End of the trip and start of a new future :-)

We arrived at Scheveningen Sunday, August 5^th at 7 pm after a long 24 hr motoring from Dover… no wind at all. That wasn’t too bad though. We made well use of the time by collecting all our stuff and cleaning the boat J

It felt a bit weird entering the breakwaters of Scheveningen and calling the harbormaster for clearance to enter the marina after almost a year. It’s been quite a trip and now it was coming to an end for real. No more flying back to where I left the boat for the next leg.. this was it…

A number of friends and family greeted us standing on the quay and that really felt great. Clare, Marc’s wife was there with the kids and she had picked up my mother too. Jantine’s parents and boyfriend were there as well as a couple of friends of Willem Jelle and Monique.

Frits who sailed with me from St Martin to the Azores had come down from Katwijk. Unfortunately, we were too early for Eline to come over all the way from Friesland to join the party.

And very, very special to me Marischka was there to welcome me, together with her daughter Ashley J During my short stay home in between arriving and leaving the Azores we had really met and had stayed in close contact. She and her daughters had lived in my house during my times at sea and on my way back to Scheveningen we had agreed she would stay living with me J So, it was a very special moment for us after four long weeks…

And it still is very special! Starting a new life, finding our way, together with all our kids…

It’s funny if you think of it, Marischka, Ashley and Yentl were all there to say goodbye when we left Scheveningen September last year… It took almost 10.000 Nm to bring us together at the exact spot I left about a year ago.  J

Still, it was worth every single mile and every day. We are very happy and looking forward to a new future together <3

August 4th, position 51°28.497N; 001°55.010E

We just finished dinner and are preparing for our last night at sea. The sail through the Channel was smooth and the weather was superb except for Marc's watch last night. He and Jantine had some serious showers but by the time Monique and I took over the sky was clear again and it stayed clear all day. We passed the cliffs at Beachy Head, like the ones at Dover but more beautiful and sailed all the way up to Dover. Then the wind dropped to practically zip and we had to stat the engine.

From Dover we're motorsailing up NE about 30 Nm or so and then turn East to cross the shipping lanes and head for Westkapelle. From there the route is very familiar...

We now can be sure to arrive Sunday but an accurate ETA is still difficult to give. I don't expect us to get there before dinner though....

I feels a bit weird to know this will be my last night before completing my tour around the Atlantic... Tomorrow I'll be back at Scheveningen where I left September last year.
It was a very eventful an exciting trip.. It changed my life in more then one way and a new future is about to begin... :-)
I'm ready for it and full of energy to make it happen

August 3rd , position 50°01.137N; 003°57.330W

The plan was to point at Brest... well whatever... The wind changed so we gibed and then we were pointing at Lands End :-o
Again it was a very nice and sunny day and on top of that we got visited  by a pack of dolphins... not just once but three times. The last group was really funny. They were doing all kind of tricks jumping out of the water.. it even looked like they were trying to splash Jantine who was watching them on the bow. Later that day we also saw a huge turtle.

Last night we got to see the first sight of land. Not real land yet but the lighthouse of Bishop Rock just South of the Scilly Isles.
From now on we have to be very careful and watch out for other ships. The Sea Me sure helps other  vessels to see us but the AIS that's supposed to give us information about the others does not realy work. It only shows vessels that are very, or better, way too close by. It might be that the antenna is too low to work accurately. Which is a bit strange because the one I had before worked fine with the same antenna.

Anyway, we checked in properly with the Falmouth Coastguard and are now way into the Channel just about South of Dartmouth. The wind has died a bit but is supposed to pick up again later today. The direction is fine though and if it stays this way, it'll bring us all the way to Schevenigen.
We're still hoping to get there by some time Sunday but that's not yet an EDA :-)

August 1st , position 48°13.627N; 009°55.388W

The wind came indeed... By the time we dropped one of the gennoa's, we also furled in the remaining one a bit and put the first reef in the mainsail. 2 Hrs later we put in the second reef then we dropped the main all the way. So no now we were sailing with only half a gennoa and still doing  8.5 kts average. The wind had picked up to 35 kts and the waves grew bigger and bigger. The boat steered very well but it's you get very tired steering. We decided that because of the conditions, Marc and I would steer through the night.
We had some pre made lasagna for dinner but Jantine made a delicious dessert, backed banana with a bit of rum and sugar. That was a treat indeed.
As the night went on the wind dropped a bit but the waves were still pretty high, high enough for Marc to set the speed record at 14.9 kts... with only half a gennoa...
Overall we did about 165 Nm that day and that's a day record too for this trip

At sunrise the waves had decreased also a bit, enough to set the main again double reefed and we pooled out the gennoa. With a Westerly wind, we're now pointing at Brest. The plan is to then sail NorthEast, to the South coast of England, head for Dover and cross the Channel there. By this we can avoid the South West of England where another depression is foretasted to bring a lot of wind.

Well we'll just have to wait and see. In the mean time, it's a very nice and sunny day today and...
we spotted two whales just about a boatlength on our port side :-)
They didn't stay long but still, it's amazing to see those huge creatures that close by.

As a very rough indication, we think we'll reach Scheveningen by Sunday night or Monday morning

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 :-)