Category: Sailing

It’s is about 1.5 days until arrival at Horta is predicted. This has been quite a passage for me. I have wanted for a long time to cross an ocean. Well, that’s pretty much complete. Was it worth it and what preparation was needed?

This question surprised me, not because of question itself, but instead because of the emotion it brought out in me. I have had epilepsy for almost 50 years and have been seizure free for over 40 of those years but periodically the emotion of my epilepsy gets me.

Those were the words that came out of my mouth in the middle of the night – or was it early this morning – when Lauren woke me, to tell me that the A3 was coming unfurled, the auto-pilot was crunching again, and, of all things, there was a live bird on deck.

In addition to his first mate title, crew member Rudy can add chief fisherman (although we’re still looking for that first fish) and amateur photographer to his resume!

Sailors always say that when there are two sail boats there is always a race. It’s true. We are 960nm from the Azores and haven’t seen a sailing vessel in several days.

We thought that you might like to know what typical days might look like on board Ingwe. One day for us is a full 24 hours, as we continue to sail through the night towards the Azores.

During the first part of the Atlantic Crossing Adventure we had conditions that were well suited to light downwind sailing. This allowed us all to get comfortable with the boat and to have a lot of fun, which included swimming when there was no wind.

Stories about pirates, treasure, ocean storms and ships cast adrift often reference the Gulf Stream and the Sargasso Sea. But what and where are these really? 

We had a chance to swim today but got no takers. For the past few days we have been somewhat mesmerized by the presence of Portuguese men of war.