Javascript staat uit. Voor een optimale werking moet Javascript worden ingeschakeld.

SailingPegasus.nl - Zeilen met de Pegasus - Blogdetails
Datum: 22-05-2018    Departure to the Cape Verde, part 5
 Friday 18 May to Monday 21 May 2018
The most necessary things have been repaired to sail to Cape Verde and now we can leave Dakar. That's fine because we've had it a bit. We are increasingly irritated by the very dominant sounds that are here. One of these is the train that honks the god day every 5 minutes to ensure that the train tracks are free of people and animals. The other sound comes from the many mosques that are here. We are of course aware that it is now Ramadan, so the frequency is higher than normal. But the sound is now starting to work on our nerves. You have to imagine that the church bells, of every church in your village or city in the Netherlands, ring every hour for at least 20 minutes every day. It is a very dominant sound and we are clearly ready to change the environment.

We prepare to leave early in the morning. I turn on the instruments and it turns out that the wind gauge does not work. There is only one glance upwards in the mast to find that the wind gauge is hanging down. Without a working anemometer we cannot leave. Fred will have to go into the mast again! Fortunately, it turns out not to be dramatic and a matter of standing up and tightening the holder. Then we can really leave!

The wind comes from the north and we have to sail to the wind. That also means more problems with the waves. We put a second reef in the mainsail and put the Genoa on the 2nd reef. I again suffer from seasickness and I do not have to think about food at all. This is not a nice trip that we already feel. The boat dives into the waves and there is a lot of water. It is also much colder than we had hoped and it is still necessary to have sailing suits. It is a new moon and it does not give much light during the night. In short, a dark night and that is never nice when you are sailing. During the first night I am being attacked by flying fish. Those fish certainly thought they were diving in a wave, but had not taken into account our little boat that suddenly appeared. The first one bangs hard against my arm when I'm just behind the helm. Moments later I get a 2nd flying fish against my head which then ends up in the cockpit. The 3rd has much less luck, it hits the wind generator and is horribly made a head smaller. One after the other landed in the gangway, against the cockpit. I manage to save a few fish from death and I can go overboard again, but most of us find the next morning stiff on board. We do not need to eat these fish at all. The anchor in front of the tip makes noise through the bangers on the water. As soon as it is light Fred will go forward to check this.

2nd day, Saturday
We do not move fast and go from the 2nd to a first reef in both sails. Fred also goes to the point to anchor the anchor. There is not only a lot of water on the boat, but also in the boat. At various places in the boat we observe leakage of the large quantities of water that come over the boat. Especially at the windows it is leaking, but also in other places. There is also water under (or actually above) the floor of the cages behind, even so much that we have to use the pump to pump the water away. Everything is wet! We still have no idea where this comes from, because when we are at anchor, we have no problem. Now I do not feel well, we are tired, cold and wet and therefore quite irritated. I also live mainly on bananas and cookies, but in the evening I try to get a cup of hot Chinese noodle in and that helps.

3rd day, Sunday
It is a bit quieter and we can recover a bit. The wind is slightly turned so we sail more stable and no longer make those hits on the water. We now have quite some speed and sometimes even get 7 to 8 knots of speed. During the day we also have more sun and this both works well for us. We have music on and I watch over the waves where the sunlight provides a beautiful shimmer. Shaving fish fly over the water at high speed and then dive into the waves. What a beautiful sight! My appetite increases again and I manage to eat a bowl of ravioli in the evening. During my watch I can enjoy the beautiful stars again, although they are not always visible because the moon is new and there is a lot of clouds.

