Saturday 30 January 2016

The Atlantic Crossing - Part 2

Day 1 - Saturday 16th January 2016

Well after downloading the latest weather files we raised the anchor and motored over to the fuel berth where we topped off the fuel and water tanks. Said farewell to a few folk we had met whilst in Mindelo then headed out of the harbour under engines until we were in the channel, pointed the boat southwards and let loose the twin headsails. We covered 19 miles in the first two hours whilst we were in the acceleration zone of the islands then the wind speed dropped to around 10kts which was forecasted and we expect it to increase later in the day.
Lynne made everyone ham salad sandwiches together with a pot of tea for lunch. With the radio playing, fishing rods out and the sails up everyone slowly started to settle into life at sea. Carole was practising her knot tying tutored by Phil while i was on watch at the helm.

Leaving the Cape Verde Islands with the twin headsails.

We're currently about 35 miles south west of the island and still in its wind shadow wollowing about in light winds under 10kts. I hope the wind's pick up again later.
I've just come on watch again ready for the middle watch (00:00 to 04:00) and the wind's are down to 5 or 6kts, the moon is about to set and the sea is calm. The forecasted winds didn't materialise as yet and the boat is travelling at about 4kts - come on you wind gods what you playing at. We had a tasty tea of pasta twists with a bolognaise sauce and crusty bread. The heat is the galley is quite overbearing.

Day 2 - Sunday 17th January 2016

We passed three large ships coming up from the African coast during the night and quite a bit of chatter on the VHF radio but apart from that the night watches were pretty uneventful. This morning the wind's picked up a bit and we're heading in a south westerly direction at about 6kts. At noon we had travelled a sedate 100 miles for the 24hrs run.
Around lunch time we caught our first fish of the crossing, a beautiful bull Golden Darado which Phil and Lynne  landed unfortunatley while I was still in bed recovering from the night watch. However I was awakened and given the job of filleting the fish into four humongous fillets which are currently in the fridge awaiting my culinary talents later for tea, can't wait. We would have eaten them straight away but Carole had already made wraps for lunch.

We're going to need more chips Carole

Well having eaten Darado for the first time done in a bit of garlic butter, oil and a pinch of parsley, served with boiled spuds peas and sweetcorn with a slice of lemon that it is one of the nicest eating fish I have had the pleasure to eat so far...Yum Yum Yummy.

DAY 3 - Monday 18th January 2016

I had the Morning watch (04:00 - 08:00) today and apart from a beautiful sunrise it was pretty much uneventful. I didn't see any other boats. Once Carole took over at 08:00 for her 4hr watch I checked the fishing lines only to find two fishes on them, another smaller Golden Darado and what looks like a John Dorey both of which are now sat in the fridge. I've now got 24hrs off watch so it's my turn to do the domestic duties - cooking and brewing up etc.

A Double Catch

Once the fish had been cleaned I set to work servicing the generator and generally tidying the boat up. About 9 o'clock we had a visit from a pod of dolphins who stayed with us for about an hour.

At noon we filled in the log and discovered that we had travelled 120 miles over the last 24hrs averaging 5kts which was a surprise considering the very light winds of under 10 kts which are still with us has I type.
For tea I made that old British favourite, steak and kidney pie (Fray Bentos) chips and beans.

DAY 4 - Tuesday 19th January 2016

I awoke this morning to find us approaching the 13° line of latitude which we were aiming for because we knew that the wind's would be stronger here and also it was the point where we changed direction slightly from a South westerly direction  to due west. We tacked the twin heads sails laying one on top of the other, raised the mainsail and changed course to 270° due west. With 17kts of North Easterly winds we are currently bounding along at 9kts heading straight for Barbados. The last 24hrs distance covered was a much improved 153 miles.Lynne cooked a very tasty sausage casserole for tea.

DAY 5 - Wednesday 20th January 2015

In the morning we found we had been visited by a "Herd" of flying fish of varying sizes which lay scattered all over the deck. Apparently they make good eating for breakfast however our fridge and freezer were overflowing with fish and we needed no more so we gave the little critters a respectable burial at sea but not before taking a snap of them.

Flying Fish of various sizes

We were all now getting to grips with the watch keeping system managing to grab enough sleep so as not to get fatigued. The sailing is going very well with our best 24hrs run of 187 miles and still heading West. 
There's plenty of music being played, book's being read and a knitting for England contest by Carole to keep everyone occupied whilst not on watch. We had bacon toasties for dinner and  pork chops and jackets for tea courtesy of Phil.

