Blog entries
Sailing from Azores to Amsterdam and dealing with anxiety – Miguel’s version
If you follow us on social media, you know we struggled to leave the Azores. We prepared the boat, stock up, and double-checked the weather. All looked very promising. But […]
Going home
Usually one of us writes a blog, the other one edits a bit and then we publish it. But after Saskia wrote this blog, and Miguel edited it, we realized […]
Confessions from Saetta
We always try to be as honest as possible about what is going on in our blog, videos and Instagram. This is one of the reasons we loved that we […]
Arrival in Horta
We did it! Friday around 13.00h we arrived in Horta, after 22 days at sea. The last miles we used the engine, since there wasn’t any wind to sail. We […]
2 weeks at sea
We left Sint Maarten 2 weeks ago. After sailing close to the wind for days, we had a couple of really calm days, but thanks to our spinaker we still […]
Enjoying comfortable sailing days
After the first week of slamming into the waves, we change our course to the North. At the same time, the waves become smaller, which gives us a couple of […]
First week of our Atlantic crossing West to East
One week into our crossing to the Azores, time for an update! Until know we haven’t been able to write a blog. Miguels updates on predict wind are short. I […]
Land!!
Miguel was the one who spotted land this morning. Almost there! Yesterday was a though day. In the morning we had 95 nm to go to the Azores. The wind […]
Time to get a move on, or at least, try to
We can not believe how time flies! When we arrived in Dominica, we thought we would stay here for about 3 weeks, but it has already been more than a […]
Provisioning
Stress, stress, stress! That’s what provisioning gives me! Although I love to organize, to plan and to make lists, provisioning is never easy for me. I have read a lot […]
And now….
On the 2nd of February we arrived at St. Vincent. We got a lovely warm welcome from our friends Oliver and Karlijn from Flyer (for the Dutch readers: www.flywithus.nu). It […]
Day #?.. they’re all becoming the same
Day 12… Day 13… Day 14…Days are becoming blured into a very long one… with the weather staying the same, with nothing special happening and the 6h shifts pattern, it’s […]
Day 9: finally on halfway point! Only 1980km to go!
Day 9, what a fantastic day! We finally hit out halfway mark: 1100nm(1980km) complete! Most cruisers have something planned for this event. We did not. From my side it was […]
Day 8: Goodbye fresh food, hello cans!
We’ve now entered day 8 of our crossing. This is the longest we’ve ever been at sea and the longest we’ve sailed without engine! We’re quite proud of it! To […]
Day 7: power management on an ocean crossing
Yesterday I went to bed at 6:00 and Saskia took over. Just as she was coming up the wind picked up (finally) and there was no need to make any […]
Day 6: do you have any whiskey to trade??
(Written on the night of day #6 but fell asleep before pressing send) After days of +25kt winds and big waves making the boat feel like a washing machine, we’re […]
Day 5: grooming and weather
Day 4 finished so well! We were quite excited for day 5, expecting it to get even better conditions. But that’s not how the weather works. In the middle of […]
And on the 4th day, inspiration and good weather
Yestersay we were reading updates from boats close to us. Risa said they’re keeping up their exercise routine, White Pearl has been cooking omelets and chili con carne, Off Course […]
At the start of day 3 of out Atlantic Crossing
On our last passage from La Gomera do Cape Verde, I spent all my time on shift watching shows and writing little messages. So I thought: on the next passage, […]
We left for our Atlanyic crossing, but was it a wise decision?
