After exactly 7 days of sailing we are still about 200 miles away from the halfway point to Suriname. To be honest, we had the expectation in advance that we would be halfway after 7 miles. That was also certainly successful with the most obvious weather at this time of year. But nothing as changeable and unpredictable as the weather, the trade wind at this time of year stable wind force 4-5 from the northeast we have not had so far. In exchange we have very light weather with regularly no or too little wind to sail, which means we already sail a total of more than 85 hours (out of 170 hours) with low power and very little diesel consumption on the engine.
Still, none of this bothers us. In fact, we're just enjoying ourselves! This is also part of it and the boat is very quiet which makes life on board very comfortable, cozy and homely. The days string together and fly by without us being bored and without realizing how long it will take. We are not yet 'arriving' at all, but rather enjoying being on the way. And that is a very special experience. It certainly makes it more pleasant that we've been sailing together with the Barbarossa for 7 days with regular marine radio contact and that we have the Valentine near us (about 20 miles away) with whom we talk twice a day on shortwave radio. Almost every evening we have a very beautiful sunset, at night a lot of stars and in the morning a beautiful sunrise. We haven't had the so-called 'squals' (heavy rain showers with temporarily a lot of wind) associated with such a trade wind crossing yet.
The expectation is that the second half of this trip will give a different picture. With a calm trade wind (wind force 3-4), (that's what the weather reports we pick up daily via the shortwave radio) and the occasional squal. We will wait and see. This first week of enjoyment we already have inside! Below you can read for each day how it went down for us.

Day 1
We sail away from Mindelo with the Barbarossa and Valentime around noon after we have filled up all three diesel tanks. While honking we wave each other goodbye and wish each other a safe trip. The first couple of hours we're still at a distance from each other, but at night the Valentine disappears on the horizon and we sail as usual and familiar with the Barbarossa at our side. Until the beginning of the night we have good winds and we regularly have a speed of over 6 to 7 knots. In the night the wind disappears and when we only go 2 knots at 1.00 a.m. with rattling sails we turn on the engine and tuck up the rest of the night. It is very clear and there are a lot of stars. A very special feeling that we started this ocean crossing. When everyone is awake the next day we put on the genaker and have a wonderful morning sailing. It is our wedding day and in honour of that I bake a chocolate cake (recipe Ellen) which is delicious! At 12.00 and 21.00 UTC (for us 11 and 20 hours) we speak (daily from now on) the Valentine over the short wave radio and fortunately everything goes well with that. Day distance is 119 miles, where the day runs from half past 1 in the afternoon (when we left) until the next day half past 1 in the afternoon, just like I keep on saying in this report.

Day 2
We enter a competition for daily guessing of the distance of the past day, guessing the number of boats we will see the coming day and the number of fish we will catch the coming day. The Barbarossa also participates in this. So we will determine the score every day around noon and come up with something nice for the winner in the course of the trip. In the afternoon the wind picks up, a bit too strong for the genaker, but perfectly roomy from behind for the normal sails. School is still a bit improvised; together with the girls lying on the bed and telling and talking more about it than they have to write. We have a wonderful sailing afternoon with a good speed (around 7 knots) alternated with a beautiful dolphin show of up to 10 dolphins in front of our bow. In the evening we eat potatoes with carrots and onions baked in the oven. Tastes good! The whole night we can sail with the normal sails and the genoa alternating port on the tree or just on the port side just like the mainsail. Early in the morning a tanker passes in front of us at a distance of one mile. At the same time the Barbarossa catches a nice thick dorade, also called goldfish. Daytime distance is 141 miles, 2 boats seen and 2 fish caught (Barbarossa, not us!).

Day 3
The whole afternoon there is little wind and we alternately sail the genaker and spinnaker. With this we make a progress of between 4 and 5 knots, but it will not be a high day distance. Toine has a big headache the whole afternoon and that is not nice. Luckily it subsides and it will be over by dinner. Just before dinner the sea is so calm that we can exchange some stuff with the Barbarossa without any problems. Toine sails as close to the Barbarossa as possible on the motorbike. Then Jan throws over a line with a bag containing some of their caught fish. Lovely, we are going to eat that tomorrow! I catch the line and tie two long lap lines for the way back (we have those left and the lap lines of the Barbarossa are too short for their spinnaker) and a lemon for Ellen. This way we also see each other for a while instead of just hearing about the radio and that is very nice. We eat rice with fried bacon, pointed cabbage and apple with curry sauce. In the evening we put the little plastic Christmas tree in the cabin and the girls decorate it with some unbreakable frills. In this way we also get the Christmas atmosphere 'in the house'. The whole night there is little wind and we sail with full sails between 4 and 5 knots. The sea has become very calm and with a beautiful starry sky above our heads it is a very quiet night. In the morning the wind gets less and we only make a progress of less than 3 knots. With the spinnaker on, the weather gets a bit better; around 4 knots. Daytime distance is 'only' 104 miles, but that is a fine score so only on the sails, especially in relation to the coming days. We have seen 2 boats and caught 1 fish (Barbarossa). The Valentine is about 20 miles south of us.

