At Marigot Bay St. Lucia

Marigot Bay St. Lucia

After 3 night at Barbados, we sail out at 4pm after clearing out from custom Barbados.

The distance to St. Lucia is about 120 sea miles, so one night sailing, and arriving Marigot Bay

at 1pm next day.

What a fantastic place. I real sea pirate hurricane hole. My friend Calle has a friend from Hemsedal

montain in Norway. His name is Truls Berg and lives half of the year here.

He had promised me a berth at the Chateau Mygo bridge. So here we are with the boat stern in

to the restaurant 2 meter away from the seat I am sitting in at the restaurant.

Luxurious.

We will stay here for new year party, and leave for St. Vincent and the Grenadines Jan 1st. at sunset.

From Barbados Caribbean

We landed at Barbados Wednesday 22nd. after 16 days over the Atlantic from Cabo Verde.

The crossing went good, even with some abnormal heavy sea for the season. The only damages done was splitting the Genaker ( spinaker sail) into peaces on a night with 25 knots wind. I think it can be repaired.

Thanks to Kjell Arne who has updated the blog while we were crossing.

Also thank to Charles on board, who has been documented almost everything that has happen on board during the crossing. I will copy his dairy to the blog now.

I have a couple pictures from the crossing also.

 Myself steering in heavy sea but warm weather.

 Christian steering same day.

Here are the documentary from Charles.

Mindelo, Sao Vicente / Cabo Verde to Bridgetown, Barbados

Watches:

                        12-15  Fränzi & Charles

                        15-18 Bent & Christian

                        18-21 Jonas

                        21-24 Fränzi & Charles and so on

The coordinates are Noon observations

06.12.10  16 53 N 24 59 W Exit

07.12.10 16 10 N 25 44 W   Black men’s revenge

Already yesterday the diesel made funny sounds. Today he finished sputtering! Jonas voted for “return back to Mindelo” and Fränzi saw us already drifting into nowhere. We need the “Yanmar” urgently, as he is our only meaning for charging the batteries, and without electricity no fridge (cold beer), no autopilot (very handy) and last but not least no navigation instruments!  But Bent said: “Let’s see, we got the technology!” As we all knew, Bent is not stressed that easy. So: Port cabin (ours) that has also fuel tank, water separator and so on cleaned out, tools prepared, and here we (better he) goes. We did want to fill diesel and water, but not that way. The whole fuel system was full of water and dirt!! So clean everything and get the air out. Better but not well. There must be air sucked in the system somewhere. After a long search the waterseperator was found guilty. Get him out cleaned and reinstalled. After several attempts, including private stuff and bed in and out the cabin we decided to have the thing checked on land. The separator was bypassed and the cabin rearranged. The “Yanmar” runs again as smooth as a sewing machine and there is no diesel smell in our bedroom!!!

08.12.10 15 17 N 26 38 W  Westward

Juan, who left with us in his small catamaran told us by “Iridium” (White man has powerful magic!) that where he was, further in the north and to the west  the winds were favorable. Therefore we turned to the Barbados. The winds are WNW and constant. Almost ideal. 

This night  Bent had a “near miss”.  A fishing vessel towed a net and (unlighted) buoys and steered rather erratic. We missed one of the buoys by a few meters and ended almost as “Caned tuna!” Further more there was not much to observe. Some flying fish, some of them visited us on board, shooting stars, here and there an airplane and lots and lots of horizon. No dolphins or whales. Never the less something must pass underneath us, as the depthmeter shows in a 5000 m deep ocean often 2 m or so. Submarines???  

09.12.10 15 07 N 28 46 W Salted Meat

For dinner Chris our shipscook had planed rice with fresh vegetables and 

Peaces of ham. The vegetables were super, the rice missed a little salt, but oh shit, the ham was salted to conserve it and uneatable. The rest of the ham we put in water and left it there for 24 h. Now it tastes like normal ham. 

Finally we got the longed for wind, 9 m/s to 15 m/s. In addition there is a 7 m swell and 3 m waves out of different directions. Cross seas!!  If you get them right you can surf them. If not (what happens to me a lot), the boat heeles over as hell!! When the wave brakes just before she meets the boat, we and the boat get a decent shower. No tragedy, the  water is 31 C!

