Rob and I are on our way back to Holland, currently on the plane to Paris. It's been an amazing experience sailing the ocean, and a weird one staying at our destination for less than 24 hours. An experience that will last a lifetime.

29-12-2002 07.30h local time: Barbados it is!!!

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Wanna see where they are? Take a look at this map.

Around noon local KeeS time (which is now on Barbados time, or UTC-4) we were visited by two whales or, to be exact, two Killer Whales.

With mixed feelings I just finished what was probably my last nightly watch. On one hand it means almost the end to a beautiful adventure. I will miss the night on this black ocean, underneath all those stars and our faithful friend, the moon.

13°33'N 55°27'W - With only 240 miles to go, our destination is almost in sight. And we're all looking forward to that moment, 'cause the last couple of days have been hard on all of us.
First there was the constant rolling of the boat, making live inside a little harder, and requiring though, all manual steering, 24 hours a day. Then we had a few squalls floating by. Thirdly, some of us are feeling a bit homesick with Chris(tmas).
And on top of it all, yesterday morning our rudder cable broke.

14°28'N 51°08'W - When I woke up this morning, the sea was like a washing machine. The waves - sorry I keep going on about them - weren't too high, but steep and short and irregular. Not easy steering at all. But things have radically improved over the last few hours. Let's hope they will stay this way, while we slowly prepare for our Christmas dinner aboard KeeS.

14°37'N 49°03'W - I don't like Christmas, and I don't think I ever did. But spending it so far away from the one you love... Now that really sucks.

14°43'N 47°33'W - I just finished my nightly watch with an almost satisfying 5.7 average VMG. It was like calmly driving a high speed highway, with only the occasional fire-truck-wave severely taking you off course.

14°38'N 46°38'W - We are tired of it, literally. The waves have been keeping us on edge all the time. But the rolling and twisting appears to become less now. Finally.

14°12'N 43°55'W - Yesterday evening something went very wrong: The wind picked up, which was ok. But the waves did too, from several directions. We were in for a bumpy ride...
Our watch system was totally screwed up. Rob couldn't sleep at all, neither could Fiona. André and I tried to relieve each other as much as we could, and Rob did too many hours while almost falling asleep.

14°29'N 39°15'W - Yesterday I caught a beautiful fish again. It was similar to the previous one, and even bigger. We found out from before that it is a 'Dorade' and definitely not poisonous. In fact, we now found out they can be delicious!

15°09'N 33°18'W - Nothing special about today: We again saw a lot of flying fish, made a lot of miles, had a lot of waves, and received a lot of messages over the Iridium phone. And I made Hutspot for diner.

15°10'N 30°31'W - Today started like a fine day. On my now regular watch from 00:00 to 03:00, I had an average of 7 knots, and so did Rob on his after me. All was well and we were making great miles, towards Barbados even. 'Welcome to the Trade winds, baby!' And it wasn't until my next watch at 13:00, before the shit hit the boomvang.

15°59'N 25°59'W - Yes! We finally left the Cape Verdes. It was wonderful having visited them, even if only for one and a half days. But it's about time we get to Barbados.
After Fiona's - understandably precious - laptop died this morning, her mood crashed to a new low point. Who needs Trade Winds and high & low pressure systems, when you have your own Personal Onboard Depression (POD™)?

And off the go again, hopefully this time a bit more wind so they will make it before NewYear. Bas sends his best regards and kisses to everybody and is very excited about the Cap Verdes...

16°58'N 24°57'W - It was just before sunrise that we dropped our anchor in this large bay called Porto Grande, on São Vicente. Our goal here is to fill up our diesel tank. And then wait for wind.

Tenerife (Canaries) - Sao Vincente (Cap Verdes)
Fiona has published her diaryand some pictures (dutch).

18°32'N 24°04'W - During those long windless hours yesterday, I tried to kill some time by dropping my fishing line into the water. And it didn't take long before I actually caught one!

Helaas en sorry,
Bellen met Vodafone is net zo duur als KPN!

20°18'N 24°27'W - On my shift from 1200 to 0300 last night, the wind died and ocean turned into this huge, flat mirror. It was almost magical to see so many stars, and a bright half moon reflected in the pitch black water around us. On top of this, a few dolphins decided to keep us company during the night.

Even een tussenstand van de prijsvraag:

21°13'N 23°18'W - No, we're definitely NOT in the Trade Winds. And we aren't going to encounter any such winds for a long time, if we must believe the stuff people are telling us over our satellite phone: This year presumably the Trade Winds start around 18° North, while we are still at 22°, way north of the Cape Verde's.
But we're doing great, ACTUALLY. (Here's to you, Giannis! Tnx for giving me that friendly call today!)

22.14N 22.21W at 22:50 PM: e-mail...

Whichever departure point is chosen, the objective is to get well into the belt of the established north-east trades as soon as possible. The northern limit of this belt varies with the seasons - from about 30°N in the summer to 25°N in the winter - and also from year to year. (The Atlantic Crossing Guide, Fourth Edition - RCC Pilotage Foundation)

22°45'N 21°40'W - Day 4 of our ocean crossing might very well have brought us the famous Trade Winds. Actually, last night did. With a bang.

24°40'N 21°05'W - I think I am getting the hang of our watch system. But the weather, that's something else.

27°31'N 18°24'W - We had a really calm first night, very unlike our previous attempt. As we sailed past El Hierro, the last piece of land we would see for a long, long time, I was amazed by the sunrise. I was alone to enjoy it on the last watch for the night when the wind went from 15 to 4 knots. Engine on.

And finally they set sail, last SMS from Bas at 5-12, 14.28 GMT: "And off we go! Around the world..."

Indeed, we´re still on the Canaries, Tenerife this time. We tried to leave for Barbados from Puerto Bianca, Cran Canaria but... We got our ´cohones´ kicked, in a bad way.

Unfortunately they are not so lucky with the swell, another e-mail in dutch.

Via this url (a trackingsystem from another sailingsite) it is possible to view the position of KeeS by moving your cursor on the map (you will see the coordinates in the little screen on the right). They will call daily/every other day (hopefully!) to give us their position which we will publish regularly.

The weather reports can be followed by clicking on the area (Atlantic-Route: Canary Islands - Trade Winds Zone 1 and 2).

Will they ever reach Barbados?!! Again the waves were a bit to heavy so they spend another night at Gran Canaria...the south side this time. Bas called this morning to let me know that they were planning to leave today...again. Perhaps with another pitstop at Tenerife or La Gomera?

This morning the KeeS finally set sail for Barbados. They will keep us updated every 2 days. Hereby the last e-mail...