JUMP!

And we take the plunge. The undertow of the Atlantic has been pulling at us for some time now. And at the other sailors here,too. The die is cast, we've e-mailed our date and checked the weather.
We draw up the anchor and head out of the harbour early in the morning. Suddenly Eirill from "Veto" is at our side in their dinghy. She notices our departure and is speeding over with a little Christmas present for us, Wow! But, no shaking, or peeking!

One long blow in our brass horn and we exit Mindelo's Porto Grande. We sail west, leaving Sao Vicente and the Cape Verdes behind. We're out of Africa, heading towards the Caribbean on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. It'll be about 20 days of westward sailing, hopefully in steady North-East trade-winds. This was Christopher Columbus' favorite route, via the Cape Verdes, to India!

After a four hour sail throuth the channel between Sao Vicente and the larger island, St. Antao, we meet "confused" seas, but no wind. Rolling and pitching and getting nowhere. And very uncomfortable, too. I take sea-sickness tablets for the first time since...? and Oernulf starts the motor. This is the famous trade-winds? I'm going to love this crossing.

But three hours of motoring bring us to calmer waters. We pole out the genoa to some real sailing. And time for dinner. The Cape Verde fresh produce isn't quite the Canary quality. It's riper, so we have to go for it now or never. We "wok" a good stew, eat and wash up before sunset and darkness. At 6pm.

The dark hours are divided into three hour watches, two each, between 7pm to 7am. The other sailboats that left about when we did have dispersed and disapeared. A cargo ship passes behind us on the first watch. That's it. Then it's just us, not even a moon. But Orion rises on my first watch, the Big Dipper on my second. That's the entertainment on this Saturday night.