We made it! After 16 days and 2 hours from leaving the Cape Verdes we are now anchored off Bridgetown in Barbados. Just want to let everyone know we are okay, after loosing our SSB radio half way across and having no way to send out updates or get weather, we know a lot of you were worried for our safety. We still don't know what the problem is but will try to get it fixed here as soon as possible.
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We still have pretty much exactly the same conditions, the skies have been lovely and clear today and we've been making good speed between 6-7 knots. A lot of yachts ahead of us have been getting squalls and strong winds from an area of low pressure up ahead but it should have moved north before we reach it. We may get calmer conditions in a couple of days time and I have to admit we're looking forward to a little less rolling...can't complain about the speed we're making though!
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Not much new to report today, The winds have dropped off to a steady 15 knots out of the east and we are making about 5.5 knots. A little bit sunnier today but otherwise everything is the same, we haven't touched the sails since we first set them so we're still being pushed down wind wing on wing with a 2 meter swell.
There seems to be an abundance of flying fish in the Atlantic and part of the day we spend scooping them off the deck to try and get them back to the sea before they die. Unfortunately they are not really big enough to eat and I have a feeling the Mahi and Tuna wont be so easy to catch!
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Today we have very much the same conditions as yesterday with 15-20 knots of wind out of the North East and seas around 2 meters, still lumpy and confused. The sky is very grey and overcast and the sea is covered in whitecaps, the temperature is a comfortable 21*C and at night we're still in need of thermals to keep the chill out.
We've spent the day cooking up food that we're worried will not stay fresh as we had to defrost the refrigerator this morning due to it over freezing and using up too much power. It's a shame to use up all our fresh meat at the beginning of the trip and I'm starting to wonder if it's just an excuse as Jimmy is desperate to start some serious fishing!!
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We've had a good sail today averaging about 5 knots of boat speed, we have 15 knots of wind out of the ENE and very confused and choppy seas. It seems that there's swell coming from two or three different directions and so when they merge they push us around making for quite an uncomfortable ride. We're sailing downwind with the head sail poled out on one side and the full main on the other and luckily our wind steering unit is doing a great job of holding a course.
Our plan is to head a little south of our rhum line to Barbados so as to try and avoid some of the stronger winds that are generally found on a higher latitude. We heard on the net this morning that the yacht 'Egret' ahead of us reported loosing their rudder and so other yachts are changing course to help them. It sounds like they may me directly ahead of us by 5 days so we will see if we can help with fuel or anything else when we are closer.
Life on board is slowly falling into a more familiar rhythm of three hour watches at night and half day watches during the day. The lee cloth is rigged up on our sea berth and it's coming in handy to strap us into the bunk so we can get some relief from the constant rolling!
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We spent a lovely few days relaxing in Mindelo on Sao Vincente island in the Cape Verdes. On friday we joined cruisers from five other yachts and caught the ferry over to Santo Antaou island for a day of exploring. We hired a driver with a mini van to take us around and were amazed at the stunning scenery. The islands remind us a lot of the Caribbean but much more mountainous and with a lot less tourists!
Mindelo also offered us the chance to fill up on Diesel(€0.84 per liter), Petrol (€1.60 per liter) and drinking water (€0.02 per liter). There are good laundry services that will wash for you or you can do it yourself. The marina is a little overpriced at €30 a night but we were more than happy to anchor out and there is a free dinghy dock. All in all we really enjoyed the stop and we're happy to be back in the more relaxed African islands.
Today it was time to leave so after doing some final provisions we upped anchor and left the anchorage at Midday. The wind was blowing up to 35 knots in the pass between the islands but now we seem to be in the wind shadow and are motoring with none, yachts ahead of us are reporting 20-25 knots and big seas so hopefully we'll pick that up before dark so we can set our sails in the light.
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As the sun rose this morning the wind died off completely and we slowly motor sailed along the stunningly high coast of Sao Vincente Island in the Cape Verdes. By 10am we had pulled into the Port of Mindelo and dropped our anchor among the 40+ other yachts in beautifully calm water. Straight away we were visited by fellow cruisers to let us know where everything we could possibly need in town was including the fuel station, bank, bakery and laundry.
