Log
This is a nautical diary of the days when I am on the boat and doing boat things. It starts in mid April a month before setting out on the 2023 Azores and back trip. For those that are interested and my amusement in my dotage. This a diary with the latest at the top so best understood by scrolling down a few pages and reading upwards. If that makes any sense. When you spot typos, spelling mistakes and the rest, let me know! I hate finding them later.
15th September 2023: 50 693.N 00 00 52.367W: Mooring BM06 Bosham
Day Log: 10.1nm. Total Log: 4,277.4nm.
Yesterday we motored over a mirror like sea to Chichester Harbour where EIVIVA is moored in the Bosham Channel. There was a boat on our buoy so we went alongside it and were swapping over the ground tackle when the owner arrived and took his boat to another place. Then a tidy up followed by a quick drink in the Ship Inn at Itchenor to cap off the day.
Today, big thanks to Jane, David’s wife, who picked us up from Bosham Quay for the journey home. I was back in Fulking mid afternoon.
Well, that is the end of the adventure for this year. EIVIVA looked after me for more than 4,200nm of sailing without any problems. I could easily carry on as there is something about the simplicity of life at sea that works well with my spirit. I have very few possessions on board and those that I do have are used on a regular basis, no clutter. With the newfound acceptance of virtual meetings I can work from wonderful locations. My family pop over to see me and break up my solitude and stop me becoming reclusive as however much I enjoy my solitude visits are always a welcome break and a reminder of the other reality.
Where to next year? Perhaps the Baltic Sea, or the west coast of Ireland, or the northwest corner of Spain that looked like it was worth exploring. Or the Scottish islands again, they were fantastic and I hardly touched them last year. Carol likes the idea of Norway and the fjords. I have plenty of time to plan over the winter.
Ashley from the Manor of Bosham laid on a ferry to pick us up from the boat. Thanks Ashley.
13th September 2023: 50 47.966N 01 01.554W: Langstone Harbour
Day Log: 7.7nm. Total Log: 4,267.3nm.
Another work day for me so David was left to get us out of Portsmouth Harbour and around to Langstone Harbour. Compared to the busy port of Portsmouth neighbouring Langstone is a quiet backwater, a slightly run down and little visited estuary squeezed between the Solent and Chichester Harbour. I always like my infrequent visits here, there is something reminiscent of the seaside holidays of my youth. We picked up a visitors buoy next to an unsightly broken-down concrete Mulberry Harbour unit from the second world war. In my opinion it should be demolished as it detracts from the overall setting of Langstone, but I guess it has an historic interest to some. Then, mindful of the current that rips in and out of Langstone, we took the dinghy to the Ferry Boat Inn for a couple of pints of ale. We left the pub after dark and were swept back in the general direction of the boat in the dark. We found it but next time I must remember to leave a light on.
Cops training with guns, zooming about Portsmouth Harbour.
Ferry Boat Inn, Hayling Island
Entrance to Langstone Harbour, and sunset over Portsmouth above. Ferry Boat Inn below
12th September 2023: 50 42.581N 01 29.421W: Portsmouth Harbour
Day Log: 21.1nm. Total Log: 4,259.6nm.
Work has been building up on me so today David sailed the boat from Yarmouth to Portsmouth Harbour whilst I got on with it. The wind started out light then slowly built up to about 9kts from the west. On the way to Cowes we were gently sailing along on a starboard tack when a Dufour 36 who couldn’t get past our leeward side cut behind took our wind, very close racing style, we slowed down and he crept past, looking smug. Bugger that! The kite was up in a few minutes. Goodbye Dufour. By the time we arrived at Cowes it was 20 minutes behind us. My turn to look smug.
We popped into Cowes and I dropped David off at a pontoon and he did a quick shop whilst I bobbed around the entrance of the river dodging ferries and other boats. Then we filled up with fuel at the Cowes Harbour Fuel barge as it is still the cheapest place around the Solent. In the afternoon I got back to work and David sailed on to Portsmouth. We ended up anchored in Porchester Lake under the guns of Porchester Castle half way to Port Solent.
A good days sailing for David and a good work day for me.
Spinnaker Tower and entrance to Portsmouth Harbour.
11th September 2023: 50 42.581N 01 29.421W: Yarmouth, Isle of Wight
Day Log: 144.7nm. Total Log: 4,238.5nm.
Sunday 10th September
Up reasonably early and decided to get going east. By 1000hrs we were motoring out of St Mawes around St. Anthony Head and on towards Salcombe. The weather forecast had changed again there is now little wind in the morning and a small amount from the west in the afternoon, tomorrow much the same. By Wednesday the wind picks up but instead of the westerly that was predicted through last week it is now an easterly, couldn’t be from a worse direction. We decided to make the most of whatever east wind was on offer. The first part of the day was running along under engine over a smooth sea with very little wind. We detoured a bit to take a close look at the Eddystone lighthouse then at about 1500hrs 14kts of wind arrived from about 135 degrees and pushed us past Start point before the tide turned foul.
Another small bird came along for the ride, from a blurry photo Lizzie, David’s daughter, identified it as a lesser white throat, but when we looked it was more like a common white throat as its feathers were chestnut brown not grey. It is smaller than a sparrow, breeds in northern Europe and the UK then flies to Africa for winter holidays. At one point it was sitting on David’s shoulder, parrot aspirations.
We were wing on wing past start point as night fell. Dolphins with spectral phosphorescent wakes played around the bow. The stars were bright above in the night sky. Not bad at all. We set 3 hour watches and settled in for the night. What a joy to be able to sleep for 3 hours at sea without a care.
Monday 11th September (Happy Birthday John!)
A good night at sea. On the last night watch we passed the tip of Portland Bill, we took the 6 mile off shore route as it was dark and we couldn’t see what the scary Portland tidal race was doing. With little wind and the tide running in the same direction I thought it would be OK but I have been caught out before and a bouncy ride would have woken David. By 0930 we had 8 kts of wind again so the kite went up on the port tack.
We made good speed in 12kts of wind then took it down just before Hurst Castle at the entrance to the Solent as the wind had shifted and we could not make the course.
We are now tucked up at anchor east of Yarmouth. We made the right choice to keep going east overnight as the wind is very fickle over the next few days. It’s a good passage of 147nm, I had never done it all in one go before. Without thinking about it much we passed all the headlands with the strongest tides running in our favour.
Straight out of the phone, I think there was a smeary lens.
9th September 2023: 50 09.299N 05 00.831W: St Mawes Harbour, UK
Day Log: 0.0nm. Total Log: 4,093.8nm.
David arrived by ferry from Falmouth at 1300hrs with a suitcase that was about as heavy as he was. Full of beer apparently.
When I was cleaning the deck this morning I had noticed that the cover of the yankee furling line was torn exposing a meter of core. After lunch we decided to take the boat over to Falmouth and get a new rope as there was a good chance that the broken one would jam in the furling mechanism resulting in a sail that could not be put away. There was no wind so instead of anchoring David pottered around the Falmouth docks in EIVIVA whilst I took the dinghy to shore and found rope and food. We went back to St Mawes, cooked dinner and headed ashore for a beer or two. Then back to the boat to watch England beat Argentina in Rugby union.
8th September 2023: 50 09.299N 05 00.831W: St Mawes Harbour, UK
Day Log: 0.0nm. Total Log: 4,093.8nm.
For the last couple of days I have been recovering from the trip back from the Gironde, it was surprisingly tiring probably due to doing two inshore night passages in three days. I was anchored up in St Mawes last year and this year it is just as relaxing. I have kept myself busy doing work and sorting out the boat ready for David to come onboard tomorrow. It will be great to have someone to help with the sailing for the last leg. There has been almost zero wind, only a zephyr from the east. Sunday there is still little but coming from the right direction. With luck it will be over 6kts so that we can fly the kite.
I did this blog as an excuse to share the sunset tonight…..
4th September 2023: 50 09.299N 05 00.831W: St Mawes Harbour, UK
Day Log: 148.5nm. Total Log: 4,093.8nm.
I spent the first part of the morning trying to convince the French Douane that they could let me out of France without stamping my passport. In the end I had to make the 20nm detour to Brest and to get a bloke in jeans and a T shirt to hit a page with a rubber stamp. What a waste of time. It is all registered on a central computer, it could all be done online, like in the UK. Having said that the UK system was playing up so I phoned them and I was told not to worry just call when I got to the UK and they would log my return.
When I arrived at the marina in Brest I was in and out in less than an hour with a stamp in my passport. Then I headed out to sea and north to Blighty. There is no wind close to shore today and I had the engine running at 2500RPM which is good for about 7kts boat speed. We went north through the Chenal du Four at speeds over 12.5kts, that is a lot of tide. In patches there was some sporty white water to contend with. I am very glad that I stayed the night, doing this passage against the tide, in the dark, would have been interesting. I would also have had future hassle with my passport not being stamped.
The wind was forecast to be blowing 20 kts from the east about 20nm off shore with gusts towards 30kts overnight. Whilst there was light wind I spent some time getting the boat rigged for overnight solo sailing and made some dinner. Over the next hour the wind slowly came in from the east, by the time it was dark EIVIVA had been cruising along at over 8kts SOG for a couple of hours.
At dusk the French cousin of the small bird that died on the way to the Azores hitched a ride, found shelter in the sprayhood puffed up its feathers and promptly fell asleep for the rest of the crossing.
That was more than I could do. The shipping lanes were unbelievably crowded with millions of tons of steel, the Channel is still the busiest shipping lane in the world. There is something nerve wracking about passing in front of a ship in the dark, I always feel relieved when the white lights line up and the bow light changes colour. Where our crossing vectors were close I monitored the speed and bearing of the oncoming ship and all but one ship subtly dropped a knot of speed or changed course slightly. I luffed up for 5 minutes and let a speeding car carrier that just kept coming pass In front of me. It must be full of Audis.
Once we had passed the shipping lanes the marine traffic thinned out and there was some chance of an electronically assisted twenty minute snooze every now and then.
Other than the number of ships the crossing was comfortable. I guess I am getting used to it as the waves were quite big and the wind a constant 20kts on the beam. I had a reef in the yankee that kept EIVIVA more balanced and gave the autohelm an easier time of it. Goonhilly Downs were on the port quarter at dawn and St Mawes 10nm away. The small bird woke up and flew towards shore, it had ignored the Maderia cake I left it for breakfast. We were snug at anchor by 0800 hrs.
Sleep required.
EIVIVA in grand company in Brest . Shear line DNA in evidence.
Crikey!
Nice one. Last sunset in Europe for 90 days.
Hitch hiker. Not sure what type of feathered friend. Mathew?
Just after dawn, entering Falmouth Harbour, St Mawes, UK
3rd September 2023: 48 13.884N 04 29.125W: Anse de Morgat
Day Log: 102.8nm. Total Log: 3,945.3nm.
The wind slowly died through the morning and by 1300hrs we were motoring gently along at 6kts over flat water. It was my intention to continue for another night and get to the UK all in one sail.
In the end the wind between the Ile de Sein and the Ile d’Ouessant (about 20nm) was a punchy 17kt northerly with a short sea. I used the engine, but the frequency of the waves was totally wrong for the boat length and we were constantly checked back to 3.5kts SOG and the tide was about to turn against. I gave up and turned towards the mainland with the wind at 60 degrees and the sea on the beam, much more comfortable. I’m tired too and the thought of crossing the extremely busy shipping lanes that go around the corner of France in the small hours of the morning followed by a channel crossing in gusts of 35kts was enough to make the idea of a quiet anchorage sound very appealing.
I finally got the hook down next to the town of Morgat in the Baie De Douarnenez at a quarter past midnight. On the approach the sun decided to go away leaving a very dark night. For an hour there were no channel marker buoys, just one or two cardinal buoys and a few isolated danger marks. I am a reasonable old school navigator but no one could convince me to trad nav my way in pitch black into an unknown rock strewn anchorage like this one. However, with an iPhone in my hand and Navionics running I am a navigational superhero. Supernavman! To infinity and beyond! Anyway, I was heading into inky blackness sailing blind apart for computer assistance, and getting slightly nervous, when an awesome harvest moon burst over the black rim of the world. Within no time it was reflecting back the light of our hidden sun to illuminate the rocks and cliffs all around.
Good call not doing the channel tonight. I am in a good location to make the most of it when the weather is favorable over the next few days. Time for bed.
Cracking along in the Bay of Biscay
2nd September 2023: 47 17.791N 03 54.048W: Bay of Biscay off shore
Day Log: 160.3nm. Total Log: 3,842.5nm.
, I backed out of the pontoon at day break and headed out of the River Gironde with a favorable tide helping us on our way. I have 220nm to go to Brest and my intention was to do four day sails up the French coast. The wind should be mostly easterlies which should make for good sailing. When I got out to sea the wind was very mild and coming from the north. I rechecked the Windy App and found that it was now saying that inshore there is little wind all day, so I changed my plan and headed NW out into the Bay of Biscay to catch the offshore wind. When the promised easterlies come in later I will head up towards Brest overnight. By 1400hrs we had wind enough to maintain 7kts and from a direction that was good for Brest. Smooth seas too. I spent the hours working on some design work, popping my head out every ten minutes or so just in case there is a fishing boat without AIS or radar reflector.
We cleared the Plateau de Rochebonne by sundown and were rewarded by a very red sunset, hopefully a bit of sailors delight tomorrow. As I am reasonably inshore here, only 30 miles from the French coast, I set a recurring 20 minute alarm for the night. At dusk there were seven fishing boats within a 10nm radius of us so snoozing only. During the first part of the night he wind slowly veered towards the east making our course to the north more possible without pinching. Every 20 minutes my phone woke me up from whatever semi-conscious state I had managed to achieve. My iPad is running Navionics mounted over the sea berth linked to the boats AIS system, so I check that first then I look across the cabin where I can see the chart plotter that has radar running. Fishing boats have the annoying habit of switching off their AIS so that other boats cannot see where they are catching fish, I guess. All very well, but it means that I have to run the radar over night and it uses quite a lot of power. All this takes less than a minute, If all is well I reset the timer and go back to snoozing.
I tucked a reef into the yankee at 0230hrs as the wind was a constant 20kts and the boat speed was above 9kts and we were sailing into a northerly pop making snoozing a little bouncy at that speed. A full moon tonight and so much moon light, I took a picture. At 0330 we were back up to over 9.5kts constantly, I went up on deck and was greeted by a big foaming rumbustious sea with lots of white water all around.Definitely time for a reef so I put a 50% tuck in the main sail and the boat motion smoothed out once more. Still doing 8.5kts. I know people say in mast furling has its downsides but on a night like tonight I was very happy I have it.
At 0430 the chart plotter started beeping loudly. I had never heard the alarm sound before, I was out of bed in a flash. With a befuddled brain I peered at the message it displayed, I had never seen that before either. Warning no data detected. All the navigation electronics were down, there was no AIS, Radar, wind instruments, or autohelm. I grabbed a jacket and hand steered whilst I tried to work out what it could be. As all the instruments have no power and some of them are separately wired from the circuit breaker it had to be either the circuit breaker or some fuse I didn’t know about in line with it. Luckily EIVIVA is happy pointing up on her own and maintaining 6.5 kts of boat speed enabling me to try to find the problem. I thought I was now immune to sea sickness but half an hour with a head torch in a lazarette looking at fuses made me feel quite queasy. I found nothing but I pushed and pulled a bunch of fuses, after an hour I gave up, it had me beaten. Just for fun I switched on the main circuit breaker again…..and it all came back to life! Phew!
I put EIVIVA back on course and noticed some lights in the distance, we were now heading towards a cargo ship. No worry there was plenty of time but it would have caused the AIS collision alarm to go off on the bridge of the ship when the AIS on EIVIVA suddenly came back on line and we popped up on a collision course. It would have woken them up! I bore away and passed on the leeward side of the ship then back to our original course. At 0530 I was back to snoozing watch, although now I was out cold for the whole 20 minutes. At 0900 I grabbed a shower and straightened things out. The wind was still blowing from the east but now at 13kts and the sea was calmer. The sun was up and EIVIVA was cruising along at 6.5kts, I shook all the reefs out added another knot and made some coffee. What a night.
Moonlight, long exposure but you get the idea.
1st September 2023: 45 33.278N 01 03.246W: Port Medoc, France
Day Log: 0.0nm. Total Log: 3,682.2nm.
We were up and moving to the ferry terminal at 0630hrs. One of the routes cut a corner off the journey by going through a wooded area. We looked at the track with the head torch as it wound its way into the dark spooky trees and Milly made a good call to keep to the road. On the way back to the boat I took the spooky route and it was like a maze of dark sandy tracks and low branches. It definitely took me longer as a woody junction looks just like the next one in the dark. The rest of the day was spent de fumigating the boat and hoovering up blond hair. Tomorrow I start my trip back to the UK so I got the boat prepared for solo sailing.
31st August 2023: 45 33.278N 01 03.246W: Port Medoc, France
Day Log: 0.0nm. Total Log: 3,682.2nm.
Today was a day of recovery. The crew went to bed last night at about 2100hrs and slept for 12 hours solid. What was left of the morning was grey and rainy so we stayed on board. In the Afternoon it all brightened up so Wee Floater was launched and we headed in to the supermarket for food and exercises.
I decided to move the boat into Port Medoc marina over night as the girls were catching an 0715hrs ferry to Royan on the other side of the Gironde. It is a thirty-minute walk to the ferry terminal from the marina but if the boat was at anchor we would have to get to the marina first. The thought of a 0600hrs dinghy trip in the dark with the three of us and a 20kg suitcase in Wee Floater was not appealing.
As today is the First Mate’s last day in the evening we went to the Bistro bar in the marina for dinner and a drink.
