Rescue!

 We finally departed Mindalo at 4pm and began a most satisfactory sail under our secret weapon for trade winds, "the twins".

Sao Vicente looked splendid and quite a bit " lost world" like in the late afternoon sun.

We were on a course to take us out of the 'Canal de Sao Vicente 'and to basically take us further south to around the thirteenth latitude before we turned west towards Barbados 2100 miles away.

We had just enjoyed a splendid dinner of pork chops and champ when the VHF radio issued a D.S.C. alarm. It was a mayday call from a yacht in distress, apparently he had lost his rudders and had been adrift for three weeks. We plotted his position and discovered he was about 15 miles from us. Changing course to intercept his position and allowing a small error for drift we worked out we should be able to reach him in three or so hours. We also made a mayday relay call which was answered by another American yacht "Hona Kai" who had just left Mindelo , the yacht in distress was an American with a southern accent. There then began a lot of radio chat including HF calls to American rescue coordinators and MRCC in the Canaries. It became apparent that the Cape Verdes have an extremely limited capacity for rescue at sea. We were basically on our own. Dave and I dug out the parachute sea anchor rode, this was 300 metres long and was rigged with a " bridle " at one end which we could deploy from each of Hocus Pocus's hulls. It's basically a "Y" connection that equalises the load on the towline, spreading it between the hulls.

Once we had formulated our plan we informed our new friend that we intended to take him on tow to Mindelo. He had been trying to steer his disabled boat by using an outboard motor but was running out of gasoline to power it, besides his position put him 35 miles past the Cape Verdes so he had essentially missed them, we also knew how awkward it would be to return via the sound between Sai Vicente and the island of Santo Antao as the Canary current in combination with tide meant that there was a constant flow against you approaching from the south of anything up to 4 knots. It was very dark and typically according to Sod's law it was

moonless. There was a 2 metre swell running and the wind was gusting 18 knots. Not the best conditions for finding another boat let alone attempting to get a line aboard. Dave made last minute preparations to our line which was carrying a half full jerrycan of gasoline on the end, due to the pitch black conditions I suggested we attach a white fender to make it easier to spot. Pretty much where we expected to see him the 9 metre catamaran came into sight or rather his masthead lights did.

We dropped our very long line upwind and circled the catamaran to " lasso" it and enable the crew to snag the line with a boat hook, sounds easy doesn't it? Trust me it isn't.

By this time the person aboard was sounding exhausted  on the radio and it was with great relief that we had insisted he rig a bridle for his end of the tow as having no rudders was always going to make him a " dead weight" as it turned out the catamaran followed us like it was on rails. Perfect! We love it when a plan comes together.

Dave did the first spell at the helm as we began the tow, we could only make a slow speed and it was quite rough, our rescuer reported he had been sea sick and we could well believe it as the motion was quite bouncy however he was obviously relived that he was finally on his way to safety. He cancelled the mayday and we thanked the yacht Hona Kai for standing by.

Now began the long dark tea time of the soul as we crawled north at 3-4 knots.

This plotter screen shows our track.

Come the dawn we were approaching the most difficult part of the tow with wind tide and current all against us.

Our speed was averaging about 2 knots and while Dave slept we chatted with Christopher about his journey so far. He had bought the boat in Largs intending to sail it to the American Virgin Islands as a live aboard. He was singlehanded and had lost both rudders somewhere south of Las Palmas, since then he had been essentially drifting, rescue authorities would only direct him to ships in the area or at one point had offered a helicopter which he had refused as it would mean abandoning the boat. The helicopter must have been near the Canaries as I believe the Cape Verdes are out of flying range. The progress through the canal de Sao Vicente was painfully slow and repeated calls to Mindelo Marina went unanswered. I think that the staff listen out on handhelds which have a very limited range to transmit. However I managed to contact them on the satellite phone and arranged to ring again if we continued to fail to raise them on channel 72.

Around noon we were finally approaching the entrance to the Grand harbour and I got in a satellite phone call to Kei Brosman who owned the marina and requested assistance to berth the catamaran, Aku Mhor, our biggest catch so far!

The yacht Jacaranda came out to meet  us along with the marina work boat. We controlled the tow until told by the work boat to release and take in our massive line! To be honest it was all a bit Keystone cops but in a typically African way they muddled it!

So our first Atlantic crossing had consisted of 82 miles about 40 of which were towing a Catalac 9 m!

