Sailing Learning By Doing

16/02/2025

Decision time, Aluminium Project boat or Keep our Catamaran?

I flew to Australia to see a 54ft Aluminium sailing boat called Ivanhoe. It would need a total rebuild from bottom up and that is a HUGE job. Our budget would be AU$100k and 12 months to get the job done. Last week I showed you guys Ivanhoe and most of you told me to RUN AWAY!. Well I flew back to Bali and showed Marie video and photos and we discussed the pros and cons and came to a decision.
Do we keep our current boat, a perfectly good Crowther Windspeed 39 or take a massive gamble and go for the project boat?
Enjoy this one.

I flew to Australia to see a 54ft Aluminium sailing boat called Ivanhoe. It would need a total rebuild from bottom up and that is a HUGE job. Our budget woul...

09/02/2025

Ivanhoe is a 54ft Aluminium sailing boat that is in total disrepair. I fly to Australia just to look this boat over and to see if it’s the right project for us to take on.
She was built as a flat-topped racing boat, then years later changes were made to convert her to a cruising boat but nothing was finished. For a few years now this beautiful boat has sat on a mooring, waiting for the right person to take on this massive project.
Could it be me? Check my bio for link to this video and give us your feedback

07/02/2025

Happy birthday to this beautiful woman I couldn’t imagine a better partner or mother to our child.

03/02/2025

We had an amazing break on land, in the gorgeous beach house , with view on our boat ! Such a lovely place with a lot of care of details. If we would have to live on land, we would definitely build a place like this 🤍

01/02/2025

Makassar to Bali, 375 miles, our best sailing passage ever!

Our circumnavigation of Sulawesi is completed and its time to sail southwest to Bali. The passage is around 375nm and we expect it to take 48hrs. A really nice forecast is predicted but we know by now that in these waters this is really just a guess. Trade Runner has ben prepared and checked over, we have fuel, water and food aboard and we are all fit and well rested.
Lets Go!

Our circumnavigation of Sulawesi is completed and its time to sail southwest to Bali. The passage is around 375nm and we expect it to take 48hrs. A really ni...

18/01/2025

Sailing this handmade Traditional wooden ship (NO ENGINE)

Sailing this magnificent hand built vessel for a day was pretty amazing!
Anugerah Ilahi was built in a year, painstaking labour with simple tools on a beach near Makassar, Indonesia. She is a Pelari, a traditional trading vessel, used for hundreds of years in these waters.
Horst Liebner is a German who has been living here for decades and has studied the maritime history of Indonesia.
The vessel has no engine or modern equipment, everything is done by hand. The ship has 8 sails and tacking or typing is quite a manoeuvre, needing all hands working together.
On this day we set of from the main harbour in Makassar, weaving around huge ships and made our way out into the ocean. The plan was to sail out a few miles then when the tide turned sail right back to where we started. The tide did turn but the hoped for currents stayed away and this meant we had no chance of getting back to our departure point. Such is life when you no engine, you work with what nature gives you, make the right decisions and stay safe.
It's quite humbling to think that you only get 1 chance to anchor correctly!
Enjoy this episode.

Sailing this magnificent hand built vessel for a day was pretty amazing!Anugerah Ilahi was built in a year, painstaking labour with simple tools on a beach n...

18/01/2025

So after a few weeks in the cesspit that is Serangan, Bali we have finally left. A disgusting place I hope to never visit again.
Having said that we did get some vital things done there and met a few really good individuals so here are thier contacts just in case you might need.
Ketut seemed like the only honest one of all the locals affording moorings in Serangan

Adrian made us a new set of seat covers and repaired my jib. Very good English and good workmanship.
Lee is the guy for Jotun paints best price by 30% and delivered to the beach on the Sanur side.

12/01/2025

Marie PROPOSED, on my 50th Birthday!

We are ENGAGED!

Marie proposed to me at 06.30 on my 50th birthday. She made a tinfoil ring and presented it in her rayban sunglasses case. What a girl!

We continued our 1000 mile passage from Manado to Makassar in Sulawesi, having some great wind and we even got to race against our future boat, Sv Jams, a 47ft Van de Stadt Samoa.

There were a coupe of very memorable anchorages along the way and we had some incredible sunsets too.

Soon enough we arrived in the large city of Makassar with its new 99 dome mosque.

Enjoy this episode on YouTube: Sailing Learning by Doing

12/01/2025

Marie PROPOSED, on my 50th Birthday!

We are ENGAGED! Marie proposed to me at 06.30 on my 50th birthday. She made a tinfoil ring and presented it in her rayban sunglasses case. What a girl!
We continued our 1000 mile passage from Manado to Makassar in Sulawesi, having some great wind and we even got to race against our future boat, Sv Jams, a 47ft Van de Stadt Samoa.
There were a coupe of very memorable anchorages along the way and we had some incredible sunsets too.
Soon enough we arrived in the large city of Makassar with its new 99 dome mosque.
Enjoy this episode.

We are ENGAGED! Marie proposed to me at 06.30 on my 50th birthday. She made a tinfoil ring and presented it in her rayban sunglasses case. What a girl!We con...

02/01/2025

Our BIGGEST year ever!