Wingardium Leviosa
30th August 2023: 45 33.278N 01 03.246W: Port Medoc, France
Day Log: 79.8nm. Total Log: 3,682.2nm.
Yesterday, Tuesday 29th August, we woke up late to overcast grey skies. I had a presentation to put together so I got on with that whilst the girls chilled out. Alice doing her exercises in the cabin, I should have the energy. In the early afternoon the sun broke through. I dropped them on the beach and they cycled on hire bikes to the tip of Cap Ferret and back. Milly running the last 6k, the logistics of that I didn’t comprehend. Back on the boat we had spaghetti bolognaise for dinner, when I sail with Captain Maz I make one and a half portions, that does us quite nicely. With two runners on board I make enough food for six people and the plates are licked clean.
Today we decide to push up to the mouth of the river Gironde. It is a 79.3nm trip with no option to stop anywhere due to the beach that stretches along the Atlantic coast the whole way. The day started out with very little wind form the south east, not predicted at all, just a shore breeze I guess. We were on the way just after 0700 tide behind as we threaded our way through the sand bars and shoals that guard the entrance to the Basin d’Arcachon. With the tide running at 3kts we were hitting almost 9kts speed over ground, even so with 4m of water under the keel the steep waves over the final sand bar dropped the boat speed by half. Phew glad to be out at sea, heavens knows what It would be like with 25kts of wind over tide. Untenable I would imagine.
Milly is not a sailor so I chose a day that started out light and slowly built up to moderate wind. Initially at sea there was a slow 2m swell from the west, but nothing too uncomfortable. No wind to speak of so we went under engine again. Sun was out, blue skies.
The wind arrived around noon, with rain as predicted, but from the north with a touch of east not from the northwest, right on the nose not as predicted. It couldn’t have been coming from a worse direction. UFB! Under engine again, either that or we are out here over night and Milly was feeling a little bit Tom and Dick so I wasn’t going to put her through another 5 hours or more.
Halfway to our destination Milly decided that her breakfast was an unnecessary weight to carry around any longer and spent some time hanging headfirst over the leeward side. Then the wind picked up and started gusting 25kts from a good sailing angle. At least I was happy. I got EIVIVA going and we were soon banging along at 8kts. Once under sail the motion was better than motor sailing, but still not good enough for Milly who had that haunted look in her eyes having realized that it wasn’t going to stop for another six hours or more.
By 2100hrs we were tucked in the lee of Port Medoc at anchor. Port Medoc is on the south bank of the river Gironde 79,8nm from where we started at Cap Ferret. Most people I know were introduced to sailing with a short hop from the River Hamble to Cowes on the isle of Wight on a nice day. Milly took on the North Atlantic, Bay of Biscay in force 6 with the odd gust of 7 (not forecast in my defense). To put the trip into perspective it was the same distance as sailing from Dover to Calais then back to Dover then back to Calais and back to Dover again. Baptism of fire.
Once the wind picked up from the right direction it was great sailing day for First Mate Alice and me though.
First Mate Alice in her favorite place.
First Mate Milly in her less than favorite place.
28th August 2023: 44 41.918N 01 13.397W: Arcachon, France
Day Log: 5.6nm. Total Log: 3,606.4nm.
Another catch up (B)log. I realise that when I do these they run form the past to the future like a book whereas when I do a do one every day they run backwards when you read them. If that makes any sense at all.
Friday 25th August. Surprisingly knackered today it must be the lack of an electric motor on the bikes yesterday and being battered by waves, sun and mud. We chilled out onboard and watched athletics on telly. First Mate Alice and First Mate Milly arrive tomorrow so we moved EIVIVA to an anchorage just east of Arcachon town. In the evening we popped to a terrace restaurant in the marina and had an expensive but average meal. There was a chap playing saxophone along to chillout club music, he was good, once they turned the volume down so that you could hear yourself think. I am getting old.
Saturday 26th August. First Mate Alice and First Mate Milly arrive into Bordeaux airport at 1800hrs today. Captain Maz has hired a car to go and pick them up. We took EIVIVA into the huge 2,000 boat Arcachon marina and filled up with water. I took the opportunity to wash the decks down, then it rained for the rest of the day. I could have saved the water. Captain Maz went off at 1000hrs to get the car as she wanted to have a look at Bordeaux. I stayed on the boat and cleaned it up ready for the new crew.
The girls met up with our relatives Jules and Margaux as they live in Bordeaux and went out to dinner with them. Then they got lost a few times driving back to the boat and finally arrived gone midnight. The rain had conveniently stopped when I took the dinghy over to the pontoon, but then when we were heading back to the boat the heavens opened and we were totally soaked by the time we reached the boat. Good start.
Sunday 27th August. Today the girls slept in late. As we didn’t have to give the car back until 11.00 so Captain Maz and I used it to go shopping. The weather today is big and blustery gusting 30kts, big rainy clouds with the odd bit of sun poking through every now and then. Choppy water all around. Jules and Margaux were coming for a late lunch and First Mates Alice and Milly went to pick them up in the dinghy. Apparently on the way over the wind picked up and with it the waves so they were soaked again by the time they reached the shore.
On the way back a with Jules and Margaux a gust of wind blew the dinghy into a sharp propellor and the front tube burst with a two inch cut in the bow. The tube deflated quickly and the crew understandably quite alarmed bailed out onto the pontoon leaving Captain Alice on board. Luckly the dinghy is designed to float with one tube deflated so no real drama, just a little disconcerting.
Alice phoned us and we weighed anchor and headed into the most expensive marina in Europe, not that we were aware of this at the time. I Had a look at the dinghy and unfortunately the hole is right next to the rubbing strake on a seam, not something I can repair without a workshop. This give us a problem as the best and cheapest places to visit are all when the boat is at anchor and now we have no means to get ashore. The man in the marina office gave us a berth for the night on a hammerhead so long as we are away by noon tomorrow. In the end I decided that I would buy a cheap light weight tender when the chandlers opened tomorrow, they have one that weighs 21kg, packs down quite small and can carry 350kg. Euro 445.00. We sat down for lunch which sounded like it was good fun, I was slightly distracted by working out what to do about the dinghy.
Joules and Margaux took Captain Maz away to Bordeaux to catch her flight home. Next time they are onboard it will hopefully all be a little more chilled out!
I was so distracted today I didn’t take any photographs. Except one of the hole in the dinghy.
I was in the Chandlers when they opened at 0900hrs and purchased the dinghy. We loaded it on board and hoisted the punctured one onto the davits and were away by 1030. The wind is still blowing hard but there are fewer clouds today and the sun is doing a good job of avoiding them. After our great day on the Atlantic beach a couple of days ago Captain Maz had hired bikes for Alice and Milly so that they could do the same. We anchored in the same place as last time and pumped up the new dinghy. Its small! 3 people or 350kg weight limit, we did a quick tot up and we had kilograms to spare with the three of us. After the stability of the main dinghy, it was very cosy and quite exciting in the short chop on the way to the shore. The girls went off to play on the beach. I went back to the boat, I was going to do some work but in the end just chilled out.
The one night stay in the Marina was 201 euros. I think the one at the end was to emphasise the extent of the rip off. A bit like being kicked in the bollocks, perfectly.
It’s now 1930hrs and we are all back safely on EIVIVA. The beach adventure was a success, there is a curry on the stove and a spritzer in the hand.
The two dinghies have been christened by First Mate Alice, the big one is to be called Bob Along and the smaller one Wee Floater.
No punctures in this one please.
25th August 2023: 44 41.918N 01 13.397W: Arcachon, France
Day Log: 5.6nm. Total Log: 3,600.8nm.
We have had a good time in Arcachon. When there is someone else to share experiences with I don’t feel the same need to write the (B)log. The time flies past and suddenly I realise that I am days behind.
Tuesday 22nd August. We arrived in Arcachon this morning had a bite to eat and fell asleep. Neither of us had slept many hours last night. We are anchored on the sheltered side off the vast sand bar that separates the inland estuary where Arcachon is situated from the North Atlantic Ocean. The sandbar stretches north 70nm before it reaches the entrance to the River Gironde, it must be one of the longest continuous beaches in the world.
EIVIVA with the dinghy, Cap Ferret in the distance, North Atlantic beyond.
Wednesday 23rd August. Today we went ashore on a falling tide and parked the dinghy on a small area of beach inside the old oyster beds that are still found along the shore line. Oysters are now a big tourism industry and many of the old oyster sheds are now places that offer ‘degustation d’huitres’ with white wine from the Bordeaux region. Both Captain Maz and I think it should be ‘discustation d’huitres, horrible slimy salty things. But we were both brung up wrong I guess. Quite a few of the remaining sheds have been converted into small beach houses. Forty years ago they would have been given away, today there are lots of zeros in the estate agents windows. Mixed in with the restaurants and the beach houses there are still enough working oyster sheds to give an attractive real-life feel to the narrow lanes and timber buildings that line the shore. It all feels pleasantly non touristy. All around these shoreline oyster shanty towns are the holiday villas of the rich, expensive cars and expensive people abound.
We found a shop that sold food and wine and stocked up. Then one that sold Campingaz much to my relief as we have been cooking on fumes for the last couple of days. They even took the beaten-up cylinder that I got in the Azores and gave me a nice new one in exchange. It’s super hot today 41 degrees C, so we had some ice cream to cool down, then swam off the back of the boat.
Oyster based shanty towns on the waters edge.
Thursday 24th August. We hired some bikes and headed off to the beach on the Atlantic coast. This is my sort of beach, once you get away from the crowds close to the carpark, it is just miles of sand with waves crashing in from the sea, just spectacular. Neither of us can laze around on a beach so we had a swim and walked to dry off, then jumped on the bikes and headed south in the shelter of the fringe pine forest towards Cap Ferret. After a few kilometers we found another less populated entrance to the beach and went for another swim. There were less people as there was a sizable dune to climb over before you reached the sea. Nothing like Dune du Pilat in height but it still had us out of breath there and back. I had a work call at 4 o’clock which I took on my phone on the way back to return the bikes, I love this tech. Back to the boat, what a great day out.
Then we found that the dinghy was high and dry with a hundred meters of slippery muddy sand to push it over before we reached the water. Still a great day out!
Another off road adventure with totally unsuitable vehicles.
21st August 2023: 44 41.918N 01 13.397W: Arcachon, France
Day Log: 116.6nm. Total Log: 3,595.2nm.
Yesterday Sunday 20th August, Carol was still feeling average so we watched England’s Lionesses get beaten by the Spanish girls in a café whilst waiting for our clothes to finish washing in the local launderette. We had some lunch in a quay side restaurant then Captain Maz rowed back to the boat and we chilled out.
Today we decided to get going to Arcachon in France, 116nm to the NE of Bilbao. The wind is set from the north until late in the week when it builds from the NW but by then we are getting close to Saturday when Alice and Milly arrive. If we waited for the wind Sod’s law demands that it will still be from the north as the forecasts have not been very accurate in this high pressure area. We got going at 1500hrs, overnight to arrive at about 1100hrs tomorrow. Today the wind was supposed to be very light but when we got offshore the it was bang on the nose at about 10kts. So once again we ran under engine instead of waiting for the right wind and doing what this boat is supposed to do.
After 3 hours the wind picked up and veered Nwand and we sailed for a couple of hours making between 4 and 5 kts SOG. Captain Maz took the first watch from 2130hrs to 0030hrs. Bliss from my point of view. I fell asleep straight away and woke myself up as usual just before the alarm. I made a cup of tea and we swapped watches. The wind had filled in a little and we now had 12kts true wind from about 80 degrees port and EIVIVA was moving along at a stately 7kts in a relatively comfortable sea.
The crescent moon dipped below the horizon as my watch started and overhead the stars were as clear as I can ever remember them being. I grabbed my binoculars and used the Night Sky app. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Pluto and Neptune were all there (some a little miniscule and hard to find) and the Milky Way! Without binoculars it just looks like band of cloud that stretches across the sky, with a little optical enhancement, countless millions of stars come into focus. I made myself a cup of tea as a reality check and to remind myself that I was indeed a SIGNIFICANT miniscule mote of matter.
12nm miles to go to the rather treacherous Cap Ferret and the entrance to the Basin d’Arcachon The wind has gone onto the nose at 14kts, a shame as we were doing well sailing. There was a tide running across the entrance and sailing would put us down tide so not an option. The entrance to the Basin has no buoys marked on the chart as the shoals are always moving around. You just arrive at a safewater mark and follow the new route. When we arrived the buoys were silhouetted by the low morning sun and their top marks are very small making the route difficult to make out. It appeared to inshore and turned sharp left, over an area marked green on the chart. On the left of the route waves were breaking on a sand bar and, on the right, breaking on the beach. From offshore this looked like we had to go along the surf but when we got there a couple of hundred meters of relatively flat water lay between the two.
Now at anchor off Les Arbousiers. When we started I thought we were going to motor sail the whole way, as it turned out we sailed more than half of the distance. Still not ideal but happy enough with that.
Conscious of the 8kt harbour speed limit.
The sunrise watch, always my favourite and one I rarely get to do.
The yellow track shows the route of the buoyed channel, the black, pink route is the one I plotted, looked good to me. After a while I stopped looking at the plotter as it was intimidating me.
19th August 2023: 43 20.101N 03 00.952W: Bilbao
Day Log: 00.0nm. Total Log: 3,478.6nm.
Carol slept in late as she was recovering from her three o’clock start yesterday. We decided to take advantage of light wind and headed for a nearby fuel pontoon, topped up the diesel tank and as there was water, we did that tank as well.
At about 1500hrs we met up with the Germans and set off in dinghy convoy to see what Bilbao has to offer from the river. In the past the river was obviously a serious industrial port, but today most of the riverbank is lined with derelict industrial buildings and empty sites. There is still some industry dotted around, a chain factory making huge chains, each link about 2m from end to end, and an enormous recycling plant surrounded by heaps of scrap metal where a cargo ship was unloading more.
I is 9km from the port, where we are anchored, to the city centre and it was only when we were about a kilometre away that riverbank sites were starting to be regenerated with 6 storey up market residential blocks. The centre of Bilbao is known for Frank Gehry’s Gugenheim Museum and the controversial Zubizuri Bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava. These modern structures caused much global interest and the resulting tourism is now a key part of the city’s economy. On the way back we saw a small bar with a pontoon, so we stopped in for a beer. Carol has picked up a tummy bug, possibly from swallowing water when I towed her yesterday, so we headed back to the boat for an early night.
Our friends looking at a twisted heap of titanium. I always hated the canopy and column it looks alien on an alien.
More interesting than the Calatrava bridge. This is the Vizcaya Bridge, the first gondola bridge in the world opened in 1893, designed by Basque architect Alberto de Palacio. Now a UNESCO World Herritage Centre.
18th August 2023: 43 20.101N 03 00.952W: Bilbao
Day Log: 00.0nm. Total Log: 3,478.6nm.
Captain Maz arrived today having set out at 0300hrs from home. I picked her up from a pontoon and we set off back to the boat. When EIVIVA was in sight we noticed another small boat alongside, slightly concerned we changed course to see what they would do. After a while they motored away then turned towards us. Then gave a wave, they were an English speaking couple who had engine problems and wanted to know if we knew of any workshop locally. We chatted for a while and agreed to meet up in the evening for a beer or two.
I had left shopping until Captain Maz arrived so that we had the preferred food on board. In the afternoon we jumped into the dinghy and set off towards the fishing port where there was a slipway and a supermarket. On our return journey to the boat Captain Maz decided to swim back the 800m or so to the boat. She stripped down to her knickers and jumped in. I kept alongside for ten minutes but the tide was against her and she was making very little headway. Gallantly I decided to tow her behind the dinghy as getting back into it might have been problematic. Within a few yards we were making good progress Captain Maz holding on with both hands to the rope. Unfortunately, the water speed removed her knickers so I found myself towing her naked past the various boats in the anchorage. “This is slightly embarrassing” says Captain Maz with a smile on her face.
Later on we caught up with the people from the other boat. They live in Canada but were born in East Germany and lived there for 30 years or so until the wall came down. For the last 30 years they had sailed around most of the globe. We had a very enjoyable evening swapping sea faring yarns and learning what it was like to grow up with communism. Interestingly they both enjoyed it, seeing many positives in the lifestyle.
We agreed to all go on an adventure tomorrow and take the dinghies 5nm up river to Bilbao.
Old buoy.
Young girl.
16th August 2023: 43 20.101N 03 00.952W: Bilbao
Day Log: 64.8nm. Total Log: 3,478.6nm.
Yesterday, Tuesday 15th, I worked in the morning then headed into town for a look around and to get some shopping. San Vicente is a lovely town surrounded by the Pico mountains, set in the Oyambre Natural Park. It has been around since Roman times but was most important in the Middle Ages. The church of Santa Maria, the Kings Castle and the impressive 32 arch causeway bridge being the big attractions. I just enjoyed the narrow meandering, stepped streets of the old town and the hidden shaded tree fringed squares. The vibe was slightly spoilt as every shop is now a tourist trap, but if you used your imagination it must have been quite special before cruise liners and cheap air flights. Typically the main church was closed to non believers because it is 15th August and the assumption of Saint Mary. I guess it celebrates her being reunited with the angle who popped down to earth and immaculate her.
Today the wind was against and slight so I decided to push on to Bilbao. In the end I sailed the second half of the 65nm trip as the wind moved favourably and so did the course. No sun at all today, grey skies and the forecast threatened rain, but none fell. Nothing remarkable, just a nice day at sea. We arrived at the entrance to Bilbao around 1930hrs then spent another hour getting to the anchorage as the harbour is really huge.
I launched the dinghy and headed to the marina bar for a beer where I am writing this and watching Man City play Seville in the Champions League. Slightly unsure who I want to win. Tomorrow I must find Campingaz, either that or I will be unpopular when Captain Maz arrives on Friday to find that she cannot have a cup of tea.
