http://yacht-magrathea.com/blog Yacht Magrathea's blog 2008-11-30T23:27:22Z http://yacht-magrathea.com/blog/54 We set sail again today at 4pm local time from Sao Vincente (we're now one hour behind GMT due to our first clock change). All in all it was a good stopover. We had to wait a little longer than expected because of the repairs needed, but we made the most of it - on Saturday we spent the best part of the afternoon in a bar sampling the local beer and later went out for a delicious meal at a very small local restaurant... Stepehen Shea 2008-11-30T23:27:22Z http://yacht-magrathea.com/blog/53 Last night we pulled into Sao Vincente of the Cape Verde Islands. Surprisingly enough the Verde Islands aren't the top of the chartering destination wish-list and we therefore had no detailed charts of the area. Thankfully we could rely on the help of the James family and others to guide us safely into Porto Grande (unfortunately the light of day has revealed nothing grand about it at all). On anchoring we found that our sat nav placed us on land when in fact we were about 100m from shore!... Stephen Shea 2008-11-30T13:00:02Z http://yacht-magrathea.com/blog/52 Due to a slight technical hitch the entry below should have appeared yesterday. In the meantime we've had some big issues with the autohelm and subsequently the mainsail, and we're now on our way to the Cape Verde islands for a quick stop off to make... Stephen Shea 2008-11-28T16:15:02Z http://yacht-magrathea.com/blog/51 Around 10pm last night we appeared to hit the edge of the hole in the wind and the sails began to flap and boat speed slowed right down. Rather than endure the banging of the fully batoned-mainsail flipping in and out, as well as the wear and tear associated with it, the sails were brought down and we reverted to the engine. Several other boats in our vicinity did the same so it hopefully shouldn't affect our standing too much... Stephen Shea 2008-11-25T18:25:01Z http://yacht-magrathea.com/blog/50 The remainder of the first day ran smoothly with several boats passed thanks to "Don't Panic" the trusty kite. The first night was similarly uneventful, with the exception of a slight glitch on the part of the autohelm during yours truly's first nightwatch - whilst travelling almost dead downwind the autohelm suddenly decided that steering straight actually meant hard over and suddenly Magrathea was almost head into wind! Thankfully the issue was resolved with a quick flick of the reset button... Stephen Shea 2008-11-24T20:35:03Z