First
atlantic crossing followed by our stops at the
following islands: Azores, Madeira, Canary
Islands, Cabo Verde Town of Mindello, Island of Sao Vicente, Republic of Cabo Verde 30th september 2000 to 7th october
Cabo Verde was a shock. This is the poorest
country that we'visited so far. Poor countries
are attracting and repelling at the same time.
Walking on the street, people always come to you
asking for money or trying to sell you something.
After one afternoon, you know how to deal with
them, but still it's a hassle. On the other hand,
people from Cabo Verde knows how to smile so much
better than any of us aboard SCAMP. The
simplicity of their conversation, the openness of
their welcome, their readyness to know who yiou
are and to learn what they don't know, all this
is quite appalling. The general impression is
very good with a lot of good vibes coming from
the warmth of the people. Sao Vicente and Sao Anton
The location of Mindello on Sao Vicente is
really surprising. Somehow, it made me think of
Phoenix in Arizona or Las Vegas in Nevada: a
desert and suddenly a town in the middle of
no-where. The dry and hot climate of the island,
the nature of the grounds (rocks) are not
propitious to the development of human life.
45000 people live there and they have to import
everything: fruits, vegetable, flour, gas. The
water itself comes from a plant that produces
fresh water out of sea water. At first glance, it
is very difficult to understand why one would
choose to establish a town there. The main assets
of the city are: a natural harbor and the
abundance of fish. Mindello is located on the
edge of a sunken volcano. This provides a huge
bay protected from the dominant winds, where
ships can find a safe refuge. During our stay, we
went fishing. As opposed to the Azores, the water
in the harbor itself is not clear. We had to pass
the pier to find clear waters where fishing with
a harpoon is possible. We found fishes in
abundance: Pascal shot a shark (one that lives
and eats on the sand and doesn't threaten
humans), many 'bodiao' (portug.), one lobster,
many leatherjackets (or filefish). We gave half
of our catch to Nilton and prepare a pasty
('Brandade' in french) with ours. How to prepare
'de la brandade'? Easy, easy Jacky: boil the fish
for 3 minutes, remove the bone, mash the flesh,
add flour and oil while cooking under light heat,
add lemon. To my knowledge, this is the easiest
way to keep your fish when you don't have a
fridge and you caught plentiful: make 'de la
brandade'. Sao Anton
Sao Anton is a rocky island that stretches
from the South to the North. It holds a range of
mountains that divides the island into a dry
leeward side and a wet windward side. We stayed 2
nights in Tarafel: the southern anchorage of the
island and sailed upwind in the channel between
Sao Anton and Sao Vicente along the leeward side.
This side is not inhabited. The landscape of an
immense dry slope from the foot of the mountain
to the water was absolutely gorgous. We had to go
upwind for 5 hours and tack a few times with
about 18 knots of true wind. SCAMP was easily
reaching 6 knots: splendid! We anchored the boat
in Porto-Novo, had a good night of sleep and
decided to go and visit the windward side the
next day. Thanks to the humidity and the hot
climate, the windward side of Sao Anton is an
area propitious for agriculture. When your car
passes the top of the range of mountain, you
leave a desert and enter a meadow. Suddenly, you
have trees, grass, flowers, pines, sugar canes,
cows, goats. Every little area of the mountain is
used for agriculture. A tremendous amount of
groundwork was done to offer the most horizontal
surface to cultivate sugar canes, bananas and
others. Needless to say that Sao Anton exports
all the products of agriculture to the other
desertic islands, Mindello among others. Crossing Gran Canaria to Mindello, Cabo Verde. 24 september 2000 to 30 September 2000. Duration: 5 days 7 hours. Average speed 7.3 knots. 937 sailed miles.
In my memories, this crossing is the easiest
and the most enjoyable we've ever had: flying
fishes coming across the deck, almost non-stop
spinnaker sailing with stable winds, no humidity. Island of Gran Canaria, Archipelago of the Canaries. September 21th 2000:
We made a short stop in Gran-Canaria. The town
is really big: the eigt city of Spain. We really
enjoyed visiting the mansion of Christopher
Colombus, which is preserved and maintained as a
jewel. Such big european town were not really the
goal of our trip so we went shopping for enough
food to reach Brazil knowing that supplies are
limited in Mindello, Cabo-Verde our next stop. Island of Graciosa, Archipelago of the Canaries, September 16th 2000 to September 19th:
There is something special about Graciosa.
Graciosa is a small island North of Lanzarote. It
has a few volcanoes on it and faces the range of
mountains and cliffs located on the northern
shore of Lanzarote. When you cross the channel
between Lanzarote and Graciosa to reach the main
anchorage, the scenery is really grandiose. It
remembered me the Grand-Canyon, USA. The island
has one main village, cars but no paved street.