11.12.10    14 57 N 33 58 W  Bathroom

As we only have 400 L freshwater in the tank, the bathroom is the stern platform. To fill the bucket at 8 knt and not go over board (the platform is well under the soap) is tricky. Further nothing exciting.  Cross seas!! Today we reduced Juans advance to 30 NM. Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner and as dessert Dolphins visited us again.

12.12.10 14.46 N 36 40 W  Plotter Breakdown

Yesterday the Plotter went in!! Bent has a program in his computer, but the later is not waterproof! He is on the chart table (where our days rarely lie charts) and not in the cockpit. This morning Bent took the plotter apart, cleaned all the contacts, did some wizard tricks reassembled it and we have a working Plotter again in the cockpit. The thing that Bent can not fix needs to be invented fist!

The line of the 2. reef is frayed. I spliced a replacement in the old one and we threaded it

through sail and boom and back to the cockpit. That was the plan, but it turned out a bit to short. So back to “Start”. With 3 m waves we needed a good hold and safety lines. Never the less an interesting exercise.

To crown the day Juan of the “NICORA II” told us on VHF that he was only 5 NM to the south. We changed course and met him in the “middle of nowhere”. A pretty small boat for Juan (Catalan), Hilde (Norwegian) and Nana (English Fox terrier)

Joan and Hilde at Necora II which I get to know at Lanzarote in October.

Here one week after departure from Cabo Verde we found them again

in the middle of the Atlantic.

13.10.12 14 57 N 33 58 W  Make and mend day

In the Morning we did run into a decent squall. Bent and Christian on watch profited for a sweetwater shower. All the others slept through it. A lot on ZEPHYR repaired and cleaned.

5 -10 m/s wind, good speed. Rolled in the front sail to give NICORA II a chance to catch up with us. In the evening they were still 12 nm west and 3 south of us. Hilde, having very little  sailing experience, feels safer with a boat nearby. For all of us it is nice to know another boat in the vicinity, in the case we get attacked by a container. With 8 of us (+1 .a dog) NICORA II would be pretty crowded, being overloaded already

14.12.10 14 20 N 40 56 W  Good deal!

We turned the ships watch back one more hour as we are pretty much in the middle of our Atlantic crossing.” Bucket over board” maneuver. In the process of getting water for the dishes, we lost a bucket, but saved him by lashing.” Bucket over board” maneuver“. NICORA did finally catch up with us and we traded salted pork and some sausages for Dorado they catched. What a deal! It was the best onboard menu so far.

  

15.12.10 14 05 N 42 59 W  Our Dorado

His morning we had a Big fish on the hook. Unfortunately the line was to weak and he

escaped with the bait. The weak line was changed for a serious one, and : next try. While

Christian was preparing yesterdays Dorado, we got another one on the hook. Ca. 70 cm und

3 kg. The Dorado was sent into a better world by a portion „Kosnerkova“ (60% Vodka), in his

gills!

My first Dorado ever.  Fantastic good.

16.12.10 13 53 N 45 23 W  Cruising

Diner:  Dorado on peppersauce. NICORA did fort the first time not roll in the foresail for the night. So we could follow here with half Genoa and had not to wait for here till noon with rolled in foresail. Furthermore live goes on his regular path. 

17.12.10 13.39 N 47 41 W  Goodbye Genaker

This morning we had a fish on the hook, but again to big. He destroyed the swivel and went of. Bent put on a 45 kg line and a serious bait. Now we are fishing for Tuna or Marlin!!!

The NICORA got all here sails out ant took of to the horizon. A while later we  set the Genaker and took on the chase. Very slowly we got nearer. In  the afternoon we profited from the moderate Atlantic swell ( ca. 3 m) and filled more water from the 5 l bottles into the handier 1.5 l ones.

At night the Genaker responded violently to any lack of concentration. A little to high in the wind and he started flapping as hell. If we were hit by a bigger than average wave, and not on our toes, the boat turned upwind in spite of full contrary rudder.  We figured a touch to much to the lee would be the safe side. At  the beginning of my watch I interpreted the “touch” a bit to generous (I was also putting the safety line at another strongpoint) and put a serious twist in it. Everybody on deck and we got the Genaker flying again. Later on, due to a serious swell and the boat luving up, the Genaker tore himself to peaces. Luckily I was not on the wheel.

