Day 8

Weather and seas very much the same as yesterday so still plodding along with double reefed main and averaging around 7.5 to 8 knots. First light this morning revealed we had gained a passenger. A flying fish had landed on the tramp overnight and unfortunately was no longer looking very well. At 09.30 BST we passed the Greenwich Meridian so we were exactly in line with London if you draw a vertical line downwards but still 18 degrees south of the equator. Again a bit of a tedious day as the conditions meant we couldn’t do any fishing, cleaning or general maintenance due to being bounced about the boat with every wave. Just walking the 5ft from the couch to the sink meant walking around 10ft by the time you took 3 steps left then 1 forward, 2 right and so on until you could grab something to hold on to. Cooking was a nightmare but Ray managed to knock up a chicken casserole type affair but I drew the short straw of having to clean up after! We have had very little bridge deck slamming on the trip only when a really big wave comes from behind do we get any jolts at all. I think the reason is that Catamarans are built to go forward and the entrance of the tunnel is shaped to avoid slamming but I don’t suppose you can have a similar shape to handle large waves from the stern? We haven’t seen the sun in 3 days now so power has been a bit of a problem with the autopilot working so hard in the confused seas so we have run the generator for a couple of hours this morning to boost the batteries and also run the washing machine and water maker as underwear was getting short supply. Distance travelled 172 miles, Position 18.07S 0.45W (Remember it’s now West as we have passed 0 deg)

Flying fish joined for the ride.

Day 9

Wind and sea dropped overnight to around 12 knots and smaller 1m chop. At 7pm last night we changed over to the small gennaker again and dropped the main but our average speed has dropped down to 7 knots with the wind directly behind. Although we should have changed to UK Summer time we have remained on SA time until we get to St Helena or else some poor sod will get an hour’s longer watch! At 6pm tonight the wind dropped right down to 8 knots and the sea flattened so we will have no choice but to start one engine and motor for the night. We can achieve around 7 knots on one engine at 2000 RPM and the engines use around 2.5 litres of diesel an hour. We filled both our tanks (700 litres) and are carrying an additional 330 litres in containers on the back of the boat so we should be fine for diesel. As we had already cleared customs in Cape Town prior to fuelling we got the diesel at a duty free price of 8.5 Rand per litre (17 Rand to the UKP or 50p per litre at the time of writing). Here’s a strange one for you, I have noticed since being on board that each night when going to sleep you hear sort of muffled conversations which you can’t make out, like being in a hotel room and hearing the occupants in the room next door. It wasn’t coming from anyone on the boat as only one person was awake and on watch and it wasn’t the radio or IPod which made it even stranger. I hadn’t mentioned it to anyone as I thought it was just my ears playing tricks or in case everyone thought I was losing my marbles. Antony happened to mention the noises today and supposedly it’s a known fact that when offshore you do get these noises emanating from the hulls which does like a group of people having a conversation, very weird!! At least I ‘m not losing it after only 9 days. Ray said he hadn’t heard them at all but with his snoring I surprised he can hear anything! We should arrive in St Helena at around lunchtime tomorrow so we are looking forward to a bit of exploring, a couple of cheeky beers and a bit of terra ferma. Distance travelled 166 miles, position 16.58S 3.14W.

First sight of St Helena.

Day 10 and 11 Spent on St Helena (no info received - must of been a really good shore leave!)

Jamestown St Helena from the boat.

Looking at Jamestown from above (Tulliana is the white spec on the right side of the bay.

Ray completing the famous St Helena steps ascent.

View from the top of the steps.

St Helena goveners house.

Ray making friends with the locals.

The St Helena jailhouse!!

Where Napoleon stayed whilst here.

Day 12

A heavy sleep this morning was abruptly halted by a banging noise on the hull. My first thought was that the anchor had dragged in the night but luckily enough we had just swung and a line with some large buoys had attached themselves to the rudders. No amount of poking with the boat hook would release the offending rope and even worse, one of the buoys had a jagged metal ring round it that was trying to scratch the hull. There was nothing else to do but don the wet suit and remove the offending ropes. Considering this is supposed to be the tropics the water was rather cold especially compared to a warm bed at 6am. To add salt to the wound an hour later I was back in again for the same problem which is ridiculous when we had already been anchored for nearly 2 days without any interference. A hearty breakfast at Ann's restaurant at 8am followed with Andy returning to the boat to fix a windlass problem while Ray and Antony completed a little bit of provisioning we needed for the next leg. The windlass problem couldn't be fixed due to a couple of wires being shorted out which means fitting a new switch when we get to Tenerife. We left St Helena at exactly 12pm lunchtime so tomorrows entry will be from 12 to 12. it's now 6pm and we have been averaging around 8.2 knots in 13 knots of wind on a beam reach (lets hope it stays like this).

