Wednesday 9th November 06
Pete………………….
25 degrees 45 minutes North, 17 degrees 30 minutes West (09:45).
The last couple of weeks have been spent in Pasito Blanco doing jobs and awaiting repairs to the mast. Last Monday, the rigger completed the repairs on the mast and we were ready to leave. The marina has been pleasant but much too remote and quiet.
Fliss went and paid our dues and collect a letter from the marina staff that authenticates that they were our last port of call. This will hopefully help with the immigration in the Cape Verdes who would prefer to see an exit stamp in our passports.
We set-off at 09:00, early since the wind swings into the marina later in the day and would make it a not-so-delicate departure.
We were soon under-way with full sail and bounding along at 8 knots. Fliss wants a lively sail with an average of 7 knots so that we make landfall a couple of days earlier than the expected 7. I want a nice easy ride.
The winds increased and we once hit the 9 knot barrier that has only ever been broached once before. It was shortly afterwards that we were hit by a much stronger burst of wind and decided to put in a reef in the mainsail. An hour and a half later, we put a second reef in the mainsail and fifteen minutes after that, we fully furled the headsail and were still gunning along at 7.5 knots.
It wasn’t long after our last reef that we heard a high pitched alarm from down in the cabin. I went to check but, with these high electrical whines, it is really difficult to hear where they are coming from. I peered at the navigation station and started turning things off one-by-one until I had turned everything off. It was then that I realised that the noise was coming from the barometer just above that was beeping a warning of sudden change in pressure (4mb increase in 4 hours). Well, thanks very much but we already knew it was windy. There were white crests everywhere and the faces of each wave were getting steep. I was in the mood to put the mainsail away altogether and for poling-out a scrap of headsail when the conditions seemed to stabilise and begin to moderate.
Why do our long passages always start on the boisterous side??
Late afternoon, the wind had moderate sufficiently to unwrap a mainsail reef and to pole the jib out on the opposite side. It was a b it rolly but otherwise pleasant and we ran at about 7 knots most of the time.
It is 10:00 this morning and we have the headsail reefed a bit but still poled-out.
So in our first day of passage, we clocked 162 miles – not bad eh?
I have had a few hours nap here and there, unfortunately, Fliss has not yet been so fortunate and has not managed sleep yet. I came back on watch at 09:00 and went into the captains cabin at the rear to grab my lifejacket before going on-deck. Down on the floor was a flying fish! It must have had a seriously good aim since the angle through the companionway and across through the door of the cabin is very acute. We don’t know when boarded but was truly dead and stiff when we found it this morning. We didn’t fancy fish for breakfast (it was a tad small) so sent it back to its maker overboard.
Pete………………….
25 degrees 45 minutes North, 17 degrees 30 minutes West (09:45).
The last couple of weeks have been spent in Pasito Blanco doing jobs and awaiting repairs to the mast. Last Monday, the rigger completed the repairs on the mast and we were ready to leave. The marina has been pleasant but much too remote and quiet.
Fliss went and paid our dues and collect a letter from the marina staff that authenticates that they were our last port of call. This will hopefully help with the immigration in the Cape Verdes who would prefer to see an exit stamp in our passports.
We set-off at 09:00, early since the wind swings into the marina later in the day and would make it a not-so-delicate departure.
We were soon under-way with full sail and bounding along at 8 knots. Fliss wants a lively sail with an average of 7 knots so that we make landfall a couple of days earlier than the expected 7. I want a nice easy ride.
The winds increased and we once hit the 9 knot barrier that has only ever been broached once before. It was shortly afterwards that we were hit by a much stronger burst of wind and decided to put in a reef in the mainsail. An hour and a half later, we put a second reef in the mainsail and fifteen minutes after that, we fully furled the headsail and were still gunning along at 7.5 knots.
It wasn’t long after our last reef that we heard a high pitched alarm from down in the cabin. I went to check but, with these high electrical whines, it is really difficult to hear where they are coming from. I peered at the navigation station and started turning things off one-by-one until I had turned everything off. It was then that I realised that the noise was coming from the barometer just above that was beeping a warning of sudden change in pressure (4mb increase in 4 hours). Well, thanks very much but we already knew it was windy. There were white crests everywhere and the faces of each wave were getting steep. I was in the mood to put the mainsail away altogether and for poling-out a scrap of headsail when the conditions seemed to stabilise and begin to moderate.
Why do our long passages always start on the boisterous side??
Late afternoon, the wind had moderate sufficiently to unwrap a mainsail reef and to pole the jib out on the opposite side. It was a b it rolly but otherwise pleasant and we ran at about 7 knots most of the time.
It is 10:00 this morning and we have the headsail reefed a bit but still poled-out.
So in our first day of passage, we clocked 162 miles – not bad eh?
I have had a few hours nap here and there, unfortunately, Fliss has not yet been so fortunate and has not managed sleep yet. I came back on watch at 09:00 and went into the captains cabin at the rear to grab my lifejacket before going on-deck. Down on the floor was a flying fish! It must have had a seriously good aim since the angle through the companionway and across through the door of the cabin is very acute. We don’t know when boarded but was truly dead and stiff when we found it this morning. We didn’t fancy fish for breakfast (it was a tad small) so sent it back to its maker overboard.Fliss….
