So, the World is a small place - With this blog you can follow the travels of the fantastic yacht Ocean Lady as she sails around the world.
We reached the half way point last night, weather is still being
favourable - although last night was very rolly!!
Hope to reach Grenada in 7-8 days time, all being well.
Our noon position was 13deg 01N, 42deg 48W, (Yesterdays noon position 13deg
07N, 41deg 36W)
Hope all is well at home.
x
Sunday was a particularly cloudy and overcast day, winds between 20 - 30
knots. Ocean Lady romped along with her usual collection of flying fish on
deck in the mornings. Laura cooked a fantastc roast pork with roast
potatoes, peas and cabbage last night in very challenging conditions. Last
night was particularly special as we saw two ships during the night. That
has been the only traffic for 6 days!
We are still in radio contact with one other vessel from Cape Verde, we seem
to be doing a very course and speed.
Tomorrow We'll reach the half way stage of ths leg all being well.
Our Sunday noon position was 13deg 37N, 36deg 23W.
Love to all at home,
xxx
Friday was a particularly fustrating day, hot (too hot), slight seas and not
enough wind. It would take us a month to get to Barbados with the current
wnd strength! With the thought of missing Santa shimming down the mast the
engine was started when needing to charge the batteries!
Our noon position on Friday was 14deg 12N, 30deg 26W. it was Alan's turn to
cook are we were served with a lovely plate of sausage and mash. Then
steadily throughout the night the wind increased. it was lovely to turn the
engine off and be maintaining a good speed towards our destination.
After an early lunch today we were treated to our first squall. A thick grey
cloud appeared from astern. Alan and Stu quickly reduced the headsails and
in turn we treated to a soaking! The cloud has now past and we've dried out,
Ocean Lady is back on course and doing 6 knots towards the Caribbean.
Our noon position was 13deg 55N, 32deg 38W.
Love to all at home hope your having a great weekend.
xxx
Dear all,
After a short stay we are leaving today heading for Barbados. We anticipate it lasting about 14 days, but again that is weather permitting.
We have had a very short and pleasant stay here in the Cape Verde Islands. The marina is nice with helpful staff. Our biggest issue has been communication, wifi access is very sporadic, and once you’re on its not long before you get pushed off! So apologise to friends and family for lack of or minimal communication.
We have found the Cape Verde Islanders to be generally very friendly and keen to help. There are definitely the general characteristics of a developing country when you leave the marina. Food sellers in the street probing you to buy from them, ladies with food balancing on their heads, lots of welcoming locals keen to introduce themselves to you, with something they can offer you! The atmosphere is very relaxed, chilled (bit of an African feel to the streets) lots of people looking generally very happy despite mostly looking for ways to get food or money. 70 % of the population are under the age of 30 which means there are lots of children playing and looking really happy which is really nice to see. The architecture definitely has traces of Portuguese influence, and the roads are very straight and cobbled, a little roman like! We like the feel to this Island, and wish we had more time to explore…but onwards and upwards to the Carribean! J
We will keep in touch as best we can!
Love to you all
Ocean Lady
Hello Everyone
Ocean Lady has successfully arrived at Sante grande in Sao Vicente in the Cape Verde Islands. The crossing from Lanzarote took us 7 nights in total, and such a lovely crossing. One day of no wind, other than that we have had 20 – 25 knots of breeze from the North East. We ran under twin yankee headsails both poled out. This was fantastic, a little rolly on the first day of setting it up, but this was because of an underlying Atlantic swell. Once set up they were adjusted twice. See photo uploaded.
The skies have been clear, the stars have been shining, shooting stars can be spotted almost every night! We had the most incredible encounter with dolphins as previously blogged. Unfortunately in my desperate attempt to take a photo that will justify how amazing it was, I took about 20 photos none of which justified it. See the uploaded photo. There are others that we can bore you with when we get home J
The fish quota was lacking, we tried green muppet lures, silver lures etc! But in the end the green muppet won. We were very excited to be called to the deck from Alan who was fighting to reel in the fishing line. He had caught a Mahi Mahi weighing in about 10 Ib, the little thing put up a good fight, but unfortunately it lost and Stu is preparing it for dinner tonight…yum yum!!! Alan’s skills in gutting fish were immense all done and dusted in 5 mins…Stu on the hand trying to clean the mess up not so good, and managed to lose Alan’s favourite 15 year old bucket overboard, a bucket that has been with the boat since she was launched and seen Alan through 80,000 miles of sailing…feel guilty Stu??? J
We have seen flying fish scanning the surface of the sea, and one was even caught on board (see photo). After 4 days of seeing no other boast the satisfaction of seeing land, and even better other boats was even great. One British couple in the marina have recognised the boat from Lanzarote and it turns out they leave on Tuesday for Barbados like us, so we can try to keep in contact during our journey.
