While I was amazed at their kindness in Tangier, I was disappointed here by their primitivism. All these collocations took me even in the morning, I was already unbearably tired, but it seemed to me that there was nothing else but to sail away. Where? I’m checking the weather forecast. I’m not going back, but I have a weather forecast for Lanzarote for three days stage 8-9, and I’m sailing across the Atlantic for the first time !? Well, to see what will break off on the boat first, it constantly resonates in my head. Definitely not the handlebars, I think, as it is new. The first night I got entangled in a fishing net, which made me have to swim in the Atlantic in the middle of the night. Wonderful experience: I have never seen so much plankton in my life and with each swing in the water it appeared even more than if I were digging in a golden cave. How did I notice that I got entangled in the net? Simple: the wind was 25 kn, the sails were on the second shortening, and the boat sailed 2 knots. Sails down, pants down, mask up, knife in hand and hop in water. Wishing the shark wasn’t waiting for me under the boat! I found myself in an area where the sea is not more than 1000 m deep and it is low sea, which is completely wild in the strong wind and the waves rise high from several sides, every now and then one of them gathers on my little boat and we in the cockpit creates a bath. I didn’t manage to sleep very much in three days, nor did the previous three days. On top of all that, the cross-stitch attachments on the brand new mast have been pulled off. They were supposed to last for 10 years, but they withdrew after only two months – because the “professionals” in Girona did not insert large enough and strong fuses. Now the barge can only sail with a little genoa. The whole rope is in the sea. For two nights I dragged at least 100 m of rope behind me, which completely calmed my boat in the high waves, and the moment that wave crashed into your cockpit, the boat leveled back. As I lay in the cockpit and tried to rest and close my eyes for at least a moment. I was lying on the cockpit floor as it is too dangerous on the bench. I woke up the moment the boat experienced a knock down and I automatically kept behind the winch. The right railing was crooked, and the fabric was completely torn apart by the wave that hit the side with all its might. I opened my eyes and saw nothing but plankton in front of me. I said to myself: now it would be good to put the boat back! And she did! She sailed on, and I was glad I stayed on her, though completely too strong. I dry everything the next day. Dolphins start swimming in front of me. Huge birds fly around the boat. I write the coordinates on the map and write them in the diary. In front of me is the island of Lanzarote, calculated to be about 10 nm, and I don’t see it. An hour later, the 5 nm island is still nowhere to be seen. Are all these animals playing with me and leading me towards an island that doesn’t exist? Or am I just tired !? I light a cigarette and wait and wait. The island is here! I see it, the port is on the left, I turn the boat around and sail into the port of Lanzarote. The sun has set, there are only lights in front of me – green, red, I’m just driving it and I’m on the pier. It blows as is typical of this marina and I finally moor to the pier. Sailing pants down, flip-flops are already on the pier, and I’m at the bar. And that’s that! The next destination is Mindelo in Cape Verde. Before that, the boat will have to be painted and the problems on the mast will have to be solved.
