Christmas is right around the corner, I can feel it. It is very cold, around -10 degrees, the snow is crackling when walking in the beautiful winter city Stockholm. For me it is very exciting experiencing winter again, first time in two years. Last year this time of the year was not spent shivering with cold looking for underpants, it was spent tanning in bikini pants onboard Cantare on our way to the Carribean. Contrasts? Indeed!

ARC 2010 started last Sunday the 21st of November. 234 yachts left Las Palmas headed for St Lucia just as we did one year ago....ONE YEAR AGO?!!? It's crazy, already one year passed since we crossed the starting line in Las Palmas and headed for the 23 days long adventure to Carribean. Time is moving by so unbelievably quick, in fact it's slightly scaring me. However, they say time flies when you're having fun and I'm definitely having fun!

Want to know more about ARC 2010? Click here

With Love/First Mate Sofia

Cantare is out of the water and back in my parents' barn. When she came up her hull was covered with barnacles, dad spent at least an hour with the pressure washer before she was reasonable clean, luckily I was in Gothenburg that weekend. Then came the boring task of unloading all the stuff. Some of it I store in my parents' basement some of it I brought to my new apartment and a lot of it I threw away. I found some disgusting leftovers under one of the bunks, it looked a bit like a butter package but I'm not sure and some of the rusty tins had holes in them. I think you can imagine what an unpleasant task it was to sort it out. Every time I took something away from Cantare I felt sad, it felt like I was tearing apart my home. Leaving my best friend naked and vulnerable. At the same time it amazed me that we actually lived on her for a whole year, she isn't that big, but nevertheless we managed to fill her with everything we needed and a bit more (I found a lot of things that we never used). The fact that she has been on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean is sometimes hard to grasp even for me. When Sofia falls in love with our capital I'm falling in love all over again with Cantare, my beautiful adventurer who took me safe back to Sweden. How I miss waking up to freedom and possibilities.

After a sad weekend when making Cantare ready for the winter I decided to plan another trip, not too far away in the future, otherwise I won't survive. The beautiful nature of Scotland has lured me for a long time, I think it's time to go there next summer. Cantare and Nessie might like each other and I'll see what it's like to go north instead of south, Iceland is still in my mind.

When I spoke to Emelie the other day she told me that they had decided not to sail to Sweden next summer, instead they are going with Alan's new yacht to Scotland. What a coincident, reunion in Scotland next year then. Just need to get Cantare ready for another North Sea crossing. Now I have a lot to do again. / Captain Ingerup