Departure Day

We woke after the New Year’s celebrations where the locals set off lots of fireworks. It was warm and sunny and there was an excitement in the air as today we planned to depart for Barbados some 2,800 nm miles away. It was also the start of my circumnavigation over three years and I was setting off to end up in New Zealand in mid-November 2024 some 13,000 nm o sail.

We started with a good breakfast of bacon and eggs (you need to keep the crew well fed) and then started to prepare the sheets for the sails and we had to put the dinghy on the davits which had been moved sightly so that the lines were vertical. I decided to check the engine which was fine. However, I thought I would check the propeller shaft and found oil and a loose bolt. In fact, all of the bolts were loose and had not been tightened which was very worrying. By the time we had done all the jobs it was time for lunch. We had checked the weather and it was unlikely that we would have any wind for 24 hours.

We set off at 3.00pm and the locals waived us goodbye wishing us luck. There was no wind, but it was hot and sunny. We checked out the engine and anchor and all being well we headed for a waypoint en route toward the Cape Verde Islands and our weather told us we should find wind along that route.

We motored on although we did get out the sails to check them and that our sheets (ropes which are attached to the sails) were correct. There was little traffic and we watched a lovely sunset with the orange sun gradually disappearing into the water at about 6.30pm. We saw Gran Canaria and Tenerife gradually fade away behind us . There were soon lots of stars and we noticed there as fluorescence in the water as the bow splash moved past us which was a sort of blue green. We were later visited by a pod of dolphins who played about. but we could only see where they were from the fluorescence.

We had a great vegetarian supper cooked by Mark. We all (Mark, Keith, Ian, Robbie Peter and I) remarked what a calm start we were having. It enabled us all to get used to the boat and the electronics without the wave swell. The water was dead calm and this helped us get our sea legs

It had been a pleasant start. No wind but there is plenty of time for that.