EMAIL HOME Sail South until the Butter Melts - Passage to Cape Verde Day 5
Walkabout has gone Sailing
Andrew and Traci Roantree
Fri 12 Nov 2021 09:00
I am not sure whether anyone received yesterday’s update - it may have got lost in the Sat Comms ether. Can’t find a record of it at this end.
There is a saying that to sail the trade wind route to the Caribbean you need to sail south until the butter melts and then turn right. We were beginning to think that keeping the butter in the fridge was unnecessary, as frankly, it hasn’t been warm at all - until yesterday. Suddenly we had sun and heat. We also had very little wind and flat seas. It was a very relaxed day on board for the most part. Had to do a couple of sail configuration changes, but also had more generator angst.
We are getting quite good with our sail changes, managing the situation more quickly. There is a lot going on for 2 people to cope with, and it requires a good plan and communication. Traci manages the cockpit - halyards, sheets, tweakers, gybe preventer, steering to name a few, and I deal with the sails on the foredeck - getting the lines set up to hoist and lower - usually done on my hands and knees whilst harnessed to the boat.
Last night we flew our big blue G1 asymmetric all night - a first. It gave us good speed in the light winds. The wind picked up in the early hours briefly hitting 16knots - a bit too much for the G1, and it was a bit exciting for a while. Things are calmer now (13knots) and we are (mainly) heading straight to Mindelo. We have 170NM left to run to Mindelo. After our record breaking run of 180NM in 24hours a couple of days ago, yesterday was just 135NM. I hope that we will get to Mindelo in daylight tomorrow (Saturday 13 Nov - Happy Birthday Carol!!), but the forecast is for lighter winds ahead.
We have generator problems again - not running due to High Exhaust Temp. Will need to get this sorted in our short pit stop in Mindelo. So we have to run the engine to top up the batteries. Which is fine, but it uses more diesel, is noisier, and doesn’t provide 240V.
Last night’s dinner was Chicken Korma with potatoes and beans, followed by as much fruit as you can eat!!
We have had some good chats on the VHF with other boats - Moana, Zelda and Cesarina - good to hear how things are going. Zelda have caught a 1.2m long dorado!!! They are having fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We need some instruction from them in Mindelo.
T&Ax