DAY 6 - Thursday 21st January 2016

We all had a peaceful night with light winds and reduced swell however we still managed a 24hrs run of 171 miles making it about 1,350 miles to go with 750 covered so far. So we're just about 1/3 the way there with everyone looking forward to getting the miles to go under the 1,000 mark.
More flying fish on deck this morning and Phil lost his lure off his handline to a monster which bit through his wire leader. I'm just glad we didn't hook it and tried to get it onboard, some critters out here are best left in the sea.
Carole's busy preparing a dish with lentils in it for tea. I've never been over struck with lentils but I'll save judgement until the taste test later tonight.

P.S. The taste test failed miserably and I've asked her never to feed me them again - EVER

DAY 7 - Friday 22nd January 2016

Very light winds overnight (<8kts) made progress a bit frustrating and we had to bang an engine on for a couple of hours however she's now plodding along doing 5kts in 8kts of wind using the twin headsails. Our 24hrs run was just shy of 150 miles at 147 miles and this next 24hrs is looking to be a similar run. It's my turn today to have 24hrs off from watches but it is also my turn for domestic duties so I'm now sat here planning on what concoction to make for tea with the ever dwindling supply of fresh produce available.

Eventually I decided on egg fried rice with Chinese kebabs on skewers

The Hocus Pocus Naked Chef

We clocked up the first 1,000 miles having sailed for 6 days and 20 hours averaging 5.95kts not bad considering the two and a half days of lightish winds.

DAY 8 - Saturday 23rd January 2016

More flying fish on deck this morning. The wind's overnight went back to the North East and dropped again making progress a bit slower than expected however they are forecast to come more Easterly later in the day. Later today we will pass the halfway mark of 1,050 miles, so after that we'll be on the home run. At the moment Carole is on watch listening to Phil's iPod blasting out of the cockpit speakers which are connected to the boats HiFi. Phil is chilling outside while Lynne is slaving away down in the galley preparing tea.

Today I declared it shower day because we had so far been very careful with water usage and besides we were all stinking. Now we're all clean and fresh and the air in the boat is more pleasant. Tomorrow we are going to have a washing day to get all our smalls laundered.

Overnight was a full moon and very bright

DAY 9 -  Sunday 24th January 2016

During the night the wind's were fluctuating all over the place, both Phil and myself were kept busy keeping the boat on course without doing a sail change but come dawn the wind's settled and we haven't need to touch the sails or the autopilot for the last 10 hrs and now we're steaming along doing 8 to 9 knots and bang on course using the twin sails.
I've just attempted to download the latest weather files via my satellite phone but it kept on dropping the connection so I'll try again later.
Phil's currently down in the galley sweating his you know what's off preparing tea. I don't know what he's making but there are some good smells wafting through the boat and it's making my mouth water.

Cornbeef lobby with a suet crust and pickles.. Mmm my kinda meal.

ßAY 10 - Monday 25th January 2015

Just after dawn I spotted a whale following us astern about 50yds away, just a glimpse of it surfing down a wave and then it disappeared. I wasn't able to tell what kind of whale it was however Phil and i spotted it again about an hour later astern of us, again we were unable to find out what kind of whale it was but it was a biggun. I guess it was just checking us out to find out if we were edible or not. I'm it decided that we weren't.
Carole's got the washing machine on the go so we're all getting our smalls laundered which is a good thing because I was running low and didn't want to wear them twice back to front and twice more inside out.
Poached eggs on toast for dinner but I don't know what Carole's got planned for tea.
The last 24hrs we covered another 181 miles leaving us with 730 miles left to go.
The last of the bread out of the freezer was eaten this morning so I'm having a go making some of our own if I can follow this recipe - how much is a "Scant" amount of yeast - I've no idea so I've used 1.5 teaspoons of dried yeast. I just hope it's enough, the loaf is proving has I type.

The loaf turned out to be most satisfactory

DAY 11 - Tuesday 26th January 2016

My 24hrs off today so I'm on domestic duties. The wind and the swell are beginning to pick up as expected so we should get good mileage out of the old girl today. Mushroom soup and fresh bread for lunch went down well with the crew, I'm cooking meat balls and spaghetti in a home made sauce for tea.
During the night we encountered our first line squalls of the trip with winds gusting up to 26kts for a short time and occasionally it rained as well. The plus side of the windy conditions meant that we were really eating up those miles.

The image shows our current speed as well as the speed for the last 3hrs.

We covered 201.4 miles during this 24hrs.

DAY 12 - Wednesday 27th January 2016

We made good progress during the night with the finishing line some 350 miles away and our current ETA will be sometime Friday around lunch time, but I can't take my eye of the ball just yet especially with all the line squalls about.

Can You Spot Wally the whale

Status:
Single looking for lady whales with big fins and plenty of blubber.

