Champagne Sailing & Fish 5th January 2024

We had a very rolly night as due to the conditions we had to take down the Red Baron and also we gybed(turned) toward the Cape Verde Islands to give us a bit of easting in order to avoid going into the light winds. This put us slightly across the swell. It was not that fast sailing but we needed to do this for the night. We therefore did not get much sleep and it reminded me of some of the conditions of my first crossing in 2019. I would describe it as like being in a washing machine and swinging from side to side but not luckily doing a 360 degree turn.  The stars were still excellent but it felt hard going especially with the shifts and if you are not getting enough sleep.

We woke to another warm sunny day and after a nice bowl of melon and paw paw with the conditions were suitable for the Red Baron again. The 6 of us carefully checked the lines and the Red Baron was untied and hoisted. We were soon back on our previous course again and sailing along between 7-9.5kts. What was great was that the Red Baron effectively cancels the swell considerably so that we were sailing along relatively flat and at good speed and toward our waypoint south of Cape Verde again. These conditions enabled us to catch up on sleep and sort ourselves out. The day passed peacefully and it was gloriously warm with 3m+ swells around us. All we could see was the blue vast sea with lots of white horses with no traffic apart from the odd tanker being 50-100 miles away and no other yachts. It was like champagne sailing without the champagne and it felt a privilege to be here and to experience what I felt was part of nature’s beauty. Keith saw a flying fish but we saw no other wildlife today and no dolphins which we had seen most days.             

Mark and Ian had been fishing for some days and with our speed we had been losing lines as the fish who could swim our speed were too large for our lines. However we were lucky and in a slower moment we caught a small tuna which was enough for supper with dauphinoise potatoes and leeks. The fish was so fresh and delicious and it was great to get the fish to our table within hours. Desert was a chocolate brownie.

There was another fabulous sunset and we decided to keep the Red Baron up for the night as the conditions were safe enough, having checked the forecast. It had been a great day’s sailing, we have made a number of miles toward our destination. As I write we have travelled 670 nm since Pasito Blanco with about 2,130 to go. Let’s hope we catch more fish and continue to have more days sailing like today.