Tagged 'provisions'

After our long journey from the Caribbean you’d think we’d want to rest up for a week or so before starting our passage back to mainland Europe. However, we have decided to forgo the Azore vacation and get going on our final leg. It’s almost 1’000 nm from here, through the Strait of Gibraltar and on to Spain. That sounds like a lot even as I’m writing this but after reaching the milestone of 10’000 nm since last July, it doesn’t seem like a lot, Ha!

The winter months have passed by too quickly. Since our arrival in the Caribbean last fall, we’ve enjoyed sailing and spending time with friends in the beauty of this idyllic part of the world. However, hurricane season is approaching (its official start date is the 1st of June) and like the migration of birds, sailing yachts are starting the long passage back to Europe. The tradition of doing an Atlantic Circuit has been around for hundreds of years

After sailing around the Caribbean for the winter, we are ready to complete the Atlantic Circuit and return to Europe. This is a passage that sailors have been making for hundreds of years and we’re excited to be joining that group. Last November we met with the ARC group in Las Palmas di Gran Canaria to make the crossing to the Caribbean along with 250 other yachts.

Four guys, one boat, 14-30 days at sea crossing the Atlantic. Toss in the fact that one is British, one from Sweden and two of us from the Italian part of Switzerland. Different backgrounds, cultures and first languages. How do you feed this crew for the crossing and keep morale high? How much food to buy, where to store it, how to find it when we’re underway and how can four guys with different culinary skills best prepare it.

So after a 24 hour re-provisioning stop in Road Town, BVI (along with a really nice job placing the yacht on the dock by Andy) we’re off to another island in the BVI’s, Jost van Dyke. Tonight we anchored close to the breakwaters over a reef that is hit from the swells from a northerly wind. We are in the protected harbour but can hear the waves as they break over the reef.å

In the many years we spent exploring the Caribbean we’d never made it to St. Bartholemy. During our years of flying, St. Barth’s was intriguing but off limits to us as the runway is renowned in the aviation world for being one of the toughest to handle. The French agree as they insist on you taking a course and annual test ride with an instuctor to be able to land there.