The Start: 17 November: Cape Verde Islands to Port Louis Grenada
Nusquama Sailing Blog
Fri 17 Nov 2023 19:29
| Finally, finally we are off. All that hideous last minute running around in Mindelo trying to find suitable provisions in the boiling heat - really good to be on our way. The start was at 1200 and all the 98 boats were to start at the same time. There is a 3 hour penalty for any boats over the line at the start so everyone was pretty line-shy and wanted to stay out of trouble. We started alongside our friends from Cowes - Galatea of Aune (Andrew Norton) and Infinity of Yar (Giles Peckham). The tactic was to sail south to avoid the wind shadow off the bottom of Sao Antao. Actually it was quite similar to the issues facing us when we set off from Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. The high volcanic islands create a considerable wind shadow extending up to 40-50 NM from the end of the islands. We set off under our Code Zero, Staysail  and full main. 2100 NM to Grenada as the crow flies. It would be great to be that crow…our journey is likely to be quite a bit longer than that and the winds are looking light. |