Prize: 1 week free sailing on MaRe. What happened to MaRe, who sailed yesterday very fast in 3 squalls to S and SW, and her log shows, she sailed 59 NM but the distance of the noon position is only 10 NM and the noon position yesterday is as much S as the current position?…

It’s noon and we are still drifting in the direction opposite to where we need to go. The sea around MaRe is now fully glassy meaning the doldrum are really at their VERY best. MaRe swings gently in the long swell coming from different directions. Dennis looked for shadow of the boom on the salon…

Are you patient? If not, go on a sailboat and cross the equator, thus the doldrums. Whenever we look at our position we see we move further NE, the opposite direction of where we need to go. When I look at the sea surface, I try to estimate if the areas with ripples increased. But…

I just woke up and sit in the cockpit drinking a tea Tjasa made, and enjoy the sunrise. It’s doldrums close to it’s very best. Only small ripples are on the surface of the sea. There is also a very weak swell remaining without a certain direction. The ripples are caused by very weak wind,…

Shortly after Tjasa took over her watch, she had to wake me up because we got a lot of wind. I took the hydrogenerator out of the water because it’s speed limit is 8 KN. Then the wind increased more. As, for security reasons, we had put MaRe her night gown on at sunset, I…

I’m sitting at the helmsstation and watch all around me. All means the sea, which is very smooth. It also means the sky, enjoying the formation of clouds at the horizon and their illumination from the moon just above me only hidden by the main sail. And also the instruments. We are sailing an extrem…

This morning, it looked as if the doldrums are preparing for their very best. The wind was down, the sea glassy, and the swell got very long. So I decided to look at the hull were at some spots, which can’t be copper coated, I removed barnacles. Water in- and outlets, keel coolers, and the…

An hour to go to midnight. I just started my watch and Dennis went to bed. Sitting at the helmsstation, looking at glassy sea, I thought that now we have doldrums at their best. No sound to be heard except the sound of the water when MaRe’s sterns are gently hit by a small wave.…

The doldrums are really very kind to us. They give us the feeling the sailors had during the days of sailboats without engines and they had to go through the doldrums. MaRe, sailing at an extremely slow speed, teaches us patience. We are happy with the small but constant progress into SW direction we make.…

Since about 1600 we are drifting. According to the ECMWF weather forecast model, we had reached the no wind zone. Pretty good fit of forecasted no wind area and reality. This should continue for about 24 h. Then we can expect very low winds, which can carry us further out of the doldrums. Let’s see…