Brainstorm - Anarchy rising at the sight of land Ahoy

Cuban cigars inside, Vermont being downed on deck, land Ahoy so what the heck!At the current speed around 8 knots we expect to arrive in about 4 hours from now, clocking in before 11 pm local time!!. read more...

Brainstorm - Regatta’s are won at night

Yesterday started sunny as usual but with the trade winds seriously picking up to 25 knots. With the wind- and wave angle unchanged this enables us to ramp the Rhapsodie up to 9 knots over ground. Perfect cards to ensure our advantage over the I Neverland and What’s Next.After laying down our hooks with the fish we quickly found another goal for the day; doubling our advantage over the competition. For this we need focus and motivation so we turned to classical music for the day. Starting breakfast with Vivaldi’s four seasons we quickly escalated the volume and intensity with Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Grieg while Philippe inspired us with some daring regatta stories. By the end of lunch we’d ramped up to the heavyweights of Bach and Strauss. I could only imagine the. read more...

Brainstorm - In elation of the Caribbean vibration

The Caribbeans must be near, as our nightshift attire is now swimming gear. It’s midday with thirty plus degrees, Soul Limbo from Booker T and the MG’s is playing in the back, when I wake from a nap on deck. A scorching sun is high in the sky above the desert sea. Quite a lush dessert I must say. Sargasses. Spotted as a lonely twig with some needle leaves a day or so after our rescue, now stretches in streaks that can run on for miles. All around us, all the time, blooming adrift the Gulf Stream. Some of us read it must be a plague, but toxic in high quantities sounds a little vague. For the nose of a resort guest, washed ashore where they want to rest. More of us ponder, if it might be a wonder. For the earth as a whole, these pine twigs of the sea, must be created after all. No matter. read more...

Brainstorm - Oh happy trades ?? o HAPPY trades

Yes you’ve hear it correct: the spin-off from “oh happy days” is the hit of today “as Jezus walks, oh happy trades..” After more calms, more squalls, more weird wind angles and absolute mayhem, rumor had it brexit killed the trades but we’re happy to report that we now have steady winds coming from 90 degrees true east for the entire day! In other words, for the first time in 2100 miles, trade winds!!!!On other news this week we have Jenny’s 60th birthday coming up on the 28th. Rowan and her Polepole have about 2/3 days to go so no pressure there mate. We’re confident you’ll make it a land party, a little bit sceptic we’ll make that, but optimistic about helping you guys cure the hangover the day after!So after a 5 days of mayhem we now have a steady 13 and 23 knots from the east.. read more...

Brainstorm - Seamen hospitality at the courtesy of Godet

The first days on board the Rhapsodie have been tremendously fun and warm. The elaborate morning check-ins by both misses and mister Godet (how was your night, how do you feel, are you still ok about what happened, how do you think Menno is really doing?) have changed more to the regular festive: Bonjournee, how did you sleep, thee or caffee?! JJ keeps referring to us as his sons when younger, taking his boat, but stopped reminiscing how dreadful this must have been for Hans, ashore, when getting the nightmare call. Instead we notice that the Godet’s and Philippe held themselves -and the Rhapsodie- back the first days. Yes we had some calms and squalls but the gears weren’t rocket out with the potential cock out. The same goes for the hidden treasures aboard, from story’s in mind as well. read more...