Sailing Europe

europeMapWhen we left Ayamonte in Spain, we also left Europe and set off in to the Atlantic. From Scotland to Ayamonte we have sailed about 2840 nautical miles (5255km). A complete map of our journey is at gpsies.com.

This is the simplified version without the unscheduled turns to cross traffic separation schemes or the loops when a tack didn’t work as hoped. It has the advantage that it doesn’t have millions of data points.

Time

This morning we were listening to the Scorpions “still loving you” with its opening line “Time. It needs time”. This led to a discussion about time. In the Canaries we are an hour different to Spain and Germany but the same as Portugal and an hour off GMT. And tonight the clocks change from summer time to “normal” which changes everything (except GMT).

Sunset happens no matter what the clock says

But the great thing is that when we are at sea it all becomes irrelevant. The time is whatever we set the ships clock to. For the voyage from Spain to the Canary Islands I decided to set it to GMT just because it makes my navigation calculations easier. Manx mean time would have been as good.

Irrespective of what the clock says, we eat when we are hungry and sleep when we are tired. At night, when sailing, we have a watch rota but often we let the next person sleep longer if we are still wide awake – or the stars are so beautiful – or there are dolphins at play.

The last few months we have had a few “appointments”but mainly of the “get there a few days either side of Tuesday” or “see you in October” type. The “10:15 on Monday morning” type don’t exist and won’t work as a sailor.

At sea time is only important for log entries. Everything else is timeless. Just another example of the freedom you win when you leave “civilisation”.

La Graciosa (reloaded)

Last December I was in La Graciosa in the Canary Islands and thought it would be nice to stop off again on our way south. As you could read in my last post, we were planning on making a big curve to the north and west but … what are plans.

Having anchored off the island, we slept long and deep before a good breakfast. Max was so impressed by the clear, blue water that he jumped over the side and checked the state of our sink drain outlet.

You are not allowed to anchor where we were (in a national park) without a permit – which obviously we didn’t have. You aren’t allowed to anchor at all without permission from the port authority. And you can’t use the marina without booking online three days ahead in a system which you need to register for weeks ahead. Neill was worried how we were going to avoid fines and get to stay anywhere.

We motored the two miles to the marina and tied up on an empty pontoon. A security guard pointed out that we weren’t registered but let us stay and sort it out the next day with the harbourmaster. The harbourmaster was brilliant. He registered us in the system and then booked us in for two nights. It obviously worked as we received an email confirming tne reservation.

La Graciosa is a relaxing backwater. The roads are sand and there are a few laid back bars on the sea front. A few streets back the”city” stops and the desert begins. Near the sea there is sand and above that there is ash. There are tiny stunted plants and the only animals are geckos. The perfect place to stop and recover.

Last year Neill had hired a bike to see the island but this year we had our mountain bikes on board. Max hired a 29 inch MTB and the three of us set out along the sand piste. First stop was a volcano dome that we walked up, then a beach that looks like it was designed extra to be a film backdrop – until you see the signs warning of rogue waves and the memorial to father and daughter dragged out to sea.

The roads are all sand and the only vehicles Land Rovers. They ferry the tourists once around the island for €25 so together we saved €75 🙂

We visited a stone arch hollowed out by the sea and the tiny village we anchored off when we arrived. We then completed the circuit and invested some of the money we had saved in beer. That evening Heidi once again created a great meal still using the provisions we had shipped back in Spain.

Our track is at https://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=bxkxgginasprlqcq

Since Ayamonte our mast has been creaking and we can not see why. We hoisted Heidi to the top of the mast to see if she could spot the problem. While she was up there Max stepped off the boat which rocked it “a little bit”. At the top the “little bit” was a few meters. Heidi was very “not amused”.

Spain to the Canary Islands

At the end of my last blog post, I was hoping to be writing this from Madeira and here I am writing from La Graciosa in the Canary Islands. As Heidi quite rightly pointed out “planning and sailing are incompatible”.

We left Ayamonte early in the morning with a forecast promising plenty of wind from the north west and a two to three Meter swell. Perfect conditions for a quick crossing to Madeira. As we crossed the bar at the end of the river we were met with a south west wind which was exactly against us so we began tacking tnrough the short steep swell. The rest of the day nothing changed. We all got well shaken and Max was queasy with sea sickness but still managed to catch a fish.

