Saturday, 4..2012, 4th day on the Atlantic

Today, thank god, is a calm day. Our current position is 10°12,1'N and 023° 35,5'W. Yesterday was anything but clm. A low pressure area hit us directly and gave us the gift of wind up to 34knots, waves at the highest point up to 4m and pouring rain so strong that Alita is clean now. Actually this whole scene was the washing of Alita. In regular intervals the waves broke over the boat and the rain washed it clean again. As a side effect Marcus and I, who alternatively were outside, also got showered in the rain and sometimes from the waves pushing water into the cockpit. 3 sets of clothes from me were drained. Just as I put a new short pants on a wave said "great, needs to be cleaned" and here she came. Well, I am happy it is calm again. The day (which started around midnight the night before and lasted til about midnight last night) was tough, mostly because Marcus and I did not get much sleep, Marcus less than me cause I had to call him 3 times. For a couple of hours we even brought the boat into a stable position (beigedreht) and we were all inside to wait til the near storm goes over. We held the position until I saw a freighter coming directly towards us. We set the sail and made it just in time to get away. That's why we always keep a position watching out for ships. Today we've seen I think number 7.
Since today we feel like eating again (crew is well up)Marcus caught us a huge Mahi Mahi fish. Eva helped him. I was just in the preparation of lunch. I will post a picture once we're online again in Brazil....
Bye, til tomorrow.

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Day 1 of Atlantic crossing

Every thing is calm, crew is well up. We've been motoring most of the day cause the wind left, just as expected. We're currently at position 12°19,3'N and 023°53,9'W at 1749 UTC. Bye, til tomorrow,

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On the Atlantic

This is our first day of the trip over the Atlantic. We lifted the anchor at 1125 UTC and first went araound the corner to get a last short swim. Just as we (Eva and I) were on board again Marcus put his fishing ropbe out and after 3 Min had a tuna! That was our carb provision for the day, we ate it for lunch with salad (and some raw when Marcus was preparing the fish after catching it).
The wind left us 4 hrs later and now we're under motor, probably for the next 2-3 day. We're in the intertropical convergence zone (ITC) where there is no wind. We left the zone of the north east passat winds and are entering the zone of the south east passat winds once we leave the ITC. Our position now at 1817 UTC is 14°19,5 N and 023°40'W. It is already overcast and will be raining soon I guess. In the ITC it rains a lot. Bye til tomorrow.

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Good-bye Kap Verde

Our guest Eva arrived well last night. The first adventure was to get here to he boat. I was supposed to pick them up with the Dinghi at a little pier of the gas station but that was closed. In the end they had to go over 3 fisherboats to get to my Dinghi. We had a dinner, talked a bit and then went to bed very late. Eva is very nice and we'll have a great time the next three weeks. Tomorrow morning we will be leaving, make a short stop in the next bay to take a good-bye swim and off we go. First stop are the islands Fernando de Noronha, about 3 days of sailing away from Brazil mainland. We'll stay there 1-3 days and then go on.

We will not have internet connection til we reach Brazil, but we will be able to enter posts on our blogs most days of the trip via radio. AS you already know we try to blog daily with current position and happenings of the day.

Talk to you soon!

Michaela

Praia

We safely arrived in the harbour of Praia. It was a beautiful sailing trip over to here, 4,5 hours. Great wind, beautiful water, we sailed at average 6 knots. we really enjoyed this trip. Only the harbour here is not so beautiful, but calm water thanks to the newly built wave breaker.
Just before it gets dark I will bring Marcus to the shore. He'll catch a taxi, go to the airport and pick up Eva, our first guest on this route. I will prepare a light dinner and a tropical welcome drink in the meantime and then go back to the shore with the Dinghi when they are back. Tomorrow Marcus will do the exit procedure and then Eva and I will go for the grocery shopping to fill up our stock for the longer trip. And then: off we go.
I really enjoyed the two days in Maio and was able to get some energy from swimming, playing in the waves and wonderful italian food (I stocked my stomach up with PIZZA) so I felt really great on the trip today. I bought an extra Pizza to go, half of it is already in my stomach, the second half will be there soon as well ;-). Amazing how Pizza can heal your body ;-))
Have a great day everyone!
Happy Michaela

Waves

Just one comment to the pictures: I was actually in the water with my water camera taking the pictures of the waves. As you can imagine from some of the pictures, one or the other wave took me with it to the beach cause I waited til the last minute to make the picture. I LOVED playing in these waves!

PLaying in the water at the beach of Maio

Enjoy the pix.