Year 3 -11th September 2026 -St Helena- Cape Verde -Day 9

Julian and I were back on at 5.00am and we were still motoring. The wind had not really increased bit we were making progress toward our target. My concern was whether we had enough diesel to motor the whole way if we had to. Stormbird carries about 1.605lts in 2 tanks and 100lts in Jerry cans. I estimated we had used since St Helana about 100Lts in the short periods we had used the engine when dealing with the Baron and of course the twice daily charging of the batteries and making water.

We had about 957nm to go which say at an average of 6.5kts was 149 hours – some 6.2 days (24 hours a day) of motoring. At 1,100 revs Stormbird uses 7-8 lts an hour. Taking a conservative approach this is about 1,192 kts of diesel. This should easily be enough. However, that is a lot of diesel and the more we can avoid motoring the better. We shall just see what we can do to minimise this.

The sky began to lighten at about 6.15am and we could make out the horizon to start with and then the day began like the opening of the petals of a flower in the sun. In addition by about 7.30am the wind began to fill in – not really forecast. I think the models struggle in this area as every time I look at the forecast things have changed and the routes they suggest vary so much. I have been following a middle course and staying in the middle and taking advantage of the wind whichever model suggests it.

Mark and Dave came to take over at 8.00am and I thought we could fly the Baron now. Paul was up as he wanted his bacon and eggs and we got John out of bed. The Baron went up at about 8.21am and we then began to sail nicely slightly to port of our middle line but at a good sailing angle as it was suggested that the wind would be greater to port. The sun came out and it was hot and humid. Mark put out a fishing line. In the end we all had bacon and eggs apart from Julian.

The morning passed quite quickly. I had a bit of a rest and Mark and Dave did their daily checks. I checked the engine room and in particular the engine from its overnight run and I topped up the coolant a little.

The 24-hour run to 12.00noon was on 162nm to reflect the lower wind and due to the motoring speed. It was though another 162 nm off our journey.

We had our usual lunch of houmous, meats, cheeses and salad and coleslaw. We are running out of salad now.

The afternoon passed and we were sailing well with the wind mainly being 10-13 kts which was enough and as time went on I pondered what to do about the night. The wind continued at this strength with the odd 9 kts here and there but the sail seemed to take this. As dusk approached we suddenly got a fish on the line. I rushed to the rod and saw a large Marlin jump out of the water with its sail up and then the line snapped. It was a huge fish for our line and we may have struggled to have got it on board. Mark was in any event making some more chocolate brownies at that time which we shall all enjoy for our night watches. The smells wafting from the galley whilst cooking were mouth-watering!  

I decided that as the wind was still good that we would try and fly the Baron overnight so we continued to sail. Julian and I had taken over at 4.00pm and we were able to make the wind work for us. We had after all saved 8 hours of diesel – at least 64 lts which could make a difference.

John cooked another chicken stew with couscous which was flavourful and warming. We settled down for the night. However, as time went on the wind lessened and we saw the odd 8 or 7 kts and the sail was beginning to struggle. It was dark by now and I knew it would not be easy to take the Baron down in the dark. We were due to handover to Mark and Dave at 8.00pm and I thought that would be a good time to make a decision.

I decided to take the Baron down and so we put on Deck Light 1 – which is under the first spreaders of the mast and we all got up and to top it all -it started to rain! The sail came down quite easily and then we strapped it to the deck on the starboard side and secured it. We then started to motor again on our direct course at 1,100 revs.

We had got it down in the dark well which was good but we were all soaked as was the Baron. Mark and Dave changed and the rest of us went to bed taking off our wet clothes.

It was the right decision as the wind became fickle and if we had not done it then – we would all have been up at some time in the night. We hope the morning will bring us wind again but I know we are approaching the thunderstorms and heavy rain which lie in our path between here and Cape Verde. This is something we cannot avoid.

 The picture of the day is Paul and Mark in the cockpit.

 Need/Opportunity Year Three

I am now on the way to Cape Verde, Azores and back to the UK.  At present I am full and there will be a change of 3 crew in the Azores for the final passage 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