The last view of St Helena

Day 13

Good sailing weather all last night and today has pushed us on well. Winds have been around 15 knots from 90 to 120 degrees and we have been averaging just over 8 knots using the main and Genoa. The sea's are also pretty good at around 1m swells but the really good news is that at last the sun graced us this afternoon. That is the first bit of sunshine we have seen in 6 days which made a welcome change from the heavily clouded sky's. The bad news was that it came late and the mainsail shaded both solar panels so no advantage was gained on the badly needed power front. The wind generator seems to be working well but with 260W of solar panels to back it up we would be then fully self sufficient without having to burn diesel running the generator every couple of days. If we can maintain this sort of weather we should make good time to Isla De Sal in the Cape Verde islands which was 2173 miles away when we left St Helena yesterday. Distance traveled 194 miles, Position 13.05S 7.08W.

Day 14

Antony discovered the light in the port engine bay was on last night due to a slither of light coming out of the blower vent. This must have been on since we left Cape town and explains some of our power problems. The light has a 20w bulb in it and has therefore been burning nearly 40 amp hours of power a day. Only yesterday we checked the oil levels on the engines but as it was during the day and we didn't notice the light being on, so one mystery solved. The weather is exactly the same again, heavy cloud, 1m swells and 15 to 20 knots of wind from around 120 deg. We did get a limited amount of rain in the early hours which at least helped to wash the salt off the boat a bit and was a welcome change. The sun has been trying to peak through the clouds all morning but with not much success. The temperature has started to rise as we get nearer the equator, 27.5 deg C but the humidity is still ok for the time being. Our current speed of progress could slow down in the next few days as we approach not only the equator but the Intercontinental Tropical Zone (used to be called the Doldrums) where the winds could die down and force us to start the engines but we will have to see what happens. Hopefully there may be a few rain storms that will give us some wind and push us through this area quickly. We left Cape town with 1000 litres of fuel and have, to date, used around 350 litres including running the generator so we should be ok fuel wise. Distance traveled 187 miles, Position 10.17S 8.07W

Day 15

Not a lot happening here with anything really. The weather is exactly the same as it has been since we left St Helena but the sun is just starting to poke through the clouds so let’s hope it improves. Wind died down quite a lot during last night which slowed us down a bit. One thing that has been disappointing so far is the lack of wildlife. We have seen one lot of dolphins but they were nearly on the horizon, we did see a number of sea lions but that was in Cape Town before we left and so our only contact has been with numerous flying fish skitting away from the hulls as we get too near to them, very disappointing! Distance traveled 170 miles, Position 7.59S 9.42W

Day 16
The sun has been out all day now and it's starting to get very humid. As I write this we are 300 miles below the equator but the weather forecast is showing the ICTZ is up to it's normal tricks with no wind and possible rain squalls coming from the east. For this reason we have slightly altered course early today and are now heading more east in the direction of Sierra Leone (don't panic we will still be 300 miles away). The idea is that whilst we have good wind from the southeast we can make good time up to the ICTZ and then any squalls coming from the east we can sail with the bit of wind they will produce rather than having to start the motors. I even confused myself writing that so best of luck with it!! Due to our change of course we replaced the small gennaker and have gone back to main and genoa. Distance traveled 184 miles, Position 5.15S 11.10W.

Day 17
I went to bed around 9.30pm last night following my watch as I was back on at 3am. Unfortunately due to the wind (not mine I might hasten to add, even after one of Antony's curries!) I was back up at just after midnight so we could do a sail change as we had slowed to nearly a standstill. We put up the small gennaker even though the larger one would have been better but we have found the smaller one flies much more stable. Another beautiful day today the sun is out and we have 29 deg C temperatures. Unfortunately the winds haven't improved and we are chugging along at only 6 knots in 11 knots of wind. At our previous pace we should have been crossing the equator early tomorrow morning but that looks more like midday Monday unless conditions improve. Distance traveled 165 miles, Position 2.45S 11.45W 

