After saying our “goodnights” for the second time tonight to Roy and Paul, the girls settled into their routine; a nice cup of tea, accompanied by some or other snack. This morning was ginger biscuits for Justine and a slice of toast with honey for Elaine, throwing in a ginger biscuit for good measure. Our late night watch usually involves a chocolate of sorts with a cup of tea, but since the supply of chocolate is somewhat limited, the early morning watch requires us to be a bit more restrained.
With Justine taking charge of the watch, Elaine relaxed next to her and was on hand for any queries. Before we knew it, the first hour was over. It certainly helped, though, that the waxing gibbous was still hung in the sky to light our way, although we had to forgo our stargazing as a result. The morning star, however, couldn’t be mistaken as it shone brightly above the eastern horizon.
During Roy and Paul’s watch we passed the 1/4-way mark, much to everyone’s delight and, during breakfast, we had a friendly call from S/Y Newbee, which was a lovely surprise. While we have had twice daily interactions with other yachts via the SSB/HF radio net, those without an SSB radio hadn’t seen or spoken to another yacht in days, as confirmed by S/Y Newbee; we were happy to oblige.
Just before noon Elaine surfaced to find Justine had already surfaced from her morning nap, while Roy and Paul were on watch. With Elaine up, the boys could go off watch, following which Roy headed to bed and Paul headed off for some quiet time to watch a movie.
By 1300 Justine had completed the SSB/HF radio net, we’d just passed south of 19N and the trade winds seemed steady at 10-15 Kts, although a cross swell had developed and increased to 1.5-2 metres, all of which, nonetheless, allowed us to continue in a southwesterly direction, enjoying a SOG (Speed Over Ground) in excess of 6 Kts, at times reaching 8 Kts; with every knot over 5 Kts we were happy.
The ARC 2023 update had indicated a few yachts were diverting to Cabo Cape Verde for repairs or to refuel, while others who had intended to divert didn’t have the need anymore. The majority of yachts, though, based on the daily position report, like ourselves, were trundling along in the general direction of the Caribbean.
This evening it was Paul’s turn to cook again; this time making a very tasty stir-fried pasta with cream sauce, following which the girls set off to bed. However, given how uncomfortable the sea state had become, particularly the horrible side swell that kept knocking Paw Paw on the starboard side causing her to tip to port, Elaine couldn’t sleep and by 0830, she was back up in the saloon discussing options with the Captain.
With that, Elaine, Roy and Paul donned lifejackets, tethered themselves and started the task of changing course by removing the barberhauler, furling the headsail, removing both preventers, centring the traveller of the mainsail, sheeting in the mainsail, turning into the wind, adding a first reef to the mainsail, turning Paw Paw onto our new course, sliding the traveller to the port side, sheeting out the mainsail, reattaching both preventers, unfurling the headsail, reattaching the barberhauler and, voila, we’d solved the problem; Paw Paw was sailing along smoothly again now that she was sitting in a much better groove to the swell, but as Roy said to Paul: “now you know why we have to be ahead of any weather in this configuration; everything is tied down”, summing up the situation perfectly. It’s fair to say, though, while Elaine and Roy were a tad exasperated at having to do all this in the dark, although the moon was shining brightly which helped, Paul thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
It was close to 2100 before Elaine got back to bed, leaving her with just an hour to sleep before her watch. Thankfully the boys offered to give her an extra hour by staying on watch until 2300. Unfortunately we assumed Justine had slept through all the commotion, resulting in her not getting the memo that she had an extra hour to sleep. Given that her body clock was now in the rhythm, she was up and dressed ready for her watch at 2200, only to be told to go back to bed. Regardless, we were both grateful for the extra hour we’d been compensated, bringing our day to a close a short hour later, while sailing under a beautiful waxing gibbous to light our way and with S/Y Newbee for company, who were about a nautical mile to our starboard side.
Early this morning, under a starry night sky after the moon had set, Paw Paw continued southwestward, hoping to encounter the trade winds later today.
