on the way to emden

after a break in den helder, holland, where mama, susanne, siddy and emily visited us, we tried to get to emden yesterday. but it was a very hard day. winds were hi and we had to beat against the wind. we got drenched the whole way and decided to stop at an island for the night. now the wind has stopped and we are motoring to emden. we are hoping that there will be a breeze during the night. motoring sucks.
90 NM to go.

Axel

up and down

24.04.
after we were doing an average speed of 9 knots this morning for 6 h, we are now doing between 3-4 knots for the last 6 h. very exhausting! i miss the tradewinds...
almost in dover now. we will decide later if we stop there or not. axel

25.04.
passed dover last night, had customs for two hours on board in the middle of the night, they searched everything with 5 person but couldnt find anything. Now the wind is blowing again and we are fast. if the wind doesnt stop we should be in emden in two days time.

everything is fine on board.

stormy nights

after two stormy nights (the coast guards warnings said 8 beaufaut) we are now heading for boulogne or dover for a rest. at the moment we are flying away, after a very slow day yesterday in the eye. ships everywhere so we have to hold a sharp outlook. chris is sleeping since hours, relaxing from the exhausting night. i think we will arrive in the harbour during the next night. axel

channel islands

after a very windy night we are now in the eye of the low and the wind is almost gone...
we are just passing the channel islands, but too far away to see anything. everybody is fine and tired on board.
axel

in the channel

its windy since 3 this morning but everything is fine....
axel

english canal

we just decided to keep on sailing... we will reach the channel in 3 h. The low what will pass our way looks quite weak, so we go for it.
otherwise we have to stay in brest for too long. the next low is coming after this one and we will have no chance to get freefall to germany in time.
everything is fine on board.
axel

heading for brest

we will sail to brest and wait for better weather there. a depression is passing our way...so no lymington.
we should arrive in brest by this evening... everything fine on board.

windy and wet

we are getting closer to the english channel...winds are high and its a tough trip...
everyone and everything is fine on board...
axel

kap finisterre / bay of biscay

we started the trip at 1000h and were beating against wind and current for the first 20 h with average speed of 4 knots. now we are away from land and getting faster. bumpy and windy but fine. freefall doing well.

couldnt get propagation to send e-mails. Now we have 300 NM to go to Brest, 500NM to Lymington.

axel

Bay of Biscay

Freefall is ready to set sail to England and Germany!

We (Chris and I) are trying to get going by tommorrow morning. Weather is wet and windy but the forecast is good to get North.

Axel