ARC+ 2021 to Cape Verde - Day 3 (10 Nov)
Walkabout has gone Sailing
Andrew and Traci Roantree
Wed 10 Nov 2021 13:00
Life on the high seas Day 3!
This was always something we dreamed of and now we are here, it seems we have fallen into a routine, and life on the big-blue is great!
We had a very close encounter with a tanker yesterday afternoon an old favourite supper, eggs for breakfast and wind that simply disappeared!
You don’t see many ships out here unlike the English Channel but the occasional one appears on the plotter and you can clearly see them rise above the horizon.
We crossed paths with a tanker called ‘Sea Amber’ and as our courses were nearing the pointy end of an arrow, we called them up on the VHF to confirm they had seen us.
Yes, the skipper said and they confirmed that they would pass, leaving us to their port side.
‘Sea Amber’ was still pretty close but we manually helmed the course until they were well ahead of us.
Home made guacamole and hummus for dinner is an old favourite of ours and proper comfort food! Followed by a portion or three of fruit!! Mandarins are our fruit of choice as we have them in abundance!
The overnight shift pattern was alternated again with Andrew taking the first shift at 1900.
We had made the decision to keep the Blue Water Runner flying all night as it was very stable and we were making good speed too!
It’s amazing how wet everything gets at sea, especially overnight. Yes, we are at sea and surrounded by water, but as soon as the afternoon turns into evening every surface o open to the elements becomes really wet and by morning it’s dripping! Even with the bimini - our cockpit-cover - all the seats and teak becomes wet and if you leave your cushion for more than 5 minutes, you sit back down and end up with a wet bottom!!
By 0100 the wind had dropped to 12 knots and by 0700 it was down to 5! The Blue Water Runner (BWR) was struggling to fill and steering was challenging due to the lack of wind and no drive.
It was pretty uncomfortable to sleep so we were both up, dressed with life jackets and harnesses in the hours before dawn furling in the BWR and then flying it on one side in a code zero style (a light asymmetric sail). We also raised the mainsail for additional power.
The winds remained light, early teens and so we kept the sail set up for most of the day.
Due to a very early morning start, we treated ourselves and feasted on scrambled eggs, toasted chiabatta and guacamole!
We send an update to family members each morning and here is Andrew on the MacBook writing and sending this mornings update.
We adopted a box of fishing gear from Brian who participated in the ARC+ 2019. They were a Beneteau Oceanis 45 too with 5 crew, Brian as skipper and didn’t catch a fish so we have taken over the box of goodies and hoping for at least one catch before Grenada!!
A parting shot of our current view! The sun is up there somewhere, not willing to show herself just yet…
A great day on Walkabout today. A slow start this morning so our total 24 hour log was 155.7 nautical miles. The forecast is for the wind to drop with a large windless hole to the east of us so we are hurrying across to be further west before it hits!! Fingers crossed!
And the best news of all? We have passed half way - Cape Verde here we come!!!