Messages from loved ones have also helped pass the days as has the routine of the watch schedule, allowing flexibility during the daylight hours for each of us to catch up on sleep. Being able to sail the last 48 hours has certainly contributed to a more relaxed and peaceful passage.
By the time the watch change came around later this morning, we had started to feel the effects of the trade winds, with wind speeds reaching 15 Kts at times, increasing our average hourly SOG (Speed Over Ground) to above 6 kts and by the time Elaine surfaced before noon that had increased to 6.7 Kts. Hoorah! Long may it last!
Today was also watermaker day and Roy had decided to bake bread as well, but by 1230 he was in desperate need of a nap, leaving Elaine on watch with strict instructions to wake him in an hour so he could put his bread in the oven. Paul, on the other hand, was supposedly keeping a watchful eye on his fishing line, while Justine assumed her usual position in the sun of the cockpit, but it hadn’t taken long for both of them to nod off.
By 1430, Roy’s bread was out of the oven, the watermaker had been switched off and he had returned to his cabin for a nap. Soon thereafter the two sleeping beauties in the cockpit surfaced.
By 1800, a spaghetti bolognaise dinner, without the mince, had been cooked, complements of Elaine and consumed, following which everyone settled down in their favourite spot to enjoy the last of the evening before the night watches began all over again. With the sunsetting later, Elaine didn’t see it, since she headed to bed early.
From a sailing perspective we were still trundling along in a southwesterly direction, maximising our VMG (Velocity Made Good) as much as possible and enjoying a SOG of anything from 5.7-6 Kts depending on the fluctuation of the wind speed. Throughout the afternoon, though, we’d enjoyed speeds of 7 Kts, for which we were grateful.
During the initial watch of the night, the boys had a stand-on yacht to deal with that was crossing our bow. Normally this situation isn’t an issue, but, when sailing wing-on-wing, it can be a little trickier to give-away. The oddity of this particular situation, though, was that we had the exact same scenario with the exact same yacht at roughly the same time yesterday evening, making us wonder where on earth this yacht had sailed to throughout the day to be coming across our bow from our starboard side in the exact same way. Regardless, the main concern was that this was also the second time this yacht had no navigation lights switched on and had switched off the AIS (Automatic Identification System), only switching it back on at the last minute. Thankfully there was still enough light to spot the yacht on the horizon, but it showed up on the radar too. What we aren’t sure of is whether or not this is an ARC 2023 yacht, but if it happens again, we will certainly investigate further and report the yacht, as those practises are against the rally regulations, not to mention, downright dangerous!
When the ladies came on watch at 2200, Justine enthusiastically accepted the offer from Elaine to do the watch, while Elaine sat close by to offer any assistance needed. With almost a week under her belt at watching Elaine, Justine did a stunning job. She’s also taken over the duty of doing the SSB radio net at noon each day. We’ll make a sailor out of her yet!
That meant, under full sails, we changed our COG (Course Over Ground) to take a more southerly route to get a minimum SOG (Speed Over Ground) of 5 Kts, in the hopes of picking up the trade winds sooner rather than later.
Under light winds we continued southwards overnight, then, after breakfast this morning, Elaine and Roy changed our sail configuration to wing-on-wing, allowing us to alter our COG to a more southwesterly direction, thereby increasing our VMG (Velocity Made Good) in doing so. This, together with another very dark night after the waxing gibbous had set, gave way to another beautiful clear, sunny day, making for a very peaceful sail in flat seas.
On our early morning watch, Elaine and Justine took the opportunity to stargaze after the moon had set, a fabulous treat as always when under passage and something we will undoubtedly miss when we return to landlubber life.
It was, however, Justine’s concern at realising the sun was rising in the exact same spot, relative to Paw Paw, as she’d seen it set before she went to bed last night. Perplexed at what she was witnessing, she plucked up the courage to ask Elaine if she had perhaps lost her sanity and questioned why the sun was rising in the same location it had set. It was then that Elaine realised Justine wouldn’t have known that her, Roy and Paul had jibed Paw Paw after Justine had retired to her cabin for her off duty time and just before Elaine had headed to bed. With that the world was set to rights again, the sun had indeed set in the west and was rising in the east, much to Justine’s relief!
