It felt quite unfamiliar to be setting off on a long passage again after such a long time of day sailing between islands and we were pleased to have fitted a couple of night sails in to keep from feeling too rusty. We were feeling confident with the boat and our level of preparation after over 3 weeks in Las Palmas of pretty constant work. We filled up at the fuel berth, exchanged our camping gas cylinder and handed in our marina keys, bought some chocolate for on route with the coins completing the last of the items on the checklist and set off.
As had been pretty constant for the last couple of weeks in Las Palmas it was grey and overcast but as soon as we left the north of the island heading south the clouds cleared, sun appeared and the swell reduced so we were rewarded with a good start. Within two hours of leaving the marina we had seen two separate pods of dolphins though they didn’t stay long enough to photograph – they seem instinctively to react to my saying I will fetch the camera. Next I was at the helm and saw heading towards us a pod of about 6 pilot whales travelling close together and heading north passing within a few feet of us. This was the first time I had ever seen them so close, very sleek and almost as soon as I’d called Kevin on deck they were gone into the distance. This felt like a great start to the trip as we watched the familiar coast line of Gran Canaria pass to starboard. We could not relax completely though as we were approaching the last of the wind acceleration zones, we saw the white tops ahead and dropped to 2 reefs in the main which but for one morning later in the trip was a sail plan that would see us all the way to the Cape Verdes.
The only aspect of the preparation which had not quite worked as planned was the log was not working, this is a little paddle wheel under the boat which tells you the boat speed and distance run, plus allows the computation of true wind speed (i.e. not that you can feel which is added to by the movement of the boat but the actual local wind strength). All of these things can be approximated by other means but we didn’t want to continue our long journey with this as it was. The problem was the paddlewheel which protrudes through the hull from a fitting accessible in the starboard bilge (subfloor compartment) becomes fouled with growth if you have been in a marina too long, Kevin had cleaned it when in the water earlier in our stay but unfortunately you can’t tell until you set off that it is not working. Sometimes it will clear itself as boat speed picks up, but by the time we reached the south of the island we decided to pull in to the lee of Las Palomas and clean it again. This time Kevin decided to clean it from within the boat which means pulling out an approx 30mm diameter transducer creating a hole in the hull through which water gushes as you then need to quickly swap in a bung of the same size. We had never been keen on doing it this way before for obvious reasons, not least because the seal would start to deteriorate over time if done regularly but a better clean of the wheel would be possible by this method and we’d been suspicious that the wheel had not been running as freely as it should for a while from in-water cleaning. So, as soon as we had reduced boat speed Kevin swapped out the transducer without incident and cleaned it up and we were underway again with all instruments working correctly and with the offset from the track on the GPS to correct the log reading.
Leaving Gran Canaria astern
We motor sailed back out of the lee of land and soon picked up the wind acceleration zone to blast us well south of the island. We expected the 25 knot winds we experienced there to last a few hours more before reducing to the 15 knots forecast for that day. In reality those stronger winds were to last for the majority of the trip with only a few hours of slightly reduced wind strength usually in the mornings until the last day of the trip. However, with two reefs in the main sail the boat was sailing very comfortably despite quite a large swell, as we were sailing downwind (wind behind) she surfs down the waves and our boat speed was they highest average we have had on any passage so far cutting 12 hours off our total trip. The experience of the wind acceleration zones had really given us confidence of Invincible’s handling of these conditions and we were we confident to have more sail up than on previous more conservative earlier days letting her do what she was designed to do. It was exhilarating for those first few days especially through the very dark nights as there was little moon to be surfing down the waves. I took the record on surfing speed with 16 knots on one wave! The trick is to stay with the speed of the waves, not to go too slow and be overtaken by them and not too fast where you crash into the waves in front. Obviously in storm conditions there is a point by which you need to slow down, but we were not near that, catamarans are designed to sit on top of the waves and ride with it, not having the same hull speed restrictions that monohull’s have.
Shipping traffic was fairly busy for the first couple of days as we left the Canaries the latter couple of sightings off the coast of Mauritania being large (50m plus) vessels which would usually move at some speed and which we allow to pass ahead of us were moving so slowly that we had to divert someway to go astern of them as they moved west in front. These sighting were always at night and it is rather eerie when on watch alone down the coast lines of such uninviting sounding countries as Mauritania and Sierra Leone to be encountering such ghost ships, but as is usually the case the imagination is usually far more eventful than reality and we passed without incident.
