Dear Friends,

Harmonica is swaying gently at anchor beside the island of Fernando de Noronha, 240nm from mainland Brazil, after a 13 1/2 day passage from Africa.  A distance of 1400NM which crossed the ITCZ (the doldrums) and the equator to pick up the SE trade winds.  The ITCZ constantly moves position and width.  Part of our planning was deciding where to cross.  We followed weather reports from various sources closely although they are not always accurate.

We overcame some engine problems early in our trip.

Day 1  Left Banjul and passed many small fishing perogues up to 50nm offshore.  Some approached us to ask for cigarettes, bread or water.  They stay at sea for 3 or 4 days at a time.  We were unable to help as we needed our supplies for the next 2 weeks at sea.  Found diesel in the bilge.   A minor diesel leak was traced to............

Day 2 The engine overheated.  This was traced to the salt water cooling system.  Dave replaced the impeller which was really chewed up.  We waited 24hrs for the sealant to set pondering on our course of action if we had no working engine.  a) return to Gambia...out of the question in our minds after all the preparation for the crossing  b) sail to Surinam or Trinidad, far enough North to avoid crossing the ITCZ  c) continue on our planned course and expect a slow passage through the ITCZ.  Without an engine we would have to rely on solar panels for battery power.  We needed to run the anchor light, radio, electronic charts etc which sometimes need more power than the panels can supply.

Day 3 Fired up the engine to find the same problem.  Had the pump been reassembled correctly?  Was the gasket that Janet had cut giving a good enough seal?  Had the water pump failed?  It is very hot working in the engine room....but the sea was relatively flat and we were sailing well in the right direction.  Janet read the Nigel Calder boat manual while Dave tinkered.  Nigel says....NB remove all bits of old impeller that might be lurking around.  sure enough Dave found many pieces.  The engine proceeded to run smoothly.  With our minds at rest we sailed on.

Day 4 Making good progress, averaging 105NM a day.  No other boats seen...we are alone on the ocean.  Not quite, the dolphins visit most evenings at sunset and play around in our bow wave.  We are seeing some seabirds, small terns and gulls.  The occasional Portuguese-man-of-war jelly fish floats by bobbing around on the waves.  We settled into our 3hr watches.  The weather is getting hotter and more humid as we move south.

Day 5/6 Daily, we check into 3 radio nets, 2 ham and one marine.  Trudy from Barbados and Alfredo on the Italian net.  They are amazing people giving so much voluntary time to the daily nets.  They give weather info, track our position, pass messages, and are wonderful moral support.  They will assist boats in trouble by alerting the appropriate authorities and issue lookouts for boats not arriving when expected.  One boat crossing from Cape Town to Trinidad is having problems with his engine using 1L of oil per hour and problems with his main halyard.  He picked up fuel, oil and water from a passing Norwegian freighter.  Also, we check in daily to the Flying Fish Net, aptly named as we remove small flying fish from the deck some mornings.  This is an informal net set up for boats crossing this part of the Atlantic.  About 8 boats check in.  We have met most of them in other places.  Right now there is one other boat we know crossing.  They are about 300nm ahead of us heading to Salvador.  Janet takes a turn as net control on Wednesdays following the usual net format and Dave has been giving a weather report most days.  Many boats can only receive radio info or cannot use the ham nets.

Day 7 Distant thunder and lightening activity indicate we are approaching the ITCZ.  The radar is showing black sausage shaped storm clouds across the screen.   No option but to sail through the middle of it.  The wind near the storm is variable followed by a calm. We need to get the sails down and motor through.  At this tense moment....it is very dark with sails flapping, rain pouring down, wind everywhere and the engine failed just when we needed it most!  We are halfway with 700 miles to go and just going into the ITCZ.

Day 8  On investigation We discover the water pump has failed and needs to be replaced.  We do not have a spare.  Janet suggests we use the pump from our wash down hose. Dave thinks about it and later in the day rigs it up, a quite straight forward procedure.  It works perfectly.  We will try not to run the engine unless really necessary.  We have plenty of fuel having been unable to use the motor for much of the trip.

Day 9 Sailing through the ITCZ.  1-3 knots of wind.  Slow progress.  A small motor vessel crossed our bow at sunset.  He does not alter course and we see no sign of life.  We alter course to avoid collision.  He does not seem to be aware of our existence so close by in the middle of the ocean.  Later in the day we pick up the SE trades and take of at 5-6 knots for the next few days.

Day 10  crossed the equator at 17:30.  Toasted King Neptune with cheap peach champagne.

Day 12 A lot of rain squalls around bringing variable or no winds.  Seas rolly.  Sleeping across the bed seems a lot more comfortable.  Limbs do not flop around so much.

Day 13  Not much wind.  Motored a lot.  Around 1400 sighted land.  The rock of Morro do Pico the highest point on the island at 321m sticks up like a finger.  We dropped anchor at 1700 and went to bed early to sleep for 10hrs.  There are 4 other cruising boats here flying South African, Swiss, US and German flags.  We are looking forward to exploring this idyllic looking island for the next few days.

Now Thursday 15th May and tomorrow we shall leave Fernando De Noronha for a 2 1/2 day crossing to mainland Brazil.  Fernando is just 6 km long.  It is a lovely tropical island with volcanic spires, coral sand beaches, clear water.  However the anchorage is very rolly and we are looking forward to Harmonica getting still again.

Jan & Dave
SV Harmonica