Date: Wednesday, 01 December [09:00 UTC]

 

Tuesday morning saw us setting off from the Cape Verdes in very light air conditions. Having left Sao Vicenti at 10:00, we motored for 20 hours averaging 5.5 knots.

 

Ivan and Charlie were on the 04:00 – 08:00 watch and at around 06:00 the wind started to freshen from the NE. By 08:30, the wind was of adequate strength to put up the down-wind headsails. All crew were required on deck. As I write, we are sailing 250 degrees true with boat speed averaging 5.7 knots.

 

Considering the situation, it was felt that a management meeting was required on deck. Attendees at this meeting included Skipper Ivan, Mike, Jimmy and Dermot (Photo attached). Minutes are available should you be sufficiently interested!

 

We are now under the magical ‘2000 miles to go’ number. We have yet to plot our day’s run from 10:00 – 10:00, but we should have covered somewhere in the region of 140 miles since Tuesday at 10:00.

 

The skies are slightly cloudy with bright sunshine showing through, but we believe that we made the correct decision to head further south and below the Cape Verdes. Considering the wind conditions, direction and cloud patterns we believe that we are definitely (maybe) in the trade winds heading west (fingers and toes once again crossed). GRIB files will be downloaded shortly ensuring that we keep a close eye on any weather developments ahead.

 

Flying fish are everywhere today and you can be easily fooled into believing that there are small flocks of birds close by. Dermot was in the process of getting the ‘butterfly net’ out to try a bit of alternative fishing, but found that his arms weren’t quite long enough!

 

Dermot left the fishing line and ‘squidly’ lure trailing in the water overnight in the hope that there might have been a small yellow fin tuna waiting to be hauled on-board for today’s lunch. Unfortunately, Dermot has indicated that another large sea monster has taken the lure! Not doing too well on the fishing front.....

 

All the crew are well and in much better spirits as we are now experience proper trade wind sailing conditions.

 

Kind regards,

 

Skipper Ivan and crew.