San Vicente de la Barquera. They don’t appear to have harbour speed limits in Spain.
Natural pergola, you just have to think ahead a hundred years or so.
14th August 2023: 43 23.364N 04 23.492W: San Vincente de la Barquera
Day Log: 81.8nm. Total Log: 3,413.8nm.
A long day mostly with the engine running. As there is going to be little wind all week I decided to make the most of it and chug down the coast to San Vicente de la Barquera, 82nm away. What little wind there was today blew from about 150 degrees at between 4.5 and 6kts. All the boats going our way were under engine. After about 30nm the wind became a little stronger and when it reached 8kts, and I had convinced myself it was going to stay that way, I launched the spinnaker. I have always loved it when the engine is first turned off and silence descends on the boat.
The wind stayed good for another 30nm then dropped away until one by one the few boats around me put on their engines. 82nm is a long way to go in a day. Cudillero is a harbour that you wouldn’t want to leave in the dark, so I got going at dawn, 0730hrs. Sunset was at 2130hrs, this gave me 14 hours of daylight to travel 82nm, an average speed of almost 6kts. I don’t like to run the engine beyond 2,500 rpm as it sounds very comfortable at that speed and has good fuel economy. On EIVIVA this equates to about 6kts boat speed depending on sea state and current. My average speed under spinnaker today was more like 5kts, it was going to be a close thing to get to the anchorage with enough light to see. In the end we were about one nautical mile from the harbour entrance when the sun set, but there was still enough light for the next half hour or so.
There are very few places to anchor along this part of the Spanish coast especially when the wind has some northerly in it. Today there is still a good swell rolling in from Biscay so reasonable shelter is required. San Vicente is an historic town that grew up around the natural harbour formed by the estuary of two small rivers, it has a narrow but sheltered entrance. I was the only boat at anchor which was a good thing as there was not much room to swing around, I was slightly concerned that I would block the channel when the tide turned in the river. I waited up until midnight to for low tide then another hour for the current to start to come in, I was only across the channel for twenty minutes or so and there was enough room to pass when I was.
The town looks interesting with old buildings climbing up a steep hill towards a castle and church perched on the top. I will stay here for a day to have a look around, work some, and rest.,
Cudillero last night.
Sunrise
Picos
Sunset.
13th August 2023: 43 34.000N 06 08.949W: Puerto de Caleiro
Day Log: 67.7nm. Total Log: 3,331.9nm.
Actually, tomorrow was Saturday not Sunday as I thought. This is good as it gives me another day to get to Bilbao. Today is Sunday, the wind is forecast to be less than 6kts to start then dropping off to nothing for the rest of the week. Much as I hate to run under engine for the next 200nm I have no other option as Captain Maz arrives on Friday. Next year when I have visitors they can catch a last minute flight to wherever the boat is moored at the time.
Today we left at 0800 and headed out into the open sea towards Cudillero, 47.5nm to the east. There was no wind today but there was significant swell, sufficient to hide a medium sized fishing boat a couple of hundred meters away, so probably about 4m high but very smooth with a good distance between waves. The swell was on the beam and I had the mainsail out and pulled in hard to dampen down the rolling. The motion of the boat would have been nasty at the beginning of the trip but my brain has now become accustomed to it. I set up the electronics by the chart table and worked most of the day down below, putting together a render. I had AIS and radar running next to me so although I could not see where I was going, I knew what was out there. I was still up for an eyeball every ten minutes or so just in case.
Halfway through the day I was taking a break on deck when a big dorsal fin broke the water next to the boat, It didn’t look like a dolphin as the fin shape was more rounded and the animal was much bigger, about 4m long. There were about eight of them, I couldn’t see any white markings so my immediate worry that they might be the orcas, that were causing trouble with sailing boats off the coast of Spain, subsided. Their fins were the wrong shape anyway, but they were about the right size. Unlike dolphins they had no real interest in chasing the boat, I guess I just disturbed them feeding.
Cudillero is a small fishing village that has been built into a cleft in the cliffs that line the northcoast of Spain. The buildings cling higgledy-piggledy onto the cliff face and the narrow winding central street ends in a small bay with a harbour, very picturesque. It is a well-known tourist destination and was very crowded. From a visiting boat point of view there is an amusingly tight rock-strewn chicane entrance that would be totally scary and probably untenable in a northerly blow. With little wind today and Navionics to guide us in it still stirred the blood. Once I had negotiated the entrance mooring fore and aft on the buoys provided was the next challenge. Another solo sailor on an Ovni watched me fail the first attempt, and called out. “it is hard work, it took me three goes”. I had it done the next time, but he was right, hauling the barnacle encrusted lines on board was tough work.
In the fading light I had a quick wander into town. So many people, it was like visiting a theme park. Cudillero is the sort of place that would be great on a stormy February day with waves crashing over the sea wall, and a few thousand less humans.
Office with built in crash detection.
OK. Right turn around the green marker……
Cudillero. Who allowed that blue glass building to be built here? Otherwise nice.
11th August 2023: 43 40.486N 07 36.281W: Puerto de Caleiro
Day Log: 48.7nm. Total Log: 3,264.2nm.
I woke up late, just before 0900. The mosquito that had been whining around my head all night had stopped me sleeping, I hadn’t slept well. The French boat that was with me for most of the trip yesterday had already gone. I weighed the anchor and motored past the forts up the Ria de Ferrol and out into the North Atlantic.
Every estuary we visit there is always a fleet of fishing boats on the water. These boats are small, single handed with a cuddy and oars. The local men are up very early using the oars to trawl for fish with a line over the stern. I assume they sell them to restaurants or eat them for dinner. It lends a very authentic and down to earth reality to the region.
On the passaege the wind was only 10kts, from the south again at the perfect angle to block the yankee from filling properly. So up went the spinnaker. It is becoming a habit. I flew it for five hours or so until the wind dropped off as we reached the western most corner of Spain. I had the engine running for half an hour, then 20kts of westerly came in from nowhere and blasted us around the corner and on to our destination. When the wind arrived EIVIVA picked up her skirts and once again I hand steered her with heaps of weather helm and a big grin on my face at speeds well north of 8kts. The stronger the wind, the bigger the sea, the more she kicks up her heels and has a party.
The shoreline along this part of the coast is very beautiful, forests fringing precipitous cliff and jagged rock outcrops with foaming water breaking against them. On a gentle day like today when the sun is shining it is wonderful, on a wild windswept winter’s day it would be quite another experience altogether.
I managed to get the speed under control as we were approaching the anchorage rather fast. There were 17 other sailing boats anchored off the large beach with plenty of room for double the number. I dropped the hook in 7m of water and backed off hard to set it. We are moored at Puerto de Caleiro, a favourite port for windswept Brit crews that have been blasted by the Bay of Bicay. I launched the dinghy and headed into town. I am writing this from a bar where the owner’s (slightly portly) Doberman follows the free tapas to the tables and then watches the unfortunate recipients with an intensity that demands feeding.
The people in the bar are all local, and the atmosphere pleasingly convivial. Another beer please. Tomorrow is Sunday and a day of rest.
Anchorage off the beach, Puerto de Celeiro.
10th August 2023: 43 27.646N 08 15.883W: Ria de Ferrol
Day Log: 47.1nm. Total Log: 3,215.5nm.
By 0800hrs EIVIVA and I were off again making the most of the southerly winds. Today there was not as much predicted but there was 10kts blowing in the open sea and we made comfortable progress north over smooth seas.
I had decided to go Ferrol as I had read that there are some impressive Napoleonic gun batteries that guard the banks of the Ria de Ferrol and I was expecting to see an historic town steeped in naval history. So far, the towns that I have seen that lie along this rugged and spectacular coast are very utilitarian. There are usually a couple of stone churches that obviously date back hundreds of years and some of the harbour walls and maritime buildings are interesting. As far as I can tell most of the old town buildings have been demolished and replaced so by cheap six storey residential blocks. Most of them now with spalling render and flaking paint. Industry is also mixed in without much thought given to its visual impact, industrial buildings are carved into hillsides overlooking scenic bays. I guess there was a point in time when employment was a more important consideration than anything else. Think of planning decisions made in the industrial heart of the UK in the 60’s and you will not be far away.
The trip up the coast was very pleasant passing some great scenery. The wind stayed constant and blew from an angle that allowed the yankee to fill behind the mainsail. I checked the bottom of the hull a few day back and there is only very minor growth so our progress was good. With a few hours to go the wind dropped and went behind so I flew the spinnaker again. After yesterday it was a bit like getting back on a horse once you have fallen off. I also wanted to dry out the sail and make sure that it was packed properly. No trouble this time.
The batteries of La Palma and St Filipe are very impressive. I wouldn’t like to be in a ship of the line under fire from them both. The British sent a naval expedition to capture Ferrol in 1800 landing 8,000 troops and were sent packing by the Spanish. Apparently, they took one look at the fortifications and thought better of it.
Ferrol is now a container port with industrial sheds and gravel storage heaps along the river bank. The town is once again a disappointment from a distance. I was going to stay here tomorrow but I have decided to move again as there is still a little wind in my favour. The town doesn’t look inviting enough for a Friday night beer either. A shame as the estuary is beautiful and the beach I am anchored off is also lovely.
Early morning sun breaking through over a spectacularly rugged coast.
Me? Complacent? What could possibly go wrong?
Battery of St. Filipe.
As close as I got to Ferrol. I’m sure it’s lovely when you get to know it.
9th August 2023: 43 06.219N 09 12.675W: Puerto de Muxia
Day Log: 53.3nm. Total Log: 3,168.4nm.
The alarm went off at 0600hrs only to discover that it was still dark. It was only just light at 0730 and a fog had settled over the anchorage limiting visibility to a couple of hundred meters. Today the wind was forecast to blow from the south, so I took the opportunity to go north towards Puerto do Muxia, at the top left hand corner of Spain.
To begin with there was no wind and as the visibility was getting better I took a narrow route out from the Ria de Arousa, the one that snaked through the rocks. Thanks Navionics! By the time I had reached the sea the wind had picked up to about 10kts from the south, as predicted. Perfect for flying the spinnaker. After half and hour of getting it all rigged up I launched it on a port tack and settled down to see how it flew. The course was very down wind and a short time later I had to admit to myself that I put the spinnaker up on the wrong tack. When I cruise I only fly the spinnaker with a tack and a sheet so the only way to gybe is to take it down, re rig the ropes and put it up on the other side. A bit of a pain.
Having gybed we could remain on course and we flew the next 35nm in a building wind. I have a rule with this sail, the first time I see 18kts true wind speed, I take it down. Today I was having so much fun that I ignored the rule and we ended up in 22kts of wind doing 9.5kts boat speed. EIVIVA was flying along and felt very planted as the sea gradually built up behind us. I tried to grind in the sheet and found that there was huge pressure on it, even in low gear the winch was almost impossible to turn. Definitely time to take it down. It took me twenty minutes and by the time I had it on deck I was at the end of my strength. I should have listened to my rule! The weight of the sail in the wind almost had me airborne a couple of times. There was a moment when I was trying to wrestle the sail on board with one hand whilst lowering the halyard with the other that almost had me defeated. No more that 18kts next time that’s for sure. But when it was up and we were roaring along it was fantastic!
By the time I had tidied up all the ropes the wind had picked up to 28kts, dead down wind. I rolled out the yankee and we were scooting along at 8kts in no time with just one sail. For the last hour of the sail we turned so that the wind was at 120 degrees, perfect EIVIVA territory and I couldn’t resist flying the main sail as well. Back to over 9kts boat speed. OK there was prodigious weather helm, but she always came back with a bit of effort on the wheel. She just leans over and goes faster, so far the rudder has never come unstuck. An advantage of the hull shape I guess. And so much fun.
We anchored in the bay outside Puerto do Muxia. I reversed hard on the anchor this time to ensure we were stuck to the bottom. Then I fixed the things that had broken during the day and packed the spinnaker properly in its bag.
One of the best days sailing.
Time to take it down!
7th August 2023: 42 33.354N 08 52.563W: Illa de Arousa
Day Log: 5.0nm. Total Log: 3,115.1nm.
Well, I was only going to do a (B)log if something remarkable happened…..
As a break from work, I thought that I would move the boat from the beach at Puerto de Palmeira to the Illa de Arousa, five miles away. The Customs man I spoke to said that the island was worth a visit, it also looked like there were a few good running routes as well. I anchored in a small bay to the south of the island’s town. The entrance to the bay was complicated by oyster platforms that were spread about offshore and numerous rocky outcrops. I dropped the anchor in the centre of the bay surrounded by rocks that lay about 100m away on all sides. Safe enough.
I continued with my work then at about 18:00 went for a run around the west side of the island. There were a lot of people heading home from the beach, this is not good for a relaxing run as I tend to run faster when I think I am being watched. When I set out on the run an old lady who was sitting on a bench overlooking the sea, watched me get out of the dinghy and do my stretches. When I arrived back forty minutes later, she looked concerned and spoke at length to me in Spanish. The most repeated word was ‘Medico’. I guess I looked like I was about to die.
Back on the boat I grabbed some food and retired to my bunk.
As night fell the wind started to build and was soon roaring through the rigging overhead. I am never totally comfortable at anchor overnight when I am surrounded by rocks, so I slept fitfully listening to the wind. There is a certain noise you become used to at anchor, it is the rumble of the chain moving on the seabed as the boat moves around with the wind or tide. There is another similar more prolonged noise that you never want to hear, the sound of the anchor dragging along the bottom. It was 01:30hrs, I was out of bed and into trousers, and Musto jacket in moments. As I scrambled on deck the 40m anchor drag alarm went off, we were moving fast and already halfway to the rocks.
Thank goodness the engine started first go. I looked around and it was pitch black, the only lights were the town streetlights at the end of the bay, I headed that way. Navionics on my phone told me where I was, without that I would have been completely lost. I had a dragging anchor that had not reset itself with 40m of chain hanging in the water making steering the boat very difficult. In the end I pushed the anchor up button by the helm and attempted to lift the anchor whilst motoring away from the rocks. I could not hear the windlass over the wind noise but after a while I realised that the button had stopped working. I dashed below for a head torch and moved quickly to the bow. The anchor was up and so was a huge ball of seaweed. Back to the helm, I drove back towards the town and upwind from the rocks as far as I could go, then back to the bow with the emergency knife to hack away at the seaweed. As soon as I left the helm we were being pushed back towards the rocks. I repeated this a couple of times before I had the anchor clear. I went below and reset the anchor winch circuit breaker that had tripped when the anchor was fully up, but I still had my finger on the button. Then motored once again towards the town and dropped the anchor again. Into sand please!
I made a nice cup of tea and waited for half an hour, putting the engine hard into reverse every now and then to ensure we were stuck to the bottom. The anchor has only slipped once before, in the Faroe Islands with Lucy, for exactly the same reason. It had landed on a ball of seaweed and only the end of the anchor point was doing any work.
Note to self. Always back off hard against the anchor to ensure that it is set.
Did I get much sleep for the rest of the night? No. I had one eye on the Anchor Pro app, and one ear listened to the wind howling through the rigging. It was thought of rocks close downwind that kept me awake.
On reflection I should have taken a picture of the seaweed, but at the time I had other things on my mind.
5th August 2023: 40 34.947N 08 56.766W: Puerto de Palmeira
Day Log: 0.0nm. Total Log: 3,110.1nm.
The wind is set from the north until Tuesday and it is blowing quite hard so I will stay here until then. I am anchored off a beach that stretches for a kilometer from the town of Palmeira. Through the day the beach becomes more populated and by evening it is quite crowded. When I arrived I was the only boat anchored on this beach, now I am surrounded by 15 other boats. All the boats are Spanish as, according to the customs man who came to visit yesterday, this region is a well kept secret. Most people flock to the Mediterranean coast leaving this are to the locals.
I have work to do so the wait until Tuesday is a good thing, I have everything I need here, there is a Lidl 2nm dinghy ride away in the next town along, that takes 10 minutes and the overall chilled beach vibe is good for getting work done.
No (B)logs for a few days unless something remarkable happens.
Life is a beach.
Nice way to go shopping.
3rd August 2023: 40 34.947N 08 56.766W: Puerto de Palmeira
Day Log: 55.0nm. Total Log: 3,110.1nm.
Yesterday (2nd August) I slept until noon. This was slightly surprising as I never sleep that late. Later, I realised that my phone had changed the time by two hours from Azores to Spain time, so it was only 1000hrs EIVIVA time. I’m still quite tired from the trip over so I took it easy for what was left of the day. I put the blog together and got it online and had a work conference call with Miami. Then I launch the dinghy and went to the supermarket to restock the larder. When I arrived back at the dinghy I found it well and truly high and dry on the beach, the tide had gone out a very long way. If I had been any longer, I could have walked back to the boat!
Today (3rd August) I decided to make some progress north along the coast. The wind was predicted 11kts with gusts of 15kts so perfect EIVIVA weather. On my way out I visited the sailing club fuel pontoon and topped up the diesel tank and the water. The man who took my 600 euros said that the old town was lovely, just behind the concrete tourist bit that I visited on my first night here. It almost made me stop another night, but I will return to this part of Spain as it offers a huge variety of destinations and amazing sailing, Captain Maz would love it here.
I set out offshore, into wind, planning to do one huge tack with 25 nautical miles a leg. The wind started out as predicted at 11kts, but was soon a consistent 27kts accompanied by a punchy 3m sea on the bow. Energetic sailing. Typically, with about 2nm before the tack, the wind shifted clockwise by 10°, throwing my second tack off-line to the south. The tide was also running against, so I decided to aim for another bay that was in line with our new course. One of the advantages of this part of the Spanish coast is that there are a multitude of bays to anchor in.
