Hello Africa
What a delight to see something so different to Spain/Europe. We haven't been out of Europe in over a year. As a matter of fact this is the first time we two are on another continent together. Will be a lot of first times here for us as a couple, on this journey. Me personally haven't been to Africa since Christmas 2004 which I spent in Egypt, and Alex haven't been over here since he lived in Angola, Ivory coast and Senegal for some 15 years ago - so we're kind of excited as you might understand.
The 200 miles ride over here took us around 40 hours from Gibraltar and we were pleasantly surprised to see how amazing the new sails worked for us. And how incredibly well the boat sailed despite two completely full fuel tanks of 280 liters in total, 300 liters of water in the keel, around 150 kilo of food and provisions and all of the other weight we're carrying onboard. At one time last night we averaged on around 7.5 knots for a good 2-3 hours - almost too good to be true for this overweighted old lady. Max speed was as much as 10.5 knots at some point with quite large tidal waves pushing us along. The best speed we ever obtained with this boat. We also had the chance to try out all of the new foresails - the jib, the genoa and the gennaker - and they all flew totally flawless. What a difference it makes with perfectly cut sails!
We are now docked up in Bouregreg Marina in Rabat - the capital of Morocco - and will now be heading out for some Moroccan tea and city exploration. It is around 29 C° (84F°) here this afternoon. How we've been waiting for the heat!
Laters. /Taru
