Sparkling dolphins

16 December 2018

On the route from the Canary Islands to Cape Verde, one may expect a northeasterly wind. This means that we can sail close-hauled, straight to our destination, or tacking. Sailing close-hauled is normally not the fastest course; effectively you have little sail because the sails are overlapping. When you tack, your route gets longer but you can set more sails. With a little wind, tacking is usually the fastest option, so we started our voyage with tacking. Unfortunately, the wind decreased but we did still have the swell. This morning we raised only our square sails. We sail slowly, but steadily in the right direction. Alas, the wind declined even more. So, in the afternoon we were only floating. That is why we lowered all sails and are now using the engine to sail through the night.
Besides the sailing, lots of exciting things happen on and besides the ship. Last night there were dolphins swimming next to the ship. In the dark, they are usually hard to spot. However, with the bioluminescent organisms in the water, which light up when they move, watching the dolphins was phenomenal! ‘Sparkling dolphins’ we called them. We do also have two other guests: two pigeons who flew on board and are now resting on deck. Let’s see how long they will sail along with us.