Overnight passenger
We have established a routine on board now for passages that I feel nauseous and Kevin can’t sleep for two days, between us we would create one excellent sailor and one liability but the combination can be overcome! I felt slightly better currently reading John Guzzwell’s Trekka, Round the World who solo-circumnavigated in a self built 20ft wooden yacht in the 1950’s that he had the same ailment as I. We work into a routine that in the beginning I spend more time at the helm on watch during the day whilst Kevin does blog / log updates, cooking etc and I extend my night watches if necessary to let him try and get some more sleep. I think this trip it was especially exaggerated due to the increased boat speed which increased the motion and noise of the boat and both of our ailments.
Jo’s sleeping talents displayed
Kevin however was still struggling to sleep and I could see his reactions were slowing due to fatigue even if he did not yet feel tired. One night watch as he came up from off-watch again with no sleep, he trapped his finger in the sliding door as the boat lurched when he opened it. The immediate blood blister showed and I made him stick his finger in a bottle of very cold water from the fridge which kept the swelling down. With a crew of two or worse when solo sailing, injury or illness can be quite a risk, luckily Kevin soldiered on with me now taking over more of the sail handling and physical jobs which Kevin would more usually cover.
Atlantic swell
Luckily, the conditions started to ease the next day, the swell started to reduce first as we had passed south of two shallower banks and then gradually the wind reduced and the overnight sheet lightening stopped as we passed the Tropic of Cancer and we even managed to take off our oilies which we had needed for the coolness of the wind. The further south we got the flying fish became more and more abundant with sightings every 3 or 4 minutes through the day and landings into the boat at night. We’d only been conscious of a couple which had landed in the cockpit beside us on night watch but there were scales at several points on deck where they must have landed and managed to flap themselves back overboard. However, on the last day when the swell was much reduced and Kevin was on the foredeck he found 6 dried flying fish on the trampoline! We tried using one as bait as Kevin had finally managed to get his fishing rod out now, but it seems that tuna are a bit more discerning than that.
Startled visitor
As happened coming into Graciosa, by the time we were approaching Sal, with only 30 miles to go in the morning of the 6th day, we were both so into the routine that we weren’t too bothered about stopping except for a shower and a beer. I was infact in the cockpit deflating our large teardrop fenders when land was finally sighted about 8 miles off through the mist which was surrounding the island. I continued with my task, having developed a technique to tone maximum muscle groups, this job because of an incorrect adapter being rather physical, in fact it was such good exercise (I’m still ouching on stairs two days later) for arms, stomach and legs I am thinking of marketing it.
Land sighted – Isla da Sal
I was frantically cleaning the boat as we approached so we could relax on arrival, removing the salt and grime that accumulates. Kevin then announced that he was going to lance his finger and he was worried about loosing the nail. I couldn’t imagine performing this operation yourself, but once resolved he decided to go straight ahead, relieved that I or some less developed medical centre would not be doing it, I got the disinfection supplies and dressings ready for him then took the helm. A few minutes later he was back on deck feeling much better for the operation with his finger dressed as we made the final approached to Palmeira. We even had a welcoming party of a small Hobbie catamaran sailing dingy. The anchorage was full when we rounded the breakwater so we took a spot to the south and dropped our hook. It was now 19:15 (GMT), 18:15 Cape Verdes time, so we just swabbed the cockpit and saloon and cabin floors which were covered in red sand from the Sahara and took a shower before a very pleasant meal under lantern light in the cockpit.
Escorted into Palmeira by Hobbie cat
We had one final visitor before we took a well earned rest, Zidane, a local boat boy who approached in his skiff complete with rasta hat. It was slightly menancing as he came alongside without speaking at first to be honest but he pulled out a colour folder of his services, taxi service to shore (150 Escudos - £1), Laundry, water, fuel collected, etc. Obviously an enterprising guy, as we were unsure of the fairly elaborate checking in process described in pilot book to do the next day, his services could just be handy.
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