Logbook

By 1900 last night the wind had risen and we were being hard pressed with the sail we had set. I had to reduce the amount of canvas to match the conditions. I had already taken a reef in an hour before but the wind had picked up some more. I dropped the Genoa and unhanked it from the forestay and got it stowed below. Then pulled up the Jib, hanked it on and reattached the sheets. When I glanced aloft to see the halyard was clear before hoisting the moon was above us shinning through mottled cloud. I pulled up the sail then made my aft to the cockpit with knees bent to keep my center of gravity low. One handhold for every footstep I took. The moon daubed the slate grey and white crested sea with silver and there was no need for a headtorch. Soon after I had to take in another reef and with two reefs in and the Jib set our speed barely altered but we were far better suited to the conditions.

The seas are pretty much beam on and the decks are constantly wet. The windward side is plied with spray and the lee side gets a regular sloshing of white water as we hell and dip into the wave tops. Although it’s still warm anything outside has to be done in oilskins.

Trying to get a sun sight is tricky and this morning I ran Elsi off before the wind to steady us up and reduce the spray coming across. Any sun sight from a small boat in a rolling sea is never very accurate and if my position is within five miles of where we are I’ll be quite happy with that.

There’s not much else really. We’ve had another very good days run and are still going well as I write this at 1445. Alyson is en route to New Zealand for Christmas so updates may not be posted as regularly as before but the website will get updated as and when she has an internet connection. Some people may think that I update the website but I only send the reports back to her. I have no way to access the internet and only send reports back as data over the radio, which end up as an email with her. I’ll be interested to see how it all looks when I get back.

The wind held steady and fresh all night, which has given us a fine days run of 140nm. It’s overcast again today which is not uncommon at sea in the Tropics. But, we are still making good speed and reeling in the line of the equator the whole time.

Ocean Passages is a guide to mariners, which is found onboard every merchant ship and should be onboard every long distance cruising yacht. It lists the recommended routes between ports and places for all parts of the world. One section is for sailing vessels and the other for powered vessels. The sailing section was originally written for the old square-riggers to take advantage of the most favourable winds and currents in getting from A to B. The older volumes are usually recommended for sailors as the sailing information is said to be more relevant. I have two copies onboard. One is from 1973 but I also have a facsimile copy of the first edition from 1895 and it is interesting to compare between the two.

Elsi probably sails as close to the wind as the old square-riggers so the information is very relevant. The recommended route from here to cross the equator and head down the coast of South America is to sail south between 26º and 29º W. At this time of year, in a “normal” year, S’ly winds will be met with around 8º – 6º N. Then steer a course to cross 5ºN between 20º – 23º W and cross the equator between 24º and 29º W.  The reason for going to the east first is to get a better angle before getting into the SE Trade winds south of the equator.

After the non-existence of the NE Trades between the Canaries and the Cape Verde’s I’m not convinced that this is a “normal” year. So, we are heading a more direct course to 5ºN  23ºW, which will take us to the east of 26º W earlier. Time will tell if it’s a good decision or not. It’s more uncomfortable as we are having to close reach (sailing into the wind) to get there but for now it’s all going very well and we are still making good speed. If this wind could hold for a couple more days it would see us in a good position to head down to the equator.

What a difference a day makes! Yesterday we were becalmed in a sweltering heat and going nowhere and today we are flying downwind in a fine and cooling NNE F4-5.
Yesterday evening we had just enough wind to set the mainsail and we drifted, more than sailed, downwind. By 0300 the gurgle of water alongside told me the wind had picked up and I made my way on deck. I was still half asleep and I sat squinting and blinking in the cockpit for a while till I woke up a little and could see what was happening. To get on course we had to gybe round. The wind was almost dead astern and the Genoa could be poled out. At one point while I was doing this my headtorch was angled down into the water and I could see the almost luminous green shapes of fish swimming in time with us. We were in the middle of a school of Dorado. They had adopted us for the night and were swimming alongside till morning. It was almost a ghostly scene but not in the least bit eerie.

