 |
| A typical lunch: pancake on the floor |
 |
| More than half of the trip was in the dark |
 |
| Celestial navigation: sailing towards sun set |
 |
| Lisää kuvateksti |
 |
| Later we learned that what fish we caught was NOt a tuna but a dolphin fish - delicious non the less |
 |
| A fantastic crew |
 |
| The big genoa poled out, Jelle smokes his last e-liquids and Eva peels potatoes. Another afternoon in the cockpit |
 |
| Calm number two: fascinating how calm it can be out at the ocean |
Editors comment: it's unclear why the skippers log contains only 18 days, since the crossing started 30th of December at 14 hours while Kiwi reached Martinique Cul de Sac Fregatte 19th of January at 10. The winds were light, but mostly there. Conditions easy, the greatest challenges being sunburns and staying sane.
Day 1
If it wasn’t for three hours of motoring in the evening, it
would have been a perfect start: good sailing, dolphins, tuna caught. Great to
be underway finally.
Day 2
Jelle clogged the toilet, made rice accidentally with salt
water and is sea sick. Not his day. Also reef line wheel and propeller break
broke. At least we have projects to work with to avoid apathy. New years eve,
but nobody noticed
Day 3
Fregattbird Fredrica (who spend couple of days sitting on the solar panel) fell into the sea. Sanja had to move the solar panel for fixing the cable and the bird wasn’t seen ever since. Singing started.
Day 4
Heading to the right direction after rounding a calm! Did do
anything at all today, except the normal life onbord.
Day 5
Slow sailing, gray skys, first signs of apathy and furious attempts to fight it! Crew activation with tasks, Jelle started “noon reports”
listing the status of the voyage, first training session together.
Day 6
Have managed avoid cooking until now, put myself together in
form of rice and cocos-pumpkin. After two days of slow sailing, wind picked up
again in the evening and so did the mood and the spirits. Half way mark
expected in four days! (absolute highlight of the day was that the crew had
washed themselves in the morning)
Day 7
Week in to the trip. We opened a bottle of wine, we wished
we had a bible onbord to check out the story of three kings. Luckily there we
have enough stories of our own. Sailed through a float of seaweed. Broke off a
thought filling with Dutch teeth killing sweets!
Day8
Jelle made English breakfast for lunch. Its real hot
outside. We are roasted. We don’t take grib files anymore, because the captain
cant handle them.
Day9
Halfway
celebration with champagne and pan cake. Messages send both to Philipp and to
the Netherlands. We wait for the possible replies like teen age girls.
On and off with wind, sail and engine.
Tried yellow sail too, bad idea. Sanja broke two left hand fingers.
Not much wind in the forecast. We are reeeally far from home.
Day 10
Out of fruits. We have two pumpkins and some potatoes.
Started a tradition of funny games in the afternoon. Calm, riding on the few
winds of the rain showers.
Day 11
Bad night with attempts of sailing and long periods of
engine in between. Nobody slept. Forecast full of calm so we need to preserve
diesel and tolerate slapping of our dear jib. Wrecks my nerves.
Day 12
Flying big jib through the day. It’s so hot that its hard to
stay on deck at mid day watch. We had an hour with animal sounds instead of training
hour
Day 13
Day off! After a night and
morning with engine on, stopped in the afternoon to drift around, wait for the wind
(due next morning), for a swim and barnacle removal. Visited by two minke whales swimming under and about
Kiwi- Magical evening with amazing scenery, crazy light and sky and calm and
peace.
Day 14
Think it’s day 15 already and I’ve lost track. Almost whole
day on engine. Less than half a tank of diesel remaining. Started sailing after
sun set with an agreement of another drifting night in case the wind would not
hold. First time term “never ending” was mentioned. We started to dry- practice conversation starters with other human beings.
Day 15
Caught a large tuna, blood everywhere, delicious sushi for
dinner. Jelle is out of cigarettes, so
things are getting interesting onbord. I made the laundry, which kept me
occupied most of the day.
Day 16
The others think three last days on a voyage are the most
dangerous. You loose your mind, become sloppy and worse of all, reach land. If
the weather and sails hold, we have entered the period of final lunatism. Kiwi
rolls like never before, 10 m/s dead down. one sleepless night knocked me
totally out. Guess we are all worn out.
Day 17
Today we deployed a party break: a rope loop behind Kiwi to
break the speed below 5 knots. We aim for arrival just after day break tomorrow
and cant be too fast. Everybody had regained some energy and the last day was
celebrated with pancakes and some serious actions to improve hygiene levels.
Day 18'
I woke up for my night shift to see the lights of Martinique (According to ship rules, mention the word "Martinique" means having to do 10 bush ups). Surreal sight after three weeks
at sea. There is some kind of a dark gray turn sitting on a gas bottle. It’s been a
fantastic trip, way better than I expected, a lot of fun with Eva and Jelle,
great sailing, great scenery and streamline performance!
