La Promesse NED7576

Full main port. Spinnaker starboard. In Dutch we call it ‘melkmeisje’. Catching all of this farth.

Light winds are difficult. La Promesse does not need much wind to get her going. If from the tight angle we can even sail faster than true wind knots. But it needs handsteering, patience and thus my son. I’m proud of how he manages to get everything out of the situation. Sailchanges without loss of speed are his credo. He is definitely a better sailor than I am. With a lot more technical knowledge about sailtrim.
It is funny to see how he is used to sailing fully crewed around the cans where many things are done with more hands and for one day or more days during an event.
I bring some shorthanded sailing experience for longer distance sailing. When singlehanded for example, I bare away and ease the main sheet a bit to create a safer and dryer foredeck to prepare for a sailchange. Saves energy, less risk for fuck ups and less soken wet back in the cockpit.
Sailing dualhanded is a mix of both. Works fine for us. For a tack or gybe we don’t wake the other if asleep. For sailchange or setting a reef we agreed upon ‘all hands on deck’.
Floris likes the idea of singlehanded racing. Same challenge as what made me do it for the first time in 2006. It is a real pleasure to sail with him.
As it will be in two weeks with Wouter back to the Acores. This blog will be continued for those who are interested.
For know, last miles weigh heavy. With the taste of a cold beer and hot burger in our minds and mouth. Wind should become more southerly and 10 kts should remain. Fingers crossed. 75 nm to go. Less than 4 times Enkhuizen – Makkum.

JanKees & Flo

We are on E-mission. These light wind patches killed our attempt to cross without using the Ruggerini for charging batteries. With a boatspeed of 7 knots the hydrogen keeps up with our energy usage.
Now we run the Ruggi for the seventh time or so. I remember we discussed the amount of petrol to take with us. Ten litres to be able to motor in and out the harbour? Thirty litres to have some reserve for charging batteries in light conditions? What if we loose the hydrogen and have to charge everyday? We decided to accept that risk and took thirty-somewhat. No reserve jerrycan.

Compared to the past it is a huge improvement. But for now the noise is annoying.

Our estimated time of arrival is …. Pffft…. Who knows.
Passed a dead whale corpus with numerous birds sitting on it.
Saw a tuna? dolphin? jump high out of the water, make a salto and a screw and dive back in. Our points: 8.0 8.0 9.5. She leads the scoreboard for now.

Floris & JanKees

…stanchion and three tiny little (chafe) holes in the sail. That’s the damage of the rodeo we had on the foredeck. Put them on the list of repairs and preps for return delivery.

Wouter, in the meantime, took a kayak up the Newport sound to get closer to and make better pictures of Rambler, a maxi super racer that is moored in the bay.

Flo & JanKees

Six times Enkhuizen – Makkum.

Blue sky again. Not here! Grey, cloudy. Drizzle at the point of beginning. No, the blue sky we see is the 116m2 blue sailcloth we are buried in. With these very light winds we pulled the carpet up on deck and hoisted. Furled in. Furled out. Removed the top down furl wartel (what is wartel in english?). She is flying again and doubled our speed with the little wind that came with (beautiful orange) sunset. Sponged another four full buckets of water from the living.

Now enjoying cappucino and trying to melt the Nutella in a thermocup. Serving Nutella in slices is not how it is meant to be served.

Floris & JanKees

It’s a tough last couple of miles. One more freeze dried bla bla. Burger and halibut in our dreams. The many light winds and the pretty strong upbeats in the last 1.000 miles take too many time. Even daddy’s singlehanded record from 2009 will remain a pain in the ass in our sail discussions at home. 😜

But we look forward to finish tomorrow morning in the early hours. I’ll hug Wouter. Hug Wouter again. And again. Get customs done. Shower and have a decent huge rogue everlasting breakfast. Do they have enough chickens and a pig for the huge scrambled egg roundabout with bacon Floris is gonna order?

Wouter!, here we come! Prepare for a daddy hug! All the way from AMS to see us finish.

Floris & JanKees

…..crispy new sailcloth in blue out of our control. The Code0 started unfurling while hoisting in 20-25kts of wind winding the (double) tackline 23 times around itself. Everything stuck in the middle of the hoist. While lowering the flapping bird a brutal move of the boat swept her over the rail where she caught water and changed into a sea anchor. Houston we have a problem. Failure is not an option.
We turned the boar into the wind to stop her and started pulling the huge m…..f….r on deck. With the genoa and sheets slamming and going up and down in the rough sea the foredeck was not the place to be.
Anyone, who has ever had to pull a spinnaker or colored canvas from the wat knows how heavy that is. None of us would have been successful alone. But together we managed to get all cloth on deck and trough the hatch down below. Together with a lot of water.

Pfffftt! Heaviest work till now. Soken wet. Cold en with flat accu each, Floris and I (for sure) needed warm coffee and dry layers first to recover from this ridiculous exercise.

Now under Code5 and plan ready to hoist the unfurled 116m2 tissue again somewhere tonight in lighter conditions.

Expected finish tomorrow (wednesday) end of day.
189 nm to go.

Floris & JanKees

….father in the world! Got a message from Wouter, son no2, that he has arrived in Boston and is on his way to Newport. Made friends with a crew that will do the Newport Bermuda race in June. Wouter will join me at the delivery back via the Acores. Well done Wouter. AMS-Newport. Good for you! We’ll see you at the finish. 😍

Floris & JanKees

… x Enkhuizen – Makkum.