READY TO GO

3 December 2006

This morning I had to go and get my paperwork, but it was still blowing 20 knots against me.  There was a guy in a wooden tender, but I was not sure what he was about.  The man from Rush in front of me set off rowing for the shore.  The guy in the tender asked for assistance and wanted to be towed.  The man from Rush could not row the two boats so went back to his boat and put his outboard on, which was incredibly kind of him.  I said that if I had known then I would have asked for a tow as well.  He came over and picked me up and all three boats went to the beach.  I had to leave the boat not just unlocked but completely open, not wanting to hold things up. 

The boat minder said that the police had come looking for me last evening about my papers, so I was hopeful that they would be done.  The departure certificate and my receipt and SSR were there on the desk.  The policeman wanted me to fill in a crew list, but I was able to show him the one I had completed yesterday.  Then he wanted the other form, which I was also able to unearth on his desk, probably how the departrue certificate had been completed.  I paid the 500 escudos and left with my paperwork.  I am now officially stamped out of Cape Verdes.  I gave all my escudos to the boat minder and rowed back to the boat. 

I was trying to mend the genoa where some of the stitching on the sacrificial strip on the bottom corner had come undone.  I did the very bottom seams, but it was too windy to get the sail out any further, so the rest was too high to reach.

The man from Rush and his friend came over later and we had tea and cake.  I had made a plain cake and some chocolate muffins.  It was a very pleasant afternoon, they were having a social day as it was too windy to do anything else.  The wind generator has not stopped all day, it just about goes down to 15 knots, but then it goes back to 18-20.  It is quite wearing really, but good to get  the batteries charged up.  I must remember to change the head to the water one before I take the anchor up. Climbing up on the top of the rails is not fun at sea; it is not a lot of fun at anchor come to think of it.

I could not swap books because I have not had a chance to read any yet.

The next stage of the trip is presumably where I just read, get suntanned and bored – please.

Have to set off sometime, tomorrow seems as good a time as any, weather permitting.