Year 3 -12th September 2026 -St Helena- Cape Verde -Day 10

Julian and I were on at 2.00am and we were still motoring. There was some wind but it was not that high and it would dip down to the odd 3, 4 and 5 kts from time to time so I knew we had made the right decision to bring it down.

However, by about 3.15am we had some good wind and from the right direction. I was not going to get everyone up to get the Blue Baron up but thought we should be able to use the white sails. I prepared the main and then started to bring it out but the outhaul (the rope and car which brings the sail along the boom) would only move about a foot and then it stopped but it would go in. I tried it a few times and it did not change so we had a problem. We have a manual outhaul which we can connect but I was not going to do this at night so I thought we will need to look at it in the light. We therefore continued motoring.

We handed over to Mark and Dave and I explained the problem that I had encountered. We also have an issue with the vang which pushes the boom up or down as it had no pressure in it and it was on its stoppers whereas it should be up about 10cms.

I went to bed and woke about 9.15am. Paul and John were having their cooked breakfast again and I had some granola as we have no yoghurt or fruit anymore. They were on watch until 12.00noon.

When Mark got up we discussed the outhaul and vang situation. We thought of winding up the topping lift which is tied to the back of the boom and when we did so the vang did move but it was very tight. We tried the outhaul again and it moved a foot and stopped. Yet you could move the car with your hand quite easily. We assumed that the angle of the boom may have prevented it working but this should not be the case.  We therefore fitted the manual outhaul so we can control the back of the sail but we have to do this from the mast rather than from the cockpit. This took some time and the wind had slowly built. It was odd but whilst we had cloud around it was sunny and warm and no sign of rain at present.

The 24-hour run to 12.00noon was only 144nm as we had motored slowly at about 6kts to conserve fuel. By about 12.15pm I thought we could use the Blue Baron again and so at 12.31pm up she went -being rather damp from overnight. We were soon sailing well about 7 kts and more or less on target which was faster than motoring and we are not using any diesel.

We decided to contact Warren and Chris from Cape Town who did the rigging works and I sent them a message. Within an hour or so I spoke to Chris and he went through a number of things. He said that the outhaul could be a loose hydraulic connection or that something inside the boom had come loose. In terms of the vang it could be that it has lost its gas. Warren suggested taking all pressure off the vang and opening the value and then try and raise with the topping lift and this worked much better so we now had a means of getting round the vang problem until it could be looked at. I then went to check all the hydraulic connections and noticed one had just come loose on the outhaul connection. It was very difficult to detect unless you were very close. Mark and I reconnected it and then we tried again and it worked!! That was the problem. We connected it all up again and we removed the manual outhaul and put back the hydraulic and we pulled the sail out and in and it worked. Thank you – we have resolved the problem. That’s boats for you and it has taken us a number of hours of playing around.

We had lunch of cheese and meats and of course coleslaw of which we are running out of too. We probably have about 5 days to go until we get to Cape Verde and we hope to be able to stock up there.  

The afternoon wore on and we made good progress of some 7-8 kts each hour and in the right direction and no rain-in fact it was sunny and warm. The models did not forecast this but we might as well make hay while the sun shines. 

Mark prepared a tuna and a sort of ratatouille sauce with rice which was delicious and we eat in the light. As we have come North it has become lighter longer in the evenings.

The wind stayed at a good strength so I decided we would try and sail through the night. The models suggest there was no wind but one forecast wind until about 12.00noon to 1.00pm tomorrow and then that is it until the 15th. We shall see and take each day by day as it is a very difficult area to forecast.  

I made a loaf of bread to keep us going and decided to stay up until our watch at 11.00pm.

 The picture of the day is Dave, John and Julian and if you look closely a rainbow in the background where there was rain but luckily not with us.

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