Fernando de Noronha to Brazil

This morning I took over watch from Thibault at 6am. Boat time is UTC+2,
and during the night we arrived at the coast of Brazil. A light drizzle
was falling, and the morning light was a lightish orange colour as the
sunlight was was filtered by the soft rain. The soft rain was also
blocking the wind a bit, and I started one of our motors to keep our speed
up, assisting the gennekar. Thibault and myself were chatting a bit when I
saw the wind picking up slightly from 7kts to about 12 kts. Often the wind
would be very light, and as soon as you start a motor the wind picks up
again. Strange but true. I was keeping an eye on what was coming from
behind when the wind starting climbing to 15kts, and just in time I saw
the surface of the water in the background flattening out as a stronger
wind was coming through. In a flash I knew what was happening and asked T
to get ready to drop our big powerful gennekar, and to do it quick. During
the gentle periods I've trained the crew to keep the uphaul and downhaul
separate, for an occasion just like this, where there is just no time to
try and figure out which one pulls the sail up and which one pulls the
sail down. In a flash T was ready, the wind rapidly shifted direction and
backfilled the sail, and as he started pulling the sail down the wind
exploded on us at about 50kts which would have ripped our sail to shreds
if she was still up. Boats have also been dismasted like this. From behind
the helm I was releasing the sheet and it slipped from being a bit wet,
giving me a nasty little rope burn across my fingers. I used my foot as
well to gain control of the sheet again and a nice rope burn on my foot
was the result. Once the sheet was free I moved forward quickly to help
Thibault to bring the sail down. Fortunately the adrenalin was pumping and
I did not feel any pain as we had serious work to do. The rain was pelting
down now but the sail was down and we were safe. A few rainbows appeared,
what a way to start the day ! I attended to my rope burns and fortunately
just blisters. From many years of experience I instinctively made sure my
fingers didn't get between the winch and the rope, and also made sure my
feet didn't get tangled in the rope. That would have been seriously bad,
losing some fingers or/and a foot. While we are waiting for the weather to
settle a bit, I have some headsail out and motoring to charge the
batteries as well. Tricky to say the least. The weather seem to stay a bit
strong, and I won't be lured into flying the gennekar. She has now been
flying for 21 days on the trot, day and night. Instead, we have "Stormy"
our loose headsail which we fly in unison with our genoa for the stronger
stuff. Our goal is to sail fast and safe :), and we have all the toys,
thanks to our awesome team in Cape Town. The advantages to sail for the
best delivery team in the world.

We have been doing great speed the last few days, and three days ago we
hooked a marlin. Although our line is 1500kg breaking strain tied to a
bungee cord, the line snapped like cotton. Unlike a sportfisherboat that
uses rods and reels and can turn around quick and pursue the marlin while
giving it some line, we keep on moving forward. No reel and thus no line
to give out and no way we cn turn around at a whim and chase the fish. I
heard the commotion outside and the marlin was jumping out of the water
trying to shake the lure. An unforgettable sight, and the hook will rust off
within a few days, the acids in the fish's mouth combined with saltwater
will make sure of that. Lucky fish !!!

The night before last, Saturday night we sailed past Fernando de Noronha,
about 30nm south of this beautiful island, playground for the wealthy
Brazilians. Made me think of my crazy friends in Brazil. Guga, legendary
sailor and Garret, restaurateur extraordinaire, who together makes a mean
team sailing a racing trimaran and who also won the last race from Fernando
de Noronha to Recife in Brazil. Sailing on the edge of the edge, and if I
remember correctly they wacked it in under 24 hours. Pure racing machine,
no luxuries, no auto pilot, just a tiller. Out in the open with seaspray in
there faces. Guga at the helm, Garret holding the sheet ready to let it go
just before they broach. Broaching is when your boat gets tumbled forwards
into the waves, and no, you don't ever want to do that. Making their
sponsors proud, Lubrax being their main sponsor. Crazy cats on a trimaran,
but good cats. This race is held annually, and is highly competitive. And
then there is Christiano, or Chris, crazy gourmet chef, who prepares his
meals with great gusto and passion, travelling the world plying his trade.
And another friend, Jappa, real name Henrique, investor of note who plays
the stock market.Father Brazilian, mom Japanese, hence the name Jappa ;) Oi
!!!! to all my very good friends in Brazil. One love to your all.

