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Shelduck - Thu 5 Dec Chasing the Wind



Thursday 5 December Location:  15:24.042N 31:04.593W      
Distance travelled per 24 hours:
Tue 3rd: 128 miles
Wed 4th: 126
Thu 5th: 121
 
Since leaving the Cape Verde Islands on Monday we’ve only had an average of 8 knots of wind from the NE.  Monday we headed south from Mindelo in search of wind to the latitude of the southernmost leeward of the islands, Fogo and Brava.  Tuesday we headed west towards St Lucia and on Wednesday we added a southward heading to it.  So much for the so called constant Trade Winds!  We’ve had to use the engine due to complete lack of wind for nearly 6 hrs in the early hours of Wednesday morning. 
 
Over the past two nights we’ve seen 2 enormous tankers or container ships whose navigation lighting was not as per the rule book so it is hard to discern in the dark the direction and size and speed of the vessel.  They only appear at night for some reason. On Monday and Tuesday there were 3 other yachts within sight on the horizon, by Wednesday morning there was only one visible and it disappeared down below the horizon as when the wind finally edged up, Shelduck took off and pulled away quickly in the light air.  Other than the one large ship last night, we’ve seen no other sign of vessels for the last 24hrs.
 
Sightings: There is very little human or sea life! Our lone white rumped bird which I think is a Storm Petrel, has gone but this morning there were a pair of them instead for an hour or two.  The occasional sightings of large dark longer winged birds I think are Cory’s Shearwaters.  We also had a flying visit from a Frigate Bird.  No dolphins or whales and almost complete absence of phosphoresence/bioluminescence as we drive through the water.  It had been permanently there sparkling and flashing in our wake all the way down the coast of Africa.
 
Also a few frustratingly fleeting glimpses of what we think is Comet ISON low in the sky before dawn but we have been stymied by cloud and haze on the horizon so we are hoping to see something more tonight...


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