King's Legend - The night of the lightning

December 8, position 14.41.296N & 058.13.220WThe night before we ran into heavy weather.Squalls hit us with winds over forty knots and more. Rain in tropical quantities. Lightning and thunder all around us, from midnight to daylight.Luckily enough we have some fine sailors on board. “Bear away”, “release the main” “follow the wind”!It all worked out fine. With the lighting all around us and blinding us; with rain coming straight at us and no visibility at times we decided to drop the sails and sail with only our staysail and engine running.Trying to avoid the worst. It was scary and exhilarating at the same time.By the way today we have our first steaming hot day of the crossing with a touch of Trade Winds (not much: eight to fourteen knots).Femke. read more...

King's Legend - Was this a dream?

I had a dream last night, while crossing the ocean. I am on a submarine,with a crew of eight. To a tropical destination we are heading, sharing theburdens of our plight.We lie in our bunk beds, quietly listening to the ocean. There is life onthe surface, way above our heads. It is hot and humid, and almost no air tobreath. We are resting to recover; the day ahead is almost there.And than, something changes, nothing is the same; I hear water gushing, afew inches from my head. There is a distant rumble, and urgent footsteps onthe deck. I hear the sounds of storm and rain approaching; and who knowswhat lies ahead?The sails are wildly flapping, like a war about to start. Is this oursailing yacht or part of my submarine night?Wildly I veer from left to right, hold on to a handrail, just. read more...

King's Legend - Alone at sea

Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd December 2014Alone at sea2.600 miles is a long way before we will see land again and to be alone atsea.Today, as Michel mentioned in his blog, we are virtually half way! Reasonenough to celebrate this moment of joy with a good glass of wine our firstzip of alcohol in more then a week. To be honest, it didn’t taste thatwell. In the moment I promised myself to lessen my alcohol intake in thefuture for health’ sake. So, no rum upon arrival for me in St. Lucia (wellthis could be my in THE moment convincement!)Because of reaching this halfway milestone we were all in a good mood andwe hoisted the spinnaker. After a lot of preparation and a lot of checksand double checks we succeeded. Downwind, 20 knots of wind, sunshine, itwas perfect. In the late afternoon we took. read more...

King's Legend - The night of the squalls

In the morning I woke up early full of energy ready for another day of sailing.I baked bread made an apple cake cleaned the heads. We enjoyed ourselves with hoisting a spi. The day ended with a great dinner and a beautiful sunset.And then..Instead of a nice sleep the sea turned violent. Squalls. Huge clouds with loads and loads of rain and wind.The wind angle changes, the wind speed changes from no wind to over thirty knots of wind and back. Everything on board creaks, moans, sighs and moves. I am unable to find the right sleeping position. I wake up, check, help out, close hedges, open hedges, too warm, too wet. Not a moment to relax, I stay fully alert and concentrated.And still..The biggest challenge is not so much to stay concentrated but the ability to relax, to make the right. read more...

King's Legend - Great hospitality and confidence on board King’s Legend

Today is day 7 and we are now half way.Wow, that’s fast!!!Our position in our division is still #1, whereas our position overall improvedfrom # 17 to 16.We are heading with a speed of 8 to 9 knots in the direction of Saint Lucia andmore important: we are all in a winning mood!!!We enjoy this trip to the max. Not only because of the beautiful ocean, nicewaves, remote feeling and the fish we caught. At least as important for our“feel-good-mood” is the great hospitality and the confidence offered by Gijs andFemke, the owners of our boat King’s Legend.It’s impressive!King’s Legend is not only their private “home” it’s also their baby.Don’t forget that we stay with 6 men during 3 weeks in their home. We are 6 moreor less lunatic men who eat, drink, talk, pee, and live in their home. (Thetotal. read more...