One in, One out!
Rich's 2023 ARC+ Risque Business Blog
Richard Hurd
Wed 15 Nov 2023 19:54
Our 5th day in Mindelo, the 2nd largest town in the Cape Verde islands, but on one of the most barren islands in the archipelago called Sao Vincente. It’s a mad African mix - utterly charming in places but also clearly very poor elsewhere.
The main news is that David has finally rejoined the crew here after overcoming his illness, however we’ve lost Patrick who has returned back to the UK. He’s sadly picked up a nasty chest infection and all the medical advice was he’d be daft to continue. The whole crew is gutted to have said goodbye earlier today.
So our days in Mindelo are spent doing various boat jobs, repairs, upgrades, checks, then more recently trips to the various markets here to get fresh fruit, veg and meat. We’ve not bought any fish, as the fishing squad are pretty certain that their luck will change and they will be providing our food for the next 2 weeks. We’ll see how that goes……..
Had a good time socialising with other crews in the evening and the ARC organisers have also put on a great show here. We’ve been on a tour of Sao Vincente, the island we’re on and today been swimming with turtles off a beach in the south of the island. It’s been a good stopover, with many bars and restaurants visited. We’ve also had several crews join us back on RB for some further partying.
We’re off again on Friday at midday and face 2,200NM plus of Atlantic Ocean, before we reach Grenada. Risque Business is in good shape and the crew in fine spirits (well Nick hasn’t found any cider yet on the island and he’s nearly finished the several gallons we loaded in Las Palmas) so the skipper’s mood is ‘work in progress’. He’s hoping to negotiate a good rate for a bulk cider purchase from a local bar tonight.
We are missing our dearly departed crew member however! Safe trip home Patrick and we’re looking forward to seeing you in Grenada in a couple of weeks.