With Roy and Paul back on watch this morning, Elaine retired to her cabin to enjoy a much needed morning nap, while Justine chose to enjoy her off duty time napping in the sunshine of the cockpit.
Once Elaine had surfaced and made lunch, Roy went for his nap, while Paul relaxed in the cockpit, keeping a watchful eye on the fishing line in the hopes of getting another bite.
By 1400 we had winds out of the east-northeast at 10-12 Kts, giving us a SOG of 5.2 Kts on a COG of 240T. We were roughly 90NM north of the trade winds belt, where we hoped to pick up some decent and, more importantly, consistent winds.
At around 1600, Paul spotted dolphins off Paw Paw’s stern and, with that, a magical 30-40 minutes unfolded when a pod of at least 100 dolphins came to play in Paw Paw’s bows, some performing for us with slapping their tails, others jumping out of the water or doing summersaults, while a few juveniles did bellyflops. It was indeed a special moment, bringing Elaine to tears as the realisation hit her that it’s these moments she’ll miss the most of this sailing lifestyle, a lifestyle we’ve relished so much.
By the time the show was over, Roy had almost finished cooking dinner; mac and cheese.
When the girls came on watch at 2200 tonight, Paw Paw was still trundling along in 10-12 Kts of wind, a waxing gibbous was shining brightly and we’d almost completed a fifth of our passage.
Being a methotrexate day for Elaine, which she’d taken at the end of her last watch in order to try and alleviate the nausea side effect, which would undoubtedly be more pronounced as Paw Paw moved around in the choppy sea, she’d woken up feeling absolutely exhausted. It was, however, Justine’s antics with her lifejacket, that had us both rolling around with laughter and that had reenergised Elaine, but, when Justine announced, in total exasperation, after eventually getting her lifejacket on to sit up at the helmstation safely by being tethered, that she’d forgotten to put on her warm jacket underneath her lifejacket, Elaine thought she was going to wet herself with laughter. With that, Justine gave up, removed her lifejacket and settled down to listen to her next audiobook in the warmth of the saloon instead, while munching wine gums.
It was another very dark night after the moon set, given the overcast skies; there wasn’t a star to be seen anywhere, but Paw Paw trundled along regardless.
By 0600 Elaine had to furl the genoa a little, since the wind had dropped even further to around 5 Kts and veered to the south-southeast, slowing our SOG (Speed Over Ground) too. Reluctant to increase the RPM on the engine, she decided that would have to suffice until daybreak when we could hopefully hoist the mainsail again and beat, if necessary. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but, by that stage, Elaine was too tired to be bothered and headed straight to bed at the end of her watch, with Justine following suit.
That left Roy and Paul to decide what to do and, inevitably, they decided just to leave the headsail as it was. Nothing changed when the girls came back on watch either; it was clearly stacking up to be a very slow day, under partly sunny skies and flat seas.
However, when the wind shifted to the west, with Roy taking a nap, Paul assisted Elaine in jibing Paw Paw, which included switching to the port barberhauler, allowing us to continue to motor-sail. Justine, on the other hand, tried her hand at doing the midday SSB/HF radio net for Paw Paw.
By the time Roy resurfaced, Elaine had hit the wall and really needed her nap, although Justine and Paul seemed fine. Regardless, the Captain decided it was the perfect weather to raise our chicken chute, given that this hadn’t been done since we were in Thailand.
So, with all the rigging in place, the chute was raised without too much fuss and Elaine headed to bed. She’d barely lay down, though, when Roy came to tell her we needed to take it down; the wind had completely disappeared. What a carry-on. This has to be the flukiest weather we’ve ever seen. It truly is all over the board.
