South Coast of England

The south coast of England greets us with overcast skies, rain and winds coming at us head on. The "Dagmar Aaen" pounds her way westwards. In the head, the "popular" roller coaster movements have begun. In the head of the ship, the up and down movements are felt the strongest.
In contrast the last days felt like a Caribbean cruise. T-shirt weather and winds from eastern. That gave us the chance to test the new spars. Bernhard Naber made two hollow booms in his carpentry workshop just before we set off. These can be used to boom out the foresail which increase the area of the sail the wind pushes against and the ship sails faster. The spars will be really put to the test during the Atlantic crossing with the Passat winds. But it was obvious, even off the Dutch coast that Bernhard had again done an excellent job. The balloon foresail and the jib stand perfectly when they are boomed out.

After leaving Dover the "MSC Zoe" whooshes past us

While entering the English Channel, we experienced live what modern yacht structural engineering can mean. The wind had died down and the "Dagmar Aaen" was making just around 2.8 kn under full sails. There then appeared on the horizon a huge balloon foresail. The "SCA" came flying up. The hypermodern Volvo Ocean Racer had just completed a race around the world with an all-women crew. And now this racy ship just dashed up and passed us under Code Zero, jib and main sail at an unbelievable speed of 11.5 kn - and this quasi with practically no wind - an impressive experience.

Another ship which passed us was, however, even much faster. After passing the Strait of Dover, the brand new "MSC Zoe" flew past us. This cargo freighter is presently the largest in the world and was launched in Hamburg just a few days ago. The ship is almost 400 meters long, came out of Rotterdam and was travelling at a speed of 22 kn on a westerly course.

By the famous Isle of Wight (this is where the America's Cup used to be held) we met up with the upper crust of the tourist industry: All bustling in the direction of Southampton were four gigantic cruise ships and among them the "Queen Elisabeth" on her route to Hamburg. A spontaneous question as to whether anyone on board the "Dagmar Aaen" would like to change ships - no one...

We are still on route to our first stop in the harbor of Falmouth on the southwest tip of England.

Matthias Steiner

Falmouth

In the Bay of Biscay, the Atlantic allows the "Dagmar Aaen" to roll and pound in the rhythm of the waves. The crew has become accustomed to the swell. We have been sailing on a south-south-westerly course heading for the north-west corner of Spain for the past days now. We were spared the forecasted high winds from the south. The thermometer has climbed from 16 to 18 °C.

Life on board is determined by the constant recurring change of being on watch or sleeping. The dolphins which often play around the ship provide a change. Culinary highlight: the birthday cake for boatswain Fabian (photo). The young Swiss was met with a song when he started his watch. In the afternoon Volker conjured up a delicious pear-chocolate cake.

Super Yacht "Mariette"

During our stopover in Falmouth we experienced some real English hospitality. It was Falmouth-Week in the small coastal town and there was a one-week regatta spectacle taking place. Of course the harbor was full. Despite this we were given a perfect berth at the floating dock of the Pendennis Marina.

The official regatta starting ship, the "Spirit of Falmouth" gave us her spot at the jetty and moored up alongside our ship in the evening. Really a very nice gesture. Our neighbors in the marina could not have been more exclusive - large ships side by side. We were most impressed by the "Mariette" - a super yacht over 100 years old that had had a complete refit and towered above all the others with a mast of over 40 meters in height.

It was Konrad, the dark brown elegant boatswain who was the first to visit us. He wanted to see the "Dagmaer Aaen" he had heard about up close. During our obligatory return visit, we were totally amazed. A bathtub enclosed in mahogany in the master suite, a fireplace in the lounge and the blocks on deck covered in leather. Even a hundred years ago, owners obviously knew about how luxury at sea could be.

The "Mariette" had just completed a trans-Atlantic regatta for historical yachts coming in third place and was now on its way to Menorca in the Mediterranean. Our next stop is Vigo on the northwst coast of Spain.

Matthias Steiner

Vigo

It was late in the evening when we were able to bunker in Falmouth. We left the small harbour city on Friday and were therefore relatively quickly welcomed by the remaining storm turbulence. South of England's Land's End, the breakers off the beam became stronger and combined with the strong winds our "Dagmar Aaen" began to reel. Under foresail, jib and a shortened mainsail, we sailed at times up to 7,5 knots against the waves. This was a great challenge for the night watch; they could not see the approaching breakers and were constantly forced to react to significant changes in course. This, however, gave the new arrivals on board the "Dagmar Aaen" the chance to get to know and appreciate one another...

To top it all, half way to Spain we discovered that the notorious Bay of Biscay had taken its toll. The plastic insulation on the gaff claw had broken and had, because of the high pressure, damaged the mast in some places. A first emergency repair was necessary on the high seas. It would not otherwhise have been possible to continue sailing.

One learnt - never forgotten

We also experienced a second aspect of the Bay of Biscay - days of heat and calm. This was not bad for us as we couldn't really sail anyway under the circumstances. When we arrived in Vigo, we realized that the harbor we had chosen was more or less designed for modern yachts. But Volker turned the cutter and maneuvered her backwards to a pier as if it were a Bavaria with a bow and stern thruster. Once learnt - never forgotten.

There the gaff claw was taken off completely and after a six-hour search we even found a shop whose owner was able to get us new nylon plates. We were almost totally enthused as we discovered that the pump handle was missing. Fabian and Volker searched the whole ship but it couldn't not be found.

The emergency bilge pump can only be used this way and therefore I had the wonderful task of finding a locksmith who more or less understood what I wanted. Finally, in a night shift, two marine engineers made a new one.

Today, Friday - Arved, Matze and Joachim have left us - Jeremias is new on board. We had to wait a bit for his gear and therefore left Vigo shortly after noon. We are now heading for Portugal.

Jan Kuchenbecker

Lagos

Atlantic - Portuguese Coast: Under the best of weather conditions, the "Dagmar Aaen" left the Spanish town of Vigo on August 21^st. Thet next destination is Lagos on the southern coast of Portugal.

Due to a small defect in the rudder hydraulic system, we were forced to return to the next best harbor after just one day at sea. In Figueira da Foz, Volker and Fabian begin immediately with the necessary repairs so that the ship can continue on again. As we sail on, we are met with the rest of a storm which passed over Vigo on Sunday.

Cabo de São Vicente

The ship rolls almost the whole time in the so-called "swell" of a partly high cross sea which is coming from the north-west and which causes parts of the deck to be covered with water. Considering the high temperature, the oven on board ist not heated and that is why Jan's birthday on August 24^th is celebrated with a cake which was bought in a store.

Unfortunately, the winds we would need to set the sails are not setting in and this makes the use of the motor necessary. Under these conditions, we pass the southern tip of Portugal on Monday around midnight - Cape St. Vincent. We are often accompanied by dolphins that dive and swim right next to the ship in the bow wave.

Many a tourist, as we will see in Lagos, book special tours to experience just this. At the crack of dawn and with clear weather we arrive in the harbor of Lagos. From here the "Dagmar Aaen" will take course for Lanzarote - one of the Canary Islands.

Jeremias Stein