Day 18

Well the wind didn't pick up and so we ended up chugging along slowly for a lot more hours than we would have liked. As I write at 1pm we are still 30 miles from the equator which should come out nicely timing wise for happy hour this evening when we will open a bottle of 'shampoo' and make sure we give Neptune a taster as we pass. Temperature now up to 31 deg C and humidity is climbing all the time. We are now under motor with just a shortened genoa out incase we get a few puffs of wind to help the motor out. We were down nearly 30 miles on our average yesterday but we should be back up to around 170 mile day again tomorrow but using fuel instead of the wind. By the looks of the forecast we will be motoring now for around 48 hours until we are at 2 deg North when we should pick up a NE mid teens wind. Ray has been reading Ranulph Fiennes's autobiography but I think the exploring and discovery bit has gone to his head . I finished my watch at 3am and handed over to Ray noting that there were a number of trawlers in the area and to keep his eye's peeled. Off I go to bed only to be woken at 4.30am by Ray saying that something big had appeared on the Radar directly in front that looked like an island. It turned out to be a weather front moving in but if any islands do appear in mid Atlantic shortly we would like them named Massey Island!! Distance traveled 145 miles, position 00.35S 12.21W.

The Equator.

Day 19

We have been motoring for over 24 hours now due to the Doldrums arriving early. We currently have 2 knots of wind, glass like sea's, 33 deg C with 88% humidity, not very pleasant but better than the freezing cold of the UK!!! We passed the equator last night at 6.20pm and celebrated with a bottle of bubbly making sure we gave Neptune a taster too. Thanks to Sam who sent Ray away with a couple of small bottles which made a welcome change before and after our meal. For those who are plotting our position on Google Earth remember to put N after the Latitude rather than S from now on. A heavy rain storm at 6.30am gave us chance to finally get rid of all of the black dust that was everywhere in the Elliot Basin Marina in Cape Town. The mileage is up a bit today but that is due to motoring which I would imagine we will have to do for at least a couple of days. Distance traveled 164 miles, position 01.35N 13.37W

The Doldrums.

Day 20

Not a lot else to say but it's bloody hot here. 39 deg C with 90% humidity and no wind whatsoever. I managed half an hour’s sailing at 5am this morning when a rain squall came through but we were back on 1 engine again after that. The squall brought with it one hell of a thunder storm with lightening that lit up the whole sky. We have had the fishing rods out every day but with no luck since Ray's Tuna on day 3 until lunchtime today. Both reels simultaneously went off so I grabbed one and Antony grabbed the other, Ray slowed down the boat. I managed to get the fish near to the boat to find it was a rather large 5ft long Sailfish with a huge spiked nose. We then noticed that the hook wasn't in its nose or mouth but we had managed to bring it in by purely having the line wrapped around its nose. Whilst Ray ran to get the camera I was using all my energy to hold the thing. That was up until it jumped out of the water on its tail and tried to spear the dinghy with its spike. Luckily enough the dinghy cover was on as I think that must have protected the tube as it hit it with some force. Ray, camera in hand then tried to get a shot of it whilst it was dancing from one side to the other with me trying to keep it away from the dinghy. Just as he was taking the shot it managed to un-wrap its nose from the line and get away and we just about got a photo of its tail disappearing into the sea. Antony's hadn't taken the bait properly and also managed to get away. I think Ray was secretly quite happy that he wouldn't have to be subjected to eating fish again for supper tonight. Typical, but this morning when I was on my morning nap after the early watch Ray and Antony saw a large whale around 200 metres from the boat heading south. It surfaced a few times before disappearing off into the depths again. In keeping on the wildlife theme a tiny bird thought to be a type of "Warbler" landed on our rail yesterday. He rested there for an hour or so before continuing with his migration south. Well I'm off now to go and sweat somewhere else, let’s hope we get some wind tomorrow. Distance traveled 165 miles, position 03.45N 14.53W.

The bloody Sailfish.

Our tired passenger.

