The three sailors Finn, Markus and Uwe after four days on the open ocean. The harmony is good, and the boat managent skilled and easy.
As there are no major technical issues so far, even the skipper relaxes from time to time 😉 The food department is excellent. The best bread we have eaten in weeks, but no fish unfortunatly (even if we had a few fish bite into our lures). Thus, the ripe fruits and vegetables determine breakfast and dinner. Good wind the last few hours (15-20 knots) and good speed even when sailing close hauled (hoch am Wind).
In the night, sailing through the darkness, the moon hidden behind the trade wind clouds, the warm glow of the magnetic compass helps to navigate through squalls (local strong winds) with a little rain and through calms. It leads us North East, to the Azores.
Good wind the first two days (3 to 5 Bft.), but no wind the last few hours (picture). Not enough even for our light-wind sail, the Gennaker. Excellent food from Markus (rice salad), his jokes, flying the drone and an optimistic wind prediction help to keep spirits up.
We are beating through the waves and through the night on close haul (hart am Wind). I feel beaten, too. I had forgotten how exhausted you feel when only sleeping full for three hours in the night and half (still wearing the inflatable vest and shoes) for another three hours.
One hour before sunset, with the best wishes from other sailors in English Harbour, we three sailors Finn, Markus and Uwe set our sails to North-East May 26th. Our mechanical Windvane self-steering works perfect, and the full moon leads the way. 2462 miles to go the direct way, but we expect to go first north and then west, trading in more speed with more miles.
First, we noticed that the better part of our squid lure (Tintenfischköder) was bite away. Second, a Wahoo tried to catch the new lure that we replaced, but missed it and instead jumped out of the water (when they hunt they are as fast as 80 kilometers an hour). Third, we caught a 7 kilogram Wahoo, just before sunset.
Normaly they suck on whales or sharks, but ocasionally on ships: Ramora (Schiffshalter). I hoped they would clean our underwater ship before transatlantic crossing, but I’m not shure they were effective ;-). Barbuda seems to be a place where ramora are seen quite often by sailores, as at the beach north of cocoa point.
I always hope to get onto the boat and everything works perfectly. However, all yachtsmen know that you alway have a list of to dos on a boat. The rear rack (Heckträger) that holds the solar panels and the wind generator had to be welted (geschweißt) and the wind generator had to be mounted and connected electrically again.
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