...and here is some mind flow written during the crossing

African sunset

First tuna!

Birthdaybabe with her cake

It is big

Ocean crossing is close to space travel, it takes long time, the sea is huge and devastatingly desolated. Even if you know it, it surprises you how large distances are, how much water there is and how little anything else. You are very dependent on being capable of helping your self. Nothing important best not break now. If the rigg fails, what do we do? You take a good care of the rigg! And the engine, and the electric system, and each other.

Watch keeping

Philipp sleeps from seven in the evening until one at night. I sleep from one to seven. In addition, there is a bit of sleeping going on during the day and a lot of it during the watches too. Sailing is getting easier and easier with the trade winds. The watch has to do minor adjustments: one reef in or out, five degrees port or startport, up or down with the baby sail. Checking the course, checking how the wind rudder is doing, checking if there are any other ships to worry about.. and there are no other ships. It's just us here.

Salt

The deck, reeling, sails, ropes are all covered with a thick salt crust. You can not see through the windows anymore. The front deck is a danger zone for getting splashed by the Atlantic ocean at any time. We wear some cloth outside, inside the boat we try to be naked, not to make all interior salty and thus damp. Rain would be great to rinse us a bit. At the Sahara latitudes, no hope for that. I've never seen sunsets like here: sun desapearing all yeallow passing through completely colorless sky. The atmosphere is dry.

A roller coaster

Kiwi is 11 tons of metal. For the ocean that is nothing. We are tossed around, she heels and rolls constantly in the ah so irregular swell. Trade winds mean a lot of sailing with the headsails only. Without the mainsail we are much less stable. Doing the dishes, making the meals, using the toilet, even sleeping, requires quite some acrobatics and muscle work and patience. It can make you go mad, it keeps you fit, it makes you really really tired.

Talking of getting grazy

We have a training hour in the mornings including violent dancing to funk. We scream and sing as loud as you only can do in the middle of the ocean. We hear voices mixed sounds of water passing by the hull: we hear children crying, talking, cats miauwing, Kiwi herself has a low and satisfied hum. Thinks she's happy sailing.