Guest blog 3

Heerenxvii
Wed 11 Aug 2010 06:50
43:00N 06:15E
H.
11 August. Our shift starts at 11pm and finishes at 3am. The first hour is a piece of cake. Calm sea and no wind. The second hour more sea and more waves. The 3rd hour it starts to be 'serious': big waves are hammering the boat, and the bow of the boat, that's where A and G are trying to get some sleep, is going up and down significantly, and sometimes the boat really hits the waves with a big slam. During our last hour, there is even much more wind and bigger waves. We think that A and G will be lifted of their bed, each time we slam the waves, with such a power, that they hit the ceiling!

We change course to prevent further damage to the ceiling as well as A and G. But this means that we will make a longer route, and that means of course that we will use more fuel...

It's 3am and our shift ends, now we can have some rest. A is looking on the equipment, in order to find the closest fuel station ashore. A bit later, apparently we fell asleep, because it was 7am when the alarm clock woke us.

It was nice smooth weather, and we saw the French coast. But, how many more miles by engine, and do we still have enough fuel?

At 7.50, we moored at a gas station waiting for it to open. As sponge, the boat sucked up hundreds of liters, even gallons, of diesel/gazole. Who said we took a risk with the fuel? Of course we had no problem with the fuel; we never had.....(?)