These pics of the Navillus crossing the finish line of the ARC in Rodney Bay St Lucia.

This From Pete

The big one - Crossing the pond
Wednesday 21/11/07, we went ashore and got a taxi up to the commercial dockyard to find the offices for the policia nacionale to get our exit papers stamped, it was well hidden but we found it and got the job done.
Back aboard the boat we squared everything away for sea and lifted the anchor at midday, there was not much wind so we were motoring for about an hour before the sea breeze kicked in and we were able to sail down the coast. The wind changed direction when we were off the airport and we had to bear away out to sea (ESE) the wind increased rapidly and we were charging along in a wind acceleration zone with the wind coming from the south. The further offshore we went the stronger it got, we reefed the main and put up the working jib and after another hour tacked back towards the shore. It was after sunset and getting dark as we approached the shore again and the wind eased off so we tacked again to go along the shore and sure enough the wind came around and allowed us to sail south. The seas were confused and steep and we were going straight into them it was a very uncomfortable start to our trip.
By morning we were able to point more to the southwest and by midday the wind was astern although fairly light, so progress was slow.
Thursday midday position: 26 49N 015 59W
We sailed on with the genoa poled out and the mainsail preventer rigged, we were goose winging downwind and ‘Spam’ did not need a touch on the wheel she was in the groove. The fishing lines were trailed all day with no success.
The wind was steady in direction all day but its strength varied and most of the day progress was slower than we would like, but we are going the right way.
Friday midday position : 25 48N 017 33W
We saw tenacious go by us in the dark, quite close too, they were motoring which is shame in a tall ship with a fair breeze.
The weather conditions have hardly changed, with only the wind strength varying. Still no fish, seen plenty jumping out of the water but none chasing our lures.
The seas are building up now behind us but it is still reasonably comfortable, Adam asked ‘is it going to like this all the way across?’ I’m afraid I had to disappoint him and tell him the seas would most likely get much bigger yet.
Cooked a pressure cooker full of stew for dinner tonight, this went down well with all and the bonus is there is enough left for tomorrow as well.
Saturday 24/11 midday position: 24 49N 019 17W
The wind is still blowing a force three right from astern which is keeping things comfortable and reasonably simple but not giving us a great amount of speed. We are now averaging 120 miles a day.
Saw a couple of other yachts today but no contact made with them. Still no fish caught and haven’t seen a flying fish since we left Gran Canaria, I’m beginning to wonder where they all are. The remainder of the stew went down very well again. We had a huge pod of dolphins playing around the boat for about an hour this morning, now that was entertainment.
Sunday 25/11 midday position: 23 33N 021 03W
Another reasonable 24 hour run with the wind occasionally increasing to give us a bit more speed. I’m trying to decide when I should make the turn direct towards Barbados, the question is are we far enough into the trades to turn now or am I adding extra miles to the journey by continuing into the south, decisions decisions.
We saw a shark on the surface this morning and at almost the same time hooked a fish on each lure but we lost them both, it was great excitement though. Everyone has settled into their own kind of routine now which revolves around keeping watch sleeping eating and generally lazing around when off watch. Agustin is reading pirate stories and Adam is watching dvd’s and playing his psp, Me well I have to sit here and trype on the laptop whilst the boat is lurching around which makes hitting the right key something of a game in itself.
We checked the halyards and sheets for chafe this morning and reset everything again, this is something we need to do more often as the voyage continues.
Typical just put this away and Adam catches the first fish of the trip, a small Dorado about two pounds, big enough for dinner tomorrow. Caught another during dinner, one for the freezer for later.
At 14:30 we crossed the Tropic of Cancer, so are now officially sailing in the tropics at last, seas still lumpy though.
Monday 26/11 midday position: 22 30N 023 00W
The wind has been shifting about between east and northeast since the early hours and we have had to reset the sails accordingly each time, if only it would stay steady. We made the turn to head direct for Barbados at 4a.m. and then the wind changed again. This running downwind is not as easy as it sounds especially as we are trying to get as much speed as possible to meet our deadline and rendezvous with San and Maddy on the 16th, at the moment its touch and go. I am looking forward to the cruising in the Caribbean with them aboard.
The sky has been cloudy since yesterday afternoon, could do with a bit more sunshine to lift the mood a little.
We had one of the Dorado for dinner tonight cooked by Agustin, it was absolutely delicious with a nice bit of salad and some rice on the side.
Tuesday 27/11 midday position: 22 04N 25 05W
Things going much the same, same wind constantly changing direction through about 45 degrees but always from aft at least, same waves from all directions making life quite difficult and throwing the stern around meaning the sails lose the wind and start flogging.
Its been a melancholy day today, missing San and Maddy all the comforts of home and eating dinner together on a table where dinner stays still, Sunday night pub crawl with John Hutchins and all the other little things that are taken for granted at home. This has been the hardest part of the trip, on the mind.
Agustin is full of beans and lively as ever, good job he is so upbeat he can lift spirits quite well. Adam is coping with the monotony of it really well too, he just buries his head in his toys, psp dvd player etc, and quite often does some daft thing out of the blue just to cheer us up. If only he would do the washing up!!!
Had a nice roast dinner tonight of pork, not much fresh stuff left now.
Wednesday 28/11 midday position : 21 45N 027 28W
We are happily running downwind still at much the same speed. No sooner do I sit here to do this log from where I can see out through the door, and the line goes tight with another fish on. Much excitement, a bigger Dorado this time, that’s another nice meal in the fridge. Adam wants batter on his!!
The flying fish (exocetus) have appeared in large numbers now, just as I had expected them to from the start really, Adam almost tears himself away from his game to watch them.
Really looking forward to making the sat phone call to San tonight. These calls are turning into a highlight of the trip, good job for the phone, long may it keep working.
The weather improved greatly today with wall to wall sunshine and temperature to match.
We haven’t seen any other vessels for over two days now, we are all alone out here, I would expect some of the faster ARC boats to be catching up with us soon but it’s a vaast ocean and we may not see any of them at all.
Thursday 29/11 midday position: 21 19N 29 28W
Is that a mouse I can hear!! I am half asleep in bed and I can hear something scrabbling like a mouse in a corner, sounds as though it is coming from the bookshelf just beside my bunk, it can’t be, I try to pinpoint the sound but it fades away and I then drop off to sleep. I’m up for the 4a.m. til 8 stint and I remember the noise and think it over some more through the mental plonk of early morning, it dawns on me eventually that it must have been a flying fish on the foredeck, so at daylight I go and investigate and sure enough there it is wedged under the dinghy we have lashed there, mystery solved. I was worried for my cheese!!
Slow progress in the last twenty four hours with the winds going a little lighter, we cannot afford to go any slower. No sightings of any other vessels still, they must be out there somewhere. No more fishing for a few days as we have enough in the fridge to last us, it’s a shame as it is fun to catch them but we would find it too hard to throw them back in, I would swear they all have dinner stamped on the side.
Cloudy day again today, the sunshine yesterday was great could have done with more of that.
Friday 30/11 midday position: 20 52N 31 37W
I was on midnight til four last night and halfway through the watch something hit me in the small of the back, now I know there was no-one else there, so it had to be, you guessed it a flying fish. Good job it didn’t hit me in the back of the head, now that would have made me jump.
Speed for the last twenty four hours has been pretty much the same, so still making steady progress and seem to be averaging five knots, which is not fast but the winds have hardly blown more than force two to three the whole time. Having said that we did have a bit of a blow last evening and stowed the main, then we had to drop the genoa and put up the working jib, which meant a lot of messing about with the pole set up etc. Ten minutes later it was down with the jib and back up with the genoa as the squall had passed. Up til now we have been lucky that was the first time we needed to reef since Gran Canaria.
We had chicken tonight for dinner which was very tasty and easy to do on a boat. We are now down to just two portions of mince left in the freezer plus the fish, but what to do with the mince, spaghetti Bolognese is not that easy to eat on a moving boat, it also tends to slide off the plate into your lap.
No vessels sighted in the last twenty four hours, I’ve now forgotten how long it is since we saw another boat/ship but it must be at least three days. There’s been not much wildlife either, no whales, dolphins or such, some seabirds and loads of flying fish but that’s all.
Saturday 1/12 midday position: 20 18N 034 03W
