We are finally out sailing again and consequently we have more time for blogging than we have ashore. This time we have even more time since we have welcomed the owners, more precisely Maria's parents, Anders and Helena. Anders, who hasn't been out sailing for a long long time, is like a child on Christmas Eve with a big smile on his face. At the moment he is steering on a reaching course and is very proud he manages to hold Cantare on an exact course, yeah, I think he's almost better than our dear wind vane Monitor at the moment. In order not to make Anders too proud, I cannot remember the last time we had such a comfortable sailing, hardly any rolling at all. I can sit down properly without having to hold on to everything, wonderful! We have been sailing down the western coast of St Lucia today and at sunset we had a fantastic view of the duelling peaks of stone, called the Pitons. Piton is also the name of the beer that we, together with rum punch sort of have over consumed the last week, giving all of us, even the captain a bad hangover. Our destination this time is Bequia, the most northern island in the Grenadines. Not only is Bequia stated as the most perfect island in the whole Grenadines by lonely planet, it is also home for Christmas celebration among us Scandinavians. Or shall I put it this way, the party moves from St Lucia to Bequia. From Rodney Bay in St Lucia to Port Elizabeth in Bequia it's around 70 Miles and we are planning on arriving there some time tomorrow morning. But before arriving it would be really nice to caught a tasty dolphin fish for Christmas. I, the fish killer onboard, have been resting a while so I'm more ready than ever for preparing a fish for the barbeque party in Bequia. Over and Out! /First Mate

Normally you don't spend much time preparing for going ashore. To get the fenders and ropes ready is just a few minutes work. But nothing is normal with our next landfall. After more than three weeks at the Atlantic Ocean we are rapidly approaching land again. We have only 215 nautical miles left now, that's nothing! We did a lot of preparations before we left Las Palmas, back then our arrival was impossible to imagine. The same goes for the first days at sea, the crossing seemed to stretch into eternity. That might explain why we now have to do some landfall preparations. Where exactly in the fore cabin are the fenders? Where are the finish instructions given to us the day before we left? We saw them on the first day at sea, but since then they have disappeared. Might there be any navigational hazards close to land? It feels strange to worry about water depth again. I have found and filled out the paper that is to be handed over to the customs, the passports are where they should be, in the grabbag and I think I know where my shoes are (though I haven't seen them since Las Palmas). After this long time at sea being under sail has become the norm. In our little world the wind comes from behind and our two headsails are constantly pulled out by spinnaker poles. Coming around Pigeon Island and approaching the finish line we will most likely be close hauled, we want to finish with the sails up, doing the whole ARC without using the engine for propulsion. Therefore we need to think about taking the poles down, getting the two headsails on the same side and hoisting the mainsail for the first time.

Today we are about to take our last shower. It will probably take up most of our day, feet need to be scrubbed, unwanted body hair removed and nails shortened. Although everything will roll around on the cockpit floor I am sure that the girls will do it smiling, they are so eager to get ashore, I am reluctantly starting to look forward to is as well. Maybe Cantare starts to feel the tension, maybe she wants to stay here at the Atlantic, something is definitely going on. Since we took the DuoGen up we are forced to run he engine everyday to generate power. This morning when Emelie was about to start the engine it only sounded normal for a few second before everything went quiet, the voltage was on a critical level so we badly needed to get the engine started. Now I was really glad that I have installed the whole electrical system myself and that I did it with problem searching in mind. Four screws to loosen, then the start panel is easy to take out and I can check the backside. The fuse was blown. I changed it and we tried to start again. The new fuse blew in just a few seconds. Hmm…what might be the problem then, probably a short circuit somewhere, but how was I to find it? Since everything looked all right at the back of the start panel I put in a slightly larger fuse and told Emelie to turn the key while I was down looking at the start engine. Ah sparks, I could see sparks around one of the connection screews. Turned out that the nut was a tiny bit loose. My dad has told me many times how important it is to secure the nuts tightly. Could the problem be that easy to solve? Yes it was! After tightening the nut and putting a right size fuse in place everything was back to normal. Today's shower was back on!

But Cantare wasn't finished with us for today, when we turned on the watermaker nothing much happened. It pumped alright but there wasn't any fresh water output. I could see some air in the hose going in to the pump, I decided to circulate the system for a while, like you do when you've put in a new filter. Luckily that solved the problem. Today seems to be the day when we have to pay for our lazy days. The wind is having a nasty last-days-at-the-Atlantic celebration, we now on and off have 50 knots of wind, forcing us to constantly reef and unreef the sails.   

