The Atlantic, a challenge or?

Not much to do out there!
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There are two major routes across the Atlantic. The traditional one is going south until the butter melts, turn right (Starboard) and head for the chosen island in the Caribbean. Anther that has become more popular the later years is to drop by The Cape Verde Islands, take a rest and then head west. Depending on the boat it may shorten the open ocean passage with up to a week. We had got some reports about slow crossing from the ARC that left a week ahead of us, but decided to go directly and estimated around 22 days for the passage with a speed 5 knots and 120 N m a day.

Time for a nap.
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We fueled up and set off south along the coast of Gran Canary as I watched a rather heavy weather system heading in from the west. In the evening the VHF alarm went on with a 'storm warning'. As we were heading south and the system seemed to pass north of us towards Teneriffe, we kept on. It was a somewhat bumpy night that sent the ladies and Imran Hans downstairs. I had a busy time emptying the bucket! The good thing was we did quite some good distance south while it lasted.

However it started to clear up, the ladies and Imran Hans surfaced again to the cockpit and we were slowly able to turn more west. In a nice 15Knots breeze the spinnaker went up and we really had a good ride until a sheet broke in the middle of the night, the spinnaker made a nice 'tulip', got hooked up in a spreader and sheared! No more spinnaker!!

The less waves, the bigger the smiles!
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The wind was still good enough to give us a nice push with the genoa until that one came loose in the top, went out of the forestay profile, into the sea and under the boat! What a job to get it back onboard again and luckily no damage. However it was nice and blue from the bottom paint! The biggest problem in the 15-20 knots of wind and 3-5 meters of swell was to get up in the mast and get the halyard down again. That left me with quite some blue bruises as souvenirs, but down it came and up with the genoa again. This time all bolts and shackles properly secured with wire!!!!

Even Mrs. 'Bucket' had some nice time.
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As we turned more west and got the wind even more from behind it was time to spread out the genoa. It took less than 24 hours and the boom bracket was ripped off the mast. Soft aluminum rivets is not what I would recommend in such an application.  Some rope and creativity and it was just to continue. Days went, night went, squalls became more and more frequent with wind speeds up to 40-50 knots and 90degree wind changes in seconds. A new routine was established in the mornings and that was to clean of the deck and cockpit for stranded flying fish and small squids! Quite a bit of a chock some times when they came flying into the cockpit in the middle of the night, and Kristinas biggest worry that they would go through her open portliest and into her bunk! It was close a couple of times, but no direct hits!

Nice as long as it lasted!
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But crossing the Atlantic like we did is plain boring! The only breaking of the daily routines were the incidents with the broken sails and boom bracket. The rest of the time is mostly just letting the time pass. On the whole passage we spotted 3 boats in 18 days. One catamaran tried to catch us up, but gave up that project and headed more south in a for him more favorable wind angle. Dinner time was the highlight of the day, but the menu got a bit monotone except for the times pizza, home baked in the oven, was on the menu!

Happy first time Atlantic crosser, Kristina.
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18 days after we left the port of Las Palmas we dropped anchor in Bridgetown, Barbados. This was our first meeting with the bureaucracy of immigration in some of the caribbean islands. We were told to pull up the anchor and go into the cruise line harbor to clear in. That was definitely not a friendly place with rough stonewalls and heavy swell. Two hours later we managed to get out and back to the anchorage.

The last day before arrival we had many a discussion about the evenings dinner menu. It was long after dark when we finally had the anchor down and was ready to go ashore. Kristina and I went in the dinghy to the 'Boat Yard' which was where the dinghy dock is. No restaurants in the vicinity were open, only at the 'lobster house' we managed to persuade the owner to make us some lobster soup, bread and lobster legs! Kristina got herself a nice ham sandwich!

The Pizza Bakers!
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As daylight came next morning it was time for everyone to get ashore and explore. Back to the 'boat Yard' which at day time was a beach bar and water game place and rather busy! 20$ a day to park the dinghy, but we got the same amount in tokens back that we could use in the bar and restaurant! Each day a new wrist band in different color to identify us which made us look like some run away patients from the nearest hospital! Barbados is tourism and tourism only. One taxi driver gave us a very clear statement about the local view: You are welcome to visit and spend Your money, but preferably as quick and much as possible, then leave! In general we were met with friendliness and reasonable service, and even managed to find some nice restaurants even if a bit overpriced.

Enjoying dinner.
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For us the best part was the beach and clear and nice waters. The only real luxury we did was a marvelous Christmas dinner at the former mentioned Lobster Shack! The major part of the restaurant was a huge 'aquarium' with hundreds of lobsters flown in from the Grenadines and the owner supplied most of the local hotels. The restaurant was probably a minor part of his business, but to us the most important. It was a well loaded dinghy going back to Haffiman in the evening.

Would I go back to Barbados? probably not. No special reason, but If I was to do another crossing I might probably go directly to Martinique or Rodnys Bay at St. Lucia. For yachters there is next no service, 'risky' immigration and no real culture that makes me feel I have missed something.

Special treatment for the captain!
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As Kristinas friend Haarek was to arrive in Martinique, we checked out on Christmas day and headed for Le Marin at the south point of Martinique!