26 10N 18 11W
Bsi
Mon 20 Nov 2017 13:30
| Just finished our first 24hours at sea. 172nm run in a general direction towards the Cape Verde islands. Great sailing over the past 24hours while we have been settling in. Genoa poled out with full main and this morning added the Self Tacking Jib to fill a vacant slot. The level of catering so early on has been superb thanks to super chefs Georgie and Jan. If it stays like this I will be glad I have signed on! When Captain David walked down the dock yesterday in Tenerife with a big smile on his face I wasn't sure if it was because his boat had been painted Blue or he was pleased to see us, I guess both! The previous few days had been pretty hectic with preparations, victualing, repairs and the like but as we left Sta Cruz at approx 11.40 local time the normal air of relaxation and eagerness to get going prevailed. We set the mainsail in the harbour and switched the engine off within 5 minutes of leaving, a good start. There were quite a few other yachts leaving at the same time for this annual pilgrimage to the Caribbean in time for the Christmas holidays and together with the 200 or so ARC yachts that left from Gran Canary Island around the same time the Atlantic will be a busy place. But after 24 hours at sea having shaken off some of the competition we have our own little patch of water with nothing in site. The weather outlook is not ideal for the next few days as we will have traverse a small but not very deep low that is further south than is normal. We are expecting to run into some very light winds later today when we plan to motor and then by tomorrow expect to have headwinds for about 24 hours or so. After that the normal NE trade winds seem likely to start forming so hopefully by the end of the week we will be making fast progress towards Antigua. All is well on board - Jeff |