March 9 update

S/V Galatea update
Neil Scott
Thu 9 Mar 2017 02:12
Hi all,

It is the early hours of Thursday, March 9th. We are at 7 degrees 02 minutes North, 18 degrees 50 minutes West, almost 1000 miles north from Ascension. As the crow flies, we have about 700 miles to go to reach the Cape Verde islands.

Shortly after crossing the equator last Saturday we arrived at the ITCZ with a bang. Massive dark clouds, torrential downpours, confused seas, fierce bursts of wind and lightning bolts all around us - all at 2.30am. The sky was so bright with electrical activity it was as though we were sailing through a fireworks grand finale. Obviously, when doing so with a 60 foot stick of metal sticking above you, things get a little nerve-wracking. Thankfully we avoided being hit by lightning, and after another 5 hours or so of damp conditions made it through the night. Per Kev: "that was like going through the gates of hell"; per Scott: "that was an interesting experience".

Luckily we have not had a repeat performance. The days and hours since then have been pretty tame by comparison - hot, humid weather - about 93 degrees F in the boat during the day, not much lower at night and little to no wind, typical doldrums stuff. So we have now been motoring for 4 days with the prospects of at least a couple more before the wind starts filling in, albeit from the north/northeast which will require us to sail into the wind, not the direction we cruising boats typically like to travel. We are motoring at about 4 knots trying to conserve diesel - it feels like Chagos redux where the chances of running out of fuel got nail bitingly close.

Otherwise, all is well on Galatea and we look forward to our next landfall in Mindelo, Cape Verdes by mid next week.

Cheers from Neil, Scott and Kev.

- S/V Galatea
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