Engelen - Weblog Day 18

Thursday Dec 8th, 5am: my final early morning shift starts. It's is a bit weird and an "anticlimax" after sailing up tempo and in a competitive mood to St Lucia for over 15 days. Now the motor of Engelen is running for over 36 hours already. Most of the competitors are facing the same: no winds what so ever and IF there is something one calls wind it comes from the West (270W). Exactly where we are heading to: St Lucia. The Ocean is flat as a pancake. Motoring on Engelen means that we can use the autopilot, so I do as well. Quite nice since some rain is falling and I can shelter under the Doghouse. Ipod in my ears, listening to Bruchs Violon #1 in G-minor. One of my favorites when sailing. Sunrise from the East, where this journey started almost three weeks ago. Spectacular clouds. read more...

Engelen - Dry Boat?

Are you on a dry boat? Well, in a sense, yes. Otherthan the occasional ritual or 'team-bonding' beer to go with a passage milestone, the consumption of alcoholic beverages, while not being ruled out completely, is regulated through subtle social pressures.Rumor has it that some boats of our competition saw themselves forced to decide between beer and whine when thinking about how the added weight would reflect on their race performance, but Engelen is different. Reminiscent ofthe House of a Thousand Beers in Berlin, golden delicatessen from all over the Mediterranean are hidden under most pillows, floorboards, inside cupboards and the fridge. Now, I don't know whether it is the eighteen days spent at sea, the running out of cold soft drinks about four days ago or my Bavarian roots,but a. read more...

Engelen - Day 16 - No wind out of the wrong direction

When waking andi up for his shift at 8 am and telling him that we might have to tag, he replied "tag?, why tag? we're on forwind wind course." We were during the last 15 days but in the middle of the night the wind has begun shifting and still does. We now have wind from W, definetly not the type one would expect on a trip into the carribean. We are tagging a lot to make at least a few miles good towards St. Lucia. But on the other hand hard on wind sailing has one big advantage, the wind is cooling you down. The today's position report showed us that every ship around us has to struggle with these unusual winds. On the VHF we overheard a conversation between two boats. It started with one complaining about their generator which failed. But he said its overall a wonderful day and then. read more...

Engelen - Weblog Engelen no 15

We have set the clock: to be honest, our own clock. We are lost and "stuck into the middle" regarding our awareness of time between the GMT on Gran Canaria and the actual time on St Lucia. So, as being a small self support entity on this huge ocean with it's own rules, regulations, punishments, court, parliament etc we do need to have our own timetable as well. So we have set our time: it is Monday Dec 5th, 15:53. Back home my sons have received - I hope - some nice presents from Santa Klaus last night. But Thanksfully this old chap did not forget a tiny little boat on the Ocean. Don't ask me how but he have send us some chocolate and mices. Indeed, besides the cockroach we now have a whole bums of mice aboard. Mathew is not happy, but they tasted well. For this special day I have made a. read more...

Engelen - Day 14

We're getting closer.Each day we check how many miles are left and the number is dwindling quickly - 1000, 840, 720.We look at how many miles we think we can make each day, do a simple division, and, voila, imagine ourselves arriving in St. Lucia Friday at noon, maybe in the morning, maybe even early enough for a beer on Thursday before a long long sleep. We're excited.Excited about the cold rum punch that is supposed to be waiting for us on the docks when we tie off our lines; excited about a freshwater shower; excited about eating anything besides the cabbage, pasta and canned tuna that is left on the boat.Fantasies about what we'll eat and drink first occupy lots of our thoughts during the hours at the wheel.  But, we're a little trepidatious about our trip ending soon too.After. read more...