A long, windy night: towards São Nicolão

The good ol´northeasterlies are back. Time to sail on. This time it´s an overnighter to the Ilha do Sao Nicolao, to the bay of Terrafal. We check out at the blue harbour-police house. Have a last, icy-cold beer and a goodbye at "Cantinha" and take the dinghy on board and off we sail.

After the quiet waters in the shadow of the island we hit some wind and put in a couple reefs. We have to work hard at not sailing too fast; we don´t want to arrive in the dark. The wind's up in 25 knots and our speed is about 6 knots. The seas are choppy and a cloudy moonless sky keeps visibility limited to the white foam about the hull. That's when the radar's good to have. For example to see the weak anchor light of another sailboat, when no navigation lights, red and green,are visible. Also good form making headlands visible, where the maps aren´t always to be trusted.

After a good wok veggie-and-tuna dinner we have a long windy night, busy re-adjusting sails and keeping watch over dark sailboats and headlands.