Friday, July 12
James’ 1300-1400 watch
It’s hot here! I can’t wait to go swimming.
We have a little over 100M left and we’re going about 2.5 knots. That’s 40 hours…not that we can count on keeping up this speed. To come in to Praia in daylight, we’d either need to cut that down to 31 hours for a Sunday evening arrival…seems unlikely…or actually slow down a bit at some point for a dawn arrival on Monday. I imagine that’s what we’ll aim for.
James’ 1500-1600 watch
The wind steadied and I shook out the reef. Now we’re doing 4 knots under full main and yankee with the wind just behind the beam.
I got a wisp of internet access and promptly recorded the new 10 day forecast. The news is good! The wind will strengthen tonight, but only to about 12 knots, and even better it’s going to be a northwesterly. That means we made the right decision going west of Boavista. We won’t lose the wind in the shadow of the 390 meter mountains.
Saturday, July 13
Dena’s 2400-0300 watch
The weather forecast has been quite accurate so far. Enough wind to keep us sailing (average 3 knots) but variable. Now, right when it said it would, we’re getting stronger periods and doing 3.5-4 knots. Next I’m looking for it to stabilize at the higher speed.
We might make it to Praia well before dark tomorrow…I mean today. That would give us all day Sunday for checking in with the Policia Maritima, a grocery store trip, getting a SIM card, and having someone cook for us. Sounds nice, eh? Except visiting the cops, of course.
Dena’s 0600-0900 watch
I just got up and I can’t honestly say I’m actively hungry, but I’m thinking about breakfast. Last night, James took advantage of our new smooth ride between the islands and made smeaty bean dip and turmeric rice so we could have burritos. (See photo of the handsome chef above.) Half of the leftover rice will become egg fried rice this morning and the other half will be lunch as a bed for the tofu pumpkin cream curry I made day before yesterday. The tvp and refried bean mix (aka smeaty bean dip) will wait for after we’re anchored. It lasts up to a week in the fridge.
The wind didn’t stiffen up for long, I guess…it’s pretty gentle now. We’re still making good time, still looking at a daylight arrival about 12 hours out.
0720 Well, that was fun. It was definitely a fishing boat, and I think it had a swordfish bowsprit. It didn’t show up on radar until we were within 5 miles and was a spotty target until within a mile, so probably a wooden boat. Long story short, I had to gybe twice to stay out of the way.
I didn’t call on the VHF radio and it really came down to the feeling that we wouldn’t have a language in common. I should try anyway, I guess? I’m going to have to think on that.
Noon position: N 15° 16.404’ W 023° 20.081’
Distance noon to noon: 80.1 NM
Average speed: 3.3 kn
Trip distance covered: 983.1 NM
Distance to destination: 25.0 NM
