So, the last long crossing is over. Looking back we were very lucky with the weather. The weather is not very stable in this region and it is very difficult to predict more than 4 days in advance. Waiting in the Azores for 8 days of good weather would not have been possible. If it is a nice summer, a high pressure area (the Azores high) hangs over the Azores and that often means the first days engines. When it is a more unstable summer (like now) the high is sometimes there and sometimes not and makes place for depressions (low pressure areas) which pass above and into the Channel. We have had both no windlessness so that we had to motor, and only very short stormy winds. It could not have been better weather-wise! Still, especially the first part of the voyage felt quite tough. Hard winds and lots of sailing close to the wind make life on board uncomfortable and it takes longer than we are used to. But the second and middle part of the trip make up for it, the last four days we have continuous wind from the south-west which comes in well and that gives us good speed and a good position on the boat. The sun shines regularly too, but it is getting cooler and the last day it rained regularly. The watches at night we do from the inside, just checking every quarter of an hour unless it is busy around us (especially with fishing boats), then we sit outside. It was very nice to do this trip together with the Barbarossa and Valentijn. A nice ending to long sailing trips!!!

Back to the past week from day to day. A day in this report begins at 12:30 p.m. and ends at that time the next day, when exactly one 24-hour period has passed.

Day 1
We leave Terceira at 12:30, after all three of us (Barbarossa, Valentine and us) have filled up the diesel tank. The first two hours we motor around the island with very little wind. Once 'free' of Terceira there is a good wind from the NW, in the beginning 3-4 (as predicted). But soon the wind increases to force 5-6 and because we are sailing so high, we are under a lot of slope and we are chopping through the waves. Still we sleep well this first night, and especially the girls are doing well again. They take their familiar 'stand' on the cabin benches and entertain themselves all day with each other. A bit of Nintendo (playing football together), watching TV, reading, playing with their dog Fikkie ... we never have to help them find entertainment. Unbelievable and for us very nice! At the end of this first day we are still within sight of each other. Day distance 147 miles.

Day 2
Also this day is very uncomfortable. Fortunately, we do not suffer from seasickness, but the Barbarossa and Valentine do. The Barbarossa has bad luck with the autopilot ... the converter (from 12 to 24 volts) breaks down, but fortunately Jan can fix it skilfully by using the SSB's converter. This makes the autopilot work again, but they cannot use the SSB radio at the same time. This makes it very easy, and no trouble at all for us, that we are within VHF distance of each other and that the SSB use (for weather retrieval, talking to Valentine and updating the blog) can partly be done through us. The Valentijn chooses a slightly different course and unfortunately, by the end of day two, they have disappeared from sight and the VHF connection will soon be lost as well. We switch to SSB contact twice a day and in this way we can stay well informed of each other's ups and downs. The whole day and night the wind stays NW 5-6, so still high sailing. Only in the morning the wind decreases. Day distance 153 miles.

Day 3
We have no trouble staying within sight of the Barbarossa. The wind is WNW 3-4, a bit wider and less windy than the previous two days. The sun shows itself as well, so we have an excellent afternoon of sailing. But at the end of the afternoon the wind freshens to 5-6, and during the night we even have a 7 with gusts to 8. Fortunately from the west and therefore we enter the harbour halfway or wider. With a good reef we can keep our course and the swell is not too bad compared to our previous storm experiences. The hours between 3:00 and 7:00 are the worst. But this time as well the boat is holding up fine and it only costs us our sleep. In the morning we decide in our SSB conversation with the Valentijn not to keep our course to Ireland anymore, but to shift it to Falmouth (England). Heading for Ireland is sailing too high and next weekend there will be a depression there that we would rather not run into. We have also had it with the long sailing trips and it feels better to let this be the last long trip and to sail home from England in short pieces. For a while it looked like the depression would also get in the way of the trip to England, but it passes more to the north, so Falmouth seems to be perfectly sailable now. Day distance 155 miles.

Day 4
The wind gradually decreases to a nice 4-5 and also the sun shows itself at the end of the day. Great sailing with still a nice speed, cozy next to the Barbarossa. Regularly chatting on the radio breaks the day and is very cozy. The retrieval of the English Bracknell weather charts (as we learned on the meteo course of Zilt) goes very well over the SSB. So every day we have the weather charts drawn by the English for current, T+24 hours, T+48, T+72, T+96 and T+120. In addition, we have the 'normal' gribfiles from sailmail, and so we have a very good insight into the weather. Especially now that we can discuss this with the three boats and that 'weatherman' Daniël from the Valentijn helps us with this as well. Completely reassured about the upcoming trip to Falmouth and with a calm wind we go into the night, and so Toine and I sleep long and deep for the first time this trip. In the morning we put the homemade baguettes in the oven for the first time, the previous days we lived on dry crackers. It's good for your figure, though! Making breakfast with a fried egg and bacon takes a long time ... the gas isn't working properly anymore and only gives a small flame. It all gets done in the end, but it takes at least twice as long. Just before the end of the fourth day we are over halfway. Still 576 miles to go and already 597 miles sailed. Day distance 142 miles.