We have a little bit more wind at the moment and the boat speed has picked up nicely, if only we could keep going like this but we know it probably won’t last. No vessels sighted at all in the last twenty four hours again, this makes watch keeping a bit of a drag.
Everyone is very quiet now, we are all deep in thought or just empty headed, basically conversation has run dry and we are all keen to arrive but it is still up to fourteen days away. This is going to be a long haul! ! ! !
The days are really warm now but the nights can still have a bit of chill in them so its not all shorts and t-shirts just yet.
All the bread has gone now so its out with the part baked baguettes until they are gone then I will be forced to try and bake a loaf, that could be fun, or not.
Sunday 2/12 midday position: 19 58N 036 34W
A much better 24 hour run of 145 miles, we need quite a few more like that. No ships or sails, no dolphins nor whales, nothing sighted ‘cept miles of deep blue sea.
Its bathday today, ½ a bucket each and a good sponge down, I feel quite refreshed after that. We are getting near the halfway point now, the beers are in the fridge chillin’ ready for the celebration, it’ll be all downhill after that, I hope.
Monday 3/12 midday position: 19 12N 038 29W
We passed the halfway point at midnight last night, yippee, but now the wind has gone light and gone southerly as well, not ideal.
Got up this morning and decided it was time to have a go at this loaf of bread. I searched the books for the recipe but found none, so it was a hit and miss affair from memory, I haven’t made a loaf for a couple of years. As it turned out we have a very nice loaf of wholemeal bread, I am quite impressed with myself (no amazed), bet it won’t last very long and the next one will never come out the same.
We had a yacht pass in the night, no contact made, the first one seen for a good few days now.
This is one big ocean, full of blue sea and flying fish.
The air is much warmer now especially noticeable at night when not so long ago it had a slight chill to it, it no longer has, the days are really warm, this is what we wanted.
Tuesday 4/12 midday position: 18 36N 039 55W
The wind is still very light but we are moving along in the right direction just not as fast as we would like. The temperature has climbed rapidly it was 27c during the night and is 30c now, I think that is probably the last of the chilly nights out of the way. Not much news to add these days, we cook we eat we sleep we keep watch, and right now it is starting to get a bit boring. Beat Adam at crib 3 games to 1, I guess he will get me back in the next session.
Wednesday 5/12 midday position: 18 08N 041 52W
We have had a bit of decent breeze back since the early hours and are once again going along nicely. The genoa is suffering and some stitching is coming undone so we got it down in the afternoon and put up the other one. I shall begin sowing when I get a chance in between watches. I wish I had new sails, these old ones are in need of constant tlc.
Crossed tracks with another yacht last evening, a Sunbeam 44 called ‘Nika’, they are part of the ARC so have made better progress than us. Good to chat on the radio though.
We should pass the thousand miles to go barrier tonight which will be a good morale boost to have only three digits on the distance to go instead of four and the countdown can really begin.
Good job for the satellite phone, the chats with San really do lift the spirits, both mine and Adam’s anyway, Agustin seems to be content enough that he’s on his travels.
Right time to go on watch again, more tomorrow.
Thursday 6/12 midday position: 17 29N 043 57W
Spent the morning sitting in the sunshine on the foredeck with the old genoa and my sowing kit stitching the seams that had come undone, just a few more to do tomorrow then we can use it again.
I was on for the afternoon watch which started with fairly light winds and boatspeed between 3.5 and 5 knots, by 2pm I was doing a steady seven and hit a top speed of 11.4. The wind had freshened quite a bit and there were a few rain squalls around, one of which was coming right up behind us so I got Adam to pass me the soap and my towel and stripped off ready for a free shower. The boat was doing 8 knots and I was holding the soap in one hand and trying to steer with the other while she surfed down the waves, but all it did was spit, the main body of rain passed down our starboard side about a 100 yards away so all I got was cold.
Adam is on the wheel now and got up to 12.1 knots, he is grinning from ear to ear and enjoying the fast pace for a change. We really ought to reef but we need the extra speed to make up for what we have lost earlier, we shall see how long it lasts, I suspect it will ease before long.
Famous last words, the genoa just popped, so been out and dropped that and put up the working jib. That’s another fix it job to do when I get a chance, nothing too major this time so should not take too long. Phew its all go round here today, got to get on and start cooking something for dinner now as well. 897 miles to go as I type.
Friday 7/12 midday position: 16 57N 046 33W
We had a very good twenty four hour run, 193 miles logged from midday yesterday to today, what a blast. It has come at a price though as the spinnaker pole has just folded in two so that’s the end of that, it made a huge difference to the sail set and comfort we will miss it sorely. The tactics will have to change a bit now and our progress is likely to suffer because of it and we have no time to spare so there is a good likelihood that we shall be a bit late for the girls.
I got my free shower just after lunch, Adam opted for full foul weather gear and I opted for birthday suit and bar of soap, this time it worked but now we want it to stop raining as we have now had enough.
Baked another loaf of bread this morning, a nice white loaf to please Adam, it has come out alright considering we are guessing ingredient quantities.
We are fishing again now, looking for the elusive Tuna but we will take whatever offers itself up. This time we have added a flying fish to make the bait a bit more interesting.
Saturday 8/12 midday position: Belly up! ! ! !
Well what a night, it continued to rain, well rain does not do it justice it came down almost solid, with lightning and wind to go with it. The horrible night turned into a disastrous day when at about 0845 the mast came down and went over the starboard side, where the end started to pound against the hull. Agustin was called from his bunk and told to done foul weather gear and lifejacket. I grabbed some tools and set to work on the remaining stays to release the mast whilst Adam set to work cutting the running rigging which led to the cockpit from the mast and sails. We made a futile attempt to get the boom and mainsail off but it was particularly dangerous with a ragged and sharp end of mast stabbing upwards every now and then so we gave up and released the last two stays, starboard lower and backstay, which had bent the chain plates 90 degrees already, and dropped the lot and let it sink. All fell fairly silent then so I took stock, we had a broken spinnaker pole and a long boathook with which to jury rig, some old wires stored below and plenty of old running rigging and some sails. We went below to make a plan and discovered water coming in, we were holed and already paddling. This was no time for messing about we set off the EPIRB and I phoned Sandra on the satellite phone to let her know and then phoned Falmouth coastguard to inform them of the situation, this was particularly reassuring as they received the EPIRB signal as I was on the phone so I knew it was working. It was obvious that we were going to have to abandon at some stage so we gathered gear and packed rapidly into sailbags and got all our bottled water out and all the snacks we could lay our hands on, in case we would be in the raft for a long time. I also wanted both the inflatables pumped up and ready to use as extra security and it was at this point that we saw a yacht about a mile and a half off, I put out one last call on VHF this time on the main set as the batteries were already running down on the handheld, but first I stripped back about an inch of bare coaxial to give us some kind of aerial, apparently it worked well and the mayday was received loud and clear. We put up a red rocket for good measure (the first and last time I have to do that I hope) which soared to a great height and burned brightly but I later learned was not seen at all. The yacht we could see was now steering for us so we inflated the liferaft and packed in as much of our gear as we could, as the yacht (Navillus) sailed past we cut the painter and drifted away from ’Spam’ she was already listing badly down to the gunwhale on one hull with waves crashing over her, how long she would last is anyones guess. The guys on S/V Navillus (Brian O’Sullivan - Skipper, Michael O’Sullivan and Peadar O’Loughlin) executed a perfect run in and we got a line first time and hauled up to the stern, passed up our gear and scrambled aboard. I expressed our sincere thanks to the crew and then promptly became an emotional wreck.
Fortunately for us the S/V Navillus is a Bavaria 50 (big boat) and there is plenty of room for us and our gear and we have been made very welcome aboard. We have become part of the crew and keep watches and help out where we can, it’s the least we can do.
Needless to say my mind is running it through over and over again, there are many things we could have and should have grabbed but didn’t so they are lost, our grab bag was already packed before hand so we had the bare essentials away, passports, ships papers, money etc.
Something that is bothering me is that I should have turned on the lower nav lights and cabin lights in case she stayed afloat through the night as she would be a hazard, the batteries were fully charged so they would have lasted reasonably as long as she was afloat.
We were rescued in position 16 28.72N 048 29.30W and there the dream of cruising in the Caribbean aboard my own boat for the winter died.

