Sailing The Moody African Coast

About Jamie

Been a liveaboard since 2005, spending first few years living in Turkey. Started sailing a few years before when I joined my father on his retirement present we got for him: a sailing course across the North Sea! Been writing about every single trip, both on sea and on land, since that day. Take photography seriously but miss my decks.

Latest Posts

In "failed state" Somalia, instability is lucrative for some

In "failed state" Somalia, instability is lucrative for some MOGADISHU/NAIROBI (Reuters) – Life got easier for trader Siad Hussein when Somali Islamist militants pulled out the capital. He no longer pays a Jihad tax nor does he have to watch mortars kill his customers. Related Stories Romania ruling party up in polls after government change [...]

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The Madness Of Madurai

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We’re in one of the most important towns in south India during one of its most important celebrations, Pongal. Hear how we weave our way through the back streets of Marurai and into the ancient ‘Tailor’s Market’, ending up in an Escher painting.

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Rapper 50 Cent visits impoverished areas in Kenya, Somalia

Rapper 50 Cent visits impoverished areas in Kenya, Somalia Rap star Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson visited Kenya and famine-hit Somalia this week to raise awareness on hunger and poverty issues. {lang: ‘en-GB’}

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Into The Ghats

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[S02E4] Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu. This podcast is a car journey that starts off badly and turns into a nightmare. It begins with a crash and ends with us getting lost in the middle of the Western Ghat mountain range. Along the way we discover a new breakfast and meet lots of people wearing green and orange.

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Famine ‘over’ in Somalia, UN says

Famine ‘over’ in Somalia, UN says Famine conditions have ended in war-torn Somalia six months after they were first declared but the situation remains serious, the UN says. {lang: ‘en-GB’}

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Excuses, Excuses

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We have been so busy this week that we’ve not completed editing our next adventure, which takes us into the Western Ghats mountain range. In this podcast we offer a couple of poor excuses but round it off with some great news…

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The Backwaters of Allepey

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Lonely Planet has this down as a must-do before you die, and having spent a couple of days on the backwaters of Allepey, we concur. This is a bird-watchers and fish-eaters paradise. We take a gentle motor through the backwaters, viewing sunken rice fields and people-watching the locals as they go about their business on the famous river banks of Kerala.

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Al Qaeda Official Killed in Strike

Al Qaeda Official Killed in Strike A U.S. drone strike killed an al Qaeda official fighting alongside insurgents in Somalia, officials said. {lang: ‘en-GB’}

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The Crows Of Fort Cochin

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Finally, after a year’s absence! Welcome to the brand new followtheboat podcasts!

Podcasts, for those who don’t know, are free mp3 audio files that you may download and listen to on your stereo, ipod etc. They’re the equivalent to a radio show, and we produce weekly radio shows of our adventures. This entire series is dedicated to our travels around the Indian sub-continent. We aim to get under the skin of India, the people and the culture. We’ve got a ton of adventures that take us from the very north in Sikkim to the very south of Tamil Nadu.

In this first episode we take a nice, gentle stroll around Fort Cochin, the area in Kochi where the European adventurers settled after opening up trade routes between Asia and Europe. It’s a typically warm day so Liz hides under the shade of the tree-lined avenues, forever surrounded by the cawing of crows.

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Kenyan jets bomb Somali rebel base, kill 14

Kenyan jets bomb Somali rebel base, kill 14 MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Kenyan jets bombed an al Shabaab rebel base in southern Somalia Sunday, killing a family of seven as well as seven fighters from the insurgent group linked to al Qaeda, residents said. Related Stories Bomb material found in Thailand after terror warnings Building collapses [...]

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Freeing Up Our Pacific Plus Wind Pilot Self Steering

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One of the problems with not winterising your self-steering gear properly is that 18 months down the line you pay for it. When we started recommissioning Esper at the beginning of the year we were horrified to discover that our Pacific Plus self-steering gear would not budge. Worse still, I had turned the auxiliary rudder round so that it was pointing inwards and therefore made the brass gears inaccessible. Here is a video to the solution.

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Britain warns of terror threats in Kenya

Britain warns of terror threats in Kenya British officials Saturday warned of terror threats in Kenya as the east African nation battles Islamist militants in neighboring Somalia. {lang: ‘en-GB’}

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Video Clip Of My Girlfriend Stripping

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Judging by the positive response from the last video clip we thought we’d post up another one for your titillation. It seems you lot like instant gratification so for those of you who can’t be bothered to read our more exciting written and photographic blog entries, here’s another clip for you to download and savour. It’s a clip of the Lovely Liz stripping! Better watch it quick before she finds out…

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A Messy New Year!

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Why haven’t you heard from us recently? Indeed we could ask why we haven’t heard from you too! Well, here’s our excuse:

Having made the decision to get off our asses and go for a sail, which will be our first in TWO YEARS (!), we are having to work our way through a stupid amount of jobs that should have been done before now. What with our land-based travels poor old Esper has been neglected somewhat, so now it’s time to attend to her needs and get cracking with those all important boat maintenance jobs.

I’m not going to bore you with a list of these jobs but I will entertain you with a quick guided tour of Esper and what she looks like after her guts have been ripped open. For those with no idea about living on a boat this is a little insight into what we get up to when preparing a boat for a sail.

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