Yes it was an interesting start to the journey but like all able crusty old sea dogs we knew what to do when over canvassed and broaching, we dived to the cockpit floor & waited until the moment had passed then reefed the main. Pete denies that he leapt for safety and said he was only following my lead as he thought I had spotted a big wave heading our way.
Maybe it’s my fault the weathers at bit blowy as I made a deal with mother nature to be kind and make the weather good when Mum & Ash & Naomi were over but the good news is that we are steaming along and Nadezhda feels comfortable.
Sleep again is proving troublesome but I expected it, so tonight hopefully will be easier.
The flying fish was really quite colourful and god knows how he managed to fly past us as it was relatively cloudy night but, with a full, moon you had really good visibility.
On my watch there’s always loads of boats out (well, on the 8-11pm watch) and one boat I really couldn’t make out what he was doing. 1st there was 1 light, then it went to three, then changed to two and for some strange reason it appeared to be going from left to right then back again. Pete was really tired and thought maybe it was car headlights in Gran Canaria, probably not as we were around 60+ miles away I lost sight of the boat after an hour.
The sun’s out and it’s going to be a nice day and the waves have calmed down.
Breads in the oven for breakfast and all is well on Yacht Nadezhda.
Thursday 9th November 2006
23 35.9 N 19 05.8 W
Fliss
Good morning all it’s 9am and it a lovely bright start to the day.
At about 7pm Pete decided he would go and get some rest as he was shattered as he didn’t manage to get any sleep during the day. After an hour into my shift the wind picked up (not that much but enough) and the seas were building.
At one point waves where picking up the stern of Nadezhda and flinging her forward resulting in her nose sloshing sideways as this was happening waves where then hitting us at the rear quarter of the boat pushing the stern over, potentially putting us into a broaching position side onto the waves. This was a real concern as the waves were quite big & choppy. Charlie (our auto-helm) really wasn’t helping, he panics and thrusts the tiller hard over pushing us into the waves’ path.
All this in mind and the fact we were racing along at well over 8 knots (mostly 8.5+)
I decided to reluctantly wake Pete (after my knees stopped wobbling) to get him to help me reef the jib. I was also worried that there was too much stress on the auto-helm.
Pete got up (he was already awake) and said that I was right to call him, ESP on his part maybe? We reefed the jib changed Charlie for the Aries wind vane & Nadezhda settled down still sailing well into the high 7’s. I slept and didn’t get up till 8am, brilliant!.
From now on we will reef more sail in at night if it’s quite windy & there’s big seas running.
Pete…………..
Good day sailing yesterday but we are rolling around quite a lot which makes all tasks a chore. A good 24 hour run at 168 Nautical Miles.
We spotted some dolphin/whale things beside Naz earlier today. Snub-nosed and larger than your average dolphin. Unfortunately they did not stop and we did not have the time to identify them from our new book on the critters.
If these Trade-Wind conditions persist, Fliss will get her wish of a quick passage. The clouds are forming long parallel rows in the direction of the wind with a couple of miles between each row. In the area under the cloud, we do about 6.5 knots, in the area under blue-sky we get about 7.5 knots. Very predictable and wind-speed and direction are constant. I haven’t looked at today’s forecast yet but the view is that this pattern is going to break in the next day or so. Shame since this then will bring calms of unpredictable direction and squalls before the Trades set back in again.
Friday 10th November 06
Pete………………….
Yesterday saw us keeping a good 7 knots with much the same conditions as the day before, we even reefed the jib again before dark as the wind was increasing.
At midnight, the wind started dropping and I un-reefed the jib and started playing with it to get it flying properly fully downwind. The night was lit by bright moonlight and the sails and boat were brightly illuminated.
In the UK, we had little practice sailing with the jib to windward on a spinnaker pole since, (1) You always seem to be beating against the wind, or, (2) You are constantly dodging other boats and obstacles so that it is daft to go to the trouble of setting the pole up only to have to take it down again minutes later.
So, I had not realised that we had too much bagginess in the leach. The sail was luffing-up as we rolled and then unfurling with a slam and yanking the forestay. I looked at the mainsail and it dawned on me that the reason why it was not doing the same was that the leech was pulled taut. So, loosening the topping-lift and pulling down on the spinnaker pole, I rectified the problem and have learned a little about sailing in the process.
The problem now is that we want to control everything from the cockpit. I have rigged blocks tied to bow roller and cleats and run lines aft for pole down-haul and boom-preventer and have run out of line and blocks for other bits and pieces. Nadezhda has never really been set-up for downwind cruising and some serious thought will have to be given to what we need to do to make life easier for ourselves - once we reach the next chandlery. We will have lots of opportunity for thought and practice before this happens!
Not much really to report. Fliss made a wicked curry last night that was really appreciated and my constipation was fixed earlier this morning.
Fliss………….
Much calmer day today seas not so big & were still kicking along at over 7 knots.
Yes it was an interesting start to the journey but like all able crusty old sea dogs we knew what to do when over canvassed and broaching, we dived to the cockpit floor & waited until the moment had passed then reefed the main. Pete denies that he leapt for safety and said he was only following my lead as he thought I had spotted a big wave heading our way.
