See our new partner project “Running Downwind” and our departure from Peake in Trinidad! A special thanks goes to Michael from Baltic Sun for organizing and driving a dinghy so that Laura and Thorsten from the “Running Downwind” project were able to film our departure.

At Peake Yacht Services we had to bend the shaft and rudder and the rudder had another crack that we had to weld. Thanks to Chris Maclean all went fine and he helped us also to put a new shaft bearing. Further we had to replace about 70 % of our rigging. Jonas from Trinidad Rigging did a perfect job.
For the Arctic we build a roof behind our bridge. Thanks to Vishnu from Peake Yacht Services and welder Marc Degans we now have much more protection.
Thanks to ICOM Australia we installed a AIS transponder so that big ships can visulise us better and Turtle Pac Australia send us some flexible tanks for the NW-Passage.
Many thanks also goes to Jotun for their Antifouling paint and Budget Marine for their support.
Thanks to Meret looking after the children; Sabine and Dario were able to work full time on many little maintenance jobs and optimized and improved many systems on board.
On the 30th of January the Honorary Consul for Switzerland, Michelle Khan, hosted a reception in Chagaramas to honour the expedition team. Read more in the Guardian newspaper here!
We sailed off Trinidad on Sunday the 10th of February and reached Bonaire on the 13th at 1 a.m.. On the way we nearly stopped at Aves Island in Venezuela, but when we approached the anchorage darkness came so soon that we continued sailing because we couldn’t see the coral heads.
The trip from Peake to Bonaire was one of the best sailing we had in the past with 2 to 3 kn of current with us.
In Bonaire you have to take a mooring for US 10.- per day, because anchoring is not allowed. One of the best snorkeling here just from the boat in crystal clear water. The first day we were already invited to a birthday party by sailing families to little Bonaire Island, where we did a clean-up.
On the 14th at 20.00 hours we set sail again to Santa Marta Columbia, because the GRIB files showed us good wind all the way (not more then 20 kn). We decided to sail N of Couracao and Aruba around Punta Gallina and anchored in the unique Ensenada Gairaca, one of the 5-Bays to get shelter. From there we were looking to the snow covered mountains as we were approaching — the only time you’ll see snow in the tropics. These bays have been compared to the fjords of Norway. You can get some very strong southeasterly williwaw winds off the Santa Marta Mountains. The wind was blowing so hard that our wind measurement system got destroyed.
To make this trip a fun trip here our strategy:
– Go from the ABCs as soon as there is not more than 30kn E or NE
– Stay at least 40nm from Punta Gallinas in deep water and follow the 2000m line
– If you go from Bonaire N of Couracau and Aruba you have to change course only once when you are on the height of Punta Gallinas; note that the wind is strongest in the late afternoon and lightest early morning.
We arrived in Santa Marta Columbia yesterday the 18th of February and had our first article today to organize our activities: see Diario del Magdelena.
Here our climbing project in Columbia 🙂