Arriving in Falmouth

Yesterday Cantare arrived in Falmouth. Starfire, Silverbear and my new crew were there to welcome us. After a very nice shower and a big meal ashore dad decided to stay at a hotel (I think he was tired of wet bunks) and took a plane to Sweden today.

I have uploaded pictures from the Azores and the last Atlantic crossing. You find them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/SailingCantare/TheAzoresAndTheAtlanticCrossing#

Tomorrow it's time for Starfire's last leg to Fowey, Cantare and Silverbear will sail there together with them. Time to test my new crew. They have helped me buy food today, and there's a lot of it. If they sail like they shop we'll have a wonderful time, I'm actually quite sure that we will. Time to start the last adventure! / The Captain

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Climbing the Ben Nevis

















That Ben Nevis almost killed us yesterday, but it was so worth it, the view stunning and the nature wonderful! Our sleeping muscles needed to be awaken, or maybe not that abruptly though, today my body feels like I have been knocked down or something. However, giving up when something is hard is simply not my style, neither is Cecilie’s. We pushed each other up the top and tried or best to keep up with skipper Lars who surprisingly didn’t seem to be affected by the mountain climbing. Why on earth is he in better condition than us!?! Cecilie and I came to the conclusion that he is taller, have longer legs that take him about 10 cm longer each step he takes and he has also more muscles than us. Longer legs or not, we have come to the conclusion that after returning home it is time to awaken those muscles for real, detox our bodies and look better than ever, haha, or at least get fit again! However, skipper Lars has been complaining about sore muscles today so he is still human! Despite escalating pulse and sore muscles today it was an amazing day, it is hard to describe the astonishing view and it is hard to show reality through pictures.

Ben Nevis is 1343 m high and UK’s highest mountain. When getting closer to the top we saw snow and glaciers and started freezing. The temperature was close to zero and the brought clothes we thought we would never have use for when sweating on the way to the top was very useful higher up in the snow. The longing for skiing was huge and I am really looking forward to real winter again with snow and skiing! After having enjoyed the top for a while and also gotten some very beautiful pictures when the fog fortunately decided to disappear it was time to start climbing down again with shaking legs. After 8 hours of climbing we decided we deserved a pizza and was recommended a take away pizza place with Fort William’s best pizzas. The restaurant didn’t only have the best pizzas, also the sweetest owner, another proof of the wonderful kindness of the Scottish people. We missed the last bus back to the boat when ordering pizza and instead of taking a cab the pizza man insisted on driving us. He is not a Scot originally, but came 40 years ago and stayed, mostly due to the friendly people!

Tomorrow we will continue up the Caledonian Canal towards new adventures! The plan is to be back in Norway and Fredrikstad, the home of Safari on the 25th, at the moment it looks like it will be possible to leave Scotland on Monday. This weekend a low will cause rough weather on the North Sea and no more lows on the North Sea please, I think I had enough of that last time I was there…

Love/First Mate

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Day 11 - Waterworld

Position: N 49° 06' W 008° 12' UTC 1200

Nautical miles left: 147

Yesterday we downloaded a grib-file and discovered that the wind would be more or less against us the coming 24 hours. We decided to tack immediately, then we would do a tack again before the night watches started and in that way avoid having to sleep in the wet bunk. What we hadn't foreseen was how the water now started to soak our dry bunk, horrible! We discussed sleeping with a big plastic bag underneath us, but hoped that it wouldn't get that bad before we did the second tack. Sailing on the other side made us a bit confused, it was hard moving around since all the good resting points now had vanished. The toilet door that used to be a nice plane surface to lean against while dressing was now up in the air, on the other side is the moving stow which has a lot of sharp points that should be avoided. Suddenly there was more water on the floor, the water that had hid under the table and dinghy was now in our prime moving space and some of my cloth that was hanged up on a rope fell down into it. The only thing that was made easier was to do the dishes, but it didn't make up for the negative sides. When I stepped outside ready for my watch I was feeling wet, my clothes were party soaked, my socks damp and my spirit low. Dad had sailed 1 single nautical miles towards Falmouth during his 4 hours and it didn't look like I would do a lot more, in the end I actually did -1 towards our destination. The strange thing though was that the sailing was really pleasant. Over ground we were doing more than 5 knots and the sun was shining. I put on my damp gloves and decided that it didn't matter that they weren't dry, they would warm me anyway. I felt happy again, life is good, I am sailing.

During the night the wind veered, this time in our favour. We could sail directly. I started to imagine how it would be to get into the shower in Falmouth, how the warm water would wash away all my accumulated coldness. Lovely thought. Sadly the wind started to veer again this morning, exactly the same way as it had the day before. I got a bit frustrated and when dad went to bed I started the engine. Yanmar together with the sails make us go the right way, it is very noisy but I drown it with Rammstein. I hope we can make it to Falmouth before the pub closes tomorrow night, otherwise I have two friends stranded in England. / The Captain

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Day 10 - Going to France?

Position: N 48° 22' W 009° 27' UTC 1200

Nautical miles left: 210

Since day one we've had the wind in from the same side, our portside. Today the wind has veered and are forcing us to sail to Brest in France. A moment ago there was a fishing boat on collision course, Maria called it up on the VHF. They were talking French, a language we don't speak, which made it difficult to decide whether to pass behind or in front of them, the only things they could say in English were fishing and we don't speak English. After this encounter with the frog people we have decided that Brest is not an option. But there is another problem, if we tack we'll have to sleep on the port side bunk which is soaking wet. In a short while we will download a grib-file with weather information and decide what action to take. Candy and cookies are running low, we need to get ashore soon. / Deckhand Anders

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Scotland, beautiful indeed!


















Position 56º 51’ N 005º 05W Caledonian Canal, Scotland

Stunning scenery, bag pipes, friendly people, pubs, whiskey, local dance, canals, kilts, Ben Nevis, castles, forts, midges*, Braveheart… it is all about Scotland!

Today’s been the most beautiful days in a very long time, last time it was this sunny was some day on the Atlantic on our way back from Cuba. I have come to like Scotland very much, it is hard not to fall in love in this country when the sun is shining on a wonderful landscape and when the people are among the friendliest and helpful you have ever met.

Yesterday we left Crinan Canal and continued sailing up north through the Scottish archipelago. The rain silent drizzled the first miles but it didn’t bother us, we were too engulfed by the fantastic landscape. We passed safely east off the frightening Gulf of Corryvreckan a sound with scary currents and turbulence caused by drastic differences in depths. To quote Reeds, the yachtsman’s bible: “Gulf of Corryvreckan is best avoided and should never be attempted by small craft except at slack water and in calm condition.” But we sure did get our share of Corryvreckan even when we passed east of it, the sea was turbulent, whirlpools pushing Safari in different directions. However, we quickly passed and the sun soon came through. One should never underestimate the power of currents though, when we got closer to Fort Williams and the Caledonian Canal we occasionally had 5 knots co-current, doing 11,4 knots and a boat doing slalom in the fairway.

After having arrived in the little village Corpach just outside Fort Williams where the Caledonian canal begins we soon discovered that the local pub had a live band playing that evening. Finally some bag pipes! The band was awesome and Cecilie and I couldn’t resist join the locals dancing. We also got to try the bag pipe, hm, we didn’t manage to get some sounds out of it though, I think we need to practice!

Today we have started locking our way up the Caledonian canal, have done 8 locks today. Tomorrow we will try to climb all the way up to UK’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis, 1343m! Over and Out/First Mate Sofia

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