18.12.10 13 29 N 50 26 W  Food & Drink

This Morning another fish escaped. The stronger line was attached to the weaker one. The clutch did not withstand the pull of the fish and the weaker one broke. Our equipment and we are not „Atlantic fishing“compatible! But we do not give up.

For Breakfast there is something eggy like omelets, scrambled and so on. Lunch is „tapas like“and diner is spaghetti, mashed potatoes, ravioli, rice  the desalted ham or sausages. There are still some fresh vegetables left!

But today a serious matter occurred! The beer level is low. So the captain rationed the beer to 3 cans a day a person. And three more days to go!! That is grimm. There is still plenty wine left. The red is not a “Chateau Margaux” but drinkable if you are real desperate. CarlosIII, Johny Walker and Gordons Dry is enough.

19.12.10 13 17 N 52 53 W  Surgery

Another big fish on the hook again. But once more the brake of the wheel was to weak. So Bent decided to take the line around a winch. A big wave threw him over to the Port steering wheel. He did hit his hip, but worse he was bleeding strong from a scalp wound. It  looked serious  So we went for Per Olav’s Emergency kit. Before leaving Frederikstad  Per Olav did teach him how to sew. Bent gave me a brief outline  how to stitch and how to tie the knots. The knot I knew (Riggers call it a “Surgeons knot“of course) but not how to do it quickly with a hemostat and pincers. Now I knew. We started cleaning, disinfecting and shaving. When all the blood was gone the wound turned out to be not so big and we decided that sewing by a “Baby Surgeon” would not improve the situation. So we decided to put only on some 

  antiseptic paste a band aid and a Bandana. I war relived that I can restrict myself to sewing parachutes!!!

PS 5 m behind the boat the Dorado tore the bait of the line. That after a 30 min fight with the beast. Fuc… fish.

Not as bad as it looks. And no sawing nessesary.

20.12.10 13 10 N 55 29 W  Calming monotone

Today we set the watches back one hour: Barbados time. The Last Dorado escaped with our last octopus bait. Chris made of his “Helly Hansen” a new one. Until the evening no fish trapped in the fake. Juan on the contrary had a Barracuda. Hilde cleaned it and we traded a big peace against a pack of ray bred. To get the boats together we made a 360 and caught our own fishing line. Finally we had the boats niche parallel with 2 m distance, as last time. The trade by throwing the goods was uneventful!

 

Cutting                                                            Finished Bait

21.12.40 13 05 N 57 36 W Finally Sailing

Tonight was Full moon and a total eclipse! In the morning the longed for squall came and all stood in the cockpit and enjoyed the Sweetwater shower. The swell is much less and finally we do not have to wait for NICORA with 2 reefs and no foresail. In the afternoon the wind calmed down more and more and we did spinnaker for a while. But now it is motoring until the winds should pick up in the morning again. Tonight, during our 3-6 shift we expect to see the first Lights of the Barbados.

22.12.40 13 05 N 59 58 W   Landfall

Landed at the cruising terminal Barbados to check in with imigration, custom and harbour offices.

Celebrating the successful crossing of the Atlantic.

This Morning at 06:00 Christian saw land. I expected some kind of mountain or at lest hill, but Barbados is flat as a pancake. We switched on the FM and were soaked in mit „Rudolph the red nose Reindeer“in all styles and Variations. Chrismasterror has us back!! The whole Night and most of the day: engine. We arrived at Bridgetown at 15:30 (local). After a long search in the harbor we localized the emigration, and bent cleared us in. The harbor is full of cruise ships. In the Dark we urgently had to assembled the rubber dingy, as the city waited to be explored. Before we went to town Bent opened a bottle of “Moet & Chandon to celebrate the Atlantic crossing.

 

                                           

Compartment for 2 ready until 16. January from Barbados!

