I need a dollar, a dollar, a dollar is what I need…

We left La Gomera in the Canary Islands on Sunday the 4th of November at noon. We had it all calculated out. If we advance at an average speed of 5, 6 or 7 knots, we would still arrive at daytime in Sal, Cap Verde. Off course this takes you 5, 6 or 7 days according to your speed. Yep just a knot more can make you gain a whole day on these distances (750 nautical miles).

We had beautiful weather to start with. All meals were ready for the coming days. Toys to occupy the girls were put in strategic places. 

 

We even started with one reef (= the main sail can be reduced a few times to slow down your boat when there’s too much wind) since we got to know the “Islands of strong winds” quite well by now… And we bought an "anti-slip carpet" to keep our dinner on the table 😜

However, … I don’t know why, but the wind and waves closer to the Canaries was nothing as was predicted. So even though we were going at about 9 knots, which was exciting, we were being hit by waves sideways again 😔

You will notice very few pictures from now on and a lot of text. If you want to feel better about not being on a two year break I invite you to read until the end. This is what happened from the first night on (and much of what's written is quite "usual" actually 😏 ...

I’ll explain shortly why the passage was hard and nothing like a vacation at all. In fact, I believe it’s time to let you know that we also have stress, worries and a lot of work!

1. Waves hitting you leads to:

• a lot of bruises;
• the need to really fix everything as you go up and down 3 to 4 metres while another wave hits you sideways (not usual on a catamaran 😋); 
• and lack of sleep, not only because you’re a bit shaken in bed, but mainly due to the noise … 

2. Lets talk about the noise. Keep in mind the movies you saw about submarines. Sleeping downstairs (just at the waterline) makes an enormous variety of noises:

• the waves hitting the boat at any different area, makes a whole different noise, a bit like when a torpedo hits a submarine in those movies you saw…;
• then the haunted lady… the wind vibrates all over the boat which makes an awful noise like someone is calling you all the time;
• and last but not least, you have the water flow which makes you have to go to the bathroom ALL the time.

So with the lack off sleep building up during the first days and the natural elements that give you just no break to catch up, we had to prepare meals, try to brush our teeth and shower from time to time (don’t forget you cannot open the windows as waves would just flood your boat, so it gets smelly), and … play a bit with the girls. 

And then arrived problem number three…

3. Things brake… After sailing more than 3000 nautical miles it’s bound to happen sooner or later. Most of the time it’s small stuff that you can repair later, like a rip in your sail, a broken pully or rope, however during these 6 days it was a bit more serious. 

For those who wonder, Geoffrey and I are not always steering the boat. The autopilot does. We only take over for manoeuvring or for our few hours of fun making the boat run faster :-) So the autopilot is VERY important to us as it gives you the time to rest, make food, … 

On the third day we were trying to sleep when a new noise kicked in: metallic bangs … We got worried as it came from the engine room where the autopilot is also mounted. It was dark outside and to open the engine room you have to go in from the very rear end of the boat. So Geoffrey had to strap himself, while I tried to manage the boat so that no waves would get into the engine room or swipe my husband away as he was getting in or out. And then I heard him use very bad words. Not good news! He managed to fix it three times, but we will now need to look for a more permanent solution (I don’t know where we’ll find the pieces in Cap Verde, but we’ll see).

4. After 5 days and 5 nights, we arrived close to Sal … at night off course because we did a lot more miles than the 750 initially calculated. Why? Because we zigzag all the time trying to sail as smoothly through the waves as possible. 

So while we were drawn to the bright light of the lighthouse (I can see why this works on flies, it’s intoxicating!), we prepared for anchoring at night. Needless to say, the wind didn’t tone down behind the corner of the island, nor did the waves …

Not all buoys have lights and they’re not all in the exact spot as indicated by the GPS. So Geoffrey was trying to light up everything for me to find the way in the bay. Then we arrived in the bay of Palmeira to notice a lot of boats were already anchored. We found our “bateau copain” that arrived two hours before, coming from Tenerife, and decided to anchor close to them. It was midnight, the beginning of night number six… 

We dropped anchor and the rope holding the anchor exactly in the middle of the catamaran, broke. The chain pulled too hard on the boat and the roller shaped body that makes it possible to pull up or let the anchor down also broke … 

We put the dinghy in the water for Geoffrey to try and repair this catastrophy. The hard current made him use very bad words again … but he managed to find a temporary solution and we were able to put the anchor correctly in the water. Needless to say we didn’t sleep that well since it’s a temporary solution holding with some ropes…

The next morning J-Jay (a very kind local guy giving everybody a hand in the bay) told us it’s not safe and that we needed to move. Less than 5 minutes later, after explaining and showing J-Jay our problem, another guy arrived from the catamaran further in the bay, and happened to have exactly the right piece to just help us move the boat to a safer area and find a permanent solution. 

I was ready to cry because of this great act of solidarity, kindness, or just extreme fatigue?

His help came just in time as one of our temporary solutions broke again. A big “bang” really gets you on your feet quickly ;-)

So you see, maybe you are just crawled up, nice and warm in bed. Your laptop, tablet or mobile in your hands, and you can honestly say, “we don’t have it that bad” ;-)

We put the girls to work in our own “Casa del Papel” (great series by the way!), as they want to participate in the costs to repair the boat and off course have some money left for an ice cream ;-)