TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

Sunday 1^st January, 2012

My initial plan was to leave mid morning; as the day’s run is traditionally plotted from noon – noon I wanted to be out sailing before 12 so that the whole 24 hours would count. Of course deadlines and sailing really don’t mix as I should’ve learned by now. Fortunately I had prepared for sea the day before so I was mostly ready but there are always the last minute jobs which take the time. One job I wanted to tick off was to fit the new engine starting battery I had bought in Cascais to replace the one Pierre had donated. When it came down to it however, the engine was still starting with the old one so this is still on the ‘stuff to do’ list…

Sailing the 856 miles to the Cape Verdes wasn’t such a daunting prospect in itself, it was more the fact that the first three days of any passage are so bloody miserable for me. After day one when the sea sickness takes hold, it gets quite wearing having to spend time looking after the boat between vomiting. This in turn makes it boring, as I’m unable to read when feeling ill. This time I’d come across some Stugeron tablets as I was stowing kit. Loads of people swear by them but I find they’re one of the few medications that make me feel drowsy… hardly what you need when sailing alone! However, when weighing up the pros and cons this time I decided to give them a go. According to the GRIddedBinary (GRIB) weather charts I’d downloaded for the week, the wind should remain pretty settled from the north east. As I’d soon be out of the shipping lanes so wouldn’t have that to contend with, my mind was made; if I got tired, I’d go to bed- simple as. I popped the pills.

Although not quite out for 12 as I’d hoped, I had quite amazingly cast off my lines by 5 past. With Sara & John both taking photos as I motored past the harbour entrance I hoisted my sails and set a course to clear Gran Canaria, and take us to Mindelo, Cape Verdes. Although a change from my original plan to sail for the Caribbean directly it had advantages. In order to intercept the stable ENE trades that are ideal for a fast passage, it is necessary to sail quite close to the Cape Verdes anyway. Only adding another 300 miles to the total distance seemed a small price to pay for breaking the main crossing up to roughly 1/3 & 2/3. And besides, many of my friends from LP were en route with similar ideas too so I was looking forward to catching up with them…

Day one started well enough with a steady 4-5 from about 25 degrees. The speed was quite spectacular. “Trucking along at a steady 7.6 knots! Even with a possible current of up to a knot, that’s still 6.6kts through the water. With hull speed [theoretical maximum speed for a displacement boat] being 1.2 x square root of the boat’s waterline length, either my calculations are off or we’re well beyond the max… She seems happy enough at the moment, so I’m just going to enjoy the ride.” Take her to warp speed captain… Not wanting to risk having to shorten sail during the wee small hours I reduced canvas just before bedtime. Shortly after hitting the sack I became aware of an ominous creaking sound. I soon located the source of the mast foot, which carries a terrific downforce. Fearing the worst I was extremely relieved to discover it was nothing worse than a bar tight spinnaker pole uphaul!

Tuesday 3^rd January

“12.00- 138 miles run! Even better than yesterday’s 132. Still making great progress under s/r main & goosewinged genoa, although we’re a bit low (tracking  240 odd, and Mindelo bears 225 degrees). Still, probably better to just sort out the course error later and just accept the high boatspeed while we can…”

Wednesday 4^th Jan

And still no sign of sea sickness! (By the way I’m adding this later- I didn’t dare risk making such a comment at the time, a bit like mentioning the “Q” word in a hospital or ambulance station.) I’m not sure whether it was the Stugeron I’d taken, or the ginger I’d religiously been grating into my tea and every meal but I wasn’t complaining. Either way I was well enough to start on the only book I’ve not read by my favourite author, which was generously donated by a fellow skipper. This felt like a real milestone for me as I could actually enjoy the first few days’ sailing rather than dread it. Day’s mileage still fine at 123, and we passed the halfway mark of 428 at exactly 19.05. Enjoying my new found freedom I celebrated with a Cerveza from the stash…

Thursday 5^th January

“01.00. Wind has dropped as predicted, and I’ve just been on deck to get all sail up. On port gybe, and way high at 162 degrees, but doing over 5kts. When I back off to 227 [new bearing] boatspeed plummets to 2.2kts. Sleeping is proving difficult. The new bunk board I’d added in Madeira is doing a great job of keeping me in bed when the boat rolls; the downside is that the coffin like space I sleep in quickly becomes stuffy and airless. I end up waking up every hour whether I set the timer or not, as that’s all I can take.”

