On board of the Bonte Koe each morning a grib file is downloaded. The results are always antipated with great interest. As soon as Maarten the navigator has the file, Skipper Jan (73) looks over his shoulder to see if we can make something out of it. So far we have not yet been really lucky in the predictions generated from these files. Some examples. Right now according to the files we should be in a terrible windless area, however we are cruising along in 18 knots of wind for the last 4 hours... The evening of the 3rd of December we were ready for yet another quiet night at sea when all of a sudden hell broke loose with squalls and windspeeds that made us believe we might be in the middle of a developing hurricane. These high winds and wild seas kept us at our feet the whole night and most of the next day.
The one thing that was sure during our 1995 ARC crossing were the trade winds to take us to St. Lucia in 17 days! Well nothing is sure during this ARC for maybe one thing: Fish for supper! Helms- and fisherman Albert-Jan has not gone a day without a catch (or two). It made his sister Marieke exclaim: I was really hoping for some chicken tonight...
Family boat Bonte koe 6 december 2008
Albert-Jan Bijleveld
PS. A-J heeft een log van de BK op de website van de ARC geplaatst.