Dear Readers,
nach einigen wunderbaren Wochen in den Azoren wurde es wieder einmal Zeit, die Segel zu setzen. Cati flog von Ponta Delgada zurück nach Deutschland, denn im 7. One month pregnant, it was clearly too sensitive for us to take her out to sea. I had actually planned two old friends for the next leg to Scotland, Both of them still had to sort out their vacation at the time. It will work for one of them, I thought. But both of them couldn't get out of their jobs and that's how it happened, that I was now sitting in Ponta Delgada, embarrassed by a fellow sailor.

Who should I take with me?? On such a long stretch of good 1650 I would really like to know the fellow sailor at least a little. I met another student at Horta, who offered himself. But then he flew back to Germany and everything was delayed. And the good weather ran away from me. And so an old idea came back to life: Why not sail single-handed again?? I've wanted this for a long time, the chance just never arose.
Granted, such a 13 meters long and 7 Meter-wide catalytic converter is only suitable to a limited extent. Unlike modern cats, in which all sheets and lines are laid to the helmsman, Our boat is designed more for crews. For example, it's a miserable race, to reef the genoa, when she is on the port side. piece, run over, Crank in piece, run back, piece, again to starboard, collect piece, …

I had also waited a little too long and a thick low pressure area had formed, which stood fairly stationary between the Azores and England. But actually a low isn't bad at all, because on the east side there are southerly winds. I would just have to make a small detour towards Spain. Even more miles, but good weather.
After the passage of another low in the Azores (in which there were waves in the harbor of Ponta Delgada, that I thought the ships were at sea...) then the jump. Setting off in crosswinds was actually my biggest concern. Because of the shifting winds in the harbor over the past few days, I had found myself stuck in all directions with eight mooring lines like a spider's web. But luckily my old friend Volker happened to come by in the harbor, to take a look, whether I'm still there. A few other jetty neighbors also helped and before I knew it, I was on the way.

The first day I drove east along the south coast of the island of Sao Miguel and from there headed straight for La Coruna. The north wind on the west side of the low pushed me excellently northeast. I was even able to sail right into the core of the depression, I start the engine there in the calm for a night and am now on the east side of the low and being pushed north. Although very slowly, because it is very calm, but steadily. 820 Nautical miles are already in my wake and I'm currently in the middle of the Bay of Biscay.

On Monday I will cross the approach path for the English Channel and head for the Irish Sea. Then there will definitely be a little more traffic again, for in the past week at sea I have only seen five ships. Funnily enough, one of them was a yacht from my hometown of Wolfsburg! I have been following the “Gepetho” blog for years, but only now met the family in the Azores. However, they headed towards La Coruna, while I headed north.

How it feels, to sail single-handed again after so many years? Strange at first. We had full house in the Azores. Now I sail around with four empty cabins and sleep in the saloon. I always had the same feeling at first, there would be someone else on board, only on duty. Every time I had great experiences on deck, I immediately thought, “I have to tell Cati about that later.”, when she wakes up". But then I kept remembering: There is no one here. I was a little worried too, whether I would still be able to maintain my 25-minute sleep rhythm. I'm not one 20 more… 😉 But it works surprisingly well. All 25 The alarm clock rings for minutes, I check everything outside and immediately fall asleep again. But let's see, whether that works too well, when I set the pace in front of the English Channel 15 Reduce minutes. But so far I'm in good spirits.

Greetings from the Atlantic! More 350 Miles to Ireland.
John