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Merlyn III - Merlyn III - Our feet never touched the ground



 Obliged to head further south than intended by  the reluctance of the trade wind to put in an appearance, we made a virtue of necessity by making a pit stop  at Mindelo in the Cape Verde Islands.
It is a jagged, grey, rather forbidding volcanic landfall which we reached just before 10 this morning. Mercifully we won an unofficial race into the marina with a flotilla of four other boats – the immensely valuable prize was getting first slot at the fuel pontoon. Within one hour we had refuelled, replenished the water tanks, and failed to leave our plastic rubbish behind – to have done so would have involved going ashore, signing in with the port police, the customs, and other no doubt charming people who might have held us up.
 
As it was, we sailed away,  our feet not  having touched the Cape Verdes - leaving a Brit fighting off stalwart attempts by a Swedish yacht (assuredly not an ARC participant to judge by his behaviour) to jump the queue for next slot in the fuel berth. We were soon out into the best wind we have had all trip, a steady south-easterly blowing up to 39 knots true. Under the genoa alone we made an average of more than 8 knots with one brief reading of 12. Quite  a big following sea gave us a foretaste of what the trip should  be like if the trade wind  ever establishes itself - rolling but exhilarating.
 
And unfortunately  too good to last.  The wind has eased and veered more to the south throughout the afternoon, the sea has subsided, and we are now sailing into the sunset at a much more leisurely pace. Tomorrow promises to be fairly windless, but we hope for something more positive in the next couple of days ...
 
Jonathan
 


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