After dinner we looked at the weather forecast and decided to sail COG (course over ground) of 268. This because N and 3 of us are low wind areas approaching. The weather model ECMWF, which is by PredictWind’s comparison, called in general the best, shows a good wind corridor to the West. The model SPIRE…

This morning, when we went to the fordeck to set the mainsail, we found the first flying fish dead at deck. As they are full of fishbones and not good tasting, we buried it, like a sailor, at sea. For the whole day we used main and genoa. Just before sunset we put the main…

The wind was too weak to sail with the genoa. Too much flapping of the sail and no speed. Thus, we set the gennaker. The ideal sail for light winds. With the swell getting lower and longer, sailing was very comfortable. A and R discussed the best setting for tack line and sheet. Experiments followed.…

We got reactions from OBM and “The Admiral” about the speed the PredictWind tracking site shows. The high speed shown is not correct but it’s out of our influence. The Iridium GO device send automatically every hour our actual position to PredictWind. From there their algorithms works. To the best of my understanding, they connect…

It started as normal relaxed morning. All crawled one by one out of their comfortable and warm beds. It was fresh outside. The wind from ENE was not a warm one and was blowing into MaRe’s sails and cockpit with around medium 6 Bft. Maybe even on this very morning someone questioned again if we…

Now, being in day 7 of our transatlantic sail and in day 3 in the trade wind, a relaxed routine had spread on board. More reading, more sitting and watching and writing. Watching can easily become a kind of meditation. G said yesterday that there are millions and millions of waves but there are not…

Although the day was a very relaxed one, it was bit a bumpy ride. There came a second swell from around N creating with the main swell from ENE a choppy sea. We tried various settings to optimize MaRe’s response to changes in wind directions. At the end we felt good with the settings we…

Only 1 sailvery change today so far. We put down the jib for more flexibility in sailing directions. The price is a speed reduction by about a knot, which appears to be compensated by the possibility of a more direct course. The sea appears deep dark blue with white ornaments on top. Or, if one…

Last night we made good progress. Sailing again in the same butterfly configuration. Bread baking started and G showed his new pantry skills as baker. R acted as the miller for freshly ground flour and started making fresh sourdough. G is a bit unlucky. Since 2 days no fresh fish. Or is the crew unlucky…

There are several reasons for the delayed message today. First, we had a long breakfast with lots of extremely important topics. Amorg other ” Männer sind Schweine” (literal translation: “men are pigs”; it’s more for Germans living in Germany knowing this song). Then A and R discussed – lying on the port side mat at…