Cape Town to Cape Verde

[janaluma]

Hi, I intend to deliver a catamaran 40' from cape town to cape verde Island leaving cape town on March 2014. I intend to go first to st. helena and then to cape verde. looking for tips from anybody who did it. thanks a lot, Yaniv

[Springbok]

Stand to be corrected but think you will struggle in a cat with such a direct route. Need to sail traditional rout to top of Brazil then probably towards the Caribbean and from there sail North and in higher N.Hemishere latitudes turn East towards Cape Verdes. Have to use the natural circular clockwise wind pattern in the N.Hemispere. Long trip no really short rout the winds are against you.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by janaluma

Hi, I intend to deliver a catamaran 40' from cape town to cape verde Island leaving cape town on March 2014. I intend to go first to st. helena and then to cape verde. looking for tips from anybody who did it. thanks a lot, Yaniv

i have done it in a 35ft cape vickers motorsailor leaving ct in april.
first part to south of the equaror,stopping at st.helena easy downwind sail in the se trades.

then the fun starts!,you will need to motor sail at about 45 degrees to the prevailing ene wind which will get progressively stronger as you go north.
ave wind speed 15-25 knots.

coming up to mindanao the wind can be very strong between the islands,35-45 knots.

we then carried on to madeira in similar conditions,then gib.

be prepared if the conditions are too strong to miss the cape verdes and head for the azores if heading to europe.

if you sail well in light winds,and carry a reasonable amount of fuel i would reccomend missing st helena and heading direct for guinnea bissau,untill a coarse can be laid for the cape verdes.

[Springbok]

Well there you go it can be done motorsailing into the wind. Make sure the cat is well insured might have some damage by the time you arrive! Cats being delivered to the Caribbean on the traditional route have even had structual damage. Depends who made them and how they were made. With lots of fuel she will sit low in the water and slamming etc will increase. Will be very noisy down below.