Maybe it’s my fault the weathers at bit blowy as I made a deal with mother nature to be kind and make the weather good when Mum & Ash & Naomi were over but the good news is that we are steaming along and Nadezhda feels comfortable.
Sleep again is proving troublesome but I expected it, so tonight hopefully will be easier.
The flying fish was really quite colourful and god knows how he managed to fly past us as it was relatively cloudy night but, with a full, moon you had really good visibility.
On my watch there’s always loads of boats out (well, on the 8-11pm watch) and one boat I really couldn’t make out what he was doing. 1st there was 1 light, then it went to three, then changed to two and for some strange reason it appeared to be going from left to right then back again. Pete was really tired and thought maybe it was car headlights in Gran Canaria, probably not as we were around 60+ miles away I lost sight of the boat after an hour.
The sun’s out and it’s going to be a nice day and the waves have calmed down.
Breads in the oven for breakfast and all is well on Yacht Nadezhda.
Thursday 9th November 2006
23 35.9 N 19 05.8 W
Fliss
Good morning all it’s 9am and it a lovely bright start to the day.
At about 7pm Pete decided he would go and get some rest as he was shattered as he didn’t manage to get any sleep during the day. After an hour into my shift the wind picked up (not that much but enough) and the seas were building.
At one point waves where picking up the stern of Nadezhda and flinging her forward resulting in her nose sloshing sideways as this was happening waves where then hitting us at the rear quarter of the boat pushing the stern over, potentially putting us into a broaching position side onto the waves. This was a real concern as the waves were quite big & choppy. Charlie (our auto-helm) really wasn’t helping, he panics and thrusts the tiller hard over pushing us into the waves’ path.
All this in mind and the fact we were racing along at well over 8 knots (mostly 8.5+)
I decided to reluctantly wake Pete (after my knees stopped wobbling) to get him to help me reef the jib. I was also worried that there was too much stress on the auto-helm.
Pete got up (he was already awake) and said that I was right to call him, ESP on his part maybe? We reefed the jib changed Charlie for the Aries wind vane & Nadezhda settled down still sailing well into the high 7’s. I slept and didn’t get up till 8am, brilliant!.
From now on we will reef more sail in at night if it’s quite windy & there’s big seas running.
Pete…………..
Good day sailing yesterday but we are rolling around quite a lot which makes all tasks a chore. A good 24 hour run at 168 Nautical Miles.
We spotted some dolphin/whale things beside Naz earlier today. Snub-nosed and larger than your average dolphin. Unfortunately they did not stop and we did not have the time to identify them from our new book on the critters.
If these Trade-Wind conditions persist, Fliss will get her wish of a quick passage. The clouds are forming long parallel rows in the direction of the wind with a couple of miles between each row. In the area under the cloud, we do about 6.5 knots, in the area under blue-sky we get about 7.5 knots. Very predictable and wind-speed and direction are constant. I haven’t looked at today’s forecast yet but the view is that this pattern is going to break in the next day or so. Shame since this then will bring calms of unpredictable direction and squalls before the Trades set back in again.
Friday 10th November 06
Pete………………….
Yesterday saw us keeping a good 7 knots with much the same conditions as the day before, we even reefed the jib again before dark as the wind was increasing.
At midnight, the wind started dropping and I un-reefed the jib and started playing with it to get it flying properly fully downwind. The night was lit by bright moonlight and the sails and boat were brightly illuminated.
In the UK, we had little practice sailing with the jib to windward on a spinnaker pole since, (1) You always seem to be beating against the wind, or, (2) You are constantly dodging other boats and obstacles so that it is daft to go to the trouble of setting the pole up only to have to take it down again minutes later.
So, I had not realised that we had too much bagginess in the leach. The sail was luffing-up as we rolled and then unfurling with a slam and yanking the forestay. I looked at the mainsail and it dawned on me that the reason why it was not doing the same was that the leech was pulled taut. So, loosening the topping-lift and pulling down on the spinnaker pole, I rectified the problem and have learned a little about sailing in the process.
The problem now is that we want to control everything from the cockpit. I have rigged blocks tied to bow roller and cleats and run lines aft for pole down-haul and boom-preventer and have run out of line and blocks for other bits and pieces. Nadezhda has never really been set-up for downwind cruising and some serious thought will have to be given to what we need to do to make life easier for ourselves - once we reach the next chandlery. We will have lots of opportunity for thought and practice before this happens!
Not much really to report. Fliss made a wicked curry last night that was really appreciated and my constipation was fixed earlier this morning.
Fliss………….
Much calmer day today seas not so big & were still kicking along at over 7 knots.
Beautiful clear blue skies & very warm apart from in the cockpit, that’s downwind sailing for you!
Re the whales we got our dolphin and whale book out we could only assume that they were false killer whales also known as false pilot whales or Pseudorca, they defiantly weren’t dolphins as they were much bigger and certainly not Pilot Whales as pilot whales have bulbous heads. The ones we saw yesterday were black, quite large and had long slender head that tapers to a rounded beak. The marine life so far has been very brief they come over take a look and then leave.
As the conditions where good I decided that we didn’t have to have the “Gruel”again that I made in Gran Canaria so cooked a huge curry that might last till Cape Verde… Pete made me laugh when I dished up the “Gruel” he said it was delicious and then promptly covered it with pepper & Lee & Perrins sauce….Actions speak louder than words!
