Cap’n Alex 28 January 2012 | somewhere mid Atlantic Ocean We rounded pelican point on the evening of January 18th and passed the ringing fog bell that marked the outer limits of Walvis Bay, letting us know we were now in open waters. We looked back at continental Africa knowing it would be sometime before[…]
cap’n alex, jack, diego 04 February 2012 | St. Helena, South Atlantic Ocean St. Helena is single volcanic island laying smack in the middle of the south Atlantic Ocean. Its inhabitants are known as ‘Saints’, numbering around 3,000 and speak a type of old English unique to the island. Because the rugged nature with which[…]
Cap’n Alex 07 February 2012 | somewhere mid Atlantic Ocean The South Atlantic is the easiest of the sailing oceans with its steady southeasterly tradewinds and lack of tropical storms, gales or squalls. The stretch from St. Helena to Ascenstion is no exception, being 700 miles of dead downwind sailing with sunny skies of white[…]
cap’n alex, jack, diego 12 February 2012 | Ascension Island, South Atlantic We arrived into Ascension island (another rock in the middle of the South Atlantic) under moonlight and because we had no charts, came in slowly with Diego on the bow, Jack trimming the sails and myself on the helm. The red lights of[…]
cap’n alex 19 February 2012 | somewhere in the South Atlantic Ready to set sail for Brazil we stopped by the Ascension grocery store in Georgetown for our last ice cream and said our goodbyes to old and new friends alike. Joey drove the Patriot down to the pier to see us off. We waved[…]
Jack with an intro by cap’n alex 23 February 2012 | Fernando de Noronha After a stormy night of rain squalls we approached the island of Fernando de Noronha (known as the Galapagos of Brazil). I woke at 3 am for my shift. The wind had increased to 20 knots and we had to reduce[…]
cap’n alex 03 March 2012 | Fortaleza Brazil We sailed through the night from Fernando reaching the Atol des Rocas by noon. With Diego up the mast pointing out coral heads (dodging bombies under sail always an exciting experience), huge mating turtles surrounded the boat. Being an offshore remote atoll I didn´t think anyone would[…]
cap’n alex 06 March 2012 | off coast of Brazil When at sea on a multiday passage Monday and Tuesday quickly fade to shower day (the one day on passage each crew gets a fresh water shower), half way day (the day we reach the the half way point to our intended destination, usually celebrated[…]