22:45.60N  20:02.1W

Wow.  Is it only day 4 already?  It feels like we have been going for ages, but not the case.  You may have seen us listed in the ARC position reports and or fleet viewer as “Diverted to Cape Verde”.  True, we are currently about 350 nautical miles NE of the Cape Verde islands, and about 140 nautical miles off the coast of Africa down by Mauritania, and we are motoring/sailing towards the Verdes.

What happened is that yesterday, Wednesday morning we investigated a “knocking sound” in the steering assembly that had become more noticeable over the previous 2 days.  Ron identified it as play in the upper  bearing of the steering rudder assembly.  That’s good news and bad news.  Good that it’s the upper bearing and not the one through the hull, but bad because it is the type of thing you cannot ignore for a long time.  Best analogy I can think of is you hear a little knocking sound in your car engine but none of the red lights come on.  You really should  be prudent and have a mechanic look at it and repair as necessary.  So we made the decision to head for the Cape Verdes.

We really only had two choices, go back about 300 miles to the Canaries, or go forward 600 miles to the Verdes.  And the wind is blowing from the Canaries to the Verdes, so that made the decision pretty easy.   We did not want to pound away into the wind for 4 to 5 days verses head downwind to the Verdes in 6 days.  So we are on our way there.

We notified the ARC rally control folks via e-mail and they have been very, very helpful.  They have sent us marina and repair facility recommendations, names and contacts, have told us they have experience with those businesses, and other information that will be helpful e.g. customs, currency (Euro’s) etc.  in fact we will get a discount for ARC participants at the marina!  It turns out that more than a few yachts have stopped in over the years to effect repairs.  And we learned this morning we are not the only boat headed there.  Another yacht is going to the same place due to a medical (non critical or threatening) issue.  And we are in constant daily contact with ARC control and will be when we get there so they know what’s going on and can assist.

So until we get there it’s life as usual on  board.  Actually it can get pretty boring if you don’t work at keeping occupied.  Our watch schedule is 3 hours on then 6 hours off, then repeat.  In pairs.  So Kevin and I just finished the 6:00 am to 9:00 am watch, Ron and Brian did the 9:00 to Noon and Myles and Dave are currently driving the boat on the noon to 3:00 watch.  If you step forward on that schedule you will see that we are all rotating through all watches.  So Kev and I will do 15:00 to 18:00, then midnight to 3:00 am, then 9:00 am to noon etc etc.  Estimated arrival is Monday, 4 days from now.  We will get in, get the repairs assessed and decide what to do next.

Everyone is in good spirits but obviously disappointed.  I’ll leave it for each to record his own thoughts as appropriate.  For me it’s just something that’s happened and you have to deal with it.  And that’s what we are doing.  It would be easy to just sit  back, curl away and wait it out but that’s really, really boring on a 44 foot boat with nowhere to go.  So the best tonic for me is to stay busy.  Noel, Fran and Kris will appreciate that I still have the ‘Felix’ syndrome so I cleaned the bathrooms J  Ugly job but I brought along heavy duty rubber gloves and liquid gel/bleach soap just for that job!  Gotta earn my way somehow.

The sailing is so so.  Wind dead astern, 15-20 knots most of the tie, 25-30 some of the time.  Occasional  but very infrequent lulls.  Seas 1-2 meters with a chop.  Not terribly comfortable as you rock, roll and yaw most of the time. 

Then again there have been some really magic moments.

Kevin and I were on night watch midnight to 3 two days ago and the starts in the clear, clear sky were just amazing.  I couldn’t get Carl Sagan’s “Billions, and billions” phrase out of my head.  But from a couple of hundred miles offshore it was something I have never seen before.  Yesterday afternoon we were visited by what seemed like hundreds of spotted porpoises.  Wow are they fast and the come jumping out of the swell and fly by.  Sometimes doing rolls in the air.  Then they swim around , under and beside the boat with not a care in the world.  Happy to be there and share the ocean with you.  And finally there are magic sailing moments too.  For about 2 hours last night the boat was in 20-22 knots of very steady wind with very steady seas.  No clouds, only a few stars and a bright half moon reflecting off the water in front of us leading us it’s way.  Low, long swells but no cross waves or chop.  She was perfectly balanced on the sails and just hummed along.  You almost steer your course with one finger and I think we were consistently doing 7 to 7.5 knots over the ground.  Just a magic sailing moment.  Hope we have more. 

We have not seen any other yachts, have seen several freighters over the four days, and are quite lonely out here J  It would have  been nice to see how others are sailing/coping and speeds they are making through the water.  But it’s not to be.  So on we go.

More later either as we approach or get to the Verdes.  Time for a nap before the next watch.

Andy.  Thursday at 1:15pm.