Day 1: Mooring and refueling. While one fuel canister after another was being dragged onto the boats around us, we allowed ourselves the luxury of not having to fill our tank (550 liters) completely. We didn’t have to carry any water canisters either. The water tank gets filled by our watermaker on board immediately after the start. This means we have no chlorinated water in the tank and can drink the tap water. Between the islands of São Vicente and Santo Antão, the wind blows us out to sea in a jet in perfect weather. Off we go! Then the first night. It is as restless as the start is beautiful. The waves are erratic and the little wind causes us to rock so much that the sails are constantly flapping violently. We are already exhausted. At least no one gets seasick. First day’s run: 128 nautical miles

Day 2: The shoes are polished and the landing spot for Nikolaus (German tradition) is marked. The next morning, we are delighted that he has found us. The three-color lantern in our mast top has certainly helped. The wind is back, the waves are still small. Sailing is fun again and the headsails are sufficient. The first two fish bite and are filleted. Via a WhatsApp group, we are in contact with four boats that are sailing within a radius of around 100 nautical miles of us and also have Barbados as their destination. We exchange positions, weather forecasts and fish recipes. Second day’s run: 126 nautical miles

Day 3: The watermaker runs regularly so that our water supply always stays ok. As the day progresses, the wind picks up and a few thunderclouds gather. To be on the safe side, we put the mainsail in the first reef. However, we hardly see any thunderstorms/rain on the radar during the night. Everything remains calm. We have not yet found our ideal course in view of the slightly changing wind direction, the course line meanders along. But we make good speed and sail relaxed into the night with butterfly sails. Third day’s run: 154 nautical miles

Day 4: We finally catch two fish after the first three got away. At a speed of 7 knots, hauling in the line is no longer so easy. We also realize that baking christmas cookies is not so easy in the current temperatures and high humidity. We try to eat them as quickly as possible. After keeping our course a little further south, we are now at 260°-270° heading. The weather seems to allow a more direct course to Barbados. The Christmas wish list is finally written. This year it’s going to Santa Claus by message in a bottle. Fourth day’s run: 155 nautical miles

Day 5: A bird visits us and sits on our deck for hours. It looks exhausted, but maybe we’re just imagining things. In any case, we don’t want to disturb it and stay below deck as much as possible. Our fishing is interrupted as we repeatedly pass through large fields of seaweed and constantly have to reel in the line to remove the plants from the bait. We fish with a simple fishing line, which is about 50 meters long and casts the bait with a small lead weight. From time to time we change the rubber bait and test the success rate. The line is then reeled in by hand and wound onto a piece of wood as we don’t have a fishing rod. Fifth day’s run: 154 nautical miles

Day 6: Today we notice that the hook we are using has no barb at all. No wonder the fish keep running off. The waves get a little higher. We manage ok , even on the wildly rocking stove. Nevertheless, a wave knocks a plate to the floor. Shards in the rocking boat are always a highlight. We have fried fish and cevice as a starter. The weather forecast promises stable weather with moderate trade winds for the next few days, then it gets gusty (7 Bft) and wavy (2.5 meters on average). Towards the end, the potential for thunderstorm cells increases and the wind decreases. So it will be exciting and less comfortable off Barbados. During the night there were already gusts of 27 knots and rain. Sixth day’s run: 145 nautical miles

Day 7: The night was restless. We had our first heavy showers and the wind was blowing at 30 knots at its peak. After the autopilot cut out twice and got us into some bad situations, we took down the mainsail completely during the night and are now sailing with a genoa and staysail. Nevertheless, we are making good progress with a new top speed of 9.5 knots. The Advent calendar is a welcome constant in the daily rhythm. Every day there is a Pixi book for one of us and organic snacks for the others. After three days without another ship on the radar or AIS, a freighter passes us today. Ten nautical miles away, we can’t see it. Seventh day’s run: 160 nautical miles