By morning the wind had picked up further to a F4-5 and veered round so I could drop the pole and we were on more of a broad reach. Every wave that rolled in and lifted Elsi’s stern surged us ever nearer to the equator. In the sky far above us grey clouds the size of small village’s were also carried southwards on the back of the wind.
I sat in the cockpit most of the morning enjoying the sailing. To celebrate I baked another bread. The smell of fresh baked bread in the boat is wonderful. I gave it a little to cool then stuck in the knife. The combination of the warm crisp crust and the soft bread inside was delicious and I enjoyed every mouthful!

We had another visitor. I saw this small green dot on the side-deck and thought it was something that had washed onboard during the night. But it was a small insect, bright green and about the size of a ladybird. I got a photo of it and then it took off and flew out over the ocean.

The days run is very good considering that it is really only 12hrs and not 24hrs. We hardly moved at all until midnight. Now that the wind is up and we are moving the Aerogen is turning and so is the shaft alternator. Usually I can only charge one battery at a time but there are plenty of amps coming in so both batteries are getting charged.  Not a lot of sun today but we don’t need the solar panel in any case.

Anyway it’s very good to be moving again and sailing so well. Keeping up this speed and course we can cover 2 degrees or 120nm in a day. The equator is getting nearer!

According to the Routeing chart we should be in an area where the wind is dominant from the NE at F4-5 with less than half a percent chance of getting a calm. But yet again we have found that less than 0.5 %. It’s very hot today as well. With no breeze to cool things down the sweat pours out of me just sitting still and the deck is almost too hot to stand on barefoot.

Yesterday night was different. The wind was very up and down all evening then at 2300 it steadied up from the SSE and was a good sailing breeze, about a F3, for the next 6 hours. The wind generator was turning for the first time in ages. I really thought we had turned the corner and had seen the last of this light wind for a while. But, by sunrise it had fallen again. The sky was veiled with thin cloud and there was barely a whisper of wind. From then until 1000 it stayed like that and then fell away altogether. I had a wash. A bucket of salt water and soap then a few dousings with bucketfuls of salt water and a final rinse with a litre of fresh water. I changed the bedclothes as well and everything felt a bit fresher.

I had the sails up again at 1100 when I thought I could feel a breath of air but they were down half an hour later. Three Dorado came around the stern but they weren’t biting. Later four big Dorado, 5-6 feet long came in but I didn’t even try to catch them.
I couldn’t get a noon sight today. The thin cloud completely covered the sun and, through the sextant mirror, it was just a diffused blur over a hazy horizon. After noon though the sky cleared and I got a normal sun sight. That’s when it really started to heat up as well.

Now, at 1430, there’s still no wind and we are wallowing again in a low swell from the NW. I had the sails up half an hour ago but it was pointless, they were just flogging constantly and we were going nowhere. Maybe tomorrow it’ll all change..

In the six hours from noon yesterday we moved eight miles. And it stayed like that all evening and all night. I was up and down several times, sails up, sails down till at 0100 when the sails came down they stayed down. It was calm the rest of the night but it was like the sky had steamed over and only the brightest stars were shining through vague and hazy. That toenail moon has certainly grown and will need cliping before too long.
I just woke in time for a radio contact with Alyson, 0630 my time. After we spoke I went outside and there still wasn’t a breath of wind. What I did find though, was a fish swimming under Elsi near the rudder. I rigged a line and dropped it over but it wasn’t really interested. I opened a tin of mackeral I was going to have for lunch and baited a hook with some. He had a sniff at it but maybe the mustard sauce put him off. I’d planned a smoked sausage for dinner and sliced off a bit to temp him with. It worked and he was in the cockpit before he knew what was happening.

He was about a foot long, blue and black and with his hard snapping mouth and sharp teeth he looked a bit like a Parrot fish. The skin was as tough as leather and I could have soled my boots with it.

By the time I got that all sorted a whisper of wind has arrived and I set sails again. We made our way inch by inch into the SW. I stripped down the port winch and put on new oil and grease. The pawls especially have to be checked because if they are not free the winch will not lock under strain and that could be dangerous. But everything was fine and I will do the starboard winch soon as well.

