It’s our third day at sea after leaving Salvador and the first where I felt up to writing. Unlike the majority of our trip, which has been downwind sailing, this 450-mile stretch has been unpleasantly upwind. We had wind on the nose and motored for the first 24-hours and then have been beating with wind between 30 and 40 degrees ever since.
The wind has stayed between 15 and 20 mph – just enough to make the seas unpleasant and keep us reefed, thus dampening our speed.
Overall, not our favorite leg.
Salvador was more or less a pleasant stopover and I will write about it later. We stayed longer than we normally would have so we could attend Carnaval which started a day or so before we left. Along with some of the other boat folks, we spent the evening walking around the old town, called Pelourinho, and eating dinner in a restaurant with a balcony overlooking the crowds. We never really were in the main part of the parade but caught our fill of roving bands and musicians.
Brazil is quite hot at this time of year and the kids and I spent a relaxing three nights in an air-conditioned hotel with unlimited internet so I could catch up on regular life without dripping sweat all over my computer. Joe opted to stay on the boat and finish up some projects – minor repairs to our sails and a new rudder shaft arrangement that should solve some small issues like minor leaking and banging.
Many of you have asked how I send these blogs out while at sea. We have a satellite communication device called an Iridium Go. We pay a monthly fee and have the ability to send unlimited e-mails and make the occasional phone call, which is always far more frustrating than gratifying due to the sound delays. I send the text and photos to an e-mail address assigned to us by the World ARC and they publish the blogs on their website. We do not have any capability to browse the internet or do anything else. It’s sort of like the days of dial up – we write emails, put them all in an outbox, then hit “Send mail” and it connects to the satellites, uploads the messages, and downloads any messages waiting for us. Sort of tedious but exciting when messages come through, especially in the middle of a long night watch.
Since we don’t have anyone helping us crew on this leg, Joe is doing the bulk of the watches. I do my usual 9 pm – 12 am and then he takes over until the next day when I try to find a way for him to get some rest. During the night, he sets an alarm and wakes every 15 minutes to look around, then goes back to sleep. This is how single-handers (solo sailors) function when they sail long distances. The thinking is that if there is some kind of danger out there (e.g. a fishing boat) 15 minutes will be enough time to see it and change course. Normally when we see something on the horizon, we watch it for long periods of time before it actually presents an issue for us.
We met a young Swiss guy in St. Helena that is now single-handing to Rio. He had a couple of friends on board but they hadn’t done much sailing and one of them got very seasick on the passage from South Africa to St. Helena and they got off the boat and opted to fly home rather than continue. He didn’t want to take any more crew on without knowing them so he has been on his own ever since. We will see him again in Cabadelo – I have been occasionally checking up on him via satellite e-mail and he is doing very well.
His name is Gilles Pillonel and he apparently has a YouTube channel if anyone wants to see it. Other folks spoke to him in St. Helena and he is somewhat of an adventurer. These are the bits and pieces I heard - He set off to ride his bike from Switzerland to ? maybe China? Along the way he met another cyclist who was riding to South Africa so he decided to go with him instead. Or in addition to the trip to China. While in South Africa, he took sailing lessons and somehow acquired a small boat. This was only a few months ago. Now he has crossed the Atlantic and will be heading south to Rio where he will meet his parents. I’m not sure where he will go from there. I’ll keep you posted when we see him again in Cabadelo.
A quick update on my battles and then I’m taking a break from concentrated writing because conditions still aren’t entirely conducive to focused tasks.
Moths: After I discovered (and eliminated) a spice bottle of onion powder with a giant nest of webbing, I haven’t seen any more. They take up to three weeks to hatch so perhaps the few I saw earlier were leftovers and the infestation is gone? Fingers crossed.
Sweaty girls in the bed: Continues. With the unpleasant conditions at sea, I have allowed them into my bed. The first night I relocated one who kept rolling over and draping her legs all over me despite my efforts to shove her off me. Last night they both behaved so I squashed into a small space and did my best to sleep. Tonight they both willingly relocated back to their room for unknown reasons. I would call it a draw.
Ants: Two species – tiny ones and normal-sized. Both continue to appear in random locations, with no seeming headquarters that I can find. Like the moths, they don’t do any actual harm but it feels wrong to share our space with them. Actually, they do less harm than the moths because they don’t infest the food. But I still don’t like them on board. I’m losing on both size fronts.
I think there were more battles but I don’t remember what they were.
Like all journeys, sailing has its tedious moments. This is one of them. We will be glad to get to Cabadelo – whatever it holds, it is probably more pleasant than beating into the wind.
After that, another 2,000-mile passage to Grenada and then it’s just Caribbean cruising followed by a long stretch up to Annapolis where Charm will stay until someone buys her. If you know of anyone looking for a very well-maintained catamaran, let us know!
image1 image3 image2