Where Goats Roam and Weather Data Flows: Field Notes from Our Cape Verde Launch Site

It's 7:45 AM in Cidade Velha, Cape Verde, and I have already broken a slight sweat walking several steps in 78% humidity. A curious goat watches as I check our equipment, while the rising sun paints the Atlantic horizon in oranges and pinks. This is not your typical tech company operation—but then again, WindBorne is not your typical tech company.

You might wonder where weather balloons come from, or how we track the weather patterns that affect our daily lives. At WindBorne, we are transforming this field with our state-of-the-art long-duration balloons, Global Sounding Balloons (GSBs), which can circumnavigate the globe, collecting crucial meteorological data from different corners of Earth’s atmosphere. We have a vision at WindBorne to grow our global constellation, called Atlas, to 10,000 balloons aloft at any given time, acting as a central nervous system for earth’s weather. While our headquarters sit in the familiar Bay Area town of Palo Alto, our true strength and uniqueness lie in our global network of launch sites—from the bustling cityscapes of Nairobi to the calm farmlands of Uiseong, Korea.

But it's our Cape Verde operation that truly embodies both the challenges and opportunities of running a global weather business. Situated roughly 650 kilometers off Senegal's coast, this archipelago nation serves as an imperative launch location for tracking Atlantic weather patterns. Our site in Cidade Velha—historically significant as the first permanent European settlement in the tropics—offers unparalleled access to both Western African and Atlantic weather systems as they shift throughout the year.

In September 2024, I set out to Cape Verde for a routine infrastructure upgrade of our launch site there. Instead, it turned into an adventure that tested our creativity and cultural adaptability as a company.

The Cultural Landscape

To give you a sense of what Cape Verde is like, imagine stepping off a plane into a world where Portuguese colonial architecture meets African vibrancy. City streets pulse with a mix of Crioula (the local Creole dialect), French, and Portuguese conversations. In Praia, the capital city, this cultural fusion is evident everywhere, from the colorful street markets to the architecture. The locals addressed me in Portuguese frequently, assuming I was from Lisbon rather than California.

The immediate differences from our other global operations were apparent. Our launch site regularly hosted impromptu visits from wandering goats and cattle, who seemed particularly interested in chewing on our equipment. Its proximity to the Tropic of Cancer meant dealing with intense heat and humidity that could make even the simplest tasks challenging, like my phone and laptop batteries draining much faster.

And then there were the insects—seemingly everywhere around our site and not fun for me, but I am sure the swarms of scorpi would make any entomologist's day.

The Technical Challenge

Running a weather balloon operation might seem deceptively straightforward: fill balloons with gas, check equipment, and launch. Unfortunately, operations are not so easy, especially with all of the strict safety protocols we have at WindBorne.

To break it down plainly, our operations require a precise combination of elements: favorable launch conditions, lifting gas, open space, and reliable electricity. We had the first three in abundance, but the fourth would prove to be our greatest challenge.

Our balloons are not simple weather tracking devices that we throw up into the sky—GSBs are highly sophisticated in-situ atmospheric research platforms. Each unit carries an advanced avionics package consisting of a miniature computer brain, GPS systems, various sensors, and Satcomms equipment. We need power not only to charge these units, but also to run Wi-Fi for pre-launch and calibration, plus power banks for our mobile devices, which drain quickly in the hot conditions as we communicate with our operations team. Without electricity, we are essentially grounded.

The Power Struggle

When our team was first notified that our power had gone down at the site, we thought it would be a simple 5-10 day process to get electricity back up and running. What we didn't expect was to find our power cut off due to a bizarre situation: a neighbor had illegally tapped into our power line, leading the power company to disconnect service to our entire neighborhood block. Things started to drag on further and further, and it became clear we would need someone to travel out there to figure out how to solve this situation. Hence, my visit to the site.

After arriving in Cape Verde, I went to the power company’s office every afternoon at 12 PM sharp with my colleague, Ivan. We stationed ourselves there, armed with various legal documents, determination, and a few creative tactics to break through the bureaucratic deadlock we faced from multiple stakeholders at the power company.

I did not imagine how incredibly difficult it would be to prove our landlord’s land rightly belonged to him. Because Cape Verde does not digitize older legal documents, our landlord had to bring a briefcase full of land documents stating his ownership stake in the land. We faced a complex bureaucratic process at the power company, with each visit involving lengthy negotiations about preventing future issues and meetings with multiple staff members who seemed to have different priorities and procedures.  Ivan—whose unwavering optimism and humor became our secret weapon—led these negotiations, switching effortlessly between Crioula and Portuguese as he built relationships with everyone at the power company, from the security guards to senior managers.

After nine consecutive days of visiting the power company’s office attempting to get our power restored, we finally reached an agreement.

At WindBorne, we like to move incredibly fast—particularly as we make technical updates to our hardware or procedural updates to our operations. Working with local institutions in Cape Verde reinforced an important lesson in global operations: the value of patience when navigating different administrative systems and collaborating with partners who operate on different timelines than we're accustomed to.

Despite the power challenges we faced, we controlled what was in our power: maintaining a consistent launch schedule. Being on-site provided me a clearer understanding of our Cape Verde operation: the local launching  conditions, the daily challenges my colleague manages, and a comprehensive overview of how our site functions.. Trade winds can vary significantly on an island; power outages are not uncommon, even if brief and sometimes you have to deal with pure randomness: goats eating your ethernet cables.

Island Nation Realities

Although Cape Verde is a small archipelago with limited infrastructure, I was fascinated by how readily accessible hardware and specialized equipment were, albeit at premium prices. The infrastructure—much of it unchanged for decades—required creative workarounds that Ivan had put into place. In one instance, he used a mini gas generator to power our Starlink wifi when the electricity went down.

One thing I truly was not expecting: how terrible the traffic was. The fifteen-minute standstills rivaled Los Angeles at its worst, which became a regular part of my morning on my way from the hotel to Ivan’s apartment. The silver lining was that these delays offered unexpected opportunities to observe local life, and occasionally sample street food.

The Path Forward

Despite the challenges, our Cape Verde operation showcases the unique advantages of operating globally. Depending on the season, our balloons can track eastward over Western Africa or westward across the Atlantic, providing crucial data about summer hurricanes and other severe weather patterns that affect millions of lives.

Working with Ivan in Praia taught me invaluable lessons about resilience and adaptability. His positive attitude and sense of humor transformed our daily visits to the power company from potentially challenging experiences into productive collaborations. Beyond the power company, Ivan’s ability to maintain his sense of humor and determination through every setback was not just admirable—it is transformative for our entire operation. His approach to challenges—whether local logistical issues or technical hardware problems—helps us navigate both cultural and technical obstacles more effectively.

The last day we launched in Cape Verde, I watched our balloons disappear into the deep blue sky over the Atlantic, thinking about how these balloons could go on to track tropical storms that might make it back to the U.S. This reminded me how key our global operations are to our mission at WindBorne. We are building bridges between cultures while pushing technological boundaries with our balloons.

Now it's much easier for me to see the bigger picture. Each launch from Cape Verde is a testament to what's possible when you combine technical expertise with cultural understanding and unwavering persistence. I am incredibly grateful for having the opportunity to travel to Cape Verde and encounter everything I did. Working with our operations team across the world to bring our vision of Atlas to scale is an incredible experience and we are just getting started.