In the late morning a merchant ship the BBC Virginia passed close by. She was on her way from Santos, Brazil to Emden, Germany with, of all things, a cargo load of wind turbines.

By noon we had moved 18 miles in 24 hrs and the wind had moved off somewhere else. We were again a painted ship on a painted ocean. With no wind to cool us the temperature inside the cabin today is 30 C. I had a closer look at the starboard side and can see goose barnacles growing there as well. They’ll have plenty of time today to latch on.
In the afternoon I serviced the starboard winch as well and when I’d finished I could feel a movement of air and see a ruffle begin to form on the sea surface. So, sails up again and we were moving. While I was sitting in the cockpit watching the wind to see if it would hold I heard a thump thump from the stern. It was three medium-sized Dorado bumping into the Aries steering oar as if to say, “Here we are, try catching us as well!”. They are a very good eating fish and I wasted no time in rigging a line and baiting it with some of the left over bits I’d kept from this morning. I managed to catch two of them so there’s plenty for dinner tonight and tomorrow as well.

The wind picked up yesterday evening to around a F4 and we were bowling along at 6kts. The wind dropped not long after that and while we could still hold a good course our speed was nearly halved and the sails were back to the old slap and rattle. I was up regularly during the night checking for land and at 0400 I could see the cluster of orange dots in the SE that were the lights ashore on Santo Antao. I could see then that we were going to be clear of the island no problem.

At first light I could make out the grey top of the island above the lighter grey of the early morning haze. The lower half was shrouded completely. An hour later and it had all disappeared as we sailed further into the SW.

We had a visitor in the morning. It was a bird that looked like a small white heron. It circled Elsi then landed on the round for’ard hatch, the nearest thing aboard to an avian helipad. I got a photo of it but when I went below for the video camera it took off. A photo was one thing but it wasn’t being part of any movie. I followed it and it joined up with five others. They circled and I thought they were all going to land but they headed off to the south. I looked it up in my book that’s supposed to have all the seabirds of the world but there was nothing similar. I can only assume they were land birds that had strayed from their familiar territory.

A few goose barnacles have started growing on Elsi; mainly near the stern and on the port (sunny) side. It’s not surprising really. We’ve been moving so slowly for a while now in these warm waters. But they are almost all on the green of the hull and not on the coppercoat anti-fouling. I scraped some off today with a scraper on the end of the boathook.

It’s very hot again today. The deck is hot underfoot and I need to cover up to go outside otherwise I would cook. The wind now (1300) has dropped to a near calm again and we are rolling all over the place. The reason for going to the west side of the Cape Verde’s was to find a steadier wind..but, it’s just a year when the Trades don’t blow. It does happen and we’ve caught one of those years. We still have a way to go to the equator so I hope it will pick up before too long.

The box I have my lemons stored in is tucked away under a shelf in the for’ard part of the boat. Yesterday afternoon I stuck my hand in to get one and found there were quite a few that had gone off. I pulled the box out into the cockpit and drew a bucket of water then rinsed the worst of the mould from the remaining good ones. I had to chuck out about half a dozen as they had gone to mush but the rest were salvageable and they’ll do for a bit yet.

While I was doing this a small squad of flying fish flew up as if from a starting gun and skirted over the wave tops. They have been very scarce on this trip. By this time in 2006 I’d had to pick them off the deck in the mornings regularly. I’ll get a breakfast or two from them yet. They are amazingly quick when they lift off and glide for surprisingly long distances. They will fly from wave to wave, sometimes it will end in a crash-landing and at other times with a flick of the tail they would be off again as if from a slingshot. I can imagine the older salts on the square-riggers telling the young lads shipping out in a British winter on their first trip that they would see fish that could fly and the sun would be so hot it would cook an egg cracked on to a metal plate on the deck. How far fetched it must have seemed. I’m still waiting to see my first mermaid though.

The wind fell away during the night and veered more into the east. At 0300 I had to gybe round to keep us heading on course. We were more or less dead downwind and with the Genoa poled out and us sailing goose winged we rolled constantly gunwhale up and gunwhale down all night.