The sea was rough with lots of wind when I put the boat through the tack. By the time I had winched in the yankee sheet the opposite sheet on the windward side of the boat had been pulled out and was now flying downwind and streaming back behind the boat in the sea. I thought I had put a figure of eight knot in the sheet to prevent this happening, but it had obviously come undone. This required me to leave the dry cockpit and haul the sheet out of the sea, surprisingly heavy, then re-feed it around the staysail and down the windward side of the boat. It was like jumping into a washing machine, by the time I had sorted it all out I was soaked through. At least the sun was shining.
I ended up anchored off the beach adjacent to Puerto de Palmeira, a small town that looks like it is worth a visit tomorrow. I will stay here for a few days until the wind is favourable for going north. Today’s sale was great fun and energetic way, EIVIVA even slammed a couple of times when two big waves were close together. Its not something you would want to repeat all the way up the coast so chilling out here is a good plan. As my friend Matt always says, “Gentlemen, don’t sail into wind”. I tend to agree.
Fuel pontoon with the sailing club behind the fort walls.
Lighthouse on Illa de Salvora
Azores to Vigo Passage Day 8, 1st August 2023
42 07.124N, 08 50.322W Baiona
NM 16.0 Total NM 846.9 Engine hours 1
We sailed the last 12 miles, the wind from the south slowly fell away as we cruised gently towards the coast. With 2nm to go there was still no sign of land as the foggy drizzle kept visibility to a minimum. When I first started doing cross channel sailing trips there were no GPS or chart plotters. To arrive within 2 miles of France and still not be able to see where you were would have prevented landfall until the visibility was better. Today we sailed confidently towards the rocky shore following the route I had set on my iPhone. I decided not to go to Vigo but to anchor off Baiona, a smaller town just south of Vigo, as the anchorage had good reviews and looks to be sheltered from a westerly wind.
We were at anchor in the Baiona bay by 1300hrs. I went below and fell asleep until 1900hrs when I had a virtual meeting that I wanted to attend. I then took the dinghy into town to get a meal. When I reached land, the town was packed with people on holiday. I wandered around totally unprepared for this wriggling herd of humanity. Then went to a supermarket, bought some fresh salmon, a good bottle of Rioja and escaped back to the tranquility that is EIVIVA.
From Azores to Spain was about 850nm and took 7 days 4 hours. I ran the engine for 31 hours when there was next to no wind and covered about 200nm doing so. An average of about 4.6kts under sail.
A slow but enjoyable trip.
Welcome to sunny Spain!
Azores to Vigo Passage Day 7, 31st July 2023
42 03.850N, 09 24.218W
NM 120.9 Total NM 830.9 Engine hours 6
Early morning I was drinking coffee sitting on the bow seat watching a pod of small dolphins play. The boat is doing 7kts under engine on a flat sea and they easily catch up, it looks like their top speed is around 20kts, is that possible? I shall check it out when I am connected in Spain. I checked, its 30kts!
After last night’s iron donkey blast, we now have 150 miles to go to Vigo. I like to get to a new anchorage in day light, I would also like to get there when the shops are open. 1500 hrs tomorrow would be ideal, we need to maintain an average speed of 5kts to get there by then. The wind is 9kts from SW and we are sailing peacefully along at just over 5kts. By 0930hrs it had started to rain, under the rain clouds the wind dropped and we are struggling to maintain 3kts boat speed under sail. After a couple of hours drifting along I started the engine again. Then an hour later we were sailing. This went on for most of the day then at about 1800hrs a reasonably consistent 12kts of wind blew from the west and we were once again moving comfortably along at 6kts wing on wing. I found myself watching the sun set over EIVIVA’s stern, consuming last nights left over corned beef hash, serenaded by Disney Classics at volume on the Boombox. I think I have been out here too long.
Off to bed Chip
Crikey! We are playing dodge the ship tonight. It’s like a slow-motion old-school arcade game. Within 100nm of the Spanish coast is the major shipping lane from northern Europe to the Mediterranean Sea. At any one time I can see 6 or more ships within 40mn of me. I hope my AIS is transmitter working, I think it is as they are all aiming to missing me at the moment. In the end I didn’t sleep at all over night as there were just too many ships to avoid. Once I was past the shipping lanes there were numerous fishing boats on the sea cliff that exists 30nm off the Spanish coast. The cliff starts at about 100m depth and drops over 2,000m in the space of a couple of miles, then to over 4,000m within 20 miles. The extension of this sea cliff wraps around the Bay of Biscay and the movement of the water over and around it is the reason that the area often has unusually rough seas.
At dawn the sea is covered by thick fog with a few hundred metres visibility, I’m quite sure that I could see Spain as it is only 30nm away. Would you believe it, with 12nm to go I get a blast of 12kts of wind from the south, the perfect wind for this Azores to Spain passage. The weather god showing me who is the boss.
Azores to Vigo Passage Day 6, 30th July 2023
41 37.450N, 11 56.844W
NM 156 Total NM 710.0 Engine hours 14
We only sailed 67.1nm yesterday, an average speed of 2.8kts. The wind is still light but I am going to try to beat that by flying the kite. Coffee first.
It takes about half an hour to get all the ropes out, rig and launch the spinnaker. I started doing it with about 7kts of true wind but once it was flying the wind speed dropped to 5kts. At this speed the spinnaker doesn’t work very well as the momentum of the boat out paces the wind when it lulls and as a result the spinnaker collapses. Frustrating. I made breakfast and waited to see whether the wind was going to pick up.
Spinnaker down at 1130hrs as it kept collapsing. The last thing I wanted was for it to wrap itself around the forestay or get tangled in the rig. It goes against the grain, and after a lot of hesitation, I decided to run under engine for a while. To stop the diesel fumes from coming into the took down the bimini and opened the front section of the spray hood in the hopes of creating enough air flow to stop the fumes spiralling up the aft of the boat. So far so good.
The engine was on for two hours when I noticed the boat was heeling. The wind had picked up from the SW between 10 and 12 kts whilst I was down below reading. The mainsail was already out so I unfurled the yankee and we were doing 5.5kts under sail again. There must be some heavy weather up north because there is a 3m swell rolling in from that direction, it has a 50m interval between waves so quite comfortable.
I have run out of fresh meat, so I broke into the deep storage, corned beef hash tonight’s delicacy. Not bad either, even if I say so myself.
The wind dropped out at bedtime so I put on the engine again to get some miles under our belt overnight. Halfway through the night I woke up in a panic with a cargo ship right on top of us by the sound of its engine. Panic! I was scrambling out of bed when It occurred to me that it was our engine running. Phew. Back to sleep then, once my heart had settled down.
The AIS works as I saw my first ship in a week.
Azores to Vigo Passage Day 5, 29th July 2023
40 58.743N, 15 17.274W
NM 67.1 Total NM 554.0 Engine hours 0.0
At 0900 there was still little wind, I used the Garmin In-Reach to message my brother John to get a weather update. It has obviously changed since I left the Azores. He reported that it is going to stay without much wind for the next few days. There is about 6 to 8 kts from dead astern at the moment and I have 3 to 4kts boat speed. Plenty of food and water on board so I will get to Vigo eventually. I have a couple of meetings on Tuesday that I would like to attend but they know I that might still be at sea.
Spent the morning looking at the shower pump in the aft shower. It wasn’t working when I had a shower yesterday and Lucy had trouble with when she was here. As with most things on a boat, it is in an almost impossible place to reach, requiring a midget contortionist to do the job comfortably. I managed to extract it and took it apart. The bearings on the pump head were rusted and frozen, the rest of the pump works OK. I had a spare water pressure pump by the same manufacturer onboard. By some fluke had the same pipe fittings and screw locations. It still took all morning to fit but I now have a working shower again. This shower is the one with instant hot water, the one that is used most.
It’s been a slow day. The wind has rarely gone beyond 6 kts and then only for a couple of minutes. We have been on a dead run all day and with so little wind the spinnaker is not an option. I was told it required 5kts of apparent wind to keep the wing inflated this would be about 8kts of true wind and we just haven’t had that much.
I decided to make a small sailing vessel form a yoghurt drink bottle, a Red Bull can and a few other odds and sods. I put a message inside the bottle with my phone number and launched it over the side. Amazingly it floated the right way up, the sail filled on a beam reach and it headed south towards Africa. We shall see.
As night fell we were surfing along at 0.8kts
I changed from thirty minute to forty minutes sleeps between alarms. As our speed is so slow there is plenty of time to miss oncoming traffic. Not that I had seen a ship in 3 days, it makes me wonder whether my AIS is working. There is no way to check without another boat within range or a Wi-Fi signal as far as I know. The longer sleep is very different, with 30 minutes there are no dreams, with 40 minutes you live for hours in dream land and wake up halfway through a dream confused and groggy. But at the end of the night more rested.
At 0900hrs we have 283.5nm to go at this rate that’s another week!
Azores to Vigo Passage Day 4, 28th July 2023
40 44.825N, 16 41.602W
NM 94.4 Total NM 486.9 Engine hours 0.0
The perfect sailing weather was still with us at noon and we were making good progress towards mainland Spain. The shearwaters are back skimming the waves with millimetres under their wing tips. The offshore birds have dark almost black tops to their wings and body with white underneath, the birds around the Islands are chocolate brown not black, either a different variety of shearwater or perhaps older birds have darker feathers and range further into the ocean?
I did an afternoon ‘dance’ session! Exercise is difficult on a boat as the deck is shifting around all the time but jumping around to music is easier for some reason. My friendly shearwaters were not sure what to make of it all. Did I hear birdie laughter?
Sun all day, as a result the solar panel helped by the wind generator topped up 200 amp hours of charge and we are now back to 100%. On a boat with a standard 60 amp alternator the engine would have been running for five hours to do the same. (Sorry technophobes but it makes me happy).
What a day on the water! Blue skies, fresh breeze on the beam and comfortable seas that stretch from horizon to horizon without break. I sat in the cockpit marvelling at it all as this blue planet of ours span away from the sun until it dropped out of sight into the sea.
There was very little wind all night. It died just after sunset and the boat speed has been under 2 kts. At 0500hrs I furled the Yankee as it was blanketed by the main sail and doing nothing but making a noise. I also reefed the main as that was flapping about and making the in mast furling gear hit the inside of the mast which is also very noisy. I made a cup of tea and watched the sun rise then went back to bed to wait for the wind.
Azores to Vigo Passage Day 3, 27th July 2023
40 25.259N, 18 45.038W
NM 140.6 Total NM 392.5 Engine hours 0.0
Overnight I completed the NE leg of my passage but carried on in the same direction until I was awake enough to gybe the boat and rig wing on wing. We are now cracking along at about 8kts under polled out yankee and full main, on a starboard tack. Coffee required.
It was a great mornings sail, I lazed around below reading and listening to music whilst EIVIVA got on with the important task of keeping everything together in 20kts of true wind from behind and a building sea. Boat speed was impressive with over 10kts down the front of a few waves, but mostly around 7.0 to 8.0kts. All remarkably peaceful in the cabin once EIVIVA is set up she demands very little attention.
At about 1500hrs my track shows that I was heading slightly north of where I would like to go. I had the yankee poled out on the starboard side of the boat with the wind also from that side. As a result I cannot turn south without the wind getting behind the Yankee. After some deliberation, as it is a pain in the arse job, I decided to gybe the yankee and swap the pole to the other side. Easy on most boats but the staysail forestay gets in the way on EIVIVA. It took half an hour to do it, I must work out an easy method sometime. Also the Seldon extending pole I have bends like a banana when it is under tension, which is slightly alarming, it is also heavy to move around on a rolling foredeck. I need to think this one out over the winter months.
By dinner time the wind had softened a bit and so I ran out the staysail held out to windward. The boat speed has also dropped to below 7kts but this is Ok as it will be dark in a couple of hours. The sea state is still about 2m but as the waves are long, lazy and rolling in from astern there is less rolling from side to side just a lift from behind and a slight increase in speed as the waves pass under us.
Ready for sleep at 2100 hrs, I asked my chum Siri to wake me up in half and hour. I have a beta version the latest Apple IOS software and Siri is getting smarter she now has three or four answers to the same question, you can ask multiple things and when you say thanks she replies. The start of AI creeping into everyday life.
I slept for the whole of every 30 minute segment until 0900 the following morning. I stayed awake for half an hour around 0400 when a cargo ship decided to pass in front of me within 4nm. I had been following his vector for 30nm when I woke up between sleeps but I am not brave enough to let a ship pass across my track when I am sleeping.
Refreshed I sprang out of bed to discover blue skies and 15kts of wind. The wind had changed direction over night and the mainsail had gybed onto the other tack. It was held back by the gybe preventer. I hadn’t noticed because the boat speed remained around 6kts. I eased the boom over and EIVIVA surged forward all set for the morning. All the sails flying wing on wing, a cloud of canvas scudding across a deep blue open ocean. Just about perfect!
Azores to Vigo Passage Day 2, 26th July 2023
39 51.633N, 21 43.562W
NM 130.1 Total NM 251.4 Engine hours 0.0
Coffee was on the go at 10:00 as I had slept in late. The boat speed was 3kts with 6kts of wind. A thin layer of cloud covered the sky colouring the flat sea light grey. The island of Sao Miguel had dipped below the horizon, or more likely faded into the mist as we hadn’t gone that far. It was very peaceful on the water once I reminded myself that I am in no great rush to get to Spain. It’s all about the journey etc. Spanish omelette for breakfast.
By noon the sky had cleared and the wind speed had picked up to 9kts true on the beam, the sea was a deep blue with the odd white cap flecking its surface. I spent the day reading and making a noises on my guitar. One day it might be music. Chicken curry marinading in the galley ready for dinner this evening.
Another cracking sunset then at 2100hrs I settled down to try and get some sleep. The wind was at that annoying angle from behind where the mainsail blocks the Yankee from flying properly, so it bangs and crashed as it fills then loses wind. Obviously, I should put up the spinnaker or change course by 30 degrees away from where I want to go. But neither option worked for me, especially flying the kite overnight. In the end I reefed to main to about 50% so that the wind could get around it better. It sort of worked but as the night passed the wind picked up and with it the waves. By 0300 I had slept very little as the rigging was making a lot of creaking and banging. Just before dawn I finally slept with my AirPods in my ears and had a few solid 30 minutes of shut eye between alarms.
Azores to Vigo Passage Day 1, 25th July 2023
39 27.670N, 24 26.897W
NM 121.3 Total NM 121.3 Engine hours 10.0
Up at 07:30 hrs feeling good. I waited for the supermarket to open at 08:30 as I had decided to get some more big bottles of Kima, it is a slightly sparking passion fruit drink that is sweet and bitter at the same time and surprisingly refreshing. I threw off the warps and backed out into the harbour with no difficulty. Stowed the fenders and ropes and we were off at 09:00.
The wind is very light today as the Azores High has settled over the archipelago. Typically, at this time of the year there is a northern low pressure weather system, the one that affect UK and a southern system that drives the trade winds. The Azores is in the middle and can be stuck with no wind for weeks on end in the high-pressure space between the two lows. My plan today is to make as much distance north east as possible where I should start to get wind from the northern weather system that will push me towards Vigo. So today is light wind and possibly tomorrow as well, by Thursday it is predicted that there will be wind enough.
Once clear of the harbour we (me and EIVIVA again) ran under engine into a few knots of wind towards the NW end of the island 14 nautical miles away. We rounded the corner of Sao Miguel and headed NE, on a beam reach and spend the day ghosting along in the right direction. The wind was blowing between 3 and 6 kts and boat speed is between 1.5 and 4 kts. There is no rush. We are heading in the right direction.
At about 14:00 hrs a huge spout of fishy water heralded a whale that surface just off the bow. It then popped up again twice over a minute getting further away. Once again good photos failed me. They are only on the surface for a few seconds, this one was a big one a lot longer than the boat.
What again! Apple iBook’s hadn’t downloaded the books I purchased. It takes my cash, the book appears in my library, the cover is there but no story. Slightly miffed as I had just finished the first book of a four-book series that I was enjoying. I was 25 miles from Sao Miguel and there was no signal. Just as I made the decision to engine back to within signal range, I noticed the phone had 5G and one bar. Frantically I downloaded all the books, then as if by magic, the signal vanished. Thankyou god of 5G much appreciated.
At sunset there was only 2kts of wind so I put on the engine as I wanted to get north out of the high pressure to catch the wind. I don’t like the engine running in low wind conditions as there are always some exhaust fumes that eddy up behind the stern and get into the cabin. Not enough to be dangerous but just unpleasant. I don’t think the dinghy hanging on the stern arch helps the air flow in this respect.
I had a very poor night’s sleep with 30-minute alarms, partly due to the exhaust smell and partly because I was not back into the solo cruising daily rhythm. At 0500 the wind came in at 15kts from the west. Once the engine was turned off, I slept well.
At 0900 when I do these (B)logs the wind was back to 6kts and the boat speed 3kts. We only went 72.7nm in the last 24 hours and half of that was under engine at 6kts.
23nd July 2023: 37 44.281N 25 39.935W: Ponta Delgada (again)
Day Log: 93.4nm. Total Log: 2,208.2nm.
Up at 04:00 as it 93.4nm back to Ponta Delgada and we want to get there when the shops are still open. This is the fourth time I have done this trip and I now feel that I have seen enough of the Azores. Tomorrow is Lucy’s last day onboard so we have to get to the airport. We chilled out in the sunshine and once again the engine chugged away the miles.
In the middle of the day the wind picked up to 10kts then 12kts from dead behind. Up went the spinnaker and we made good, carbon neutral, progress for a while.
Awesome sunrise captured by Lucy.