An ever increasing speed for Zephyr! They have been doing 161, 140 and 153 Nm every 24 hours lately with nice wind, and with the main sail lowered to second reef.  The wind is now from East blowing straight toward their destination Barbados.
Todays wind chart is showing the prediction for the day they will arrive at Barbados:

Situation at little Christmas when Zephyr may arrive

Actually, I've noticed that the wind will decrease quite a lot on the last 24-48 hours, so I would not be surprised if they need even a day more...
Anyway - the first one or two persons eager to make a marvelous Holiday in a Sun Odyssey 42 (Zephyr) with Bent and friends, starting from Barbados on Christmas (or later) until around middle of January can make a (max 160 character) note, and add your phone number, to 881631677571 at http://messaging.iridium.com/
Sun, sand and fun!
;-D

785 Nm left to Barbados - 26 December?

On Wednesday evening, I've got a new message from Bent on the exclusive Iridium satellite telephone brought by Jonas with the following message:

"Our position is now 14.04N, 43.20W heading West and we got approximately 8 days left. We're having a great time - the sun is shining and the waves are 4 to 5 meters. The ocean temperature is 32 degree and the boat speed between 6.5 and 7 knots. We're having a Norwegian catamaran behind us handled by a lady named Hilde."

Either I heard wrong or the thermometer is wrong, because the meteogram (which you may study when clicking a bigger picture) are telling usually around 26 degree Celsius:

Current position (Thursday 16/12-10 evening) at the big red dot

I've both been googling and also asked my Norwegian sailing friend Ole-Petter (sailing a Dragonfly 920 Extreme himself) if he knew this lady with the catamaran? I haven't figured out anything yet - so if anyone knows  - please let us know in the comments field below!

I've noticed that the average speed since the last actual position which I've got 6 days and 5 hours ago, have been 3,72 knots.  If we assume this speed for the rest of the journey, we should expect 11 and not 8 days, and arrival somewhere around 26. December at Barbados.  Start your own guessing folks! :-)

Anyway, they have "only" something around 785 Nm left after finishing more than 1200 Nm.

Almost halfway across the Atlantic!

On Friday 10 December at 14:04 (GMT+1) Bent made a short message on my phone with this report:
"This is Bent, I'm calling from the Atlantic Ocean. The position is 14.58 North 33.52 West. We're sailing straight west, 270 degrees. We're having a great time, the sun is shining, running wind and its up to 12-14 ms wind speed. We expect to be in Barbados around 21. December"

I'm sorry Bent - it took me more than 24 hours to detect your message - I'll do better next time. The message I've sent Saturday evening back on their Iridium satellite phone was:
"Same nice wind next 10 days. Tir-Ons bare 5 ms. Skal sende oppdatering oftere. Neste tlf fra deg, bare si pos.Tror Man 13 17N 40 15W"

The weather on their position on this Sunday will still be very nice:

Click picture for full size

As I've said in the heading: Zephyr is now almost half way from Cape Verde to Barbados. I've estimated that they might cross the 50% distance some time between Monday 13 and Tuesday 14 of December.  It is really reassuring to see the that the weather forecasts for the next week and all of the area around Zephyr, will be nice and stable with wind from the right direction:

Status at Noon on Monday 13 (click for full size)

The average speed so far has been close to 5,5 knots which is quite good. Stay tuned everybody - there will be more to come the coming days!

Finally leaving Cape Verde

Last day at Mindelo Sao Vincente Cape Verde

Today I cleared out of imigration and the Policia Maritime, so we are now getting ready to go.

The weather is little wind for today and tomorrow, but then it will be about 10 m/s from east.

That is the forcast for the next week. After that we don't know, but we will get some update on the

satelite phone on the way.

Cape Verde has been a experience in many ways. Most of it positve, but also some bad.

Jonas was robbed one night, were he lost his creditcards. The police know the name and adress of the bandito, but

they havnt found him yet. Well, the cards are blocked.

The food was nothing extra,(but Charles and Franzi found a good restaurant with the local fish)  the local music was good. They are famouse for the melancolic

sad songs, but they also have some happy music. A mixture of Brasilian, Portogues and African.

Zephyr at the harbour at Mindelo

 

The local musicians at Club Nautico

The local fish at a nice restaurant.

You can send mail to us at sea, or even call.

To  send a email, you go into :  http://www.iridium.com/

On the top of the page it says: SEND

You fill out our number:  +881631677571

and write someting smal ( max 20 letters) without any attatchment. We will get it as an SMS.

