Left ”Sixth Haven” marina in rain but calm winds.Passed the ”Nordzeecanal” out to Ijmuiden,where we decided to take a berth a couple of hours,to better catch the tide,once turning into the bay of Antwerpen.Berthed alongside,and neighbour to a fantastic Swedish yacht of 120 feet( Maria af Dalarö).Coffee ashore and 2 hours of sleep.Left Ijmuiden in increasing winds, force 6 (12-14 m/s),just before dawn.Once out in the North sea we encountered quite heavy seas,and wind from astern.This forced us to reduce mainsail,and set a preventer+spincreboom for the gib.For the first time,we could test our new windvane/Monitor,and it proved to work very well,also in heavy seas and wind from astern.The night passed with heavy traffic(especially outside Rotterdam),and some incidents(nothing serious)with ships coming close.The speed was incredibly 8-10 knots over ground,a combination of tidal streams with us,and force 6 from astern.

Early morning September 27,we reached Vlissingen and came into leeward from wind and sea.Anton who slept all night because of a persistent cold,felt better in the morning and took over.Tell and I went to sleep ,and woke up close to Linkeroever Marina in Antwerpen,just in perfect time for the tide and opening of the tidal locks into the marina.At 1600 hrs we were berthed alongside in the marina,and the whiskey that followed was one of the better.Dinner and beer in the city,and the day after was spent cleaning,trying to repair the LCD –screen in the cockpit(by changing whole cable),and preparing Tarita for 3 months berthing.Tell and I leave with the train for Amsterdam tomorrow,and further with airplane to Stockholm.Anton remains onboard a couple of days.

Tarita will await further transport in the beginning of January,to Curacao(Seven Star Ocean Yacht Transport),and then hopefully proceed to our planned adventure in the South Pacific.See you then !!