Go with the flow Mindelo

It has been a while now since we left Las Palmas in the Canary Islands and headed west across the Atlantic, to the French Caribbean Island of Martinique.  A leak in our port rudder stock had caused us to divert to Sao Vicente island in the Cape Verde archipelago.  There was a sense of relief when after 3 days of motor sailing, we finally reached the port of Mindelo in Sao Vincente on a Sunday and docked at the Marina. We were looking forward to enjoying land time for the few days it would take to fix the leak.

Mindelo Marina

The check-in formalities into a country when you arrive by boat are similar to arriving by plane at an airport. When you arrive by air, you clear immigration and customs at the airport. However, when you arrive by sea check-in is a two step process – the first step involves immigration clearances for the crew and the second step is “clearing in” of the boat. In Cape Verde, after you have docked at the marina, you must go searching for the immigration authorities, usually at a police station or at a port.  Once passports have been stamped, you need to meet with the port authorities along with your boat and insurance papers. The check-in process could end up taking all day if the various offices are across town.

Thankfully Mindelo is a small city, and these stations are right around the corner to each other. None of that mattered when we arrived, as they were closed for the weekend. Technically, one must fly a yellow quarantine flag and stay with the boat until you are fully checked in.  But not in “No Stress” Mindelo. Here you can walk into town, seat yourself at one of their many patio restaurants, down a few chilled beers and enjoy a nice dinner with live music. In short, make yourself at home. The formalities can wait till Monday

Soon we learned of more pressing matters that we had to deal with. I distinctly remember, when David, our skipper, dove under the boat to check the rudder leak and came back with some startling news- There was no damage to the rudder, but we were missing a keel on our port hull!

On catamarans, keels are for tracking a straight course in the water reducing sideways slippage. They are designed to be light and sacrificial and break off cleanly in case of a collision. But nobody had heard of keels just falling off in regular or even rough seas. Nautitech readily took ownership of the problem and tasked their engineers for a solution. Their assessment was that the new design of our boat made it much faster than earlier models and the method of gluing on the keel did not hold at fast speeds. The keel needed to be laminated to the hull. We were encouraged to learn that Nautitech already had a spare keel in their inventory and would ship it ASAP.

We live in a world with overnight Amazon prime delivery. Our immediate expectation was that we would have our keel in a couple weeks.  Another two weeks for installation and test and we would be on our way. While the delay was inconvenient, we still had 2 months before the start of the hurricane season.

But we had more surprises in store for us. First, we learn that Mindelo’s airport only handles smaller planes so large packages must come by cargo ship. And then we find out that there are only one or two cargo ships that come to Mindelo each month – and the next one would be a month away. Even though this delay would take us to the edge of hurricane season – we could manage it somehow.

After much coordination with Nautitech, they transported a replacement keel to a Lisbon shipping warehouse in time for it to be loaded onto a container for the next ship for Mindelo. We were told, it would leave Lisbon April 24^th and be in Mindelo in 9 days. Add a few days for customs clearance and we would have our keel in less than a month. A few weeks later, we saw the ship dock at the port and eagerly waited for our package.

Then came the unpleasant news that the shipping company did not load the container with the keel because it was not full. I am a “glass half-full” kind of a guy. I have been taught to take an optimistic view to the shrinking contents of my beverage container. But in the container shipping business, it is a very clear view – a half full container is half empty and cannot be shipped.    It would now be another month and possibly two before we could continue our passage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean.

Although things did not look so good on the repair front, it did not deter us from making the most of our stop in Cape Verde. As you can tell from our earlier posts, we made good our stay, visiting every corner of Sao Vicente and the neighboring islands of Santo Antao, Sal, Santa Lucia and Sao Nicolau. We made friends with folks from other boats that were in a similar situation. Our days took on a permanence that we were beginning to feel about our stay in Mindelo. Somewhere along the way, our mindset changed from short term visitor to a long stay resident.

Pretty please, could you move your ship sir

The busy Mindelo shipyard

The shipment finally arrived in late May, but unfortunately the shipyard where we were to be hauled out was busy with a cargo ship taking up the entrance to the haul-out spot.  We watched restlessly as days turned to weeks with no change.  The ship stayed rooted to the spot despite daily assurances from the shipyard engineer about its imminent departure. Our window to cross the Atlantic ahead of the hurricane season was quickly dwindling to a few days. Swagata had to make a trip back to the US to attend to some work matters. Which meant that she would not be there for the crossing.

Until one fine evening, we watched the ship slowly leave and move across the bay, do a 180 degree turn almost appearing to head back to the yard, but then changing direction once again for its final departure to destinations unknown.

The ability to improvise with scarce resources or “Jugaad” as is known in India is alive and well here in Mindelo. Meio do Atlantico is the local boat shop that epitomizes this spirit. Their simple motto is – “If it is man-made, we can fix it”. Each year scores of yachts like ours with all sorts of critical problems including engine failures, damaged rudder and autopilots, de-masting, etc. divert to Mindelo and they make these boats seaworthy again. Sometimes it takes a while to get all the parts or find suitable alternates, but they find a way to make it work – in many cases fabricating the parts themselves at their machine shop. And to boot they do it all with the typical Cape Verdean smile and swagger! And for that we are thankful to Kai, Cesar, Gilson, and their capable team.

We felt good that Meio do Atlantico was handling our repair. But in some respects, it was pushing the bounds of what they had done before.

Hanging by a few threads

To install a new keel the boat must be hoisted onto land and that is not without its risks. When a 44 foot catamaran is hanging by 4 chains in 20 knot winds, it acts like a sail and even 10 burly guys can find it extremely hard to control its orientation as it is moved to its intended resting spot.

Our spanking new keel with 5 coats of Copper coat antifouling

Our repair was completed by the end of June, but we had missed our weather window to cross the Atlantic. We had to pivot on our plans and we spent 3 months away from Cape Verde to take care of work and visit family.

No stress Mindelo is the city’s tag line. It is really a state of mind. Over many months we learned that frequently stress is a result of missing expectations and much of it is arbitrary. As the saying goes don’t sweat the small stuff and it’s all small stuff. Nothing brought it home to us as our experience in Mindelo. In a way, this is essential training for a blue water cruising lifestyle where much is outside our control, and very little goes per plan.