On Tuesday 7 November, Yachting Monthly’s Sam Brunner will be sailing from the Cape Verde Islands to Barbados on one of four Farr 65s with OnDeck Sailing. Sam reports:

‘South ’til the butter melts.
Monday 6 November

18 hours, three flights and an ‘interesting’ night’s sleep in Sal airport
later, I was pretty happy to arrive at our departure point, Sao Vicente,
one of the Cape Verde islands.

If I was hoping for a hot shower and a bit of r&r I was out of luck – Cape
Verde may sound like glam, but in reality the islands, situated south of
the Canaries and off West Africa and Senegal, are less five star luxury,
more 3rd world, dusty Caribbean chaos. My cab driver told me they were ‘so poor, even the terrorists won’t come here’.

50 or so sailing enthusiasts HAVE come here, however, from just about
every background and with a spectrum of experience. As for the age group..
it’s Club 18-74. With OnDeck’s shoreside manager Stokey Woodall looking
after me I soon found myself in a flurry of introductions, most
importantly to Liz, my skipper aboard Spirit of Diana for the next two
weeks. Struggling to remember everyoneºs names, there was no chance to
think about jet-lag , and the evening ended far too late in the local
(well, everything’s pretty local on an island this size) Club Nautico.

Today (Monday) all four crews went for a shake-down sail, familiarizing
ourselves with the Farr 65s in time for the start at 1200 tomorrow
(Tuesday). Although it’s a ‘rally’, the boatºs are one-design and crews
and skippers alike seem pretty keen on getting to Barbados first, though I
haven’t decided whether it’s for the Mount Gay rum or prestige. Not much
wind today, but the forecast for the next 72 hours is between 6-9 kts, and
the boats are certainly fast, so the trip should take us roughly 12 days.

Surprisingly enough, I cant wait..’