I have uploaded some new pictures, sadly the Internet connection here in Las Palmas is very bad and I wasn't able to upload all the intended pictures. I hope it's better in the Caribbean. Tomorrow is the day! /The Captain

We are so excited, the race starts tomorrow and finally, almost everything is ready for take off! Maria and I were at Skipper’s briefing earlier today and got the last information concerning the race and the latest weather forecast. We also got the ranking list for the competition, there is a certain handicap system based on boat type, size, kind of sails etcetera etcetera. We are the third shortest boat and the very thinnest in the race so do you know what?! We are ranked the slowest boat, but we are not sad, just excited, now we can beat them all due to the handicap we are given. Every boat we are faster than is a victory to us! We are counting on crossing in 25 days and every day faster is another victory!

The only thing remaining now is to get this uploaded on the blog and also to try to get some photos uploaded. Unfortunately, it is harder than expected. The wifi in the marina is so bad, all sailors are facing the same problem and are very annoyed at the fact that we cannot update our blogs and do necessary internet business. At the moment I am sitting at my parent's hotel trying to upload this but the connection is soooooooo slow. Maria on the other hand is trying to upload pictures at another place. It is slow at her place too but hopefully she'll manage to get some pics uploaded, we have lots of photos we want to share with you! During the crossing we are going to update the blog with our satellite phone so you all can follow our crossing day by day. When the internet business is done we are going to have a family farewell dinner and then have an early night, tomorrow at 13.00 is the starting signal for Atlantic Rally for Cruisers 2009, it is time to hit the big ocean! Mum is standing next to me here and just asked whether we are nervous, but I think Maria, Emelie and I are all just very excited, we haven't had time to get nervous....yet=)

I would also like to thank all our readers for following our blog and giving us your support! All of you mean a lot to us! Thank you! See you on the Atlantic Ocean!

PS. Don't forget to have a look at our latest guest blogging at the insurance company Europeiska's blog, you find it by clicking here. /First Mate

Shit, it is only three days until we leave, so exciting! Life in Las Palmas is very hectic; we have hardly time to shower. =) However, it is so much fun! We have passed the ARC Security Check and are now allowed to officially cross the Atlantic Ocean with the ARC race. We have also filled up the entire boat with provision so we will hopefully survive the passage. The entire boat is loaded with things we will need for the crossing and in the Caribbean, there is hardly any space left for us. I use to sleep in the fore peak, but now we have filled the fore peak with everything, from toilet paper to our Swedish specialty “knäckebröd”, so last night I spent between my parents at their hotel. (Since I haven’t seen them in ages, it was very cozy). Last Saturday Maria’s parents arrived and yesterday my parents, my sister, Maria’s grandma and aunt arrived. It is so nice having the close ones gathered before hitting the big ocean. We haven’t seen each other in four months so this reunion is very nice. They will be standing on the pontoon waving when we are leaving on Sunday. Before leaving we will do some last preparations and enjoy the time ashore here in Las Palmas. The ARC organization has had some great events here in Las Palmas and some good parties still remain! /First Mate

Finally, our dear deckhand and friend Emelie has arrived! We went to the airport with our new huge flag and the dodger cover (with Cantare written on) to pick her up and we are so glad to have her here! Welcome!!! Deckhand Emelie has been well introduced to the preparations before our take off. Today she was a helping hand when changing the engine oil and afterwards Emelie was totally covered in oil.

I want to take the opportunity to apologize to our readers for not having updated our blog for days. Since we arrived in Las Palmas we have had a very busy schedule, the “what-to-do-before-leaving-Las-Palmas-list” is very long and the ARC parties, seminars and other activities also fill up the days and nights. However, we have lots of fun and we promise to give you a good review of all the funny things that have happened and will happen during this preparation weeks in Las Palmas, when we are on our way over the Atlantic Ocean, that is when we think we will have all the time in the world! /First Mate

Today we checked in at the ARC office. We filled out a few papers, received a lot of information and booked our safety check. It will be later this afternoon. The only thing that we need to get before that is water to the grabbag, otherwise we feel prepared. I hope we get through the check without any trouble, but you never know how strict they are. We have also taken pictures for our ARC passes, which we need to wear on all the events and seminars. The ARC weeks have started! /The Captain

