July 30th, position 46°19.742N; 16°15.206W

Today we celebrated half way :-) It took us a week but that's because we couldn’t sail in a straight line. According to the latest gribfiles we'll have Westerlies from now on and at least 15 kts. Tomorrow even 35 kts so the next half should be considerably faster in time :-)
We had champagne and for lunch Jantine backed scones, very nice indeed! She had to to do something not to be thrown overboard... yesterday when I was asleep on deck.. she polished my toe nails.... :-(  Of course the rest of the crew did nothing to prevent this molest and they all had a good time when I  woke up...

Anyway, for the rest we're doing fine and the weather is real nice, sofar it's been sunny all days and now we have the Westerlies, the wind is not as cold as before. Meaning we be in shorts and T-shirt, as it should :-) Still, during the night it's kind of cool, and we have to gear up properly to stay warm.

We're sailing full speed with double gennoa's, a full main and directly pointing at Scheveningen. Doing over 7 kts average it's only another 120 hrs to complete the round of the Atlantic :-)
Tomorrow we  might have a rougher day. A depression SE of England is foretasted to give us a fresh breeze. However, the direction is perfect and it might even increase our speed.

I must say, although the sailing is great, I really like to get back home again :-)

July 28th, position 44°08.2066N; 21°52.449W

Yesterday we figured out a new watch system where we all could have a decent time to sleep. That wasn't easy with a crew of 5 and 4 beds... that is one for me and 3 for the others.. captains privilege :-). Anyway it took some puzzling but it worked and we all got 8 hours of sleep!
That was really nice and we all were very happy with it.

The night was quite comfortable, we made some progress although the wind is still from the North. This morning I downloaded new gribfiles and they looked very promising. Today we'll have very light winds... light enough to motorsail in the right direction and into the area with Westerly winds.

It were light winds indeed we motorsailed with the autopilot in charge.
When Jantine woke up at around 11 fresh and completely rested she suggested to reorganize the stuff we have to eat and drink.
It turned out into a total clean up, in a way you could never do with real wind. Very good Jantine!!
We started after lunch and all worked together cleaning, trashing, repairing and stuff and by  4 pm the whole boat looked again as we were about to leave :-)

In the mean time the wind had backed and now we can start to really sail again. If the wind freshens  a bit more we can set the gennoa and kill the engine.
So far we only could make a 450 or so Nm leaving us another 1100 Nm to go, meaning we probably won't reach Scheveningen next weekend ….
Well, we'll just have to wait and see. Sofar we all enjoy the trip and a day or so longer is not a  problem :-)

July 27th, position 43°29.7826N; 24°27.608W

Since we tagged the wind didn't  change much so we're still pointing some North of East .
According to the latest gribfiles we'll find some Westerly winds more North the plan is to tag again tomorrow. We'll probably have to motorsail through the center of the high but then we'll find the Westerlies hopefully.
Anyway, this trip is more a challenge not only in finding the best course and winds. Also in repairing all kind of little things. Yesterday the inverter stopped working... that could in fact not be the case since I bought that new in Horta. And, it wasn't. It turned out to be a short circuit... but where? All 220V outlets were fine and checking the cables on the breaker box didn't lead to anything. Luckily I also got a new small unit before I left last year so I can at least charge my laptop.

Then last night Marc noticed that the port lower spreader was wiggling...
hmm,...it's not supposed to do that. We decided to go up the mast next day to check the fittings.
The early this morning while furling out the gennoa a bit more, the halliard broke....
We got it down okay and furled out the staysail. I had to go up the mast anyway …

At around 8 it was a smooth-ish to climb up the mast. The halliard was broken and had fallen down the mast... end of the halliard. No big deal though, we can use the uphaul which we did.
The fitting of the spreader was okay. But two of the rivets to keep it in place were gone.
God thing I have all the stuff and tools to fix it but working half way up the mast mid Atlantic is not   particularly my most favorite thing to do.

