping that land was in sight but was disappointed. Our wind had dropped to under 5 kts. and then slowly out of the low […]

News to follow soon, watch this space!

Land ahoy! At the end of today we are only 30 nm form what we hope will be our first sighting of land in 31 days. I woke up at 5.30am to fantastic winds and the first completely overcast day in some while. We were travelling at 7 kts and for the entire day it […]

Nearly there, imagine that! The end is insight and the wind seems to be holding and might even improve for that last 24 hours of what we think will be 48 hours. I woke at 7.45 am (remember we are still on UTC) with the sun rise. The real time for our position should be […]

Prize Giving! What an evening we had! The spirit of team work, the success of the challenge and personal reflection one gets from achieving ones dream. For some it’s the race, for others it’s the time that it was done in and for others it’s crossing the ocean for the first and last time but […]

After getting some wind overnight and managing only 53 nm in 24 hours we were hoping for better today. A light breeze took us into day light but by 9am had dropped altogether and we were sitting again. If you looked at us from the outside or out the window of a plane you would probably […]

Day 27 Becalmed! There is nothing to describe being motionless at sea after 26 days especially when the heat is beating down on you all day. With the rising of the sun what wind we had disappeared and we started to bob. There was no point in putting up any sails as they flapped, bumped and groaned as they […]

Day 26 of our transatlantic crossing and it’s another one of those groundhog days again. The day sailing wavered around the 6 knots sometimes drop right off. It is starting to become unbearable hot. I can’t imagine what it would be like without a breeze. Over the midday section, there is now not much activity […]

Steady Progress! You will all be please to here that we are making good progress still and it certainly has improved the mood on board! We headed past the “I da Trindade” and then headed south west overnight heading for a way point between the island and a sea mound. In this region there are […]

“Big Brother” at sea! I definitely believe it can work. This is what it’s like being on board Hot Ice some days. The crew have now not seen anyone else other than each other in 24 days. Our outside contact is limited. Although we get on with each other as a crew, at different stages […]

Dawn! It is now 6.30am when the sun rises from the east and sets in the west around 8pm. We are definitely moving west but just not fast enough. The night had returned yet again a poor distance for us and we are finding it difficult to feel positive about the rest of the trip. […]

Witches moon! The quarter slice orange moon hung low in the night sky directly behind the boat. Its rich orange glow warming the night sky. At any moment from  behind the moon I expected the dark shadow of a witch on a broom to rise into the night sky adding to the magic of the night. What a beautiful […]

A one night Stand! That’s all it was worth. We feel let down and cheated. I woke this morning and she was still there, flying high in the sky at the head of our boat but without any goodbyes or indications she ripped from foot to head as we sat happily having our breakfast after a great night out. […]

“We are sailing! We are sailing! Stormy waters across the ocean, to be near you, to be free”. Today we woke up to the same light wind and flat seas that we are getting use to here. Originally we were hoping that tomorrow we would be sailing into Rio. How far from the truth! At […]

Hot Ice Stars! Yes we finally saw the stars so clearly like you could reach up and grab one. The sky was clear and the moon was resting for the first time since we set sail on Hot Ice. It is a glorious sight. There are so many more stars that you can see in […]

Reverse evolution that’s what happening on Hot ice! Like the pictures of the ancient cavemen evolving into man, so does sailing for nearly 3 weeks slowly change the crew. I think in reverse though. We are all sporting full beards and by the end of 4 weeks I am sure will be very well established. […]

Anybody out there? It seems like we have been travelling for months now with no end in sight. The days are starting to blur now even for me who is writing a daily account. We are in our own cocoon. The beauty of this world out here is the isolation. You realize your significance in […]

Hot Ice in hot Pursuit! Well that’s the positive vibe on board now that we had 2 days of constant good sailing. We are still battling to main a direct course to Rio as there is high pressure has pushed up and there is a large dead zone directly in our path. Not having a […]

Oh what it would be like to sleep in a real bed again! We were on a port tack, which means that Hot Ice is leaning to starboard (right) side, and I was able to sleep fairly well last night as my bunk is on the starboard side so I am able to lie into the keel of […]

Today we found the wind and started to move west again at 6 to 7 kts. What a relief and long may it last. I woke at 4 am to find Mark, Jean and Warwick, who were on duty raising the main sail. They main kept getting it caught as it was being hauled up in the lazy […]

Waking up this morning and going to the head (toilet), I notice a new sign had been placed above it. It read: Don’t place anything in here unless you have eaten it! Don’t put your cigarette butts in here they become soggy and hard to light! After a quite night without any sails up, we […]

I woke for the 4 to 8am shift and there was very little wind and it eventually completely died around about 8am. It was the first time we had become becalmed. It’s stayed like this for the entire day and night. There is something psychologically challenging about bobbing about the middle of the ocean miles […]

Today was an exciting day! In the early hours of the morning a ship came out the darkness, which in itself has not been altogether unusual although out here it certainly hasn’t been frequent as we are not in a shipping lane. It appeared that it was going to pass us easily. It was moving […]

A very bad night sleep was had by all. The rolling motion of Hot Ice keeping everyone from sleeping properly. Over and above that, the battery to which I connected by apnea machine was running low and there was not enough charge to use it overnight. It must be connected to our engine which is […]

First good sleep in some days, and rose at 6am. Groundhog day again! Now that we are over the storms of the first few days and entered the trade wind zones, the days are settling into some sort of routine and are looking the same. A typical day aboard goes as follows: 4 am – […]

1. There is not enough sea sickness tablets on board 2. Where is the Castle and Jagermeister? 3. Please turn on the lights 4. Please make the boat bigger 5. Toilet seats are made for sitting on. So make them bigger 6. I am tired of rusks and health bars. Can someone make dinner? 7. […]