By the next morning the wind had changed to the north west and we were making good progress in the right direction. Our last sight of land had been a glimpse of a lighthouse at Faro the previous evening but at about three o’clock we passed a buoy anchored at a depth of over one thousand meters. This was on the charts and gave us an exact position.

The second and third days were the cruisers dream. Wind enough from the correct direction and a light swell. We dried out everything, Heidi made delicious food and the boat sailed its self. Even Max was able to leave his bunk to catch another fish and Neill could take relatively accurate sun and moon sights with his sextant to fix our position.

On the evening of the third day we saw a cold front approaching with cumulo-nimbus clouds heaped up and a long black wall below. We dropped the main sail and furled the foresail as precautions and then sat and waited.

As soon as the front reached us things became less comfortable. The wind immediately increased to 25 knots and the swell began to build up. We could lie down but no one could sleep. The cockpit was regularly full of water and every few minutes a wave swept over the coach roof with some leaking in to the battery box which we had to continuously bail. It became impossible to hold our course and we turned and ran before the waves heading more south than west.

Just before first light on the fourth day the AIS system warned of an approaching ship. Eventually we saw her lights when we were on a wave crest. Both AIS and our eyeballs suggested a collision course so we called her up per VHF radio. When we asked if she had seen us visually or on radar we were told “We can’t see anything. There are just big waves out there.” To which we answered “We know. We are in amongst those waves”. Heidi shone a torch on to the tiny bit of foresail we were carrying and eventually they saw it and turned to pass behind us. Their final comment on tne radio “Have a nice trip. Enjoy sailing!”

After breakfast we tried setting a bit more sail and turning in to the waves back on to our original course. All we achieved was a complete battering so we went back to the small bit of foresail and running south. Heidi lost her grip while standing in the heads (bathroom) and shot out through the closed door, landing on the floor and looking at a surprised Max and Neill. Neill lost his balance with a jug of water in his hand and bounced off the chart table before landing on tne floor wet and with a cracked rib. Nobody lef the cabin without being clipped to the boat. At midday we reduced the foresail to “nothing” and were still running almost due south at five knots driven by the wind and waves.

At three in tbe morning of day five the wind had dropped slightly and the swell was a managable two to three meters. We were 220 miles from Madeira but just as far from La Graciosa to the south. We decided to continue south to be sure of meeting our friends in Tenerife next week.

All the fifth and sixth day we sailed south as the wind slowly dropped. Finally the only sail that the wind allowed was our light cruising chute and even with this we were only making two to three knots. At least we could dry everything out and sort out the chaos that had accumulated during the previous days. Neill could also finally take some accurate sun and moon sights.

On the morning of the seventh day we could see the island of Alegranza ahead of us. The wind was against us though so we tacked slowly backwards and forwards making very slow progress. Finally at six in tne evening, with only eighteen miles to go, the wind died completely. We cooked and ate dinner, drank a bottle of wine and watched the sun setting and the changing colours of the sea, sky and islands. At eight there was still no wind so we motored in under a full moon and anchored off a tiny village on La Graciosa.

Seven days and 688 miles of adventure. There were some great moments and some not so great parts but we are looking forward to our next long trip.

River Guadiana

From Praia de Luz we sailed through the night and all of the following day to the River Guadiana which forms the border between Portugal and Spain in this part of the world. We reached the mouth of the river after dark and had to follow the buoyed channel. Luckily Neill knows the river very well having spent four weeks based here during his sailing school days. With Heidi on the tiller, Max adjusting sail and Neill navigating, we ghosted our way up river with the Spanish coast on our right and Portugal to the left. The tide had just changed and, with the current pushing us and the last wind pulling, we just managed to reach Ayamonte before dropping anchor and sleeping for fourteen hours.

The next day we motored the half mile in to the marina and moored next to go-n-sail’s “El Rubicon” yacht on the pontoon. That day, with lots of help from Debbie and Shane (the owners of go-n-sail), we got our liferaft sent off to be serviced on the other side of Spain. There then followed two days of adventure holiday with stand up paddle boarding on the beach and a mountain bike ride in to the largely empty interior. We have learned to cycle early here in Spain so we were on our way an hour before sunrise and finished by midday.