Nearly There

They are on course to get into St Lucia late this evening, or overnight. Pete Adam and Agustin are hoping to be able to find some accommodation so they can remove themselves and their stuff from the Navillus to make the cleaning up/tidying away operation easier for everyone. Pete and Adam are flying back to the UK overnight Sunday, and I think Agustin is hoping to wait in St Lucia for Keith (http://www.singlehandedyachting.co.uk/) to arrive. Keith has very kindly offered the use of a berth until he moves on again. It depends on how immigration feel about allowing Agustin to stay with no immediate plans to leave! I think they are all looking forward to landfall now and having a drink!

Incidentally the ships mascot tin of SPAM was rescued but had a ceremonial burial at sea yesterday after a final crew photo.

Update

I have just spoken to Pete and they should arrive in St Lucia on Thursday during the day. They are all fine, getting over the shock and taking their turn on watch etc. Tomorrow I shall have to get busy trying to unmake our travel plans and get them flights home. Never a dull moment! I have passed on everyones kind comments to him, and they are very much appreciated.

The Dream Is Over

As you have probably heard it all came to an end this morning. Pete and Adam were in the cockpit and Agustin had just gone to bed when the mast came crashing down and punctured a hole in the hull. Pete phoned me to tell me they were taking on water, and was going send a distress message via Falmouth coastguard. He spoke to Falmouth giving all the necessary information, who then in turn alerted the ARC control. They issued a message to all boats in the vicinity and Falmouth also alerted any vessels within a 300 mile radius. Pete then phoned again at 12.30 to say they were safely onboard an ARC yacht Navillus, a 50 foot Irish yacht. It was an amazingly quick pick up considering they were approximately 750 miles from land, and a fortunate one. The water was approaching the gunwales on one hull when they were rescued. They are all safe and well, if a little shaken. They managed to save alot of their stuff, and Pete said Agustin had all his things ok. They are now heading for St Lucia for the finish of the ARC. I havent heard any more but the progress of the Navillus can be followed at www.worldcruising.com/arc . You can check its position by following the fleet viewer link.

If I hear anymore regarding their expected arrival in St Lucia I will post this up for you. I think they should be there within 7 days. I am so sorry for not posting this earlier for Agustins friends but should I get any more news I will post again.

Highs and Lows

Latest Position 16 57N 46 33W

They did manage to catch some wind after all yesterday and travelled 170 miles in 24 hours. Adam got the fastest speed which clocked at 12 knots. The bad news is that things are breaking. They have broken the spinnaker pole which whilst not disastrous is a major inconvenience as they were using it alot. Then literally 5 minutes before they called the steering broke which is a major problem. They have rigged up a temporary tiller rig which is capable of steering the boat properly but is going to make it hard work for them as it won't be able to be left for a minute, and will be quite physically demanding as well. Obviously a major downer, and without being able to get out of the boat and inspect things Pete is unsure exactly how much of the steering rig has broken and what parts he will need. This then leads to the question, will he be able to get parts in the Caribbean. I have started researching on the net, but without alot more information its a needle in a haystack job. On the upside its only 750 miles to go but at the moment they are struggling to look at that as a positive!

Slow Couple of Days

Latest position 18 08 N 41 52 W

They have had a slow couple of days dropping below the 100 miles day mark for the first time in the trip. Today was better and have got steady 3s again at the moment. Unfortunately the 5s and 6s forecast earlier in the week are now not going to materialise which is a shame, but they can expect some 4s so that should give them a boost along. Adam and Pete have been watching Norman Wisdom DVDs this afternoon so they were in much higher spirits when they phoned tonight, as they both had a good chuckle at those. They have been changing their clock times as they have been moving west, they are now 2 hours behind us, and once they get to 45 degrees they will move to 3 hours behind. How they work the time changes into the watch keeping system god only knows! Next update on Friday when it will only be a week until Madz and I leave Scilly!

Over Half Way

19 2 N 38 29 W

They crossed the half way mark at midnight Sunday/Monday so downhill all the way now! They have slowed down yesterday and today with light winds but the forecast is for 5s and 6s coming through by thursday so Pete is hoping to catch up some ground then - providing they don't break anything. The high light of the day yesterday was that Pete baked some bread. Adam was reluctant to have any tho coz it was wholemeal! Some things just don't change do they. They are suffering with tiredness now as you would expect, with the broken sleep patterns but are otherwise fine. Just counting down to getting there, and getting their hands on some rum punch.

Agustin Says Hi To ......

Dani, Lucia, Maggan, Lisa, Quo, Line, Pocholo and familia, and "La Communa"


Latest Position 21 45 N 027 28W

All going well, still good steady average pace, with no major traumas. They are catching loads of fish - mostly on Adams watch still so he is winning the bet quite easily at the moment. The weather forecast is for steady 3s and 4s for the next 7 days with nothing stronger but no lulls either so they expect more of the same. They have seen some other boats and Petes had a chat on the radio so they don't feel quite so alone. I think the monotony and homesickness has set in a bit at the moment, which is to be expected, but they are generally fine and going well.

Discovered - The True Meaning of Life

They have obviously been having some very in depth and meaningful philosophical discussions onboard. After hours spent pondering the meaning of life they have decided that the answer to any question is ..................CHOCOLATE. Now only 3 men could have taken hours to reach that conclusion - all us women knew that from birth!

Anyway latest position as at midday today 22 30N 023 00 W. Averaging 5 knots and making steady progress. Pete would like a couple of days pushing along at 7 knots to really break the back of it so hopefully they will get some stronger winds at some stage. Early days yet. They crossed the tropic of cancer at 2.30pm yesterday so they are now officially in the tropics. The first fish of the trip was caught by Adam yesterday and that is their dinner tonight. They are settling into the monotony and routine of the days, getting organised into getting things done. Adam would appear to be doing no different to what he does at home during his time off, playing on his psp and watching dvds! At least he is not suffering from any seasickness which was a concern and Pete said he was pulling his weight, doing his watches well, and generally coping. Glad someone is!

Next update on Wednesday

First Position

25 48 N 017 33 W

They had an uncomfortable start with the seas being a bit sloppy and the wind being the wrong direction at times, but it has moved around for them and they are now doing between 3.5 and 5.5 knots. The good news is that Adam hasn't been seasick which looks promising for the passage! All going well just hoping for some favourable winds. Now I have their position I have to check the weather and warn them of any major changes. Unfortunately the news of the England result brought Adam down a bit, but with a big bowl of stew waiting Pete didn't think it would last long. Next update on Monday.

And They're Off

They left on schedule at 12 ish today - got a text this afternoon saying they were doing 6 knots and weather is looking good. I will hear again via bat phone on Friday if all goes according to plan so will have a first position to plot on the chart then.

Time For One More Party

Monday night was party night and did they party. Got a load of pictures through and it has been quite difficult to narrow down which ones to post. They got together with Keith and the gang off Aqua Equinox http://www.aquaequinox.com/ and a very good time was had by all. Adam has learnt a valuable lesson - you don't get drunk on champagne. He was fit for nothing all day yesterday.

God if San sees this she's gonna think we are enjoying ourselves!

Today they have to go and get their papers cleared for leaving, and they will then get going around lunchtime. I think it's probably a good idea for them to be getting underway now - give their livers a break and get some rest!

