Year 3 -4th September 2026 -St Helena- Cape Verde -Day 2

I slept well and Julian and I were on at 8.00am-12.00noon. It was still grey and there were clouds about some of which held drizzly rain and which would increase the wind a bit. In fact on some occasions it went up to 27-29 kts and I saw for a second 32 kts. It was too strong for the Blue Baron. Paul made bacon and egg sandwiches which was a great start and then we started the daily checks and I found 4 dead reasonable sized flying fish on the deck. They were not really big enough to bother descaling and gutting. I did the outside checks and Julian did the inside. I also put the generator on for a few hours and made fresh water from sea water using my desalination water maker. It took a few hours but I filled the Port tank which was empty and then topped up the starboard. Each tank holds 805lts.

We watched the weather and the sun came out a bit. It was warm in the sun and the weather was definitely getting warmer and I had shorts and a tee shirt on- the first time properly for a while. We thought we may try the Blue Baron at 11.45 am – about the change of the watches and so we prepared everything. As we did so a squall came and the wind increased to 24/25 kts whereas it had been 14-17 kts for a long time. I therefore stopped the raising of the Blue Baron and we continued under genoa and main. This was annoying as without the little gusts the conditions were ideal for the Blue Baron.

Mark and Dave took over from us and the 24 hour 12.00noon run was 180nm and we had done 189 nm since leaving St Helena – not bad for a first day. We had lunch of pate and toast and salad and coleslaw and luncheon meats.

Some rested and read after lunch and we were making good progress but there was almost full cloud cover and it was grey and dull. The swell remained consistent and when the wind died below 13 the swell was stronger than the wind and so the sails could flog a bit. In other words the wind gets behind them and then they flap when they fill again. We sailed a bit closer to the wind to help with this but this could mean we could go off course.

I looked through the cards for the chart plotters as I will soon need one for the Azores and of course the UK for when I get back and they will be a little out of date. I also looked at my mileage and from 18 July 2023 to December 2024 -what I call Year 1 I did 17,966nm. Year 2 -8,423.9nm and so far this Year – Year 3 I have done 8873nm so far – meaning I have sailed since I left the UK some 35, 262.90nm with some 4,800nm odd to go. Quite a sobering thought.

Paul and John took over at 4.00pm and we were sailing well and we had had no squalls for a while. I checked the weather and the wind was supposed to be 12-15 kts during the night although it does not tell me about these small rain clouds. Even though we were sailing about 110 degrees off the wind the sails were flogging a bit and so I decided we would try the Baron for the night and see how it went. This would not flog and provided the wind stayed above 10 kts it would fly nicely.

We prepared the Baron for launching which takes some time as we check that the lines are not crossed and are not going to twist. We got in the white sails and then I winched up the Blue Baron right up and we found a couple of dead flying fish under it!!

We positioned it and up she went well -first time. We were soon sailing along well at an angle of about 135 degrees off the wind and doing some 7-8 kts in 12-15 kts of wind and in the right direction. This was just before sunset and we tidied up and I got on with supper.

I had suggested earlier pasta pesto as we had had a lot of meat and fish recently. Everyone agreed so we had a sundried tomato pesto with penne and green beans. We all enjoyed it.

The tricolour mast head light went on for the night as did the red night colour for the instruments and we settled down for another night and our watches. We were making some good progress and getting nearer to Ascension Island to our North. We hope the winds and gusts will be kind so we do not have to wake people in the night to get the Blue Baron down.

The picture of the day is of the Blue Baron flying in the grey sky ahead of us as seen from inside the cockpit.

 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