But, in the mean time the wind had backed a bit and we're steering a much better course and the weather is real nice and sunny :-)    

July 26th, position 43°31.791N; 27°17.429W

We're getting into a  sort off routine of living aboard. Yesterday we had a challenging ride... 30 – 35 kts and 4 – 5 meter waves...
With the wind from the North East it meant right on the nose... with the second reef and the full staysail the boat was in perfect balance and steering her was very easy. We did made good speed too bet the best course we could steer was due North.. Well anyway, with help of the gribfiles I downloaded I could predict a more smooth ride for the night, which of course came true :-)

The whole night was great, it was a very clear night with an ever amazing number of stars :-)
It was a bit colder though, with Northerly winds it's significant cooler then a few days ago. So by sunrise the ones on deck were all geared up. For the first time since... I can't even remember I actually put on my trousers instead of my shorts.....
Anyway, sunrise really meant sunrise and with a beautiful sky it's getting real nice and warm again.
After I made lunch with bacon and eggs, we cleaned the cockpit and reorganized the mess in the saloon. It sure makes a difference sailing with 5 crew instead of 4, clothwise :-)

We also decided to tag and steer East for a day or so. Hopefully the wind will back as shown on the gribfiles before we hot Spain..

Anyway making use of this beautiful day it also was time for a real fresh ocean shower !!

July 25th, position 41°24.781N; 27°13.193W

Monday morning I took Rutger and Eline to the airport. Eline especially didn't want to leave, more then once she asked if I couldn't change her flight for the next week :-) But then again she didn't feel in joining us for the long sail home, so she left..
On my way back I picked up my gennaker which was perfectly fixed and went back to the marina where I found Marc in a very pissed of state. He had been trying to find out what happened to the life raft we had ordered. That should have been delivered by now. He  spend quite some time at the phone and finally with the help of the harbor master it was clear that it would be delivered that day at 5 pm....

Anyway Marc and I went to the supermarket and again managed to fill 7 big trolleys with stuff. They had a great service in bringing the stuff right away in a small van. Again we managed to stow everything in a reasonable place sort of... :-)

We had a nice farewell dinner at Internacional and after finishing our painting for good winds and a safe trip we set sail at around 10.30 pm.
It was a real nice and smooth start, sailing to Sao Jorge and after that into the Atlantic. Next day however the wind picked up and it became more of a challenge to steer the boat on a straight course. Sailing down wind with 4 to 5 meter waves is not particularly the easiest course to get used to the boat. So Marc and I did the most part of steering until the next day.  Then the wind had dropped and on a beam reach it was a bit more comfortable.
Speed was great though and after the wind veered to the East were could sail a course pointing straight to Scheveningen .
But if there's one thing for sure at these latitudes... it never stays the same for longer times .
Today we sailed with all full sails, including the staysail and some time later double reefed....
But that's good for getting to know the boat and the rigging of all the lines :-)
Anyway, so far everything is okay and we are starting to pick up the routine of doing watches, cooking and cleaning.. and, most important we all enjoy it very much

July 22nd , Horta Faial,

An hour or so when we came back at Horta again Marc arrived at the airport right on time. We had dinner at Perter's which took a while... they could have some more people working there..

Anyway, next morning we wanted to sail to Lajes on the Island of Pico.. we did just after lunch when it stopped raining..

We had a nice sail and... again saw some some whales :-)

The marina was a bit tiny and when we moored between two other boats... the difference in size did matter.. we were way too big to stay there and moved to a pontoon just outside the marina.

Lajes is a nice but very small village. However it has some very nice places to have dinner and a nice place to have a drink afterwards.

Next day we did a number of jobs on the boat like changing the broken tricolor. Anyway, I spend about 4 hrs up in the mast while Marc and Rutger did some other jobs and Eline cleaned out her cabin...

Just before dinner we booked a swimming with dolphins trip for the next morning. The dream of Eline !! So we didn't stay up too late because we had to be there before 9 am.

The trip turned out to be a combined trip, swimming with dolphins and whale watching, with a whole group on a power dinghy.

It was a close to perfect trip.. we did see at least 6 whales, three of them in a group and a whole pack of striped dolphins. They are really funny, they like to jump real high out of the water and wiggle their tales but they usually don't stay with the boat and were not the right group to swim with.

A bit later we found a good group and Eline and Rutger went into the water. They really enjoyed very much. Only two at the time are allowed in the water so when they came back Marc and I were getting ready to jump in.

Just before I did however, I got this jellyfish on my foot, a Portuguese Warship. That hurts like hell I can say now.... Holy F.. Half my foot was covered and in trying to get the shit off I got it on my hands and leg too... It's sort of a sticking mess that doesn't come off that easy...

