Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day - Let us give thanks for the blessings of family, health and wealth which God has giving us.

We spent all day doing all the things that need to be done for leaving a country, and crossing an ocean. I got all the boat things done, then walked the two miles to the commercial port the check out with the officials. Very friendly, helpful and efficient. After a last water run we had a hamburger at the pontoon cafe. Literally on a float, bobbing around with all the boats. It was disorientation until getting used to it. We upped anchor just before sunset. A little later we were sailing straight west day was fading into night, and the lights of town were on the horizon. A full moon was rising over the lights of town. It was very beautiful; a final gift given to us from Cape Verde.
Both of us liked Cape Verde. The name is really Cape Verde Islands. Directly to the east, on the coast of Africa, is a cape named Cape Verde. Back in the age of exploration the Portuguese mariners discovered these islands and thought that they were close to and associated with the cape, so they called the archipelago the Cape Verde Islands, and has caused confusion ever since. This is not a European resort, like all of The Canaries is. It is a little chunk of civilized Africa. The marina is at the main port (once again these are volcanic islands with very few places suitable for a port) and a town, and all of it is just an ordinaly town, with people living their ordinary lives. An African town, with cheerfyl friendly African people, and all seemed happy to see us and say hello. And the amazing thing is that the place is so clean it is spotless. I walked down the street and would stop and take pictures to show how clean the street was , or around a park bench, or the municipal water pumping station. The official officies were clean, the beched and common areas were clean. The market was clean. The friendly, welcoming way the people greeted us and a general feeling of pride they have for their country, left both of us saying that I would like to come back and spend a few weeks.
We sailed into the sunset, about 2,000 miles to go. The wind was 20 knots from the north-west, as forecasted for the next two days, then 15 knots. Then about 20:00 the wind picked up, we partially furled the genoa, the only sail flying because the wind was coming from 135 degrees, and any mainsail blankets the genoa. I turned the watch over to Sterling and went to sleep. At 23:30 he woke me saying the wind had died and we needed to motor. Lordy it was bouncy, almost to the oint of not being able to move about the boat. The week of 20 - 35 knot winds had built up a heave seas, and suddenly the wind stopped. And we bobbed and wallowed, and hung on as tightly as we could. I started the engine, and that started three hours of constant struggle trying to get some wind in the sail to stabilize the boat. It was really tough. Then, at 0300 the wind came back, at 20 knots, 135 degrees, and we were sailing again. I don't know where the wind went for those three hours.
When I sail I let the propeller shaft spin, with the transmission in neutral. Last night I noticed a worsening of a shaft vibration, and then a metal to metal tap-tap-tap coming from the area of the propeller. Not a banging, but a tapping, almost like a screwdriver on sheet metal. I was not sleeping at all. I got up and fixed the shaft so that it would not spin, using vice-grips clamped to the shaft. When the wind dies and we want to motor I will remove the vice-grips and try it. It may be only a plastic bag over the propeller. Or a bent propeller, or the cutless bearing, or a bent drive shaft, or even a transmission problem. If I learn anything significant I will let you know.
REef Early
Bill Doar
Advent II - sailing west`