”Let’s jump!” I say when I look at the horizon that is like a giant pond of oil. We are barely making any progress anyway, better enjoy the big blue. 

Every day since our departure from Cabo Verde, I clearly feel the water getting warmer and warmer. Now that we are close to the equator, between air and water there is barely any difference, both are damn hot! But there is no way to refuse a short escape from the direct burning sun on my skin.

Diving and sliding childishly. Intrusion in an other world…If the ecstatic blue makes me cry, the rays of light guides my eyes to the black abyss that lies down there some 4000 meters deeper than me. It’s bigger than my mind can conceive, and I know that I am only a visitor in someone else’s kingdom. Today the big blue is resting, it feels I can swim and play in peace. The ocean that was black and agitated and that I deeply feared for a night long a few months ago is today calm and inviting. And it’s good to me, to be reminded how small I am in this planet and still witness such beauties. 

An I finally get out because after all, I believe in the giant squid.

Claudia. 

With a swell growing from the south east, we were glad to have full sails on again. The last days had been a combination of motor sailing and sails up and down. But there she was, constant, back in a sailing rhythm for the delight of her crew and her self steering system which we affectionally call Yves. Very close now to our first intended stop. Birds and more birds around. Some land ones. Atol das Rocas and Fernando de Noronha, the two brazilian arquipelagos, were not so far from us. 

 

The boat starts to wake up for an arrival feeling. The crew more tuned to the sails and celebrating milestones. Without the proper charts, a morning arrival was a blessing to my eyes. The contours from the islands of Fernando de Noronha slowly appeared here and there amidst the dark clouds. Another squall to pass and then take more canvas out so we can arrive in the anchorage before the next one hits. On the lee side of the island the wind continued but the swell gave away to a flat smooth sail into harbor. In 12 meters of water we laid 60 meters of chain in brazilian territory. 

Quick showers, gather essentials and the dinghy was in the water earlier than we wished to. Unlike other places Netzah had been anchored before, here the onshore swell was particularly fucking big that day. With all the visits from the proper authorities and all the ultra necessary paperwork taken care of, we were of on a bus to town and our thanking prayer for a successful passage was done in the bar. After a few nights shortly slept and a faster living than we were used to, we came came back to Netzah and rolled in bed for a day and a half to recharge our batteries. 

Daylight came with the full main sail already up, the sound of the anchor chain was accompanied by the ones of the dolphins circling the boat. Netzah was escorted from the anchorage until outside of the 50m depth contour that establishes the marine park of Fernando de Noronha by dolphins all around. When enough wind came to us, the head sail was unfurled and we were two again onboard our ship. 

With the bow pointed at the brazilian continent, our course was right on the wind. We estimated 2 days to get to our destination but the sea wanted to show us that it is not over until its over. Wind and current on our nose pushed us violently 80 miles north of our objective and not making any way towards it. After a night on second reef and a lot of beating up and down the waves, Claudia and I discussed our options at the cockpit. We read and heard before that close to the coast this current was weaker and we decided to  give it a go. A full day and full night went by with our ship tacking close to shore. We could hear and see the coast so clearly. Vigilant on our course, sails, each other and speed, we changed our tacks in between 10 and 30 meters of water. Yves the self steering got promoted from crew member to hero. Netzah behaved beautifully pointing high into the wind with her sails and Yves holding her on rails. 

At 1210, with the rising tide we passed the sand bar on the mouth of the Rio Paraiba. Sweet water on our hull! Mangroves, coconuts and small forests around us. No more waves only wakes of a passing boat. The fisherman village of Jacare was seen behind a bend in the river. I approached the small pier in a very clumsy maneuver and we tied at last. A kiss and hug to my eskimo and we were in main land Brazil. 

 Tassio.  

Rogerio, Yara and Claudia came walking down the long floating pontoon in Mindelo with a box full of pasteis de nata, a 1kg ball of cheese and the marina receipt in hands. Dão and me had been waiting for them onboard. Time had come. Handshakes and hugs and our good friends Italian-Rastaman-Thomas and Malagasy-Petit-Petard jumped ashore to cast the lines for us. She beared away gently as the wind pushed her out of the fuel dock. Fenders and lines all came in a lot quicker on this departure. Not only Claudia’s hands were storing them in but another 6. With following winds and pushing current we were spit out of the channel and the Cape Verde islands were seen for the first time (for us) from the south east as the sun went down. On that first night (particularly), the eyes and faces onboard were like the looks of a baby, with its wonder/curiosity/never seen or felt before experience. 

