We have comms!
We have comms! We thought these blogs had uploaded already, but here they are from previous days… Lanzarote to Mindelo. Day 2. GMT noon report. That was an interesting first night. Very, very cold on deck. The mate even took her duvet on deck (yes, we have duvets on Stargazer – no sleeping bags here!) It was so cold, that I had three layers and a fleece jacket on. We thought those days were behind us. Considering we’re sailing down the African coast, we were amazed – especially as last time I was down this way, we were sweating all day and very warm at night. Other than that, a peaceful night with plenty of stars (including shooting stars) and phosphorescence. Plus, I’m told, some unidentified glowing creatures in the water (probably squid methinks). The boat was sailing along with a poled out genoa, making generally over 4 knots, which is not bad in 8 to 9 knots apparent wind. There were some ships in the night which we managed to avoid, however, the mate was not pleased when one of them refused to acknowledge her VHF call. Actually commercial ships no longer have to monitor C16, so the best way to get hold of them if they aren’t answering is by MMSI (like a text message) – in case you wanted to know… Around 0700 the sun came up over the African continent and it’s times like this when one does realise the special aspects of what we’re doing out here. It’s not every day you get to see a sight like that. With the sun, came some warmth – thank goodness! The mate can put her duvet away now… Today the wind is forecast to be very similar to yesterday so it’ll be a slow first couple of days. We would use some engine assistance, but as long as we are moving at generally over 4 knots we’ll keep going as we are. We have enough diesel to motor for about 3.5 days maximum and Mindelo is 7 to 8 days away so we want to keep as much as possible ‘in hand’. Although as we write, a low cloud base off Africa has kicked up the wind to 20 knots from astern, with Stargazer making 7.7 knots. It looks like it will blow through in around half an hour or so. In the meantime, our duogen is loving it – kicking out so much power that we can’t use it all – nice! In general on this passage thus far Stargazer is going along very well, no problems, she is doing ’her thing’ and doing it very well. We’ll sign off now. We’re both tired after the first night. It takes a couple of nights to get into a proper routine including sleeping etc etc. Andy & Jo --- Lanzarote to Mindelo. Day 3. GMT noon report. Comms: It appears that we can send email and ask for weather via our satellite phone, but we can’t receive anything. We are working on this, so if anyone’s sent an email please bear with us. The most important thing, though, is that we can’t get any up to date weather info. We have a forecast from Sunday, two days ago, which is holding up well and, to be honest, we’d have to carry on to Mindelo now anyway as beating back to the Canaries would be a bit of a ‘mugs game’ (say nothing…) Another very cold night last night. Fleeces, granny blankets and duvets on deck for night watches. We don’t know why it’s so cold – we aren’t that far from the tropics and as I think I said before, the last time I was down this way, it was very warm indeed. A few ships close by last night, but yesterday afternoon put the creepers into the mate first then me when I saw it. A black, old, weird looking craft – obviously with a large engine was powering its way towards us. Luckliy, it turned out to be nothing other than an African fishing boat. They obviously wanted to see what we were doing - as they passed pretty close by. This morning the swell was up more than expected so neither of us slept that well. The problem is probably that there is a bit of pinch point as you exit Fuertaventura from the south east, in that you end up pretty close to Africa on some steep contours. We’ve altered course now to head out into deeper water. It’s too early to give an eta into Mindelo, but we’re both hoping sooner rather than later. Tonight should be calmer (we should be able to sleep better) and we’ll see what tomorrow brings. Andy & Jo --- Lanzarote to Mindelo. Day 4. GMT noon report. We’ll be a bit brief with this one as we’re not actually certain that these posts are sending properly. Although we hope so. The satellite airtime is disappearing at an alarming rate whilst we try to sort it all out. As ever, it worked when in the marina… Anyhow another very cold night last night. It’s the cold that’s getting to us the most, We spend 3 hours on watch on our own at night, twice a night so 2 x 3 hours each from 8 pm to 8am and although people may think it’s easy – it really isn’t, especially when it’s as cold as it has been. However, it’s a good thing we do this because on the mate’s watch a ship 292m long (yes 292 metres) popped up on our AIS and the mate valiantly kept it at least 1 NM away without waking me up. Good for her! Yesterday afternoon turned out to be very busy indeed with shipping, rather like the M1 on a bad day at times… Astute people will notice we’ve altered course slightly. This is to get away from the shipping off Africa and to aim slightly ‘up swell’ (which seems hell bent on pressing us hard to the east) of Sao Vicente. The latter is because it’s easier to get ‘washed’ down with swell than it is to beat against it, we’re also taking advantage of the wind shift to enable us to do this; also creating ‘money on the bank’ if the wind shifts back to a more northerly direction. This is because we don’t want to gybe the pole over in the swell we’ve got – it means going up to the foredeck. That said, the mate wants the full bin in the galley stowing in the lazarette – to do this we have to put two fenders in the chain locker. As we forgot to do this when we left the marina, I’ve got to go up on the foredeck anyway (but hopefully not for long). At the moment, the sun is out, Stargazer is barrelling along at up to 8 knots, but probably averaging around 6.3. We are very close to the tropic of Cancer. This is very exciting as the mate has got us a small bottle (very small) of Cava to celebrate. No, we don’t drink on passage – but a mouthful or two at key moments won’t hurt. Other than that, we’ve taken our first noon sun sight today. Results to follow… OK the mate’s pressing me to get on. In fairness, she also wants to try another attempt at receiving a weather grib. Hope she’s successful ! Andy & Jo |