I was speaking a bit too fast. Just when I had uploaded last post for you with the information of that we will not have to stop in Cape Verde, Alex came down to show me his new discovery from the new grib file. Now the trades seemed to have died out and the further down South we would get, the lighter winds would we encounter. And would we make a turn to the West now, the trades and some stronger winds would equally not appear for at least the next five-six days or so. 5 knots of wind where it was supposed to be established tradewinds for weeks ago? And how is it possible that the whole goddamn ocean is dead calm in every reachable direction of our route? The tradewinds are conspiring against us! Not much else to do than reroute, make that annoying turn back to the East and refuel in Cape Verde. We really had romanticized a picture of making this crossing in around 20 days and we were so happy to have waited until January for the trades to have the time to fully establish, but obviously they are still not at all in balance and once again we're getting hold back by higher forces. The elements does what they want in the end, and we are just a couple of people sailing on a small sailing vessel, desperately waiting for the right winds to arrive. 

So next stop Mindelo, Cape Verde tonight and we'll be leaving from there with full fuel tanks and perhaps some fresh vegetables in the early morning of tomorrow Tuesday. Seems like we'll then have to motor our way from there a bit further down SW for at least a day or two and then, yeah then we might be in the belt of some favorable trades for the last leg towards the West.

Alex is fishing now for the first time on this trip. Sushi for lunch would be nice. Wish him luck. /Taru