Well, it's time for the last shower in 2-3 weeks, or 2010 sea miles to Barbados. Were we might

have a stop since it is the first island we meet.

I will update the blog there.    Ship Ohoj

Cape Verde

Cape Verde we are.

Well, we had to make a pit stop her at Sao Vincente Cape Verde because of the storm that had to pass by from west. Since we arrive here Moday morning, we have been watching the weather forcast. It's been no wind at all for the nexts days, so we want leave before Monday Nov. 6th. Then the passate wind should be back to normal from east. In the mean time we are enjoing Cape Verde. Sorry to say, but Calle is flying home to Norway tomorrow, because his wife Lill is  sick. Hope the best for her.

Her are some pictures from the way from Puerto Rico to here.

Swimming in 30 degress in the middle of Atlantic

Before leaving Puerto Rico I was checking out the mast and also changing the tricolore light on the top to a LED light.

The weather has been very calm from Grand Canary to here, so we have been about 100 hours on motor.

I give some pictures from the way.

Had to fix the port rudder, after it didn't respond anymore.

At the local market at Mindelo

Nice days in the Atlantic ocean

Fixing the port steering wheel.

Estimated position on Saturday 27. nov 2010

I'm trying an updated estimate of the position for Bent and his crew on Zephyr today on Saturday, after 4 days at sea.  I've noticed that my GRIB-files (from the weather meteorologists) told that the wind died on them on Thursday then changing to a weak wind straight ahead.  If they have been using an average speed on 4 knots night and day since start from Poerto Rico - they should now be half way to Cape Verde.

I'll estimate current position at end of the white line

The low pressure (marked with "o o" on the map) will move during this Saturday NE and cross Zephyr today so our friends will suddenly loose the westward wind which will change to east during Saturday evening.
As shown in the Meteogram below, they're having 23 degree Celsius, no rain but mostly clouded and little wind - you can see the windshift at 18:00

Meteogram for their current (estimated) position

Estimated position on Wednesday 24. nov 2010

Hello again all friends
Since Bent is offshore sailing again, I'm stepping in for some estimations of how we could guess the progress of Zephyr.  We know they left Poerto Rico not earlier than 9:00 in the morning 23. November, but it is fair to assume they started around noon. With the wind conditions I've seen during the first 24 hours, we should estimate about 100 nm distance at 12:00 on 24. nov 2010.

Approximate position on the end of the thick white line after the first 24 hours

Delayed again

Delayed again.

Well, we were almost ready to sail south. But I had to get up in the mast to change a light bulb.

It took me about one hour, since I had to repair a loos wire.

Ready to leave, we found out that the diesel station was closed 30 minuts ago.

I would not leave without full thanks and jerry canes, so we have to wait for tomorrow

 morning at 8 o'clock when it opens again.

So this is the very last update before Cape Verde. ( If they have internet)

Leaving Puerto Rico Nov. 22nd.

One day late, but leaving now.

Jonas got food poisend two nights ago, so we got him out of the boat and to a hotelroom, sow we wouldn.t get the same ´shit`´ all of us.  Lill, the wife of Calle but two treatments of akupunkture to him ( 12 needels two times) And that really helped him to a quick recovery.

Sow now we are ready to leave.

By the way, you can send e-mail with no atatchments to following e-mail.

calleiridium@gmail.com

Looks like we have to make a stop at Cape Verde, since the wind will turn against us from there to the Caribbean. This because a storm is moving east from the Caribbean towards the Canary Islands. By leaving now, we should make it south of the storm by the time it hits here.

So if they have internet at Cape verde, I will update the bñog there.

Ship Ohoj, here we go.

Sailing with Synnove Per Olav Nina and Finn

Synnöve Per Olav Nina and Finn visiting

They came to Lanzarote to sail with me one week.

We had fantastic weather and a GREAT time together.

The week went very fast, but we got to see alot.

3 night we were at anchor. Had a swim in the afternoon, and of course

a swim as first ting in the morning in light blue crystal clear water.

First day we sailed north to the island north of Lanzarote. Graziosa.

Never got on the island, but anchored in the bay.

Next day we sailed south, and had to stop by Puerto Calero ( were we started) because I

had forgotten my laundrybag at ther laundry room.

