Back in the Atlantic Ocean

After 4 days of sailing since we left Valencia, we passed last night the street of Gibraltar. It was literally a passing during the night. Because of the heavy traffic it took me from the late afternoon until the late morning to get through the street. The 3 days before have been outstanding with light winds and the optimal environment to get use to the life at sea. 
The breeze was increasing during the passing of the street of Gibraltar….in the street we put the 3 reef into the mainsail and were sailing without jib dead downwind. At 7 am the wind increased to 40 knots ….a couple of minutes to 45 knots (force 9).. and I decided to take down the main completely. Under bare poles we were sailing and surfing 9 to 15 knots (although with heavy current against us). Finally the wind stabilized at 50 to 55 knots (its maybe a force 10 ?)…I went down  and was trying to catch some sleep…but this is not so easy if you have flying water outside and the wind is jamming in the rigg….Now around 3 pm all is over and we are sailing with 25 knots of wind from behind direction west. 
Lifgun get a rigg refurbishment at the Victory Challenge Base in Valencia. This is the former Swedish Americas Cup base and still under management of the same people. Lifgun get an upgade for single hand sailing and to increase the safety on board. The most important improvements are :

-We added an inner forestay to fly a heavy weather or a storm jib from there, on a furler.
-The hoist system for the blue water runner we’ve also improved. Now it’s possible to fly the BWR without getting too the very bow. 
-The mainsail halyard is changed to a 2:1 halyard.
-All running rigg stuff renewed.
-Optimized the reef settings
-Inspected and refurbished  the rigg cables.

I’ve tested during the last for days all the new systems, most of them are working great – for some I need some more training but over all I’m totally satisfied. Thanks to Shayne who invested a  huge amount of know-how and time into this project.
Anyhow – we are now again sailing in the Atlantic Ocean and heading north direction Plymouth. Ahh….and for sure… it was a wonderful Christmas abord Lifgun. 

Hello from 36.21.25N / 6.41.762W