Marc was lucky, he was wearing flippers and didn't get any of the shit on his foot or leg.

The thing to do then is to put vinegar on it but they didn't had any. So the trip was over and we raced back to the marina. It was only 15 minutes before we would go anyway so we didn't miss that much.

It took us 15 burning minutes to get back where there was someone waiting with vinegar. I ended up for a check in the hospital but it was all okay..
They told me to just put some cream on it and take a painkiller, both of which I have on the boat and they told me that those probably would be better then the stuff they had.

So I did and we left for Horta where Willem Jelle, Monique and Jantine were waiting for us.

Tonight we all gonna have dinner and tomorrow Rutger and Eline will fly home again.

Then, when we have got all the stuff from the supermarket, we're ready to set sail for Scheveningen :-)

July 19th, position 38º 24,051 N; 28º 24,207W, South of Pico, Azores

Angra do Heroismo is the town were the marina is on Terceira. It's much more a town then Horta and Eline finally got to go out shopping :-) She and Rutger went to explore the town while I took a nap. They were gone for hours and came back loaded with bags..

Rutger wanted to buy some new jeans and Eline helped him together with the lady from the shop. Ha, they made him try on a load of stuff and combined all kind of shirts.. in the end Eline of course also had seen a nice shirt, a dress and the pair of shoes she was looking for for so long...

Anyway, since I wasn't there... it was Rutger who paid for her stuff as well, ha!

That night we had diner at a nice restaurant near the harbor and went for a coffee to the main square It's a real nice and pretty place and a very good marina. After coffee I went back to the boat while Rutger and Eline stayed a bit.

Next morning at around 5.30 I woke up... just in time to see Eline get undressed and go to bed... :-)

They had asked the waitress if she would know a place to go out. She did actually but that was in another town but if they wanted they could join her and a her girlfriend... they wanted to go out too after work.. Of course Rutger and Eline didn't mind to wait a bit... but after work was around 2.30 pm...

Anyway they went to different places ending up at the beach close by the marina and stayed there till sunset :-) They had a great time!

'Next' day we would leave for Horta but not before midnight since Eline very much wanted to sail at night. So we spent the afternoon at the beach, relaxing.. which was in fact our first day at a beach.

Too bad I only had two decent beach towels, meaning I was on the tiniest towel you can think off, lying in the sand for the most part :-(

The water was a bit colder then in the Caribbean let's say very refreshing. Still it was very nice swimming there. It's surprising how little tourists there were, I think we were sort of the only ones while the beach was packed...

That night we would sail around midnight to the South-East point of Pico and then go West along the coast back to Horta, Faial. It would take us most of the night to get down to Pico, getting there early in the morning, the best time and place for that matter, to see whales.

Of course Rutger and Eline had to say goodby to there new friends before leaving, meaning I had the first watch :-o

Eline stayed on deck too though and she was very excited about the night scene. It was a perfect clear night with mare stars she had ever seen. Already in the first half hour she saw 4 shooting stars.. leaving her without wishes :-)

Later that night we were welcomed by some 10 dolphins. This was her first time to see dolphins in the wild and she couldn't stop telling how COOL is was :-)

They stayed with us for at least 15 minutes. Then when they were gone... Eline was too. very tiered and she went to bed. So did I :-)

On my second watch I too saw something new for me: Venus and Jupiter so extremely bright... it was amazing !! Later I woke Eline to watch the sunrise which was beautiful too. At home we of course never get to see the sunset at the beach :-o

After we rounded the SE end of Pico we saw the little boats that take people for whale and dolphin watching so we altered our course a bit. And then suddenly there was this big whale very close by the boat. Just long enough to see it and realize what we saw and then it was gone again. Getting closer to the other boats we saw several more, just relaxing cruising around for a while before disappearing again into the deep. We also got to see lots of dolphins, little ones that really jump out of the water and bigger ones that just swam along side.

In all it was a exciting trip under perfect conditions except for the wind which wasn't there..but who cares, we didn't :-)

July 16th , Porta de Santo Antonio, Terceira, Azores

Last night we arrived at Terceira after a superb day of sailing. Great weather, gentle breeze, no swell..we sailed close hauled for the fist leg to the East end of Sao Jorge and then beam reach to Terceire. Of course we got the gennaker out as well :-)

We arrived at around 9 pm and were welcomed by the marina staff that helped us getting in a berth.