Day 21

After our fishing efforts yesterday morning the afternoon was decidedly hectic. Following my Sailfish in the morning Antony caught a beautiful Dorado (Dolphin fish) which he got all the way to the boat only for it to make a break for freedom shedding the hook and gaff all in one massive thrash of its tail. The colours of the Dorado were stunning in a deep gold and blue. When first hooked it was jumping 4ft out of the water and something that I didn't realise was that they always swim in pairs so even when we got the fish to the boat it's mate was still right beside it. After that every 30 minutes the reels would wiz off again with another fish or two but unfortunately all of them were Bonito's which we threw back as they are a red blooded fish and even more of a mess to gut and fillet than a Tuna so that was a no no with our nice clean boat. The lightening throughout the night was hitting the sea around a mile away from the boat which lit up the whole sky. The proceeding thunder would shake the whole boat. We will hopefully be out of the ICTZ by tonight or tomorrow lunchtime as the humidity is depressing. We are starting to see a bit more traffic around nigh times now which is making the watches much more interesting. Still on motor and praying for wind. Distance traveled 167 miles, position 05.46N 16.05W.

The illusive Dorado.

Ray in full bondage gear!!

Day 22

Well not a lot to report on the sailing front as we are now into our 5th consecutive day of motoring. The ICTZ has been a lot wider than expected and so we will definitely have to re-fuel in Cape Verde. We have now got 6 knots of wind so getting better but still not enough to effectively sail. We have now changed course slightly heading more West to see if we can find some more wind earlier. The little bit of wind we have has reduced the humidity down to the 70's but the temperature today is 100 deg F today which makes you tired and lifeless. On the fishing front they have been coming thick and fast. I caught a lovely Wahoo yesterday and Antony got an even bigger one today so the freezer is now full of cracking Wahoo steaks. Mine yesterday was caught, filleted, coated in flour, fried in butter and on the lunch menu within 25 minutes so you don't get much fresher than that. I think the mileage has suffered due to having to stop so regularly to bring the fish in. Distance traveled 160 miles, Position 07.37N 17.45W.

Day 23

Kate my beloved commented yesterday that my report was the same for both day 21 and day 22. That is because every day at the moment IS the same. We are still motoring. The wind is slowly increasing by around a knot a day but won't go above 7 to 8 knots and to make it worse it's exactly from the direction we want to go! It's still bloody hot and to cap it all we haven't been able to break the monotony by fishing because the freezer is full!! We even had beans on toast for breakfast to try and create our own wind with no avail. So, there you go, the ICTZ has a lot to answer for!! Distance traveled 174 miles, position 09.41N 19.43W.

Day 24

We are sailing again which is a relief as we have only around 40 litres of diesel left in each tank. Due to our fuel predicament and also the wind direction we have decided to change which Island we are going to stop at in Cape Verde. The decision is now Vale De Cavaeirous on Ilha Do Fogo rather than Ilha Do Sal as 1. It's the nearest to our current position and 2. The wind is pointing us in that direction and finally 3. It's a quiet, quaint small island rather than the big commercialised one. We will stop for a maximum of 24 hours so we can re-fuel, partake in a cheeky ale or two and stretch our legs before the last 850 mile (As the crow flies) jaunt to Tenerife. ETA for Fogo is sometime on Tuesday (wind dependant), we are currently 250 miles away.
Following a minor incident yesterday I asked Ray our resident Fire safety officer to complete the report (He didn't even smell the bloody fire and he was in the same room??).
Over to Ray: -
We had a fire in the galley today. Antony was cooking the tea when a plastic bag from one his appliances blew over onto the gas ring, it then caught fire. Procedures were followed, a role call was held, we ran around a bit, then we blew out the fire. Andy went out for a fag (where he got one from we don't know). Antony was cleaning patches of melted plastic bag from the cooker whilst I shouted sound instructions from the life raft. Still tea was on time and a lovely evening was had looking at colour charts.
Debrief:
1. The fire alarm did not sound. This was of great consternation to everyone, (every time we cook the dam thing goes off).
2. There was not enough panic.
Conclusions:
1. Should we have another fire it must be allowed to create more fumes thus allowing the smoke alarm to go off.
2. It was felt that by implementing 1. (under conclusions) 2. (above) would result. Then the full and proper procedures can be followed, alarm, panic, role call etc.
3. A question was asked about Andy going out for a fag. Following much discussion it was felt that whatever ones preferences and providing it did not affect the rest of us one can do as one wants.
Distance traveled 173 miles, Position 11.40N 21.36W.