It’s now Monday 24th July and Lucy left at 09:00 hrs for her flight back to Blighty. I have a day of sorting out the boat for the trip to Vigo in Spain. The weather maps show a jumble of minor weather systems over the next week. I like the prediction that looks OK for the trip, so I am going with that one. The other one shows some heavy weather off the coast of Spain over next weekend. Nothing over 35kts wind speed so we will be OK if it happens.
Vigo is 880nm as the seagull flies so somewhere around 7 days to get there depending on wind and weather. I will keep a (b)log as I go like last time then publish it at the end.
22nd July 2023: 38 39.054N 27 13.175W: Angra do Heroismo
Day Log: 67.8nm. Total Log: 2,114.8.0nm.
We upped anchor at 0700 and motored out of Horta heading for Angra Do Heroismo on the island of Terceira. The sun was out and there was absolutely no wind, the blue sky and puffy white clouds reflected in the glass like sea. What a difference a day makes. Our route took us north up the Faial Passage and then east between the islands of Pico to starboard and Sao Jorge to port.
Once we were past the eastern headland of Sao Jorge we headed out across open sea with Terceira on the distant horizon. We spotted a small pod of whales and slowed down to have a look. The whales were quite shy and kept in front of the boat a couple of hundred metres away. If we approached any closer they dived and popped up again five minutes later further away from the boat. Difficult to photograph, we did our best. Then what looked like an old wooden crate floated past a few meters away. It turned out to be a big turtle (about a meter across) taking some sun. it gave us a look and dived under the sea. Dolphins are now common place.
We arrived in Angra at about 18:00hrs, prepared some food for later then headed into town for a cold beer at the little bar that Caprain Maz and I discovered a few weeks ago.
A nice day on the water, I would rather be sailing but we kept the engine on low revs and pottered along at 6ks. The whales were a treat.
Glassy seas and the grind of the iron donkey.
The spectacular coastline of Sao Jorge.
Wildlife photographer of the year award goes to First Mate Lucy!
Messing around in Angra
Me and my good mate Vasco da Gama
Well at least I’m looking good.
21st July 2023: 38 31.937N 28 37.404W: Horta, Ilha do Faial
Day Log: 0.0nm. Total Log: 2,047.0nm.
Another morning of rain with low cloud covering the hills that surround Horta. Lucy chilled out below and I decided to have another go at cleaning the hull. Yesterday I had a look at it when I swam out to check that the anchor was dug in. There was a fresh growth of slime at the waterline and the start of new growth dotted over the rest of the hull. I last cleaned the hull two and a half weeks ago, then it took about 3 hours and two battery charges. Today I cleaned the waterline and an arms reach below without usind the dive system then dived the rest of the hull and had it all wiped down in about one and a half hours. As it was new growth the slime was very easy to remove, I shall continue to clean the hull every two to three weeks for the rest of the trip.
By 14:00hrs the rain was less persistent and we decided to have a look around the town and climb up to a church and cemetery we could see from the boat. Horta still follows the old street pattern with crumbling buildings crowding the sides of narrow cobbled streets. If looks like a quarter of the building are uninhabited and neglected, some were just facades with no roof and a jumble of overgrown floors and furniture within.
The steep climb up to the cemetery was good exercise and we were rewarded with spectacular view out over the harbour and across the Faial Passage to Pico beyond. We entered the graveyard from the top and descended steeply to the church below thinking to gain access to the street. We discovered that there was no way through so reluctantly we had to climb back up the long steep hill to the top entrance. On the way up I spotted a side access road through the tomb stones and we set off down it only to discover that it too was blocked by a large set of iron gates. The locals obviously didn’t want the inhabitants getting out. As we pondered the gates I noticed a ladder going up the side of the gate house. I climbed up onto another level of grave yard then along the top of a wall that ended in a 2m drop to the road below. It was a first for both of us, escaping from a cemetery. We got a few odd looks as we dropped into the street, zombie alert.
In the evening we popped over to the Clube Naval Horta and had a few drinks and some excellent pasta, half the price of last night and with a more convivial atmosphere. The Clube is hidden away from the main waterfront and doesn’t have many reviews on Goggle, a good thing in my opinion.
Worth the effort, EIVIVA at anchor in the harbour and Pico across the Faial Passage
Slightly scary, definitely worth locking the gates.
We both liked Horta, if we had more time we would have stayed longer.
20th July 2023: 38 31.937N 28 37.404W: Horta, Ilha do Faial
Day Log: 17.2nm. Total Log: 2,047.0nm.
The three-hour watches went smoothly, we didn’t see anyone else out on the water. As we approached the island of Pico it started to rain hard, the clouds descended blocking out the view. It is predicted to rain with the possibility of thunderstorms on and off for the next couple of days. As we approached Horta at 11:30 as the clouds lifted. The wind puffed up at seven knots when we were almost there so we launched a cloud of sails and were slowly blown the last few miles to the harbour.
Horta is on the island of Faial and is often a stop-off destination for yachts sailing from the Caribbean to Europe. We anchored in the shelter of the harbour walls and popped into town to report our arrival to the office. Finding the office closed for lunch we went to the local chandlers where I paid twice what I should for a new anchor solenoid. Then we dodged the rain and walked to a big supermarket on the outskirts of town where we restocked the boats larder and had a KFC for lunch. I had to look it up, KFC cook about 800 million chickens a year! Makes you wonder how many chickens are cooked a year by all humans. I am not sure that I want to know the answer.
We spent the afternoon on the boat as we were both quite tired from the over night trip last night. I managed to fit the new solenoid. It was a different size from the old one but by some miracle the wires all connected without a lot of buggering around.
We both like Horta, the town is set on the edge of green hills and the building nestle around the harbour in a comfortable way. Even the modern additions have been kept within the scale and historic pattern of the overall townscape.
In the evening we found a restaurant that had good reviews on Google and had some average food. Then early to bed, we both slept for ten hours.
Nice weather for the time of year.
We like Horta. View across the harbour with the old fort and EIVIVA at anchor.
Entrance of the old fort that guards the harbour.
View of the giant Pico volcano from Horta, 12 miles away, 2,351m high.
It stopped raining long enough to take a picture of Horta from the anchorage.
19th July 2023: 38 22.426N 28 14.342W: Ilha do Pico, offshore
Day Log: 144.0nm. Total Log: 2,029.8nm.
We woke up to a mirror like sea with a slight swell rolling the boat from side to side. We decided to have breakfast on the go and by 08:00 hrs we had weighed the anchor and were motoring along the south coast of Sao Miguel, past Ponta Delgada and on towards Horta. The sun broke through the clouds and it looks like it is going to be a fine day.
We kept a watch out for whales on the way. Lucy had been telling me she had never seen dolphins then at about two o’clock she spotted something in the water a few hundred metres away. We slowed down and motored over and were suddenly surrounded by a pod of about 30 dolphins. The sea was super clear, deep blue, the dolphins put on a great display for fifteen minutes. Probably the best dolphin encounter I have ever witnessed, not at all bad for Lucy’s first time!
Then a whale popped up a hundred metres away and was gone before we had a chance to take a photo. A big one.
The day passed slowly as we travelled over a smooth sunlit sea. Lucy spent hours at the bow listening to music and watching the water flow past her. I put my feet up down below and read a book.
First Mate Lucy marinaded some chicken through the afternoon and then created a curry which was excellent. Consumed as the sun dipped below the horizon. We set three hour watches and settled down for the night.
As there was no moon and a clear sky the stars and planets were vivid, and the milky way was as clear as I have seen in a long while. So many stars.
Foreboding sky, then the sun broke through.
Hundreds of Iridescent Portuguese men of war sailed past us.
18th July 2023: 37 42.866N 25 25.545W: Ilha de Sao Miguel
Day Log: 12.0nm. Total Log: 1,885.8nm.
First Mate Lucy and I woke up this morning with slightly thick heads. It must have been that bottle of red wine we opened when we got back to EIVIVA having already had quite enough in the tapas bar. Our plans changed for the day. Instead of travelling 150nm to Horta we went east up the coast to Vila Franca do Campo, 12nm away, where there is a semi submerged caldera off shore that is always photographed on Azores tourist websites.
We arrived before lunch only to find that the anchor electrics were not working. I was reluctant to manually drop the anchor because if I couldn’t work out what was wrong getting it up again might be difficult. In the end there is no wind predicted for a couple of days so I let the anchor go and spent the next couple of hours trying to work out what was wrong. First mate lucy swam the 200m to the beach and back whilst I pondered. In the end I worked out that the problem was with the solenoid and when I took it apart there was corrosion around the internal coils. Nothing that I could repair so I removed the solenoid from the power winch and replaced it. The anchor windlass now works. I will just have to rely on muscle power for the mainsail furling gear, no sweat.
We launched the dinghy and drove over to the offshore caldera about a mile away. When arrived we were told that a ticket was required from the mainland and no boats were allowed to dock. It was also wriggling with semi naked humans, so we bobbed around and flew a drone for the obligatory tourist photo.
On the way back we were hailed by a small motorboat that had run out of petrol. We traded half a tank for 20 euro and watched as they made it back to the harbour. Good deed for the day.
In the evening we found a small local restaurant and had a lot less to drink and some excellent fish followed by Grandma’s treacle tart. Tomorrow we are going to engine to Horta. Unless the wind picks up and we can sail.
Rolling anchorage overnight but we both slept for 10 hours!
That’s us waving on the grey dinghy.
Partial to a morsel of Grandma’s treacle tart.
17th July 2023: 37 44.359N 25 39.846W: Ilha de Sao Miguel
Day Log: 0.0nm. Total Log: 1,873.8nm.
I spent the last week in the Ponta Delgada marina awaiting the arrival of First Mate Lucy. Today a four hour long Ryan Air flight from Stansted Airport carried her to Delgada airport. Lucy was onboard just before lunch. We decided to chill out for the the first half of the afternoon then walk up to the botanical gardens that I had run past during the week.
The walk to the gardens passed through some rundown areas of the town. Lucy got chatting to a local lady who was telling us how the prices of the houses had gone up beyond what the local people can afford due to tourists from the mainland buying holiday homes. There is still a lot of old building stock though.
The Jardim Botanico Jose do Canto were planted in the early 19th century and have some very large and old trees. The Australian Banyan tree in the photos below was particularly splendid, like something from a Tolkien book. We didnt see any elven folk, I think they were hiding.
On the way back we stopped in at the tapas place I went to with Captain Maz when she was over and had a drink and dinner.
Its great to have Lucy onboard for adventures.
First Mate Lucy taking the 4 hour option rather than the 8.5 day trip.
Our feet must be a family trait.
Waiting for a rich tourist.
10th July 2023: 37 44.359N 25 39.846W: Ilha de Sao Miguel
Day Log: 52.30nm. Total Log: 1,873.8nm.
There is nothing quite like a clean, slippery bottom to put a smile on a sailor’s face. It adds another knot onto your boat speed, especially with EIVIVA’s hull shape with so much whetted area compared to most hulls.
Its 07:30. I received good help from the adjacent boat crew getting off the pontoon. It was going to be an easy job until a 50 foot long Canadian catamaran from Montreal parked behind me last night, partially blocking off my escape route. It looked like it was as wide as it was long, a floating house. As it turned out there was little wind and EIVIVA turned in the direction I commanded, not always the case but today she was feeling helpful, and we were away with little assistance required.
The wind is blowing from about 130 degrees. The Dutch boat In-front of me has deployed their cruising chute so to keep up appearances I followed suit. It takes half an hour to get it up these days, but it is worth the effort in the end (innuendos abound in this (B)log). I am now typing this below decks with the spinnaker minding its own business and pulling us along at a steady 5.5kts SOG in 8 kts of true wind. Time for a nice cup of tea.
Its lovely today smooth seas blue skies perfect for naked sailing, well almost naked, I keep my crocs and sailing gloves on in case the spinnaker decided to misbehave. Good look I think. I grabbed the guitar that I play very badly and serenaded the sea. The shearwaters that were swooping around the boat all left, I can’t imagine why.
It took 30 miles to overhaul the Koopmans 42 foot Dutch boat and by the time I arrived at Ponta Delgada I was two miles past. That’s 6.5 miles over 50, about an hour quicker. There was also a 48ft boat that left an hour after us that also hoisted a spinnaker. It was still the same distance behind at the end. I later found out that it was a new Halberg Rassey 48. Loads of money with all the gear, should be way quicker than EIVIVA. I wonder what his excuse was.
I got the kite down, always a challenge on your own as you have to let the halyard go in a controlled way whilst gathering in the snuffer. If all goes well this requires you to have 3 arms.
All secure in the marina. The Dutch people are on the next pontoon, they said they slowed down just to take some pictures of EIVIVA😊. They felt better about it when I said a had a clean bottom.
I had no idea it looked like that from the side. Big beak.
My home for the last 10 days. Nice place to stay. The town of Vila do Porto on top of the hill. EIVIVA second boat in middle pontoon.
7th July 2023: 36 56.715N 25 8.886W: Isla de Santa Maria
Day Log: 0.0nm. Total Log: 1,821.5nm.
Still in Vila do Porto on the Island of Santa Maria.
As the Azores are volcanic much of the coastline consists of sea cliffs that fall steeply into the water. As a result the water depth goes beyond the scope of my anchor within a very short distance. On some islands there is the odd beach but all of them exposed to the Atlantic Ocean so overnight would be worrying as the slightest wind picks up the swell. The beaches also tend to be littered with offshore rocks so finding a clear area to swing would be problematic. Where bays are protected from the prevailing winds they were used by the first settlers and became the focus of the towns that grew up around them. In most weather there is nowhere to go other than the ports and marinas, usually only one or two on every island. I made plans to be in the Azores for a couple of months but if it wasn’t for Lucy coming here on the 17th July I would already have sailed on to Portugal or Spain where anchorages abound.
As it is I will remain here until Monday when the wind looks like it is blowing from the SW, then I will go back to Ponta Delgada to await the arrival of First Mate Lucy.
4th July 2023: 36 56.715N 25 8.886W: Isla de Santa Maria
Day Log: 0.0nm. Total Log: 1,821.5nm.
Enjoying life onboard in Vila do Porto. I must remain in the Azores until First Mate Lucy arrives on the 17th of this month. I will go back to Ponta Delgada to pick her up from the airport next week sometime when the wind blows from the right direction.
Bottom scrub day today. One of my winter purchases was a Blu Nemo hookah dive system A hookah dive system comprises an air compressor, something to give it power and a length of tubing that terminates in a diving regulator mouth piece. It enables you to dive without a tank with the obvious limitation of being tied to a compressor. I spent many hours researching the various systems available from homemade units that have a small petrol engine and sit on the deck with the tube running overboard to the type that floats and runs on lithium batteries. In the end I went for the Blu Nemo, it was the most expensive of the various options but in my opinion was the best thought out and most compact. Most hookah systems run the compressor continuously, the Blu Nemo system only turns on the compressor when you breath in, saving batteries and making it last for more than an hour on one charge. It floats and follows you around as you dive. It is good for 3m depth so perfect for EIVIVA as she only draws 1.5m. The cost of a lift and jetwash in the UK is anywhere from £150 in Essex to £450 around the Solent. A diver costs about £150 if you can find one with the time and you must take their word for a clean bottom. The Nemo cost me £1,000 so it will not take many years to payback.
I first tried it a few weeks back in Angra do Heroismo when EIVIVA was at anchor. I managed to clean the rudder and the lower vertical part of the keel on the port side, but it was not easy. The regulator is designed to let out the air bubbles to the side, this is good for swimming along looking at fish but not so good when your head is upright as the bubbles get between you and what you are looking at. The second problem was that I had no fins and I soon realised that feet are not big enough to move you around underwater. Or keep you on the surface it you require a rest. Also EIVIVA was swinging around the anchor so the work surface was either moving away or pushing over me, not easy. Then one of the Draper suction cups that Captain Maz brought over from the UK fell apart, I watched half of it sink into the depths. I gave up the struggle.
Today I went to the dive store in the marina and purchased some second-hand fins. EIVIVA is tied to a pontoon and the water is flat like a swimming pool. I have added two bits of pipe to the regulator outlets that should throw the exhaled air clear of my goggles. I got my temperament chilled out and calm then went under to have another go. The fins make a huge difference it is now possible to swim at the hull with little effort allowing easy attachment of the suction cup. The extended regulator outlets worked well and apart from the usual goggle misting vision was much improved.
EIVIVA has been in the water for about two and a half months and the bottom is now covered with a few millimetres of slime, enough to cut a knot from the boat speed. I used a big industrial strength scouring pad and the slime came off the copper bottom with relative ease. As she has a long keel EIVIVA has a big underwater surface so it took more than an hour to clean one side. I was just finishing when the battery ran out, no warning, one minute breathing normally the next no air. There is supposed to be some kind of warning, I must read the instructions! No worries at the depth I was diving. It wouldn’t be much fun scuba diving at 25m, I guess that’s why you keep an eye on the amount of air left in your tank.
Tomorrow is a workday and possibly raining so I am going to finish the port side on Wednesday.
No photos due to iPhone destruction. I will post an image of the Blu Nemo system instead.
I got a quote of 500 euros to replace the screen from a shop in Ponta Delgada! Crikey. Now checking the price with the phone repair shop in Upper Beeding that I have used before.
1st July 2023: 36 56.715N 25 8.886W: Isla de Santa Maria
Day Log: 0.0nm. Total Log: 1,821.5nm.
Yesterday I spent the day working on the boat. The fridge decided to not work so I dug out the instructions and wiggled a few wires around. I have no idea what I did but it is now working again, fingers crossed. The rest of the day was work stuff. In the evening I was invited by the Americans on the next door boat for a few drinks. Its nice to have a chat with someone other than my self.