It’s 9:30pm and Pete is tucked up happily snoring in bed the sky is awash with stars. It’s really dark & sometimes a little eerie so I’ll be glad when the moon makes an appearance at around 10pm as it makes night watches so much easier as you can see for miles, not that there’s anything to see as we haven’t seen another boat all day.
All in all a lovely day & so far we have done 411 miles and according to our pilot book it’s about 830 miles to the Cape Verde Islands so very shortly we will be going over the half way mark (we did this at 10.10pm). Champers in the fridge, well two bottles actually one very expensive one at 5 Euros and the other one was 3.95 Euros.
We’re in the Tropics and at the moment I have my fleece & thermal trousers on, I never would have thought they would be needed, it’s also been known for us both to don our Henry Lloyds on night watches.
It’s strange really but it’s hard to believe that we are crossing the Atlantic Ocean, you could be crossing over to Jersey, the only difference is larger swell.
Saturday 11th November 2006
Lat 19 18.8 North Long 022 38.6 West
We certainly have arrived in the tropics as the days are much warmer & the evenings are so balmy but the humidity is high. The cockpit is absolutely soaking wet by the morning that you would have thought that it had rained in the night.
Yesterday the wind died on us at about 5pm and we had no option apart from to stick the engine on. We motored all night and so far all day today. Pete has just gone to bed (it’s 8pm) the sky is really clear and I’m typing this is my bikini as it’s so warm.
Earlier on this morning (Pete was off watch) I spotted loads of flying fish, there must have been over 30 of them skimming across the water and as I watched a large bright blue fish jumped out of the water after them, obviously he was trying to catch one, brilliant to watch. The flying fish we have seen to date have been quite small but I saw quite a big one today.
Not far to go now we only have 188 nautical miles and we expect to arrive around lunchtime on Monday but tomorrow evening we’ll have a better idea.
Today we had a close encounter with another yacht. I was in bed and Pete had the radar on and spotted a boat. I got up and as the sun rose and you could clearly see it. The yacht was on a direct collision course with us. At one point we wondered if he was meaning to come over to us, he eventually changed course and went behind us, he was so close that we waved at each other. Amazing really being out in the middle of nowhere and being so close to another boat. If we had been in a troubled area it would have been a mayday call.
Really lazy day today and the only thing we had to worry about was finding shade.
12th November 2006
Pete………………
Lat: 18 12.7 North
Long: 23 40.2 West
Lazy day yesterday with the engine on. At 1am, Fliss woke me to say the wind was increasing and we could get some sail out. So we upped the mainsail and poled-out the jib and Fliss made her exit to bed.
The night was a balance between flogging sails and attaining the right course and I worked at it most of the night. Eventually, I pulled the jib in and gybed so that we would get some Southerly before returning to the same tack. Fortunately, the wind has changed in our favour this morning and we are cruising gently down to our waypoint just North of our destination.
Last night, there were 4 flying fish that landed on deck. The first was still flapping slightly and so I hope I got him back in the water soon enough. Two were dead and the last one hit the doghouse with an almighty bump and was a bit dazed as I flipped him back over into aqua infirma.
A hot sunny day again today but (fingers crossed) a little more wind. We expect to reach landfall in dark but understand that there are no significant hazards entering Mindelo.
Sunday 12th November 2006
Fliss......
A really lovely day today as we had enough wind to keep the sails flying getting us along nicely, doing a steady 6 knots, nice calm seas but as usual the wind died at 5pm and rather than have the main beating itself, and the rigging, to death we took the sails in.
For a lot of the day we had company of a school of Atlantic Spotted dolphins, the book Mum brought over has been excellent. These dolphins have white belly’s, spotted flanks with long snouts and are incredibly playful.
They love to play with the bow wave sometimes they leapt right out of the water and belly flopped back in we also watched them spin round, find a big wave and surf down it, fantastic to watch. Each time they came over they stayed with us for some time. The young Atlantic spotted dolphins develop their spots, as they get older so we could distinguish the young from the old.
Add this wonderful display to crystal clear blue water and cloudless hot day it, really has been magical.
As the conditions where good I decided that we didn’t have to have the “Gruel”again that I made in Gran Canaria so cooked a huge curry that might last till Cape Verde… Pete made me laugh when I dished up the “Gruel” he said it was delicious and then promptly covered it with pepper & Lee & Perrins sauce….Actions speak louder than words!
It’s 9:30pm and Pete is tucked up happily snoring in bed the sky is awash with stars. It’s really dark & sometimes a little eerie so I’ll be glad when the moon makes an appearance at around 10pm as it makes night watches so much easier as you can see for miles, not that there’s anything to see as we haven’t seen another boat all day.
All in all a lovely day & so far we have done 411 miles and according to our pilot book it’s about 830 miles to the Cape Verde Islands so very shortly we will be going over the half way mark (we did this at 10.10pm). Champers in the fridge, well two bottles actually one very expensive one at 5 Euros and the other one was 3.95 Euros.
We’re in the Tropics and at the moment I have my fleece & thermal trousers on, I never would have thought they would be needed, it’s also been known for us both to don our Henry Lloyds on night watches.
