Xenial - Day 7 - Arrival in Cape Verde

Now that the crew is sitting down for lunch and having a well deserved beer, I can tell you about last night, or better about the very early hours of today.

Where did we leave it at? We were sailing downwind with only the gennaker and making good progress towards Mindelo. The whole crew was on deck looking out to the finish line, under some great stars and a nearly full moon. In the channel between the two islands the wind picked up some speed and we were happily approaching the finish line doing a good 8 knots, and got excited when we went over 10 knots.

And then WHAM, literally 50 meters from the finish line the wind picked up even more and we broached! The boat heeled and the sail started flapping aggressively. Remember how the trimming and sailing committee had appointed a dedicated gennaker sheet trimmer? Well, in all our excitement about arriving, we had not appointed a trimmer after the main sail came down, so the sail caught wind again and the boat proceeded to broach for the second time. Finally someone got hold of the yellow gennaker sheet and released the sail, restoring some stability to the boat. But it was not over yet, we had to rush to the bow to bring the gennaker down, not an easy feat in a channel with high gusts of wind and other boats maneuvering. Nothing like a good adrenaline rush to finish the first leg on a high note :)

We, and the boat, were a bit shaken, but no-one and nothing was lost at sea, the sail didn’t rip and the boat held very well. All our careful plans to get the exact timing of us crossing the line went out of the window, so we estimated an arrival time of 01:44:15 based on two clock readings made by my phone, whifh incidentally was filming throughout the whole episode. You can’t hear much in the footage, the sail was flapping so loudly that even the boat ahead of us heard it! Good thing it was pitch dark and no one else witnessed our less than spectacular sailing across the finish line.

We then checked in with race control, and safely moored in the marina of Mindelo. After a very stiff drink on board (caipirinhas, whiskey, negroni, gin&tonic…to each their own), we all went to bed for some well deserved sleep.

Our second morning started around 9am with some poached eggs and avocado over toast, and we were then put to work by Captain Ulrik to clean the boat. Nothing like the excitement of the early morning hours, but I don’t think we mind some peace and quiet.

Over and out,
Mavi