Day 4
The wind subsides further and further and we hardly make any progress anymore with flapping sails. So we put the engine back on. Where is that stable trade wind that at this time of year blows about 12 - 20 knots of wind from the northeast? Never expected that there would be so little wind. Unfortunately, the weather reports also show very little wind for the coming days. Luckily we have a large supply of diesel, but it is not exhaustive. From now on it will be good to calculate how many hours we can engine. So we spend the whole afternoon and night tussling over a flat sea. This makes life on board very comfortable. The girls can do a lot of school and we even eat dinner from plates (with a little more seaway we always use trays) and so every disadvantage has an immediate advantage. The delicious fish of the Barbarossa with rice and an onion/tomato/mustard sauce. Now that we spend so much time at sea and are not sure how many days it will take us, all of a sudden how much food we have on board and when something can be eaten. Of course we have plenty of food, but we have to figure out which food we eat when in these two weeks. Then you also see a nice difference between Toine and me. Toine is eating more now, and I'm more in favour of the spread over the two weeks. That gives fun and humorous discussions.
During the morning watch of Ellen and me in which we are still dozing with the egg timer at 10 minutes, suddenly a fishing boat has come very close to us. It frightens us, it turns out to be an Asian fishing boat with a lot of men on deck waving in front of us. Apparently we are a sight to see for them. Luckily they just keep on sailing and don't have any wrong plans. After Eline has hung out the fishing line just after getting up there is an enormous fish hanging on the line that goes off with the nice hook and bites the line through. Sobbing, away hook and away fish. Fishing on the Brandaan doesn't work that well yet. Day distance 110 miles, 1 boat seen and 2 fish caught (Barbarossa).

Day 5
The wind has picked up a bit and we can sail calmly until the end of the afternoon, between 3 and 4 knots. Amazing how quickly we adjust our standards in this windless weather; between 3 and 4 knots without an engine (and therefore without diesel consumption) we're very happy now, while in normal circumstances it's only a snail's pace. In the afternoon we suddenly have success with fishing and catch two dorades. Just before bubbling time (every day at 5 o'clock with some chips and soda) we perform the 'change' trick with the Barbarossa again. This time they get two unox smoked sausages from us (I still have enough and they are well over the date, so they have to go) and we get a can of meatballs in satay and a cleaned dorade back. Great success! Every evening, again, we see a beautiful sunset just in front of our bow in the direction we are heading for. Very nice coloured skies combined with a flat sea that can be seen for miles. Very beautiful! The food is delicious again; our own caught fish in tomato-garlic sauce from the oven with olives, feta cheese and pasta. The night is very quiet, on the motorbike tussling over a flat sea with many stars and nobody else in our vicinity. During the night watches we set the egg timer on 15 to 20 minutes, so we also get some sleep during the watches. Every morning we both get a good night's sleep. We keep an accurate record of the dangerous engine hours because of the diesel supply. Especially now that we know from the weather forecast that also the next 2 to 3 days will be very quiet. Day distance 99 miles, 0 boats and 3 fish caught (we 2, Barbarossa 1).

Day 6
There's a sigh of wind again and the engine goes off again. The whole afternoon we float with a limited speed between 2 and 3 knots on that immense sea. We are 6 days sailing from land and completely on our own. Strangely enough this is fun, and the limited speed doesn't irritate us either. It's just part of it and as long as the boat is quiet and the sails don't chatter and we still make some progress, the mood is just fine. All the time to try culinary things, like a banana cake today. The girls have started tying friendship bands in beautiful colours. That's nice work and they quickly figure out how to do it. The Barbarossa catches a dorade of almost 1 meter long, a huge joekel. When at the end of the afternoon we want to do the change trick again so we can get half of that fish, suddenly a dorade of 60 cm is hanging on our hook as well. Half an hour later it's fried on our plate. It couldn't be fresher! At the end of the afternoon and all night the engine is switched on again. The boat is still very stable, sometimes like lying in a harbour. The night flies by. In the morning the engine goes out again and the spinnaker is on. We make a progress of 3 - 4 knots with that. The Valentine is still about 20 miles away from us and it is nice to speak to them twice a day on the shortwave radio. Day distance 99 miles, 1 boat and 2 fish caught (we 1 and Barbarossa 1).

Day 7
The whole afternoon we float on the sea and even the spinnaker doesn't get the boat more than 2 to 3 knots ahead. Toine opens the diesel tank to actually measure on sight how much diesel we've already used instead of relying on the gauge. This is a pleasant surprise, because it turns out that we are even more economical in diesel consumption than we thought and that we have more than enough to reach Suriname. In the afternoon we watch the movie 'Alles is Liefde' (All is Love) with the four of us. Really a film for this time of year. Just a weird idea that you already have night frost in the Netherlands and maybe even get snow. It's the same in that movie. And after watching the movie we step outside in our tub, sit in our swimming trunks and bikini and see a beautiful sunset with lots of blue water around us. Yes, such a crossing is very special!