Quite an epic, and we were back were we started, however Christopher and his boat were safe and sound, team Hocus Pocus retired to the floating bar for a well earned drink.

Team Hocus Pocus with Christopher Langham ( light blue shirt )and team Jacaranda on the floating bar in Mindelo post rescue.

Getting ready

The marina at Mindelo is not a particularly comfortable place once the "Christmas winds " have set in. There is a lot of swell that finds its way in and sets the boats surging. Poor Hocus Pocus was on the end of a long floating pontoon which was acting like a bit of a whip and accentuating the surging effect to such an extent that we began to see the port aft clear moving under the strain Dave spoke to the marina staff and we moved to another berth alongside this time at the root of the pontoon. The motion was still apparent but not as violent. It also meant we could remove and rebed the lose cleat. 

Dave also invested in something we are very familiar with from our berth in Getxo, namely Spanish anti-snatch springs.

Dave and I started on our list of jobs, one of which was to investigate the boat scrapyard at the other side of the harbour for any useful bits. This turned out to be futile but interesting nonetheless.

The "scrapyard was really more of a graveyard, surrounded by a few 

shanties.

We had discovered that a local bar "Simpatico" was run by an Irishman Tom who turned out to be a mine of useful local information, unlike the only pilot to the area we had, written by Don Street. We began to refer to it as " the book of lies "

It is wrong in almost every respect. On its reccomendation we tried a local restaurant, it was difficult to believe from the description that we were in the same place. No fabulous colonial dining room packed with antiques from the past, just a quite nice but plain dining room overlooking the Main Street.

The office for the Policia maritimo and Immigration were also not where Mr Street thinks they are, this is pretty basic information and really should be accurate in a book that is only a few years old. 

We also had a beach day, taking advantage of our now extended stay to go for a swim in the clear azure ocean side of Grand Harbour.

The hard part was stopping your towel blowing away!

The plans were coming together for the Atlantic crossing.

Dave had plotted a route that dropped us down to the same latitude as Barbados and then ran down that latitude, this also avoided an area of light winds to the north forcast by the "GRIB" files for a sixteen day forcast.

Lynne and I had a night in Toms bar where he gave us a sample of some wine from the island of Fogo, this was really nice almost a port and tasted a bit like jam, lovely and rather tastier than the local firewater called grogue. Which is cane rum at about 100 degrees proof, it's also only a euro a shot.

Mindelo had proven to be quite surprising and is well worth a visit in its own right.

It now only remained to do the 2100 miles of Atlantic Ocean to Barbados and then on to the Caribean.

Mindelo

Mindelo harbour was filled with the usual mix of long distance yachts and rusting hulks, one of which was surprisingly close come the morning! Dave got the dinghy lowered and very quickly returned having been told to radio in on channel 72 to receive instructions for the marina.

We raised anchor and performed our first ever stern to moor picking up two buoys of each bow and reversing into the marina pontoon. The berth was strictly speaking too small for us but we successfully got Hocus Pocus secure.

We then retired to the floating bar for a celebratory drink or two!

The floating bar.

This is also where you can leave your dinghy if you remain at anchor so it's quite a social place for long distance yachties to gather.

We decided to explore a bit of the town, it is a lot more modern and bustling in comparison to other towns on the islands, it feels quite prosperous, however we still got accosted regularly by young boys begging.

We went to the market square and were treated to a real African coffee and coconut bun by one of the stall holders, if you have never tasted this particular beverage it has quite a " hit". We managed to escape having only bought a pebble game souvenir, however we were also all bedecked in new jewellery, some free some not!

The market really is a fascinating place but we did have to make a quick exit before we were forced to spend all our money. We also discovered the old market hall which was a lovely example of colonial architecture. Also a great selection of fruit and veg.

This is a " where's wally " picture .......spot Dave, Lynne and Carol...

The town has some glorious buildings, although a lot of the newer development is a monument to breeze block the old Portuguese colonial buildings have been restored very nicely.

Just around the corner from the marina is a glorious beach with water a brilliant aquamarine colour, it is overlooked by the island of Llheu dos Paseros.

We had passed this small island the day before as we entered the bay. We prepared to go out on the town to celebrate New Year, it felt quite strange to be preparing to celebrate in heat of 28 degrees! It proved to be quite a night!

The harbour at Mindelo at sunset.

Sal to Sao Vicente

Christmas resulted in a few " lost days " due to an excess of drink, also the outboard engine on Daves tender began to act up, we diagnosed a fault on the ignition system and another reality of life began to dawn on us, we could make do and mend or do without as spares and parts were unavailable.