So, once the chute was safely down, Elaine really didn’t care what happened next on deck, she was heading to bed and nothing was going to stop her. By the time she surfaced an hour or so later, the boys had caught a fish within minutes of putting the line in the water, much to Paul’s delight, turning our vegetable curry into a fish curry, which Justine prepared for us. It had certainly been an action-packed day!
After dinner and before Elaine and Justine headed to bed, Paul helped Elaine and Roy jibe Paw Paw once more to put us on a more southerly rather than westerly course, in the hopes of picking up the trades as we approach 20N. We have, however, passed over the Tropic of Cancer and tonight under a waxing gibbous, we’re enjoying a peaceful sail.
During Roy and Paul’s watch the winds died and on went the engine again, but at the change of watch back to the girls, a fly infestation had to be dealt with before the boys could go to bed.
With the girls left to their own devices, the wind picked up soon afterwards, so the headsail was unfurled and off went the engine, allowing us to sail along nicely under a double-reefed main and a full headsail. However, like someone switched off the lights, the winds died again at around 0545.
With the overcast sky, night gave way to a rather miserable, gloomy day, but a slight increase in the wind speeds to around 12 Kts just after breakfast, allowed us to shake out the mainsail, unfurl the headsail and set a course in the general direction of southwest, giving us a SOG (Speed Over Ground) of around 6.2 Kts.
However, after the girls went off watch at around 0830, unexpected mayhem developed on Paw Paw, of which the girls were completely oblivious and slept through it all.
Out of the blue, without warning, the winds increased to 28 Kts sustained. With that, the main was sheeted in as tightly as possible to reduce the sail area, the headsail was furled to a slither and Paw Paw was turned onto a deep broad reach to slow her down as much as possible, all of which still made for a feisty SOG of 10 Kts. It didn’t help matters that the wind direction then veered from northeast to southeast in a matter of seconds.
It was just before noon when the wind suddenly dropped as quickly as it had increased, forcing Roy to wake Elaine in order to get the mainsail down during the lull. Since the weather forecasts hadn’t mentioned any of this, we had no idea what we were in for for the rest of the day and decided not to run the risk of getting caught out again with a full mainsail up in these very flaky conditions, which seemed to come in bands for the rest of the afternoon, allowing us to sail, but using our trusty headsail alone and giving us a SOG of around 8 Kts when the wind increased to 15-20 Kts.
Will calm restored, Elaine opted to try and go back to sleep, leaving Roy to do the SSB/HF radio net, but to no avail. Instead she had a shower, had some lunch and sent Roy to bed. Paul had already found his bed, while Justine enjoyed some quiet time at the helmstation, listening to her audiobook and looking out for dolphins. Since these were not forthcoming, she resorted to counting little white seahorses.
The winds continued to fluctuate and by 1600 we had 17-21 Kts, giving us a SOG of 8-8.9 Kts, the latter while Paul cooked dinner; aubergine burgers.
With the churned up sea conditions too, it seemed we were in for a stormy night, with not a single weather forecast helping us to figure out a plan of action, so, we did nothing, leaving Paw Paw to sail on the full headsail alone.
After a very tasty dinner, dessert was peaches and custard; we were very pleased with ourselves in having completed the bulk of the provisioning in Gibraltar. That included the “goody bags” Elaine had put together for everyone for the passage. It was, of course, a competition on who could hold out the longest before breaking theirs open. Justine, followed by Roy in quick succession this afternoon and then Elaine tonight broke the spell. It appears Paul is the only one onboard with any will power. The trick now was to see who could make their goodies last the entire passage.
Our entertainment for the day, however, excluding the numerous sail changes, engines going off and on, Paw Paw crawling to flying along, the fly infestation, etc, was watching the other yachts around us as some crisscrossed our bow like a yoyo, others our stern and some literally going in circles around us, as they too figured out what to so with this weather.
Once the waxing gibbous set in the early hours of the morning, it made for a very dark, but magnificent starry night, the likes of which can only be seen at sea.
By 0630 the skies had lightened with beautiful colours from the east and by 0730 we had enjoyed our first sunrise at sea for this passage.