Stayed over night and had a great dinner at the Spanish Tapas restaurant.

Next day we sailed south to and island north of Fuerteventura. Lobos.

Anchored again, and had a fantastic dinner made by Synnöve and Nina.

Since they were flying home from Las Palmas early Friday morning, we would

have to be at Grand Canaria somewere Thursday.

Las Palmas I new were closed because of the Atlantic Rally crusing. ARC

This is the 25th. year they have this event sailing from Las Palmas to

St. Lucia Caribbean. 250 ships. They leave same days as me Sunday 21st. Nov.

Well we found one last place to park the boat at Puerto Rico.

On the way from Lobos to Puerto Rico we sailed 28 hours,so we were doing shift during the night.

Nina and Finn was on watch from midnight to 03 morning, and Synnöve and Per Olav from 03 to 06.

They really liked the night sailing. There is uselly a lot of trafic, but there was ony 3-4 big ships.

Per Olav had to turn back of one of them.

Here are some great pictures from the trip.

They all get to take control of the wheel.

Here is Per Olav

And here is Synnöve

And Nina

And Finn

And some happy old school friends

And a great picture of Nina and Finn

After they flew home, ( which they were not happy about)

Charles and Franzi from Switzerland arrived. They are part of the crew

for the Atlantic ocean. And by coinsidence the mother and father of

my old friend Pal 'Polly' Hansen were at Puerto Mogan,

So we had lunch and a drink with them also.

Here is Erin and Per

My sister Grethe and husband Viggo came one week to Puerto Rico to

see me off.

Could not find the picture right now, but it will come later.

We had some good time together, and had some great breakfast - dinner and drinks.



Last night in Europe

Last night in Europe

Sitting in Wig Wam bar Puerto Rico marina updating my blog. It's a bar with all American indians effects.

And we are sailng to the West Indies tomorrow. What a coinsident I thought.

Today we got all the supply onboard. To mention some of it:

300 liter water on bottles, 20 cases of beer, 60 liter wine, 40 liter of juice, 10 liter long lasting milk,

30 kilo of canefood dryed bread, cheese, fres meat for bread, dark fres bread, multi vitamins etc.

Tomorrow we buy the vegetables and fruits etc.

We manages to find room for it all.

We also have 12 20 liter canes of extra diesel for charging batteries.

You can see some of it mid ships red canes.

Just checked the weather forcast for the next 7 days south towards Cape Verde.

We will sail the 700 sea miles straight south, to about 100 mils north of Cape Verde, and then turn

starboard straight west towards St. Lucia and Maragot bay Caribbean.

The blog will probably lay down for the next 3 weeks.

But we do have two satelite telefons onboard, and with internet access, so I might send a

little update from mid Atlantic.  You are also free to call us at number:

00881641470390

It cost us nothing, but you pay about 2,5 USD pr. minut. It will not be on all the time, since we

will save battery. The phone will be on about 1 hour a day.

Have not talked about it yet, but lets say. at 18 oclock UTC ( Greenwich time/ London)

We are all exited about getting started.  You will deffently hear from me when we get there.

Depending on the wind, we could land before December 15th.



Getting ready for the Atlantic ocean

Sorry  for the long time out of the blog. But after one week sailing with Synnove Per Olav Nina and Finn, out of internet,  and arriving Puerto Rico with very poor internet acces, until now. Well we are preparing Zephyr for the crossing. Most done by now, only few things left to do.

I will put pictures in to morrow. I am now on Jonas computer at a coctail bar,  so I have no pictures now.

Everything is good. Look forward for tomorrow



My local pub at Puerto Calero. Mc. Sorley's

This is were I have spent some time while 3 + weeks in the port, with the excellent crew in the

 Irish bar Mc Sorley's.

They also serve fine Irish/English food.

It's been some great times here.

Joe me Cara Nigel and Simon

Missed Simon's daughter, also working here. Frankie

To morrow I will sail by myself to Fuerteventura stay over one night there, before

sailing to Las Palmas Friday morning. Synnove, Per Olav, Nina and Finn will arrive at 19.30

Hope to fine a place to park the boat, or anchor. I am told that the big habour is full of boats

going in the ARC. Atlantic Rally Cruising, which starts with 240 boats Nov. 21st.

