Tomorrow is a million miles away

The tropical squalls started to make our trip interesting. Soon after the sexy moonlight highway night shift we got the first one and then it was the same story every night. The boat is clean, my rain gear also.
It's fun, the only problem is that I'm never sure when is going to hit us. You see huge clouds passing all around you. Considering the wind direction you can see from where it will come, but some are so huge that you cannot say how close does it pass. So the night sailing, when I'm alone, is a mixture of mindless peace with a pinch of concern from what's gonna come from behind. Cool feeling indeed.
We continiue sailing at a fast forward pace. Today we reached the speed record of 21,4 knots!

Cutting through the moonlight

The moon is gently smiling while laying in her waxing hammock, enjoying in the wonderful night. The sky is full of tiny clouds and in the background you can see countless stars. Truly psychedelic.

After so much foul weather, this is the perfect reward for the successful end of the first half of our trip.
Can't do any better. Wait... yes we can. I'm getting the leftovers from our dinner. Pasta Bolognese!

The 666th mile

It's the 4th day on sea and we're rockin'! Today we put the Gennaker on, because there is little wind, but we're still doing a decent 13 knots, sailing on a regular boat will be so lame after this...

I'm getting used to the captain and the limited rations, he's a really cool guy, but he doesn't know how much I eat. I have to learn that food has to be rationed in order to have a safe passage, but shit, the first days were hard from this point of view.

It's actually only the past tonight that I realised that I'm living the dream, and my goal, to achieve my many dreams is getting "closer".
A little consideration about the future got me thinking about the next plan. Riding the Americas with Will and a possibly new and crazy crew.
About what I'm doing when I come to Martinique, no idea, but I'm gonna figure that out when we'll be there.

W2R1 does the Atlantic!

Surfing the waves, racing with the dolphins and a ton of great time is ahead of us! We leave tomorrow, after a last minute plan change, because we coudn't get the documents back from the police (they're just not working) and especially the weather-wave direction.

But tomorrow we leave to Martinique!




So long Cabo Verde, see you next time.

FIRE ON BOARD!!!

That was a pretty shitty day. Since morning, the harmattan was gusting and obstructing the sky, making the day look pretty dull. But just after coming back from the little trip to Espargos, to get some fruit and milk for the passage, you could hear screaming and a black cloud was leaving the Tararuga do mar I. It was a horizontal line of what you could say was burning plastic. After a few seconds of disbelief, the W2R1 crew grabbed buckets and extinguishers and went to give a hand in what is the every sailors nightmare and the number one danger on every vessel. Luckily, the fire, started by a short circuit in the engine room, was of short life and managed to do relatively small damage. Unfortunately, there was Russo in there at the time. He got what it seems a carbon monoxide poisoning and some light burns which Perosa a.k.a. Poderoso took care of. Right after the fire and first aid was taken care of, Ramiro took him to the hospital.

And so there are 23 beers in the fridge now. Waiting for the lovely Franco/Belgian neighbours that will join us tonight in the pre-departure celebrations.

Later, during the night, the Kafeoli (another neighbour boat) got a mooring line failure because of the strong wind (30knots) and with the engine not working, they ended in the dock with minor damage…

After the fire...

....

The new babysitter of Laslo

Here we go!

Leaving Palmeira in 5 days, the captain comes on Wednesday.
Mixed feelings at the moment. Very happy to leave and sail for a new adventure, but also quite sad to leave this beautiful people and all the friends I made during my stay here. I will never forget how kind can someone be to a stranger. Those people, whose mixture of races makes them equally special, will forever stay with me and cheer me up whenever I think about them.

He was thinking about staying, but he knew he can’t. Even though the people are incredible, there is not much to do and finding a job that makes you survive in a decent way is close to impossible. Anyway, it seems that he might get luck and be in the Caribbean in February and start a new sequence of fortunate events that make his kickass life so damn cool. As the captain reminded him, he has just a few days to say all good byes, make his new lady leave the boat discreetly and prepare it for the passage.