Likes:
Eating fish, Surfing and blowing whale snot over humans.

He's been with us for a couple of days now although we didn't see a lot of him yesterday but he reappeared first thing this morning. He seems very camera shy so getting a good picture of him was very difficult. I suspect that he might think the boat could be his perfect mate I just hope he doesn't go for a "Fin" trembler.
The latest 24hrs run showed us covering 174 miles.

DAY 13 - Thursday 28th January 2016

The wind's dropped off a bit overnight accompanied by a couple of squalls which made us go that bit much slower however we're still on track to make landfall sometime Friday in the PM. Everyone is looking forward to stepping onto dry land again, myself included.
The temperatures are rising as we make progress to the west, it's around 30°C in the shade and the sea temperature this afternoon was a surprising 29.6°C.  The sun is very strong with just a little exposure turning your white bits pink, however all of us have now got a glowing tan but I'm especially well aware of the dangers having previously had a skin cancer removed from my cheek a few years back.
Phil cooked us Cape Verde Pork Chops for tea which were very nice and BLT's for lunch.

DAY 14 - Friday 29th January 2016

Dawn broke again this morning to what should be our last day on the crossing. Around breakfast time we were joined by a pod of dolphins as if to say welcome to the Caribbean and soon after that we spotted the first sight of land for nearly two weeks since we set off.

We were still some 25 miles off and had another 3 to 4 hours sailing still to do until we could finally relax but as we got closer we contacted the marina via the radio only to find out that there was no room at the inn for us so we would have to anchor outside which wasn't such a big deal but it would have been nice to get alongside for a while.

The anchorage where we are now is not bad, it's calm and we have our own swimming pool where the water is a lovely 29°C.

We cleared into Barbados Port St Charles on the north west coast, checking in with customs, immigration and health getting our passports stamped all in under an hour then we anchored the boat so that we could finally relax with an ice cold beer, the first one for two weeks and it tasted like nectar. 

The final milage was 2,113 and it took us exactly 13 days and 7 hours averaging out at 6.62 knots. The image below shows our route from the Cape Verde Islands.

Friday 15 January 2016

Definitely the last day in Mindelo

After rescuing Christopher on our first departure from Mindelo and towing him back into Port, a large depression (Hurricane Alex) in the north Atlantic effectively killed the trade winds which were essential for our crossing.  This meant that we had to stop in Mindelo for yet another week until the trade winds established themselves again.

Anchoring Christopher's Boat

During the week we managed to keep ourselves busy in the 30° heat, fixing the outboard on the dingy, stocking up on essential supplies and exploring the city of Mindelo. On our last day Tom the Irish man that owned our favourite bar offered to take us on a tour of the island in his 4x4 which we gratefully accepted. The scenery was spectacular and opened our eyes giving us a new perspective of the island.

The beaches were amazing and so was the views from Mount Verde

Mindelo Harbour from the top of Mount Verde 

We then descended the mountains just as the sun was setting heading back towards the city where we all had a bite to eat before returning to Hocus Pocus.

So now we're all back onboard eagerly anticipating tomorrow mornings departure.

Tuesday 5 January 2016

The Atlantic Crossing - Part 1

We finally departed Mindalo at 4pm and began a most satisfactory sail under our secret weapon for trade winds, "the twins".

Sao Vicente looked splendid and quite a bit " lost world" like in the late afternoon sun.

We were on a course to take us out of the 'Canal de Sao Vicente 'and to basically take us further south to around the thirteenth latitude before we turned west towards Barbados 2100 miles away.
We had just enjoyed a splendid dinner of pork chops and champ when the VHF radio issued a D.S.C. alarm. It was a mayday call from a yacht in distress, apparently he had lost his rudders and had been adrift for three weeks. We plotted his position and discovered he was about 15 miles from us. Changing course to intercept his position and allowing a small error for drift we worked out we should be able to reach him in three or so hours. We also made a mayday relay call which was answered by another American yacht "Mona Kai" who had just left Mindelo , the yacht in distress was an American with a southern accent. There then began a lot of radio chat including HF calls to American rescue coordinators and MRCC in the Canaries. It became apparent that the Cape Verdes have an extremely limited capacity for rescue at sea. We were basically on our own. Dave and I dug out the parachute sea anchor rode, this was 300 metres long and was rigged with a " bridle " at one end which we could deploy from each of Hocus Pocus's hulls. It's basically a "Y" connection that equalises the load on the towline, spreading it between the hulls.

