We’re currently surfing on long ocean waves, flying through the north Biscay with a 20 knots downwind wind, 2 reefs in the mainsail and all foresails set. With 7 knots speed, dolphins are jumping around us and we are enjoying to finally have some sunshine on board after 2 days of heavy rain, low pressure, and gale-force wind. Our clothes are drying in the wind and we can finally take the time to rest our bones, take in the sunshine and reflect on the past week at sea – the first week of a 2 months journey.
Already on our second day at sea, we were facing our first SW gale. As if Poseidon was greeting us with a cold hand kiss and a hard slap in the face, this turned out to be the first of four gales with or without a calm break in between, delaying our progress through the channel.
We spent 7 rough and beautiful days in the North Sea and the English channel struggling to make height fighting the tides and strong winds while getting to know the ship, the rhythms, the watches, the days, the nights and each other, transcending into the sailing way of life. A simple life where sleeping in a wet bunk doesn’t seem like much of a problem, where we get up only to put on out moist sailing clothes and sail through the night under the red over green lantern. A rhythm where our lives are all about making the ship work as a whole: trimming the sails to perfection, maintaining the ship and our own bodies, caring for each other, reading the clouds and the sky, hunting for the right winds and weather using all our senses to be at the right place at the right time with ship, crew, and weather in symbiosis.
With simple living conditions we enjoy life with the luxuries and wonders of nature:
Sailing on a fluorescent ocean where the deck lights up like a magic dance floor when the ship is heeling.
Watching shootings stars and a saw how a real meteorite exploded and burned up in the atmosphere during a morning watch (!), watching fluorescent dolphins play underwater in the dark night and enjoying the crisp waves and seabirds flying as we fly southbound for Santander.
Als je je aanmeldt voor de nieuwsbrief, informeren we je als eerste wanneer we nieuwe zeilroutes publiceren. De Fairtransport “Sailmail” staat bomvol spannende zeilavonturen, exotische producten en het laatste nieuws over de schepen en haar events. Deze mag je niet missen!
