Position Midday:     N 32 38', W 16 47' Position Midnight:   N 32 38', W 16 47' Progress last 24h:    0 Nautical miles

After an exciting night drive from the airport through unsigned cliffy landscape to the remote harbor, I finally got the first glimpse of S/Y Golden Gate, my home for the next month... and what a magnificent sight! 62 foot of shiny sailing machine made from luxury parts and dreams. I was welcomed aboard by John and Andy, and after settling into the slowly rocking yacht, I got a healthy sleep in the ship... the first of many.

The last day in harbor was of course devoted to preparing departure. After breakfast Lailani and I used my rental car to buy all the perishables, that is fruit and vegetables. I needed to return the car, and as Ole and Lise were arriving in the afternoon, I drove to Funchal to explore the town, and from there returned to the airport via the inland. The roads were not surprisingly extremely steep (even first gear occasionally had problems!), taking Madeira's mountainous landscape into account, but they were sometimes only single track dirt roads, and once over the ridge, things went from calm sunny 20 degrees to gusty foggy 5 degrees!
Back in the harbor, Ole and Lise finally arrived, and it was the great gathering of the six sailors to set out across the Atlantic. John and Lailani gave us a briefing about the security and routines onboard, after which Lailani served a great lamb dinner with New Zealand wine. The rest of the evening we all settled in, and finally went to get our last quite sleep for a while.
I started on "Voyage of the Beagle" about Charles Darwin's voyage, and dozed off to sweet dreams of the adventures ahead of us.