Same place as the evenings before

Today was a crucial day for Niko. Because of his lack of money, or better say, inability to get it, he found out the many ways you can amuse yourself around the island at no cost. Shuffling around with Dany made him feel satisfied about the world. A crazy, generally speaking, clown/animator from Barcelona who’s boathitching to Brasil. No wonder he’s still here, he thinks, if I had a boat I would never take him with me. He’s a nice guy, smart and full of energy, but the first impression he got was that he’s completely nuts. Hippie clothes, BOLD framed orange glasses, a small moustache, usually screaming and waving around. Mostly funny things and sometimes flipping off airplanes or tourists – gringos as he use to call them.

Nevertheless the couple walking around the streets of Espargos must seem quite odd. A crazy man jumping around with a banana and a doughnut in his hands, and a longhaired, neglected and a bit bitter man Niko has become. He was happy and satisfied underneath, it’s just that he just didn’t give a cent to what others might think and he was just not in the mood for laughing at the palhaço. But he’s a good sport and listening to his crazy talk makes him think for both and that’s probably good at keeping him awake and not thinking about pointless things a past or future…

Rationing food and books

The last day he spent by trying to get rid of a nasty virus and a legacy of troians he got as a free gift in a cyber caffe in Espargos while trying to print some documents. That, and looking for a cheap kite and possible ways to get money consumed most of his time and nervs, so reading and meeting with a nice Italian, that he couldn’t quite remember the name were very important in the last evenings.  How does people cope with so much stress back home I cannot understand. Or it’s just me that him getting stressed with things that don’t matter.

As Alpha  (a bit nihilistically) says, he couldn’t resume in his polite manners, but he sais something like Why people in Europe work their asses gathering junk, forgetting about love and others and most importantly that in the end you just die and can’t bring your fancy car with you

However, kitesurfing gear is oh-o-hO, so expensive. I guess I’m gonna have to forget about love and brake my back for cash or?

"Palmeira? Strange place"

In the last times he smiles mysteriously from time to time. Mostly because of a creationist verbatim that comes from R. Dawkins book (Climbing Mount Improbable) and goes like this:

Note that the banana:

1. Is shaped for human hand
2. Has non-slip surface
3. Has outward indicators of inward contents: Green – too early; Yellow – just right; Black – too late
4. Has a tab for removal of wrapper
5. Is perforated on wrapper
6. Biodegradable wrapper
7. Is shaped for mouth
8. Has a point on top for ease of entry
9. Is pleasing to taste buds
10. Is curved towards the face to make eating process easy

The Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy is the next book on the list!

Next chapter

While he was sitting in the comfort of his boat, Niko was contemplating about the fun facts about the island:

-dogs here are unusually friendly, cuddly like cats. Cats here do not exist (so far I’ve seen one speciment)

-speed bumps are deliberately built only on marble roads (stone paved roads) where you can’t go really fast anyway…

-the patriotism or better say local patriotism is quite pronounced. For example, you are buying something and you say that you get it cheaper in the neighbour village/city. That’s how you get things for cheap here.

-women “grow” faster here. Just yesterday I’ve found out that a friend of my same age, has a 12 year old daughter who is already “in the game”.

-it’s windy here

-stuff from Brasil is cheaper that from Portugal…

-stopping  in the middle of the highway (if you can call it so), is not a big deal

-you get enroled in the army by chance. For real, they make some kind of lottery so if you’re an able bodied male you still have chances to get away with it

-if you ask and sometimes you have to ask twice, you can get anywhere and do whatever you want. I’ve entered the air field and the port (that is guarded by the border patrol) with no real reason with just a very nice “please”. Now I’m tempted to enter the army base.

-every shop has a bar, but not every bar is a shop.

-in relation with the past alinee, on certain days, you can see the kind woman from the shop

pretty wasted at 5 o’clock in the afternoon.

-bananas are the after party fast food of  choice (no wonder why they all seem so healthy)

New year celebrations in Cape Verde

Paolo, the man with the thousand resources (and girlfriends)

Moustafa in complete festivity mood

Yes, sometimes I feel small

The love of 2011

Crazy sailors

Alfa, the ever happy man