Atlantic Crossing: Starting out

Day 1:

The day of our departure started with going through the boat and immigration “Check out” process which was quick and efficient. After grabbing a quick coffee at out favorite café-Cremositos, for the last time, we headed back to the boat to fill our water and fuel tanks while Mihael took care of some last minute provisioning for eggs, bread and vegetables. The day before our departure, Mihael had checked the tightness of all the attachment points and cables of our steering and auto pilot and found several loose bolts. He tightened them and suggested we replace one of the bolts. We took a taxi to an auto parts shop to find the matching bolt.

We said our goodbyes to marina staff and the folks who worked on our boat who we had come to know them well over the past months. There were other cruisers making the crossing as well and “See you on the other side” was the common refrain. And then we threw our lines and were off.

Mindelo receding in the distance

As Jajabor rounded the bay, we raised the sails and soon were in the channel between the Sao Vicente and Santo Antao islands. This is an acceleration zone because of the narrow passage between the islands. It was 2 pm and we made good speed. Though excited to be finally on our way, we felt a heaviness seeing Mindelo receding in the distance, a place and people we had come to know so well.

Soon we were past Santo Antao heading in a south westerly direction. By the evening we had lowered our main sail and solent and raised our Parasailor. Now we were sailing dead downwind and making good progress at 8 to 10 knots as we settled in for the night.

Sailing dead downwind with our Parasailor

On our boat we have David Pritchard, our professional skipper for the crossing and Juan and Mihael, crew members who are joining us for the experience. Juan is from Argentina and has been working and travelling on a boat in the Mediterranean. He is trying to make his way back to Argentina. Mihael is Slovenian. He manages a team of airline technicians and is a glider pilot instructor. In his past life he spent 20 years as crew on a search and rescue police helicopter.

The Jajabor team at dinner
L to R: David, Swagata, Sunil, Juan, Mihael

Juan was on chef duty and baked pumpkin with grilled chicken was on the menu. Swagata and I were on the first watch from 9 to 12 pm.

Day 2 – 3:

The wind died sometime early morning. The weather map showed a huge swath of low wind. Our speed slowed to under 5 knots. This would last several days. The day was uneventful so we look forward to the evening meal.

Our Starlink allowed us to chat with other boats we had met in Mindelo. Dawdle, with Sara and Joe on board had a 4 day head start on us with good winds and were about 600 miles ahead of us. Holoholo, a Nautitech 46, with our friend Danel on board left about 16 hours behind us but were mired in the same lull and motor-sailing through it. They had seen a large pod of dolphins and a manta ray. It was good to be in touch with other boats in this wide open space. It was also a very novel experience, after not having the luxury of internet connection before, in open ocean.

It was David’s turn to cook and he was planning on grilling tuna. He had stocked up our freezer with freshly caught fish bought right off a fisherman’s boat in Mindelo. We had tuna steaks with grilled potatoes, carrots and sweet potatoes and some baked beans in sauce that we had bought in France.

The nights were pitch dark but when the moon rose the sky lit up and the sea shimmered under the full moon.

Sunset and moon rise from the boat

The next day turned out to be very similar with low winds and relatively calm seas which was comfortable and allowed us to enjoy the journey. We had settled into a comfortable watch schedule and our crew seemed to enjoy their first ocean passage. Mihael made Ričet, a Slovenian stew of barley and vegetables which was very satisfying.

Miha cooking Ričet