Solo Sailing Up The Gambian & Senegalese Coast: Dodging Nets, Lasers, & Chased By The Coast Guard

Leaving the calm of the Casamance River was the easy part. Getting Galopin safely to Dakar with a torn Genoa and a "toy" storm sail was a different story.
In this episode:
•The Bar: Navigating the treacherous mouth of the Casamance. With only 5 meters of depth miles offshore, the breaking waves were a constant threat to capsize us.
•The "Toy" Sail: My big Genoa is gone. I’m crossing open water with a used main and a tiny storm sail. No motor noise, no vibration, and no fear of a tangled prop. Surprisingly, Galopin found his stride, giving us 6 hours of pure, silent sailing bliss.
•The Invisible Minefield: Darkness brings a new set of obstacles. Fishing buoys and nets are everywhere, and catching a line in the prop means diving under the hull in the dark—something I desperately wanted to avoid.
•The Laser Game: Out of the dark, a green laser tagged my sails. Then, six massive spotlights blinded me. Fishermen guarding their nets or a phantom Coast Guard? I had to steer off-course and hope they wouldn't follow.
•Surreal Beauty: Despite the stress, the ocean provided a light show. The hull was cutting through clouds of blue bioluminescence, a spellbinding sight that video never quite captures perfectly.
•The Cat Nap: Sleep is a luxury you can't afford. My night was a cycle of 20-minute alarms—wake up, check the AIS, scan the horizon for unlit boats, and repeat.
•Night Terrors: The Gambian coast is a minefield of fishing nets and unlit buoys. Just as the bioluminescence began its surreal light show, I was targeted by green lasers and strobe lights. Was it fishermen protecting their nets, or the Coast Guard?
•The Race: A 20-minute cat-nap cycle and a race against a closing weather window. When you’re 65 and solo, you learn to trust your gut—especially when it tells you to drop the sails before the wind hits.

00:00 Intro
00:30 Breaking waves
02:20 WTF is this?
02:56 Pure sailing pleasure
04:57 Laser beamed & chased
06:06 Dancing around cargos
07:13 Ominous ahead
09:11 Got dancing seal legs
11:06 Mission accomplished

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