Yesterday started exciting. After dodging several squalls finally a big one came upon us. Tacking strongly to port we managed to clear him. Just! Within 100 metres to starboard a pandemonium broke loose with a torrential downpour. And we were sitting prime seats watching it in a lovely sunshine.

Afternoon the squalls disappeared and they haven’t come back yet. The sea was settling down nicely and the movement of the boat became more and more relaxed except for the occasional slam of the Genoa in a combination of little wind and big wave.

At night the moon rose through the clouds. Its reflection looked like a giant slithering snake chasing our wake caused by the long ocean swell. We were treated with enough wind to keep sailing. And under a shower of shooting stars we managed to keep a decent speed.

In the morning the wind gave way and after some struggle we hoisted our Genaker and put the Genoa1 to wind. That took some creativity since our Spinnaker Lift block was snapped long ago and we were using our Spinnaker hoist for our Genoa. Luckily I rigged an extra Spinnaker hoist in Spain but since I have to work it on the mast without the help of a winch it took some muscles. At least we still maintaining approx. 5.5 knots of speed in very light winds.

During the week before we left, Alec had a week off from school. We were just  too busy getting ready and it was so much fun for Alec to be able to play with all the kids. During the ocean passage Isabelle and Alec have been able to make good this extra week off and are now right on schedule. That means they finished week 17 yesterday and today Alec has his exam. In Holland it’s called a ¨CITO Toets¨. The results will be the basis of his half year report card and an evaluation by the Wereld School (Alec’s internet school). We will post the results as soon as we have them! To be continued.