January 2024. After 3 days of sailing from Senegal, I arrive in Mindelo, the only port in the Cape Verde archipelago, off the coast of Africa. I have been traveling on a sailing boat for almost seven months, and I know that this stage is legendary, because this port is often the last stop before an Atlantic or “transatlantic” crossing. This crossing can last up to three or even four weeks. Not nothing when you’re far from the coast and there’s no escape!
For me, being here is particularly exciting because two months earlier we had tried to reach the archipelago with the Styx, the boat on which I had been traveling for six months. Unfortunately we had an accident offshore which made the sailboat unseaworthy and we returned to the Canary Islands to repair the sailboat. The captain remained on site to take care of the work and I and the other three crew members became “boat hitchers”, or backpackers as they say on pontoons, that is, people looking for a boat to continue their journey.
For me it was quite easy: for several months I had been dating a lone sailor who welcomed me on board. For the others we had to come up with plans, which is not necessarily an easy thing. There are many people wanting to do a transatlantic crossing, but not so many boats welcoming new people on board (crews are often “locked in” at this stage).
On a boat, hitches are often recruited as volunteer crew members. They are asked to participate in the maneuvering of the boat, in the tasks of daily life (cooking, cleaning, DIY) as well as to keep the “watches”, that is, to keep watch for several hours a day to react to the slightest problem (sudden change in weather conditions, risk of collision with another vessel, etc.).
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Dear, 50 year old, surprise backpacker
This is how, less than an hour after my arrival in Cape Verde, I met Caro, 50 years old, a former Styx teammate, at the marina bar. She had arrived ten days earlier, on the boat of a couple she met on the piers of the Canary Islands and who had left her on Sal, another island in the archipelago. The day after she arrived, she took the ferry to Mindelo because she knows that here the stakes are all about finding a deckchair.
“With the Styx accident my year of travel, which I had to spend on the same boat, changed completely and everything became an adventure: I don’t know what tomorrow will bring me, where I will sleep, who I will meet, what is there very exciting. It reminds me of the travels of my youth. »
So he goes and “does the pontoons”, that is, he goes around the port and asks everyone he meets if they are looking for crew. Determined, she also has a plan in which she notes the boats she has boarded, but talking to everyone, sometimes she asks them several times if they are looking for crew.
“At first it was difficult to dare to approach people, to be asked, especially because for several days I received only negative feedback. Afterwards it’s not even as hard as going door to door, people don’t hang around, they’re nice like ‘sorry, we’re not bringing anyone or we’ve already found one’, and they try to make plans when they have . »
Finally, it is at the marina bar that he meets Laurène and Ashraf, a couple looking for a teammate following the last-minute withdrawal of one of their loved ones. They hit it off but don’t immediately say yes to the transatlantic, preferring to give it a try by taking a two-day sailing trip with her to see if things work out between them.
“It reassured them of who I was and my sailing abilities, and it reassured me too! It is not easy to go with people you don’t know and you have to pay attention to the safety of the boat, if she is well equipped for survival, but also to the captain, how she is, how she handles situations. , whether he drinks or not and how he behaved with his previous crews. »
Red flags galore in Mindelo
So, a few hours after my arrival, Caro introduces me to other backpackers who explain that they have differing opinions on the different captains. Many hitchhikers arrived in Mindelo on other sailboats, and some landed here because things got very bad.
I heard that a certain captain may seem nice, but his life raft has been obsolete for more than ten years. However, on the high seas it is mandatory equipment! Because of this, a boat hitchhiker he had recruited on the Internet canceled her trip with him.
A few days later he joyfully told me that he was leaving for Martinique, boarding a Cape Verdean couple for the handsome sum of 1,500 euros. It is true that in front of the marina we are regularly approached to take people on board for large sums of money or illegal goods…
Every experience is different, and while boarding a sailboat may be free (especially on a delivery trip), you will most often be asked to contribute to the ship’s cash, including the costs of food, fuel and departure ports and arrival (approximately between 10 and 20€/day). Some also ask for an additional fee for “cabin rental,” which reportedly ranges from 5 to 25 euros per night. Finally, unscrupulous captains directly ask for a package that can reach up to 2,000 euros in cash to embark with them]
Another solo sailing captain is looking for crewmates for his transatlantic race, but he proved obnoxious, then kicked out a couple of people overnight in the Canary Islands. Here he made advances towards a woman who was looking for a boat, talking about her chest during her “interview” to offer her a deckchair. He won’t find anyone.
As for the woman in question, she told me after two weeks to abandon the deckchair project for the moment and return to her country of origin. The search is sometimes demoralizing, especially as the days pass and some boatmen find plans and set off on deckchairs while others stay behind.
Read also: How much does a solo trip around the world cost? 3 travelers testify
Marie, 29 years old: “Being a couple has changed the way I travel”
When I meet Marie, she has already been here for two weeks with Léo, her boyfriend.
“As a couple we support each other, it’s important when we think we’ll be stuck here, that we won’t find anything. Personally I just wanted to make the Atlantic crossing, then I had to return to France for work, so there was also a bit of a tight deadline to find a boat. »
Unlike others, Marie had little to no sailing experience before leaving and her first sailing, from the Canary Islands to Mindelo with a group of friends on a boat, surprised her to say the least.
« Thinking of the ocean, I dream of great spaces, of the water everywhere, of what the sky and the sea… The reality is that all the two sleep on the table of the two square or square [ndlr : l’espace salon du bateau], so no privacy and people always around. »
Far from being discouraged, she, who lives in a truck all year round, dreams of embarking with a family to look at the issue of alternative housing. Léo, who wishes to pursue a career as a sailor, would like to get on a boat for a deckchair. “vehicular”that is, a sailboat that professionals move to be delivered to a customer.
After 19 days in Mindelo, they finally board a luxury catamaran to be transported to Saint-Martin, learning that they had a place on the morning of departure.
Today she plans to continue hitchhiking, but alone. After all, there are as many backpacker profiles as there are sailboats sailing.
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Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
