Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Moored behind the five hundred years old La Rochelle Tower

The new flange on drive shaft; Under full sail to Spain


Happy to be in Spain. Now with Thomas aboard helping to replace the diesel pump while we wait for incomming crew.
Enjoying generous servings of tapas and bocadillos, siestas and proper summer weather.

It was a lovely two days trip from La Rochelle, in France, to Santander, Spain. Three of us, good North West winds, many stripped dolphins, and Pilot whales n jumping Ray - a full moon on port side and a spectacular lightning storm on starboard side lasting all nite, but not a drop of rain reached the decks .
We raised Santander after 39 hours of which we sailed for 22 hours, and we're now learning from some rather kind locals about some beautiful places we can go to on the coming days, expecting Anna -new crew member, high school physics teacher, from Hungary, coming on the 1St Sept.- strooling around the town, breathing the place, enjoying our way.
Wewill keep you posted, while the Wong's official writer (Hanna) is on shore leave.

Going the Wong way..

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Bye for now!

Dear fellow pirates,

I'm writing to you from a strange place called Sweden where I have gone for temporary retirement from the Wong. I believe it is called shore-leave.

It's a grand thing to return to civilisation and realise that things , and the possession of them - although a grand curse - have a peculiar way of changing ones state of mind, habits - standard!
It's rather beautiful to appreciate simple things like fridges, the ability to watch a good DVD or take a hot bath. I would very much recommend all those things, but there is a great risk that they won't be appropriately valued if experienced before a visit to the Wong. You simply have to be without a cheese grater for feeling like a king for having one.

So please help Clive and crew to take Nuthin Wong to Spain and beyond. I hope to be back aboard shortly. Until then,

Hej då!



The Wong is on its way to Spain, contact Clive on +33 681 944 448 or through chinesejunk1@hotmail.com for information.

Saturday, August 07, 2010

Before we arrived in France we had a certain vision of what this place would be like. Our expectations were very much met in the first couple of months spent here. Normandy and Paris is just as chick and sophisticated as France should be. After having spent the past weeks in Brittany a new side is emerging.

Britt's are a very proud people - and rightly so! The area is geographically stunning with the Atlantic Ocean building up a swell in the Bay of Biscay, hitting white beaches and islands along the coast. The towns are old, the houses made of stone with doors painted bright blue. They also give the finger to the rest of France - like Spain's Catalonia or Scottland the Britt's will identify with the region long before they identify with the rest of the republic. Their music is louder - in the streets and in the bars - the traditional crâpes are everywhere and the cider is ordered by the carafe. In many small towns you would be forgiven for thinking that the indoor smoking ban in bars and cafés were never put in place and don't try to be PC about allergies and hygiene - dogs (and not just the petit ones) are embraced as part of the family at any restaurant table.

At the moment we're hanging out between Camaret-Sur-Mer and La Rochelle, trying to catch the right winds and keep the propeller shaft, which is playing up, in one piece. What we've heard about the Bay of Biscay turned out to be true; with almost no wind the sea builds up rollers that rearranged the galley.

We have two new crew aboard, Gunter from Belgium and Christina from Chilli, but still looking for people to join us after La Rochelle. The past two months have been a bit on the slow side but as the weather is getting colder and the Sangrias are calling we will step on it towards San Sebastian.

You know where to find us...