Getting Organised

Well they spent yesterday cleaning up - well half the day anyway. Apprently the decks and the carpets had all turned a lovely shade of grey so a scrub was in order. Then they spent the afternoon at the swimming pool - it's all about work/life balance! They are hoping to get lifted in quite promptly this morning so they can chug around for the rest of the day. The weather is looking favourable for them to leave on Wednesday and they are beginning to get excited at the prospect.

Positive News At Last

Hooray, as of about an hour ago it's working! They spent yesterday putting everything back together which wasn't without the usual problems. Things not coming apart, and things being very stiff to put back together. Some hits with a hammer with a prayer "please don't break" seems to have done the trick. They finished up last night refilling with oil ready to test this morning. And, so far it is reported to be running well, and doing what it should, with the leg free and easy to lift and drop. So now it's a massive clean up operation, the boatyard being very dusty with the wind getting it everywhere. Pete was doubtful they would be able to get lifted back in until Monday, when they would really put the engine through it's paces and give it a good test. Then store up on Tuesday to be ready to go (fingers crossed) on Wednesday. This gives them 25 days to get across to St Vincent before we do! Thank goodness for the satphone, as at least I will have a good idea of progress, and can always try and organise accommodation for a few days when we get there if necessary.

They are out and they have parts!

Here she is being lifted out.

After and bit of an epic they finally got their hands on the parts this morning. Augustin has joined them now and has been worth his weight in gold with his ability to speak the language! They got lifted out yesterday morning and spend the day taking things apart, cleaning and antifouling.

Three Wise Monkeys

So today it's a case of trying to put everything back together in working order. Fingers toes etc crossed big time! They are certainly alot happier with just being able to finally get on with something after a wasted week. I have no idea at the moment when or how quickly they will be able to get lifted back in. With all the ARC boats wanting to antifoul before they go, the lifting schedule is completely backed up but once again they are hoping Augustin will be able to sort it for them.

No Parts As Yet

Anchored outside the marina at Las Palmas

The parts have not yet arrived, and it is an anxious time. Pete has been hearing horror stories from other boats down there waiting for shipments of things, and apparently it is quite normal for stuff to be sent to Madrid and stuck there for at least a week. Anyway he made a phone call to Silette this morning and they kindly tracked the consignment and it is showing as having arrived in Las Palmas. So a bit more digging and Pete now has the address and phone number of the local office so he is hoping to find out some more today. The hanging around is getting to them, as it is not an ideal anchorage, quite awkward for getting ashore, and they have had no wind for a week which means power onboard has become a huge problem. They are running the engine to try and keep the essentials going but it is a pain. It will be a huge boost if they parts arrive today, and the new crew should turn up tomorrow. He is a Canarian called Augustin, and is in his early thirties. He has quite alot of experience and speaks 5 languages so he will prove very useful if they get to the stage of negotiating with the boatyard about lifting out the boat. So, in theory things can only get better!

More Engine Trouble

When they had organised themselves nicely in Gran Canaria ready to concentrate on finding crew, Pete decided to try and free the engine leg up some more. It had been really stiff since the work in Spain and they were unable to raise it out of the water at all, which was less than ideal. Anyway as you can probably guess, he tinkered, and it broke again. The new pins that the engineer had drilled made everything really stiff and tight, and this put pressure on the casing and yoke which have now broken. (I think this is right anyway) I do tend to glaze over these days when it comes to engine trouble - I just wait till he gets to the how much it's going to cost bit. Anyway, he is now waiting for more parts from Silette. They can lift him out on Wednesday and he can sit in the boatyard to do the repairs, which he is going to attempt himself. He says he has seen it being dismantled and reconstructed so many times now he should be able to do it without an engineer. If he gets stuck he will call one in then. Once again Silette have been really helpful, and have couriered out the parts, which he is hoping will arrive on Tuesday. So it's a waiting game once again. On the positive side, he is getting plenty of interest in the crew space. Apparently there are youngsters everywhere trying to find spaces on boats, and there is a notice board full of adverts. He is gutted to have missed the twin blonde scandanavian girls who were looking for berths, surprisingly enough they were snapped up pretty quickly(!) Meanwhile it is quite an experience down there with the place being totally overwhelmed with the ARC boats and their preparations.

Lanzarote to Gran Canaria

The forecast was for light easterly winds so we took the opportunity to get going. It was really quite difficult to get into the right frame of mind for going back to sea after so long in the marina but it was going to be beyond our budget to stay and we might never leave then, so prise ourselves from the berth we did. Once out we dropped into the watch keeping routine fairly swiftly with Adam doing the first stint as I was feeling groggy and had a baggy head, I was finally catching the cold I hoped San had left behind in the UK before she came out to see me.
As is normal on this trip we had dolphins leaping not far away before the afternoon was out, these were on a mission though and ignored us and went straight on by. The sailing was very easy with the wind from dead astern and hardly reaching force three, it was a bit slow but very comfortable and we were in no hurry. In the late evening I could see the loom of lights from Las Palmas from over fifty miles away so it was easy to just steer straight for our destination. I was quite surprised by the amount of shipping going to a fro here, this kept us alert as only a few nights ago a big French steel ketch was run down out here and the ship did not stop and probably never noticed, fortunately the yacht survived but is a right off with a massive dent amidships. It must be said there was no one keeping a watch on the yacht at the time apparently so the story goes.

Las Palmas is a big city and the marina and anchorage is huge, we went straight to the anchorage but took three attempts to get the anchor to dig in, space is a bit limited as there are loads of yachts here but we picked our spot not too far from the beach, and a nice sheltered anchorage it is, apart from when the speedy boats are playing or a tug boat goes past.
There is a big notice board at the marina with loads of people wanting to crew so we are fairly hopeful of finding another crew for the trip across soon, the two Swedish girls advert was quite appealing but I only have room for one more unless I kick Adam off or he kicks me off Hmmm choices.

Holidays Over

Well the holidays are now over, Madz and I have returned home, leaving the boys to get back into sailing mode. We had a great time over the two weeks, and it was nice to be all together again. Now the challenge is on for them to get to St Vincent before we do! The timescale is quite tight, as we fly down on 17th Dec. Pete doesn't want to leave the Canaries too early as it will still be the tale of of hurricane season so we are keeping fingers crossed for favourable weather and a reasonably quick passage. I shall research some hotels in St Vincent before we go just in case! Being tied to school times is a bit of a pain, with this crusing lark being anything but predictable but needs must and all that.

They left Marina Rubicon yesterday lunchtime and have arrived in Gran Canaria where the main priority is to find a 3rd person to crew. The ARC yachts are gathering there at the moment and it seems like the best possibility of picking someone up. Adam had his first taste of a night watch last night and seems to have enjoyed the experience so far. Early days yet though!

hello from Lanzarote

The computer has been a nightmare (as only computers and children can be!) All I can confidently say is that at the moment it is working! We all arrived on time and with our tons of baggage. The boat has gone down significantly with all of us, and our stuff onboard. The weather has been great until today when it actually rained. We have taken the boat out of the marina once, and went along the coast to the beaches at Papagayo. It was a sizzling hot day and we all went swimming off the boat. The main entertainment of the day was watching mum trying to get herself back onto the boat. It would seem that my knees just don't bend the way they are supposed to! Amazingly enough we are managing ok with the four of us on the boat. It is a little cramped, especially with the kids being completely unable to cooperate on anything (!) , and I wouldn't want to do it for any length of time but at least it means we will really appreciate the villa on Sunday. The Marina Rubicon is a great place, with a lovely big heated swimming pool, bars, restaurants, shops etc. It is about a 20 minute walk into the main drag of Playa Blanca so quite doable if you get fed up with eating in the same places. If this continues to work I shall get a few pictures on over the next few days.

