June 8, was a terrible day. We slep on the boat and we wake up at 6 am. We had to be in Marseille at 9 am to get the "Passavante" in the Consulate of Spain. The distance from Antibes to Marseille is about 200 km. All documents were OK and the "Passavante" was given us by 11 am. Then we phoned (one more time) to Germany to a firm from which we ordered our liferaft. We ordered the liferaft on the condition that it should arrive at Antibes by Monday, May 31. On the phone, they said that the liferaft would be delivered before noon. Oliver was very worried because strong winds were expected. As soon as we could sail, the better. We arrived at Antibes about 3 pm and the liferaft had not arrived! We could not leave without the liferaft. On the other hand if we did not start the crossing on Tuesday we had to wait 3 or 4 days for the strong winds to fade away. But Oliver had to return to Mallorca and we could not make the crossing. The prospect was the boat to stay in Antibes and someone to return there to bring it to Portocolom. Then I took a decision: try to buy a liferaft in Antibes. It was 4 pm! Earlier, in Marseille, I was told that liferafts orders take one about one month to be delivered. In the first shop that we entered, they confirmed that. We tried a second shop. Et voilá - they had a 8 person ISO 9650 -1 liferaft in a container! It was used but in a reasonable state. So we put the liferaft on the car, payed, and went to Quay1. It was 4h45 pm. Oliver and Iris went to the petrol station to fill the tank with diesel and I went to deliver the car to Avis. Avis was about 700 meters from the port. I delivered the car and returned running through the old town to the petrol station. It was about 5 pm. Margarida had already the tank completed full. So I jumped aboard and we started our crossing to Mahon!

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We had very few time to prepare things or even to test the equipment of Margarida. As we went out the port of Antibes, Oliver was checking everything. I was taking care of the mooring lines and Iris was making a small film. We had a 260 nautical miles crossing in front of us. Our heading was 210º towards Mahon in the Isle of Menorca. We should go at a speed of at least 6,5 knots because of the weather forecast. In fact, winds of force 6 or 7 were expected on Wednesday. Our aim was to go as fast as we could in order to get clear from those winds coming from behind.

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