We are now approaching land rather quickly, at the moment we have 310 Miles left to go and soon we will be able to smell land. Until then I will share with you some things I'm really looking forward to ashore:

• Being able to stand up still, sit down still or lay down still without having to hold on to something in order not to fall and get more bruises.
• Having dinner at a set table without having to hold everything. Nowadays we usually eat first and drink afterwards since we only got two hands available, one for holding the plate and one for eating.
• Speaking of food, I'm dying for fresh vegetables and fruits.
• Being able to take a bath whenever you feel like it, (and not only foot baths in our water filled cockpit). Yeah, I know, we are surrounded by water, but it's unfortunately not that easy stopping the boat and jump into the tempting water, and especially not now when we are racing against Zahara.
• Having more square meters to use than the climbing area of 7 square meters onboard. (our bath room included in the 7)
• Having lots of people around me and reunite with all friends that have already arrived in St Lucia! Emelie and Maria are great and I love them, but now we need to see other people and get new influences.
• Taking off my lifejacket and try to get rid of the funny tan it has caused. A kind of tan similar to the Swedish tan called "bonnabränna".
• Washed, fresh bedding without sweat and salt water moist.
• Not having to use earplugs while sleeping and not be bothered by the several disturbing noises onboard, of which Maria has told you before.
• Last, but certainly not least, cold beers!

The above mentioned are only samples, I'm sure there are more. However, despite the fact that I'm really looking forward to go ashore, the 21 days and nights we have been on the Atlantic Ocean so far have been just amazing. It feels more like we have been out for a week than the actual three weeks. Let us hope that the remaining few days will work out just as smooth as the recent have. Until we arrive in St Lucia we are practicing a little arrival song I've come up with by changing some lines in an old Swedish melody. Feel free to join us singing!

//: För vi har korsat Atlanten, för vi har korsat Atlanten, för vi har korsat Atlanten, fy fan vad vi är bra!

Fy fan vad vi är bra, fy fan vad vi är bra, för vi har korsat Atlanten, för vi har korsat Atlanten, för vi har korsat Atlaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanteeeeeen, fy fan vad vi är bra! ://

Tonight we are going to celebrate the last 48h increased speed with a glass of champagne in the sunset. I want to wish you all a very nice Lucia Weekend, and if you happened to be tired of all Christmas preparations, then take a break and have a look at hamnen.se and at the insurance company Europeiska's blog, where we have posted some updates! /Love, First Mate Sofia

After nearly 3 weeks at sea I'm finally starting to get a grip of it all. Some things, like how to handle the sails and how to adjust the monitor were I expecting to learn. I have also during these weeks learned some things I never expected, but almost just as important. Therefore I would like to share them with you.

¤ It is fully normal to mistake things for what they really are. Especially when you are at night watch, and a bit tired. A star can sometimes be mistaken for a lantern. The moon rising can look like a huge boat closing in on you , and a star falling can easily look like a flare.

¤ Using a headlight is not tacky. The headlight is a great invention and very practical. Sorry dad for all the times I have made fun of you. Next time you suggest a run in the forest late at night I will definitively wear a headlight.

¤ It is fully possible to do aerobics in tiny cockpit,. Even when it is high waves and 30 ⁰ C. You just need good music and a friend that is just as restless as you are.

¤ After just a few days you will get new and improved skills. Before I could not catch a ball with one hand even if I concentrated really hard. Now I can catch a falling egg at the same time as I balance a glass of hot water in my other hand. This while the boat rocks me back and forward.

¤ If you want to catch a fish, start doing something important. Like for example write down your position in the logbook or start to take in sail. If you want to be really sure to catch a fish, hang the hook a bit above the water and go to sleep. Don't ask me why, but they seem to like it that way.

We are now doing great speed and the sun is shining from a clear blue sky. We have managed to close in on Zahara and we are having champagne tonight. Our only problem the last 24 h is that we had to take up the DuoGen yesterday. This since it kept colliding with our Monitor, causing damage on the DuoGen. When we took up the DuoGen we discovered that Monitor's light wind vane was slightly damaged as well. We have therefore changed to the regular wind vane. After some adjustments it is now working just fine. /HUGS AND KISSES, Deckhand Emelie

