With the poorly parasailor bundled into the forecabin, we have set the twin genoas on pole and boom… we are back to making good progress and steadily making back at least some of the ground we lost due to ‘the incident’ (much like ‘the Scottish play’, it should not be mentioned by name!). A more thorough (though far from incomplete) examination of the Parasailor shows it has been significantly ripped along its length… probably too great an ask to fix in Mindelo, but a potential plan is, nonetheless, forming on how to get the wind to drive us across leg 2 to Grenada.
So far this has been a passage of unfortunate events. The list of snags includes a malfunctioning Hydrogenerator ( thanks to all involved in getting a replacement warranty unit sent to Mindelo aboard late-starter ‘La Defiance’) that leaves the energy equation severely impacted and the need to run the engine daily, an exploded snatch block (some forces clearly involved there!), and a dislodged pulpit stanchion base securing furling fairleads. Most badly damaged of all is my pride! My crew blame these events squarely on me for allowing bananas onboard… any more dissent and they will be extracting said fruit from themselves for weeks to come! A busy time awaits in Mindelo but hey, isn’t this why we love yachting?