Today I hired a scooter for 30 euros and went out the explore the island. This island is smaller than most of the other Azores islands but what it loses in size it make up for with fantastic scenery. I managed to circumnavigate the whole island in a day visiting all the spots that I was told about. Then I dropped my phone and it landed face down on a sharp stone and the screen smashed. This is a problem as most of the photographs I took today have not uploaded. It is also my main navigation tool so I will have to get it fixed in Ponta Delgada when I go up there to pick up Lucy. I will finish this blog when and if the phone comes back to life.
Here are the two photos that made it.
So happy! Its 20:00 and the photos have uploaded from the phone. This is good news as it probably means the phone is working but the screen is buggered. Cheaper.
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind?
Poco da Pedreira, I thought it was natural but it is an old quarry. As I approached hundreds of frogs that were sunning on the waters edge woke up and leapt into the pond. Very tranquil.
Another off-road adventure with a vehicle out of its element. Spot the cheat.
Every photo on Santa Maria you try to take has a power cable in it somewhere. Thoughtful human intervention.
All the coast line is this amazing.
WOW. Cascata do Aveiro. I wasn’t expecting that. The full height of the falls is is 30% higher.
A photo opportunity around every corner. I dropped the phone here so no more photo opportunities.
29th June 2023: 36 56.715N 25 8.886W: Isla de Santa Maria
Day Log: 52.3nm. Total Log: 1,821.5nm.
I have been working for a few days, so I am need of a sail.
Last night I checked out of the marina as I thought that I would head south to the Island of Santa Maria, the most southerly of the archipelago. I talked to the immigration man but as the process is a bit of a pain I decided to do it in the morning if it looked good for the passage. He said that they opened at 0800.
I woke up at 0530 for some reason. The swell in the marina from the east wind that has been blowing since I arrived has been huge. All the boats are swinging so wildly on the pontoons that the spreaders on the mast clash with the next boat unless they are offset. I think that I woke up because the boat was not moving! Good to go. I was at the immigration office at 0800. They don’t open until 0900! I left a note under their door. You would probably be locked up in the UK, I still might be when I return to pick up Lucy. They have guns too.
I wanted to leave before the wind picked up as we were being blown into the pontoon. I hate asking for help so I rushed calmly around undoing warps then in a moment of utmost serendipity EIVIVA was rolled way from the pontoon and we backed out into clear water. There might have been a ripple of applause from the German crew on the next boat, but I might have imagined it.
Then out to the wild Atlantic again. Only 52nm this time so maximum 10 hours. For the first hour we were in the lee of the island so we rolled along at under 4kts with a light breeze on the beam. I took the opportunity to make breakfast which consisted of fried potatoes and broccoli left over from last night with two whipped up eggs thrown in. I named it Azores omelette as it was good enough to deserve a title.
The wind picked up to the predicted 20kts then as this is the Atlantic started gusting 30kts. I was making a cup of tea at the time when I realised that the cooker was at an extreme angle on the gimbals. I poked my nose out the companion way and looked at the wind speed. I know I keep saying this but there are not many modern boats that will continue to make good progress with full rig in gusting 30. I put a tuck in the Yankee and the main and went back to making tea at a more reasonable angle.
We arrived in Santa Maria after 8 hours sailing at between 45-60 degrees into the apparent wind. There were 5 other boats making the same crossing. On the AIS I checked and EIVIVA made the best progress probably due to the waves that were big on the bow and would have caused considerable slamming to a modern hull shape.
We anchored up outside the marina and were just settling in for the evening when I heard some whistling. A man from the marina waving a VHF on the harbour wall. Apparently there is no anchoring outside the marina anymore but he had a spot for me inside. Bugger! On went the fenders and up with the anchor. I told him that I was solo so he was there to lend a hand and we got onto the slip without fuss.
I enjoyed the day. EIVIVA sailed into the wind with a short 3m sea averaging 7.5kts.
But then again who’s counting.
On the way to Santa Maria
Santa Maria is away from the main Azores tourist area. It all feels quite authentic.
25th June 2023: 37 44.359N 25 39.846W: Ilha de Sao Miguel
Day Log: 0.00nm. Total Log: 1,769.2nm.
Another day driving around this beautiful island. It is difficult to do justice to the landscape by writing about it and it would take hundreds of photographs. The geology makes the hills and mountains pointy and craggy and the rich soil and plentiful rainfall cover the slopes with lush grass and forest. At the moment wild flowers abound mixed with giant ferns and exotic plants. Pine trees surround the lakes that fill the flooded calderas in which the water sparkles green due to the high concentration of algae. It is almost as if the whole island has been deliberately landscape designed.
We visited the botanical gardens at Furnas, they were interesting but too many people for me and nothing compared to the natural beauty of the island. Then lunch in a small town called Povoacao which we discovered was the very first settlement in the Azores when they were discovered in 1432.
After lunch we just drove around through the mountains. By chance we followed a sign to Lagoa do Congro and discovered a sunken lake at the bottom of a volcanic crater lined with an old pine forest. The forest was so dense that only glimpses of the water could be seen on the steep muddy track decent to the lake edge. At the bottom we were greeted by a very magical and silent lake that stretched out from under the tree canopy. A good end to our island tour.
Its Captain Maz’s last night so we went out in Ponta Delgada and found a great tapas bar where we had a drink and some food.
Tomorrow and Tuesday are work days for me so Wednesday will be the next (b)log. I have half a plan to sail the 50 nm south to the island of Santa Maria.
Botanical Gardens Furnas
Hydrangeas growing wild everywhere
Decent to the hidden gem of Lagoa do Congro.
I said, look like a water nymph…….
Great to have Captain Maz on board! Now back to Tommy no mates for a while.
24th June 2023: 37 44.359N 25 39.846W: Ilha de Sao Miguel
Day Log: 0.00nm. Total Log: 1,769.2nm.
We both had a night hiding from the mosquitoes that are always prevalent in marinas. No matter how much you cover up and use anti bug spray they always get you a couple of times. Captain Maz is more tasty than me so I tend to get off lightly as they prefer her.
The sun is shining! We walked to the immigration office, they are more officious here with blue shirts and guns, but nice enough and the process is smooth and painless. Then we took a cab to a car hire place and rented a Fiat 500 for a couple of days.
First stop was Sete Cidades a village that sits next to a lake in the caldera of the largest volcano on the island. The narrow roads twist through green hills with Jersey cows (brown anyway) happily grazing in lush pastures glimpsed through the high hedgerows. Very similar to the UK in many ways except the lanes are lined with blue hydrangeas that appear to have grown wild as they are everywhere, I will take a photograph of them tomorrow.
We took the Fiat 500 on an unplanned off road adventure. I had spotted a road that looked like it went around the ridge of the volcano cone. The road turned out to be a gravel track that tested the limits of ground clearance and traction. It climbed steeply up the ridge from the lake and offered spectacular views either side. I have to say that a Hybrid Fiat 500 with traction control turned off is an impressive off-road tool! As long as you gunned it in first gear up the steep climbs. The rental people would have been impressed!
Then a late lunch of local fish and more touring around the west of the island. In the evening we went out for tapas and a few drinks to celebrate 21 years of Captain Maz putting up with me.
Another good day, and the sun was out!
The hills are alive…..
The track runs along the ridge up from the lake. spectacular views.
Hybrid Fiat 500 in it’s element.
23rd June 2023: 38 43.118N 27 3.488W: Praia do Vitoria
Day Log: 92.0nm. Total Log: 1,769.2nm.
Up at 05:30 to be greeted by an awesome dawn.
Set sail into wind for the 90nm passage back to Ponta Delgada on the island of Sao Miguel. This is the third time I have done this trip since I arrived at the Azores. Wind against this time. We managed to sail 30% then the wind shifted onto the nose and we were left no option but to put the engine on at low revs just enough to push us 30 degrees into apparent wind. At 45 degrees to the apparent we go OK, anything less than that the boat speed drops away. I wanted to get to the marina in daylight so that we could see what we were doing. As it happened we arrived in twilight and took the last space on the outer pontoon. Captain Maz did a great job of squeezing us into a tight slip whilst I jumped around tying us up. Wind blowing us off the pontoon again, but not as bad as last time.
Long day we both slept well.
WOW! Straight from the iPhone.
22nd June 2023: 38 43.118N 27 3.488W: Praia do Vitoria
Day Log: 62.7nm. Total Log: 1,677.2nm.
Popped to shore to tell the marina chap that I was leaving and that I had arrived a couple of days ago. I forgot to tell them. No problem. Then he was very apologetic about charging me ten euro a night to be at anchor in his bay. Apparently, the main marina office made the decision two years ago.
Away by 10:30 back along the amazing coast of Sao Jorge, I will return here as we did not explore the place enough due to the rain and poor visibility. We are heading back towards Ponta Delgada via Angra. This way we split the 140nm trip in to two parts, and get a nights sleep at anchor.
In the channel between Sao Jorge and Pico there was very little wind bat after a couple of hours under engine we were rewarded by 20 – 30kts at 130 degrees. Kept the whole rig up as out apparent wind rarely went over 20 kts. Great sail, surfing along at 9 to 10 kts for hours. We even overtook a 40 foot French boat, his AIS speed was 8.5kts, come on EIVIVA! Not that I race any more.
Made good time to Angra and there was room in the anchorage. Unfortunately the wind had a bit more south in it than the other times we have stayed there so prodigious swell was rolling the boat. Then the festival on shore started up and the baseline added to the experience. Tomorrow we have a 06;00 start! We had some dinner and decided to move12nm around the coast to Praia do Vitoria. This is the place where I was going to go on the first night after the crossing, but it is open to the East and so I went to Angra due to the wind direction. Today it should be OK…….
Its half past nine and we are at anchor with a bunch of other boats in the southern half of the Praia do Vitoria harbour. The wind is whipping over the water at 25 plus knots but we appear to have held well. The sea is calm, there is no DJ, we are happy.
Come on EIVIVA!
Sunset over Praia do Vitoria from the anchorage.
21st June 2023: 38 40.732N 28 12.041W: Porto das Velas
Day Log: 0.0nm. Total Log: 1,614.5nm.
Woke up to heavy rain and grey skies with EIVIVA rolling in a sloppy swell that was finding its way into the bay at Porto las Velas. I was up early to finish of a bit of work for a conference call at 11:30, Carol also had work to do, So, we chilled out onboard for the morning, both now immune to the boat motion.
The afternoon was sunny! We re anchored the boat closer into shore where we hope the motion might be a little kinder. Then headed into the town to have a look around. We decided we liked Velas, it is small and comfortable, the inhabitants are friendly and everything feels like a happy place to live. Probably come from living on a time bomb.
As usual I had spotted the local volcano Morro Grande, so we set off walking to the summit. The sides of the volcano were covered in wildflower meadow, albeit at an extreme angle. If you were dropped here not knowing where you were you might think it was the UK in spring, spectacular. There was one flower that we did not recognize, I have put a photo on the blog. Anyone know what it is?
We took no water as it didn’t look like a big climb but we were very glad of iced tea and ice cream when we arrived back to the town a couple of hours later. Then back to the boat for an hour as it was a little early for dinner then into town for food. Good day.
Anyone know what type of flower this is?
Taken on my tummy at the cliff edge with the phone at arms reach over the 300 foot drop.
Montanha do Pico, on Ilha do Pico in the background.
19th June 2023: 38 40.732N 28 12.041W: Porto das Velas
Day Log: 50.8nm. Total Log: 1,614.5nm.
Popped the town at 08:00hrs to get some food then on the way back dropped into the marina office to check out of Terceira. Super simple on this island, just gave the boat name and said we were leaving. We decided to move on to the island of Sao Jorge that is 50nm to the WSW of Angra do Heroismo. Sao Jorge is known for having a lot of minor seismic activity, almost every day, but mostly not noticeable. The last big one was in 1964 when the harbour we were heading for was mostly demolished and 5,000 people were evacuated..
There was only 3-5kts of wind and as we wanted to get there in daylight to be able to see the anchorage we engined the 50nm at a lazy 5.5kts. Soa Jorge is a long thin island about that stretches 30 miles in an east west attitude. Once we had approached the island we then spent four hours running down the long side to the south of the island. The scenery was quite spectacular in a moody sort of way. Low clouds covered the tops of the cliffs and waterfalls poured out of truncated valleys into the sea.
The small harbour and anchorage at Porto das Velas is tight with a rocky bottom, we anchored in 13.5m and stayed put. I hope the anchor isn’t stuck under a rock or anything. Free diving 13.5m is not something I want to do.
We took the dinghy to shore and what we saw of the small town of Velas looked worth exploring. We stopped at a restaurant for my first meal out since I started this trip. Unless you count fish and chips in St Mary’s.
Tomorrow is another rainy day, shame for Carol that it has been a wet week. We both have work to do so no (b)log, unless something spectacular happens on the Richter scale.
Moody Sao Jorge.
I say. I say. What’s that palm tree doing on the top of your hat?
18th June 2023: 38 53.563N 26 23.174W: Angra do Heroismo
Day Log: 0.00nm. Total Log: 1,563.7nm.
Lazy day today. Woke up to the rain drumming on the deck. Reminded me of adventures in our parents caravan with Mum and Dad when John and I were young. Comforting sound. Waited for the rain to stop watched Alice run her race. Then inspired by her efforts I went for a run and Captain Maz decided to swim back the 400m from the beach to the boat.
Captain Maz said that she required company on her swim as there are sharks in the Azores. So after my run I rowed after her in the dinghy…….I guess I would have jumped overboard and wrestled the shark into submission. Like a hero.
Thankfully I was not put to the test.
“It’s all OK. If a shark decides to eat you I will ask it nicely to go away. I that fails I will leap into the water and…and…
17th June 2023: 38 53.563N 26 23.174W: Angra do Heroismo
Day Log: 0.00nm. Total Log: 1,563.7nm.
We woke up to blue skies and the gentle rocking of the boat at anchor. Brunch ashore as we both slept in late. Once again, we went through the immigration procedure at the marina office then we were free to have a wander around the town. The initial idea was to hire a car and drive around the island, which is about the size of the Isle of Wight, but I got bored trying to find a place with an available vehicle (after one attempt). I am quite knackered after the sail yesterday, it was a long one, so it all felt like an effort that I didn’t really need.
We had brunch in a local café then walked up to the monument that I ran past when I was last here. Good view of the town and anchorage below with Monte Brasil volcano and the Forte de Sao Joao Baptista on the other side of the water. We decided that we should climb Monte Brasil and set of well-equipped in crocs and flipflops to the craters edge and the caldera within. The last volcanic eruption was 260 odd years ago but I still jumped up and down at the top to see what would happen. Living dangerously.
Back at the boat by 14:00 as we wanted to watch Alice run the 1,500m in Chelmsford. It was the heats of the U23 European Qualifiers. Finals tomorrow, its her first year in the U23 age group and her best time so far is 2 seconds slower than the qualifying time. She came second in her heat so watch on You Tube tomorrow.
Curry on the go, into town to do some shopping and have a beer. Back to the boat, eat, sleep.
A good day with Captain Maz.
Taken from the Memoria a D. Pedro IV. EIVIVA at anchor in the bay. Monte Brasil in the background.
Caldera inside Monte Brasil.
Local version of a small glass of wine.
16th June 2023: 38 53.563N 26 23.174W: Angra do Heroismo
Day Log: 91.00nm. Total Log: 1,563.7nm.
Today we were going to chill out and wander around Ponta Delgada. We had another check of the weather, and it looked like this was the last day for about a week where the wind would allow us to make good speed towards the NW and the majority of the rest of the Azores islands. As Captain Maz is only here for 10 days we decided to head the 91nm back towards Terceira and anchor at Angra do Heroismo. I went and checked out of Soa Miguel with the customs and immigration people. Apparently, you have to check in and out of every island. It is reasonably straight forward, everyone is friendly so no great stress.
We were on the way by 10:30 and found ourselves under engine into a floppy sea with light wind on the nose and rain. The first 20 miles were slow going then the wind swung around onto the port beam and blew in at 15kts. Engine off and good speed. About half an hour later we were hit by a surprise 30kt squall under full rig. This is why I like EIVIVA, in most other boats a surprise 30kt wind on the beam with full rig flying would result in the boat heeling over to an extreme angle, the rudder letting go and the whole thing spinning up into wind. EIVIVA just leans over, piles on weather helm to keep on track whilst you put in a reef or two. No drama.
Whales spouting about 800m away! We saw huge tail fins lift out of the water. I was torn between being disappointed that they were not closer and glad that they were far away. Only yesterday I read a story about an American boat that sank in four minutes having hit a whale mid Pacific Ocean.
“Are we there yet?” plaintive cry from the sea berth, Captain Maz feeling a little Tom and Dick. We still had another 60nm to go probably ten hours sailing. “Almost there”. I lied.
Its 17:30 and the wind has dropped to 5kts dead ahead. Engine on again. Then it came back fresh on the other tack and we had a good sail to within 12nm of Angra do Heroismo. The anchorage was empty and we were safely hooked into the sandy bottom by 14:30. Asleep shortly after.
Dull start little wind, 91nm to go to Terceira.
Captain Maz on watch.
Nice weather for the time of year.
15th June 2023: 37 44.359N 25 39.846W: Ilha de Sao Miguel
Day Log: 0.00nm. Total Log: 1,472.7nm.
I have been working and doing client calls for a few days, a nice break between sailing, so no (b)logs.
Main event today is the arrival of Captain Maz! The French chaps on the next door boat who knew my wife was arriving, said to me.
“You ave a new crew then?”
Carol said
“I am not the crew, I am the Captain!”
That shut them up.
Its nine o’clock here and it is raining hard. Tomorrow thunderstorms.
Ryan Air flight from Lisbon bringing Captain Maz.
