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Dala - Right in the middle



Hi, all,



We are now in the 6th day of this leg, Bermuda to Azores, the longest and most significant, 1800 NM (for non sailors: NM is Nautical Mile and equals 1852 meters).

And we are right in the middle, my instruments are telling me that we are 933 NM from destination.

I've never done such a long crossing in my whole sailing life and I've never been so far from any piece of land. It's thrilling!

I've been asked a few times if you get bored on such a long trip. The short reply is: Not for a second!

The longer reply is that you have to plan and plan again your route constantly, reading and interpreting the weather forecast, trim your sails several times a day, etc... Because everything around you, the waves, the wind strength, the wind direction, the swell, the currents and more are changing all the time.

The other very time consuming task is coping with the failures which inevitably occur. If you read my former messages to this blog, you've had a sample of the various things which can and do go wrong on a sailboat. And I'll tell you more on that subject in my future messages...unfortunately.

Beside that, you want to keep in touch with friends and family -that's what I'm doing right now- and the radio, the satellites and all those marvelous means that we have today, like most hi-tech gadgets, enjoy making you crazy from time to time!

Of course, you have to cook, there are no restaurants around (but, again, we have the best cooker in the world: Joelle and since she's also a physician with an excellent understanding in nutrition, we eat very healthy, so I do not miss restaurants at all!). You also have to wash the dishes, there is no dishwasher around, and this is my job: I am good at it nearly as much as Joelle is at cooking! OK, it's less prestigious, but someone has to do it, no?

Then, you do not sleep that much at night. On this crossing, I share the night time with Richard, 3 hours each and rolling. During days time, we make two hours watches and Joelle is in. This means that during the day, you have to take a nap from time to time, in order not to be sleepy during your watch time.

I pass over 1000 other things that you do on a sailboat, I do not want this message to be too long. Believe me, I never felt bored on a sailboat.



Safe sailing to my fellow sailors and pleasant week to the land folks,



Albert


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