Part 2: Sailing Las Palmas, Spain – Santa Maria, Cape Verde.
Nov. 13th 2010
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| view from the cockpit with dinghy on deck in front. On the "roof" 3 solar panels are installed. |
A few hours of sleeping was all I got before I heard a whistle in my dream… soon I realized that it was the Captain calling me to the cockpit. It was 07.00 o’clock and 2 hours of sleep was gone. Oh lord – I could have slept all morning!
I took the wheel. The wind was just around 5 m/s but still these big swells of 3-4 meter stroke us from behind and made us roll a lot. Nothing we could do about it just hope that it would calm down soon.
While the sun broke the horizon at 07.30, Gunnar checked our position on the GPS. We had almost killed 100 nautical miles (185km) during our 1. day, setting the average speed at our goal, 5 knots. Still 760 miles to go.
The direct course from Gran Canary to Sal was by the GPS stated to 215 degrees and we tried to keep it close in that area knowing that the current and waves would also influence our position.
I took the wheel. The wind was just around 5 m/s but still these big swells of 3-4 meter stroke us from behind and made us roll a lot. Nothing we could do about it just hope that it would calm down soon.
While the sun broke the horizon at 07.30, Gunnar checked our position on the GPS. We had almost killed 100 nautical miles (185km) during our 1. day, setting the average speed at our goal, 5 knots. Still 760 miles to go.
The direct course from Gran Canary to Sal was by the GPS stated to 215 degrees and we tried to keep it close in that area knowing that the current and waves would also influence our position.
The lady onboard was “not available” – she was feeling very bad and as if the seasickness not was enough she had yesterday banged her body into the gas stove and hurt her rib. The captain had stressed it before leaving land: “one hand for you and one for the ship” – that was the golden rule and waves that rolled the boat from one side to the other appeared all the time. Her rib was hurting to a level where walking, coughing yeah even laughing was not funny anymore. The initial part of this trip was definitely not what we had proclaimed and what she had dreamt of. As needed she mostly was resting in the saloon or in the cockpit catching some fresh air… or getting rid of the content of the stomach.
The sight of land was long gone and surprisingly we seemed to be all alone on the sea. Just around 15.00 hours we spotted a ferry. We celebrated it with coffee.
My afternoon shift was over at 18.30 and I made some rye bread with salami and cheese and was blessed with a beautiful sunset as dessert. It just underlined the beauty of nature even though it had given us a rougher start than anticipated.
My afternoon shift was over at 18.30 and I made some rye bread with salami and cheese and was blessed with a beautiful sunset as dessert. It just underlined the beauty of nature even though it had given us a rougher start than anticipated.
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| I get high on sunsets...:) |
I made a 3 hours sleep (it was easy!) and was woken up by that whistle again. I like to calmly wake up and snooze a bit but this whistle was extremely effective and reminded me of the time in the military. You know someone is expecting you asap. “Get up on duty, private!”, or pushups, cleaning or some other even more sadistic idea was awaiting you. It was nothing like this between the captain and I. But the more time you spend getting up and ready the more time of your partners sleep you would steal and it’s not supporting good teamwork, right.
So at 23.57, just a few minutes after the whistle I was all ready and got the report from the evenings shift. I took the command of the boat having in mind that Gunnar had pointed out two ships far away on our rear starboard side. Small lights were just visible from these two vessels. The sea was now more behaving and peaceful with waves at just 1-2 meters and calm wind - nice and good set up for a quiet night shift I thought.
But half an hour later I against my will to disturb captain’s sleep, had to blow the whistle and wake him up. One of the vessels was getting much closer and we seemed to have collision course with it. After some watching and taking some bearings we changed our heading from 240 to 210 degrees as it now seemed to be passing on our starboard side (right) – but it was close now. Even in the darkness you could see the outline of the big cargo vessel and hear the engine. Then it slowly passed on our side and we could see the red port light getting smaller. We could ease up again.
This however was just for a short time because looking back the second ship was at this time getting closer and another collision course was confirmed. Verdammte Schieße! We were apparently landed in the middle of a traffic zone of ships – the highway of cargo ships probably on the way to Africa. It’s a place where you as a minor sailboat should stay out of and if crossing necessary take caution and pass as fast as possible. Now we had to change heading in a degree that we had to flip sails to the other side. This changed our course from 210 (South West) to 150 (South East) degrees. As the wind blew almost directly to the South, sails would change at 180 degrees. Wind direction and sail position is something you always have to anticipate before taking actions or you will lose speed/control or even damage the boat.
