EMAIL HOME Settling In - Passage to Cape Verde Day 2
Walkabout has gone Sailing
Andrew and Traci Roantree
Tue 9 Nov 2021 09:00
It feels like we have made good progress over the last 24 hours. We continue to sail conservatively - just used the main and Genoa so far. Other boats have overtaken us flying spinnakers. That really isn’t an option we want to go down in the wind and sea state of the last 24 hours. It is just hard work and opens up more risk with just the 2 of us. But things are calming down a bit, so we may get the Blue Water Runner up today. That would help us set a course directly for Mindelo.
This email is slightly delayed, as we have been having a generator problem this morning. Fingers crossed it is fixed now….
The weather is starting to warm up. The first night was cold! We were both very rugged up. Last night was still trousers and Buffalo. But today is shorts and T shirts. Clean clothes too - as we have both had a shower - which was nice!
The nights are very dark. On the first night there was a glow in the sky from the lights of Gran Canaria. But last night there was nothing, and the stars were brilliant amongst the clouds. We had phosphorescence streaming away in our wake.
Some chat on the VHF this morning with other boats, but not many in range. Now boats in sight at this time.
News on the fruit front - whilst it is not sensible to buy a hand of bananas, as they all get ripe at the same time, we have discovered that the same is true of satsumas! A few were fed to the fish this morning.
Last night's dinner was chicken korma and potatoes - that well known combination!
We are about to do a deck walk to check for any chafe or other damage, and flying fish. We have seen plenty of flying fish so far, and one large sea bird - no idea what, but it was white!
Current heading is about 205 deg. Average speed so far is 7.3 knots. In our first 24 hours we logged the most miles we have ever done in a day 177.4NM.
Traci did the first and last 4hour shifts of the night last night and I did the middle section. We are getting to the point that we are so knackered that we sleep ok!! And we do bits of catch up during the day. Getting used to the noise and movement.