It’s strange really but it’s hard to believe that we are crossing the Atlantic Ocean, you could be crossing over to Jersey, the only difference is larger swell.
Saturday 11th November 2006
Lat 19 18.8 North Long 022 38.6 West
We certainly have arrived in the tropics as the days are much warmer & the evenings are so balmy but the humidity is high. The cockpit is absolutely soaking wet by the morning that you would have thought that it had rained in the night.
Yesterday the wind died on us at about 5pm and we had no option apart from to stick the engine on. We motored all night and so far all day today. Pete has just gone to bed (it’s 8pm) the sky is really clear and I’m typing this is my bikini as it’s so warm.
Earlier on this morning (Pete was off watch) I spotted loads of flying fish, there must have been over 30 of them skimming across the water and as I watched a large bright blue fish jumped out of the water after them, obviously he was trying to catch one, brilliant to watch. The flying fish we have seen to date have been quite small but I saw quite a big one today.
Not far to go now we only have 188 nautical miles and we expect to arrive around lunchtime on Monday but tomorrow evening we’ll have a better idea.
Today we had a close encounter with another yacht. I was in bed and Pete had the radar on and spotted a boat. I got up and as the sun rose and you could clearly see it. The yacht was on a direct collision course with us. At one point we wondered if he was meaning to come over to us, he eventually changed course and went behind us, he was so close that we waved at each other. Amazing really being out in the middle of nowhere and being so close to another boat. If we had been in a troubled area it would have been a mayday call.
Really lazy day today and the only thing we had to worry about was finding shade.
12th November 2006
Pete………………
Lat: 18 12.7 North
Long: 23 40.2 West
Lazy day yesterday with the engine on. At 1am, Fliss woke me to say the wind was increasing and we could get some sail out. So we upped the mainsail and poled-out the jib and Fliss made her exit to bed.
The night was a balance between flogging sails and attaining the right course and I worked at it most of the night. Eventually, I pulled the jib in and gybed so that we would get some Southerly before returning to the same tack. Fortunately, the wind has changed in our favour this morning and we are cruising gently down to our waypoint just North of our destination.
Last night, there were 4 flying fish that landed on deck. The first was still flapping slightly and so I hope I got him back in the water soon enough. Two were dead and the last one hit the doghouse with an almighty bump and was a bit dazed as I flipped him back over into aqua infirma.
A hot sunny day again today but (fingers crossed) a little more wind. We expect to reach landfall in dark but understand that there are no significant hazards entering Mindelo.
Sunday 12th November 2006
Fliss......
A really lovely day today as we had enough wind to keep the sails flying getting us along nicely, doing a steady 6 knots, nice calm seas but as usual the wind died at 5pm and rather than have the main beating itself, and the rigging, to death we took the sails in.
For a lot of the day we had company of a school of Atlantic Spotted dolphins, the book Mum brought over has been excellent. These dolphins have white belly’s, spotted flanks with long snouts and are incredibly playful.
They love to play with the bow wave sometimes they leapt right out of the water and belly flopped back in we also watched them spin round, find a big wave and surf down it, fantastic to watch. Each time they came over they stayed with us for some time. The young Atlantic spotted dolphins develop their spots, as they get older so we could distinguish the young from the old.
Add this wonderful display to crystal clear blue water and cloudless hot day it, really has been magical.
We wondered what they would do if Pete got in the water with them, so we stopped the engine, tied a line on the back so he could pull himself back in and, as suspected they left…. Next time we see them we’ll try again.
I adore the flying fish as so are so funny to watch! Here is teeming with them as we watched whole schools of them leaping out of the water and flying for some distance, under the water must be mayhem! When the dolphins arrive the fish go into panic mode and you can see them flying off, thousands of them. If I stick my head out of the cockpit now (it’s 10pm) all you can hear is the pinging sound of the fish.
We were saying today that it doesn’t feel like we’ve going for 6 days it feels shorter than the Madeira run. It has been a fantastic passage. The marine life (especially today) has been superb, the sunsets are lovely and the weather has been hot, maybe a little too hot.
When we arrive in the Cape Verde Islands we’ll have to re-train ourselves, as we have had a rather casual approach to the security of the boat. Sadly theft is a big problem in the Cape Verde Islands. All the life saving stuff on the stern of the boat will have to be brought in at night, the dinghy will have to be lifted out of the water and the outboard padlocked to it’s bracket, we’ll put a cloth over the portside cockpit window so you can’t see the Iridium phone and all the navigation equipment, padlocks on the lockers in the cockpit and we’ve also put latches on the entry boards so we can padlock the boards shut. We’ve also been told that it’s wise to employ a dinghy minder to look after your dinghy when you’re ashore. Pete bought a fake Rolex in Gran Canaria which we’ll leave on the boat and hide the rest of our stuff.
It’s a shame as the Islands are meant to be stunning but the people are really poor so hence the problem with theft.
Strict watch-keeping system tonight as we’re approaching the islands (44.9 miles to go) 3 hours each with a 30 minute allowance for your sleep-inducer (whisky & lemonade) normally we’re quite slack with it and we leave each other for 5-6 hours.
Can’t wait to get there but this has been a brilliant 830 mile passage, the “Pond” doesn’t seem so scary now.