With this new heading we managed to lose our “tail” that now passed behind us. Gunnar sat down in the cockpit. Our alert status went back to green again. Just at that moment something flew down and smashed against the fiber glass seat 50 cm from him. It was a carabineer holding some rob on the main mast that for some reason had broken loose. It was just a miracle that it didn’t hit Gunnar in his head. It could have meant a serious injury!
Crazy night – skipper well deserved went for his secure bunk at 01.30 to turn in for some precious sleep. Soon after I discovered a white light far behind us. It could come from the mast of a ship. If later a second white light would appear it would point out that it’s a ship of more than 50 meters in length. That lonely light stayed in my back for an hour and I thought it would never come closer. However 30 minutes later the second light appeared. It was coming closer now and I thought: “Not again!” - It was the third time within hours. The noise from the engine reached me but luckily minutes later this vessel showed the green light indicating that they were passing to my port side (left) and I could take it easy and let Gunnar sleep till 05.00 where he had duty again.
So at 23.57, just a few minutes after the whistle I was all ready and got the report from the evenings shift. I took the command of the boat having in mind that Gunnar had pointed out two ships far away on our rear starboard side. Small lights were just visible from these two vessels. The sea was now more behaving and peaceful with waves at just 1-2 meters and calm wind - nice and good set up for a quiet night shift I thought.
But half an hour later I against my will to disturb captain’s sleep, had to blow the whistle and wake him up. One of the vessels was getting much closer and we seemed to have collision course with it. After some watching and taking some bearings we changed our heading from 240 to 210 degrees as it now seemed to be passing on our starboard side (right) – but it was close now. Even in the darkness you could see the outline of the big cargo vessel and hear the engine. Then it slowly passed on our side and we could see the red port light getting smaller. We could ease up again.
This however was just for a short time because looking back the second ship was at this time getting closer and another collision course was confirmed. Verdammte Schieße! We were apparently landed in the middle of a traffic zone of ships – the highway of cargo ships probably on the way to Africa. It’s a place where you as a minor sailboat should stay out of and if crossing necessary take caution and pass as fast as possible. Now we had to change heading in a degree that we had to flip sails to the other side. This changed our course from 210 (South West) to 150 (South East) degrees. As the wind blew almost directly to the South, sails would change at 180 degrees. Wind direction and sail position is something you always have to anticipate before taking actions or you will lose speed/control or even damage the boat.
With this new heading we managed to lose our “tail” that now passed behind us. Gunnar sat down in the cockpit. Our alert status went back to green again. Just at that moment something flew down and smashed against the fiber glass seat 50 cm from him. It was a carabineer holding some rob on the main mast that for some reason had broken loose. It was just a miracle that it didn’t hit Gunnar in his head. It could have meant a serious injury!
Crazy night – skipper well deserved went for his secure bunk at 01.30 to turn in for some precious sleep. Soon after I discovered a white light far behind us. It could come from the mast of a ship. If later a second white light would appear it would point out that it’s a ship of more than 50 meters in length. That lonely light stayed in my back for an hour and I thought it would never come closer. However 30 minutes later the second light appeared. It was coming closer now and I thought: “Not again!” - It was the third time within hours. The noise from the engine reached me but luckily minutes later this vessel showed the green light indicating that they were passing to my port side (left) and I could take it easy and let Gunnar sleep till 05.00 where he had duty again.
Amazing how on this enormous sea we come so close to other ships. We have both a radar reflector and light as per regulations but you never know with these big ships; they might not be under command or the watchman could have fallen asleep. It was actually the captain who passed me this comforting info:) but it was an refreshment as I now also remembered we had the discussion during the sailing education. Skipper seemed to be fresh even though he only could have got a couple of hours sleep. He also pointed out some star constellations like the Orion belt that was very clear with the strong Sirius star just below. The sky was actually just lit up with stars for our full 180 degrees enjoyment - from horizon to horizon. It was almost full moon (wrrraaauuhh;) and it mirrored a magnificent way on the sea.
Surrounded by silence, darkness and the impressive sea this scene with glittering stars and planets in the universe was breathtaking and much more powerful than on land.
I was grateful but even so 3 hours of sweet sleep ahead was my one and only leading star!
Surrounded by silence, darkness and the impressive sea this scene with glittering stars and planets in the universe was breathtaking and much more powerful than on land.
I was grateful but even so 3 hours of sweet sleep ahead was my one and only leading star!
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| What is it?! A shooting star... an UFO?!!!! Nooo it's just me trying to take a photo of the moon while the boat is rocking;) |
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| Hey - check this one out. I formed a V for Victory with the moon... I challenge you - and keep the ABC image till later:). |
To be continued!
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