Once we had formulated our plan we informed our new friend that we intended to take him on tow to Mindelo. He had been trying to steer his disabled boat by using an outboard motor but was running out of gasoline to power it, besides his position put him 35 miles past the Cape Verdes so he had essentially missed them, we also knew how awkward it would be to return via the sound between Sai Vicente and the island of Santo Antao as the Canary current in combination with tide meant that there was a constant flow against you approaching from the south of anything up to 4 knots. It was very dark and typically according to Sod's law it was

. There was a 2 metre swell running and the wind was gusting 18 knots. Not the best conditions for finding another boat let alone attempting to get a line aboard. Dave made last minute preparations to our line which was carrying a half full jerrycan of gasoline on the end, due to the pitch black conditions I suggested we attach a white fender to make it easier to spot. Pretty much where we expected to see him the 9 metre catamaran came into sight or rather his masthead lights did.

 We dropped our very long line upwind and circled the catamaran to " lasso" it and enable the crew to snag the line with a boat hook, sounds easy doesn't it? Trust me it isn't.
By this time the person aboard was sounding exhausted  on the radio and it was with great relief that we had insisted he rig a bridle for his end of the tow as having no rudders was always going to make him a " dead weight" as it turned out the catamaran followed us like it was on rails. Perfect! We love it when a plan comes together.

Dave did the first spell at the helm as we began the tow, we could only make a slow speed and it was quite rough, our rescuer reported he had been sea sick and we could well believe it as the motion was quite bouncy however he was obviously relived that he was finally on his way to safety. He cancelled the mayday and we thanked the yacht Hona Kai for standing by.
Now began the long dark tea time of the soul as we crawled north at 3-4 knots.

This plotter screen shows our track.

Come the dawn we were approaching the most difficult part of the tow with wind tide and current all against us.

Our speed was averaging about 2 knots and while Dave slept we chatted with Christopher about his journey so far. He had bought the boat in Largs intending to sail it to the American Virgin Islands as a live aboard. He was singlehanded and had lost both rudders somewhere south of Las Palmas, since the he had been essentially drifting, rescue authorities would only direct him to ships in the area or at one point had offered a helicopter which he had refused as it would mean abandoning the boat. The helicopter must have been near the Canaries as I believe the Cape Verdes are out of flying range. The progress through the canal de Sao Vicente was painfully slow and repeated calls to Mindelo Marina went unanswered. I think that the staff listen out on handhelds which have a very limited range to transmit. However I managed to contact them on the satellite phone and arranged to ring again if we continued to fail to raise them on channel 72.

Around noon we were finally approaching the entrance to the Grand harbour and I got in a satellite phone call to Kei Brosman who owned the marina and requested assistance to berth the catamaran, Aku Mhor, our biggest catch so far!
The yacht Jacaranda came out to meet  us along with the marina work boat. We controlled the tow until told by the work boat to release and take in our massive line! To be honest it was all a bit Keystonene cops but in a typically African way they muddled it!

So our first Atlantic crossing had consisted of 82 miles about 40 of which were towing a Catalac 9 m!
Quite an epic, and we were back were we started, however Christopher and his boat were safe and sound, team Hocus Pocus retired to the floating bar for a well earned drink.

Team Hocus Pocus with Christopher Langham ( light blue shirt )and team Jacaranda on the floating bar in Mindelo post rescue.

The Last Night in Mindelo

Well the big day approaches tomorrow when we set off across the Atlantic on our 2100 mile journey to Barbados. Most of the provisions are now onboard just got to get a few bits and pieces tomorrow morning, get exit stamps on our passports, fuel and water up and set off around lunch time.
Mindelo's been a bit of an eye opener, it's not been the backwater shanty town I was led to believe although there is plenty of poverty on display the town is slowly dragging itself into the 21st century with big brand shops aplenty and clearly very affluent people dotted about. The people of very friendly and helpful and the general facilities are Ok.
Tonight me and Carole didn't fancy cooking so we've come ashore and grabbed a burger and chips for our tea. Phil is staying onboard keeping Lynne company because she's not feeling 100%. We'll go back soon and put on a DVD to watch and then it's early to bed ready for the busy morning tomorrow before we set off.
I'll try and keep a day by day log of our progress while we cross the Atlantic and post it on here once we get to the other side.

Monday 4 January 2016

New Year's eve in Mindelo

All four of us spent New Year's eve celebrating with the locals in Mindelo. The fireworks display was fantastic and afterwards there were street parties everywhere with dancing in the streets.



After the fireworks display we moved up a couple of streets to where a stage was set up for a local Cape Verdian band to perform, they played throughout the night and Carole and even myself got into the swing of things dancing in the streets.

Saturday 2 January 2016

Mindelo Cape Verde Islands

We're currently in Mindelo in the Cape Verde Islands preparing for our Atlantic crossing, doing last minute jobs on the boat and gathering provisions for the two to three weeks journey.