Sunriser

It is 4.20 and my nightshift just started. It is the third night of our crossing from Mindelo in Cape Verde to Surinam.

The days before the start of the crossing have been a rollercoaster. The departure of the Viking Explorers was planned on January 18, but strong winds and predicted swell of 3 to 4 meters from the side made us decide to postpone our departure. However some captains decided to leave. Still one day later more ships left, but we decided to wait another day. During that day the first reports of very confused seas (waves coming from multiple directions) came in together with reports of (minor) injuries and breakages. The day after we decided to sail one hour and put the boat on anchor at the south of the island, as the wind was slowly decreasing, but the waves were still very high.

It proved to be the right decision for us.

One boat (the same type as Sunriser) reported their autopilot stopped working and they had to turn around as they (2 persons on board) could not hand steer the boat for 2000 miles. But still they had to hand steer 150 miles back upwind against waves of 4 meters. During the return a monster wave broke one of the windows and the water ingress took out the electricity and their communication.. They fortunately arrived back to the har our while we were on anchor. We then heard that they also lost their dinghy in this wave. Luckily all is well with the crew and they will continue their voyage when all repairs have been done.

In the meantime we were on anchorage having a swim with turtles and barbeque of freshly caught Mahi Mahi with the crew of Coolbardie and Rose Marie. The contrast could not be bigger.

The first 24 hours of our crossing was still uncomfortable because of the confused seas, but nothing like the others had experienced. The first night we only had our genoa out, just to be on the safe side, so we made little progress. In the morning we added the Gennaker (a big foresail) and since then have sailed like this on a 180 degrees wind angle. This means that the wind (and the waves!) are coming exactly from the back. This puts us a bit south of the rump line, but we can adjust this later in the trip. We slept a lot during these first days, partly because of sea sickness pills. At this moment the miles glide under our keels and life becomes more of a routine. We are well rested, we read, play games and watch some downloaded movies. We caught a very tasty Wahoo that Beatriz prepares as sashimi, ceviche and today a curry. The disadvantage of catching big fish is that we are not allowed to fish until there is space in the freezer again.

Starlink is a real game changer on this crossing. Besides being able to update our blog and get always the latest detailed weather forecast,  we can keep up with the situation of other boats in the fleet. This way it becomes more and more of a safety issue if we switch it off. BUT it also takes away some of the charm of the crossing, the whatsapps, newspapers and phonecalls are still coming in, while being ‘off grid’ for some weeks was one of the charms. Maybe we switch it off later.