FROM TRADE WINDS TO DOLDRUMS
Day 6. November 16.
Departure delayed till the evening. Spent all day sanding and painting the bow of the boat, which was a bit damaged by anchor secured not strong enough in Northern seas. Tired as hell, and this is before the late departure!
Some interesting boats from marina. These are participants of Jacque Vabre transatlantic
who abandoned the race. Sailors are relaxed drinking beer in the marina bar, no need to be in a hurry now.
Had dinner at the same cafe with good music. Caboverdian music is one of the reasons to visit this islands! But the food is still so-so.
In the marina bar met a man from New Zealand I met before in Tenerife. A lot of laughs and caipirinhas:) They go West, we go South, was nice to meet you again!
Departed at midnight. Bye Mindelo! The wind is light, motoring.
Found water in the engine room. Leak in the engine cooling system. Set jib and switched off the engine for several hours while Alex was fixing the broken part.
The sea tonight is shining differently: not sparkles, but big phosphorizing spots. Beautiful!
Day 7. November 17.
In the morning started the engine – hooray! No more leaks!
Still no wind, still motoring with jib. But from the other hand the water is flat. Calm Ocean. Some haze and small clouds in the skies.
Suddenly the fishing rod starts to chirr. Fish! Dan tries to pull it in, but the rod goes kaput. I am curious what kind of fish it was 🙂
Broken rod? No problem! Repeating “Tuna must die” Dan assembled the new fishing rod using parts of the old one, duct tape and three meter long aluminum pipe. I think Tuna will die just seeing This!
Night watch. Made a drink of Tamarind we bought in Sao Vicento. Invigorating:) From time to time we pass clouds of jellyfish or whatsoever, and the water under the boat becomes phosphorous-green, and everywhere around the lightbulbs turn on. Looks like in “Life of Pi” movie 🙂
The skies are low and black, the stars are extra bright, and the best way to spend the night in this conditions – is to learn some astronomy. We have Sky Guide application and Celestial Navigation book. Learning new stars: Canopus, Achernar, Procyon.
Trying again to read Celestial Navigation book and not to fall asleep at 15th page. With this skies it goes more successful, and even the word Almucantarat doesn’t kill my brain 🙂 And the watch slips by.
Day 8. November 18.
Still very light winds, full sails plus engine. It is very convenient to move south – at the most hot time you have shade from the sails at the cockpit.
Tried popular among our crew fun – to swim behind the boat going 7 knots wearing climbing harness attached to the line going to the winch. Hmmmmm this type of massage is too strong for me 🙂 but the water temperature is perfect 27 C, and the air temperature in the shade is very comfortable. Passing 12th Latitude.
Saw a white bird. It was making circles around the boat but didn’t land. The distance to the nearest land is 300 nm back north (Cabo Verde), and 600 nm east is Guinea-Bissau.
At the end of my watch Captain decided that crew needs some fun and spinnaker. Crew grumbled, but began to set the lines. Meanwhile the dolphins came, lots of them! The water was boiling! Groups of around 10 dolphins were jumping together, and some solo performers were showing vertical jumps. Beautiful!
Well, it’s time to play. Set spinnaker, found holes, dropped spinnaker. Evening sailors fun. Another yellow sunset, puffy clouds cleared away, off till midnight.
Baked meat and sweet potatoes for dinner. Yummy!
Night watch. No glowing jellies, only plankton sparkles. No moon, but it’s not very dark, because the stars are so bright! Somebody put Russian navy song on channel 16, but nobody around on AIS. Strange!
Had a power nap on the spinnaker. Comfortable! Having no internet, reading the Sky Guide again. Stars, comets, satellites… Stopped the engine and were sailing for half a watch. Then Captain came and told to start in again, because we were too slow.
Saw two shooting stars. Off for now.
Day 9. November 19.
Passing 10th latitude. Welcome to Doldrums! Light shifting wind, pretty small clouds in the skies. Watching flying fish and brown seaweed. All day repairing spinnaker.
Black bird was making circles around the boat and also didn’t land. Birds don’t trust us 🙂 Maybe because of our bright colors.
At the sunset sail practice again – it seemed that propeller sounds weird. Dropped the sails. Dan dived, but didn’t see any problem. That’s all we could do in the open Ocean. Set sails again, engine on.
Night watch. We have wind again! Engine off, sailing! The boat is flying! More wind! Boat speed 8-9 knots, now it’s harder to steer. I can imagine my muscles after this crossing 😉
Saw the first vessels after leaving Mindelo. One fishing going to Cape Town, one tanker going to Spain.
Made “African tea” with tamarind and hibiscus. Tasty and wakes me up:) But what wakes me up more – is the power nap on the spinnaker 🙂
To make it more fun, The Ocean shows us thunderstorms on the way. One passed ahead, the next one – other watch’s business 🙂 The Main Problem is that in the dark night you don’t see is it a small puffy cloud or a big ass rain cloud. Sunrise in 1,5 hour, off watch!
