Canaries to Cape Verde - Day 1 - Becalmed

Svmagnum
mark barr
Sat 15 Dec 2012 14:45
We left Santa Cruz finally at about mid day, after final packing of food stuff, filling with water and sorting out our exit papers at the Port Authority.
We have a LOT of food on board and about 500Ltrs of water, enough to last us all the way to the Caribbean as we are unsure what is/isnt available in Cape Verde.
 
After clearing the port and setting sail the wind began to build from the NE and soon we were bowling along at 6-7 knts. Towards evening we the SE corner of Tenerife and the wind started to drop, we had just enough wind to keep moving until the small hours of Friday when the wind disappeared completely. We spent the next 11 hours becalmed and drifting on the current.
We had a visit by a pop of very inquisitive dolphins  who were attracted to our sonar depth finder and they spent quite a while swimming under the sender and setting off our shallow water alarm ! They then retreated a few meters and had a chat on the surface whilst eyeing Amanda in the cockpit 
 
The wind finally returned at 1900 so we pointed Magnum south and had dinner (mushroom and leek risotto..Mmmm)
 
The night was pitch black with no moon at all, but the stars were amazing, even putting on a show of shooting stars just for us.
 
Distance for the first 24hrs was a very disappointing 86NM