It has been an extremely busy week for the entire Kincsem crew.   Provisioning the boat was one big task for all of us.  Several months ago Almut had come up with a detailed list of meals for 21 days plus 3 reserve days, which Rainer had turned into a sophisticated spreadsheet, among other things using features of Excel called pivot tables (no idea what that is).  Out came a shopping list a mile long.  So off we were lugging heavy bags of drinks and food to the boat, then stowing all of this in the bowels of Kincsem, then checking it off on the list, then putting the storage location into the spreadsheet.   Achim and I started this task with the simple things like beer, wine and reserve water. 

Achim hard at work cleaning one of many storage holds in the bowels of Kincsem

But after the arrival of Almut, Rainer and Daniel, things really picked up and it seemed like someone was off shopping every day of the week and Rainer was perfecting the spreadsheet all the time.  Fresh fruit and vegetables were the last items on the list, much of which was stowed in nets hanging from the ceiling in the salon and on the davits. 

The logistics team hard at work

 

But then there were also a lot of little tasks on the boat to be completed which kept me and others busy all day most every day. 

Rainer in the mizzen mast, replacing the blades of the wind generator

Cleaning all the fruit before they go on board

Creative fruit storage – crossing out fingers these nets won’t bang into each other!

 

 

And there were all the ARC events and parties to attend, which were a lot of fun. 

At the Real Club Nautico for the Farewell Party

Last scenes from Muelle Deportivo in Las Palmas yesterday

It feels like it’s definitely time to go now so things can calms down and – and luckily, the start is at 1300 today.    The forecast is for light winds in the first few days, with the tradewinds kicking in thereafter and picking up gradually.  We will need to sail South-Southwest initially towards the Cap Verde Islands to avoid headwinds further West but that’s to be expected at this time of year.  We’re crossing our fingers that we will pick up the Northeasterly trade winds sometime later next week so that we can turn West towards our destination Saint Lucia. 

 

You can follow our progress on these pages as well as on the ARC tracker at https://www.worldcruising.com/arc/eventfleetviewer.aspx.  Click “ARC 2023” (not ARC plus).  Our cruise director Achim may be giving his perspective from time to time on the ARC page, https://www.worldcruising.com/arc/event.aspx.   We are all looking forward to a relaxing crossing!