LIKE FORMULA ONE !!

Only 293 nautical miles to go. 
And it is a beautiful morning. 

However the last nights were very cold, and tonight a strong northerly wind kicked in that was supposed to come only tomorrow morning.
 Nevertheless we are all delighted as it will speed up our final run.

COME DOWN , YOU "BAS....", SORRY SAIL !

POSITION :
 36°16'9 N and 011°24'.4 W
DAY / TIME :
17.04.2013 , 
08:00 UTC
MOOD :
Improving by the second

The fuel tank has roughly 100L left , water tanks are almost empty, 
so no shower any more allowed,
 and the food gets a little bit scarce and on the dry side. 
Apples : Gone, 
Meat : last portion already cooked 2 days ago, but some leftover,
 chocolate: gone with the mouse ages ago,
 eggs : all in my stomach , 
cake : none, because of lack of eggs,  
etc etc. 
Well, soups are left, frozen toast bread, jam and margarine. 
The culinary weeks have come to an end. Even Fati has no desire any more to prepare these meagre meals. Everybody looks after him/herself. 
No problem. 
Bread and Water ! Other people survived on it.

TECHNOLOGY REALLY HELPS SAFETY !

And now that we get closer to Gibraltar, the traffic increases substantially. 
Hardly did we see or indeed meet a vessel at sea, but now, what a difference. 
You can see on the plotter ( navigstion instrument)
 on its right the Strait of Gibraltar, 
and the left top corner is Cabo de Sao Vincente. the SW  corner of Portugal.

Each triangle represents a vessel that has this identification system on board called 
AIS ( Automated Identification System ). 


When you go with the cursor over any of these triangles a seperate screen will tell yu everything about it :
 Name, phone number, destination, speed, course, etc. 
Fantastic ! Whoever invented it should get a medal. 
Collision avoidance has become much better. 
All commercial vessels above 220 BT have to have one, and a 'lighter' version is available for  leisure boats .
 LIKE THE ONE ON CHAMPAGNE ! 
Now the big guys can see us !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

---

And then , some hours later, in the early morning of Friday, the 19th of April 2013, we have arrived. 
I decrease the speed and 
we slowly sail into the Bay of Gibraltar. 
Many tankers here for refuelling, but no problem navigation wise. 
All important lights clearly identified, we make our run for the marina 
Marina Bay, Ocean Village, Gibraltar.

NIGHT SAILING IS BEST WHEN YOU ARRIVE .....AT DEATINATION !

FROM LEFT : OLAF, FATI, MM, KATARYNA, MARINA. LIKE A FIREBRIGADE, RIGHT ?

And that after 23 days and 10 hours, and on the Log 3696.0 nm. 
But that is only the distance "through the water". 
Over ground it is almost always more,
 in this case 3810nm. 
For me at least a record, never have I sailed over such a long distance. Neither have the others.

Well , it is a good reason to go a little bit crazy. 
Just a little bit. 
Like the guys on the podium after the race in Fomula 1. 
Just for endurance, certainly not on speed ! 
LA FINALE 
must be celebrated . 
Just once ( really just once ? ).
 

After that emptiness will arrive. Like when you have worked for months on end for something, and after that event, you have nothing left in you. Know the feeling ?
But let's not get sentimental. 
Let's enjoy !!!!!!

What a waste of "Champagne",
 as the team makes a runner. Literally speaking. 


Marina, Kataryna and Olaf will leave us here, meaning 
Fati and I 
will have to sail the long trip back to Croatia on our own.
 

But we are used to this by now. 
The boat is big enough, we hardly see each other during long distance sailing. 
Just for lunch, really, and that by appointment ONLY !
Or the kitchen stays cold and I find my food in the fridge. 

Never mind, there will be better times ahead. 

IT MUST !  

YOURS
MASTER MIKE