Piped aboard with due ceremony, after an eventful flight……Ask her.
12th June 2023: 37 44.359N 25 39.846W: Ilha de Sao Miguel
Day Log: 93.3nm. Total Log: 1,472.7nm.
I Didn’t do a (b)log yesterday as it was a workday for me, sorting out emails and trying to get organised. At 1700 I went for a run to see whether my calf muscle was mended, I pulled it about 6 weeks ago then again 2 weeks later. It was good, although I was only running 10 minute miles. My excuse was that 60% of the run was up hill, total ascent 200m, and I was not going to push my luck with the calf. Jumped into bed early as tomorrow I have decided to move to the Ilya de Sao Miguel. There is a big weather system just west of the Azores that is pushing stronger winds as the week goes on. I have to be there to pick up Captain Maz when she arrives on Thursday. Forecast is for 20kt tomorrow.
The wind kicked in at about 03:00, whining through the shrouds, the anchorage started to rock and roll. My alarm was set for 0500 but I was up before. Took a look outside, still dark with ominous clouds and blasts of wind. Decided to leave at dawn when I could see what it was really like. Made coffee and consumed local bread and more of Kerry’s marmalade. Left at 06:00 and set sail to Ponta Delgarda on the Illa de Sao Miguel, 93nm away.
Started out with a reef or two in 20kts at about 45 degree to the apparent wind. This wind direction was not forecast, it was predicted to be a beam reach. That close to the wind is close hauled for EIVIVA not her favorite point of sail. Threw caution to the wind and deployed all the canvas I had. I have never seen the gunnels of EIVIVA underwater before. Excellent sailing, with a bit of weather helm, but the autopilot wasn’t complaining.
The shearwaters are all around the boat. They are amazing on the wing, swooping and diving just off the surface of the sea with hardly a wing beat. I think they follow hoping that I am a fishing boat. Most welcome company.
I put a reef in the main and Yankee to see whether we would go faster. Two knots slower so took them out again and spent the next 9 hours or so at a very undignified angle for EIVIVA.
The harbour master met me and said he had one space left in the marina! The AZAB, Azores and Back race has arrive from UK. So I ended up trying to put the boat on a pontoon with 20kts of wind blowing me off. I would never have done it on my own, almost impossible in any boat single handed. Luckily he gave me a hand and after a struggle we had her snug. I was going to have some curry left over from last night and hit the sack, but the sail was tough and the mooring was adrenaline fueled. I walked ashore and had a beer instead. Lots of Brits, happy to be here too.
93.3nm in 14 hours. It was a hard sail into the wind but I’m happy with that in EIVIVA. We are both well knackered at the end of it.
Still grey and now raining hard. Might have another beer.
Grey stormy dawn over Angra do Heroismo.
Well that’s a first for EIVIVA. Gunnels under water!
10th June 2023: 38 53.563N 26 23.174W: Angra do Heroismo
Day Log: 0.0nm. Total Log: 1,379.4nm.
Still quite tired, the trip down here must have taken more out of me than I had thought. A lazy day, went through some work emails and made a plan of how I am going to get stuff done.
After lunch I had a first try with my Blu Nemo hookah dive unit to see what it took to clean the hull. The dive unit has a floating compressor, powered by a rechargeable lithium battery, and a tube that terminates in regulator mouth piece. When you breath in the compressor starts and sends air. It will work up to 3m deep. The boat has been in the water now for almost 2 months and the bottom has a good film of slime and the start of some proper weed growth going on. This will have slowed me down on the trip over by half a knot or so. The weed comes off the copper bottom easily enough when scrubbed with a big scouring pad but it is difficult to apply pressure to the hull as there is nothing to hang onto down there. I did some you tube research and all the pro hull scrubbers use suction cups that they stick to the hull giving them something to gang onto. Just ordered two from Tool Station in Shoreham, Captain Maz can bring them on over when she come out on Thursday. I might try a rope under tension from bow to stern tomorrow. This should sit at the junction between hull and keel and give me something to grab onto.
It’s Portugal day today so I went into town as the sun dipped below the yard arm to see the festivities. Nothing going on at all, deserted streets with a few stray dogs wandering aimlessly around. Back to the boat for an early night then.
Portugal Day! Beautiful sunset but no celebrations at all.
9th June 2023: 38 53.563N 26 23.174W: Angra do Heroismo
Day Log: 0.0nm. Total Log: 1,379.4nm.
Admin day today. Are they going to send me back or let me into Europe? On the way over here, I was reading my Guide to the Atlantic Islands that told of horror stories with multiple offices and forms to fill. As it happens, I filled in one form then a man from the immigrations stamped my passport. Simple. Welcome to the EU. I checked the date of the guide, 2002, a lot has happened since then. I can only stay in the EU for 90 days in 180 days so I will have to have the boat back to the Channel Islands or somewhere British by 7th September. Thanks BREXIT.
I wandered around town for a bit, did some shopping and then spent the afternoon mending things that broke on the trip over. I’m quite tired today.
I slept like a log last night.
Angra do Heroismo. EIVIVA nearest sailing boat on right.
Purchased this in my shopping trip today. Where does it say on the label, do not add to anything because it is FUCKING HOT. Will be OK in the morning. I hope.
8th June 2023: 38 53.563N 26 23.174W
Azores Passage Log 1,126.0nm: 42.0nm in last 24 hours
Azores Passage Day 9. Only 42nm to go. Wind 15kts from 60 degrees so almost into it. Good sailing and making fast progress.
Land Ho! Just after noon.
Then with 12 miles to go the wind veered onto the nose blowing 22kts! I wanted to get to the anchorage just in case it was full and I had to move on to another. So, rather than tacking into wind I switched on the engine and motor sailed the last few miles to Angra do Heroismo.
At anchor by 16:30 UK time
Get this blog on line, have a shower, cook dinner and drink the two cans of Heineken that have been looking at me from the bottom of the fridge since the Isles of Scilly.
That’s 8 days 7.5hrs from St Mary’s to Azores.
What a good journey! Thanks Carol for encouraging me to go for it. Even with no obstacles in my way it was quite a decision the night before as to whether I should do it or not. In the end I just got up in the morning and raised the anchor. Just Do It. No turning back. For the first two days I was feeling slightly queasy but after that the days flew by. One day bluring into another so now it is difficult to separate them out in my mind. No great philosophical insights. In the middle of the trip I was 500miles from the nearest land, the sea beneath me was four kilometers deep and I was feeling as far away from a helping hand as I have ever felt. A little like Major Tom sitting in a tin can far above the world, planet Earth is blue and there’s nothing left to do.
LAND HO! Where Away? Two points on the starboard bow Sir! (more Jack Aubrey)
7th June 2023: 38 53.563N 26 23.174W
Azores Passage Log 1084.0nm: 180.0nm in last 24 hours
Day 8. Toast and Kerry’s homemade marmalade for breakfast, Thanks Kerry, excellent brew.
Spent the day blasting along in 25-30kt winds over some quite sporty waves. One particular wave ran into the windward side of the boat with such a crash that I thought we had hit something in the water. I will check when we are at anchor just in case, but I think it was just wall of water hitting the hull with perfect timing. The wind today is just abaft the beam (Jack Aubrey audio book influence) and we are swooping along under 75% mainsail and first reef Yankee. The boat speed rarely drops below 8kts.
As the sun sets I decided to tuck in some more reefs, the wind was starting to have a bit of west in it so the yankee was flogging as the boat turned up into wind on a wave crest. I had a good meal of chili con carne, left over from last night….that was spaghetti bolognese the night before, then did the washing up and climbed into bed. All performed at a silly angle. Once again 30 minute alarm calls throughout the night as we are now closing on land and the number of boats will increase.
Didn’t sleep that well as the wind and sea were pumping all through he first half of the night. I added some more reef into the Yankee to quieten things down at about 0200hrs. Putting a reef into a sail in 30kts of wind with the sheets stretched taught like steel bars, in the dark, in big waves, on wet decks is what it is all about.
Up at dawn. The wind has dropped to 15kts and shearwaters are skimming the sea in search of food. At 0900 we have 42nm to run to Angra do Heroismo capital of Ilha Terceira, Azores. A couple of days back I thought that we would arrive at dusk, not my preferred time, but as a result of the big winds it looks like mid afternoon. A respectable 180nm in 24 hours yesterday, average speed of 7.5kts.
Sea berth also good for daytime snoozing.
6th June 2023: 40 42.070N 23 7.888W
Azores Passage Log 904.0nm: 156.0nm in last 24 hours
Azores Passage Day 7. WOW! fabulous sailing this morning. Blue sky, 15kts of wind, smooth seas.
Didn’t last long. By lunch time I was fighting with a 6m long spinnaker pole on a rolling foredeck. The wind had picked up gusting beyond 25kts so it was prudent to put in a reef or two. I haven’t played with the spinnaker pole enough to work out he best way of using it. Quite a struggle as it is unwieldy and quite heavy. I needed a work out.
By 15:00 hrs the wind speed had increased gusting 28 with quite a big sea following, thankfully EIVIVA was taking it all in her stride.
I had just had a cup of tea and was settling down to read my book when the fitting on the end of the staysail boom exploded with a bang. The staysail was left flogging down wind and the staysail boom swinging wildly from side to side. I grabbed my lifejacket and a harness and scuttled to the pitching bow to sort it all out. First I got the boom under control and lashed it down. I then had to take down the staysail but its sheet was snaking around like a whip and had wrapped around the stay. It smacked me very hard on the knuckles when I tried to grab it, so I got the safety knife and cut it free. Then it was just a matter of staying safe, taking my time and sorting out the mess. It looks like I might be able to repair the fitting.
Its 19:00 and gusting 30Kts so I put another reef in the main. The seas are spectacular we are doing 8kts with just a reefed main flying. A pod of dolphins flew past, diving clear out of the wave tops. They were having fun. I’m going to have dinner then read a book.
It was a tough nights sleep, awake every 30 minutes to check the AIS but not much sleep between as the sea state was quite rough. Half way through the night the wind changed and we gybed. The crash gybe was saved by the gybe preventer that allowed the gybe to happen but reduced the speed of the boom. The wind had gone around to the north as John predicted it would. I deployed a scrap of Yankee to keep everything balanced and went back to bed.
The daylight exposed a wild and windy slate grey Atlantic, we were surfing down big waves in 30kt winds, I just saw 10kts boat speed. In these conditions EIVIVA is such a reassuring and comfortable boat to sail.
Is that a scrap of blue sky on the horizon? Epic sailing, time for coffee.
5th June 2023: 42 27.335N 20 31.796W
Azores Passage Log 748.0nm: 88.0nm in last 24 hours
Day 6. A great day for solar charging, blue sky with a finge of clouds on the horizon. The batteries were topped up by 1100hrs. Very light wind all through the day, now too light for the spinnaker that requires at least 5kts to stay filled, so we ghosted along at 2.5kts SOG in 4 kts of wind on a flat sea.
I have decided that scrambled eggs on toast is the breakfast of choice on this cruise, so I made it again, third day in a row. Had a day of doing odd jobs and enjoying not having to hold onto things all the time. Another creaking bulkhead got the plunge saw treatment and is now silent. I painted the Island packet star logo in the sail of the model boat Jim Caithness gave me. The boom is clanking so I started to de-clank it with bits of packing and tubing. I will have the boom off the mast in the Azores and do a proper job of it. As I fiddled around on deck a small Portuguese man of war jellyfish floated by resplendent with neon sail, I don’t recall seeing one before.
At about 17:30 I used the Garmin InReach to message my brother John to get a weather update. I was reading about the Azores High, a weather system that can hang around for weeks with no wind, I wanted some reassurance that it had not developed now. Good news. Tomorrow 15kts N, NE, Wednesday 22kts N, Thursday, Friday 18kts NW. That will do. Great bit of kit the InReach, I wonder what it is costing per message? Thanks John.
As we finished our message session the wind started to blow in from the NE, strengthening overnight to 15kts with a flatish sea. Nice sailing, I slept well between AIS checks. The sound of the water rushing over the hull has been drowned out in the past by the creaking bulkheads, but now it is a constant reminder of our forward progress.
Lovely. But come on wind!
4th June 2023: 43 21.001N 19 9.213W
Azores Passage Log 660.0nm 94.0nm in last 24 hours
Day 5. The wind has dropped away to 5-8kts, still from the east. As the day wore on it continued to drop and by dusk it was blowing a maximum of 5kts. The log for this 24 hour period shows the effect, less than 100nm travelled. I am still reluctant to put out the spinnaker, tomorrow perhaps, if the wind stays low. The sea state is flat with the odd big swell rolling in from aft, left over from the strong winds of the last week.
I let the batteries run out on the iPad then gently bent it straight. Plugged it in and it works again! Apple Store Northern Atlantic at your service. The other good news is the Spottily account is now letting me play my downloads, so music whilst I sail.
Over night the wind dropped to under 5kts bur reasonably constant so we drifted along over a smooth sea at 2.5kts SOG. After last nights drama with the cruise liner, I worked the usual 30 minute AIS check. At about two o’clock I asked Siri to set an alarm and fell back to sleep. I woke at five! I had a good sleep though, so I guess anything out here missed me…….
The moon was full and spectacular at five o’clock, like daylight, you could see colour by it’s light. Dawn arrived an hour later, looks like a sunny day coming up.
Come on wind!
Moonlight over a windless Atlantic
3rd June 2023: 44 17.218N 17 24.087W
Azores Passage Log: 566.0nm: 132.8nm in last 24 hours
Day 4. The wind is not as strong as it has been, now blowing 10 to 12kts, still from the east. This is reflected in the slightly lower day total. At about midday the boat speed was not as fast as I would expect given the wind and the waves so I played around with the sail configuration and squeezed out another knot and a half boat speed. Sailing now with full canvas, the mainsail and staysail held back to leeward with the Yankee poled out to windward. One advantage of less wind is a calmer sea, it is now possible to move around below with a cup of tea without throwing the contents on the ceiling. Still cloudy and damp.
Feeling good today, no sign of the mild nausea of the first few days. So, I decided to try to stop the loud creaking popping noise that emanates from the main bulkhead when the boat rolls. Similar to someone hitting the bulkhead with a hammer, over and over again. I decided to use my plunge saw to cut a series of 1mm deep slots in the teak. Between the slots I left a gap so that at the end of the process I had reduced the area of friction by 75%. Then WD40 into the slots and…..no noise! Its like another boat. Now all I hear are all the other annoying, but quieter noises, that were masked by the popping. The slots are so thin that they are almost invisible. Good Job.
I was woken up by the alarm at 13:00hrs to do a routine AIS check to discover a boat aiming straight at me from dead ahead at a distance of 16nm with a closing speed of 22kts. No panic but I did wonder why the boat was aiming straight at me. It was the Amadea, a 630ft long passenger ship. After a while I decided to raise them on the VHF and had a chat with the man on watch. He could see me on radar (now that he looked, I think), but I was not visible on AIS. He agreed to change course to miss on our port side. The switch that has the aerial splitter and booster is linked to the stereo fuse panel switch. It controls the AIS output. The switch is also next to the tri-colour masthead light switch so I must have inadvertently turned off the AIS aerial in the morning when I turned off the nav light. I confirmed that the AIS was working with the Amadea and we passed like ships in the night. 500nm from land in all directions. It is strange that I receive AIS signals but do not transmit when the switch is off, I will have to look into this.
They wouldn’t have felt a thing.
2nd June 2023: 45 34.443N 14 50.431W
Azores Passage Log: 433.2nm: 143.4nm in last 24 hours
Day 3. The small bird died overnight. Nothing I could do about it as it refused the food and water I left out and it became terrified every time I approached. Burial at sea. (Threw it overboard)
The wind still blows from the east with the associated following seas and rolling boat. In the middle of the day the clouds cleared, and the sun came out and blue sky reflected in the water turned the sea from foreboding to uplifting. But not for long, by evening the clouds had returned and light drizzle added dampness to the air that crept inside making the cabin cold and humid at the same time. The drizzle continued overnight into the morning.
I leant on my iPad and bent it. The glass has not cracked but it now has a 3mm deflection along the long edge. The screen lights up and it all looks good, but nothing happens when the screen is touched, so it no longer works. This is a slight problem as it was the way I looked at AIS overnight to look for other shipping. I ran the main Raymarine system overnight as I can see the screen from the sea berth, but it is more power hungry and the batteries were 68% in the morning.
Also, I restarted my iPhone for some reason, and it now refuses to play any of the music I downloaded from Spotify. I guess it wants me to sign into my account. Thankfully the audio books still work.
I am going to have to run the engine again to top up the house batteries. Cloudy skies stop the solar panel working and the wind generator works on apparent wind not true wind so there is little help from there. What I need is some sun.
1st June 2023: 47 3.940N 12 7.224W
Azores Passage Log: 289.8nm: 146.7nm in last 24 hours
Azores passage day 2. The wind yesterday and overnight remained consistent and similar to the first day, blowing 15kts with gusts of 20kts from dead behind. The sea is moderate with 2.5m waves overtaking the boat. No sun today and there is a blanket of high cloud that colours the sea slate grey. The east wind is a cold wind that blows down the companion way, the cabin is only 12 degrees centigrade. Slightly colder than ideal.
I am still trying to get my sea legs in this rolling motion, but only feeling slightly icky. I spend time working on the sail plan to see whether I could control the roll. With just the Yankee and the stay sail poled out forward the boat rolls around a lot. When I deploy the full mainsail and reef the Yankee 50% the boat has a better forward motion and feels like it is going downhill a lot of the time as the speed is more similar to the wave speed. I left this configuration up overnight and had some reasonable sleep. Alarm every half hour to check the AIS.
