Sunday, Jul 7: Amsterdam days

As I arrived in Amsterdam, I was put to work. Until now, Rob had dealt with all the boat business by himself, without help and without anyone arguing with him. He briefed me about Sagitta, our boat, and we decided that on Friday we would go to Schiedem to bring Sagitta to Amsterdam - a two days journey.

On Thursday we went looking for a place to put her, and found one, not so far from center of town. However, Friday's weather report was not promising. The forecast was wind and rain and no good opportunity to sail, especially with half a crew and a skipper who never sailed her before. We went to spend the weekend there.

And she is AMAZING. Beautiful classical boat. Strong and heavy - makes you feel safe and welcome. The living room is so high - RN and Christoph can surely stand there. She is full of smart things - GPS and Radar and autopilot and whatever you need. Rob taught me to put the main sail up and take it down and how use the toilet and it's so cool! I love it.

We cooked and cleaned and checked everything and made a list of what we need to buy or fix, and I feel much more relaxed about the whole mission. It seems easy to sail this thing. Even I could do it.

On Monday my brother, whois a pilot, was in Adam, so he brought me a package from mom, including Israeli music and my rollerblades! It's so easy skating in flat A'dam, with the bicycle lanes everywhere. I love it.

And on Wednesday I got a phone call from a dear rainbow brother and Ela's best friend - Rn! He's in Adam, and I was SOOO happy to see him. We talked about Sagitta I showed him pictures. If everything works well, he might come with us to Brasil.

We spent a few days so far walking around town, looking for job, I'm skating, pulled by Rn who ride Rob's bike. Pure fun. And we went to a rainbow dinner (only raw food) and sang bahjans - amazing how Rn can go to people on the street, and get invited to stay at their place and to cool parties. I'm trying to learn this trick.

That's about it. I'm still waiting for Ela. Tomorrow, inshalla, we go to Roterdam to fetch the boat. Rn might join us. but if he doesn't, we have a free space on the boat to Brasil! If you're into it, just say so.

Love, Moddy.

Today is a good day to let the world give you a gift.

Sunday, Jul 14:Sailing to Amsterdam (and to my love)

Hi loved,

On monday evening we went to Schiedam to bring the boat to A'dam. A friend of Rob named Peter joined us. We slept the night there, and woke up at 4 am.

The route began with about 10 miles motoring in the canal towards the sea. Rob says it is the busiest canal in Europe (or the world?), but at this time of day it was fairly quiet, with ducks and swans everywhere, and then the sun rise.I held the helm for the first time - it took me a while to learn it, since if you pull it to your side, the boat goes to the other side, and it was counter intuitive to me, but I managed.

The sea was very calm. We put the two sails, which carried us with the soft south-easter wind. Holding the helm was more difficult now, since in addition to keeping azimuth and dodging other boats, you have to make sure the wind still fills up the sails. Besides that, when the boat turns, it takes it a while to stop, so you need to begin steering to the other direction when you're off course, and this wasn't easy (for me. Rob and Peter find it too easy).

When the wind slowed, we decided to put up the bigger front sail. It turned out disasterous, since in the middle of the work, the wind caught up and the sail flew unexpectedly to the wrong direction and was torn a little. The small one remained.

Later on Rob cooked lunch (nasi gori - excelent!); we made more coffee; the electricity went off so and I fixed it (I'm very proud). And we hanged out the hammock under the sail. In this position, you lie out of the boat, above the see, and I felt hillarious. So good. I laughed and laughed and thought that if sailing is like THAT, I love it!

The time passed. At around 6 we arrived to Ijmuiden, which is the entrance to the canal that goes to A'dam. We put the sails down, turned on the motor, and began to enter. Soon the cabin was full of smoke. I tried to look at the engine, but it became worse. We had to turn off the engine, and attempt to fix it, but first to get out of the way - so putting the front sail up, we went south again. Peter steering, while me and Rob fix the engine.

Rob and I were good enough team to do it, despite the lack of the particular kind of screw we needed. Meanwhile, the wind became stronger. We were going fast in the wrong direction, and just as we started the motor again, a rain began, soaking Peter and Rob (I was inside), and worse - as I replaced Peter at the helm, I found I can't see where we're going! I had a moment of confusion, knowing that keeping the same route we'll hit shore soon, but by then Skipper Rob was dressed, He went out and in notime we were on the correct direction again, high speed against the wind.

And we came again to Ijmuiden, this time with no problem, motoringin the canal. Rob had a few problems of parking the new boat with the unfamiliar engine, and I had a few, too, trying to throw ropes and never hitting (last time I just jumped to shore with the rope in my hand, fell down and hurt my elbow).

