22 March 2011; At Sea, 4th. Day.

 As promised by the weather forecast, the wind and the seas diminished from wind force 5 to just over 3 in the course of the day and only picked up again in the evening. The latter was not forecast but then around “disturbances” in the ocean, there tends to be some local weather. The Cape Verdes islands are of course “a lot of disturbance” in the middle of the open ocean and the mountain ridges deviate the wind sometimes a little bit and can also influence the frontal systems coming by. Although the Cape Verdes do not get that much in the way of real frontal systems as it is a really dry and barren place as we will see tomorrow. So we plodded along happily for the remainder of the day on the same course we have been following since leaving Barbados. As explained before, the difference between the Great Circle and the Rhumb line on this latitude is only 1.5 miles. On a 3,000 mile stretch not something to be very concerned about. A little bit of drift causes more extra miles to make than what we can save by opting for the Great Circle track. The influence of the North Equatorial Current is much greater as well. Here we were lucky as that current remained steady only 0.5 of a knot in strength against us and thus it was not much of a problem either. Only in the evening when we came to the area where this current curves away from following the African Coast southwards and turns west, we noticed about a 1.5 knots against us. By that time I had built up so much plus on the speed that it did not affect our arrival time at all anymore.

 As is normal with these sorts of cruises, I am already two or three ports ahead with the planning. Going to Banjul, in the Gambia, is going to be interesting as the town is located on a river and where the river widens at the estuary there is a sand bar. Not unlike the Amazon but then on a smaller scale. That means that the last hour before the pilot station, the ship will have to travel about 10 knots to avoid squat and thus to avoid the danger of the ship touching ground. As explained before; squat is the “setting down” of the ship in the water caused by higher speed. Just look at a speed boat pulling away from the dock. As soon as the speed is increased, the stern is going down and the bow is coming out. Big ships do the same thing although less pronounced. So the time for the final approach had to be adjusted somewhat as at the same time I only want to arrive at the pilot station, which is in the river entrance, at sunrise to be able to see what is floating in that river.

 Also a regular review with all the deck officers of the coming port takes place on a day like this, the day before we enter the port. The dock at Mindalo on Sao Vincente looks very simple, just an L shape sticking out; but the distance between the end of the pier and the nearest shallow water is not much more than a ships length. That means that I have to angle the ship around the pier on a 90o course change and for that I need the full focus of the officers forward and aft for distances. They have to know exactly what I am going to do with the ship, so that they can anticipate what questions will be coming from the bridge, to help me keeping oversight. On the maneuver tomorrow I have to stay as close to the pier as possible, angle around it, and try to avoid drifting towards the shallows. At the same time, I will not know exactly how strong the wind will be and from which direction it will blow. The port is sheltered from North Easterly winds but if the wind curves around the edge of the mountain ridge it can still hit the ship full on the beam.

 Tomorrow the approach will start early. By 05.00 we will sail under the South coast of the Island Santo Antao and then by 06.30 we will arrive at the pilot station of Mindalo which is located on the island of Sao Vincente. The weather looks good, with sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 70’s. The only worrying thing will be the wind.