Any Which Way You Can

Bandit
David Morgan and Brenda Webb
Fri 9 Dec 2011 13:12

19:10:63N 21:21:10W

After a flying start to our 800 nautical mile sail from Las Palmas in the Canary Islands to the Cape Verde, on day four the wind started to die.  This wasn’t all bad news as the 30knots we had at first was pushing up a big and uncomfortable swell.  There were plenty of complaints from the galley when it came to making a cup of tea (several spilt) or preparing a meal (thank goodness for ready mades in the freezer).  For the first few days we covered 170NM a day which is pretty good for Bandit with our boat speed averaging 7-8 knots and top speed of 12 knots down one wave.  Great for racing sailors but not so good for us cruisers.  It did make us think of the Volvo boats – how on earth do those guys do it?

When the wind eased we slowly began putting up more sail to keep our boat speed up.  We started by shaking one reef out of the main, then unrolling the headsail which had been partly furled.  The wind continued to ease so out came the second reef from the main and finally the first.  We managed to keep our boat speed constant at around 6 knots so continued to eat up the miles.  Sea conditions were much better and we were back sleeping in our bed rather than on the saloon floor!  We could also shower without it turning into a gymnastic session and make cups of tea without too much swearing and spillage.

Last night however the wind dropped down to 8-10knots and boatspeed plummeted to four knots which wasn’t pleasing to the skipper.  I know we’re a hard lot to please – too much wind and we complain so the wind Gods ease up on it and once again we moan!  (Just like farmers and grape growers!)  Undefeated, we set about putting up as much sail as we could. We were wing on wing with the genoa poled out to port, the staysail and main on starboard and this gave us extra boat speed.  Desperate times call for desperate measures or, in keeping with our movie title theme, a case of Any Which Way You Can.

Just on dawn this morning the wind picked up to around 15 knots so out came the spinnaker.  Managed to get it up without too much hassle and we are now heading directly for our destination of Sal in the Cape Verdes at just over 6 knots in almost flat seas.  Best of all – the sun is shining.  We’re in the Tropics again!