Year 3 -20 August 2026 -Day 2 Cape Town-ST Helena
We were motoring in the night but Mark was able to put the sails up by about 3.00am as the wind increased and Julian and I took over at 5.00am. It was a lovely stary night and the sky began to show some light about 6.16am and by 7.00am the sun began to climb out of the sea or so it looked. The pinks of the dawn were stunning. The watch went well and we maintained our course although we had to call up a cargo ship to check they had seen us.
We were off at 8.00am and so we had breakfast. Julian had to do some work and I tried to sort out my Starlink which had not worked properly since I left Cape Town. It would connect and then drop out and then it suggested there were obstructions but there are no obstructions. I cleaned the dish and as requested had to take all the leads out and leave it for 5 minutes and then out them all back again. This did not make any difference. Luckily Julian had a mini Starlink otherwise I would not be able to post this blog. This is extremely annoying. They are looking into the problem.
I checked the weather and set waypoints and we made the best course we could toward them but were not quite able to make the course exactly. The wind was such that this was Blue Baron territory – the parasailor.
This is a beast of a sail to prepare and get up but worth it in the end. I summoned up the energy and began with the block on the prodder and the sheets and feeding them through to the right positions and winches. We then got the sail on deck and set about preparing it. It needed all 6 of us in the end.
Paul was in the cockpit helming at 130 degrees, Mark and Dave on the snuffer line, Julian and John holding on to the snuffer for release and I winched the sail up the mast which takes some time and effort. By this stage it was moving around in the wind and we needed to guide the snuffer to the rail and then begin to rise the snuffer. I stopped the process and asked for the snuffer to be brought down quickly as I could see a part interfering with the sail. We cleared this and tried again and up she went like a thing of beauty. We adjusted the tack line and sheet and we were soon sailing along well and this time on course for our waypoint. It is such a good sail when up and pulls Stormbird along at 7-8 kts easily depending on wind strength.
We had all had a good work out and needed some lunch and Mark had prepared some egg mayonnaise.
and coleslaw which was just what was required.
The sun was out and it was quite warm and we cruised along well and in a flat fashion as this sail seems to flatten the waves. We enjoyed and marvelled the sail for the afternoon. We made 170nm for the 24-hour period 12-12noon which was about right.
I checked the weather again and a front was coming over from South America and there will be a bit of a wind hole tomorrow unless we keep North of a line. It also looked like we would get some strong winds overnight some 20-25 kts. I therefore decided at 5.15pm to get the Blue Baron down. This needed all 6 of us again and went well and we soon had it secured to the deck.
I decided to use the genoa only so we could keep North of that line and this worked well and we made some reasonable progress. However, the swell began to increase as a result of the front and we were still rolling quite a bit. The sun went down and Mark made Babootie for supper, an African staple dish and it was delicious.
Julian and I went off watch at 8.00pm and we went straight to bed as we had the 2.00am-5.00am watch. However the rolling was so bad I could not sleep. We came on at 2.00am and the wind in the night had been up to 32 kts (Force 8) and it had been somewhat unpleasant but it is due to calm down by the morning. It was a good job we got the Blue Baron down when we did.
The picture of the day is of course the Blue Baron flying.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
I am now on the way to St Helena, 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