By 0800 Elaine and Justine had had breakfast and had headed to bed, leaving the boys on watch, although Roy seemed to be the only one struggling to sleep and definitely looked sleep deprived. The rest of us were sleeping like babies on our three-hour off watch slots.
With the wind remaining at 10-15 Kts out of the east and with full sails still flying, we altered course slightly to starboard, putting us on a COG (Course Over Ground) of 225T, taking us a little further off the African coast and running parallel to our planned route.
We did, however, have two large monohulls pass across our bow within half a nautical mile at first light, heading due south. By midday they were just a blip on the horizon, but we were trundling along nicely with an increased SOG of 7.3-8 Kts, deciding then to pinch a few more degrees to starboard, putting us on a COG of 232T and increasing our VMG (Velocity Made Good), a measurement that tracks the positive distance we’re making towards our destination. The closer one’s VMG is to the SOG the better.
By noon, Elaine and Justine were back on watch and it was time for the SSB/HF radio net, following which we enjoyed lunch. It wasn’t long after that that Roy and Paul surfaced, although Elaine sent Roy back to bed to try and make up for his lost sleep, while she remained on watch.
As the day progressed, though, the skies became overcast with cirrus, then hazy due to the red dust in the air coming off Africa. That said, we were keeping an eye on the barometer, since one of the weather forecasts had indicated a localised front near the Cape Verde islands due south of us; something we wanted to avoid!
By 1830, we’d all enjoyed our pizza dinner, we’d reefed down for the night, with Paul chipping in to help, and Elaine and Justine had headed to bed.
During the boys watch the wind dropped, forcing on an engine, but shortly after the girls came on watch, the winds had increased again, the full headsail was unfurled, the engine was switched off and we could enjoy sailing again.
By 2300 the stronger forecasted winds arrived, forcing Elaine to reef the headsail as well, but we still managed a SOG of 6.5 Kts and we’d claimed back a few degrees to starboard, taking us back to our route. We were contented with that and sailing along nicely.
Either side of our standard breakfast in Las Palmas of freshly baked croissants and various other French pastries, complements of Paul, accompanied by a selection of fresh fruit, fruit juice and each person’s favourite hot beverage, Paw Paw was a well oiled machine as everyone completed their final preparation tasks. These included getting all the flags down, unzipping the stackpack and preparing the mainsail, removing the absorption chains from the stern docklines, replacing these with running lines for easy castoff, closing hatches, stowing last minute bits and bobs, Elaine making our vegetable soup for dinner tonight, disposing of the garbage, installing the stern lifelines and lifting the saloon sunscreens, to mention just a few.
To the music of “Sailing” by Mike Oldfield blasting out of Paw Paw, by 1115 we’d cast off the dock and joined the queue of yachts leaving the marina and what a festive atmosphere it was, leaving Elaine a little emotional. It was fabulous! We were starting our final passage of our circumnavigation.
Bobbing around in the harbour area near the start line, Roy, with help from Paul, raised the mainsail and by 1230 we were underway, crossing the start line under sail on a port tack, albeit a rather difficult manoeuvre, given the complete lack of wind. Shortly thereafter we tacked, switch on one of the engines, set our course southward and said goodbye to Las Palmas.
By 1300 the first Deck Log updates had been completed and everyone had found their spot in the cockpit, while Captain Roy sat on watch, with assistance from Elaine and Paul from time to time; watches were officially starting at 1900.
By 1730 a dinner of homemade vegetable soup, complements of Elaine, and a freshly baked baguette, complements of Paul, had been served and eaten, sails had been set for the night and the engine had been turned off. All that remained was for us to settle into our first night of watches, but not before we watched a beautiful sunset with a green flash, the latter something we hadn’t seen since we left the Caribbean 8 years ago.
With the boys on the first watch, Elaine and Justine headed for bed, but before we knew it, it was our turn. As midnight drew closer, we sat at the helmstation enjoying the waxing gibbous shimmering off the water, the stars twinkling above us and a few yachts for company, their lights visible on the horizon.
