Spellbinder's Web Diary - Sunday 25th November

Sunday 25th November - at sea

Spellbinder

Sun 25 Nov 2007 14:08

We finally departed from Mindelo at 3.30 pm on Tuesday, having had to wait in a queue at the fuelling jetty. Once clear of Mindelo we picked up a good north easterly wind in the channel between Sao Vicente and Sao Antao islands, and with Full main and boomed out jib, we really felt we were on our way, soon deciding to put one reef in the main for the night. However as we drew south of San Antao we experienced another of the island wind influences, with the wind suddenly dropping right away and going round from NE to SW. On engine. Nearly 4 hours later we were sufficiently away from the island to pick up a clear wind and resume sailing in a steady NE force 5. By 4 in the morning it was freshening, so we took in a second reef in the main.So it continued through Wednesday, making good progress in a moderate sea, and everyone starting to settle down to the motion- rolly and occasional corkscrews off the top of the bigger waves- and the watch system- as before from Canaries to Cape Verde. By noon Wednesday we had 1992 miles to go.
The towed electricity generator was struggling to cope with the speed and motion, with the impeller leaping out of the water, and the tow rope kinking up, despite having the 30 metre length tow rope, so heroically carted out from home by Mike and Ros. Tow recovered, the rope untangled, and the weights repositioned on the impeller, as a dog watch evolution- navy habits die hard. On relaunching the rope immediately kinked up again! Needs further thought.The 24 hour run to Thursday noon came out at 169 miles by gps, after some discussion about great cicle routes versus rumb lines. The gps works to a great circle, so we convinced ourselves that was the one for us, giving the shortest distance between two points. The daily average of 7 knots was certainly above our planning assumption.Thursday was also the first day with sun, after two days of cloud, and began to look like the classic trade wind pictures of blue sea and fluffy white clouds. The clearer sky also allowed us to enjoy the moonlight, and the night sailing somehow seems easier with everything clearly visible in the silvery light.
We passed 30 degrees west on Thursday, so it was time to change the clocks to be two hours before gmt. This was done by stretching the first and last dog watches from 2 to 2 1/2 hours, thus equally sharing the extended day between the two watches. This did bring sunset forward to just before six, so supper in the dusk, but a welcome earlier sunrise on Friday morning.
The skipping motion on the aquagen finally took it's toll on Friday morning, and the blades on the towed impeller broke. All recovered in board, new blades fitted, and a new tow made uo of two 15 metere lengths of the manufacturer supplied tow rope. With the wind a little reduced on Friday to force 4-5 the new rig seemed to cope better, but with slightly reduced output.The days run to noon on Friday was 163 miles, and already the prospect of a 14 day crossing is in sight if this progress can be maintained.However the wind continued to reduce over the next 24 hours, trimming us back to 154 miles to noon on Saturday.
As we passed 35 degrees west on Saturday, the Sat C system, which gives us our twice daily weather forecasts, automaticaly changed from French supplied data to data supplied from the USA. So far the only message received is one saying there is a problem with their system. As Thursday was Thanksgiving in the USA we suspect the holiday cover for the weekend has been struggling, and we are not expecting any further updates until Monday. Fortunately the weather is continuing to be pretty settled, although today, Sunday is cloudy again, and we have had some light rain.
Just heading up for noon, local time, and it looks like we will have covered 152 miles in the last 24 hours.
Plans are now brewing for a 1000 miles to go celebratory lunch, memories of Confianza's crossing in May 2005, which looks like it could be on Tuesday, although the forward projection is for the wind to lighten.