"Maverick too" just before departure in West Palm Beach
We are ready to go. At last. A total of 700 dollars in supplies have found space in the belly of the "Maverick". The water tanks are full to the brim. Fresh fruit and vegetables dangle in the small hammock under the handrail in the salon. The wind steering system got new steering lines this morning - and now the ship is impatiently pulling on the mooring lines. It wants to go and we want to go. We have nearly 3,000 miles of open ocean ahead of us, from West Palm Beach in Florida to Hortin in the Azores. Our second ocean crossing together.
For me it is the second time on the north route. In 2009 a friend and I sailed his ten meter long boat there. However, with a detour to New York to eat one last steak. We deserved it because the first ten days at sea were tough. Headwind, headwind, storm, even a short knockdown. We were too far north. again and again low pressure areas passed through south of us and brought headwinds. On the weather maps that we received every day via shortwave, we could see this well and headed south.
Supplies for the Atlantic crossing
When we reached the southern latitudes, life and sailing became much better. We found the westerly winds that were actually usual for the north route and carried us all the way to Hort.
We also want to receive weather faxes on this crossing and have bought a small SSB receiver for this. At the anchorage we got very good cards. At sea it should be even better if there are no other boats, houses and trees around and distracting.
Johannes receiving the weather faxes
During the crossing we will post a logbook entry here on YACHT online every few days. On our own website www.zu-zweit-auf-see.de there is a tracker with the daily positions.
We'll be in touch from the Azores! There I jump on the plane to be on time for the YACHT Bluewater trade fair in Rostock.