Day 25

We have now been sailing for 24 hours with the wind around 10 knots True at 35 deg. We have been managing just over 7 knots SOG which is not at all bad. We have again changed our plans of where we are stopping in Cape Verde. John Titterton emailed last night to say the best place to re-fuel is Praia on the main island as it's the only one with a fuel dock. As we should be there at around 6.00am tomorrow we have decided to re-fuel first thing there before immediately setting off again for the most north east island of Ilha Do Sol (our original choice) for our 24 hour break. Weather is still hot at over 30 deg C but feeling a lot cooler with the breeze. We are starting to see a lot more traffic at night now which will increase even more north of Cape Verde when we approach the Trades again and pass all the yachts en-route to the Caribbean in the opposite direction. One serious problem did arise yesterday in that we have now run out of Gin!! As Ray was in charge of provisioning for the trip he must take sole responsibility for this major mishap. If any friend or family would like to see him again please send the search party to the position below where he has been set adrift in the liferaft with a lemon and half a bottle of flat Schweppes tonic. Distance traveled 171 miles, position 13.0N 23.45W.

PLEASE NOTE:

Apologies to all our readers – Andy allowed Ray to write the next Blog installment. Anyone expecting a quick update and then dinner/ Tea / Breakfast better make alternative arrangements!!! – Love him really…!


Day 26

Fickle winds is the only way to describe the run to Cape Verde. We start by running on engine power, which we don't want to do as fuel is getting low, then the wind picks up not in the right direction of course but we go with it. Great news the wind starts to swing around giving us 14 knots in the direction we want to go, smiles all round then what happens , you guessed it no wind. Engine power takes us into Santiago arriving at 1100 hrs. Fuel is on our minds intent on a quick turn around, lo and behold right in front of us on a little floating pontoon is the fuel dock. Some fine maneuvering by Andy with a few left hand down abits a giant leap for mankind finds us tied up to the dock, chuffed is the general feeling.
You know the feeling when things are going just that too well, things changed with the arrival of a man shouting "you cant moor there" oh yes we can we said we want some diesel from the fuel dock (at this point we were quite smug). You will damage the dock, he said. At this point we all looked at each other, what? someone said. You will have to park up in the fish dock, (now Andy is quite proud of his new boat and fish dock does not enter into the equation). Can we buy fuel there? we asked, no he said. Look, we said, the fuel line beside you which is attached to the diesel pump we would dearly love to buy some fuel from it. You had better come to the office then he said pointing to a small brick building, right just the job. Two of us went to the office, We want to buy some fuel we said to the lady in the office, No said she. At this point please read this paragraph again as it will save a retype. You need to go to the fuel office, but this is the fuel office, yes she said. We grew older at this point. A very nice man approached ,I can sort this out for you, looking at Andy we must go in a taxi to the fuel office I went back to the boat. Twenty minutes later back comes Andy sorted he said. At this point a man turns up at the dock , can we have some fuel please Andy waving his receipt for 600L of prepaid fuel, No its twelve o'clock we open again at three you must anchor over there.
This time was not wasted maintenance was carried out on the boat with Andy going to the top of the mast to free a semi seized pulley.
Three o'clock finds us back at the dock, we have come to get our fuel, you cant have any he said, (please read above again)go to the fish dock!! It turns out the pump at the dock is broken and we shall be filled by tanker.
At the fish dock (Andy is not impressed with the big black rubber wall stantions rubbing against his boat)we are moored next to a very large gin palace The Lady Michelle with all the toys, if the weather turns bad we can park in her garage. Tankers come tankers go none of which are ours, Andy phones the fuel office, what fuel? they have lost the paperwork phone back in five minutes. Meanwhile it is starting to get dark, the fuel finally turned up and it was in darkness we left Santiago, it was 1900.Our local time is now GMT -1 hour so we gained an hour of waiting. Distance traveled 156 miles, Position 40.55N 23.32W

