From the North Atlantic

Here is the Captain, with a small report. The official writer of the crew will tell more later. We arrived in Barbados, after 15 days from Mindelo in the Cape Verdes. We had a very nice trip, good sunny weather, calm seas in general and a lot of fishing... according to Begonia's standards.  The passage went very fast, we were three people for the watches, which means more sleeping and a better mood onboard.  The days went by very fast, after three days into the trip, we had our routine figured out:  Karlita doing the first watch, from 10pm to 2/3 in the morning, after me talking to Alejandro in Buenos Aires from the Argentinian sailors net, Juliano doing the next one from 2/3 in the morning to 6/7 and myself doing the rest until sometime around noon when everybody woke up. 

This paragraph is dedicated to Alejandro, from the Argentinian net of sailors. The people who are reading this (I hope somebody does) and are sailors, probably know the feeling, but to have somebody to talk to in your own language, with such a comforting voice, friendliness and professionalism like Alejandro, is priceless.  He was there every night at 11pm UTC, night after night, day after day, giving us forecast, general information and even connecting us with our families on land through Skype. We are thankful to him, and we cannot stop spreading the word about his invaluable work. THANKS AGAIN!!!

Now is the turn for our boat/home for the past year, our boat BEGONIA, our ocean-proved catamaran, which performed extremely well under different conditions: from 40 knots of wind at the beginning of our passage, to very light winds, where we had our spinnaker up for three days straight, record for me after sailing in Patagonia!!

The next paragraph is dedicated to my family, Karlita, who came to this long passage without knowing what to expect, who never thought to be in a small sailboat crossing an ocean. She did really well, coping with her sea sickness and fear of the unknown, she was doing watches like all the rest, and participating in the very stressful maneuver of bringing the spinnaker down when the wind was blowing hard, very proud of her and I hope to have her on our NEXT big trip!!

To Sofi and Benjie, who were very good, having fun playing, understanding the ocean and behaving most of the times like grown-ups. And to Juliano our Brazilian friend/crew, who without knowing anything about sailing, was super helpful, and understanding of a not very patient captain, THANKS Juliano for your help!!

Looking back, we had a very nice passage, we enjoyed the ocean, we tried to go along with the conditions, and we will keep sailing, loving the lifestyle and raising our kids to love this salty environment.
THE CAPTAIN.

Barbados courtesy and quarantine flags.

Happy to be arriving in Barbados

The dudes

Big catamaran, small cruise ship!

Everybody does watches

Fixing lazy jacks



Juliano lifting me, hard work!

Tea party with friends...

Exercise under way!

First mahi-mahi of our passage

Turning 6 in the middle of the Atlantic

Watching the sunset, family style.

Mid Atlantic swimming

Second Mahi-Mahi

Literally, the middle of the Atlantic! 1,000 miles down, 1,000 to go!

Different skies, all beautiful!

Spinnaker up for three days!



Big guy, three meals!



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FOUNTAINE PAJOT ATHENA 38 CATAMARAN FOR SALE – After our wonderful experience, BEGONIA is ready for its next sailing family – with or without children!  Please contact sebastiankoziura@hotmail.com for more information.