Love to all at home
Ocean Lady
Dear All,
Alan arrived about 5:30pm yesterday, with hand luggage consisting of a new gear box for the engine, by 6pm both he and Stu were busy installing it. Thankfully all fitted nicely despite a few swear words when they dropped screws in the bilge. We have just downloaded a weather file and have decided to set sail for the Cape Verde Islands today! Sun is shining brightly with favourable winds, so our journey should be a little better than our journey from Gib.
With a crew of 3 we have worked out a rotating watch which means Alan and Stu will be on watch for 4 hours and then have 4 hours off, and Laura will be with both for 2 hours, meaning everyone manages to get at least 4 hours sleep. We are hoping for at least 2 days in Cape Verde Islands, but should the winds drop we may end up having to go straight over to Barbados (before heading over to Grenada for Christmas). We are looking forward to a pleasant sail nonetheless.
We will update the blog with our locations and any interesting stories on our way! Love to all at home!
Ocean Lady
xx
Stu and Laura have now been in Lanzarote for 4 days since Alan and Margaret left on Saturday for the UK. The marina is lovely and the sun is shining. We met up with Stu’s family friends John and Hilary on Saturday afternoon who happened to be holidaying here. We were glad they were able to come aboard Ocean Lady, and were grateful to them for taking the time to see us on the last day of their holiday!
We have treated ourselves to a meal out at a nice restaurant, but have been good and cooked on board the other nights, although this is very difficult when there are so many nice looking places to eat! We have been struggling with wifi here so apologies to family and friends waiting to skype.
Turns out life on a yacht is very sociable, we have met other couples who have quit jobs and set to sea for a year or more! Last night we were invited onto a Dutch couple’s boat for drinks, they left this morning so we are now waiting to meet the new neighbours.
We hope to finish jobs today and then go for a look around the volcanoes here on Thursday. Fingers crossed we plan to leave on Sunday for the Cape Verde Islands.
Love to all at home especially those in West Drayton, thinking of you!
Stu and Laura
xx
Hello everyone,
Sorry for the lack of contact since leaving Gibraltar. We have had issues with emailing when at sea, followed by tough weather which made trouble shooting the issues impossible!!
Since our last blog life hasn’t been plain sailing. The wind turned off overnight so another day of motor sailing (Wed), then on Thursday the wind started coming from the south west – exactly where we wanted to go!! The wind ranged between 20 and 40 knots, with a large Atlantic ground swell, making conditions challenging. Trying to sleep in the Saloon was akin to trying to sleep on a rollercoaster!!
We have been eating well, dinners range from Tuna and pasta bake (not freshly caught – yet), roast lamb, Gammon etc, until conditions got bad when we opened Morrisions Beef stew and dumplings – new improved recipe (similar to dog food) served with some fantastic visual effects of head over the side by Stu prior to eating.
Even in the windy weather the sunsets have been stunning, the night sailing has been moonlit and the stars are blinding every night.
Finally after a very drawn out voyage we arrived in Porto Calero around 3am on Saturday. Unfortunately the Marina was full and we had to move down the coast to Marina Rubicon. A lovely marina complex with pool, restaurants and good facilities. Sadly Alan and Margaret have unexpectedly had to fly home so Laura and Stu have been left with a 40 foot yacht in the sun. Unfortunately the yacht needs a good sort out and clean following the voyage! But we are looking forward to a few days of rest and catching up on sleep, followed by some exploring of the Island.
Love to all,
Stu
Laura’s additions for all non sailors!
Offshore sailing in not so nice conditions = NOT being in my bikini the whole way round, thermal tops and offshore kit have already been out! Before using the toilet battling with the pump to ensure you can pump your wee out before it leaks over the toilet due to the rocking of the boat. Not showering for 5 days, banging your head whilst trying to get up for your watch in the middle of the night, or even better at 4am in the morning. Waking up to find all our clothes on top of us after getting hit by a squall (lots of wind). Cooking involves clinging on for dear life so that you don’t end up wearing your lovely hot dinner that is cooking on a moving stove! Oh yeah, your toilet is not a toilet its ‘the Heads’ a kitchen’s not a kitchen it’s ‘a galley’ my bedroom’s not a bedroom it’s an ‘aft cabin!’ jeeez I have lots to learn J don’t worry this all said! A great adventure! And despite being assured uphill sailing wasn’t going to be part of our trip, I have been assured that the next trip will all be down hill! I am still typing with a grin on my face, and looking forward to the next chapter! Now off to absorb some sun, food and drink! J
xxx
