Escapado - Proud skipper Angela

Crossing the Atlantic E to W is commonly known as champagne sailing. After race start you make way to 20 degrees North and then head for St Lucia.
This is my 8th Atlantic crossing in 4 years (this being the 4th E to W) and I can tell you that the champagne is nowhere to be found.

Luckily we brought some ourselves and yesterday at lunchtime we all had a glass to celebrate our ‘half-way’ point, while holding on for dear life.

Race start had some extreme conditions. Gusts up to 30knots, 2-4m swell and unfortunately the crew did not have any time to gently slide into life on board Escapado. But everybody held up amazingly. The next day I said that it would not get any worse than this.. 10 days in I now seem like a bit fat liar.. hahaha.

On the upside, this is life onboard and I cannot believe how incredible amazing everybody is.

We have not seen any wind below 12 knots. That might seem gentle but not if you take into consideration that out of nowhere gusts of 22+ knots appear out of any direction 30 degrees port or starboard. In combination with the confused swell this calls for some very high end helming even the most weathered sailors will struggle with. So we broach (please check YouTube for some examples) at least 3 times a day and that is no-ones mistake. We are on a 40ft boat and the waves simply play with us as if we are a cork on the water.

But we are doing great. Spirits are high, everybody is trying their best and some of the crew really (really!!) got very good at keeping us on course. It is just a shame that one little helming mistake has such consequences.

I am blown away by the resilience of this group of people. I have not heard one complaint and the food that appears out of the galley is really amazing. And yes, occasionally everything flies through the galley and saloon, but we are keeping the floor clean and currently it is no time to be picky :-)

I can’t wait for some more gentle conditions so we can fly the kite(s) in a more controlled environment, maybe have a bit of downtime and just enjoy being out here. Because it really is amazing and everybody deserves it.

Proud skipper
Angela