We arrived after 10. More than 18 hours of work. I didn't feel tired but exstatic. My first cruising was over, and I loved every minute of it.

And on Thursday finally Ela arrived! I'm so happy she's here (though when she came I was angry because she didn't come earlier and made me so stressed). I'm very happy now, and also because today my best friend shani also arrived after a few months of traveling in Europe. We are all happy and shining. How can it possibly be better?

Love, Moddy.

This is a great day to do something for the first time.

Saturday, July 27: Another sailing trip

So Ela arrived in Amsterdam, full of adventures and also tired. It was great to be again with her after more than a month of separation. We spent a few days cruising A'dam and looking for things for the boat (as usual). Than my friend Shani arrived after two months of traveling in Europe, a bit tired and wanting her big brother (i.e. me) around. And then, we all (including Rob's two fabulous daughters) went sailing for ten days. This was supposed to be the childrens' vacation with their father, sailing experince for Rob, Ela and me, and light travels for Shani.

Even before the beginning problems arrived. First, the water system failed, and we had no water, so we had to buy new water tanks; we tried to fix the bathroom door, and when we reinstalled it, the hinges were almost a centimeter of place, God knows how; the engine stopped in the middle of the lake (but we fixed it ourselves) . The toilets broke down in Edam, and while fixing them, an essential part fell off the boat, and we bought a new one (didn't help); a box I made turned to be hazardous to people who stand on it (Ela has a big bruise); the exhaust burned down ... We felt very unlucky.

We had some rough sailing days in force 6 or 7, with Shani getting sea-sick and puking all over the kitchen. Arriving late and getting not enough sleep, and the kids are hungry so we have to cook fast. I steered us once to shallow water and we got stuck (Rob rescued us, after making me climb on the boom). Many bad manuvers into docking, and banging the boat a few times, one of those a bit too much.

On the good side, the three of us got along very well. We learned a lot about ourselves and about the boat, and found that we love each other's company, thuogh we are certainly different. We had a mixture of languages: English, Hebrew, German and Dutch (Ela was speaking German with Dutch accent to the girls, and they communicated easily). The kids were happy at first, playful and open to all the newcomers, yet after a week on board, they became stressed. They cried and needed more attention, and papa can't pay attention to them all the time, being busy with the boat.

For one day Anja, a rainbow sister we met in Africa joined us, and she may join us across the Atlantic, though chances are low. We are still looking for the perfect fourth crew member: A nice, easy-going person, with sailing skills or others, who can pay for his/her share of the costs. Just don't mention the war.

And now we're back in A'dam. Working on the boat and attempting to go back for less crowded and more focussed sailing. On August 16 we fly to Italian rainbow ($80 return Brussels-Pisa in one of those cheap internet deals), coming back on the 25th, and going on our way!

Love, Moddy.

Today is a good day to have a good night's sleep.

Saturday, August3: Change of plans - going in September

On the last sailing adventure we lost our anchor, got the engine into some problem (but Ela fixed it fast), oppersted the wind vane, (an automatic steering device that works on wind. We named it Basil after Fawlty, but it works wonderfully without grunting), passed a storm, and got the toilet fixed (at last). We came back to Amsterdam, to meet my friend Ilan who dropped by (blessing to meet him), and got a bit concerened about hurricans, so Rob took us to a shop to find charts and weather reports and advice.

In short: going as planned will almost surely hit a hurrican. We were all pissed off, because its rough to get this info only three weeks before you are about to go, and we had to make some changes: We leave in mid-september, providing that Rob's boss will be nice enough to let him change his holiday.

Since October is too cold, we want to bring the boat to Spain in September, but since Rob is at work, we need some experienced person to join us, and we desparately looking for someone. So if you know of anyone who has the time, skill and money to arrive in amsterdam soon and join us - either all the way to Carribean, or only to Spain, tell me as soon as possible. Otherwise, we may cancel the whole thing. :-(

Can you imagine that?

Love, Moddy.

Today is a good day to help a friend in need.

Tuesday, August 27: what to do ???

We planned for a vacation week in Italy. We flew (Ela agreed to fly!) from Charlleroi,Belgium, with Ryanair. Cheap, and you see it. The airport almost belongs to ryan, and has services at all. you don't have a reserved seat, so we lined out in front of the plain, rushing in to get a good seat, after standing in front of the gate for an hour in the heat of a closed crowded room in an august day. However, it's cheap. We arrived in Pisa, took a train to Lucca, and wanted to hitch from there.