2024 was a huge year for us, not only were we new parents with our 3 month old son Eli aboard, we also planned a very challenging adventure, circumnavigating Sulawesi. It was to be a very excellent adventure indeed, we sailed over 5500km, got hit by a huge ferry, got sick a few times, dealt with 3 months of almost non-stop rain, almost dragged anchor as both our engines wouldn’t start and multiple other nervous moments. We also met hundreds of incredible, beautiful people of many different ethnicities, saw landscapes that we’d never imagined existed, slept next to a recently erupted volcano, ate amazing local foods, sailed rough seas and motored through the calmest of calms.
There were times we very nearly quit, there were times we got so tired of living on a boat, there were times we got sick of each other but we always managed to sort things out and 2024 will be a year that we never forget.
We hope yours was a good one too!
Enjoy. .keliling.indonesia .id .islands .era

31/12/2024

Our BIGGEST year ever! (episode 281)

2024 was a huge year for us, not only were we new parents with our 3 month old son Eli aboard, we also planned a very challenging adventure, circumnavigating Sulawesi. It was to be a very excellent adventure indeed, we sailed over 5500km, got hit by a huge ferry, got sick a few times, dealt with 3 months of almost non-stop rain, almost dragged anchor as both our engines wouldn't start and multiple other nervous moments. We also met hundreds of incredible, beautiful people of many different ethnicities, saw landscapes that we'd never imagined existed, slept next to a recently erupted volcano, ate amazing local foods, sailed rough seas and motored through the calmest of calms.
There were times we very nearly quit, there were times we got so tired of living on a boat, there were times we got sick of each other but we always managed to sort things out and 2024 will be a year that we never forget.
We hope yours was a good one too!

Enjoy.

Find all the prints here: https://www.vernondeck.com/Ready-to-print/Beauty-of-Sulawesi2024 was a huge year for us, not only were we new parents with our 3 mo...

24/12/2024

Happy holidays to you all. We have been enjoying some much needed time away from cameras and computers. New videos coming again in the new year. Until then enjoy family time and too much food. 👋from Bali.

20/12/2024

Maintenance day. Raw water pump rebuild. The lip seal was installed backwards by previous owner causing the steel spring to corrode and then leak. Looks like I’ve found replacements here in Bali. Tomorrow I’ll go get them and finish the rebuild. The alternator on the Portside engine has been playing up and I’ve been trying to diagnose the issues without knowing the first thing about electrical stuff. I’m just going over all connections, cleaning plugs etc and will reconnect everything and give it a whirl. Pro(amateur) tip. Take photos of everything BEFORE taking apart.

08/12/2024

Exploring Small-scale Gold Mining In Sulawesi

Its time for us to start sailing west, the northwest monsoon will soon be starting and we dont want to be on the north coast of Sulawesi when that kicks in. We leave the very cool city of Manado and sail along on the calmest waters enjoying some close encounters with a large group of Pilot Whales. By pure chance we anchor just off a small village that has for generations mined gold by hand. The locals show us around and we witness how this precious metal is won from the ground.
Its one of the real joys of living this way, coming across things by chance that we would never see otherwise. Long may it continue.
Enjoy.

Its time for us to start sailing west, the northwest monsoon will soon be starting and we dont want to be on the north coast of Sulawesi when that kicks in. ...

24/11/2024

They eat DOGS, BATS, SNAKES and RATS here!

Would you buy Dog meat, bbq Bat, scorched Rat, Snake steak? Well if you're curious then you should go to the Pasar Ekstrim in Tomohon, North Sulawesi. Or just sit back and watch while we check it all out for you.
Enjoy.

Would you buy Dog meat, bbq Bat, scorched Rat, Snake steak? Well if you're curious then you should go to the Pasar Ekstrim in Tomohon, North Sulawesi. Or jus...

16/11/2024

Did we get kidnapped by a GiAnT TuRtLe?

The past 2 weeks have flown by but wow did we pack in some good times. Mark, one of our top tier Patrons cashed in his perks and joined us and it was a real pleasure, he actually made our lives aboard easier.
We spent the last 4 days of his stay at Bunaken Island, one of Indonesia's oldest marine parks and spent more time under water than above. Man, it was good to finally see abundant live down there again. The rest of Sulawesi had been pretty dismal below the waves, the fishermen were too efficient I guess.
We had a nice little sail to end the trip and then Mark gave us some valuable feedback on his experiences with us.
Enjoy.

The past 2 weeks have flown by but wow did we pack in some good times. Mark, one of our top tier Patrons cashed in his perks and joined us and it was a real ...

06/11/2024

This year we had the goal of doing a circumnavigation of Sulawesi. It had been not an easy start as some of you know, we hit the reef before our crossing from Lombok to Sulawesi and it made us start later. Our crossing had been sporty at the end as the season was slowly changing and squalls were forming on our route and the weather challenged us a lot during our journey this year but we made it !
We sailed all around the big “K” and explored the coast of this incredible region ! That was really different that all we saw before in Indonesia and gave us again a new look of the variety of cultures and people you can meet in Indonesia !

Having our baby son was also another challenge and we learned to travel differently, slower and a bit more organized. Having a baby made us also pick different activities and was for sure the best subject of conversation with locals !

Indonesians, what ever the place, are all living kids and Eli was surrounded by lovely people all along the way !