Our track is at https://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=qmisovfalrqxjrsq

Ayamonte marks the end of our “European tour”. We have now sailed nearly 3000 nautical miles from Scotland to here. Now we are off out in to the Atlantic – “island hopping” with our next destination being Madeira over 500 miles away. We have thetefore spent the last days ensuring that Artemis is as ready as can be. The worst job was definitely cleaning the blue hull while floating around in the dinghy. One of the best was stocking up with irish cream liquer at Lidl. Checking the rigging, moving the anchor off the bow in to the locker, servicing all the winches, reinstalling the liferaft and buying ten days food fell some where in between.

At the last minute a student cancelled with the sailing school so Max took the chance and completed his RYA competent crew course. He now has a piece of paper that confirms what we already knew – he is a good sailor. Heidi and Neill took advantage of being alone, a spring tide and a following wind to sail 20 miles up river to anchor off two villages in Portugal and Spain joined by the only “International zipline”. The wind was from the south so, with lots and lots of jibes, we sailed all the way. It is still amazing that you can sail an ocean going boat so far up river and be sat at anchor surrounded by land and the hills.

Back in Ayamonte, we continued our preparations and also took an afternoon to try a Parasailor sail out in the river. This is a huge downwind sail that kept the boat moving even in light winds. We were so impressed that we ordered one and should take delivery in the Canary Islands.

By Saturday we were ready to leave. But the weather had other plans. Hurricane Leslie was heading straight from Madeira to Lisbon where it arrived as the strongest storm since 1872. We tied everything down and waited for the outlying winds to pass over us. On the Sunday we caught the ferry across the river to Portugal for a Cappuccino and now we are enjoying the sun and writing our blogs.

Hopefully next time you here from us we will be in Madeira in a week or so.

Praia de Luz

We left Lisbon with repaired rigging and, after turning to port at the last buoy in tne river, headed south for one hundred miles to Saint Vinzenz Cape at the “end of Portugal” and “end of Europe”. If you don’t turn here there is nothing until Africa, America or Antarctica. We turned to port following the coast of Portugal to the East.

Immediately we could feel the difference. The swell was much smaller than the gigantic roller coasters of the last weeks and the wind was much warmer, having crossed the warm Iberian Peninsular. T-shirts and shorts for the men and mini dress for the lady are now standard wear. The boat shoes haven’t been seen since Biscay (which is good as Neill’s have fallen apart any way). Heidi is now so brown that every one automatically addresses her in Spanish or Potuguese.

After another fifteen miles we sailed in to the bay at the small potuguese village of Praia de Luz. Neill’s sisters in-laws live here so, after anchoring, we rowed to the beach and walked up to the bar that one of them own. We had ordered our drinks before we were recognised by any one. Not surprising as none of them have ever seen Max and June only met Heidi once before. About midnight we agreed a sail trip for the “cousins once removed” and the next morning Lily and Rosi were picked up by Max in the dinghy while Heidi finished a Baileys flavoured cake.

In a light breeze and sunshine we introduced the ladies to the intricacies of sailing during a short tour down the coast and back. Once we were at anchor we all went swimming. Amazing! The water temperature is such that you can enjoy swimming without worrying that you are going to freeze. The swim was followed by lunch and cake after which Max ferried Lily and Rosi home. Unfortunately Lily felt seasick during the whole trip which left Rosi to do all the work and showed us how lucky we are that until now we have not neen effected.

Next we all climbed in to the dinghy and from the beach walked up the local hill to admire the view and take photographs of Artemis at anchor. Cold showers on the beach and cold drinks at a beach bar completed the days holiday after which we returned to the boat, raised anchor, set sail and sailed east towards Spain.

There is something very satisfying about “parking your home” in the middle of town to visit friends.

Two o’clock in the morning

Heidi was “on holiday” with her daughter in Lisbon and Max and I were heading south along the Portuguese coast to pick her up. The second night out the moon was shining, the wind was freshening and we were being followed by the Atlantic swell. Only another twenty miles to Lisbon as I lay down to get some sleep.

I had hardly closed my eyes when Max called that the Genoa (the large foresail) was “in the water”. He had heard a loud noise from the front of the bow and then seen that the sail was no longer properly hoisted and that the bottom was trailing in the sea.

