Jelle Veyt set off in a sailboat from the French port of Lorient on November 4. The first stage of his journey would take 10 days to the Canary Islands. “Nervous and excited to be taking part in this journey,” Veyt wrote as he left.

There was a reason for his trepidation; two years ago he had tried to row the Atlantic with some friends, only to suffer from extreme sea sickness almost immediately. He found sailing much smoother, but still suffered seasickness in the Gulf of Biscay.

They arrived in the Canary Islands on November 15 and spent time restocking the ship and preparing for their big Atlantic crossing. On November 20 they set off from Mindelo, Cape Verde towards the Caribbean. Veyt estimated that the journey should take around 20 days.

On December 6 he posted from his Garmin InReach that they were roughly in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, with low winds and high temperatures. On December 10 he posted that there were only 1,000 nautical miles to go.