Lucca is a lovely town. In the train station we found a beautiful map of the city carved in copper, which told us that there's an old city, surrounded by high walls, which we need to cross to ther side. So we did. We walked through, not forgetting to have a pizza on the way, and walked streight the whole time, only to find ourselves coming out of the whole city in the same gate we entered it.

Don't ask me how it happened. It just did. We were tired enough so we just slept on top of the city wall. Early morning we woke up (befoer any police will come to chase us) and walked again to the other side of the old city, this time successfuly leaving town on the road to Abetone, trying to hitchhike. No much luck - one guy took us 5 kms, then we walked maybe the same, then police told us to take the bus. So we waited for the bus - supposed to arrive at 1:30 (the Italians know nothing about buses, and even less about English). We waited three hours for it, and eventually a cool guy took us a few kms to a bigger village and a bigger busstop. He asked there about the bus, and then too kus a few kms more (out of his way) to an even bigger village, and asked the police - then it turned out that the promised bus A. arrives at 6:30 B. Takes us only half the way. We had to hitch again, tired as we were.

Walking out of town, we found a hitching sign saying "Pieve Pelago" (which is the nearest village to the gathering), obviously left by a rainbow hitching before us. "It's a sign" we yelled happily, and a few minutes later got a ride directly to the site.

And there who watd for us? Aaron! Just set in the parking lot for two days knowing we will arrive! We were soooo happy to see him. A short walk and we were in th e beatiful rainbow site. Amazing place in the middle of the forest. Muchrooms grow everywhere, but we didn't it since we didn't know who were dangerous. Turns out some people died a week beforewe came.

For me it was the biggest gathering I'd ever been to. A few thousands, big area, many people you don't know and many you can't remember. Ela met a lot of old friends and people whom she met before but hardly remembers. Manyt of our frinds from Africa were there, and we hooked up with them most of the time.

After a few days of nice weather the rain came and turned everything to a big cold bog. sliding on the way to main circle and getting wet and bruised a little. Since a packed in a hurry in Amsterdam, we forgot many helpful things, such as: my shoes, the flutes, candles .... we were very unprepared, and regreted it deeply sometimes. But all ends well. The last day was my birthday (by Hebrew calendar) and we celebrated under a small roof. When we left a whole crew of freinds escorted us to town, and we set and had gellati (yummy icecream)in the local cafe, and I got nice present (a dreamcatcher made by EVERYBODY).

And we hitchhiked back, and slept again on the walls of Lucca, and flew back, and hitchhiked to Amsterdam .... Only to find that Rob changed his mind after looking agian in the charts, and decided that we actually can't cross the Atlantic in this time, and we're going to sail maybe to the Caribean, and maybe only to Gibraltar .. and me and Ela are SOOOO pissed off and frustrated.

So the last few hours we spent on the Internet, trying to find a cheap freight across the Atlantic, but so far, we failed. We don't know what to do. This whole "sailing 2 brazil" mission that cost us so much money and time and effort and stress and frustration and resources is going down the drain only a day before we're actually supposed to sail!

Can yo belive it? And we found people in the rainbow who talked about sailing there own boats later, and we said "nice, but we have our own boat". We could have connexions, if we knew we don't go two weeks ago! Or at least stay with our friends in the fathering a little longer, or find other options .... but we didn't, and this sucks.

I find myself in a situation where the world turns upsidedown under my feet. I want to scream and punch somebody, and I almost did an hour ago.

We went to this internet cafe (easyInternetCafe.con) and bought a 24hr pass. Two hours ago Ela was tired, so I escorted her to the bus station, and went back to search for freighters. The guy in the entrance didn't let me in because I don't have shoes.

There were some pushings and he said "go to the police". I went to he other branch of easyInternetCafe, set in and started. A few minutes ago the security guard asked me to put my shoes on bacause he "can smell my feet". I explained calmly enough that I don't have shoes, and that I almost never wear shoes, and so far I'm still here, working.

Best times for everyone.

Love, Moddy.

Today is a good day to forgive people for their stupidity.

Tuesday, August 27: Appologies

Once again I find myself openning my big mouth to the whole world, and though it was three in the morning and I was tired, hungry, stressed out, pissed off and thirsty, I can still do better.

So: I don't find anyone in my neighbourhood particularly stupid, and certainly not more stupid than I am (just see where my two brain cells brought me to!), and I'm very sorry to express anything remotely mentioning it in such a broad circulation.

Love, Moddy.

Today is a good day to forgive yourself for your own stupidity (thanks, ury).

PS. Anyone knows of cheap cargo ship travel options?

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