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Just as we hit 1,000nm To Go at 8am so the day started for real. Seas very confused, squalls and wind 24 to 39kn. Seas building all day to about 5m. Any sailing club chat that waves are long etc so no issue could not be more wrong. Back winded, thrown on our beam end a few times, life onboard became hard and the ship went quiet. A couple of waves over the stern and the coachroof. A long day. Soon after dusk sea state calmed a little but as at 2am (we just gybed as wind veered SE but

Nothing happened today which is great news. Bright sunshine and 17-24kn ESE but slow progress due to lousy wave sets. Tonight much smoother in 20-27kn E under headsail only making c. 6.8kn. Clear skies and bright moon. Always rolling, lots of motion and noisy; waves hitting the hull, general water flow, wind & waves. The Perils of Sleep: 1. Waking up mid-air whilst being thrown from one side of the cockpit to the other 2. Falling asleep whilst standing at the top of the companionway and waking as legs give way 3. Waking after a fantastic long sleep anticipating that

Having got under headsail only in the early hours the wind built to 18-26kn Easterly so we are following our great circle route on 268 degs. The sea was a mess all day with a 10ft cross swell hitting us beam on. In the morning I got thrown out of my bench and across the cockpit about every 3 minutes, by pm I could hang in for 5 to 10 minutes and now 16hrs on I can mostly remain seated! But just when you think it’s all coming good the sea builds again… Today’s problem child? As it was getting

We are rolling constantly in the swell with no wind to stabilise the boat. Carrying lots of fuel we motor past a number of yachts overnight that have decided to wait for the wind. We should probably join them but instead we will charge the batteries and tick over at low revs to keep moving although slowly.

After shaking out the reef at dawn we glided along all day on an 11-15kn Easterley with swell occasionally shaking the rig. It is the occasional shaking of the rig that causes problems as during the cycle back and forth there are moments of slack. That is when things come undone. And I found a vital bolt on the boom furling universal joint about 50% out of it’s thread. Lucky! Now secured with lots of threadlock; pity the manufacturer did not enable the bolts to be pinned or locked. Uneventful, hot and bright day. Came across a trawler, two ships

We motored last night to try and get back in touch with the rear of the fleet and I think it helped. Winds were mainly 5 to 8kn so sailing wasn’t possible during the first half of the night. About 7am we went under full main and deep reefed genoa running at 155 degs in 16 to 23kn ESE wind. Making 7 to 8.5kn as the wind cycles up and down within the range every 15 minutes. Why it’s not stable in the ocean is a mystery but maybe it’s surface friction over the swell. Wave shapes and sea state

Thursday about 8am we headed for the shop in Mindelo Marina to see if our welding boy had done his stuff and the exhaust elbow was back in one piece. We have made this trip many, many times before. Ah but there on the floor is a filthy black carbon covered bag. It is…it is…and the 30 minute repair weld is complete on Day 4 in Mindelo. We bolted up, we fuelled up, and by 11.30 we slipped our berth and passed the space to incoming Zenara. We are going….fast. We motored out of the bay and clear of the

On the night of Day 6 we should have been running in 14-17kn northerlies on our way south to Mindelo. But nobody felt like committing to the weather and going up to the bow in complete dark to hand crank the headsail and let out some canvas (or dacron). So we motored south in a following sea and wind to enter Mindelo from the East. Early morning, rounding the point Ponta Salinas on the Island of Santo Antaao whilst trying to get some offing against the east wind and swell to stay clear, I could smell exhaust gas. Shutting the

Tumbling at a rapid pace in the now larger seas. Crew are lethargic, life onboard is uncomfortable and the simple unknowns pushed it all over the edge. The lead up to this point is as follows: One primary winch comes and goes which is unsettling re mainsail reefing or mainsheet control. The headsail reefing is already a Harken mini winch handle operated at the anchor roller! The sea state is a mess as the waves have been driven hard from the north west, then we spent most of today in 28-33kn Easterly, then ESE, now we are due to be