Same day as Zephyr is leaving. They are going to St. Lucia Roodney bay.

We are also going to St. Lucia, but another bay called Maragot Bay. Only 7 miles

south of Rooney Bay.  They say that after 2-4 days you don't see any of the other boat most likely.

That's a big ocean.  The plan is to be back here Nov. 11th. with Synnove, Per Olav, Nina and Finn, so they can fly back to Las Palmas for the early morning flight the 12th.
The other chance is that I let them off in Las Palmas, and have to sail alone back to Lanzarote.
If the weather is against me, the crew will have to meet me there.

RC-44 prize cermony

The prize winning cermony

Just want to show some pictures I took during the price cermony, after the last race

on Saturday the 16th. The cermony was fantastic with a big band playing latin american

music. And all the food, and all kind of drinks was for free to all VIP's invited.

And I was lucky to be one of them. The party lasted to 6 in the morning.

A happy Pieter Heerema from Holland is the owner and the helmsman ( skipper)

onboard. The boat name is: No Way Back, and they placed 3.

They were the leading boat for the season, before the race started, after they won the unofficial world championship

in Dubai last December 2009. There will be a all season winner, after the last race which is in

Miami december this year. For the moment they are on the second place overall.
This is very good, since they all are the world first class sailors, with the last American cup winner,
the last olumpic gold winner in 49 class Martin Kirketerp from Denmark ( one the No Way Back team)
The boat Ceeref I was lucky to sail with in two races was captained by Olympic gold winner in STAR 8 in 1982. Rod Davis from Australia. ( This was mentioned for you Charles)

This is Magnus from Norway which is working with team.

He is an experience sailer, and has crossed the Atlantic in 2006

He got the honor of getting the troffy from the orgenizers.

Fishing at Lanzarote

Fishing at Lanzarote

Yesterday I was invited out fishing for Marlin and Tuna together with

Lasse and Magnus from the RC44 world team, No Way Back.

We went out with a British man with name Clive to hunt for the big Marlin and Tuna.

It was a seriouse fishing boat for proff sport fishing. I never seen that big wheels on any fishing pole.

Picture from the 8 meter up steering position.

We had four fishing poles out, and if we catched anything on one of them,

the man in the chair gets to work it in. My time in the chair was 12 minutes before full hour til full hour, because we were 5 people fishing.

The wheel which was 10 years old but cost 3000 euro.

It was some big bites they used, but that didn't help when there was no fish.

Well we had a great day in the sun with plenty to drink.

Later we had a good Indian dinner at one of the many harbor restaurants.

Exploring Lanzarote

Exploring the Lanzarote Island

Yesterday I had the pleasure to go with my friends Lasse's parents on a trip at the Island.

We went to an vulcano were they cook the meat on the top of a lava crater.

The nice restaurant was design by a local artist with name Cesar Manrique.

We also took a buss ride around in the fantastic landscape.

It really impressed me. The vulcano exploded in 1724, and kept trowing out lave for 6 years.

This have made some incredible shapes and colours.

Stick your hand out, and you really feel the heat.

Taken through a buss window, so not very sharp.

Also we went to the house of Cesar Manrique.
It was built on the top of a vulcano 'lave bubble' and into the inside of it.
It was a fantastic design. Check out the window to his back yard.
It looks like the lava is floating in through the window.
And there is a glass in it.

His little swimming pool

One of the many rooms inside the lava

Well, back to the sailing.

I got mail from Per Olav today, and he confirmes that they will land at Las Palmas

November 5th. and leave again the 12th.

together with Synnøve Nina and Finn.

We will sail between the other island like La Gomera, La Palma, Tenneriffe and end up

at Lanzarote the day before my Atlantic crew start arriving Nov. 13th.

That means I have to sail down to Grand Canaria and find a marina or a bay to ancor.

It's about 120 miles, sow I will probably ancor somewere on the way.

But they will need to fly from here to Las Palmas to make the flight back.

It's about 6 flights aday, and they only cost about 34-39 euro.

Just looked at the forcast, and they don't promise any wind before the weekend.

So you will most likly hear from me again before I leave Puerto Calero.