Post rescue

Once anchored in Mindelo harbour again we met up with Christopher Langham and his delightful dog, Blue.

The Catalac was safely berthed in the Marina and Christopher's real problem of fixing the boat could begin.

The rudders, or rather remains of them were inspected.

 The improvised steering system with the thirsty outboard proved interesting, however the improvised rudder using the boom had just resulted in bending the boom and making it unusable for sailing. Both engines ( Dolphin two strokes ) were inoperable too.

There was also a 10 inch long gash in the starboard hull where the rudder fittings had torn out.

Daylight coming through the hull is always worrying.......

The damage was extensive but repairable. Christopher just had to figure out how to pay for it!

We took Christopher and Blue aboard Hocus Pocus to visit and have a coffee.

Blue is a Beagle and has a full international passport, even her own life jacket!

It was really good to see them both safe and sound. However for us it would mean a considerable delay. A  very deep depression moving east from Bermuda had effectively killed the trade winds for a week or so as it sucked the energy out of the high pressure engine that drives the trade winds. We resigned ourselves to another week in Mindelo and retired to the Simpatico bar.......it was better than setting off and finding ourselves in huge swells and no wind, the very conditions we had been heading south to avoid.

Besides we still had 300 metres of 18mm anchor plait to coil and stow!