Every time we have a watch change the person leaving tells the person going on how we are doing and if anything special has happened. Nowadays the question "have you seen any other boats?" seems to produce nothing more than laughs. I was sitting behind the wheel listening to music, looking at the horizon and thinking during my afternoon watch. Although I was constantly looking out I kind of stuck to the same piece of water and sky, therefore I told myself to have a 360 degrees horizon check every ten minutes or so. The sun had just hidden behind our headsails when I started to do a serious look around thinking this is hardly necessary since here aren't any boats, haha, but it should be done anyway. There it was, I had to look again, a "real" ship, with three masts and square sails, closing in on us from behind. Their sails looked black, I thought of pirates, but then the sun emerged from the cloud above them and shone on white sails, the moment was gone. Back to reality, pirates of today uses RIBs, I called the girls up so they could see the impressive ship. We discussed where it might be heading, I guessed Antigua. As it got closer we could see that it had four masts, the aft one without square sails. We heard something on VHF channel 16, but couldn't make out more than "….sea cloud, sea cloud do you copy?." We went through the ARC-participants list but found no boat named Seacloud. Seeing no other boats around, we figured it was the big ship who tried to contact us. Knowing the limits of our VHF antenna we didn't respond immediately, but waited for them to get even closer. Then they sent a new message over the VHF, this one was loud and clear, it was a woman speaking. We responded and agreed to change to channel 68. The woman asked us very politely about our name, origin and destination. We found out that the ship was named Seacloud, rang a bell in the back of my head, and that they were bound for St. John and then Antigua. The conversation ended with her telling us "you look absolutely beautiful, good luck with the competition and bon voyage." That was it, a short friendly meeting with a pirate ship on the Atlantic ocean, our day's most interesting event.

We are doing better speed now, maybe we will be in St. Lucia on the 15^th . But we have some problems with the DuoGen, it is colliding with Monitor, I have tried to fix it with results that lasts no longer than 24-hours. Today we might take it out of the water, then we will have to start the engine to generate power. Don't worry we will be fine anyway, might even make us a bit quicker with nothing dragging behind. Watch out Zahara, we will cool the champagne and celebrate if we overtake you! /The Captain

Yesterday evening I left the fishing hook dragging behind the boat, I know the girls don't like that because then we might get a fish during the night when two of us are asleep. But it was almost full moon and there is a saying that it's harder to catch fish two days before and two days after full moon, I took a chance. We had calculated that sometime during the night or early morning we would reach midway, it actually happened at 00.30 am, so I thought a Dorado would accompany the champagne nicely. One's most likely to catch fish right after sunrise or before sunset, because they hunt more actively when the water is cooler and that's the reason why I wanted to leave the hook out. Emelie has the morning watch, she woke me up at a quarter to nine telling me in an anxious voice that we had a fish. Happily I got up and tried to wake Sofia up as softly as possible, she's usually not very keen on killing fishes before she's had breakfast. I went out in the cockpit and began to haul in the fish, but when he was about ten meters from our stern I could see how he made a sideway movement and got loose. A bit sulky I checked that the hook was alright before I put it out again.

Sofia started to prepare breakfast while I decided to solve the problem with the Monitor ropes. The steering ropes was led from the wind vane through a double block to the wheel. Since the two ropes actually need different angles the double block had started to chafe the ropes badly. I had hoped we could get away with it, not having to change the ropes before we reached St. Lucia, but then Emelie noticed how bad the ropes looked and told me this morning so I had to take action. I found a spare block and led one of the ropes through it and the other one stayed in the double block, after some tampering with the placements of the blocks I managed to eliminate all chafing spots and connected Monitor to the wheel again. I was happy with today's work and went down to write today's post about how we almost caught a celebration fish.

