Part 1 - The first day of sailing. Las Palmas, Spain - Santa Maria, Cape Verde.
Nov. 12th 2010

The route from Canary Islands to Cape Verde just left of Senegal. 

Going off shore

We woke up around 7.00 and I went straight to the sailors’ public shower as I somehow had the feeling that it could be many days till a real freshwater shower would be at my service again. What I didn’t have a clue about was that also the breakfast we had together would be quite unique…

In the cockpit: The "last supper" together for a long time... 

At 10.30 the old diesel engine was running, we had filled up the water tanks (300L) and gasoline tanks (200L+100L reserve), the dinghy was tightened to the deck and the team of Gunnar, Sheilah and I were all ready and eager to get her (the ship) out for a nice stroll down the Atlantic Ocean. The voyage from Las Palmas, Gran Canaria to Santa Maria, Sal (Cape Verde) is approximately 860 nautical miles (1600km) and skipper were positive that we could keep an average speed of 5 knots meaning we would arrive in 7 days. It would be my longest time off shore and for Sheilah and Gunnar this was also their virgin voyage with this ship as they only purchased it 1 month ago and yet never had her out on the sea.
The ship that just some days ago was renamed to Sheilah CV (Cape Verde) is a strong American sailboat from ’76 and even though minding the age of her, she is a solid Madame with a Swedish engine from the 80’ies (Volvo Penta:) – I guess it’s the type that won’t die on you.

I am getting ready to dock by Texaco to fill up fuel tanks.

We were well prepared but of course being the first time with this lady on the sea we knew “things” will turn up. Just the times I have been sailing in the summer I learnt that always always some surprise will embrace you whether you like it or not. So preparation is key - also if it looks like a clean funtrip in light weather…    

The weather reports by the way was set up by the harbor master every week but the period ended the day we were leaving so no really help although the wind and waves seemed to be at a very stabile level. Just to be sure I had downloaded daily prognoses for the coming 10 days which indicated wind and waves would come from north/north east therefore it would impact the ship in the rear and make us roll  bit as we mostly were going to head south west. According to the forecast wind and waves seemed to be in a no highly disturbing level so we were ready for a joyful and relaxing trip.

Skipper Gunnar, his fiancé Sheilah and me just before take off.

Off shore we went, first by the engine till we got out of harbor and all major traffic and settled the main sail. It was a little trouble getting it up but after a little up and down movement it decided to go to the top where it belonged… and we were sailing! We turned the engine off so just the water and the boat gliding through it would be the healing sounds. Perfect! Being so close to nature and being transported on a zero emission ride just helped to my well being. Especially remembering that when I came here with the airplane the captain almost proudly announced that the 5 hour trip from Denmark to Canary Islands would consume 19.000L of fuel. Aauuuuch! “HEY Captain big mouth - Get some sun panels, wind mills and biogas engine on tha plane will ya.. NOW!!”;)

Anyway my well being on the sailing ship was after 1 1/2 hour not commonly shared by the entire team. Sheilah had begun to lose color and was not as talkative anymore… she was hit; Seasickness. Nothing to be afraid of, it will not run of with your life but it sure didn’t look like a pleasant feeling…

Now I have somehow been blessed with a sweet balance nerve – I got it confirmed working as a travel guide in Tenerife (Canary Islands) 10 years ago when I had a group on a whale safari on a windy day where the captain never should have gone off shore. On the way back we were hitting the waves straight in the front so you one moment would see the sky and the next moment the sea. I guess 80% puked and like that was not enough a lot of “it” was rolling back and forth on the deck making sure everybody would see and smell it. Not getting sick in that situation convinced me of my anti seasick capabilities. Oh fyi I paid back all the whale safari tickets! You don’t see whales in that kind of weather anyway – just a hint if you are going:)

Sheilah had to give it up for the sea – several times. She was naturally not happy about the situation and the long time of sailing still ahead. Gunnar was trying to cheer her up and telling her about this totally commonly phenomenon and that she probably would feel better tomorrow. However not long time after, his head was also starting to lose color. But here 45 years of sailing, many as captain, shined through. I was asking him a question which he actually started to reply when he suddenly placed his head out of the cockpit to “sacrifice”, just to seconds later coming back ending his phrase! There you have a true sailor – doesn’t mind a bit of puking.