ETA is around 9am tomorrow morning, the fridge is turned up so the champers will be nice and cold and the Cap Verde cutsey flag I made is sitting on the navigation table.
Let the good times keep rolling and long may it last…..
Pete…………..
We saw another yacht today. I had spent some time running on the mainsail only after having taken-in the jib and gybed the main. To be honest, the wind was a bit fickle and at the time I couldn’t be bothered with the rigmarole of undoing all the block lashings, transferring them to the other side of the boat, re-running the lines and re-setting the spinnaker pole.
Did I tell you that we really need to look at how Nadezhda should be equipped for downwind sailing??
Anyway, I spotted another yacht in the distance and this spurred new efforts because I wanted to intercept them. So, with the jib re-set out on the opposite side we picked up a bit more speed and it wasn’t long before we had caught them and passed about a mile away from them. I imagine we will see them in Mindelo sometime tomorrow.
Tonight, Fliss woke me up at 23:00 and we prepared to change watches. As Fliss went down below, we noticed a squashed fish on the floor of the saloon. We puzzled over this and, even though I could not quite believe it, I accused Fliss of treading on it and tramping the guts across the floor. Actually, fresh fish are very firm and unlikely to be squidged without knowing it.
Under the sheets that make-up our bed in the saloon during passage, I noticed some movement and asked Fliss to check it out (she was the closest). She gave a cursory glance and nothing was there but after a few moments, I had another look and we have a small black seabird for company. It has obviously regurgitated the fish and we also have some poo around as well. It jumped up onto the seat next to Fliss and looked bewildered so we turned the lights out and left it alone. We have had birds aboard on a number of occasions that have been exhausted, have landed and gone inside Nadezhda. We leave them alone and ensure that they can see the way out. However, after about an hour, I realised that seabirds can always get a rest by simply bobbing on the water. It must have flown-in by mistake and then become disorientated. So I found it in the semi-dark (Fliss was asleep) and gently lifted into the cockpit. Two minutes later and it was back inside! Having put it out in the cockpit again, it waddled around a bit, jumped on the side, and few off. We wish it luck.
Wednesday 15th November 2006
Fliss………..
(Monday Morning)
I first spotted a light at around 5:30pm but no land, and at 6am I woke Pete up.
The wind appeared to be picking up so we put the main sail up and I went off to bed to grab an hours worth of sleep.
When I got up (around 7) the scenery was amazing all these jutting peaks surrounded in mist, very strange looking.
The deck has been covered in little green bugs they where absolutely everywhere so I slooshed the deck with sea water and I must have got rid of hundreds of the damn things but we still keep finding them, lucky though as we find the odd one inside the boat. We must have picked them up in Gran Canaria.
As we approached the anchorage we were greeted by a smiling man in a small dinghy who promptly came alongside and instructed us on where to anchor “Umberto” was to become our “Boat boy”.
After a glass or two of champers we retired to bed for a few hours.
The heat is stifling and the humidity is totally debilitating and I’m finding it hard, Pete is faring better than me but during the day it’s hard to do anything and it doesn’t really cool down at night. It’s 32 inside the boat at night and that’s with having the curtains closed during the day.
(Wednesday Morning)
Mindelo in my opinion is a complete dump and I don’t mean the buildings, the people are surly and look at us with contempt (they look at each other in the same way) everything for them is an effort, if they do smile or talk to us is that they want something from us. The approach is that they give you something as a gift then put hard line pressure on you to give them money. We learnt this very quickly that a smiling face equals a demand for cash.
We are constantly approached by people asking for money, one local who I found intimidating offered us a thousand Euro’s to smuggle him to another country.
The “boat boys” have got it completely sewn up and without doubt it is protection money Umberto wanted 10 Euro’s a day to mind the dinghy and was happy to take 5. If you don’t pay it is guaranteed that your dinghy would go missing or would suddenly develop a puncture, I also wonder if the yacht is protected, as so far we have had no problem. Pete was telling me that last night a French yacht (we’ll come onto the French later) had three local people in a dinghy hanging onto the stern of the boat and left a while later shouting & screaming at the skipper. The French boat promptly upped anchor and left we think that they were concerned re reprisals.
We went to the market yesterday and bought coriander, lettuce and tomatoes and the stall holder wanted 900 Escoudos which is about 9 Euro’s of course he had no chance I gave him the bag back and said it was far too much, we eventually agreed on 400 but the sly and smug look on his face told us that we had been ripped off.
The problem is we really don’t trust anyone as they really are only after you for your money and will take every opportunity to steal or rip you off. So we have decided that from now on if we are approached we will say that we are happy to talk to them but we don’t want to buy anything and we do not have any money, this way the ground rules are set. Another train of thought is that we hire a local for the day and get him to take us around the island show us the sights and also help us understand the true value of things we don’t mind paying slightly higher than the locals but we are fed up with being fleeced.
It is very poor here and it appears that 50% of the population are unemployed so hence the grasping attitude but after a while your sympathy wanes.
We’ll be leaving here soon to find a peaceful anchorage and hopefully leave the hassle behind. We had to come here to get an entry stamp but we’ll be glad to go.
Mindelo has no charm and it’s purely due to the attitude of the people.
