Bom dia para todos, Tudo bem ?

After 2 months of searching for a boat and then 16 days of crossing the Atlantic Ocean, here I am, at last, in South America.

Alain, French skipper of the Théva, an eleven-meter sailing boat, promised me hell before the start "Get ready to be shaken well, I wouldn’t be surprised to have some severe weather during the crossing". Fortunately, it didn’t happen. Other than a few strong gales of wind that made us move a little bit and broke my camcorder, the weather was relatively kind to us and we reached the Brazilian coast without any problem.

Crossing the Atlantic ocean was both fantastic and boring. Being able to go forward and produce energy (thanks to sun panels, windmill and hydro generator) using only the strengths of the nature is something wonderful. However, spending 16 days in a boat without being able to do much on board is very, very long time (I don’t want to think about my future crossing of the Pacific ocean, which should be much longer). From this crossing, I have learned that the seaman’s life was not made for me, I feel much better on the ground.

The most interesting events of this crossing were :

  Working as a crewmember : Working as a crewmember is not something difficult, at my level, and can be learned easily on board. This "job" consists of helping the skipper in his daily operations (raise the mainsail, unwind the genoa...), going on watch duty at night (at least one person must always be awake in order to make sure we follow the right route and that there is no container ship on our route) or simply raise the Brazilian flag (see picture below). Moreover, I had to wash the dishes everyday (with sea water of course).

  Meeting the marine animal-life : Sharks, sea turtles (sometimes huge), pilot whales, dolphins (very numerous, see picture below), flying fishes (often fly hundreds of meters)...During the crossing, I met all these animals. Fortunately, we didn’t meet any killer whales, which are the most dangerous sea animals for sailing boats because they often attack the skittle of the boat thinking it is a male (especially the ones of white color).

  Going through the doldrums : Situated between the northeast trades of the northern hemisphere and the southeast trades in the southern hemisphere, the doldrums, also known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), is an area of low pressure that lies along the equator. In some areas the fickle winds of the doldrums can spread out to span as much as 150 miles and in others this band can be as narrow as 15 miles. Ordinarily, what little wind that exists is punctuated by almost instant squall lines, one moment you’ve got no wind and then in a blink you’ve got 30 knots pounding away at your sails. This part took us 3 days, we had no wind at all and had to use the engine to be able to go forward, the sky was often black, it rained a lot and the ocean was calm like a lake.

If you want more information about the doldrums, you can visit this web site : www.sailnet.com/collections/articles/index.cfm ?articleid=doolin0016

The crossing in figures :

  Distance : From Praia in Cape-verde to Recife in Brazil, the distance we sailed was 1809 nautical miles (about 3350 Kms and 2100 road miles). We needed a bit less than 16 days so the average speed was about 5 nautical miles an hour.

  Water : We had about 500 liters in the boat but we only used 150 liters (washing the dishes and part of the showers were made with sea water).

  Gas : We had 180 liters and used 75 liters. We used the engine for 178 hours.

Next steps

Here I am now in South America, my most awaited continent (I will probably stay several months) but also the most dreaded for safety (especially Brazil and Colombia). I am today in the large city of Recife (about 1.300.000 inhabitants) in the North-East of Brazil. The program for the next few months is the following :

  1st step : After the episode of car hitch-hiking accross Europe and Africa and boat hitch-hiking to cross the Atlantic ocean, it’s now time for the episode of car hitch-hiking in South America.

Sunday morning, I will start again car hitch-hiking and use my good old gas-station technique. To do so, I will try to find a car in the first gas station at the exit of Recife and will be heading south 2500 Kms (about 1600 miles) along the coast to Rio de Janeiro (I will sleep under my tent wherever I’ll be able to). In Rio, I will be very happy to meet part of my Brazilian family, it will be the first time that I see someone I know in the last 5 months.

  2nd step : Start of July, I will hitch-hike north inside Brazil to reach the hospital complex of Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais) to start my first humanitarian mission, which will last about 2 months (I will organize events for some sick children).

  3rd step : After the humanitarian mission, I will progressively head South to Tierra del Fuego and Ushuaia, the most southern city in the world. This trip won’t be able to be accomplished before October (start of Austral summer) since the roads are closed due to the snow.

I wish you an excellent summer (which will be a winter for me since I am in the Southern hemisphere).

Bye for now, I hope you all are doing fine.

Ludo

www.ludovichubler.com