Flying Dutchman
s/y Geronimo - Atlantic Crossing Autumn 2011
World Wide Water Events B.V.
Thu 1 Dec 2011 12:35
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Dear all,
We picked up the trade winds two days ago and are
now speading up making at least 200 miles a day and this time in a straight line
towards our target! Well, a straight line is difficult for this crew as
part of us, supervised by Sjors and those feeling young, go for speed and thus
sail more to the wind. Michel and me, go for Caribbean sailing. So on average
a straight line with great sailing for everybody with the
genua poled out during the whole day. Actually, we should increase
speed maximally as Sinterklaas will welcome us on december 5 with no wind
at all east of the Caribbean for a few days thereafter.
Last night we had some wind guts upto 37.5 knots
and making a tremendous speed upto 12,2 knots. We felt like the Flying
Dutchman!(Un-)forfunately we were all in the Caribbean mood so leaving open some
hatches to reduce the high temperatures at night. The first
breaker from aside entered Anders shower, making him clean the aft cabin in
the middle of the night. But how relaxed can one be, stupid me, I still
left my hatch a bit open for the night. After my night shift which ended at
4 o'clock, I fell asleep right away. Suddenly, a second wave hit the boat and
did break right into my face, making me float out my bed. A great way to wake
up. Fortunately, Michel was very persistent in closing the main hatch in the
cabin thereby rescuing Jochem's laptop!
Cheers, Etienne
PS: With just 780 nm to go,
we feel like taking out the fenders already to prepare for mooring. Our
enthusiasm was slighly tempered by a little comparative calculation: that's
about the distance between IJmuiden and the northern coasts of Portugal.
18' 30.50 N
48' 15.03 W
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