3 More Sleeps

Just had these pics from Pete. He is almost down to Playa Blanca now ready to go into the Marina Rubicon on Friday morning. He has quite enjoyed his week on his own really, now getting used to the cruising lifestyle he reckons - God he's got a shock coming when we all arrive! The roast dinner was shared with a single hander he met whilst anchored in Arrecife - it's not worth the bother for just one apparently. Anyway he was a really interesting guy and Pete was able to pick his brains about how he manages on passages on his own. You never know it might yet come to that!! We leave Scilly Friday morning, and fly down to Lanzarote on Sunday. Hopefully if I manage to get the laptop sorted out I will be able to post some pictures etc whilst we are down there.

Pete is still anchored in Arrecife with plans to move on tomorrow. He has been unable to get much of an internet connection - we are beginning to think it's the laptop doing something bizarre, so that will have to wait until I get down there to try and fix it. Pete admists to being baffled by it (but admittedly where computers are concerned it doesn't take much!)

Anyway he has been winding down nicely over the last few days, doing some domestics around the boat and chilling out. He is off down to Puerto del Carmen tomorrow with an aim to be in the Marina Rubicon in Playa Blanca on Friday - ready for our arrival on Sunday. We are all really looking forward to it now, as Madz would say "only 6 sleeps to go"!

Sines to Lanzarote

We left Sines yesterday afternoon at 1400, I went to check out and the guy said no problem and I asked how much I owed and he checked and said nothing, I was a bit taken aback by that so I checked he had the right boat and that I was due to pay for 1 night in the marina and three at anchor, he just said its not worth the paperwork and have a good trip goodbye, so off I went. Its been nagging in my mind though and I think he confused us with another boat that also went out to anchor again but had also paid up their fees, never mind eh.
There was no wind when we left and there is no wind now to speak of. It has tried to blow a couple of times and both times we stopped the ‘noisy beast’ and made sail all to no avail as it only lasts for about half an hour. We cannot run for much longer under engine as we shall have to conserve some fuel for emergencies and getting into harbour, so I guess we will soon be languishing waiting for the wind, I might have left a day or two to soon.
There have been big cumulus nimbus clouds around all night and this morning, with occasional lightning and plenty of rain under them, but we seem to have avoided them but there was one that gave me concern, I was tinkering with something and looked up to see a waterspout not too far away, so I grabbed the cameras and got some footage and stills, then I thought which way is it going as it was certainly getting closer to us and it was looking quite impressive, especially where it made contact with the water. After a bit of weaving I decided to stand on our course and we managed to skirt around it, even so it was a bit worrying, there was certainly wind under there but not the kind I wanted.






We are working 4 hours on and 4 off at the moment with two two hour dogwatches to break up the pattern and this seems to be good for us. The person off during the first dog does the dinner and the person off for the last dog does the washing up, so alls fair.
5/10/07 Friday
We spent Wednesday motoring through the day in no wind and by the evening we had put in the last can of diesel, we now had only the full tank to rely on, so the engine was stopped and we then languished and tried to sail the boat. On my four hour shift we travelled a whole two miles. This continued through the night and all day on Thursday and now into Friday evening with no real improvement when we do get a bit of breeze we can get up to a couple of knots sometimes but the wind, what there is is coming from our destination, has been very fickle. On the upside we had a couple of whales with us on Thursday afternoon for a couple of hours and they came right up beside the boat so hopefully I have got some good shots. We have looked in the collins gem dolphins and whales book and reckon they might have been ‘Trues beaked whales’ but some expert out there will no doubt tell us exactly what they were.

On Wednesday at 2300 we logged 1000 miles at sea.
The MP3 is getting a good listening too, I don’t often get the chance normally, and spent 18 months going through the whole play list from A-Z. now I’ve finished that I thought I may as well start again and see if I can do it a bit quicker, only 2655 tracks to go.
During the day it has been really warm so when off watch I have been taking a cushion up onto the foredeck and going to sleep up there in the sun, its much more peaceful up there anyway.
The food situation could get interesting soon, some of the fresh stuff we bought in Sines has gone or gone off so we’ll be into the tinned stores soon, at least it will be making the boat lighter. That’s one good thing about flat calms it is dead easy to rustle up some really fantastic meals, it’s the washing up that’s a pain, no dishwasher out here.
Saturday 6/10/07
We motored for five hours last evening until midnight, this charged the batteries and gained us another 25 miles, but since we stopped at midnight we have done just that, and stopped. From midnight up to 1600 and we have gone a whole 4 miles, ‘THRUST, THRUST WE NEED MORE THRUST! ! ! !’ this is now bordering on maddening.
I had a swim today as the conditions were perfect, the water was in fact very nice for swimming and as it is so hot it was really refreshing.
We are hoping we will finally get some breeze tonight, we have about another five hours of frivolous use from the diesel before we keep it for emergencies and entering harbour and I’m reluctant to use it too early as we may get wind and then stop again when we get close and that’s when we would want to motor, arrrgh what a dilemma. This is not the weather that had been predicted, we should have had a good northerly from Friday onwards but still we are bobbing around going nowhere.
On a lighter note I was on the 4 am to 8 this morning so I put on my MP3 to pass the time and boredom of not sailing and the first track up (now up to B's on the playlist) was Bohemian rhapsody which was ideal and put me into a much better frame of mind straight away, just what was needed, and yes I did the 'Wayne's world' bit of head shaking too.
We seem to have floated past (or they us) several dead turtles today, there was certainly no movement from them even when we passed close by.

Right time to put some dinner on, its getting difficult to concoct something good now as the fresh ingredients are dwindling away.
Sunday 07/10/07
Late last evening we started to feel a breeze and the boat started moving, albeit at between zero and one knot, when the log registered the movement at all. This morning we were going along at up to two knots, something we haven't done for a while, this seemed fast.
Now its evening and we have occasionally been over four knots but its usually a steady 3.5 ish. progress at last, with the promise of more wind to come, we may get there yet. Yippeee ! !
Now that we are moving again the towed generator is putting some power back into the starved batteries, and not before time. we had to turn off the fridge for a while, but there is hardly anything left in there now, mostly cheeses.
There is a lack of shipping in these parts, saw nothing for a complete 24 hour period and then only briefly. I don't mind that it makes the watches a lot easier.
Wednesday 10/10/07
The last few days at sea were quite fresh with big seas running, so we had gone from one extreme to the other. we feel as though we have had a thorough testing from her ladyship (mother nature), patience and resolve through the calms and stamina through the rough bit, but we have come through it now.
We arrived in Arrecife this afternoon, the holding is dire, it took us no end of attempts to get the anchor to hold. I think we have it snagged nicely in some old chain or rope on the bottom, the tripping line could come in useful to get it back up again.
Thursday 11/10/07
Chris has himself booked on a flight home this evening so he's hired a car for the day to go sightseeing, this was useful for going to get some more diesel for the boat. He wanted to stay a couple more days to see a bit of the place but it was a problem getting a flight, shame the weather is glorious.
For me its back to a bit of shopping for some fresh stores and a bit of boat cleaning and general domestic stuff, and I guess just enjoying a bit of peace and quiet for a few days.
Right time to go find a wifi connection.

They've Arrived

They got into Arrecife at about 2 ish this afternoon. The wind died again this morning just to make the last bit of the journey awkward. Anyway they are anchored up and hoping to get a decent meal tonight. I have been promised photos tomorrow providing the internet cafe isn't too hard to find, and a launderette is needed too apparently - bit smelly I'm told!

I Thought Women Were Supposed To Be The Contrary Ones

A 2 minute 30 second bat phone call confirmed that they finally had some wind but were now trying to slow it down a bit! Apparently they cannot make Lanzarote in time to get in before dark on Tuesday night so they are slowing things down to get in first thing Wednesday morning. I think they'll be glad to get there - its been a bit of a longer trip than they'd hoped but at least they are in plenty of time for the domestic deadlines!

Becalmed

Saturday saw them completely becalmed. Between midnight Friday/Saturday and 1800 Saturday they travelled a distance of 4 miles! Scorching hot apparently and Pete went swimming over the side. They were getting concerned they might have to start shutting down electrics soon, as with no wind to generate the power they needed to conserve the batteries. Anyway, being a good wifey who had checked the weather, I was able to tell them that wind was on its way. By the end of Sunday they should be getting some 3 to 4's ( the earlier predictions of 5s and 6s now not materialising) and if they get a move on they could make Lanzarote before these disappear again on Wednesday. We shall see, as they hadn't yet made it half way.

