Year 3 -10th September 2026 -St Helena- Cape Verde -Day 8

Julian and I were on at 11.00pm until 2.00am and we knew we would cross the Equator on our watch. However, the wind was quite light and it would drop to 8 or 9kts and I would try and will it up again. We were therefore making slow progress of about 6 kts per hour. John wanted to be woken up as we got to the Equator and in fact we had not reached it by 1.45am when Mark and David arrived to take over from us. We got John up as well and we all watched the Latitude count down and at 01.56am we crossed the Equator under sail and from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern. Dave, John and Julian were not Pollywogs anymore and were now Shellbacks. This is the fourth time I have crossed the Equator on my circumnavigation.

Julian and I went to bed and I hoped the wind would stay up as we did not want to be called up in the night to get the Blue Baron down. Luckily this did not happen.

I was woken at 7.30am by Paul cooking bacon and eggs and the smell must have woken me. The wind had picked up to 13-15 kts and we were sailing well at 7-8 kts and normal service as it were was resumed. It was a lovely sunny day with blue skies and a few white fluffy clouds.

Julian and I took over at 8.00am and we had some breakfast and were enjoying the warmth of the sun. I checked the weather and although the models suggested we should gybe this was not right for our course so we were set to continue on our course on a port tack for the day. I eased the Blue Baron out more and brought in the tack line to flatten the sail and we were going well.

We set about the daily checks and others got up and went about their business, some doing some washing, showering or reading and resting.

Mark set about sorting out the fishing rods and lines and then he put out the lure and it was out all day – but we still did not catch anything.

We handed over to Mark and Dave and I prepared lunch of houmous, pilchards, salads, meats and cheese.

Due to the light winds in the night our 24-hour run to 12.00noon was 165nm. This was not as good as other days but not bad. I had a rest in the afternoon and then started a new book.

The afternoon was hot and as the day went on the wind began to decline. Mark made another loaf of bread. In terms of the wind, by about 5.00pm we were experiencing 7’s, 8’s and 9 kts which made it difficult for the Baron to fill. I willed it to increase but to no avail. We could try to carry on but we risked damaging the sail so regrettably I decided to get the sail down. We all knew what our roles were and so we got it down without it getting wet and stored it on deck. We had sailed for some 6 days non-stop on the Blue Baron and had sailed some 1,065nm without taking it down. It had done us a great service and I hope in the next few days to be able to use it again.

We started the engine and I put it in gori (efficient setting) and we started motoring at about 1,100 revs toward Cape Verde on the route which I had planned. I checked the wind and weather and it depends on who you believe but the wind will be light overnight but some suggest we should have some more wind tomorrow morning and others by midday. We then should be able to sail until the end of the day on the 13th or even perhaps the morning of the 14th. However it is likely we will start to get some rain and thunderstorms from the end of the 11th so I want to get the Baron away dry by then. We shall see what happens in the morning.

It was my turn to cook so I made a chicken curry with leeks and pepper with rice using a Mr Patak butter chicken sauce which was good I felt and everyone enjoyed it. At the beginning the gas cylinder ran out and so I quickly changed it over.

Julian and I took over at 8.00pm and we have the watch until 11.00pm and we will then be on again at 5.00am to see the dawn break. We settled down to motor through the night which is fine but we roll a bit in the swell as we have no sails up to steady our motion. If the wind does increase in the night we will use the genoa. I hope we do not have to motor the rest of the way as that will be a thousand miles of motoring and I am not sure we have enough diesel for that so I hope the wind helps us again over the next few days.

As I crossed the Equator for the last time you can imagine that my thoughts start to dwell on when I get home and the end of my adventure. I know I have a long way to go yet but it is not that far away now and I may be returning Stormbird to the A Hammerhead in Mercury Marina until she comes out of the water. It will be great to get back to my wife and family as I have missed them a lot. However, you either get on and do something like this or you don’t. I am very grateful to all of them that they did not try and stop me from this trip. I am also pondering what I will do when I return. Perhaps teach sailing, start a sailing consultancy business for those who are contemplating circumnavigations or long passages. This would help advise on the preparations required, what can wrong, what you need to take and all sorts of factors that you need to consider relating to the boat you will do it in.

Would anyone be interested in a book of my voyage? What about a Stormbird cookbook?  

Anyhow food for thought – let’s see. I have to get home first.    

The picture of the day is confirmation of the exact time we crossed the Equator into the Northern Hemisphere.  

 Need/Opportunity Year Three

I am now on the way to Cape Verde, Azores and back to the UK. 

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com