Phew! We have arrived. Looking at the log, we covered 930 nautical miles in a passage lasting 6 days and 14 hours. Our arrival was in the dark – at about 10:30 at night, but was straightforward with the help and guidance of Marlino, a local working for the Vikings Rally. We tied up as quickly as possible – last orders at the bar were imminent! It was a great and special feeling to be reunited with so many of the other rally sailors and to share anecdotes of the passage whilst sipping a cold beer. By midnight the bar staff were closing up, and we retreated to the boat and enjoyed a blissfully relaxed sleep.
Today has been a day of recovery and sorting the boat and ourselves out. Laundry has been done, the boat has been washed, ropes inspected, squeaking boat parts have been squirted with WD40, and we have celebrated with lunch out in a local restaurant. We have also spent a lot of time chatting to the other sailors. All but two boats are now in Mindelo and we all have stories of the passage – sailing tactics, coping strategies, things that went well and things that did not go so well. We have also been looking ahead to the next passage with some trepidation. The long range weather forecasts show bad weather systems tracking across the North Atlantic. Whilst these are all a long way north of our planned route, they have a knock-on effect, bringing stronger winds than we would like and an uncomfortable big swell. We will keep a close eye on the weather over the next few days – we have a number of options, including delaying the start of the next leg. More likely is that we will still leave as planned, but may take a more southerly route to avoid the worst of the weather.
Meanwhile, we have a few more days here in Mindelo. We hope to explore the area in more detail, and on Wednesday we are taking a ferry to the adjacent island of Santo Antao for a bit of sightseeing. We will be taking a break from the daily blog updates, but will resume them when we start the next leg of the journey, most probably on the 17th of January