16.52.996N 024.59.651W

A really crazy sail from Sao Nicolau to Sao Vicente.   We thought the winds were going to die down (well that’s what the weather forecast said!) so we set off on Sunday morning as planned, having had a seriously noisy night at anchor with the winds howling around us and bullets of 40knots plus coming off the mountains!  Our Manson anchor did us proud and held us firm and then was easy enough to break in the morning which was great.   We did have a small lull in the winds in the morning so we tentatively raised the main only to be hit by big winds again so the main went away and we sailed for the rest of the day on a yankee reduced to the size of a pocket handkerchief!   It was tough and fairly slow going in big seas which corkscrewed the boat around and stopped us in our tracks.  When we finally rounded the top of Sao Vicente to turn down wind to the harbour at Mindelo we found ourselves surfing in excess of 7 knots with amazing green water towering above us!   The washboards went in and James took over the helm from Humphrey for the final two hours.    All in all a good day’s sail but we’re glad to be at anchor again.