“04.00. Have spent the last three hours working the boat for every fraction of a knot. I’ve tried just about every sail combination possible and I’m pretty tired now.” I did take comfort in the temperature; in Biscay where I could see my breath it would’ve been inconceivable to sit in the cabin without clothes, let alone nipping into the cockpit to make minor [course!] adjustments…

“08.00. 25 miles since midnight. 75 miles a day will send me bonkers- it’s time for the kite.” The kite I was going to use was the big gennaker , a huge sail which even in light airs is more than enough to get me into big trouble. It’s not a piece of kit which I’ve ever been really comfortable with, and especially not on my own! However, needs must and there is a first time for everything- I’d never flown this daddy before. I had packed it earlier like a parachutist to make sure it deployed properly, as it’s not something you want problems with mid-hoist. I attached the lines and secured everything, set the approximate sheeting position to retain control, then pulled like crazy on the halyard to get it up quickly. Looking up to admire my creation I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a dirty great “hourglass twist”- a classic problem from dodgy packing (good job it wasn’t a parachute then!). I dumped the halyard and hauled in on the sail to keep it out of the water before repacking and repeating. Fortunately there was no damage and the second attempt was a lot more successful; it was now up and pulling and casting a lovely coloured glow into the cabin. When I calculated the day’s run to be 96 miles, I left it up and drawing all day. The only downside is that in the light airs the mechanical self steering wasn’t able to hold the course, and so I had to use the autopilot instead. Of course this takes power, and without wind to run the wind generator… At 20.00 hours I decided to give the sail and autopilot a rest- I really couldn’t afford to lose either of these bits of kit so didn’t want to risk damage.

Friday 6^th January

A very calm night. I wouldn’t say “quiet” as the sound of the sails flapping around uselessly was driving me insane. “05.00. P*ssed off now. I’ve been up for hours trying to make some progress but it’s proving impossible. I’ve reset everything for port gybe so that’s the pole, pole downhaul, gybe preventer and self steering bias, and now the wind is filling in from the north west! This wasn’t part of the plan. I’m tired. And grumpy too.”

Later on when I found the day’s run to be 98 miles I suddenly had an awakening. What was I doing? I was yet again pressuring myself because I wouldn’t be able to make landfall on Sunday as I’d banked on. True to form I had based all my calculations on the early high mileages, and had got Sunday fixed in my head as the time I had to get there. “13.30. ‘Cool your jets, man’ I thought to myself a few minutes ago. What’s so special about Sunday anyway? I’ll arrive when I arrive and it’s not as if I’m not enjoying myself out here. Now I’m going to celebrate with a bottle of bubbly.”

The bottle was going down very nicely, especially as it was spiced up with a few drops of raspberry liqueur- a trick I’d learned from Sara & John. On my third tho, I had a bit of a mishap. I’d put the glass with the sticky raspberry ‘juice’ down on the chart table while I turned momentarily, only to look back to see it sliding across it as the boat rolled. Before I could grab it, the glass had tripped up and splashed its contents everywhere. It was all around the nav station, on the walls, the GPS, the switch panels, the radios you name it… it looked like a massacre had taken place .

Saturday 7^th January

“Feeling much happier and more relaxed. Progress is actually improving after I decided it didn’t matter! Day’s run 116 miles.”

At 22.00, I had a bit of a strange encounter with a ship. I could see it in the distance abeam of me, making  a slightly erratic course. As I was monitoring channel 16 (the calling & distress frequency) I could hear a conversation with another vessel which was out of my sight. The drunken tone didn’t sound good, with lots of swearing & threats so I didn’t feel altogether happy. I kept quiet, turned off my nav lights and cracked on just in case…

Sunday 8^th January

“12.00. 114 miles run, 39 to go. Progress is good & steady and well above 5kts. It looks like we may even be arriving in the daylight!” By 17.00 I could just about make out the shape of land on the horizon. We arrived in the harbour just after dark which was unlucky really; as I hadn’t planned on sailing to the Cape Verdes I didn’t have any charts. I was relying on the 2004 pilot guide I carried which covered the area and a lot has changed in Mindelo in the last 8 years! By 20.30 I had located the anchorage through a bit of trial & error, and after the third attempt managed to dig the anchor in fast. It was literally blowing a gale in the harbour as the wind funnels through, but because there’s no distance for a swell to build up, it’s still very flat. With another 856 miles under my belt, I enjoyed my first on board shower for a week and put my feet up for the night with a book & a beer. This sailing lark isn’t so bad after all…