• Date: 30 april 2025
• Time: 0800 BT (UTC +2)
• Position: 50 11 6 N 003 17 0 W
• Course: 050 COG
• Speed: 6.8 SOG
• Wind: ENE 3 bft

All sorts of seasons have passed: pineapple, aubergine, green lettuce, the bananas are just gone, but we still have generous breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. Fredrics Magic. The cakes and focaccias are inexhaustible. So is the coffee pot, there really is always good hot coffee. 

The west wind season is also over, the northeast wind season has arrived. That’s exactly where we have to go; so the fat diesel hums along nicely, current against sometimes only 3 to 4 knots, current along more than 7. So there’s not much sailing, a good opportunity to repair the foresail. Floor and Heleen are very skilful at repairing seams with the speedy stitcher, an ingenious hand sewing tool.  Yesterday a first attempt in rough seas, wasn’t easy to aim the needle through ever-moving holes. Today is calm, but stitch by stitch is not very speedy anyway. Meanwhile, Nils glues a new piece of cloth over a tear, so done!

We sail under the south coast of England, and so have phone coverage from time to time. This intensifies Channel Fever, only a week to go, how close it is! We don’t want that at all, although an environment just standing still sometimes seems enticing. We have now passed Petes Brixham, and soon Greg will be able to wave to Bournemouth. It’s getting busier here, with small birds regularly landing and taking a break. We see other boats, early this morning a high-tech trimaran dashed past at 22 knots, and now we are being chased by a fisherman. The VHF radio chatters, the Coast Guards of Falmouth and the Solent are nice and busy. Yesterday a real mayday from a ship that had sailed its mast overboard, busy traffic between coast guards and lifeboats.

I miss the ocean, the peace and quiet, absolute nothingness, another world. It seems like the wind agrees with me and counteracts as much as possible.

Apart from the headwind, we are having beautiful weather, for days now. We are coming!