I must admit that at a time I went down under in the saloon which was not doing anyone good at that time, to fix the radio but soon decided to return to the fresh air in the cockpit as a little dizzy vampire was trying to take me down. Once up he was gone and that was the closest I got to seasickness (hey, after all I am human ok;)

You can get many advice and different pills for seasickness but in the end I believe the only thing to do is live through it. You can compensate by watching the horizon in the fresh air and making sure your stomach is not empty. 3 days you will in worst case scenario be sick. Not fun but then you are healed for the rest of the journey at least and if you don’t get it in the beginning of the journey you will not have it at all:)

The scary part of this sickness it that you actually can come to the point where you feel so bad that you want to jump over board! “What?!”, I thought first time reading about this –  a natural feeling to jump into the endless sea with big waves which are causing the sickness in the first place… so take this as a warning on how your brain works sometimes – the brain is a hazard man, truly unpredictable if it goes into this irrational mode!

In the evening I had BOCKwurst (mmhh;) with potatoes and my beloved ketchup/soya. Somehow the rest of the team was not so much into food this first day…

The captain and I had agreed on splitting the shifts (well we were the only who could navigate the ship, so it came quite natural) A tight team which didn’t bother me at all as I also was very eager to get as much sailing experience as possible. During the day we had been covering each other as we both were in the cockpit but during the night we made specific hours and my first shift was starting at 01.00. I just managed to sleep about 2 hours before my shift and got up to a red lit cockpit. The red light came from the compass our highly worshipped friend during the watches from which we steered a specific course. Here going almost direct west on heading 270:

…and that was not the only light; looking down in the water you would discover electric lightening in the water – apparently millions of micro organisms made this truly magical scenario!

The weather however was a bit rougher than anticipated with waves about 3-4 meters in height it made us roll. The wind blew around 7 m/s so that was not a problem as that is a nice sailing wind.

After the first eager being-on-shift-in-command-all-alone tension had faded out I had various snacks prepared to keep me awake on my 01.00 to 05.00 shift. However it was apparently not enough stimulation so what do you do? I started singing. Not loud since rest of the team were sleeping (– however it might have been loud enough for Sheilah to hear it since she the next day said she during the night heard sounds that likely could come from a whale…;) First song to come to my mind was “Fireflyes” due to the magic lightening in the water. Number 2 on the nights hit list was; “no milk today” (Beatles). Maybe because I was not going to get any… And then “Time to say goodbye” showed up… it instantly made me wonder why that one would appear. Had the brain started messing with me in the middle of the big waves and the rolling!? I shut down the singing activity immediately for the night:9)

Just around 03.30 o’clock nature distracted me from my brain virus scan (;) as the wind suddenly died totally. The Swedish flag just behind me fell down. It was kind of weird sitting in the dark with the feeling that “something” was coming up. For half an hour it was quite. Then the wind came again but from North west instead of North East which is normal wind situation in the area. It meant that I had to change the two sails to the other side. For security purposes we had fixed the main sail on one side so I first had to untie it and steer, change the front sail (by untying it in one side and tie it in the other side), but it was stuck in something… sh*t, steer, try again with no luck and steer again before getting too much out of course and constantly trying to keep the balance in the waves rocking you back and forth. Gunnar came to the rescue as he had heard the flapping of the front sail. In any emergency I also had a whistle which we mainly used to signal shift of watch but I would eventually also need to use it in this situation if he not have showed up himself.

me on nightshift just when wind started coming from west after half an hour complete calmness.  

He fixed it while I tried to keep the boat steady and it was also getting toward the end of my shift and sleep was definitely being commanded by my body (and that brain;) – soon sleep would be something I would even pay for! 
I went to my cabin around 05.15 o’clock trying to sleep in an orchestra of new sounds from the boat and the sea just on the other side of the hull. My next watch was less than 3 hours away so no time to waste…

To be continued!