Luckily however when Dave in a fit of madness seemingly forgot to tie up the dinghy the local boys were on hand to rescue it before it zoomed off to America!

Christmas tree Cape Verde style!

Our last evening in Palmeria was again hot and we were quite glad to be moving.

The procedures in the Cape Verdes mean that although we had cleared in to the country we still needed to contact the police on each island we visited and we carried a document that needed to be stamped and retained by the Policia.

We intended to clear out of the crowded anchorage and explore the possibilities of a large bay, about 5 miles further down the coast.

It started with a strange haze that we were becoming quite used to, it was a subtle red colour and deposited large parts of the Sahara desert on the decks sails and everything else on board Hocus Pocus.

Later the day cleared and we were able to get a really good look at the volcanic rocks that make up these islands. We passed this hill which looked as if it had been poured into place.

The anchorage turned out to be rather lovely and almost completely deserted.

The beach was completely empty apart from a couple of nudists and strangely in the morning a convoy of 4x4s.

We didn't venture ashore as we had only planned to stay overnight before sailing for Boa Vista, about 40 miles further south. This turned out to be a rough passage as we hit the acceleration zones between the islands.

The anchorage at Boa Vista was in a shallow bay surrounded by dangerous breaking shoals. We anchored ( eventually!) just behind a small island called Sal de Rei. Again it was hot and the water was a beautiful aquamarine colour.

Because of our dodgy outboard we were again confined on board. In the evening we had planned a rather longer sail to Sau Nicolau, a distance of about 80 miles. We sailed through the night and the dawn revealed the island, however most of the anchorages on the south coast were not practical because of the persistent swell and 25 knots trade wind.

So we had a quick conflab and decided to carry on the further 60 miles or so to Sau Vicente and our final jumping off point to the Caribean, Mindelo.....

We approached it as the sun set for the second time on our " short hop", and it was a truly spectacular entry into the Mindelo channel after passing the uninhabited islands of Sau Luzia and several smaller ones. The volcanic rocks were reminiscent of Jurrasic Park or Conan Doyle's Lost World.

We anchored ( eventually ) in the harbour near the Marina carefully avoiding the sunken freighters and crowds of yachts.

In the morning we arranged to enter the Marina and Dave Lynne and I performed our first stern to mooring to bring Hocus Pocus to rest on the pontoon opposite a floating bar,

 we celebrated in the usual way. When on passage Dave like us runs a dry boat, however......

It was New Year's Eve, the jumping off point for our transatlantic passage. It was time to explore Mindelo, we had four days. But first it was time to celebrate!

Palmeria, Sal

 The anchorage at Palmeria on Sal redefined " crowded " we eventually squeezed into a spot helped by a local ' boat boy' d'jay... Of course we didn't actually need any help.

By the time Dave had got his act together to go ashore and sort out the paperwork, (Sal is a port of entry) and as skipper Dave had to go ashore and clear in with both immigration and the local police, at this point we would get our all important entry stamp. However this being Africa the man who had the key to the cupboard holding the stamps had gone home as it was the day before Christmas Eve! So we all went ashore illegally to explore.

Lynne began to think she was in " the number 1 ladies detective agency" and it was certainly a bit of a culture shock, we had a meal in a local restaurant.

A Cape Verde Christmas tree.....

Which turned out to be quite acceptable.

The weather was extremely hot, and swimming of the boat became a favourite pastime. The following day we all duly trooped to the local police station to get our all important entry stamp , finally legal!

The previous evening we had visited the town Christmas tree which was different to say the least!

All in all it was a fabulous introduction to the Cape Verde islands.

There was poverty and dirt but the people seemed happy and friendly. There was the usual hassle from everyone to sell you stuff and Lynne and I bought matching bracelets from a " lucky lucky woman"  there were a huge number of dogs that no one seemed to own.

Christmas Day came around all too soon and for a change of habit Lynne and I started the day with a swim.

Of course we then had to raid the dressing up box, Dave and Carol had been left some rather nice costumes by some friends and were under orders to wear them on Christmas Day.

So with Christmas carols playing in the cockpit we enjoyed a full Christmas dinner thanks to Lynne but minus sprouts, which no one seemed to mind!

The guys at the fish dock worked as usual. Of course they started later and seemed to work less, of course they may just have caught less fish!

Although it all seemed picturesque I for one was beginning to have a slight feeling of unease about the world of difference between our lives........