July 31st, 2009

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July 31 less than a week from landfall

Friday, July 31st, 2009

At 15.30 I am at 43.47N 13.35W 471 miles to go , a 110 mile day. At this rate we’d be in Loctudy by Wednesday the 5th but realistically the 6th or even the 7th. The weather forecasts for the next 5 days are favorable. My plan is then to leave Loctudy for Amsterdam on Sunday afternoon, the 9th and the 550 miles to Amsterdam then would take anywhere from 6 to 10 days, depending on the weather, wind, strong currents in the Channel and a possible stop at Guernsey/Dover and/or Ostend.

I sent a request for mooring places suggestions to a number of my Dutch sailor friends, yesterday, and at least for a starting point, Monnickendam looks like a good spot. It is just a 15/20 miles North of Amsterdam on the old Zuiderzee and is easily reached by regular bus service from the Amsterdam Central Station. The wind came back yesterday evening and it steadily grew to around 20 plus knots and we are just flying the storm jib, doing better than 5 knots, dead down wind. It drizzled/rained off and on all day and it is dark in the cabin, with the wash boards closing off the companion way. The eggs are gone and I made a fish soup from the pickled/dried fish I made from the extra fish we caught earlier this week, for breakfast. Crew liked it. To-day is Cryptogram….