Update by bat phone

Quickie call tonight just to say all is well, but no wind as expected. They have motored as much as they could and are now having to save diesel for their arrival, so they are lolling around waiting for the wind. They have had whales and dolphins for company this afternoon, and hopefully the wind will pick up by Saturday morning and give them a bit of a push. At the moment the weather is giving some 5s and 6s in places, so they might get more of a push than they bargained for!

Next Stop Lanzarote

They set sail at about 2pm this afternoon, having done the shopping and checked the weather again. Not going to be alot of wind until Friday/Saturday so they are expecting to have the engine on a good bit to start with. But then it should be northerly again for the weekend which will be quite welcome I'm sure. Because of the lack of wind they expect the trip to take approx 7 days, its about 560 miles apparently. They could have stayed put and waited for the wind, but I think they were both anxious to be on the move again, especially with their deadlines approaching. Chris needs to get back for half term - and Pete needs to be there! 2 weeks and 5 days till we arrive out there, so time to get a wiggle on! (Not that I am counting or anything!)

Sines 01/10/07

We spent the first night at anchor in blissful conditions, but by Saturday evening the wind was quite fresh from the south, and although its sheltered from that direction the ground swell that came running into the harbour was quite something. We kept an anchor watch through the night and on Sunday morning, just before lunch, we shifted into the marina, as the waves were breaking much further from the shore now and quite close to our stern. The marina was not much better as boats were heaving around in there as well because of the surge. Anyway once alongside it meant we could relax and at least go out for a meal, which we duly did but it would seem that Sunday is a day of rest here as we struggled to find anywhere open. We did find somewhere in the end and had a lovely meal. the average here seems to be a starter and main plus a bottle of wine and a beer or coffee after for about 12 euros each, so less than a tenner in real money.
As we are alongside now we have taken the opportunity to get stocked up for the trip to the Canaries, this takes the dinghy ride out of the equation for now, but as soon as the swell dies away we may go back out to anchor as it is cheaper.

It rained quite hard through Saturday night into Sunday morning and was then showery all day, but now the sun is out again and it is really humid and hot. Good job I did the washing early on Saturday and got that chore out of the way, else we may have struggled to get it dry.
Sines is a lovely little town with narrow cobbled streets lots of little shops and bars/cafes/restaurants. Surprisingly all the industrial parts which look awful from the sea are out of sight from the town. Stocking the boat here has been a bit of a challenge though as there are only small convenience type stores in town, but there are very good butchers and also a market for fresh veg which is very useful. The main supermarket, at 6km away, is just a bit too far and I’ve yet to see a taxi or bus here at all.
That’s all for now folks got to get back to some relaxing.

Cascais to Sines

A short day run this of just about 55 miles, we left bang on 0700 with next to no wind whatsoever so the engine is going to get a real test today. There were several ships moving in and out of Lisbon but we timed our departure just right and crossed the fairway without having to fret about their movements. We slipped into a simple three hours on and three off routine for the day and it was a relaxing trip down apart from the noise of the diesel thumping away reassuringly. It was also very hot and sunny and was a real struggle to spend the whole three hours off watch sitting in the sun, I’ll have to work on perfecting the art. The dolphins (probably the same ones) turned up as usual but not for very long this time.
The only excitement for the day was off Cabo Esprich where there were hundreds of fishing markers, if you can call them that, there were no flags and some were very small and dark in colour. It was quite a job to weave through these as we had the sun ahead at the time so it was reflecting off the sea where we were trying to look. Other than that we had a straightforward run down to Sines. We motored into the harbour dropped the pick and went to go in reverse but the gear would not go in, we used the main in what wind there was to try and dig the anchor in.
Got up this morning and sorted out the boat a bit better, we also got stuck into the gear problem, nothing major, I’ve had this before it was a broken spring on the outside of the leg, but we only noticed it after we had taken the top off the leg and re-centred the throw for the dog-clutch and been through all the other connections for the gear cable from lever to leg. I should have checked the spring first as I have suffered exactly this problem once before but it had completely slipped my mind what with all the leg problems we have had recently I was convinced it was something more serious. Paranoia paranoia’s gonna get ya.
With all that lot done we are now relaxing once again and about to mosey on ashore to check out the town and find some wifi connection, the local libraries seem to all provide access for free so that will be my first stop.

From Pete

We had a very enjoyable stop at Cascais, the anchorage was safe (to a degree) and free, we used the small fishermans jetty to land at in the dinghy. This was handy as it was right at the centre of things.
The first night from about half an hour after sunset the wind started to blow off the land quite hard, and by about an hour and a half after sunset it was blowing a near gale. That put paid to any plans to go ashore for a meal or drinks, so we ate on board and wondered at the amazing holding power of the anchor. A good juncture to tell about our ground tackle, at the moment we are using a cheap Dan forth copy which seems to dig in and hold quite well, but does not like weed. Our previous first choice of anchor before I bought the cheapy, is a standard cqr 15kg. Both are on twenty metres of chain followed by 80 metres of nylon rode. I have a third anchor but it is only a smaller kedge really.
For power we are supposedly self sufficient. I have three battery banks, one for the engine start, one bank of three batteries (235ah total) that provides all the domestic and navigational equipment, and one single 110ah battery that supplies the inverter, which we use to charge all the electronic gadgets of the twenty first century, ie mobile, laptop, mp3 players and so on. The engine can charge the domestic and engine battery if required to, but they all have their own independent charge supply apart from the engine. The engine battery is connected to a 5watt solar panel which trickle charges it nicely and keeps it topped up ready to fire up the engine when needed. The domestic bank is supplied by a duogen which is a wind and water towed generator and provides many many amps, unless we are at anchor with no wind when it does nothing, this makes me edgy the longer we have no wind at anchor. The third bank is charged by a 70 watt solar panel which keeps it very nicely topped up. This panel can also be switched over to charge the main domestic bank if I need it to ie in times of need when there is no wind at anchor and we want to run the fridge for a cold beer which is an absolute must.
For communications we are carrying a vhf (dsc) radio, a satellite phone on prepaid tariff, bought second-hand just for this trip, mobile phones of course and my laptop for emails and such when in harbour. In emergency we have the epirb which sits on the wall and looks pretty in yellow and will hopefully still be unused when we return, touching wood . . . . . . now.
Anyway enough of that stuff, back to Cascais the second morning we awoke to a flat calm which gave us the confidence to jump on the train into Lisbon to do the touristy thing and have a good explore. I wore the wrong sandals and ended up with very painful blisters, I shall beware of that in future and only walk as far as the bar!!! Even so I think we just about covered all the culture spots and also found a fantastic cake shop, delicious.




We got back aboard by about six pm with the wind just threatening to come up again so we stayed aboard and ate again, but it did not blow as hard this time. The first bottle of port has been thoroughly tested for quality and it passed, it also passes the price test at 4.50 euros. That one was bought at Nazare and finished at Cascais so I had to replace it with some more I found which cost 3.49 and 3.99. It’ll be interesting to see if they match it for quality.
Cascais was certainly geared up for your average brit tourist, the first place I saw when I stepped ashore to go to do the paperwork was O’niells Irish pub. For a moment I thought my navigation must have been way out, as Irish pubs are in Ireland surely,. We did not venture in to test the theory, being here to sample the delights of the country we are in, and not ones we’ve left behind. If I want a full English breakfast I’ll cook it myself. Other than that Cascais had a lot going for it, probably because we have missed the main rush of the tourist season, but the bars and restaurants were still priced to fleece the tourist.
There were a good number of other yachts anchored and all seemed to be heading south, and for all you single girlies there was a yacht there called ’Hunk - around the world’ from Sweden with two young blonde Swedes aboard, I reckon they could be in for an interesting trip.
Time to get ready now for the next leg to Sines, leaving tomorrow 27th September at 0700.