Yesterday at 2pm we passed Atol dos Rocas. We came within 2nm of this
incredibly beautiful atholl, and made radio contact with the marine
biologists who stays on a very small patch of seasand. Google earth this
place and you will see what I mean by a small patch of seasand. I have
sailed pass here on a few occasions before, and I am always a bit nervous
sailing in close proximity to this ring of jutting rocks and shallow water.
A shipwreck tells the tale of the dangers of bad navigation. I radioed them
twice, and after a few minutes a guy replied. I asked if he speaks English,
and no, no English. A few minutes passed when a female voice came over the
radio, and she could speak English. We had a most delightful little chat,
sharing info and pleasantries. They were a team of four, have been on the
atholl for a month, and will be replaced by another team within the next
few days. We also had our very first visit by dolphins since we left Cape
Town. Atholls are formed when a volcano erupts from the ocean floor and
rises to the surface where it cools down, then sink slightly back into the
sea. Corals cover the surface, and inside the crater you have shallower
water where fish breed in great safety. Very interestin how they are formed
and how they support marine life.

Stuart and myself have taken up learning to speak French, and I pulled out
of the hat a French Rocket Language course that I purchased years ago. What
a pleasure to have Thibault here to guide us as well. He now at times
just speaks French to us, for a whole day. A lot of laughs and good banter.
And Stuart and myself also now greet each other in French and make small,
very small conversations. With poi Thibault is a step or two ahead of me in
mastering this ancient performance art. Last night the guys cracked some
glow sticks and you can imagine the swirling patterns they created. I
unfortunately was asleep. They glow for about 8 hours, and we were planning
to crack them early in the evening. While Stuart was attaching them to the
poi ball, he cracked one by accident, and what the heck, cracked both and
started playing. Happy to report that I have suffered no injuries anywhere
from the flying balls on a chain with swivels. We have enough glow sticks
to last a while. It just gives Thibault and me an idea of what you can do
with poi. From my side I am teaching the boyz how to bake bread, make
flapjacks and a few sailing tricks. And so we all learn from each other :) I
showed Stuart what Pleiades looked like through binoculars, and he was in
awe. A cluster of stars close to Orion, one of my favourite little jewels in
the sky. As we were watching we also saw a satellite orbiting our planet,
and a bright shooting star leaving a long trace of smokey fire in its wake.
So much out here if you just look around a bit. And I am sure that is the
same where you are, much more going on than you know. Of course natural
beauty has to compete with television. But you have a choice. Not everything
on tv robs you blind, but most of it is really just a waste of time. Makes
you a sponge just passively absorbing all the indoctrination, and takes away
your own authenticity. Bad news is king on your screen, and you can't wait
to share it with someone who might not have heard. Mental pollution is what
I call it.

Our next stop, a F1 style pitstop is St.Lucia and then a downwind run to
Panama, giving the A,B,C and other smaller islands, Venezuela and Colombia a
wide berth. Outside we had a hard time getting Stormy up, balancing it with
a bit of genoa, as the wind remains fairly strong. The swell is also picking
up and we are surfing down some of them. And sometimes we surf down sideways
and the boat runs away with us, backfilling one of the two headsails. And
when it fills again it is quite a strong action. To prevent this as much as
possible we have tied a few lengths of mooring lines together with a big
monkey fist knot right at the end which we drag behind the boat. It slows us
down just a little bit, but we are running on a much straighter line. We are
fortunately in the area where the South Equatorial Current and the Guiana
Current comes together giving us excellent speed. The wind is still between
20 and 40 kts, which is why we rigged our twin sail configuration, two wings
out front. The genoa we can furl in and out as conditions dictate. A brown
booby bird is also following our boat and hunting the flying fish that we
disturb when we sail past. Our exact position at PM 01:00 UTC was
02*42'S/036*09'W and we are following the 2000mt contour line where te
current runs strongest.

Wishing you all that is good till we meet again.

Paul