Cape Verde Sailing

Palmeira on Sal and Mindelo on Sao Vicente

Sailing in the Cape Verdes is easy, safe and exhilarating, under the constant, steady Trade Winds. It is a far better sailing area than the Caribbean or Canaries as it does not suffer from storms or hurricanes. In fact it exports them. This fine Sparkman Stephens 45ft yawl and a more recent 44ft Swan ketch offers day trips from Palmeira, with Diego .

The day trip which includes fishing, drinks and lunch costs £50 per passenger. He usually sails under yankee and mizzen only at a modest pace but with a fine hull and a fresh breeze, its a great sail. You can also charter for day cruises . One Atlantic ARC sailor headed south after reading about Cape Verdes sailing in a book.

"Without this book I would have made my crossing from Gran Canaria to Antigua - boring!! - but the book diverted me to the Cape Verdes for an unforgettable month and then on to the Gambia and then to Tobago. The revised route turned the milk run into an adventure."

P from Sydney called in at Palmeira on a world-wide cruise.

"We left Arrecife, as scheduled, on 14th November with three on board. We had 900 nautical miles to go to get to Palmeira, Cape Verde. Surprisingly we had a lot of light winds (less than 8 knots) and even a couple of days of calm. I though we were meant to be in to the trade wind area. We caught no fish at all, unless you count the small flying fish that jumped on board. Altogether a bit surprising. We did however have a whale visit us for a couple of hours whilst we were lying around in the calm one day. It appeared every now and again and at one point seemed quite interested in us and nosed towards us. He was only a medium sized whale but had a long body with a fin half way down and some white spots on its body. We eventually reached Palmeira in the early evening when it was fully dark and the moon wasn't up. However, all the charts, paper and electronic, all tallied and the depths were exactly correct, so I decided to try and anchor in the bay. As we got closer we realized that there were about 35 boats in the bay (we thought that perhaps 5 might be a lot for this place|). We could see enough and got the anchor down and holding well. It had taken us 9 ½ days whereas I thought it would take 6 or 7 days. Palmeira is a small port with hardly anything there. There is a town, Espargos, a short taxi ride away which has a few shops and an internet café and a couple of banks etc. The people are friendly and not too pushy although it is obvious it is not a rich place. Master card doesn't work in the ATMs though Visa does. "

D from Sussex liked the yawl.

"The whokle thing went very well. We had a really brilliant day sailing in the S&S. I cannot sing the praises of the Cape Verde Jetaway Reps enough. When we did not have enough cash to pay for tours, they were quite happy to let us go on the tour and pay afterwards."

Mindelo, Sao Vicente

This is the best harbour in the Cape Verdes and so far the only safe place to leave a yacht, in full security as the marina berths have lockable gates and guards. Visit the Club Nautico on the sea front and someone may offer you a sail to ....Barbados. There are Bavaria yachts on charter from a German expatriate but we cannot reccomend this type of craft or organisation in mid-Atlantic waters.

A new marina with 40 berths for yachts up to 30m in length is being erected at the old coal pier on Mindelo Bay. Rates look expensive. See Kathleen`s log egarding . Four other Marinas are at the planning stage including the Aister Nautical Resort, with 500 berths and dry dock, hotel and shopping centre. Salamanca, Baia das Gatas and Palha Carga, also have plans for marinas.

Race to Barbados in Farr 65s

A new Race of 60 footers will race from Mindelo to Barbados each November to rival the more famous ARC from the Canaries. How to get there for the start.