4th day, Monday
Monday morning, I (how could it be otherwise) just sleep a few hours when Fred calls for help. The furling (Genoa) is suddenly turned off, the line is broken again. How is this possible now? The line has just been replaced by a new Dynema line. Or did the watersports shop in las Palmas sell us a line under the name Dynema? Fred pulls the line from all the pulleys that run along the foot rail and ties the two parts of the line together. We will continue sailing with a full sail for the time being until we have Palmeira in sight and then we will roll it in. Let's hope this works in this way. We finally get to the south of the island of Sal and now we have to cover the last stretch, about 16 miles, to Palmeira. We roll into Genoa, this succeeds happily in this way, and continue sailing on the mainsail and the engine. The wind is harder than we expected and at the start of Palmeira it even increases with more than 30 knots.
We follow the buoys up to the anchor spot and see the German boat Nina (which we got to know in Gambia) at anchor. In the bay it also blows pretty hard and that is not really nice when you have to anchor. The first attempt to anchor failed, the anchor does not take hold. Again an attempt, something closer to the Nina now. It seems that we are not yet well prepared and want to pick up the anchor again to take a 3rd attempt and it turns out that it is stuck. Franz dives into the water and searches for the cause. The tip of our anchor (ROCNA 33 kg) is hooked behind a piece of rock, but otherwise it is free. Not the most ideal situation. With the help of an extra line and ease off the anchor chain we manage to come loose. We make another round and anchor a little further, where there is certainly sandy ground according to Franz (who still swims around). During this round, around another boat, we suddenly hit a rock or something like that and I lose the power of the rudder. We are going straight for a smaller boat! Less than a meter away I throw the gear in reverse, give full throttle and turn the helm. It works, it was a near thing, or we had rammed the boat. Sigh ............
Fortunately, it goes well and at the 3rd attempt we are well anchored. Of course, we will also have to enter the water ourselves to check it. It was a tough trip with the necessary obstacles and setbacks, but we arrived at the Cape Verde Islands!
In vol ornaat
In de verte het eiland Sal

Franz and Angela invite us for a drink. First clean up a little, clean up and refresh ourselves a bit. Franz picks us up after about an hour with his dinghy. We talk a little bit more about the past few weeks. They have been here for 2 weeks now and can already inform us a little bit about how things are going. Tomorrow morning, we will start clearing and then immediately with one of the small buses that drive over the island to the capital Espargos. We need money and of course also a new SIM card. We get a piece of freshly baked bread from Angela and make a nice omelette with tomatoes and cheese. Then we go to our bed, with the prospect of the many odd jobs waiting for us ...... ..

Maybe some people, especially the non-sailors, are now wondering why we chose this life. We will not deny that this was one of the least fun trips, but there are always times when we are enjoying ourselves again.
----------
 
 
25-05-2018, reactie van Ludmilla
Inderdaad, vriendjes, ik vroeg me af of jullie nog steeds genieten van this way of life... Al die tegenslag en dan een zeezieke zeiler.... Hopelijk houdt de boot het vol...
Landlubbertje uit Hoorn :)
 
25-05-2018, reactie van Aad
Ik ben inderdaad een niet-zeiler en ik vraag mij inderdaad af hoe jullie het volhouden.
Kotsen - hozen - repareren, veel respect voor jullie en sterkte.
Blijf de blogs zo leuk schrijven, ondanks het vervelende gevoel in de maag.
 
26-05-2018, reactie van Cor Dream C
Hoi Luitjes, nou over klusjes hebben jullie niet te klagen. Het gaat tot nu toe allemaal wat moeizaam begrijp ik. Wel weer een mooi verhaal om te lezen en "bij" te blijven. Veel plezier daar op de Kaap Verde, ik kijk met spanning uit naar jullie volgende verslag. Groetjes vanuit Las Palmas.
 
27-05-2018, reactie van René Schwab
Beste Fred en Caroline,
We gaan er maar vanuit dat jullie je portie pech voorlopig hebben gehad. Veel respect; ik wordt al zeeziek van mijn eigen badwater,
Over treinen en het vrijmaken van rails. Westelijk van Bangkok is een stadje dat dagelijks markt houdt tussen de rails, d.w.z. de producten, voornamelijk vis, vlees en groenten zijn zó tussen de rails uitgestald dat de trein ze net niet plet. Ruim voor aankomst (zo'n 10 x per dag) begint de aankomende trein luid te toeteren, zodat mensen ver genoeg opzij kunnen stappen, zodat ze niet aangereden worden en dan worden ook alle zonneschermen tijdelijk ingehaald.
Trouwens, het is een dieseltrein, dus wel de groenten wij thuiskomst goed wassen.
GEGROET!!
 ----------
     << Terug >>