Again we are the token Brit, where are they??? The boats are either French or Dutch with a splattering of Finnish. The French are rude & ignorant and will come close the boat and ignore you even when you say hello, we find this hard as we are friendly & sociable people.
I think we’ll be vegetarian as the meat is frozen and laying un covered in the freezers we don’t like fish but even I did it is unappealing as it’s laying in the heat covered with fly’s.
I hate to damn a place and I always try to see the best in places but the only positive is that we are leaving soon.
It’s good for single yachtsman looking for a bit of company (you know what I mean) as a Spanish boat close to us has two young ladies delivered most nights, a young man in the skippers dinghy delivers the 1st one and then picks her up an hour later only to come back later with a new “friend”. We think the skipper is mad as he lets them stay on the boat overnight and he allows them to use the dinghy, this potentially is an explosive situation as the tables could easily turn on him. He’s over 50 and must have shares in Pfizer’s.
Pete………………
I cannot say more than to back Fliss up on her initial opinions. The unemployment here is terrible and the town is full of people simply lounging around. The people who do work have faces that tell you that they would rather not work. They are obviously very hard done-by, their entire body language is like a sullen teenager whose parents are making them do a boring task for the umpteenth time (Waynetta Slob springs to mind).
So, they are unemployed and moan about it, or they are employed and moan about it.
The fact that we have to pay protection money shows that they are a bunch of conning and thieving b$%^&&s. Even people you talk to (who want money later) warn you that people will steal from you at any opportunity and that everything is corrupt. I assume it includes themselves as well and damns the entire lot.
We will be getting laundry done today and are waiting for a gas bottle re-fill before getting away to somewhere a bit quieter. We are hoping that the more rural locations will be less hassle. However, Mindelo has shown the people in their true colours and we now know not to trust any of them (especially if they smile).
I adore the flying fish as so are so funny to watch! Here is teeming with them as we watched whole schools of them leaping out of the water and flying for some distance, under the water must be mayhem! When the dolphins arrive the fish go into panic mode and you can see them flying off, thousands of them. If I stick my head out of the cockpit now (it’s 10pm) all you can hear is the pinging sound of the fish.
We were saying today that it doesn’t feel like we’ve going for 6 days it feels shorter than the Madeira run. It has been a fantastic passage. The marine life (especially today) has been superb, the sunsets are lovely and the weather has been hot, maybe a little too hot.
When we arrive in the Cape Verde Islands we’ll have to re-train ourselves, as we have had a rather casual approach to the security of the boat. Sadly theft is a big problem in the Cape Verde Islands. All the life saving stuff on the stern of the boat will have to be brought in at night, the dinghy will have to be lifted out of the water and the outboard padlocked to it’s bracket, we’ll put a cloth over the portside cockpit window so you can’t see the Iridium phone and all the navigation equipment, padlocks on the lockers in the cockpit and we’ve also put latches on the entry boards so we can padlock the boards shut. We’ve also been told that it’s wise to employ a dinghy minder to look after your dinghy when you’re ashore. Pete bought a fake Rolex in Gran Canaria which we’ll leave on the boat and hide the rest of our stuff.
It’s a shame as the Islands are meant to be stunning but the people are really poor so hence the problem with theft.
Strict watch-keeping system tonight as we’re approaching the islands (44.9 miles to go) 3 hours each with a 30 minute allowance for your sleep-inducer (whisky & lemonade) normally we’re quite slack with it and we leave each other for 5-6 hours.
Can’t wait to get there but this has been a brilliant 830 mile passage, the “Pond” doesn’t seem so scary now.
ETA is around 9am tomorrow morning, the fridge is turned up so the champers will be nice and cold and the Cap Verde cutsey flag I made is sitting on the navigation table.
Let the good times keep rolling and long may it last…..
Pete…………..
We saw another yacht today. I had spent some time running on the mainsail only after having taken-in the jib and gybed the main. To be honest, the wind was a bit fickle and at the time I couldn’t be bothered with the rigmarole of undoing all the block lashings, transferring them to the other side of the boat, re-running the lines and re-setting the spinnaker pole.
Did I tell you that we really need to look at how Nadezhda should be equipped for downwind sailing??
Anyway, I spotted another yacht in the distance and this spurred new efforts because I wanted to intercept them. So, with the jib re-set out on the opposite side we picked up a bit more speed and it wasn’t long before we had caught them and passed about a mile away from them. I imagine we will see them in Mindelo sometime tomorrow.
Tonight, Fliss woke me up at 23:00 and we prepared to change watches. As Fliss went down below, we noticed a squashed fish on the floor of the saloon. We puzzled over this and, even though I could not quite believe it, I accused Fliss of treading on it and tramping the guts across the floor. Actually, fresh fish are very firm and unlikely to be squidged without knowing it.
Under the sheets that make-up our bed in the saloon during passage, I noticed some movement and asked Fliss to check it out (she was the closest). She gave a cursory glance and nothing was there but after a few moments, I had another look and we have a small black seabird for company. It has obviously regurgitated the fish and we also have some poo around as well. It jumped up onto the seat next to Fliss and looked bewildered so we turned the lights out and left it alone. We have had birds aboard on a number of occasions that have been exhausted, have landed and gone inside Nadezhda. We leave them alone and ensure that they can see the way out. However, after about an hour, I realised that seabirds can always get a rest by simply bobbing on the water. It must have flown-in by mistake and then become disorientated. So I found it in the semi-dark (Fliss was asleep) and gently lifted into the cockpit. Two minutes later and it was back inside! Having put it out in the cockpit again, it waddled around a bit, jumped on the side, and few off. We wish it luck.
