Xenial - Epilogue - Red Pants

For many months now the Swedes have been telling me about a peculiar tradition they have concerning red trousers (according to some sources it may also be an English, or even New England, tradition, but we have found conflicting information). The only people who are allowed to wear red pants are those who can say they have met the King (of Sweden, not Charles III) and those who have sailed across the Atlantic. You must know that in the Foglia family everyone, and in particular the men, wears red pants all the time. One could say it’s part of the Foglia staple “smart casual” uniform. So I didn’t make much of this red pants thing at first. But the more Swedes I met, the more I heard about this tradition, so eventually I decided to get onboard and pack a pair of red pants to wear at. read more...

Xenial - Day 25 - Grenada!

Sometime in the night between Thursday and Friday, depending on whether we were still on Xenial Standard Time or on local Grenada time, Janne cried “Land!”. Actually, he cried “Lights! And not boat lights!” - he has by far the best eyesight on board (his glasses are rumored to be custom made in Italy), so it’s no wonder he is part of the Spotting Committee. We sat on deck watching the lights get closer and closer and looking at the mile count get smaller and smaller. In between Christmas songs (you can blame me for that), we listened on the radio as boats and friends who had not seen each other in days or weeks greeted each other with joy, if you want to call spotting each other on AIS “seeing each other”. I thought it was wonderful to hear all these happy voices, the Swedes think. read more...

Xenial - Day 25 - Nearly there

Another day at sea, and likely the last one before we arrive in Grenada. We have kept Xenial Standard Time on Cape Verde time, so sunrise was sometime around 9am. We do it because we really enjoy having dinner with the sun setting in front of us on the horizon. They do say that this is a trip where you keep sailing into the sunset, and we really wanted to savor it. The winds were steady today just around 10 m/s, which is where we draw the line for the gennaker, so we sailed all day with the mainsail only. Our bimini has started to wear in a few spots so we haven't been using it, and let me tell you, the past few days on deck have been hot! Bobo (recently christened Sunnyboy) , CJ and Ulrik brave the sun, but I am fully on team "below deck" with the Major and the Chef. And below deck we. read more...

Xenial - Day 24 - Food for thought

Before we get to the main course of this log, for starers we have a few comments from Captain Ulrik- Full check up of gennaker with some repairs.- A couple of squalls with 2 reefsended with no wind- Later a nice sailing with gennaker until late evening XST (Xenial Standard Time) not so late normal local time.- We enjoyed dinner with following sunset and now sunrise first at 9-ish am. Big change arriving to Grenada where we have to adopt a new time regime.-Nice to have the moon shine back although it leaves us just half way through the night.Now, for the main course. As you know we have some voracious readers and some eager podcasters on board. Many who had sailed across oceans before us had warned us that it could get boring - mainly because of doldrums, rather than lack of foresails. So. read more...

Xenial - Day 23 - Vääänta

Vääänta! Vääänta! Waaaait! Waaaait! The familiar call, the most popular by far when we maneuver, could be heard again today onboard Xenial! Apparently it's not only popular onboard this boat, it is widely used in the Swedish Navy and Military. So all the veterans we have on board with all their various titles and ranks, love using it. It's the official motto of the sailing committee. Sailing committee that was back in action today, after days of cooking under the tropical sun.Väääänta - Captain Ulrik called from half way up the rolled foresail. He was being hoisted up the cover of the broken foresail. The cover had been hoisted with one of our halyards, and Ulrik was on a mission to get it back, so we could use it to hoist something far more interesting! Spinnaaakerfallet - CJ called. read more...