When planning a longer passage across unprotected  water a careful preparation is essential. The first thing is certainly checking the weather forecast. To precook some hearty food for the time of the passage is advisable, just as preparing the appropriate warm clothes for cold nights, and everything else that needs to be at hand.  To cook and to extract things from the cupboards is highly strenuous on a swaying boat.

For the next day a fair, later decreasing wind from north east was predicted, which was to increase again the day after from the east. We were prepared and took the chance. It was amazing how exact this forecast turned out. 

We left Amble around noon on Tuesday with a fresh breeze from abeam.  Before sundown the wind died away so that we had to start the engine. A heavy swell  set Arielle rolling from one side to the other and everything in the cabin flinging about and making life onboard quite uncomfortable. With the teeth rattling noise from the engine to was difficult to find rest. Eventually we crossed the track of our outward journey and could follow it. And again we were called upon by a guard ship to keep our distance to the wind farm construction site on Dogger Bank north of our route. They seemed to consider 1 nm insufficient. To give it a wider berth is almost impossible, as south of us the gas and oil platforms of south Dogger Bank were in our way. So much to the vastness of the ocean.

After 24 hours the wind picked up so that we could hoist sails and by sundown we even had to reef the sails down. We  had a most enjoyable sail through the night. By daybreak an easterly wind had picked up to force 5. This meant close-hauled sailing and required the 2. reef, as the boat was heeling over considerably. We tore down towards the coast of Netherland with a speed of 8 knots. With the first light of day the shipping lanes lay ahead of us, something we always look upon with some apprehension. But the AIS (the modern electronics for identifying ships and their speed and course) will tell us, if a safe passage is possible, or if we are on a collision course with a vessel following the shipping lane. In which case we would have had to communicate with the other ship by VHF. We experienced vessels following the shipping lanes slightly adjusting their  course in order to ensure our safe passage.