27´22.4N 016´49.7W course 210´ speed 7 knots
As always, as soon as we hit the port, we run out of time and routine to write the logbook. A short summery of our stay in Santa Cruz de Tenerife would be that we had amazing weather, we took our mainsail, mizzen and forestay sail off and stowed them away, we had 2 persons in the mast sanding and varnishing, we had our jibboom in, repaired the traveler, went extreme shopping for our 47 day crossing to the Falkland Islands AND cleaned the whole ship for our expedition crew! In the meantime we enjoyed the food of the Spanish islands, with papas arugada and pedron peppers a plenty! We were moored close to the Thalassa and had regular crew exchanges and had a drink on deck on the day of our arrival.
On the 11th we received our new expedition crew and had a nice quiet evening in. Then in the next morning we started on getting our ocean set back on. This means, we replaced the new sails, with our older set, for which the impact of chafing and rolling a lot, is less of a problem. We had them repaired by UB Sails in June and the repairs looked very solid! After the sails went on, we had lunch and were expecting our stores (groceries etc) to arrive around 14:00h, but they were delayed by nearly 1,5 hours, and so we started stowing away a truck load of groceries around 15:30, we nearly received the groceries from another ship called Florette, but luckily found out in time! We would have had more yoghurt already prepared.. but no frozen vegetables and way less flour! And we have our yoghurt bacteria with us, so we can make our yoghurt along the way any way! In the meantime we also took in diesel and topped up on water.

Every time a new box filled with goods came on board, we thought it would not fit any more, but every time we found a spot to stow it away! Our freezers are perfectly full, not too much chicken this time! Just enough to have to rearrange a little before closing the door!
Early to bed, because the next day would be departure day. Around 9 our traveler ring came back on board, so work work work for a little and then around lunch time we were ready to get the jib boom out again. At 14:00 we could have worked another 6 hours to clean the deck, get it all stowed away etc. But at 15:00 our berth was needed for a new ship and so at 14:15 we cast our lines off, said our goodbyes to Sam and the rest of the Thalassa crew and to Alice, and headed off!

The weather report said we would have weak Northerly winds.. outside the harbour we had Westerly winds, turning South and then around 21h the wind completely disappeared. The winds around the islands are influenced a lot by the shape and hight of the islands and so they tunnel around. We decided to stay under engine for the time being, not loosing too much time here with finding the right wind. Once we are away from the islands, we may find the real northerly winds, and start sailing then.
We have a track of a little over 5300 miles plotted in our charts. Lets make the most of it!
Picture of the day was won by Joel, or rather, by Alice sending us this last wave off picture.
And so now we are all settling in for the next 7 weeks, getting our routine going and getting to know our new team mates. Some have sailed with us before and are familiar with steering and our rigging. Others are new, and quickly getting the hang of it. We have our coffee and some biscuits for the night watch, the moon is bright, almost like we have our deck lights on. Mark was saying we can hardly see stars or satellites, its soo bright. And after the two dark weeks we had going South, I must say, this is a big change, but a welcome one!
All is well on board,
Jet