Mucking About

Sorry folks, have been messing about with the pictures trying to avoid getting this long line of pics on the right hand side that extends further down beyond the text. If we carry on like this the page will be a few miles long by the time he gets back! I have figured out how to include pics as part of the text post so will do this in future to try and get round this problem, then they will get archived along with the older posts. Bear with me, steep learning curve going on here!

By the way they made Sines at about 7 pm this evening, having motored down from Cascais, in no wind. It was a 12 hour run, which went well, Pete's hoping to find wi-fi access tomorrow so should be more pics etc coming then.

Update from Pete - Nazare to Cascais

Nazare was a bit of a let down, tourist town end of season and dead, the marina was a very long hike from anything at all. We were able to get things done there though, the washing which was beginning to become a priority. I took it upon myself to lay in the sun and watch it dry, well it was blowing very hard and could easily have blown into the sea and needed retrieving, so I started to read a book and had a bottle of beer to keep me cool.
There were several other boats there all heading south, one I recognised from being in Scilly, they said they were there two years ago which is when they started heading south, we have been gone for two weeks and we have now overtaken them! Perhaps I am going to fast and missing out on so much, it does seem at times to be a bit rushed, if only I could guarantee the weather would hold for us to move on as and when we are ready, well it has so far, mustn’t tempt fate.
As I said there were several others there heading south but some seemed reluctant to take advantage of good sailing conditions to get to the next port, instead preferring only to go if it was perfect which in their minds seemed to mean motoring in flat calm. Perhaps it was just Nazare doing that to them, the wind certainly did funnel in there and make it seem as though the conditions outside were awful when in fact they were fine, or it could be the mischievous manager ‘Mike’ who seemed to like to play on their nerves by saying the conditions were bad and that the marinas further on were more expensive, we took no notice and had a great sail overnight down to Cascais.
We had planned to leave late afternoon and take it nice and slowly to arrive in daylight, so once clear of the harbour we hoisted just the working jib and bore away. The conditions were perfect and if it held our timings were also going to be good. We had a lovely moon to sail by through the night and as is now usual, the accompaniment of dolphins from time to time. As the night wore on and the closer we got to Cabo Roca the stronger the wind became, and the faster we went. This meant we would be well ahead of schedule and end up arriving before daybreak and that is exactly what happened. So after rounding the last headland which left us in the lee of the land we dropped sail about a mile from the harbour and waited an hour for daylight to come along, basically sticking to our original plan to arrive in daylight, it worked for us.
Cascais is an out and out tourist town with prices to match, but the anchorage is good and the ‘massive’ supermarket, aptly called ‘Jumbo’ is within walking distance so we stocked up.
Its about the stage where I shoud start to introduce you all to bits of the equipment we have aboard for the trip and which are worthwhile and which are still waiting to earn their keep. So I shall start on that in the next update.
For now I had better write a few postcards for those not wired up.

Set sail from Nazare

Going into town for a meal turned into a beer onboard a posh yacht, (petes words not mine!) who's owner turned out to be an ex wharram builder, and then a chinese. They left Nazare at 3.30 this afternoon ready for an overnight sail for Cascais, hoping to arrive tomorrow morning. The forecast for later in the week is giving south westerly winds at the moment so they are keen to get further south while they can.

Update from Pete

Surprisingly, having celebrated the repair of the engine leg, we were up fairly early on Friday morning. We went into the marina and filled the water tanks then back out to the mooring whilst we came ashore to shop and pay bills. Having done the shopping I made a last visit to the café Monterey with the laptop to get the latest weather grib files downloaded. So far these have proved to be really quite accurate up to a few days ahead. Once the final emails were sent it was down to the marina office to pay for the mooring and to settle the bill for the mechanico.
With all the chores done wed went back aboard and got ready for sea, and had a really nice big lunch. It was absolutely flat calm inside the harbour with hardly a breath of wind. We cast off at 1pm and headed out under motor (a pleasant change) and once out of the shelter of the harbour there was indeed a good breeze blowing, it is surprising just how sheltered it is in Bayona. We already had the main up so just hoisted the genoa to go with it and we were on our way. The wind was not blowing to great so early progress was quite slow but it was in the right direction and after the shelter of the harbour it felt quite chilly in the breeze, I had to reach for my fleece by mid afternoon. By early evening we had a good breeze from the north, up to force five, and we were going along nicely. This wind held throughout the night until the early hours of the morning when it started to die away again. By daylight we were poodling along at 3 to 4 knots which put our eta at Nazare back to sometime in the evening but after sunset for sure, great joy another night-time entry. Every now and then the wind would pipe up and the boat would get going at up to six knots and we would revise our eta and think well that’s ok in before dark, only for the wind to drop off again. We were teased like this all day long and eventually just before sunset when we were only five miles off we put on the engine to get the speed up a bit. We arrived at 8.45pm in the dark but it is an easy entrance and they very kindly had a very large hammerhead berth free as we came in and there was the marina manager and his wife waiting to take our lines, only to be told they were waiting for a 19 metre yacht to arrive, he was three hours late but if he turned up we would have to move to another berth, all Chris and I wanted to do was scoff the curry warming in the oven and then fall into bed, we were certainly knackered enough. We found it more wearing with just the two of us to handle the watch keeping, we’ll have to work on that and change the system to suit.
After being dragged off by Mike the marina manager to do the paper work at the office and with the Brigada Fiscal I got back and had the curry accompanied by a bottle of beer. This was closely followed by the promised slumber and they could have parked the Scillonian III alongside nothing was going to wake me up.
Sunday morning started off a bit misty but soon cleared to give the now usual wall to wall sunshine. We put on two loads of washing and bedecked the boat with it all to dry out, (its not all lounging around in the sun you know) I reckon we could have sailed quite fast with that lot up, it was certainly flapping like mad as the wind got up. There were a few other little jobs that needed doing and then it was relaxing as usual. The marina is a very long hike from town but we’ll have a wander up there for dinner tonight.

Nazare

They reached Nazare at about 9 ish last night. Reasonably good sail I believe - nothing much broke anyway which has to be a plus! Pete said they had a good Atlantic swell and surfed down some good waves. They were also passed by some dolphins who didn't hang around this time - obviously had some place to go. They were pleased to stop and get a good sleep, they did 3 hour watches this trip which left them very tired, so are going to try and different system on the next leg. They managed to find a launderette this morning so could get all that done, and it is now flying horizontal in a very strong breeze from the rigging. Pete was sincerely hoping he wasn't going to have to go swimming to retreive any. They will probably stay there until tomorrow afternoon when they will sail through the night to Cascais so that for once they can arrive somewhere in daylight. After that it will be on to Sines. Pete said that although it is great and he is having a good time, it is quite demanding trying to keep up with everything that needs to get done - especially with the short hops meaning that you don't get into a proper sleep pattern of any sort. Keeping up with the general maintenance on the boat, washing, shopping etc is fairly challenging and keeping them very busy.

They're Off

They have now left Bayona behind - having settled up (ouch!) filled up the water etc. Next stop Nazare which should be a pleasant uneventful sail of about 24 hours. Here's hoping!

They floated off, they turned the key, and it worked! Huge sighs of relief all round. They have had a chugg around and are off out to anchor tonight. Quite apart from anything else it was useful to get the engine going to recharge the batteries as they have been in alongside for a couple of days and not catching any wind for Dora (the Duogen - windmill etc) to work with. Tomorrow comes the scary part - getting the bill! They plan to do a 24 hour sail to Nazare as with now just the two of them they don't want to wear themselves out too soon, and they have plenty of time to make their way south, doing short hops.

Anxious Times

Well the mechanic has now installed all the new parts (which arrived from the UK in less than 24 hours!) and gone home for tea. Chris and Pete are waiting anxiously for the tide to come in so that they can float off and see if it will start. I think it's fairly similar situation with the tide as "a watched pot never boils!" It could be a while yet before they can get off so Pete abandoned ship and went ashore to email the pics. I think there is a degree of nail biting going on at the moment!

