Kindly we were invited to sail with Varsovie the 100 foot Swan for a test sail. I was very curious about the yacht and how it would feel to sail it. The first thing that struck me as we got closer was how clean the design was. The yacht had no excess things that made it look clustered, instead everything seemed to be very well thought of and a nice detail was how the cleats were retractable into the deck. When we had climbed aboard I found myself standing a few meters up , Varsovie was hardly moving in the swell that caused the yachts anchored around her bounce like little dinghies and when I looked up I was amazed by the giant mast. Cantare’s mast top would maybe reach up to Varsovies first spreaders out of her four pairs. After saying hello to the owners, guests and crewmembers we were soon on our way out of the bay. All winches were hydraulic so all you had to do to hoist or trim the sails was to push a button. Actually it wasn’t really that simple, the guys on foredeck had to work hard from time to time when the gennaker or spinnaker was going up or down. Although the log showed over 9 knots it didn’t feel fast. Only when comparing to smaller yachts around her was it possible to realize what a huge yacht we were on. Most of the sail work was exactly like on Cantare, the one big difference was how many people it took to sail her. That is why I actually prefer to sail Cantare, it’s possible for me to do it on my own and it’s easy to have control of everything. You also have better contact with the water on a smaller yacht and just by leaning over the rail on Cantare you can touch the ocean. I missed that feeling on Varsovie. But when asked whether or not we wanted to join them for the regatta the next day I decided to give it one more go, mostly to experience what it’s like to race on a big yacht. It was fun although I had expected more action than what really occurred, most of the time we were sitting on the rail or climbing over the deck saloon to the other side. Therefore when Sofia wanted to stay for the other race days I was skeptical, in the end we decided to split up. Sofia stayed ashore and raced during daytime while Catrine and I sailed Cantare to the other side of the island. I never wanted to go to St. Martin and now we have been here for almost a week, luckily Emelie happened to be here as well and that has made it worth it. I am also glad that I've had the opportunity to try sailing on a 100 foot Swan. However I am very happy that we will be leaving today, finally we are moving towards Cuba again. First we will stop on Virgin Gorda, BVI, and then we go to Turks and Caicos before it’s time for Cuba Libre. / The Captain