Days 4 and 5
Avventura
Marco Versari
Sat 16 Sep 2023 14:41
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16.09.2023, 14:40 UTC 36:27.002N, 13:30.474W Day 4
The last night has been a bit more interesting than the previous one. The wind increased up to 15-18knots, which gave us quite some action flying the gennaker at night. The crew is so well working together that it was delivering even during some challenging gennaker retreiving when the wind was picking even further through some squally time. During the day the wind went up to 5-6 Bf, so good time to fly the gennaker only during the day, but with much fun surfing through the waves that have grown over the meter of height. We are blessed again with sun (in between some small showers - that always only Philipp and Alessandra catch in their shift). During the day we were occupied with sleeping and active sailing, that we skipped cooking at lunch and just enjoyed some sandwiches. In the evening Philipp took the challenge to cook in wavy conditions and he didnt go the easy road. A big pot of pasta was balancing on the stove for some time. It was delicious as always, but the pesto sauce "Panzani", bought in the carribeam kept our digestion busy for some time. We are enjoying a lot the active sailing. Especilly the novices on board gain some valuable practice. The fifth day is looking a very social! It seems we have entered the main route towards protuguese mainland. At night we were crossed and overtaken by some big ships. At 4.00 UTC in the morning there was a huge cargo boat half a mile from us, Julia who was on night shift took the liberty to call them over radio to ensure that we will have a safe crossing. The responder on the ship was so nice to change his course, that we didn't have to change ours. The actual wind (still 5-6 Bf) and waves (ca. 2m or more, with a long period) are a bit more challenging for Alessandra and Corinne, but the measures taken from the beginning are working quite well and everybody on board is healthy and happy. In the mroning hours the sky started to clear again and we were having a nice lunch out in the sun again. Right after lunch Julia descovered a boat on the AIS which Marco recognized immediately - Pan Duick IV of the well known and remembered Eric Tabarly! A famous french sailor who was a pioneer in ocean distance sailing. Excited by this discovery we took the chance to call out over the radio. On the other hand of the communication, it seems that his daughter was happy to hear our excitement about crossing this legendary boat. She is currently racing in the Ocean Globe Race (OGR 2023/2024).... A race in which they are sailing around the world with technology from the seventies. Which means they don't have GPS and AIS receiver we are using. She was therefore also happy receiving her exact GPS location over the radio before continuing her journey. Of course, short after, another boat (Spirit of Helsinki) in the same race called us on the radio to ask if we can help them as well with their GPS location. We gladly did that. Besides pleasant sailing, without gennaker because we reached about 25 knots now (had some 30 over night) and sitting outside in the sun, talking to the boat of a legend was surely the highlight of today. |