The Saga in Baiona

Since our arrival on Friday the staff at the Monte-Real club D Yates have been very helpful in organising the mechanic and also with the translation of things, they also arranged for us to dry out at the fisherman’s slipway, which is where we are now and shall probably be for a couple more days yet whilst we await the parts from the UK. The slip itself is quite steep and the tidal range is small so we have had to put ‘Spam’ stern up the slope and to stop her settling on the rudder tips first we sank a pallet for each side and stood on them until the tide went out, good job the water temperature is quite pleasant, unlike the water quality, well it is the fisherman’s quay after all.
The mechanic has done a magnificent job of replacing the yoke pins, so I do not anticipate ever having any more problems with them. Better not say ‘ever’ in the foreseeable future is probably best.
David has been struggling with his very tight budget so has decided to get back home and try and earn some more money and find another way of getting to the Caribbean. Anyone fancy a sail! ! ! Room for one.
Sorry everybody for the sudden lack of pictures but my card reader is suddenly playing up and I think I am about to lose all that I have taken so far because its telling me to format the disk. I shall endeavour to take some of them again and post them soon.
The weather is still wall to wall sunshine and hotter than we have had all summer back home, this is more like it.

Update from Pete

Scilly to Bayona.
The story so far.
We slipped from our mooring in St Mary’s at ten o’clock on Sunday the 9th September, a cloudy day but otherwise good for sailing as the breeze was blowing gently out of the Northeast. We had the cruising chute up and drawing before we passed the lifeboat and were slipping along nicely.
The send off was quite something and it was hard not to just turn around and go back to all the comforts of home and loved ones.
We had to motor for a bit down by the Bishop to get out of the tide and the wind had gone a bit light. After an hour the wind filled in again and the engine was stopped and as we were stowing the leg it wouldn’t raise properly and on inspection the steering connection had come undone and was jamming it, this was quickly remedied and the leg stowed, safely we thought.
We sailed on through the night under mainsail and cruising chute (a big lightweight sail for light winds) and settled into our watch keeping routine. The steaks we had for dinner that first night were seen off in short order and everything was just peachy.
The next day the sun came out and it was very pleasant sailing downwind. During my time off watch I went up and sat in the sun on the foredeck and contemplated about the challenges ahead and just what was I doing out here, and will I be up to it all. In that time sitting up there I seemed to get my thoughts straight again now that I was actually out here doing what I had been dreaming of doing for a very long time. Little did I know that the trials and challenges were going to come so thick and fast!!!
I was on the 4am to 8am watch on Tuesday 11th and the wind was right on our stern which is not where I really wanted it and it was proving difficult to keep the chute pulling properly and at 5.30 it collapsed again but this time instead of filling as I came around onto the wind to get it to fill it just wrapped itself around the forestay. The crew were summoned from their beds and we tried to get it unwound from the bottom but it was somehow knotted very tightly and all the time the middle of the sail was going around and around the forestay tighter and tighter. As it was still dark it was not the time to try getting up there to see if it could be freed so David and Chris retired to their bunks and I sailed on. I tried sailing the boat about a bit to try and get the bag of the sail to unwind and at times this was successful but it was arduous. At 6.30 we were all set for the challenge ahead, as the halyards were also caught in the wrap we could not go up the mast and back down the forestay to clear it so myself and David would take it in turns to climb hand over hand up the forestay to the bag of sail in the middle and hang on for all we were worth with one hand and try to unwrap to billowing sail with the free hand. It was surprisingly easy to climb upwards but the motion of the boat had me swinging from side to side like a monkey on speed, it was wild and took and immense amount of effort to just hang on b ut I managed to get about three wraps off and came down. David went up next and also got a couple out, so I went up again but could only manage to get one out and now we were both exhausted already and while we recovered the sail just wrapped itself up again. We could be playing this game for a very long time and the forecast was for stronger winds to come so we had to get it down to be able to sail on safely. There was nothing else for it but to get a knife on it and try and get the bottom end where it was knotted and tangled really tightly undone. I fished out the bosun’s chair and we rigged the spinnaker pole to stand on while we performed our swashbuckling acrobatics, Captain Jack Sparrow is a mere amateur by comparison. After slashing and tearing for two more hours at my very expensive but now useless sail we finally got some movement and at long last managed to get the ragged remnants down and stowed. I shall have to be very bored before I take a needle and thread to that mess.
The wind as had been forecast certainly did increase and very kindly stayed behind us so we were going right where we wanted and going faster too. Through the night the seas increased and it was beginning to get very noisy and uncomfortable but nothing we couldn’t cope with. By lunchtime on Wednesday the wind was up to force seven and the boatspeed was really good we were charging towards Spain. By 9pm I could see the lights on the coast and when we closed it a bit more was able to get a mobile signal and dutifully phoned home. We sailed on down towards Cabo Finisterre in winds that were slowly easing and at 3am there was not a breath of wind and we were left wallowing in the inshore traffic zone so we went to put on the engine but the leg would not lower into position, on inspection I discovered that a locating pin had gone and the other was only just holding the leg on and the whole thing had twisted and was quite mobile. This leg weighs 43kgs or 95lbs in old money, so its no joke to be lifting this around. We got some ropes under it and supported it in its position as best we could so we wouldn’t lose it altogether and then were resigned to having to sail in the lightest zephyrs when they came along. We were only five miles from Cabo Finisterre but it took us from 3am until 12.30 to sail the seven miles round to Finisterre harbour. The not so bad part of this was that we were surrounded by dolphins nearly the whole time just lazily following along with us, one managed to spit in David’s face as he lay on the foredeck with his hand hanging down to the water to make a close contact with them. It certainly made it a mixed emotion day and seeing the dolphins like that lifted us all from the depressing hole that we could have sunk into.
Finisterre was bereft of any useful places to try and get a proper fix done, we managed to track down a quad bike repair guy who we scrounged a couple of bolts from to try and get the leg secure. We were all quite pleased with the job we had done and thought that this must surely be it cracked, but the engine refused to start with the leg down, it was as if it was stuck in gear so something was catching. We could turn the prop by hand so we knew it was out of gear. With the leg raised the engine started fine so somewhere in the linkage is a problem but we will not get it fixed in Finisterre.
We decided a good night out was needed and went out for a meal and liquid refreshment and it was much needed to relieve some of the stresses that were now building up, these things should not be going wrong so early on in the trip if at all.
I was awoken at 5am by a good breeze rattling through the rigging of the yacht next door and had a look out but with a thumping headache could not yet face getting to sea so I went back to bed. I couldn’t sleep properly knowing that we ought to be taking all the breeze offered and getting on our way to Bayona to try and get the leg fixed so was up at 7.30 and shook David and Chris who turned to without fuss with the offer of a cuppa. By 8 we were underway and sailing along nicely but sailing is never that straightforward and the wind came and went all day long teasing us by pushing us fast and lulling us into thinking we would be in bayona before dark and then dropping and changing direction and slowing us down, instantly adding 12 hours to the trip. We eventually took 14 hours 30 minutes to sail the 50 miles down the coast but the worst bit was arriving in the dark only for the wind to stop blowing five miles short of the destination, this was annoying but we were prepared and put the dinghy over with the outboard on and used it to push us along and into the harbour with only a dribble of fuel to spare, got loads of diesel but the outboard likes to drink petrol!
Well now we are at the mercy of Spanish mechanics and will have to wait until Monday to find out if anyone can do anything for us. Heyho if not we are a sailing boat after all so who needs an engine, anyone want to buy 10 gallons of cheap diesel.
Bayona is a lovely town and we are being blessed with some beautiful weather so we shall make the most of our sojourn here and have a bit of an explore before going looking for more adventure.
By the way 1 litre carton of wine just 48 euro cents about 35p, haven’t tried it yet so will give my judgement of it later.