Day 8: The generator runs every three days and fills our battery bank. We can’t cover our power needs on the passage with solar alone. Normally, everyone does a bit of exercise in the cockpit every day. But that’s not possible today; we’re too shaken by Nikola’s movement. Instead, we continue to travel fast and use the time for phone calls via Starlink. We swapped the watch rhythm once today so that the night watches are not the same for the whole trip. During the night, we’ve completed half the route and toast with a Ti Punch, happy that we’re now sailing more towards a destination instead of away from the starting point! Afterwards, we watch the many shooting stars. Eighth day’s run: 161 nautical miles

Day 9: It is cloudy. A thunderstorm cell is waiting ahead of us, but it will probably move away during the night. There’s not much else to report. Nikola is running, wind and waves are unchanged. Yesterday we were in radio contact with another boat, so our fellow sailor Linus was able to win a round of radio chess. The game lasted an hour and a half. In the meantime, there’s no sign of the other players, they’ve left for Martinique. In the afternoon, Jonas baked bread. Ninth day’s run: 159 nautical miles

Day 10: The waves are smaller and the sun is shining again. In the morning, we have set the Code D again and sail further west. The seaweed fields are fewer for the time being, so we cast out the fishing line again. We still want a tuna. The opportunity is almost running out: only 600 nautical miles lie ahead of us. Tenth day’s run: 149 nautical miles

Day 11: In the evening, we switch from the Code D back to the trade wind sail setup with genoa and staysail, as the wind picks up briefly. The two sails also allow us to set a better course, as the wind has shifted slightly. In the morning, we replace the genoa with the Code D again and sail along happily. With the full moon shining brightly, we have a little dance party in our cockpit before dinner. We have banana bread for dessert. Only three bananas left for the remaining 480 nautical miles. Chronos overtakes us today. A luxurious cruising yacht that we have already encountered a few times in the past. We would also welcome being served three meals a day. Eleventh day’s run:141 nautical miles

Day 12: It’s getting warm. We are slowly starting to sweat. How nice it would be to have cold feet and mulled wine at a Christmas market. We have become accustomed to the watch rhythm. In the evening, our shifts run from 21:00 - 01:00, 01:00 - 04:00 and 04:00 - 08:00 local time. As the three of us take turns, each of us has enough time to sleep and we are not constantly draining our energy reserves. During a watch, we check the AIS and the radar every 20 minutes or so. The radar has the advantage that we not only see ships on it, but also thunderstorms and rain cells. These are often associated with wind shifts and gusts. If we see them in time, we can reef and avoid any nasty surprises. We would sail around larger thunderstorm cells that we track on Windy. But so far that hasn’t been necessary. The full moon continues to accompany us. Twelfth day’s run: 149 nautical miles

Day 13: The hours and miles are counting down, less than 200 nautical miles lie ahead of us. Shortly before the end, the wind becomes unsteady. At best, Barbados will be in sight before dark tomorrow. It would be sad to approach the island in the dark after two weeks. We see a rainbow for the first time and enjoy a colorful sunrise. Thirteenth day’s run: 151 Nautical miles

Day 14: The highlight of the night was a large cruise ship (Costa Fascinosa), which must have somehow had to pass the time until its scheduled arrival and kept zigzagging past us. It was quite surreal to suddenly see such a brightly lit ship so close after all the loneliness at sea. Unfortunately, it’s too rocky on Nikola to take photos. It looks like a floating circus tent. Only 48 miles to go. Fourteenth day’s run: 149 Nautical miles

Day 14 + 9 hours: The anchor hit the ground between Port St. Charles and Speightstown: we’ve made it! 2141 nautical miles across the Atlantic. 3965 kilometers and a small green island at the end. A small reception committee comes to meet us with the dhingy. A rainbow forms, birds fly, the air smells fantastic, the island’s green is lush, and we begin to realize that the adventure is over. At least this adventure...