Day 8 – Saturday 16 January 2016

Kandiba

Today is a great day for us in Atlantic Odyssey.

First of all everything is in good mood on board of Kandiba and the Crew feels very good since the start of Odyssey.

Tonight we reached to the target point in the south and we turned to west. We started the day with fair trade winds.

After so many days w/o seeing an odyssey participant boat or even the lights of them, since yesterday we are very close to Bebe and today we sail together.

At the start of Odyssey the main concern was the lack of wind for all the traditional routes and the low pressure on those routes. So we had to take the course to Cape Verdes both for security and also for good winds although we had to make some more hundred miles.

Later the whole fleet started to concern about another low occuring on Cape Verdes and there were almost no way to avoid other then following the safest course and route. we tried to make the best decision according to weather forecast and we took safety as the priority. We always sailed with reduced sails or we headed to west with low engine speed. The crew was quite confident and responsible.

Another issue for the crew at the start was to adaptation in a long passage. Despite the lack of wind at the start, three days voyage on calm see was a great chance for adaptation. All three of us did not suffer from the conditions and adapted well. Even our dog enjoyed those days on board.

Despite the hectic week before the start, with all kind of technical problems in the last moment, after start we did not face any major problem.

We left Murphy in Tenerife I guess and hope.

Finally Martinique is on our course and we are enjoying sailing together with the Odyssey fleet.

Türkiye’deki dostlarımıza da selamlar.

Hasan- Zehra- Fatmagul

Fenicia

Position at 0600UTC Sat 15 Jan 16 – 18deg 53min N, 24deg 05min W.

So yesterday we think we met Alex, Hurricane Alex! Well, only the tip of a very long tail but we had strong winds of over 40 knots most of the night. Hand steering (for 10 hours) with stay sail and heavily reefed mainsail, although sometimes feeling like a workout at the gym, was effective and we made good progress.

Yesterday, Day 7, was a complete contrast with only light and variable winds so we’ve had plenty of opportunity to recharge the batteries (both boat and human) with very gentle sailing through the night under a fantastic, starlit sky.

Now we are hunting for the Trades which, we believe, will re-establish themselves this weekend so we can, at last, think about heading westwards

Balou

Mindelo

Wir sind heute früh in Mindelo angekommen für einen Kurzstopp. Zu meiner großen Entrüstung hat die blöde Kurzwelle meine Berichte seit dem 3. Tag nicht übertragen.

Wird so schnell wie möglich nachgereicht.

From Balou’s blog

• About Balou

Day 7 – Friday 15 January 2016

Bebe

We are nearly 30% complete. We have turned westward and soon will be pointing for Martinique.

Some of the fruit is spoiling faster than we can eat it, but other than that, all is OK. We still have not caught a fish while many of the other boats have caught more than one. Judy is surprising us each day with some really great “home cooked” meals and the only thing we all would like that we cannot have is pizza…Andrew wants African Pizza…I am not sure what that is.

It has turned from wonderfully cool temperatures of the Canaries to hot and sticky of the tropics…it is late afternoon and in the mid 80’s. Three of the 4 Amels in Atlantic Odyssey II have turned toward Martinique, while the fourth Amel and many other boats are stopping in Cape Verdes for fuel and other things.

Oh, the tropical LO pressure system that was giving us some greif has turned into a full hurricane, named, “Alex” and is threatening areas much further north than our position. We are currently sailing through the wake of Alex and suffering from little or no wind. We believe that will change in 24 hours.

Bill & Judy and Andrew

Libertad

Hurricane Alex – north and east of us….rest easy

Just wanted to make a quick post in case you have heard about Hurricane Alex in our area. We are totally fine. In our previous post we mentioned that some boats east of us had higher winds (up to 55 knots) from what we now hear was Tropical Storm Alex, now upgraded to Hurricane Alex. But it has passed our area and is to the north and east of us.

We had some lumpy seas last night that resulted from that storm, but we were well west of it, being on the western edge of the fleet-at least those we are in contact with on the SSB radio.

We had a good sail starting at dinner time and part of the night, but then hit a wind hole and have been motoring…..no problem, much prefer that than encountering Alex.

Temperatures getting warmer and starting to feel like the tropics.

We should be in Mindelo, Cape Verde sometime tonight or early morning. Will post again after we arrive.

All’s well on board

From Libertad’s blog

• About Libertad