Las Palmas to Cape Verde - Day 5

Position at 19:28 UTC is: North 21*04'950 West 022*25'130
290 miles to Cape Verde

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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Las Palmas to Cape Verde - Day 4

Position at 19:12 UTC: North 22*39'215 West 020*36'665

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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Las Palmas to Cape Verde - Day 3

Position at 19:10 UTC: North 24*06'691 West 018*45'915

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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Underway to the Cape Verdes-Day 2

Position at 19:17 UTC with 700 miles to go: North 25*52'320 and West 017*05'167.

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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Underway to the Cape Verdes-Day 1

Position: North 27*37'222 West 015*36'583

We were finally able to get underway today at 11am after spending most of the morning wrestling the dinghy on deck, getting everything stowed away and scrubbing the very fuzzy anchor chain before bringing it onboard! We've just passed the southern point of Gran Canaria and are making a decent speed of 5.5 knots under a reefed mainsail and poled out headsail. The winds have been slowly increasing as the day goes on and a predicted 10 knots is now blowing a breezy 20.

Our course is set at 219* True and we're slowly relaxing back to life at sea...just enough time for a chicken curry dinner before the sun goes down!

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Las Palmas ~ Gran Canaria

Position at anchor: North 28*07'971 West 015*25'478

We've been anchored in Las Palmas for three weeks and have slowly been getting Blue Moon ready for her trip across the Atlantic. This has been our last stop to get any repairs done and to stock up with food at the big hypermarkets before heading to the Cape Verdes where we expect only the basic amenities.

Caroline has just returned back from a trip to England to visit family and friends while we're still so close and Jimmy's brother in law 'Todd' flew out for a week long visit from the states to keep him company. Every day cruising yachts have been leaving the port and heading out towards the Caribbean so we're starting to feel that it's time to go!

Our plan is to leave tomorrow morning and head 858 nautical miles south to Porto Grande (Mindelo) on the island of Sao Vicente in the north west Cape Verde islands. We'll stay there for up to a week to explore and do some hiking and then make the 2000 mile jump to Barbados in the Caribbean. I have to admit we're looking forward to getting closer to the equator and warmer weather as it has been getting pretty chilly here!

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Day 4 underway to the Canaries

Current Position @ 20:00 GMT: North 30*00'458 West 012*34'642

With just 68 miles to go until we make landfall in the Canaries we've had a great couple of days sailing. On day 2 we were able to fly the spinnaker with light winds out of the north west, by night fall they'd increased enough for us to pole out the headsail on the starboard side and let the main out on the port for a beautiful down wind run. We kept that set up until a couple of hours ago when the wind changed more out of the west so we flipped the headsail onto the port and are now making a comfortable 5 knots on course.

The weather has been great with clear skies during the day, just a little too cold at night for our liking so the thermals have come out and we're kitted out with about four layers during our watches. The wind vane has been steering an almost perfect course so no need for hand steering, we're enjoying watching the miles slip away as the big Atlantic swell carries us closer to warmer latitudes.

We've been in contact with other yachts around us all making about the same speed and each morning the Mag Net on the SSB keeps us updated to where everyone is. There will be over 20 yachts making landfall in the same anchorage as us so it should be interesting to see how we all fit in!

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