They are all so very friendly here!!

The day before we left Sao Jorge we did a great hike. There are a lot of trails set out and the one we did was from the mountain down to the North coast. The view was amazing and half the Island is covered by Hortensias. We crossed some streams and went down to a beautiful waterfall.

It took us about 4 hrs to walk to the place were the taxi picked us up again.

Then the driver told us about the bull fighting that they had in the other village and he drove us there. They have bull fights all the time, every Sunday at least. It's not really a fight and they don't kill the bull. They let a bull out and the 'brave ones' tease him until he charges and they run away..

The bull is tied onto a rope that's hold by a bunch of guys to keep some control..

Anyway this time the arena was the parking lot. The bull had no grip at all on the concrete and slipped the whole time.. That made it a pathetic spectacle and especially Eline got very upset and angry. I didn't like it either, so we left pretty quick again.

Normally they do this on a field or in the streets, like here in Terceira. Everytime you here a canon, it means a bull is out in the streets and here that's pretty much the whole time, even at 8 am this morning :-o

Anyway, today we'll explore the village a bit and check on what we want to do tomorrow.

July 13th Velas, Sao Jorge, Azores

Today we sailed to Velas on Sao Jorge, a trip of 35 Nm.

For some reason I woke up later then usual and the weather wasn't that nice. However when we left Horta at around 10:30 the sun was out again and we had a nice breeze.

After an hour or so the wind dropped and when we were down to 2 kts we had to start the engine. Not for long though, an hour later the wind picked up again :-)

By the time we got to Sao Jorge the weather had changed again. Dark thick clouds and visibility had dropped so much that we couldn't see the Island. Only when we we less the 2 Nm from the rocks we could see the Island.

Velas has a vary small marina with even smell berths. The harbor master was very friendly and very helpful but the birth he showed me was not wide enough.. We tried but we just didn't fit....

Anyway we ended up alongside a 55 ft Swan :-)

In all the people over here are very friendly indeed and it's a real pleasure to visit these Islands

They are all different but very beautiful...

Anyway, after I had checked in the clouds were mostly gone and the sun was shining again.

We walked around a bit and when I got back to the boat, Rutger and Eline went over to the supermarket to get the onions we forgot yesterday. They came back all excited... and called me to come on deck. It was amazing, a rainbow so close that the boat seemed just under it...

If the weather is good tomorrow, we plan to do the most famous hike on the Island. Then on Sunday we'll leave for Terceira

Horta July 12th

Titel July 11th Back in Horta, Azores

Last night we arrived in Horta again. The flight was ok but it still took us a whole day. Especially Eline didn't enjoy it very much, she doesn't like flying, too boring and too much waiting.

It turned out to be a real disaster for her... when we finally arrived, her suitcase was missing..

For a 17 year old.. that's about the worst thing that can happen. On top of that, the weather was not as good as in the brochure :-o

It took her some time but in the end she was okay[ish] again.

We had dinner at Internacional and that was real good. Afterwards Rutger and Eline went for a walk and we had another drink before going to bed.

This morning the weather was really fine and sunny. First thing we did after breakfast was go get some stuff for Eline and when she found a nice dress she was happy again. Then we had some things to do on the boat. Rutger had already done most of the cleaning when I was shopping with Eline. Then the bilge pump turned out dead .. it's not even a year old. Anyway we fixed it, replaced the also diseased inverter for a new one. I also had ordered a new unit for the fuel inlet since the cap went overboard mid Atlantic. Rutger tried the cap first and we were very lucky: it fitted, so we didn't have to replace the whole unit :-)

This afternoon we found a nice spot to put our painting and did some preparations in making it nice and white. Tomorrow we'll try and finish it.

Jean Pierre, who looked after the boat, told me that Teceira would be a nice island to visit. There's a lot going around, so he says. It's only a 12 hr sail so it's worth going there and if we're lucky we'll see some whales on the way.

Anyway that will be the plan for Friday, tomorrow we'll explore Faial.

In the mean time, I hope very much Eline's suitcase will turn up. Usually it does the next day they told us. We'll know in an hour or so... fingers crossed.