Update – by Mike Collins

5 January 2013

The flight from Manchester to Sal was good and in time. We stayed first night in a hotel in Santa Maria and the following day took a taxi to Palmeira to meet the ‘Oosterschelde’. Other guests were already waiting in a bar on the quayside, so we had a beer there. Then the rib from the ship transferred us aboard. We had supper on deck with the crew and the guests were getting to know each other. After a night sleep & breakfast we met on deck to go trough safety procedures and learn the names of the sails and rope handling. We all helped to set the sails and soon we were on our way with a lot of rig doing 7 knots to the south for 90 miles towards Santiago. We saw flying fishes and dolphins. My watch was 8 pm – 12 pm and our estimated time of arrival was about 1 o’ clock in the early morning. Our watch had to take down the sails and folded the massive breefok. We handed over to the next watch who tidied up the ropes and anchored the ship at Tarrafal. We then had a very welcome night sleep.