Wednesday 15th November 2006
Fliss………..
(Monday Morning)
I first spotted a light at around 5:30pm but no land, and at 6am I woke Pete up.
The wind appeared to be picking up so we put the main sail up and I went off to bed to grab an hours worth of sleep.
When I got up (around 7) the scenery was amazing all these jutting peaks surrounded in mist, very strange looking.
The deck has been covered in little green bugs they where absolutely everywhere so I slooshed the deck with sea water and I must have got rid of hundreds of the damn things but we still keep finding them, lucky though as we find the odd one inside the boat. We must have picked them up in Gran Canaria.
As we approached the anchorage we were greeted by a smiling man in a small dinghy who promptly came alongside and instructed us on where to anchor “Umberto” was to become our “Boat boy”.
After a glass or two of champers we retired to bed for a few hours.
The heat is stifling and the humidity is totally debilitating and I’m finding it hard, Pete is faring better than me but during the day it’s hard to do anything and it doesn’t really cool down at night. It’s 32 inside the boat at night and that’s with having the curtains closed during the day.
(Wednesday Morning)
Mindelo in my opinion is a complete dump and I don’t mean the buildings, the people are surly and look at us with contempt (they look at each other in the same way) everything for them is an effort, if they do smile or talk to us is that they want something from us. The approach is that they give you something as a gift then put hard line pressure on you to give them money. We learnt this very quickly that a smiling face equals a demand for cash.
We are constantly approached by people asking for money, one local who I found intimidating offered us a thousand Euro’s to smuggle him to another country.
The “boat boys” have got it completely sewn up and without doubt it is protection money Umberto wanted 10 Euro’s a day to mind the dinghy and was happy to take 5. If you don’t pay it is guaranteed that your dinghy would go missing or would suddenly develop a puncture, I also wonder if the yacht is protected, as so far we have had no problem. Pete was telling me that last night a French yacht (we’ll come onto the French later) had three local people in a dinghy hanging onto the stern of the boat and left a while later shouting & screaming at the skipper. The French boat promptly upped anchor and left we think that they were concerned re reprisals.
We went to the market yesterday and bought coriander, lettuce and tomatoes and the stall holder wanted 900 Escoudos which is about 9 Euro’s of course he had no chance I gave him the bag back and said it was far too much, we eventually agreed on 400 but the sly and smug look on his face told us that we had been ripped off.
The problem is we really don’t trust anyone as they really are only after you for your money and will take every opportunity to steal or rip you off. So we have decided that from now on if we are approached we will say that we are happy to talk to them but we don’t want to buy anything and we do not have any money, this way the ground rules are set. Another train of thought is that we hire a local for the day and get him to take us around the island show us the sights and also help us understand the true value of things we don’t mind paying slightly higher than the locals but we are fed up with being fleeced.
It is very poor here and it appears that 50% of the population are unemployed so hence the grasping attitude but after a while your sympathy wanes.
We’ll be leaving here soon to find a peaceful anchorage and hopefully leave the hassle behind. We had to come here to get an entry stamp but we’ll be glad to go.
Mindelo has no charm and it’s purely due to the attitude of the people.
Again we are the token Brit, where are they??? The boats are either French or Dutch with a splattering of Finnish. The French are rude & ignorant and will come close the boat and ignore you even when you say hello, we find this hard as we are friendly & sociable people.
I think we’ll be vegetarian as the meat is frozen and laying un covered in the freezers we don’t like fish but even I did it is unappealing as it’s laying in the heat covered with fly’s.
I hate to damn a place and I always try to see the best in places but the only positive is that we are leaving soon.
It’s good for single yachtsman looking for a bit of company (you know what I mean) as a Spanish boat close to us has two young ladies delivered most nights, a young man in the skippers dinghy delivers the 1st one and then picks her up an hour later only to come back later with a new “friend”. We think the skipper is mad as he lets them stay on the boat overnight and he allows them to use the dinghy, this potentially is an explosive situation as the tables could easily turn on him. He’s over 50 and must have shares in Pfizer’s.
Pete………………
I cannot say more than to back Fliss up on her initial opinions. The unemployment here is terrible and the town is full of people simply lounging around. The people who do work have faces that tell you that they would rather not work. They are obviously very hard done-by, their entire body language is like a sullen teenager whose parents are making them do a boring task for the umpteenth time (Waynetta Slob springs to mind).
So, they are unemployed and moan about it, or they are employed and moan about it.
The fact that we have to pay protection money shows that they are a bunch of conning and thieving b$%^&&s. Even people you talk to (who want money later) warn you that people will steal from you at any opportunity and that everything is corrupt. I assume it includes themselves as well and damns the entire lot.
We will be getting laundry done today and are waiting for a gas bottle re-fill before getting away to somewhere a bit quieter. We are hoping that the more rural locations will be less hassle. However, Mindelo has shown the people in their true colours and we now know not to trust any of them (especially if they smile).
No comments:
Post a Comment