Last time we left you in Madeira, and its been a while since we updated you all with our progress. Life has been pretty hectic, so its nice to catch up and tell you a bit more about our adventures.
We had to wait a long time for the right winds to leave Madeira and head south for the Canaries. Finally the South Westerlies that had set in for at least two weeks subsided and the weather looked set for an easy passage south.
So we set off on the first leg of the long journey to Cape Verde. Join us then as we take you through the fun and the trials and tribulations of life at sea!
LEG1: Madeira to Lanzarote
We were sad to leave Madeira. What a fantastic place! And we had made some new freinds too. But the lure of the Atlantic crossing still beckoned, and we still had a lot of miles to sail to the Cape Verde Islands.
As you leave Madeira heading south, the first place you see is the dramatic Islas Desertas, part of the Madeira Archipelago. The wind was fluky as we sailed down these islands, and the mountains hung their heads in the cloud. We were rewarded with a rainbow, before land slipped away to the horizon and all we had was sea all around us.
Its 273 nautical miles from Machico to Rubicon on the South end of Lanzarote and it took us around 48 hours. The first part of the trip, we had great winds and we sped along at 8 knots. Then the high pressure kicked in, and we were becalmed for at least 12 hours, our speed down to 3.5 knots. It didn’t matter though, it was still great sailing ghosting along in the sun on a calm sea.
About half way across, we picked up a passenger. A small bird that looked absolutely exhausted! He sat with us for a day whilst we gave him some bread crumbs and some water and he seemed to get more and more chirpy and bolder and would sit right next to you.
He left the following day and not long after that we sighted land with the usual cry of “Land Ahoy!”. Always a great feeling after many hours of sailing. We dropped the hook (always a great feeling too!) just outside the entrance to Rubicon Marina.
So we know many of you told us that the Canary Islands are beautiful and that we should spend lots of time there! Well unfortunately it didn’t quite work out that way for us?! Our intention all along had been to meet up with our good friends Charlie & Jen somewhere in the Canaries. Unfortunately time was moving on. Charlie and Jen couldn’t make it for over a week, and we were looking at the weather for getting further south to the Cape Verde and it looked great at that moment, but not in a weeks time!
The other factor was our outboard engine. Bought new in 2022, it had decided to strip its impeller and was now unusable. The anchorage was incredibly rolly, which made attempts to bush fix the problem very difficult and frustrating. In the end, it was impossible for us even to get to shore, the wind was too strong to row in!
A plan was slowly hatched…. Charlie and Jen managed to book a week in Cape Verde! So our minds were made up. We moved to another anchorage for the next night that was much flatter. Got a great nights sleep, and then got the boat ready to leave for the Cape Verde!
LEG2: Lanzarote to Cape Verde
This next leg was to be our longest sail so far. Some 900 nautical miles from Rubicon to Palmeira on the Island of Sal. The first job on leaving is to pull up the anchor …. we were both excited to be leaving on a long journey. Thwarted! The anchor was firmly stuck in 12 metres of water! It took a good 45 minutes of driving in circles and straining of the chain until it finally came free. Not a great start!
Eventually though we were off and sailing a broad reach down the side of Fuerteventura. The crew were in good spirits too after a stressful start!
It was to be six wonderful days at sea with light winds and seas and all the joy of the remoteness of the world. No seasickness. We ate really well. We sat in the bow everyday watching the flocks (?) of flying fish jumping out of the way as Azimuth ploughed through the waves. We enjoyed the heat of the sun as we got ever closer to the equator. And at night we enjoyed the glorious stars and moon that lit up the sea.
Three nights in to the trip, I was on watch at one in the morning when a loud bang and the sound of the mainsail falling down interrupts my semi awake state! I didn’t want to investigate what had happened until the morning as going out on deck on my own at night is not safe, so we continued to sail on the Genoa. Daylight arrived and we found that our brand new main halyard had completely chafed through. The mainsail had dropped, but also the main halyard had disappeared in to the mast. Not the sort of thing that is easy to fix! Fortunately Azimuth has a topping lift for holding up the boom. However, this is a lighter rope than the main halyard (also brand new) and I didn’t feel like risking chaffing through this line too as we still had three more days of sailing ahead. So that morning, we spent a couple of hours removing the new topping lift and replacing it with Azimuths old main halyard (actually made of carbon fibre). Main sail was re-hoisted and we were off again.
Every year, there is a large yacht rally called the ARC where hundreds of boats pay an exorbitant amount of money to cross the Atlantic together leaving from the Canaries. We had decided not to join this as when I enquired as to the cost I was told it would be £5000 for Azimuth and 4 crew! There is also an extension to this rally called the ARC+ where a smaller number of boats cross the Atlantic from the Canaries via Cape Verde. We were aware that they were leaving around the same time as us. So one day we zoomed out on the chartplotter and discovered that we were being chased down by the ARC+ fleet!
They never caught us though 🙂
Channel 16 on the ships radio is supposed to be used for distress purposes only. This is strictly enforced in Europe and people can be fined for misuse. It seemed that there was little enforcement in Morocco or Mauritania as we sailed down their coasts. We had the constant chattering and bizarre messaging between we presume the fisherman. People were playing music over the channel?! and on one occasion, we were entertained by someone playing the accordion! The other entertainment was provided by the Moroccan Navy in their “Warship” speaking in pigeon English with numerous Cargo vessels and shooing them out of Moroccan territorial waters.
We sighted land early in the morning on the 6th day. Land Ahoy!
We sailed all the way to the entrance of Palmeira to be faced by a huge number of boats at anchor and what looked like no space. Here we were then, pretty exhausted, thinking what do we do now? A little boat comes along side and “Jay Ramos” introduces himself as the man that can provide anything you need directly to your boat and offers to help us anchor. He guided Azimuth right inside the anchorage and tells us to squeeze between a small yacht and a beaten up old metal fishing boat and drop the hook. It didn’t quite go to plan though. A gust of wind swings us round and we nearly collide with the fishing boat. I decided that this was not a good place to anchor and we head back out much to the annoyance of Jay who confidently tells me he has been doing this for ten years and he knows what he is doing! However he did find us another spot much further out and then charged us for the privilege of his services! Oh and we did buy a Cape Verde courtesy flag from him too.
Next time join us as we tell you about our adventures in Cape Verde!