Bonte Koe - Log day 14 - Difficult to get a grip (file) on the wheather

On board of the Bonte Koe each morning a grib file is downloaded. The results are always antipated with great interest. As soon as Maarten the navigator has the file, Skipper Jan (73) looks over his shoulder to see if we can make something out of it. So far we have not yet been really lucky in the predictions generated from these files. Some examples. Right now according to the files we should be in a terrible windless area, however we are cruising along in 18 knots of wind for the last 4 hours... The evening of the 3rd of December we were ready for yet another quiet night at sea when all of a sudden hell broke loose with squalls and windspeeds that made us believe we might be in the middle of a developing hurricane. These high winds and wild seas kept us at our feet the whole night and. read more...

Bonte Koe - Log day 15 - Sensation on board during a windless spell

during a windless spell the reel of the rod started spinning at a ferocity not witnessed before by this crew. Trying to stop the reel from turning was almost impossible just when we thought there was not enough line left the angry fish stopped for a while. After more than an hour fight. We finally got to take a look at the fish. What we had hoped was true... it was a giant blue marlin. We now understand why it is called the ultimate big game fish. As we the family crew of 4 have no way of eating this grand fish by ourselves we decided to set it free. The fish did succeed in braking the reel as the rattling sound no longer works. Must have overheated or broke off durning the first run?..From the sailing front. Last night we experienced a couple of hours of upwind sailing!! There was just. read more...

Bonte Koe - Log day 19 - The invisible man at the steer

The invisible man at the steer is often taken for granted. Three days after the start in Las Palmas, our Autohelm ceased to work. With 3 days left to reach St. Lucia, our hands are raw, our arms and legs ache, our eyes are tired of staring at the compas and we feel great relieve to get close to our target. 2200 miles sailed by hand so far, 24 hours a day. Not a moment time for more but, steer, cook, eat and sleep. It however also fills us with joy to have accomplished this heavy task, but we will never ever take our invisible man for granted again!Family boat: Bonte Koe, skipper Jan Bijleveld, sons Albert-Jan & Maarten and daughter Marieke. read more...

Bonte Koe - Log day 20 - Thanks for leaving the lights on!

"Thanks for leaving the light on" is what skipper Jan said to Marieke and Maarten when they went down the cabin for their well deserved sleep. This was exactly what it seemed like when we started our 2 to 5 am shift; like someone had been kind enough to leave a light on for us. A gorgeous moon lit up the entire ocean making it possible to make out shapes and see squalls come at you...Lovely!The crew of the Bonte Koe is getting ready for landfall. It has been a great trip with many positive experiences. Also we learned & managed to cope with things that were not going our way.In no way can we get close to the outstanding performance we had in 1995 where we finished after 17 days still in time for the early arrival party. No, this time it seemed we had to squeeze every mile out of the. read more...