There was a strange sky in the morning. The clouds stretching out on each side of the rising sun were small, individual and each one had been squashed down with the heel of a hand to flatten it out. It looked as though a massed fleet of flying saucers were flying in from the east.

The wind has held fine all morning, NE’ly F3-4 with a hot sun and blue skies. I baked a Chibata bread and it came out really good. I had a couple of big chunks for lunch then had to go for more with jam for dessert.
Our noon position puts us about 75nm from the west side of Santo Antao; the western edge of the Cape Verde’s. On average there is more chance of a steadier wind to the west of the group than from sailing through them so we are skirting the western edge before diving south to the equator. Visibility can be poor around the islands at times so whether we will actually see them or not is guesswork. We’ll know tomorrow.

All yesterday afternoon I thought I could hear the low rumble of thunder but as if were very far away. To windward the sky looked overcast but it didn’t look like a thundery sky and at times I began to imagine I was hearing things. But as the afternoon wore on the clouds built up and there was no doubt any more that it was thunder I’d heard. It grew louder and at times seemed to rumble on and on so that there was hardly a break between. Then the lightning started. It was right ahead of us and we were sailing steadily towards it. Brilliant forks with immense electrical power in them streaked down to the horizon. I counted the time between the strike and the rumble starting. It was twelve seconds. Not very far away. Elsi’s mast isn’t very high but it was the tallest thing for miles around and I began to feel very vulnerable. I was due to have a radio schedule with the local club about that time but I pulled the fuses from the radio and other things just in case we got hit.

While all this was going on we were suddenly surrounded by a large school of dolphins. They were mainly at the bow but were all around us. If they were concerned by what was happening above the surface they certainly didn’t show it. It was a kind of surreal experience, all this potentially deadly thunder and lightning and dolphins playing casually around us.

It started to rain. As I went below I could hear my onions sizzling. I’d put on the tea to cook while all this was happening. As it happened the rain cleared away and so did the thunderstorm. When it did we were left with enough wind from the NNE to hold a steady course and keep the sails from slapping too much. The wind held all night and it was the best night’s sailing we’ve had in a while. It wasn’t enough to keep the sails full all the time but we were underway.

As the days light started to come in the sun rose like an orange hot air balloon. It slowly filled and appeared to cling to the water for a bit when it was almost full then finally got enough heat in it to lift up and rise above the surface. A tanker, the King Edward, passed us at the same time bound for the Cape Verde’s with some kind of fuel. The AIS said they would be there by 2300 tonight.

I rigged the towing generator this morning. It’s just something I made up myself using a permanent magnet alternator with an aluminnium propeller on a length of braided rope. It seems to work fine and at 4kts was giving out 2 amps. I should really have a funnel to slip over the line to stop the propeller from turning when I retrieve it but I don’t. So the hardest bit is actually pulling the prop back in again. If it’s too difficult I can always heave to or drop sails to slow us right up to get it back aboard.

Chafe is a continual problem onboard as Elsi is constantly moving and I have to watch for it all the time. I can check the halyards easily enough but the topping lift has to be lowered to the deck to inspect it. Today I pulled down the topping lift to check it. I have three reefs in Elsi’s mainsail but in these latitudes I have taken the third reef pennant off the sail. I don’t need it and it only adds to the chafe. If a storm were to spring up suddenly I could rig it without too much trouble. So to lower the topping lift I sew the end of the third reef pennant onto the end of the topping lift and that gives me enough length to lower it to the deck. When I got it down it looked ok, which was reassuring. I have the halyards and topping lift greased up with Vaseline where they run over the sheaves so I gave it a fresh coat and pulled it back up again. I made a note in the logbook to check it again in 30 days time.

The clocks have gone back another hour today so we are two hours behind GMT now. It’s just after mid-day now and the wind appears to be holding. It’s still a NNE F3 with a low swell from the NW. We’re making 4 knots and the towing generator along with the shaft alternator and the solar panel are topping the batteries up. Our noon position puts us about 180nm from the west end of the Cape Verde’s. If we keep up this speed we’ll be there in two days time; another milestone on the journey.