Hello from the Atlantic where we have been heading west since last Wednesday (21NOV), when the tradewinds finally settled in again. After 24 hours of very confused seas we're now in a pattern of good sailing days with squally nights. Continued rolling in cross swells makes life aboard a bit strenuous as you cannot put down anything e.g. for cooking without it flying off some surface in the next big wave and you permanently have to wedge yourself somewhere below decks while brushing teeth, washing dishes etc.

A quick message from the Atlantic, still heading SSW to reach the tradewinds that are forecasted to have re-established themselves on Thursday when a low and associated cold-front off the Canaries and Madera finally crumbles and high pressure moves in north of us... about 2500 nm to go to Antigua, all is well aboard... finished the last of our fresh meat supplies yesterday, now hoping for the fish to bite to save us from the cans ;-) ... stay tuned for further updates...

A quick update from aboard Namani... we left Lanzarote yesterday at 1430 utc and are now heading towards the Cape Verde Islands with about 2900 nm to go to Antigua. We're staying relatively far east to avoid SW winds generated by a low pressure system moving towards the Canaries and are currently in light variable winds under engine (after a good of sailing though). We hope to pick up the NE tradewinds around Wednesday next week ... stay tuned for further updates!

We are now planning on departing Lanzarote on Friday and since things might be quite busy tomorrow (Thursday) we thought we'd rather put in our "farewell post" from the Old World today. Peter will arrive tomorrow to join us for Atlantic leg and we're looking forward to seeing him again aboard Namani.

Ein neues Album "To and in Lanzarote" in der Photo Gallery, plus ein Update im Album "Krabbelgruppe at Sea"

To recap a little, the passage from Gibraltar to Lanzarote was 650 miles in 6 days. As soon as we reached the more open water of the Atlantic there was a difference - a much larger, but also longer swell than anything we had ever had in the Mediterranean. It took a few days to get used to the larger waves but the fact that they were widely spaced made them easier to handle.

More video footage from Namani... the first one was taken during the last miles of our approach to Lanzarote, testing our orange peel slingshot (gotta find ways of keeping Nicky busy on days on which we don't catch any fish...):

[%youtube*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVVf1iA_XLs%v]

The next one shows NaMaNi on a camel ride on Lanzarote:

[%youtube*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0TflntW8fU%v]

The Blue Water Rally website (see link to the right) has a picture of Namani being lifted out of the water yesterday (look under "Stop Press" on the BWR site). We're putting on 2 new coats of antifoul today (thanks to the help of Jo and Dave from Seabright), before going back into the water tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned...

Nach 654 sm sind wir gestern um 1100 Ortszeit (UTC) im Hafen von Puerto Calero auf Lanzarote angekommen. Bilder werden wir in den n�chsten Tagen einstellen... jetzt geniessen wir erstmal einen ruhigen, sonnigen Samstagvormittag auf einem "ruhenden" Boot... f�r diejenigen, die uns telefonisch erreichen wollen/m�ssen: unsere spanische Mobilnummer ist wieder aktiv... stay tuned!

PS: Das Bild zeigt unseren ersten erfolgreichen Fischfang unterwegs - eine halbwegs stattliche Dorade (siehe auch den "Fish and Baseball" Eintrag weiter unten vom 31.10.)

We made it safely into Puerto Calero on Lanzarote yesterday (Friday, 02NOV)) at 1100 local time. We'll post pictures and more details later...right now we're just enjoying a nice and sunny Saturday morning... for those who need/want to reach us by phone: our Spanish mobile number is in service again ... stay tuned for further updates!