The street in the village are made of sand and
only 4WD cars are to be found on the island. The
harbor is recent and big. Even though fishing is
banned around most of the islands of Lanzarote
and Graciosa, fishing permits were granted to a
few fishermen on the island of Graciosa. 5
beautifully maintained, wooden fishing boats can
be seen in the harbor of Graciosa. The houses of
the village are also very well maintained, all
painted in white except for the framing of the
doors and the windows which are either blue or
green. The village is expanding pretty fast, many
houses are in construction in the outskirt but
the local style is always respected. "Things
of beauty are a joy forever" Town of Arrecife, Island of Lanzarote, Archipelago of the Canaries, August 24th 2000 to September 20th:
Arrecife was our longest stop so far. Our stay
there lasted one month. After Horta, we decided
the Canary to be our technical stop. We had a few
items on our bullet list (bring the mainsail for
repair, clean the hull, grease the winches, bring
the autopilot for repair, paint the anchor, fix
the dinghy). Moreover, we had a lot of crew
change. Maylis and Perrine few back to France
after a stay of one month with us. Pascal also
flew with Maylis to France for a 2 weeks long
stay. Thierry wanted to attend a wedding in
France for a few days. Afterwards, his sister
Isabelle joined us for 2 weeks. Town of Funchal, Island of Madeira, August 19th 2000 to August 22th:
Funchal was our first stop in a big town. So
we were a little bit afraid to dwelve into this
universe of cars, stress and busy people. We
found our first Mac Donald for month and enjoyed
eating a few hamburgers and fries. The marina in
Funchal is very small given the size of the town.
We were lucky to find a spot right away for our
boat. Boats are attached just like in Faial, one
along the other in a row reaching 2 to 4 vessels.
The bad thing is that people come accross your
boat and you have come across others´boats. The
good thing is that there is always a lot of nice
peolple to meet. We met a crew of frenchmen
cruising for Brazil on a racing boat. That was
enough in common with us to invite them for an
afternoon of sailing on SCAMP. We also invited a
group of brazilian artists (photograph, scultor,
painter), who were showing their work in an
exhibition at the Carlton Hotel of Funchal. Port of Machico, Island of Madeira, August 17th 2000 to August 19th:
We anchored in Machico for 3 nights. Entering
the harbor was easy even though one must be
careful to clear the rocks located south of the
TV tower. As usual we tested our anchorage by
pulling our engine backwards. Usually nothing
resists to the 52 HP of our Westerbeke, even when
the grounds are known to be good for anchoring.
This time in Machico, the anchorage started to
slip at 1500 rpm. This is not good , so we
decided to play it safe and took a buoy nearby.
The center of the village of Machico has a lot of
style. At any time of the day, people from all
ages are loafing under the platanes of the 2 main
plazas. Right on the beach, there is a shipyard
that builds wooden fishing boats. A big fire was
started when we passed by, probably to perform
the curving of the wooden planks. Island of Porto Santo, Archipelago of Madeira, August 15th 2000 to August 17th :
Porto Santos is situated on the leeward shore
of the island, which bears the same name. Once we
rounded the northern head of he island, we got
protected from NE tradewind blowing at 20 knots.
That was our luck since the engine did not start
for the entry into the harbor. We managed to
enter into the harbor by sail only. Pascal and
myself went snorkling right around the harbour.
The scenery underwater was made of rocks, sand
and beautiful arches. We caught several fish,
enough for a dinner for 6. Cais do Pico, Island of Pico, Archipelago of the Azores, August 2nd 2000:
Cais de Pico is a little harbor on the
northern shore of Pico. This place is famous
because it used to have a very modern whale
factory. The ban on fishing whale was applied in
the Azores in 1985. Therefore, the plant was
closed. We visited the plant which is now open as
a museum: gigantic steel machinery were installed
one next to the other: grinders, furnace, ....
All sorts of big equipment imported from Chicago,
Illinois. We listened to the guide explaining how
painful the application of the ban on whale
fishing was. Inhabitants of he Azores who had
been fishing whales for generations in a
traditionnal manner often at the risk of their
own life were now unemployed. The guide did not
forget to mention several countries, which still
violate the ban: Norway, Japan, Russia. Whale
fishing is a subject that you may not be able to
raise with some inhabitants of the Azores: too
painful. After fishing in the harbor itself, we
caught kilos of fish and had a good sea-food
dinner! Island of Pico, Archipelago of the Azores, end of July 2000:
The island of Pico is dominated by a Volcano:
Pico (peak). It culminates at 2300m. Not so much
the altitude but the shape is remarkable. The top
of Pico is very steep and you finish climbing
with the help of your hands. At the top, some
fumes and steam are coming out of the rocks. Atlantic crossing: New-York USA to Horta, Island of Faial, Archipelago of the Azores, Portugal. July 4th 2000 to July 18 th. Duration: 13 days 23 hours. About 2100 miles. Average speed 6.2 knots.
We left the US Merchant Marine Academy on
Tuesday July 4th: Independence Day. We were ready
to cast off by noon but there was no wind. This
is pretty usual for a summer day in the Long
Island Sound. The first thermal breeze came later
in the afternoon and we left the dock at 5 pm. We
headed East toward Montauk Point.
Thierry's painting in the on the pier of Horta |