Day 27

On a side note, some of you might have noticed Ray has taken on the Blog writing over the last two days. Anyone who knows of his one fingered typing skills will appreciate the amount of hours committed to the last two days ramblings.
The overnight journey to Palmeira on the Isle De Sal had to be completed under engine power, wind or the lack of it being the problem. The harbor and yacht anchorage was easily entered. It could not be described as one of the prettiest places in the world, several ships were on their sides, a fuel refinery and the landscape was barren volcanic rock covered with coarse sand. We anchored behind a large open catamaran (booze cruise type) in what we thought was an excellent spot. You can't moor there came this voice, that is where a large boat is going to moor, go over there. When we anchored over there which was also a nice spot we prepared to go and provision the boat. Antony and Ray were dispatched to a nearby large town to do the shopping with orders for large amounts of biscuits, fags, gin, oh and food. Andy stayed on board to do some maintenance. Provisions obtained we were back on board in a couple of hours. We heard a voice say "will you be moored there tomorrow morning"? This was the skipper of a large yacht which was being used as a visitors trip boat, only I need to turn and my keel will not clear the wreck he said pointing to two small floating empty oil cans it is two meters beneath the surface, we had just motored over it as it wasn't charted!!! That evening the three of us had a nice meal in a fancy Italian restaurant, well more of an open fronted shed with iron bars across the front. Whilst waiting for the water taxi we had a couple of beers outside the jetty bar and were trying the local rocket fuel which was served in little plastic cups that melted if you didn't drink it fast enough. Meanwhile I was talking to this Frenchman ,(skipper of another yacht) when his twin brother appeared. When I made a comment he said everyone sees double when they drink that stuff!! The six of us took two water taxis boarded two catamaran's had two cups of coco and went to bed, we think. Distance traveled 134 miles,Position 16.45N 22.55W

Day 28

We're off on the final leg of the journey. We got away from Isla De Sal at 7.30am and headed north past the island peninsula to see what winds were going to get. Unfortunately it wasn't good news, winds at 9.5 knots and around 35 deg. The course from here to Tenerife is 38 Deg M and the best we can achieve is to sail around 35 deg off the wind. So we are currently sailing directly north not the northeast we want. The 700 odd miles we have left to go will probably end up as being nearer 900 by the time we have sailed north and then tacked back to Tenerife. The forecast tomorrow is saying we should be getting higher winds (up to 20 knots) and slightly more east so we should be able to peg some ground back. Before we set off from Cape Town we new this was going to be the worst leg of the journey as typically we would have both the winds and the current "on the nose". We finally got to see our Dolphins. At around 10 o'clock I noticed a fin beside me at the helm which as it was swimming parallel along the water I originally thought it was a shark only to then see the rest of its mates. There must have been 50 or so who seemed to take it in turns swimming a couple of feet in front of our bows for the next hour. We sat on the seats on the bow for ages watching them until playtime was over for the day and off they went. The night watches were uneventful apart from constantly adjusting our heading to combat the varying winds. As we left at 7.30am we have decided to do our reports based on 6am to 6am so that explains the shorter mileage today. I will also include the mileage left to Tenerife. Distance traveled 146 miles, Position 18.52N 23.00W, Tenerife 650 miles @41 deg M.

Day 29

Another frustrating day and night’s sailing. The direction and constant rise and fall of the wind is causing havoc with our course. We are getting pushed more and more to the west which if we were making good speed wouldn't be too bad but its strength is constantly fluctuating between 9.5 and 15 knots. One minute we are going merrily along at over 7 knots and the next we are barely making 4 as we are sailing so close to the wind. The seas are also quite large at up to 4 metres which does make life on board uncomfortable and difficult cooking and suchlike. We are definitely in the North Atlantic now as the night watches are starting to get colder but surprisingly enough the flying fish are still abundant as our cockpit was covered in them this morning. We have just ordered a weather forecast and that will decide our next move as at the current rate we still have 5 days to get to Tenerife and we all want to improve on that. Distance traveled 164 miles, Position 21.22N 23.12W, Tenerife 545 miles.

Day 30

We got our weather forecast and it looks like the dreaded Doldrums have followed us North which is unheard of for this area. The forecast is giving 5 to 6 knot winds from the north for the next two days which has basically put paid to us sailing anymore. The motors have now been on since 8am yesterday and unless something drastic changes with the forecast it looks as though we will be motoring all the way to Tenerife which is disappointing to say the least. As we are motoring we can now head directly at our destination so you will see our Latitude increasing north and our Longitude decreasing west. We very nearly got our first sunset in 30 days last night during our "happy hour" but at the last moment a bank of cloud came across and spoilt it. The pictures could have been even better as we had a large Pod of Dolphins following us at the time so a real photo opportunity missed. Today has been Spring cleaning day as we approach the last few days of the trip. It's amazing how much dust and other rubbish appears from above roof panels etc in the boat during a journey like this. The bilges were an Aladdin's cave of tools, rags, bits of timber plus the normal sawdust etc. Sleep was much easier last night as the sea's were almost glass like after the 4 metre swells of the night before. At our current speed the plotter has an estimated arrival time of around midnight Tuesday but that will depend upon the strength of the currents we encounter en-route. Distance traveled 157 miles, Position 23.12N 21.34W, Tenerife 390 miles.