The north east trades did their thing and Netzah responded very well. Following seas is a big help to set a good mood onboard. Pleasant breeze, boat eating miles south, more stable motion, less sail maneuvers and the continuous feeling of gliding a 10 ton vessel down the waves. Some had the stomach more clumsy than others, some were more moody than others and some slept more than others. But the ambience, on our 11.8 meters available space was clear and fine. The possible human relationship issues while at sea had me worried from the first day we decided to go on a passage with more than two onboard. But there we were and all was fine. Worrying for nothing, again…

With the equator still 400 miles away, Netzah made her way out of the North Atlantic Ocean passage chart in good timing. Godspeed. It was may 31st of 2012 when we plotted our position on this piece of paper for the first time and now after a fair amount of dots plotted over the north atlantic we were getting out of that paper. Not sure what it means but by now some could say that the chart had vintage looks to it. Folded neatly as a new one showing the equator and Brazil on the bottom left corner came out from underneath the chart table.

Little targets and little celebrations to keep on going. The next one was to cross the ITCZ the best we could and get to the southern hemisphere. A text book definition of the doldrums came to meet us. Our ride on the northeast trade winds started to get slower and slower as the wind speed dropped. The days and nights getting warmer and the so far continuous breeze began to present holes on it. No wind and good swell, then squalls and little weather systems as far as we could see. And when night came the eyes would scan the horizon for the black mean looking clouds filled with wind and rain. The moon that had been growing since our departure was helping on that task. The air was heavy. From night to day, it seemed Netzah had grabbed heat on her hull and she was not letting it go. Buckets and buckets of water was the solution for everyone and only sunrises, sunsets or a rain shower would cool the deck enough to make it a pleasant place to hang around. We sailed a breeze here and there, we waited for wind but mostly we motored. Making the sticky hot cabin a sticky even more hot and now noisy cabin. Im not complaining here, only stating the facts. The bip, bip, bip noise coming from the autopilot showing its failure came and went enough times as to stop the interest of who was trying it and conforming oneself to hand steer the boat. 3 days and 3 nights later a shy south east breath came from the horizon and brought us face to  face with the equator. As soon as we crossed the imaginary line, the wind came back and Netzah with its crew was delighted to be galloping again on a close reach….

Tassio

 

 

Brazil that I love, glad to see you again. I could smell so much the famous brazilian rice and beans perfume from halfway through the Atlantic that I could have navigated with only my nose until here. The crossing… It is a story of 18 sunsets on the sea, from north to south of the equator. The equator, this invisible line that means so much in this kind of voyage and the disappointment of seeing that nothing happens at the very moment it is crossed (except maybe the south written on the coordinate of the GPS). A pact with Neptune, salty hair, kilos of pasta and tomato sauce, sunburns, dozen and dozen of buckets of salt water on the head to wash away the sweat that rushes out of every single pore of my whole body. Keep body temperature to a sane level, have I said that the equator with the sun at the zenith is beyond burning, melting hot?  Days and days of calms sitting at the bow looking at the endless flat horizon, where it seems that jumping out of the ship and swimming south would get me to destination faster. And soon, the mind calms, and there is nowhere else I would like to be , more than between this monotonous calm big blue and the pale clouds. Right here…loosing time or taking time, I am not sure between the two… feeling so meaningful and insignificant at the same time…and a soft breeze comes, first tease the main sail and then bellies the headsail, the boat heals gently, we just won 1 more knot of speed, the joy of watching our boat going up and down the long and elegant waves with more fervour, turn up the music silently hoping that the rhythm of the song somehow helps maintain the one of the boat  …”Go Netzah, breathe well this soft air, make some mile, may this last a bit longer”

Wind came and went and one morning, the sun rised on Netzah flirting with the south american coast. It was midday when we left the tropical turquoise blue of the coastal sea to enter the mud paradise of the river Paraiba, Netzah working its way up with the rising tide until we find the tiny village of Jacaré and it’s marina. We docked, hugged and kissed and smiled so much.