But I hadn't written many sentences before Emelie once again told me that there was a fish on the hook. I went out and started to pull it in. Sofia got out the bag net and scooped up the fish. I asked her if we should put the hook out again or if the fish was enough for tonight's dinner (it's Sofia's dinner making day) She said put it out again, one more would be good. Sofia was still killing the first fish when the reel rattled, third time in the same day. I went back to the fishing rod and started to haul it in, but it wasn't easy. Then the fish jumped and it was huge, I thought we wouldn't be able to land it, but decided to let it stay out there for a while to get tired. Although it was far off you could see a yellow mass underneath the water. Time was flying, I had to send our position to ARC Rally Control. When I came back out Sofia had finished making the first fish ready for the fridge. I told her to take out the big fish hook that my father made for us before we left, you put it through the body of the fish to make it easier to get the fish aboard. Sofia looked sceptical and refused to also take out the cheap vodka that's bought as a mean to kill big fishes. When I managed to get the fish closer to the boat and it jumped in front of Sofia and Emelie they were rather quick to fetch the vodka. We got all excited and started discussing landing tactics. In the end Sofia agreed that the bag net was to small and put the hook through the fish's body and hauled it aboard. We all screamed as it slid down onto the cockpit floor. Then I took out the vodka and poured it into it's gills, I started jumping all over the place and we screamed even more. But in a short while he stopped moving and we just sat there awe-struck watching his beauty. Then we took out the folding rule and measured him, from head to tail he was 890 mm! Gigantic! When Sofia put the knife into the fish we realized why they say it's a bloody business to kill a Dorado, blood was all over the cockpit. Everybody (sailors) talk about making sushi out of newly caught fish, you put the raw fish in lemon juice for half an hour and then it's ready. Emelie has been in Panama and there they call it "cevice". I was a bit curious and talked the others into trying. It tasted lemon and nothing more, Emelie says we need spices to get it right and will try to fix a recipe for us. Anyway now we have enough fish for a few days, and tonight we can celebrate halfway in style. Halfway to the Caribbean! It feels great! /The Captain

If you can't see the picture go to www.worldcruising.com where it will also be published.

Today we noticed an email that was sent to us yesterday by the ARC Rally Controll. The subject line read; Starfire rudder loss. Further we could read about how an ARC boat had diverted to assist the non-ARC boat Starfire, which is believed to be a Sadler 25 with two male crew members. We then realized that we know this boat, we met them in Las Palmas. Their yacht was to small to enter the ARC but they sneaked in on almost every event anyway. We began to think about their options, the rudder was snapped in half. Since they are further south and less west than us we figure they will go to the Cape Verdes.

What would we do if it happened to us right now? I think we would try to work something out and continue, with the double headsails we are sailing very balanced so I think we could have done it. But we all hope it will not happen. So far we have been lucky, no big problems at all. We have lost one screw that holds the DuoGen tower attached to the generator, but I found another screw in my toolbox that fitted and secured it with tape. We also have some water intake that we have to monitor and bail out with regular intervals. The water is pushed into the boat through the anchor box drain (which is under the waterline nowadays), we really can't do anything about that except eating our heavy food as quick as possible. My crew also complains a bit about the Serrano leg that bangs against the mast all night long, especially since they found out that they don't like it. I'm the only one liking the taste and I know they count the days until they are allowed to through it overboard.

Except for these minor problems everything is splendid in our little world. Cantare takes the Atlantic waves with grace, although we sometimes hold our breaths when we see big evil looking waves approach she always manages to take them in a good way. Her being heavier than normal seems to increase the stability. Monitor has been steering constantly since day 2, we use the light wind vane and have come to the conclusion that Monitor steers straighter than us without getting tired or hungry, great crew member with other words. The double headsails are fantastic, we don't have to do much with them and the fact that we can reef in a few minutes makes it possible for us to sail without preventive reefing during the nights. So far we have been doing a 24-hour average of 122 nautical miles, that exceeds my expectations, we have had winds between 5 and 12 m/s. But we do roll from side to side a lot, as some people said we would when they heard about our two headsails on the same furler. Funny though, in light winds we tend to roll more, bigger waves and a strong wind keep her steady. If I wake up and the boat rolls heavily I think wind increase, but when I pop my head out in the cockpit I realize that the wind is weaker than before and the swell that is left makes us roll. I think other boats with other sailplans roll as well, maybe a little bit less. Anyway we are glad to have a simple and non chafing (haven't found any chafe so far) solution that's easy to handle when there's only one person on watch. DuoGen keeps our batteries charged, we have almost too much power and when we don't run the watermaker it is possible to switch over from economy to normal on the fridge and keep it around 0 degrees. The watermaker works as it should, we run it every second day and then we produce around 20 litres of water. We have decided to allow ourselves a fresh water shower every Sunday, especially good for long hair that starts to transform itself into natural dreads after a few days. If we wash it once a week we might not need to shave it of when we reach St. Lucia.

We have many books left to read, a few more episodes of Sex and the City to watch, lot's of food to eat, plenty of fishhooks to loose, many waves and stars to look at and lots of time for interesting conversations. But I have started to notice some restlessness among the crew. Today we start our 10^th day at the Atlantic, we are getting closer to halfway champagne, some of our friends are already halfway, but I think we will need around 3 more days. I feel no restlessness at all, but I'm the one of us that loves to read books, I like almost any book I read and get swept away in no time. If you are to fully enjoy ocean sailing I think you need to find a good way to pass time. /The Captain