Dear Readers,
wieder einmal ist es soweit: Morgen soll es los über den Atlantik gehen. Das fünfte Mal schon für mich. Das dritte Mal auf der Nordroute. Die Anspannung ist noch relativ klein, Because I have never known a boat as well as our catamaran before crossing the ocean “Maverick XL”. Fast 15.000 We have sailed nautical miles with him over the past few years 2,5 Already logged for years and still good 5000 more miles lie ahead of us in the next three months, until we are supposed to arrive in Hamburg by ship. The ship has been tested, in perfect condition and I'm not worried at all, that we should have bigger problems with this.
When it comes to crew, however, I'm now in completely new territory on this trip: For the first time, it's not just Cati and I on board. Im Gegenteil: Cati is now six months pregnant and flew to Germany from Nassau yesterday. This is the second time in almost five years that we have been apart for a long period of time. Your gap here on board will be difficult to fill. But the crew who came especially for the Atlantic crossing are doing their best. It consists of three old and good friends, who was my ideal choice for the route ahead of us across the North Atlantic: My old sandbox friend Sammy, that yes 2015 on “Maverick too” has already sailed with us through the southern Caribbean for a whole month and is therefore experienced in the ocean. Michi came (with his wife Uli) as one of the first guests to join us on board in the Bahamas. But it felt like it from day one “Sailing with friends”. Always, when I wanted to explain some new maneuvers back then, I turned around and Michi was already standing in the right place and had the right leash in his hand. The third member of the group is my sailing instructor Jens, which was more than mine back then 20 For years he taught sailing in the optimist dinghy on Lake Allersee. I learned most of the sailing tools from him and developed my dream through the stories of his Atlantic crossing back in the Optigruppe, to do something like that at some point. And so it is a great pleasure for me, to have him on board.
Over the past few days we have been doing some final maintenance work here on the boat, Lines changed and equipment optimized. Then four full shopping carts went into the hulls of the cat. We have been ready to leave since this afternoon. And it's about time, that we can get away. I notice more and more, how excited the crew is and constantly coming up with new ideas, to optimize the ship. Tomorrow it will actually look like this, as if a good weather window was opening for us, to sail from Nassau over to Bermuda. I've never been there before and I'm very excited. Above all, I'm looking forward to it, to finally let the ship run straight again after the many tours through the Exumas … Cati and I have already taken the boat several times 800 or even 1000 Miles made. But we haven't conquered an entire ocean yet. Also: Cast off and go for it! 🙂
I'll be posting a log entry here every few days for the next few weeks. You can also follow us constantly via a live tracker. Hier ist der Link: www.johannes-erdmann.com/wordpress/tracker/
Michi has also created a blog, which you are welcome to follow: ueberdenatlantik.blogspot.com
Regards! One last time from the Bahamas …
John
Rig check in the blazing midday sun. Alles in Ordnung, nothing to complain about…
The back box is also briefly dismantled and re-sorted.
Michi assembles a stainless steel eye, into which we can peck ourselves with the life belt.
While inspecting the winches, the skipper clumsily drops one of the winches into the water. Michi found it again 😉
A lot of provisions go into the boat. Of course we also have plenty of fresh things with us.
“Maverick” tugs on her leashes and wants to go. She can too. Morning.
It's still almost blowing out at sea 30 Knots. But the cumulus clouds indicate good sailing conditions for tomorrow.