So we're lingering around Cape Bojador thinking that the doldrums and then the Saint Helena High will slow the sailors down, well no. For those who arrived in time, the doldrums have been overcome without much difficulty and the trade winds have been buoyant and steady for the majority of the fleet, provided that the sailors have taken a route which is fairly close to the coast of Brazil.
I'd still like to point out this Cape Verde lighthouse which marks the entrance to the port of Dakar because it's at this latitude that the Cape Verde islands and the port of Mindelo are located, where Nicolas Troussel made a break following the dismasting of his IMOCA Corum l'Epargne.
But it was above all the rescue of Kevin Escoffier by Jean Le Cam that marked the night from Monday to Tuesday. A solidarity of seafarers which was worth two lighthouses!
Cape Verde lighthouse or Mamelles lighthouse.
The lighthouse owes its name "Phare des Mamelles" to the conical shape of the hill on which it was built in 1864. It is also believed to be the most westerly lighthouse in continental Africa. While the Cape Verde Islands form the western limit of Africa and were long infamous as a point of embarkation for slaves in the triangular trade, the former port of the Lébous fishermen on the Cape Verde peninsula, which became a Portuguese trading post in 1544, was its rear base.
It was not until the French took over this trading post in 1857 that the place was named Dakar and became the capital of a Senegal that became independent on November 15, 1958. The name of this port would come from a Wolof term "dëk raw" meaning the city of refuge.
Built in 1864, at an altitude of 105 metres, its range of about 50 kilometres makes it a powerful lighthouse and also provides a landmark for aircraft approaching Dakar airport. It would also have guided Antoine de Saint-Exupéry or Jean Mermoz during the Aéropostale era!
Cabo da Boa Esperança for the first!
The first boats in the 2020 Vendée Globe fleet rounded the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa, on Monday 30th November. It's the Portuguese yachtsman. Bartolomeu Dias, who christened this cape in 1487: Cabo da Boa Esperança.
Sent on a mission by his sovereign, John II of Portugal, Bartolomeu Dias' mission was to go further south and find this passage to the Indies. A route that would avoid Constantinople held by the Ottomans since 1579. Caught in a storm off the coast of Namibia, the flotilla he led was pushed far offshore. After two weeks of wandering, his crew forced him to turn back. But, heading north, the land appears on the port side: they have drifted very far east and passed on the other side of Africa. Turning around again, they followed the coastline until they found a way back to the North after passing this cape which he named Boa Esperança (Good Hope) because of the hope this discovery gave rise to.
If there was no question at the time of landing and founding a colony, the cove near this cape will become for the English and the Dutch a privileged stopover from the very end of the 16th century e The purpose of this is to supply water and fresh fruit to treat or prevent the risk of scurvy. This roadstead is now home to the city of Cape Town, South Africa.
Given the number of shipwrecks in this sector, a first lighthouse was built in 1860 at the top of this cape at an altitude of 249 metres. Too high in an often foggy region, it was replaced in 1919 by the present turret, which took 5 years to build.
