Last Day in the Year

Hi Mates, in the moment I’m bumping around somewhere south west of Lisbon in the Atlantic. Lots of traffic, lots of waves and only a little breeze. These are the ingredients which makes sailing a pain in the ass. Fighting again waves without wind is something difficult. And it looks not like the situation will change fundamental…sticking in a high-pressure system for the next couples of days…

 The boat is working great, the new setup seems to be ideal for short-handed sailing, the inner forestay gives me much more flexibility for an optimal sail wardrobe. Everything is furled – which is also totally okay. The new sheets are awesome and very precise. So, from this point of view I’m very satisfied. The other big change is that sailing is now even more then before computer supported. I’m (trying to) using Expedition, which is a professional routing and sailing software. The point is, that with this software my instrument data getting calibrated and all the information and data is managed by the expedition software. Including the weather data, which still is downloaded from Predict Wind. With the different graphs  on the screen it’s easier to recognize trends – like wind shifts or change of wind forces and so on. 

 Beside this the normal board life is going on, the pit stop in Vilamoura was to getting a rope out of the propeller (that was my bad….I was using the engine during a maneuver and the rope getting sucked in …. And to fix a leaking “T-joint” in the hot water system. I was always having some water in the engine room, around 10 liters per day. This is something which makes a sailor somehow nervous. And to be honest I didn’t figure out from where this water is for a long time. But now the problem is solved and Lifgun is dry like a desert))).

 Today in the morning a fresh bred made his way onto the table which is awesome. After an egg and bacon breakfast the fight with the sea and especially with the waves. Because my batteries are always topped up (thanks to the hydro-generator), I’ll wait until the wind is gone to use the engine an producing some hot water for showering. I think this should be latest tomorrow morning. 

I wish all of you a very happy new year wherever you are. I’m wondering what 2020 will bring. 31.12.2019 / 12.50 UTC / 38.10.151N – 09.56.890W