Now it's possible for our readers to enjoy short stories in Swedish from our life as sailors on hamnen.se The first one was published a while ago and a new one will appear there soon. Whatch out for it! /The Captain

Finally, we are here, we are in Las Palmas! The fact that the next step on our adventure is the Atlantic Ocean is little scary but very exciting! It is quite cool to think about how far Maria and I actually have sailed to get here, all the way from Sweden! However, when looking at the map of the world situated on the wall next to me at the Sailor’s bar here in Las Palmas, I realize the area we have covered isn’t that huge; there are certainly more places to sail to!

We left Puerto de Mogan (and the sun) yesterday morning and arrived 16 hours later in Las Palmas, which make an average speed of about 2 knots an hour. Yeah, we had day full of tacking! We rounded Maspalomas, the southeast corner of Gran Canaria and were hit by the northerly winds. Our dear old Yanmar with 12 horse powers couldn’t fight the waves we were facing, and I mean, we are sailors, and sailors sail, not run the engine. However, despite being drowned by the waves when steering, it felt really nice getting a real hardcore sailing before the take off of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers the 22nd of November.

Our first day in Las Palmas couldn’t have started better. After having done the check in, we, two tired sailors with a broken fridge, were invited to lunch onboard HMS Gladan. HMS Gladan, one of the Swedish Navy’s school ships, the one we met in Lisbon, happened to be moored next to the gas station were we filled our tanks with diesel. Thanks for a superb lunch guys! Now we have two weeks full of preparations and parties to look forward to here in Las Palmas. Maria just put up our “what-to-do-before-the-Atlantic-Ocean-list” on our bathroom door and tomorrow morning we will start by visiting a well-equipped chandlery outside Las Palmas to tick some of the things of our “what-to-buy-before-the-Atlantic-Ocean-list”. /First Mate

We had decided to leave Las Galletas and Tenerife early Tuesday morning. The weather forecasts looked good, 4-5 beaufort from the NE. But then a guy who works on a catamaran in the harbour told us about a sirocco warning and we started to reconsider, a sirocco is a strong easterly wind which brings a haze of sand from the Sahara, it also gets very hot. In the end we took the decision to go anyway because non of the weather reports we had checked showed any sign of the sirocco. 5 am the alarm went of, one snooze later we stood up, but we were very tired. After a cup of coffee we started to look positively on life again, we’re actually very lucky not having to set the alarm most of our days and when we do it’s because we are going to sail, and we do love sailing. We waved goodbye to the guys on Johanna, they were sleepy and had decided to leave the harbour two hours later than us. There was no wind when we left and the full moon made it easy to navigate out of the harbour. As always there was a swell so it wasn’t that comfortable in the beginning, but as the day got lighter the wind started to blow from the NE and we hoisted the sails. We started with one reef in the mainsail because of the acceleration zones. It was great sailing and we couldn’t stop smiling. Then the wind continued to increase until it was steady on 7 beaufort, we furled the headsail to the second reef point and pushed forward on a close reach. The waves got bigger of course and we got some parts of them splashed into the cockpit, time to put on our foul weather gear again. When we were about midway to Puerto de Mogan, our destination on Gran Canaria, the wind changed direction and then died in a few minutes. We furled the headsail but left the mainsail up in case the wind would come back, which it did later. Now from the N and as powerful as before, this time we took to the second reef in the mainsail and still did around 6,5 knots, with a short peak on 8,20. Great sailing again! But it didn’t last that long, this time the wind changed direction to S and decreased to the predicted 4 beaufort. Ah…our arms got exercised by all the sail changes and the steering, Monitor wasn’t on duty. 5.30 pm we arrived outside Puerto de Mogan, we called the marina on the VHF, they asked if we had a booking, if not the marina was full. Escape was already at anchor outside, we joined them and five other boats, in the very nice bay. We had Johanna behind us the whole day and they arrived not long after us. Here we are again, the same Scandinavian boats. This morning we saw the small Swedish flag and the white and red hull of Inga approach the harbour, lot’s of waving and smiling, we haven’t seen them since Calais. I guess we have to stay here one more night! /The Captain