Day 31

A pretty uneventful day all round so not a lot to report. We have a 1/4 of a tank of diesel left in the stbd tank and an 1/8th in the other plus 4 x 30L drums so we should be just about fine for fuel. We have calculated during the journey we are burning 3.8 litres per hour based on one engine at 2100 RPM which gives us a speed of between 5.5 to 6.0 knots. With what we have left this should give us around 240 litres max still to burn which is 60 hours motoring or 2 1/2 days. During yesterday we seemed to lose the current for most of the day so we made good time but at around 8pm it was back again on the nose at 1/2 a knot. Our ETA is still Tuesday but approximately 9pm now which we would prefer to improve on by trying to arrive whilst it's still light. At 7.30pm here it's pitch black and the moon doesn't rise until around 10pm so we are hoping to arrive before 7pm if possible. We have the added problem that we are still using St Helena time or 1 hour behind UTC (The new name for GMT) as it's unfair to mess about with watch time’s en-route. The cruising book says that the Canaries uses UTC not standard European time so when we arrive we should be on the same time as the UK but we've already made a mistake with times in Cape Verde so don't bank on it! The weather forecast for Tuesday says we should have 14 knots of wind from the north (Which we could have done with 2 days ago) but we should be able to still use it to improve our arrival time. Night watches seem to drag at the moment as you spend your time watching the "hours to Go" reading which is like watching paint dry as you're permanently willing it forward. Distance traveled 156 miles, Position 25.03N 19.46W, Tenerife 243 miles.

Day 32

Large swells and currents have slowed our progress dramatically over the last 24 hours as you will see by our distance traveled. Another factor with the low mileage is it was measured over 23 hours not 24, as, contrary to yesterday's report, we decided to move our clocks over to UK time. The night watches were very busy with lots of traffic heading north to the Med or in the opposite direction to the Caribbean and beyond. A 700ft cargo vessel passed within 3/4 of a mile to our starboard beam but he had been tracked by us using the Radar and AIS system from 18 miles out so not a problem just a bloody big thing when right next to you. ETA is now 2am tomorrow morning so we hope there is a decent bright moon so we can see where we are in the marina. One final report to follow tomorrow at some time. Distance traveled 134 miles, Position 26.39N 18.06W, Tenerife 110 miles.

Day 33

Well, we finally got to Tenerife. The last 24 hours were probably the worst of the whole trip. As previously discussed we were touch and go with fuel only to be faced with 20 to 25 knot winds on the nose which reduced our speed to around 3 knots which them meant we wouldn’t have enough fuel to get there. We then had no choice but to sail. 3 times we hoisted the sails only for the wind to either completely die or move around 30 deg which meant we were near enough sailing away from our destination. The last time we tried the wind shot from 15 knots to 30 in seconds, we took off like a rocket. All 3 G&T’s were over the floor and I don’t think there was a cupboard with any contents in as they were all over the floor, needless to say we reefed quite rapidly! Two minutes later there was no wind again, very frustrating, at least it was one way to get fit putting the sails up and down so many times. In the end we had to just go for it and hope we had enough fuel to last. When darkness fell we were less than 40 miles away from Tenerife but then the seas got up. There was around 5 metre swells but coming from all angles, one minute you were going nicely over a wave to be side swiped by another. The only way we managed to stay on the helm seat was to wedge ourselves in to stop us from falling down into the cockpit, I must admit a bit frightening at times as you just couldn’t see them coming. We finally arrived at the marina at 5.45 am and lucky enough they had reserved us an end of pontoon berth so it was relatively easy to get in at night. After a short sleep we moved in to our new berth position and started the major clean up exercise. Ray had managed to get a flight that afternoon despite the numerous strikes in France (and Sarah’s hard work) so he left us at 2pm. Antony was on a flight the following day which left me here on my lonesome until Kate gets here on Sunday but lots of jobs to keep me busy.
I will try and complete a trip conclusion shortly together with some of the equipment reviews. Bye for now. Andy

5.45am and out comes the Champers!!

Note from Editor: So pleased to eventually have them back safe and sound. Can’t tell you how relieved and how excited now about flying out on Sunday. Obviously now the writing will get back to its normal standard. Hope you’ve enjoyed the journey to date and look forward to instalments from our next adventures. Kate. X