Wind - no wind! (the "but"-story!)

We spent way too much time at a rolly anchorage in Ilheus. Nice little place but with the worst anchorage if winds were from the north. Which, by the way, was of course the case for us all the time. We arrived here on a Friday, and unfortunately way to late to check out of the state to travel further to Rio de Janeiro. Which was a shame. But we got some great time here as well.

When we later went for departure formalities we were told they were not needed to leave the state. Great. Not. Anyways. We were off for another adventure. Another sail further south and towards Rio de Janeiro...

Normally it is a lot of planning prior to departure. This time was no different. Sometimes I wonder why we even bother... Plans never go as planned anyways and we always find ourselves changing, adding to the equations etc. etc. So after spending some long time checking winds, weather and routings we decided to go from Ilheus on Thursday and be in Rio about the Thursday next week. Easy sail with just one hinderence along the way. 1-2 days of Southerly winds...

Well. That's where some great planning come to hand. We decided to go out from land, quite a bit the first couple of days, well there the southerly winds would then push us back towards land, and further south, not maybe by far but at least keep us sailing. Then from there it should just be a smooth sail. "should"....

It all started out great. Not. We did not depart already Thursday as myself had a little to much of the drinks on the wednesday (It wasn't actually, i was blind sided and it was actually, completely and utherly uncalled for - but that's just how it goes sometimes...) and decided a movie day would be greater than sailing. It would just postpone the departure and arrival one day. No bigger difference on the planning at all. Looking at the prognoses at least. So we went one day later instead. And what a great way to start the sail. First day we crushed the speed record (which we've never had before because we never been very fast!) and completed a 160(ish) nm in 24 hours. We were both sitting and recalculating the routing and figured that instead of 7 days sail, this would make our trip in 4 days....

But... it was like the weather gods was eavesdropping and figured that no one can be so glad with themselves, and decided to throw us a little what we call; "no winds what so ever"... And they did. First day we did our 160nm. Next day we were glad if we could just count up to 50nm. Then the southerly winds came. And to be honest, if it wasn't for the first days great sailing distance we would have been forced to do land fall somewhere much closer to Ilheus than what we've hoped for. But... The southerlies were not about 1-2 days. But just about 12 hours. Then the "no winds what so ever" were thrown at us again. Then we got some winds. Aaaand then the no winds what so ever.... This time to stay...

... So as any person sick and tired of hearing the boat bang and sounding like it is going to brake at any second, I decided to throw a little of engine into the mix of things. Which, still to this day, have not really let us down! Neither did it this time and we were cruising again. This time, taking away Rio from the equation and headed for Vitoria. There to refuel, as we almost were down to fumes rather than actual fuel. Vitoria is also just about half way so that would make us half happy at least. But also giving us some time to sit down, replan and reflect, what happened? And why? And so on...

But... Then the winds came back. Not really strong, almost so you cannot sail (this boat at least). At it actually did some speed. We shut down the engine and let the sail go bananas and do their thing bringing us forward in 3 knots. Which is about half speed we would like to keep. But it was speed none the less. And the direction also made us skip out of Vitoria and head for Capo Frio and stay there for some time until the winds were stronger. Easy to say when you are about 2 days away, much can happen in that time. But as it looked for the moment. This was the best plan ever. Better than anything. Morale were growing again and we were under way.

But... Then the winds picked up. We are doing speed again. Great speed. Maybe Rio de Janeiro isn't that far off anyways?

But... Then one day Jonte were sitting down and checking the charts a little more in detail and figured that on our course there were a multitude and massive amounts of Oil platforms and restricted areas, bigger ocean crossings for supply boats etc. etc. We started realizing that the plan might not be that easy at all. But after some slaloming, some avoiding bigger boats, and inspecting oil platforms close by, we were once again headed for Rio de Janeiro...

But... Then the wind died on us again, the sky opened up and the rain of doom fell upon us like... like... like doom? anyways. Moving on. And we were once again just sitting in the ocean, to far from land, to far to go with engine all the way (no more fumes really...) and were once again recalculating options in our heads. What about Cabo Buzios. A little earlier than Capo Frio and with fuel option. According to some pilot book from 2013 at least. Worth a try!

But... then the wind picked up again and we could easily have continued our sail. But there is just so much someone can take during one short passage so while Jonte were sleeping and me taking a night shift I took the great and heavy burdened decision to do absolutely nothing. Let the boat continue it's course towards Cabo Buzios. Enough is enough.

But... Then the wind were getting stronger and stronger and were later on so great (Great in the terms of sailing, not like great in "oh, no! We are going to die" great! Worth mentioning!). Meaning we were doing more speed than wanted for this last night. We would arrive at about 0300hrs. Which is still night time. At least here in Brazil. For many in Europe it is almost time for work. Might still be darker in Europe though.. Hmm... Loosing track here. Back to it shall we? So we arrived in the middle of the night. Feels like standard on our trip so far. Got ourselves a good little spot and had our self a small glas of rom... and Wine. And awaited first sun light to get a better view of where we've arrived.

Quite a nice view from the restaurant we are now eating at...

Even though it was not Rio de Janeiro the first look of it seem like a small sweet little town. Much cleaner and nicer to look at then many other towns so far and we'll soon head into town for a little walkabout. While here, we might want to fuel up some diesel as well... Could be smart!

Colon finally at another anchorage

I also saw a big, possibly huge, swordfish of some kind take a big leap up in the air a couple of meters in front of the boat. Obviously, goes without saying, our bad luck of fishing would soon come to an end. Which fish, after seeing a boat named after a place they would later emerge from, wouldn't want to get caught? Ask all the fly fish that are jumping onto the boat. Yeah, thats right! But after some soul searching we've figured a beast of that size, survived ages of over fishing the seas dry, would not let itself be fooled by some lures of plastic. So we just lost 3 more lures this trip. Even though we upgraded our gear from 1,6mm nylon line to 3mm. Either we're doing something wrong or we're facing some monstrosities over here. Obviously we are not doing anything wrong...

A small little overview of the promenade at town..