Clothes on, headlight on, life jacket on, safety line on and up to the mast to try and pull the sail back up. The halyard (line that pulls the sail up) was jammed so there was no way to move the sail back up. Further forwards to the bow and I tried pulling the sail down but the sail was also jammed so there was no going up and no going down. Furling the sail (rolling it around the stay) was not an option with a third already on the deck so we gathered everything we could reach and rolled it all together with some spare lines. And this while being repeatedly doused in sea water and flogged by the sail.

Riggers at work

The top third of the sail was still loose and as the wind rose it flapped more and more crazily and filled with wind pulling us off course. The next twenty miles weren’t fun but at about six o’clock we were in the river motoring up and down in front of harbour control who had promised to have a pilot guide us to a sheltered spot at sunrise. But before the sun rose, the wind dropped and we managed to get the sail down and stowed before then continuing to a marina and tieing up on a pontoon.

Later that same day a local rigger came and repaired the damage. He explained that both foresails had been wrongly rigged in Scotand and that the failure was pre-programmed by that error. He also pointed out another mistake that had been made which would, at some point, have stopped us rolling up the sail. At least the failure happened near to land and not in the middle of the Atlantic and everything is now propery rigged.

Monitor Windvane rebuild

I have mentioned that we have a windvane on board. This is an amazing device that just uses wind power to steer the boat. It is a she and she is called Ciara and she has been steering for a large part of the last two thousand miles. She was built in 1995 and while she still works she was a bit creaky and had a lot of wear in everything.

We originally planned a rebuild in south England but the UK agent went on holiday while we were there so just gave us a load of parts and tried to sell us a new system for thoudands of pounds.

Finally in Portugal we had time to dismantle the system and service it. The UK guy had told us it took about four hours if everything went well. It didn’t go well. Two parts were so corroded together that we ended up grinding and cutting them apart. Not good! We had to order new parts from California. Luckily Scanmar have an amazing emloyee called Suzy who told us what we needed and got it all out the same day. Fedex took a few days to get all the parts to us and the portuguese government charged us taxes and VAT.

With all the parts laid out in front of us we slowly rebuilt everything and with three pairs of hands got it all together and working with no play in the system. Difficult but satisfying. We then carried it back to the boat and reattached it. The final piece was having to make a rope loop with my first ever long splice. Not pretty but it worked first time.

Tomorrow we are off to see if it works at sea.

[29.09.18] it works! Quieter than before and seems to hold the course better than before. We are all agreed it was worth the work.

Downhill Holiday

Even sailors need a holiday. Luckily we have great friends – Wera & Gremml -who organised an all inclusive cycling holiday in Finale Ligure in the Italian Mediteranean Alps for us. All we had to do was fly to Milan where they picked us up and transported us to our luxury holiday appartment. (As sailors, a washing machine, a dishwasher and a freezer is definitely luxury.)

NATO base

The first tour Wera had planned was called “Nato base” and reminded me of my cold war days when I was “working” for NATO. We received the routes just before take off and the first day was “the fitness test” where we got on our bikes and cycled nine hundred vertical meters up to an abandoned mititary station on the top of the mountain. Once we had passed that test we followed trails all the way down the other side before doing another two hundred vertical meters back up hill. I had hired a “Enduro” downhill bike so had a bit of additional weight to add to the fun. I was also a bit under the weather from being ill in the days running up tp the holiday. The downhill sections were amazing fun and I survived the uphill – just.

Trailing

The second day was similar but I gave up after “only” 600 meters of climbing and went back to rest in the appartment. The other three once again threw themselves down brilliant trails and we met afterwards for a beer in the old mediaeval town below the castle. Finale offers a beautiful mixture of interesting trails sprinkled with historic sights and stunning views.

On day three Wera took us out on some shorter but steeper trails. I was very glad I had my Enduro as it seemed to get down anything I was willing to try. That evening we finally managed to reserve a table at the local pizzeria. It was very good which explains why you have to book days ahead.

On the final day we cycled down to the sea and did a trail high above the Mediterranean. At one point it looked liked failing to get round the next rock would have us landing in the sea 500 meters below. Gremml and Wera finished with a swim in the sea while we both mumbled about “waiting for the Caribbean”.

A thoroughly enjoyable holiday in a stunning location with great friends. That is how life should be.