7-13th December 2024
It was 18;30, the sun went down quickly and we sailed out for the first hour in calm winds, the city lights glowing behind us for long enough to question whether my antibiotics were working and if we should turn back…
A couple of phone calls later we decided to continue which felt really good. My kidneys had been hurting for days, and had only just turned the corner to feeling better by the time we left and i wanted to be sure it wouldn’t get worse on the crossing. I’d been so ready to get to west Africa with as much time as possible before crossing the Atlantic, and it was already so late in the year.
Niels began with the first shift and spent a long time with the wind steering correcting the course and not trusting it enough to go inside. Then the rope broke on the pulley attaching it to the tiller and the boat leered upwind and side on to the waves. It was a moment of chaos with things flying around inside, the oven was thrown open and my spice box crashed out all over the floor.
Bilge full of curry powder. Now my thyme was mixed with cinnamon and my Italian herbs with curry. I sadly collected the cardamon pods which ‘are too valuable to lose’ dusting off hair and floorboard filth. I hope Africa will have some spices for me.
Niels then spent allot of the night replacing all the ropes and adding shackles to soften the rubbing of the wind pilot. Finally he tried to get some sleep but the alarm that warns us that we are steering off course kept going off and it was not a very peaceful one.
The following morning it calmed right down, but we had the tendency to steer too much towards land. It would be wise to keep some distance from Mauritania which could be a moody country. Niels managed to sort out the course alarm and play it through the radio so there was no way of missing it. No other sailboats yet, but several cargo ships.
A game was begun, who saw the biggest ship on their watch, and it was fun to compare the different countries and speeds. Our speed was very nice, an average of 6.3kts for the first 24hrs, and once Niels saw the speed go up to 12,2 whilst surfing down a wave. We broke our own speed record by going 148 miles in 24 hours which was extremely motivating.
On the 9th we passed a few big ships pretty closely sometimes only 300 metres away, but they all saw us on the AIS and mostly changed course to give us some space. The wind turned and was sending us away from land which was good, and was very nice with the waves from behind.
One of the strangest things was that the colour of the water changed completely.
It became a deep dark brown/green even in the sunshine. That made us feel really far from home. By the evening the wind turned back towards land which was frustrating.
We tried the sails in ‘butterfly’ but they just flapped around. With the genoa on the mini-boom and going as far downwind as the windvane would allow, it was very tricky to get it to keep a course with wind from behind.
We’ve been really low on power and had put up two solar panels on the second day, and the other two on the third. On the morning of the fourth there were some bigger waves and the chain jumped out of the tiller. As we slid sideways down the wave the two solar panels were ripped off hanging on the only by their cables. The cockpit is full of water and we nearly lose the little corner bench which isn’t screwed down. I steer and Niels fixes everything back on with green cable ties. We take the wind from behind again and the sea state eases. A buoy appears on the AIS, 6x10m, and we pass it closely but never see it. A further 4 of these mysterious floating islands appears on our screen but we never see one, or a even a light for that that matter.
Sailing with only you
Much more peaceful when I need the loo
It wasn’t social as such, we weren’t talking that much
Sharing sleep, and the sky, and the view
Another unfortunate wave rips the solar panel from the other side, and Niels has little hope of them working again after a full submerge. Thats ¾ of them gone swimming. The previous night it had become clear that the position lights at the front weren’t working but the conditions were too bad to fix it so Niels spent the next afternoon connecting LEDs and sorting it out.
12th– Flying fish! Silvery blue bodies propelled by translucent wings, unfurling like paper concertinas. Slipping between worlds. Whole clouds of them just above the waves, and on our deck. Dismay in their big round eyes as they flap between the ropes and windows until returned to their preferred element, dead or alive.
The white light at the back of the boat was now also discovered to be blown so another little project for Niels while I searched the boat for green fabric for our Senegal flag. A vest top and a German flag had to be sacrificed. Only 120 miles left, so we hoped we would arrive the following day in the light!
The wind unfortunately dropped overnight and we only travelled at 3-4kts, but the following day was calm and waveless which was greatly appreciated giving us time to do haircuts, listen to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and attempt to screen print a star on our Senegal flag whilst fishing which proved to be too much multitasking.
We caught 3 ‘Bonitos’ in the northern currents just off of the coast but returned two as they were quite small. About 6 miles still from land we had our first butterfly on the boom. The sun went down and the smell of woodsmoke and foreign city hung like perfume in the night air. Ngor island is only 500m from the mainland and creates a shield from the wind and swell that rushes along the coast. To enter we had to go through a narrow straight between a rocky reef and the shallow sandbanks by the city in the dark, with long wooden fishing boats zooming around unlit and uninterested in being seen. We are of course the only sailing boat.
It was quite shallow and a bit wavey, but a man on a little boat told us that the ground was only sand making it fine to anchor there. I was so excited to what the land and houses and trees would look like the following morning that I lay awake wishing I could speculate with Niels, but he was already fast asleep.
Despite some challenging conditions this was one of my favourite sails of the year. Niels and I have been blessed to have friends and family who are up for travelling to find and join our lives for sometimes months at a time, bringing fresh adventures and dynamics, and music and the possibility to play card games that aren’t fun with only 2 people. BUT, we didn’t get much downtime or space to just quietly be with each other,and this sail reminded us how peaceful it can be when we aren’t hosting and cooking and keeping everyone safe in a 10mx2m space.
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