Leaving on a Tuesday was a whirlwind of activity. The rally officially started at 10:00AM. Since it was a 15-day journey we weren’t in a rush So set our departure for 12:00PM. To do a last bit of shopping and provisioning. We actually left closer to 4:30PM after it was all said and done.
Our fresh water system sprung a serious leak. And I spent most of Monday walking around the town of Mindelo looking for a hardware shop. One of the tee connectors had cracked. Our water is pressurised so a small crack turned into a geyser very quickly. Since we were in the marina it wasn’t a serious concern but I knew I had to fix it quickly. All the hardware shops had a fitting either too small or too large.
With a short amount of time until our departure I plugged the end of the hose with a wooden bung. Water just poured through the bung. Then I packed the hose with Sikaflex and the bung. This staunched most of the leak. It was a noticeable drip. I gave the crew a notice of the situation and let them know that we’ll be using bottled water. If they need to use the tap we’ll have to turn the water pump on or off from the breaker panel.
With our jerrycans full, our water tanks topped, and any final provisions stored we left the marina. We tried to time our departure between the katabatic winds. As we were leaving our mooring line was stuck and the wind picked up while we were getting it free. We bounced off del Viento (with a roaming fender between us) and made our way out the bay and towards Sao Antao.
With all hands on deck we raised the main and sailed out of the archipelago of Cape Verde, westward bound.