Part 8, Sailing Las Palmas, Spain – Santa Maria, Cape Verde.

Nov. 19^th 2010

Yeah, our sail looked like sh*t but a few square meters were still working for us...

Sleeping 3 ½ hours in one go felt so good and I could have continued several more hours if it wasn’t for that stupid whistle again. Apparently there was no way my sub consciousness could incorporate and make this sudden sound natural in my dreams.

I had to get up – It was 06.00 o’clock again. A moment later I sat in front of the wheel surrounded by darkness and the sound of the sea. The red light from the compass was the only light apart from some blinking stars. Gunnar had on his 4 hour shift been blessed the appearance of porpoise (the look of a small black dolphin), flying fishes and ships passing far away. Well during my next 4 hours of duty I was offered was a sunrise 07.40 hours on my port side AND two birds at some point on the starboard side. That’s 4 hours of entertainment right there…

At 09.30 we had sailed for 7 days and had 169 nautical miles left (313 km). During the last 10 hours we had eaten up 35 miles which we found quite astonishing in our miserable condition having just 10% of front sail and the main sail cover working for us… Luckily current, wind and waves all went at our destinations direction. 

I had my breakfast; cornflakes with lukew… no wait. The milk was actually cold this time. We must have forgotten to turn off the fridge during the night.

During the day the waves calmed down even more which meant that we more or less could stand and walk normal just minding that one hand for the boat in case of a little rolling. It was a relief for sure. When I turned in for my 4 hours of shift at 14.00 I tightened the steering wheel and to my pleasant surprise it actually quite accurately kept the course for the next 50 minutes without my interventions. Great! Now for the first time on the tour I could relax, chat and enjoy. I cut my nails. 

The boat was in fact equipped with a self steering system. However only the first day we had time and energy to play a little with it without succeeding to get it to work properly. Anyway with the waves we had ever since, it probably would not have worked anyway.

Sheilah for the first time in more than 7 days of sailing made hot food for us in the kitchen. My rice from yesterday was accompanied with eggs and some meat; bacon! Due to the calm weather it was also first time on the voyage that we could eat together. This was what we had waited so long for and what we in the beginning of the trip expected the voyage would be like.

Soon the entire sky was painted in golden, red and orange colors by the sunset. The all day blue sky transformed magically thin long clouds to a painting worth scenery. It almost was as if the sky was bleeding as the colors got darker and darker. The day died. It was truly beautiful and unforgettable. I realized being one with nature experiencing sunrise and sunsets every day is a priceless gift. It makes it up for all the rough times – Thank you where or whoever you are!

sunset in calm weather - 100% peace

Takes my breath away...

Heaven is bleeding.. the day is dying. And our sail is making us look like pirates;)

Gold in the sky

I only harvested one hour of sleep before my watch started at 22.00 hours… and what a watch. Nothing was going on. It was all quiet and the steering was pretty much steady just by fixing the wheel. Finally I could do what I always thought the night shifts were made for; reading. I was excited by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and her book called the Nomad. I just checked the heading for every page I turned. It was a sublime shift!

All of a sudden 4 hours were gone and I could jump into 3 ½ hours of relaxing sleep in a steady boat.

Stay tuned - we are close to seeing land and the end of this sailing journey. Will update soon.