A shout from the fore deck: „Land a ho! After little more than two weeks on our trip on the  Atlantic Ocean from Cape Town to Horta-Azores, the isle of St Helena is showing up above the rim. Still we are 23 miles away. Soon we will set foot on land again. I wonder how that  feels, now that we are pretty much used to the rhythm of the Atlantic. „Isn't it boring to sail on the Atlantic for 8 weeks?, one might ask.

The rhythm is not only the swell that requires you to sort of relearn walking. It is also doing your 6 hour watches twice a day and aligning it with the three meals each day. It is amazing how much one eats at sea. For one reason it is because the food is really great. I don't know
how they do it in the galley, but regardless of the weather the cooks manage to prepare delicious meals every time again and without any repetition so far. Well, except for the soup and snacks when you come up for your watch at 2.00 o'clock at night, these are the nice leftovers from yesterday's lunch. I am anxious to find out if they keep up this variation of the meals for two months.


St. Jacobsladder, St. Helena

It are not only the tasteful meals, but also the hard work at sea that make you eat. Hard work? Well, let's see: steering the ship, outlook on the fore deck, setting and taking away sails, climbing the rig,  repairing sails, even painting and helping with maintenance. Fortunately, during your watch there is a coffee break with more snacks. And you are even working while at rest, when you are catching up with your sleep between the watches, the slowly rolling ship makes you rock
in your bunk.

A funny thing to mention is that it seems to be always morning and night at the same time, independent of the time of day. When the new watch comes up everybody says "good morning" and the watch going off is wished "good night".

Then there are the sun rises and sun sets, every day again, one even more beautiful than the other. I think, by the end of the trip I will have seen more suns rise and set than I had so far in my entire life. Even the green flash I now have seen with my own eyes. And did I mention
the nightly skies? Really gorgeous as it gets really dark at night, and then seeing the moon rise!

So, is it boring? Absolutely not, it is merely a way of life. For me, it cannot not last long enough.

Gertjan,
voyage crew

Noon position: 17°57,0‚S & 003° 42,4‚W , wind: southeast 4-5 Bf, 23 degrees, sunny with small showers. Already 2 weeks underway en tomorrow we will see St. Helena and make a stop. Apart from the first one and a half day, we have sailed everything, thanks to the always present Trade winds. After Cape Town you can expect these Tradewinds quite soon and they'll bring you up to almost the equator.

The skysails still had to be rigged but by now they are together with the stuns‚ls getting most out of the southeasterlies. Together with the Trades you get sunny weather and the maintenance on deck is started. Most of the brightwork has a new coat, the steel is treated against the everlasting battle of rust and the crew is climbing through the rig to monitor the chafing and to improve where ever possible. Let‚s not forget all the maintenance belowdeck, always something that needs attention.


EUROPA at anchor at St. Helena

As said we are approaching St. Helena, by most of us known as the Island where Napoleon lived in exile from 1815 to 1821 in and where he later died. Of course there is more to it and for the Europa it is a good spot to have a stop during her voyage to the north. 

Harko

In 2002 I first met the ship and I stepped on board as a volunteer in the port of Seattle. My first voyage was a good try out, sailing the Pacific more or less from north to south, rounded the Cape Horn, with an official award from the Cape Horn Seafarers Society. Not bad for a maiden voyage!

The sailing had me hooked and soon more sailing trips were followed and later on went back to school, the Nautical school in Enkhuizen. It was then also inevitable to become a mate soon. The role as a mate suited me fine but after some changes amongst the captains, the question came if I would like to sail as a captain. So here I went, to Cape Town, assisted by Klaas and Eric, for the preparation of my first trip as captain.


Photo by Brett Yates

What to expect? Well, the voyage is familiar and as a mate on the Europa you already take quite some responsibilities but the last step is still unknown. We shall see and with this good of a crew you are obviously not doing it alone. By now were sailing with stuns‚ls in the Trade winds and approaching St. Helena.

All is well. 
Harko, Captain