After our wind finding mission we finally reached the north east trade
winds off the coast of Africa and we have been saiing in them for three
days now. Spinaker up and a steady 15 to 20 knots of wind.The
temperature on board and the humidity are quite hard to deal with.
Everything is damp and just lifting a finger is enough to make you
sweat. Being back in the lead and being the first to reach the Cape
Verde Islands definitely helps keeping our spirits up. Also the
relentless cooking efforts (I think there is a little competition going
on between two of our crew) contribute. I must say I'd rather stay out
of the galley at the moment because it is hellishly warm in there. Last
night I was jumped on by a flying fish. They are really spectacular to
watch as they swerm just over the wave crests like small blueish birds.
They smell awfull and you only have to follow your nose to track them on
the deck. It goes without saying that we want them back in the water
asap. With they slippery scales that poses a bit of a challenge but adds
to the comedy on deck.
Being in the trade winds in fairly boring though: spinaker up, the
occasional 20 degree wind shift, a gybe and that schedule repeats itself
in a random order. We have not suffered any mishaps except for today
when durng a gybe we had two poles up and then the sheet broke free from
one of the poles. Clew gone and no sheet to pull the spinaker in on
because that was 3m above the water on the other pole. Luckily we
managed to catch the loose clew, take the spinaker in, repack it and
launch it again, from the hatch on the new tack. No damage to sail or
kit and it probably took us 5 min longer than a normal gybe.
Another highlight was crossing paths with a whale. The whale (we think
it was a Minke whale) swam in opposite direction to us and passed at 30m
from the boat. everybody was exited. In addition to the whale we have
seen turtles, sharks, sea birds and dolphins, but all in fairly low
quantities :-(
It is fascinating to realise that the winds that carry us south at the
moment have been in place for centuries and have brought so much wealth
to Europe (and made it posible for me to do what I am doing at the
moment) but were also the root of many of the inequality issues we are
experiencing in the world today.
Cape Verde in a few hours but unfortunately in the dark or in the
shimmer of the full moon... We'll see.