After many weather updates and running around town trying to fix our liferaft, we finally thought wise to leave to the Caribbean. In the last week we had almost constant […]
I think this is it, we’re leaving to cross the Atlantic
We’re storing the last things aboard, and taking out our heavy weather gear. After we’ll go in the water to clean the dinghy from all the growth, and do the […]
Sailors write their plans in sand
Sailors write their plans in sand. Sounds romantic, doesn’t it? I see a pretty beach, nice sunset, sandcastles, candles and maybe a cocktail if I hear this saying. This saying […]
Preparing to cross the Atlantic Ocean
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean sounds like a massive thing to do. Not as massive as crossing the Pacific , but still: massive! And at the same time if feels like […]
4 must haves on Saetta
Before we start to talk about things we need, we want to say this: So far we have used this blog to take you with us on our journey. We […]
A passage, a day trip and a passage
It is time to do some catching up! We are a bit more then two months into our trip at the moment and we can say it has been a […]
Decisions, decisions, decisions Part II
A while ago we posted a blog about a couple of our decisions before departing on on our trip. Today we want to show you a couple more decisions we […]
These things should not go for a swim.. but they did!
We have arrived in Plymouth, but we did not plan to stay in Plymouth for a long time, so after two days we left towards France. When we left we […]
It is happening!!
YES! We finally did it, we left the Netherlands!It wasn’t at all how we imagined it. In our heads it would be proper summer with lots of sun, feeling excited […]
Almost there…
I know, I know, work on the boat will never be finished, so we probably can keep on saying we are almost ready, but looking at our whiteboard: the list […]
The final preparations (for now)
We started very well with posting regular blogs, but then we got tied up in work again… So this post is about our final preparations. Yes, final, because the time […]
DIY, heights and paint
Here we are, inside Saetta, trying to keep warm. Last week we had amazing days, but the last couple of days it has been wet and windy! But a bit […]
No time for sailing, there is work to do!
Hiya! How are you doing? We are doing okay, keeping busy with our projects. This week we realised that sometimes we are so busy working on the boat, we forget […]
Decisions, decisions, decisions – Part 1
It is unbelievable how many decisions we need to make in our preparations! Miguel keeps on working through our to do list and when he is not busy fixing things, […]
Working from home and our plans
What a bizarre couple of weeks it has been! One week we were slightly aware of a virus somewhere far, far away, and all of a sudden it was near […]
Sailing Saetta: summer holiday from Edinburgh (Scotland) to Kristiansand (Norway), Part 1
The trip to Norway was an adventure that began a few weeks prior to departure. It started when the boat came out of the water for a new paint undercoat […]
Sailing Saetta: prelude, Saskia and Miguel move in together, and she learns how to sail
It was 5 years ago that Miguel sent me a photo of him in front of a boat, saying he just bought it. The idea was not completely new to […]
Saskia Stays On Boat Alone
I love being alone. Don’t get me wrong, I love being with Miguel, but I really need my time alone as well. When I was living in the apartment, that […]
Sailing Saetta: summer holidays in Zeeland, Part 2
Now we are at our first destination, Stellendam. What should we do? We decided to stick around Stellendam for a few days. This gave Saskia time to go on an […]
Sailing Saetta: summer holidays in Zeeland, Part 1
Summer is here! And I am tired of boatwork! It is time for a nice long sail, put to test all that has been updated, and try to get some […]
Sailing Saetta: Saskia moves aboard
Miguel has been living aboard for a while now, whilst I stayed at the apartment during the week. I have been resisting moving into the boat mostly because the 2 […]
Goodbye 2019, hello 2020!
Happy New Year!A lot has happened in 2019. We worked on the boat, we enjoyed the summer by going for sails, just the two of us, and with friends. During […]
Sailing Saetta prelude: Miguel and Saskia meet
It was the summer of 2009. I was putting the final touches on my Master’s thesis when a friend invited me for a few days at his place in Albufeira […]
How it came to be and where to go from here
Humanity’s affinity for water is undeniable. Think “holiday” and you will struggle not to picture a beach. Think of the colour blue and, not only will most consider it their […]
Sailing Saetta: quick intro
We are Miguel and Saskia, a young(ish) couple living aboard Saetta in Amsterdam. Since getting the boat 5 years ago I dreamt to swap the comfort and safety of harbour […]