It sucks but the true feeling of these last weeks will always stay unwritten, like any of our long voyage at sea, simply because I have never known to write about the sea and believe I never will. But I’ll keep trying…more about the whole crossing coming on the next days. and pics also…

Claudia

The brazilians, canadian, spanish and portuguese passports are stamped out by the maritime customs of Cape Verde, the sun rised over the dry mountains of Mindelo and a nice breeze is gently blowing us off the pontoon. Netzah woke up with a salty taste of high seas and so did her crew. We take it as a sign to leave… Not that I wouldn’t stay longer here, i could gladly spend a few more months sailing around this african archipelago rich of it’s good hearted people, it’s humble culture and it’s arid landscape, but the journey continues and it seems to be the right moment to head toward the Americas. We are saying goodbye to Mindelo until the next time, deeply grateful for what it has offered us in the last month.  It is a long offshore passage that is in front of us, we will go slowly on our little but reliable ship, one wave at the time, sharing the opportunity to travel with friends.

For those who have been following the blog for a while, you know the drill…Our Sat phone allows us to receive messages even at a thousand miles from land. We love to receive your words all the time, but very particularly when we are sailing… To send us a message at sea, follow the instructions on this link and you will need our number which is 870776470251(It is free of charge). You have no clue how these little messages make us smile when we turn the sat phone on and read them coming from different people. In the last ocean crossing, I failed to my promess to put on the blog the messages we had gotten along the way. This time, I will hold my promess and put them online once we get to the other side.

A  few days ago, a friend of ours left a comment on one of our pic on facebook. It is another quote from Walt Withman:

‘‘Keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you.”

 Have a good day everyone!

 Claudia

Here in Cape Verde, we quietly celebrate to have reached the same latitude than where this journey started: in the Caribbean a few months ago. Netzah , her captain and I drew a semi-circle on the north Atlantic, and even though it is very little compared to the route we have in front of us, it still is very significant for us to meet again this invisible line after having crossed the ocean and traveled north. We can’t help but be grateful to our ship and the pathless seas. We have seen and lived divine things more beautiful than words can tell and we have so far always made it back to port safely.

Dao joined us in the Canaries islands, it doubled the joy as we can share our day to day life with someone else that is curious and add his own vision about it. The vibes brought by someone new on board surely overcomes the occasional feeling of being crowded in a 39 feet space. Yara & Rogerio, a 23 years old spanish/portuguese couple, knocked on our hull the second day we arrived in Cape Verde to ask us for a ride across the Atlantic. Hitchhikers of the sea, there are quite a few around here and our usual answer to them is: ‘No, sorry, full boat, fair winds guys!’’ But we became friends and hung out a lot with Yara & Rogerio after we had told them no for the ride. Tassio’s uncle once taught me a famous brazilian saying: ‘ Where you eat three, you can eat four, it only depends of the heart of the one putting the food on the plates’ After a few discussions and many thoughts about how we could fit a total of five people together with food and the water for a more than 20 day’s voyage, we welcomed them on board.

It’s been 3 days they live onboard with us, the boat has been prepared by 10 hands rather than it’s usual 4 and we are waiting for the good moment to leave. We are bound to cross the Atlantic ocean, we will be five on board Netzah to share the doubts and the beauties this often incomprehensible sea brings to us.

Found no better way to conclude this post than the words of Walt Whitman:

‘‘Comrade, I give you my hand!
I give you my love more precious than honey,
I give you myself beyond preaching or laws;
Will you give me yourself? Will you travel with me?
Should we stay side by side while we live?’’

Claudia

My soft obsession of supermarkets and products of the world is building stronger and stronger as we slowly travel the world. I love these new perfumes and colors. Every places has a new range of flavors, new ways to marry different food together and I do get fascinated about it. I don’t miss a chance to check out the markets and I like to hang around longer than usual, ask Tassio what he thinks about that.

One of the beaches of Sao Vincente, salty and clear water, a ballet of white little fishes swimming. It’s god damn windy, the sand flies around and pinch every centimeter of skin but it is only a little down side compared to the beauty to look at…

It is also the last spot we visit on Sao Vincente since we are very close to an other departure…

Claudia