Sailing out into the Atlantic – towards Cape Verde
S/Y Pelerin
Colin Speedie & Louise Johnson
Sun 9 Dec 2012 15:32
300deg compass direction, slightly north of the straight line course from
Dakar as there is a strong south-bound current from the Canaries that we
have to counter.
It’s SO good being back out to sea again. It’s very difficult to describe…
you don’t know what day it is, you don’t know what the news headlines are
anywhere in the world, you don’t know which celebrity is the latest
embarrassment to the human race. We’d even forgotten Christmas was coming.
But what you do know is the strength of the wind, the height of the swell,
that preceding your path are a squadron of panicking flying fish, what time
the moon will rise, and the number of minutes until the end of your watch
when you can crawl back into the narrow sea-berth we use as a bed whilst on
passage. And more importantly you do know that there is still wilderness out
here. Yes, much plundered, but it is still wilderness. And so beautiful, too
beautiful to describe really – absolutely no light pollution, apart from a
crescent moon. The stars for the last couple of nights have been so very
bright. The Milky Way is wonderfully clear. With shooting stars thrown in
regularly for good measure. The phosphorescence has been incredible, and
last night we must have come across a swarm of really large jellyfish, as
there were phosphorescence ‘bombs’ going off all around us – what a light
show, quite an amazing site.
We had our first dolphin-free day yesterday. We’ve been lucky enough to have
pods of dolphins every day since leaving the Canaries. But not yesterday.
However we did have a close encounter with a swordfish – what a magnificent
dorsal fin they have! And so lovely to see one living in the wild, and not
hung up on a hook next to some dorky-looking fishing bloke, whose face
carries the smug smirk of one who thinks they’ve wrestled nature and won –
whereas the reality is that with today’s fish-finding sonar technology, you
just have to put a line out (if you’re that way inclined) and you can hook
said ‘beast’ without breaking sweat... and they call it sport! Anyway, I’ll
stop ranting.
Prior to departing from Dakar last Friday, there had been a fairly strong
easterly Harmattan wind bringing much dust and sand from the Sahara. The
dust gets everywhere, and gave everything a sandy-rusty hue. It affects the
visibility also, sometimes hundreds of miles out to sea. However, we were
lucky enough to pick up good vis just a few tens of miles offshore. A good
few waves crashing on our foredeck have meant I no longer have to scrub the
decks today, so that’s a very good reason to sail to windward more often!
We’re currently heading for the Cape Verdean island of Sal. Perhaps you can
think of the Cape Verdes as a slightly more tropical version of the Scillies
(for those Cornish amongst you!), with just a little more sunshine, and a
lot more swell!? There are only three places in the islands where you can
clear in with customs if arriving by boat from another country. We’re very
much looking forward to having our great friend and crew-member, Ronnie
Mackie, come join us for the next long leg of our adventure. Ronnie is
flying into Cape Verdes this weekend, so we’ll rendezvous somewhere and have
a good catch-up. Then be off to the wide, blue horizon they call the
Atlantic.