On our way

22 February 2013

The expectations are high; everyone is excited and nervous at the same time. Finally we start our Atlantic crossing. Even though we have left Rotterdam long ago, it does feel a bit as a beginning of the global circumnavigation again. The night before departure we have a captain’s meeting with Gijs, from ‘Tecla’. What time you aim to depart? Where shall we cross the equator? How do we keep in touch, what frequency on the radio and what times? Tecla departs early next morning and set course to 27 degrees west longitude to cross the equator. We depart after lunch and decide to go a bit more easterly and sail across Brava and Fogo. We sail into the bay of Faja (on Brava). The ocean swell is quite heavy and we decide to to continue, because going on land with the dinghy here would be a bit too dangerous. Unfortunately we have no wind when we leave the island, the volcano on Fogo is 3000 meters high. Until we are far at sea, this keeps us away from a firm wind. About 20 miles later we are back at good sailing conditions, even though the wind decreases a bit. We are successful now in catching fish; in the afternoon we catch a lovely dolphin fish. The fish looks lovely and strong. It takes us some effort to kill, but we will enjoy it during dinner. Later the same afternoon we catch a bigger fish, but it escapes before the take. The ‘Tecla’ is 50 miles ahead of us. We see her come and go on the AIS. We enjoy the sun and decide our course. We forget to get in radio contact in time with the ‘Tecla’and will try again tomorrow. We hope to get closer tomorrow.