When there is no light from the moon the ocean at night is an eerie place especially what seems like “thousand miles from nowhere”. Nobody is awake, the last went to bed about 10pm the previous night and I was on watch till 2am. The only sounds are the constant creek and groan of the […]

A day of highs a lows. Up at 6 am after what was probably the best sleep of the trip so far. Everyone else seemed to rise at the same time – that is those that weren’t already on watch.  I wrote the previous day’s blog and reported our position which we do at 8am […]

Up at 4.30 am and pull on the shoes and up onto deck, Warwick, Shaun are already there and Mark is just waking up. He has taken to sleeping in the cockpit as he rigs a hammock on the one seat. It is much more comfortable than the pigeon hole he was sleeping in. He […]

Mark Wannenburg  Mark has vast experience with over 100000nm at sea. This his 5th Atlantic crossing amongst his numerous adventures at sea. Originally from Durban, he got into sailing through his father who was a member of Point Yacht Club in Durban and the provincial championship at the age of 14 in an Optimist. He […]

It’s hard to imagine living like this on a permanent basis! The yacht is constantly rocking sideways and alternative forward to back with the occasional exaggerated movement throwing you and whatever is loose around the boat. Sleeping last night with the sideways roll was extremely difficult for Kevin and myself in the front cabins. You […]

I woke up suddenly with huge jolt as I hit the side cabin roof, it felt like it any way. At first confusion as the noise things crashing around the Hot Ice reverberated as I  wiped the sleep from my eyes. We were leaning hard to starboard and I was pinned to the starboard wall of my bunk […]

I was up at 5.30am to mild winds and milder sea. Mark made a proper breakfast of pork bangers and eggs. Jean managed to make it down stairs onto a bunk and is looking over the worst. Shaun has spotted two yellow tails following our boat and has the line out – guess he is […]

Us on our way, flat seas, something we look forward to seeing again. Will try and send a 5 metre swell wave but dont think it will give it justice

Woke in the morning to fairly steady breeze 20kts and choppy. Our Speed over Ground (SOG) approximately 5.o kts.  I came on shift at 8am to 12am. We  managed to execute a very bad take and the Genoa (the big sail in the front) got away from us and the two sheets(ropes) that keep it tight end up in […]

Hi all, Well our first day out was initially quite slow and we round all the buoys toward the mid back of the fleet. we were a bit unlucky as the wind seem to die on us and it to a while for us really to get going. We manage to slowly gain speed and were averaging around […]

So the big day has finally got here and it was up early and off to the RCYC for a quick breakfeast with Jean and Shaun. Then round to the yacht to load our personal gear and final pics. Some of the guys are visibly nervous and I am not to bad but I guess they may […]

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Up early again and headed down to the RCYC hopefully to finally complete immigration and customs clearance. All was very organised and this time and they were there! Hot Ice Crew was punctual and looking bright eyed compared to some of the other crews who obviously really enjoyed the Blue Peter party. We were first to […]

Today up early and went to gym for a good spinning class followed by healthy breakfast. Then off to the RCYC for immigration clearance after which we are supposedly confined to our boats. They will stamp or passports and check yellow fever certificates. Well the immigration officials forgot to arrive so it was postponed to […]

I am sure you are wondering when we will eventually sail on Hotice. Well to day is the day at 1300ish. I am not sure weather I should be crewing in full ernest due to my lack of sleep but there is only one way to find out. Well once a Hawley always a Hawley! […]

Shaun and myself are up early scanning our passports and making copies for immigration later in the week. My family has reached Australia safely and MJ does not seem to have caused to much trouble. I will talk more about the Australian trip in a separate post. We are due to head to the marina about 8 […]

Theory course for Oct 26-30 2013. We arrived on Friday night and met our host Perry-anne and our instructor big Dave. The course started every day at 8:30am. The very 1st day we  covered all the collision regulation stuff (lights, sounds, shapes etc) and then from the Sunday started with the navigational stuff.  We had breaks […]

Woke up this morning very early in Cape Town. Our first day of preparation is due to start 1300 at the wharf on Hotice. Thought I would head to the gym for a spinning class. Our instructor Talia was in enthusiastic form and was keen to work off the Christmas pudding. Back to Shauns flat […]

Well, apart from being available to sail, there were some other fundamentals that were need before we could proceed! We needed a yacht and a skipper, as none of us are qualified to sail offshore nor had done much sailing and neither did we have a yacht suitable for the adventure. So the search began….

Of course there was some scepticism as to the state of the boat and as we are of the noble age where comfort over pure adventure is considered important to take into account, a preliminary inspection of the proposed transatlantic vessel was arranged. Below is a  quote of the outcome; “Thanks for arranging to meet Mark and to see […]

Based at Cape Town’s Victoria & Alfred Waterfront and in the examination waters on the Cape West Coast, Ocean Sailing uniquely provide full board and lodging their  Ocean House, with a fleet of 7 yachts, 2 RIBS and a power boat on which to train. Flexible training programs ensure that those with experience save time by completing […]

Initially it was thought that the best thing would be for us to find skipper with a yacht that we could crew on. But where to find one….. We posted our requirement on various sailing website and blogs. We enquired at the boating shows and at the Royal Cape Yacht Club with no luck. We thought […]

It was Shaun Verster that took up the mantle of reminding us of our commitment and it was in early 2013 we were remind of the looming date which still seemed far off – January 2014 being 12 months away. Jean-Marie said he was game and I said in principle, I was in, as I […]

So there we were at the end of  the Argus cycle race 2011 in Cape Town V&A water front. I had just finished my first Argus in a very tiring 6 hour 24 minute. I still remember the balls of my feet felt as if a knife had sliced across them and they ached like hell. […]