Day 5
A nice afternoon of sailing in the sun with the wind coming in more and more. We even catch a tuna ... what a feast! With the most shabby hook we had ever caught a baracuda with in the Bahamas. Filleting takes some time but goes well with the special filleting knife we bought in America. Can we finally use that too! The gas-problem worries us a lot ... what can it be? Cooking food on such a small burner is really not going to work. First Toine thinks that the pressure regulator is broken. But that appears not to be the case. After a long time of trying and puzzling Toine finds out that it are the two mechanical connections which are both worn out (in the gas bunker outside and under the cooker inside). After some work with sawing and screwing the connections are made and the gas works better than ever. We have a delicious drink with raw tuna and a glass of white wine. The sea is very calm the next night. And dinner is delicious with fried fish fritters with rice and green beans. Just before the night watches start, the wind drops and we start the engine. So we sail into the night, bubbling quietly. But at 5:00 a.m. there is enough wind again, straight from behind, and we set the sails in clover-position. We are doing about 7.0 knots and the wind will stay like this for the next couple of days, so we will be able to arrive in Falmouth in three days, next Tuesday. When I tell Ellen about the recipe for fish-fritters during the morning VHF talk, the Barbarossa also has a nice tuna on the hook. So they also eat fish today! And a few hours later a second tuna, which she put in the freezer to eat together in Falmouth. For the first time we are doing the famous contest together with the Barbarossa ... guessing the 24-hour mile and the arrival time in Falmouth. Day distance 136 miles.

Day 6
The whole time we can sail in cloverleaf mode with one jibe in between. The wind stays between wind force 3-5 and is mostly 4. Just perfect sailing! A bird gets stuck in our fishing line, but Toine can free it alive (with loss of our hook) and for the rest of the day we stop our fishing activities. In the afternoon the four of us watch the Titanic ... that's what the girls wanted for so long. It's a wonderful film to watch, but perhaps it's a bit weird to do it on a sailing boat? No problem for us! After dinner, we suddenly see lots of dolphins swimming around the boat and also two whales at 100 metres. What an experience! Then suddenly we find ourselves in a forest of lights with more than 40 fishing boats around us. What is going on here? We hear nothing on channel 16 ... apparently just good fishing water? The whole trip up until now we have seen almost nothing and now suddenly we are navigating between the fishing boats. Toine does a great job during his evening watch and when I take over at 0.00 hours it is quiet again around us. Another quiet night with lots of sleep for both of us. The next morning the sailing is still good and we cover a nice distance of 153 miles.

Day 7
The rest of the day passes by. The girls are still enjoying themselves with their own things, Toine and I read a lot and talk to the Barbarossa on the radio every now and then. Together with the girls I make a nice apple pie and again it tastes good. In the evening during SSB time we get a very enthusiastic Monica and Daniël on the line ... they have also caught a nice big tuna and had many dolphins around the boat. We talk about the experiences of the day, including who is going to eat what, and so we regularly get ideas from the other boats. In the evening during dinner we again see many dolphins around the boat and this time they stay for a long time, almost an hour. Especially Eline keeps looking outside, with the idea in her mind that this might be the last time this trip. The night goes well, but a bit messy because of the many fishing boats around us. Once one comes so close that we have to swerve at the last minute to avoid colliding with it ... what an asshole!
And now this morning it is the 19th of July and we are exactly one year underway. And almost home again, as we approach England and arrive in Falmouth tomorrow morning. I can't believe it's been that long already, and how quickly time has gone by. The fastest distance this trip ... 161 miles.

Day 8
The last day of the week is approaching. This afternoon also 'ripples' by. We watch 'The Holiday' together; a nice feel-good film. The boat just does its job and sails on at a good pace without us having to do anything about the sail handling. By the evening it starts raining and as the night progresses visibility gets worse. Again we rely on the radar and AIS, because there's nothing to see outside anyway. We sail nicely between all the fishing boats and large ships in the shipping lanes and then suddenly, around 9:00 the next morning, we see land ... land in sight ... through the rain and fog, we can clearly see Lizard Point south of Falmouth. The wind is decreasing, as predicted, but we can sail until the very end.

And so, after exactly 8 days at sea, we sailed into the natural harbour entrance of Falmouht. Of those 8 days (= 192 hours) for those 1200 miles, we only had to motor 11 hours and the rest we could sail at a good speed (6.3 miles average). A great last long trip! Now we have 3.5 weeks to go. The next 1 or 2 weeks we will spend on the south coast of England. We hope for better weather than now, because now it is raining.