This afternoon we dropped the dinghy into the water and headed ashore to check in with immigration and the maritime police. With just a small fee of 5 Euros and very friendly officials we were cleared into the Cape Verdes within 15 minutes. Tomorrow we plan to explore the town but for now we're happy to relax on board and catch up with some much needed sleep!
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The wind and seas have completely died down now so we're back to flying full sails with the main and headsail wing on wing for a comfortable down wind sail. We have about 10-15 knots out of the East with clear skies and are moving at an average of 4 knots, at this speed we should arrive in Mindelo on Sao Vincente island around 9am tomorrow morning.
We finally put the fishing lines out today and managed to hook two fish. The first was a little Mahi Mahi which we decided was too small so we put him back. The second was a larger Mahi Mahi perfect for a couple of meals. Jimmy has just fried up a couple of fillets with butter and teryaki within an hour of catching it and it smells delicious...can't get much fresher than that! So now we'll have dinner while watching our last sunset on this passage and look forward to discovering what the Cape Verdes hold in stall for us...fingers crossed a calm anchorage!!
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We have 164 miles to go to Mindelo in the Cape Verdes and finally the wind has calmed down to a steady 15 knots out of the east. The seas are down to about 1.5 meters so we are finding the conditions much more comfortable and finally a couple of layers of clothing have peeled off. This afternoon a fog bank lowered around us so we only have visibility of just over a mile making everything pretty gray. At our boat speed of around 5 knots we should make landfall the day after tomorrow.
There's really not much else to report except that we ran the generator to make water today and it was finally calm enough to take a shower... so we finally have much sweeter smelling crew! We continue to check into the Magellan net on our SSB each morning and Captain Fatty Goodlander aboard Wildcard also runs a more informal net in the evenings at 6pm that we also check into. There's a bit of a fishing competition going on between the yachts and it seems the New Zealanders are well in the lead, we're still eating fresh food from the Canaries but tomorrow the lines will go out for the first time.
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Finally the winds have begun to abate a little and we're no longer getting tossed around quite so much! With 20-25 knots out of the west and 3 meter seas our wind vane is finding it a lot easier to hold a course without our constant attention. We still have the third reef in the main sail and just a slither of headsail out on the pole to keep us balanced.
The sky has been over cast all day and we're hoping it's the tail end of the system passing over us. The forecast shows much more reduced wind and seas tomorrow so fingers crossed for a calmer day and the chance to take a much needed shower!!
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Well the wind we were expecting certainly filled in right on time today, with speeds of up to and gusting over 30 knots. The seas also increased to around 4 meters breaking and have made for a pretty rough day. Our wind vane really struggles to hold a course down wind when the waves are pushing us around so we have to sit and watch the helm ready to grab it if we start head side on to a wave. Hopefully things will start to calm down during the night and within a couple of days we should have calmer conditions. We're making good speed and still averaging between 6-7 knots with 426 miles to go to the Verdes.
Jimmy was visited by a pod of dolphins today who put on a show of acrobatics for him...it's nice to be reminded of what we enjoy about sailing especially on days when we're not really enjoying it at all!!
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Another really fast day for us with boat speeds between 6-7 knots, the wind has increased to 25 knots and seas are between 2-3 meters. The sea around us is a mass of breaking waves pushing us around as Blue Moon surfs down the front of them. The wind has been slowly increasing and we're thankful that we're heading in the same direction and not trying to push against it.
With 558 miles to go to Mindelo we should arrive at this pace a day early, however, in 48 hours the wind is predicted to die down so we'll have to wait and see...not really trusting the forecast at this point. Trying to get sleep with the roll of the boat has been quite difficult, even with the help of the lee cloth strapping us in and several pillows wedging us in! Looks like we should have a clear night so lots of stars to help steer by.
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Day two and we've been keeping a pretty good pace, the winds have increased to 20-25 knots and we're expecting them to build even more by tomorrow. We're sailing along at 6 knots with a double reefed main and a slip of a headsail, the seas are rough and around two meters high so we're getting knocked around a bit.
Our sea legs are slowly returning and we're generally getting back into the swing of three hour watches. We've passed a couple of container ships but otherwise sightings of other vessels has been pretty minimal, we have been warned to keep a look out for rowing boats as they head out to cross the Atlantic also...I definitely don't envy them!
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