I small bird, a young sparrow perhaps, has been with the boat for a day or so, I guess he got blown off course in the winds from the Scilly Isles. I have left food and water out, but he doesn’t seem to understand that if he doesn’t eat he will not make it.
Feeling better so cooked up some chicken stew.
Must be feeling better, chicken stew EIVIVA.
31st May 2023: 48 31.155N 9 12.703W
Azores Passage: Log 0.0nm 143.1nm last 24 hours
Azores passage day 1. Set out from the Isles of Scilly under overcast skies and ran under engine westwards past the jagged rocks that surround the islands on that side. Once I had determined which tack we would be sailing I rigged the boat wing on wing and rolled SW towards the Azores. The wind remained between 15 and 20 kts all day and through the night, we were on a dead run with a 2.5m following sea so my sea legs had a good workout. Slightly queasy but not so bad given the conditions.
Overnight I set an alarm every half hour to check the AIS for shipping. There is a surprising number of other boats out here. One boat in particular passed in front of me doing 23kts….under sail! The boat AIS said SOLO SAILOR BR11 call sign FAH6719. I shall look her up when I get bandwidth. It was the 32m long 22m wide Banque Populaire trimaran. Sailing that on your own would be interesting.
I woke up to another grey day, same conditions as yesterday. I have decided to take the day log at 09:00hrs each day. The first day we travelled 143.1nm.
It was doing 23kts when it passed me in the dark.
30th May 2023: 49 55.302 N 6 18.880 W: St. Mary’s Pool, Isles of Scilly
Day Log: 0.0nm. Total Log: 253.4nm.
Preparation day today, getting EIVIVA ready for the Azores Sail.
We went into the town and the Co-Op was buzzing and full of provisions. Everything I needed. The fuel pontoon is ontop of a stone harbour wall with wind against so I decided not to top up. I still have 90% in the tank that will give me a range of about 800nm, so OK. I couldn’t get water either which is more of a problem. I have about 400 litres left so I purchased 24 x 1.5 litre bottles. I should be OK, a little smelly, but OK.
Nick picked David up at about three o’clock as he is going to spend a couple of days with them before heading off home. David is a top bloke, very easy to sail with, we had a fun few days getting here. No stress at all.
I will keep a blog running day by day on the trip down but as there is no phone signal from about 10 miles off shore I will have to upload it when I get there.
1,100 nautical miles if I go in a straight line. If I average 6kts that’s 7.6 days. But I am expecting 10 days or more.
29th May 2023: 49 55.302 N 6 18.880 W: St. Mary’s Pool, Isles of Scilly
Day Log: 42.0nm. Total Log: 253.4nm.
Up at 0600Hrs and set off without delay, west towards the Isles of Scilly. The wind was from the east but blowing 20kts not the 14kts predicted on Weather Pro. This is quite strong for the spinnaker so we wing on winged the foresails with the yankee to port and the staysail boom held back to starboard. I hadn’t tried this configuration before but it worked well giving good boat speed down wind. When we started there was a following sea of about 2.0m. By the time we passed Landsend the sea was 3.4m from behind with another similar sized set of waves coming in from the north. We were thrown about in the resulting confusion for the rest of the trip, but the sailing was good and the sun was out.
We reached the Scilly Isles at noon and initially dropped anchor in Porth Cressa Bay to the south of the island of St. Mary’s. The conditions were not ideal as the bay is open to the southeast so there was a little swell that rocked the boat around. We decided to move around the island and anchor to the north of St. Mary’s Pool, the main harbour of the Scilly Isles. A much better choice.
In the afternoon we headed into Hugh Town to get some provisions only to find that the shops had no food! Not to worry though as the supply ship was just docking in the harbour. Tomorrow the Co-Op will be replenished, I hope.
David and I were invited to Becca and Nick’s house for supper where we met Becca’s sister Ali and their mum Jean. David knows them from way back. The house has a spectacular outlook that overlooks the harbour and the Atlantic beyond. We sat on the terrace, swapped stories, had beer and pizza and watched the sun go down. Great fun, thanks for the invite!
Wing on wing heading west
28th May 2023: 50 0.802 N 5 15.721 W: Mullion Cove
Day Log: 20.0nm. Total Log: 211.4nm.
Lazy start today as the forecast predicted only 4-6kts of wind. The plan was to sail to the Isles of Scilly but we would have had to engine the whole way so we decided to drive around the Lizard and anchor in Mullion Cove. The wind tomorrow is set for an easterly 13kts and as the Isles of Scilly is a straight line west from Mullion Cove, it looks like a good plan.
The scenery around the Lizard is quite spectacular with jagged cliffs and rocks jutting from the sea. It would be a different story at night in a gale, but today very peaceful.
Mullion Cove is protected from the north and east but open to the southwesterly prevailing wind. Today it is a perfect anchorage, with a sandy bottom and good holding. There is a puff of sea breeze but nothing to worry about. So hopefully I will sleep well. Its always a little scary in a bay open to the Atlantic with cliffs lining the shore behind you.
What a lovely spot though.
Mullion Cove
EIVIVA at anchor, we dragged the dinghy high. When we got back the tide had gone out further.
27th May 2023: 50 6.097 N 5 6.686 W: Helford River
Day Log: 23.9nm. Total Log: 191.4nm.
We were up early and greeted by a sunny Fowey. No harbour man yet looking for money, we waited a while (short), then got going. Time and tide waits for no man. Especially if they are going to want £30 from you.
The wind was about 9kts from the east so about 100 degrees on our port side. We flew the parasailer like a code zero with no main and rolled with waves on the beam up towards the Helford River. I new the river was open to the east and that the anchorage might be exposed to the waves but when we arrived it wasn’t so bad.
At anchor early afternoon off the Porth Saxon beach, not a cloud in the sky. David mended the bow light as it had been flickering on the night sail from Yarmouth. He then sorted two million cable ties into bags of similar length. A job I had been meaning to do for over a year now. I did some re wiring of the 12v switch panel so that the bow light and the stern light come on with one switch and the steaming light another. For some reason they were wired so that the steaming light and the stern light were wired together and the bow light separately.
We awarded ourselves with a dinghy ride to the Helford Sailing Club which is located about a mile upstream. They were putting on a new barrel of Tribute ale, one of our favourite beers, so we had a few and watched the sun go down. Then back to the boat for a curry David had already prepared. All in all a perfect day.
Except that the boat was now side onto the easterly swell and rolling. Sleep was difficult for the first half of the night even after a few beers.
Fowey
Helford River from Helford Sailing Club
Nice beer, nice barmaids (according to David)
26th May 2023: 50 20.071 N 4 37.925 W: Fowey
Day Log: 55.2nm. Total Log: 167.5nm.
Woke up to a sunny Dartmouth. The tides were all wrong to go west at a reasonable hour. It would have required a 01:30 start, and there was no wind predicted at that time anyway. So we went shopping for food and bought Cornish pasties for lunch. We were away by 11:00 and cleared the forts that guard the harbour’s approach into a boisterous 18kt breeze on the beam with a sporty 2m swell adding to the fun. EIVIVA territory! With full rig flying she galloped through the waves with great aplomb! Wonderful sailing!
We turned 90 degrees and aimed for Fowey putting the wind and waves dead behind. Initially we goose winged with the yankee poled out to windward as the wind was a little strong for sensible spinnaker flying. After an hour the wing speed dropped to 12kts so the kite was launched and we spent the next 3 hours wafting along past Plymouth and the Eddistone Lighthouse.
Three dolphins, a mum and her two calves (or possibly a dad, not sure how you tell the difference) started to play around the bow. They obviously liked the look of the spinnaker.
Then the wind died, almost as if a switch was thrown. One minute 8kts, the next nothing. Engine on then, 2 hours to Fowey, we will arrive by 21:00hrs. I am putting this together underway. Tomorrow we will set out earlier against the tide to the Helford River as once again the wind drops off later in the day.
Dartmouth approaches
Dolphins and spinnaker reflections
Way more exciting than dolphins……….
25th May 2023: 50 21.176 N 3 34.419 W: Dartmouth
Day Log: 85.5nm. Total Log: 112.3nm.
Up at 0250hrs to catch the west going tide. We decided on 3 hour watches so David stayed in bed for the first one. There was a 7kt wind from the north east so I set sail and navigated through the Needles Chanel in the dark. With a spring tide running we were not hanging about. With an hour to go before the end of my watch I launched the kite and had a happy hour running at 9 plus kts westwards. The spinnaker stayed up over a succession of watches and we made good progress past Portland Bill, until the wind dropped to 3kts, then 2 and the sea went oily.
Engine on!
The wind never returned so we chugged across Lyme Bay to Dartmouth where we are now at anchor off the town quay. I like Dartmouth, there is something quite real about the town, mixed with a characterful history.
Early start again tomorrow. The wind is predicted to be stronger but still from the northeast……touch wood. It would be nice to do a day without the iron donkey, like proper sailors.
Needles Chanel 0400hrs. (iphone camera no edit.)
8.3kts SOG in 9kts of true wind (OK there was a bit of tide with us) David saw 9.7kts.
Kingswear, on the other side of the river Dart from Dartmouth, taken from the anchorage.
24th May 2023: 50 42.644 N 1 29.137 W: Yarmouth, Isle of Wight
Day Log: 26.8nm. Total Log: 26.8nm.
Here we go again!
David Sharp and I were chauffeured to the boat by Jane, David’s long suffering wife. They picked me up at 07:30 and we were on board by 09:00. Our first stop was the pontoon at Itchenor where we scrubbed off a months build up of bird poo and topped up the water tanks. Then sods law dictated that the wind was only 5kts from the northwest and the spring tides were against us. So we motor sailed to Cowes for fuel. The Cowes fuel pontoon is still 30p a litre cheaper than the mainland marinas, at £1.30 per litre.
The wind is not great today but when we left Cowes the tide was running at about 3kts with us, so we were swept westwards down the Solent. Then the wind picked up to 10kts…..from the SW, the direction we were heading. As a result we tacked to Yarmouth and hooked up on a buoy off the town quay. The harbour man came alongside and announced that it was going to cost £52 for over night! I was a little flabbergasted as it was only £35 last year. Upon seeing my obvious distress he mentioned an anchorage just past the town pier. When he tried to cancel our mooring on his computer he realised that he had pushed the wrong button and it was only £38 for the night. Free is better though!
Now at anchor with a sailing race all around us, chicken jalfrezi on the go and a can of frosty Heineken in hand. Tide runs west from 03:00 and the wind is predicted 9kts from the north. Early start then. We will see where we get to tomorrow…….
Cowes fuel pontoon, cheapest on the South Coast
Our chosen anchorage became a race obstacale.
24th April 2023: 50 48.723 N 0 52.373 W: Bosham, Chichester Harbour
Day Log: 24.6nm. Total Log: 183.6nm.
Guess what. We woke up at 0700hrs to catch the east going tide and there was no wind again. Absolutely flat calm. There was only one other boat in Newtown Creek over night as it is early in the season. In my opinion it is one of the best anchorages in the Solent, very picturesque. It can get over crowded in the summer so we enjoyed the solitude then got going.
We ate breakfast on the way and chugged lazily down the Solent past Cowes and on through the Forts, that were built to guard Portsmouth from the French in 1860, towards Chichester Harbour. Approaching from the west the tide is always rising so there were no depth concerns over the Chichester bar this time.
Now back on mooring BM06, home.
So that is the end of EIVIVA’s shake down cruise. Great fun, in good company. On the whole there are no big issues with the boat, the engine certainly works OK. I have a trip to Vancouver end of next week and David, who is sailing to the Isles of Scilly Isles with me, can’t set sail until 22nd May.
Next (B)log in a couple of weeks then.
EIVIVA’s mooring, she is the one with the tender off the stern.
Beautiful here. View looking west from Itchenor towards EIVIVA’s mooring.
23rd April 2023: 50 43.276 N 1 24.596 W: Newtown Creek, Isle of Wight
Day Log: 24.1nm. Total Log: 159.0nm.
Where has all the wind gone? There is none in the mornings when the tide is running in the right direction, then it blows a little towards the end of the day. Frustrating and not very environmentally friendly as we have to use the engine.
We set out at about 0730 hrs into a rolling grey windless English Chanel. I was slightly bleary from last night’s activities in the King Charles Pub. David, on the other hand, was fine so he did the driving and map reading again. We passed Hurst Castle with four knots of tide swirling around us and popped into the Solent doing 10.5kts SOG.
Now moored to a buoy in Newtown Creek where we spent a lazy afternoon. The sun tried to shine, then gave up. Early night, there is wind tomorrow morning!
Newtown Creek high tide EIVIVA boat on right
Lighthouse at Hurst Point
22nd April 2023: 50 41.598 N 1 59.341 W: Pottery Pier, Pool Harbour
Day Log: 28.2nm. Total Log: 134.9nm.
No wind today either. At 0700 hrs we engined out along the coast going east over a still, grey sea. Normally I would have stayed put and waited for the weather to be more favorable but I have to be back in Chichester by Tuesday as work calls.
By lunch time we were anchored around the back of Brownsea Island at Pottery Pier. The anchorages around Brownsea Island are always very peaceful and some of the best places to spend the night if visiting Poole. Especially if, like me, you don’t want to pay the outrageous marina fees that Poole Harbour inflicts on visiting yachts.
In the evening we took the dinghy over to the town quay to get some shopping and meet up with Mark, one of David’s old school chums. We ended up with fish and chips and a trip back to the boat in the dark….two trips for me as I left a bag in the pub.
Note to self, leave anchor light on when you go ashore and it is getting dark. Easier to find your way back!
Anvil Point Lighthouse
Funny old thing to find in the lazarette
Very windy!
Sharpie going into a pub. Can’t break the habit.
21st April 2023: 50 35.321 N 2 27.635 W: Portland Harbour
Day Log: 0.0nm. Total Log: 106.7nm.
No wind today so we had a less active day. we did some jobs around the boat and then took the dinghy around to Weymouth. Further than I thought, it must have been a couple of miles, some of which in open sea. It woke us up. We tied up at a shack by the harbour entrance and had an excellent breakfast. Then we crossed the river to Weymouth town for victuals.
On the return journey the sun had disappeared behind some ominous clouds and we had the delight of being hit by a hail storm in lively water between Weymouth river and Portland Harbour entrance. That woke us up even more. Note to self. Open sea…..wear a life jacket.
The afternoon was rainy so we chilled out on board. Then the sun came out at six so we took the dinghy up the lake that separates the mainland from Chesil Beach. Apparently the lake was used to test the bouncing bomb during WW2. It is quite lovely, the photos do it more justice than my descriptive powers ever could.
Now on board with a beer in hand and spag bog on the go. Perfect.
Chesil Beach with Portland Bill in the distance
20th April 2023: 50 35.321 N 2 27.635 W: Portland Harbour
Day Log: 72.0nm. Total Log: 106.7nm.
Up at 0700hrs to a cloudless sky, albeit a little chilly. The wind was blowing about 10kts so we worked the sails up the tracks and headed off towards Weymouth.
Breakfast of bacon and fried egg butties as we approached the Nab tower. The Nab Tower was built in World War One to defend the Solent and Portsmouth from submarines. (I always thought it was Napoleonic era, but Google knows best).
We sailed around the south of the Isle of Wight against a foul tide with the wind from aft the beam, making good progress…until the wind dropped from 20kts to 12kts. The tide changed, the kite was launched and we blasted along at 9-10kts speed over ground. Good speed for EIVIVA.
As we approached St Alban’s Head the wind died and so we motor sailed around the corner with the intention of spending the night in Chapman’s Pool a cove carved into the cliff face. When we arrived there were rocks all around and the anchor would not set. Onwards to Waymouth, it was five o’clock by this time and the tide had just turned against us again. We were blessed with a freshening wind that gave us a great sail, covering the 15 miles in just over 2 hours.
All in all a great day on the water. I felt sea sick from the off, my sea legs have not kicked in yet so that spoiled if for me. David had a blast and did most of the sailing.
We are both knackered, but snug with the heater warming the boat, a chicken Jafrezi on the go and a beer in hand.
I’m just happy the boat has stopped moving around so much.
It’s 2200hrs and a heavy squall is blowing Portland Harbour and rain is lashing the deck above. Glad we are not in Chapman’s Pool! A good call.
David doing most of the sailing. Me a little Tom and Dick.
David casually holding a 150sqM kite in one hand. Impressive!
19th April 2023: 50 48.722 N 0 52.374 W: Chichester Harbour
Day Log: 34.7nm. Total Log: 34.7nm.
Here we go again! Hard work over the last few weeks to get EIVIVA ready to splash. Thanks Dawn and David who added a much needed boost to the effort. The team at Sussex Yacht Club came up with the goods and managed to meet the high tide today despite the lifting gantry puncturing a tyre and then blowing an oil pipe.
In the water by 12:30 off the gantry into a cross tide and a cross wind. Backwards, never very controllable in EIVIVA, she is wayward in reverse and goes where she will. We ended up facing the wrong direction in the river, but a quick U turn and we were on the way.
‘We’ this time is not just me and EIVIVA, my good mate David is sailing with us on a shake down cruise. First stop the new swinging mooring in Chichester Harbour at the mouth of the Bosham Channel.
The wind was blowing 20kts but we managed to rig the stay sail, with difficulty, on the way down the river from Sussex Yacht Club. There was too much wind to rig the bigger sails in the narrow river and when we reached the sea the wave state would have made sliding them up the track a horrible job. From experience best done in lighter airs. We engined to Chichester with the main mast track with no sil to cushion it, clanging in the mast.
I feel asleep leaving David to navigate down the coast and around Selsey Bill. What a luxury after so much solo sailing last year. We arrived at the Chitchester bar (sand bank not pub) at low spring tide and after careful consideration crept over the shallows with 0.3m under the keel.
We are now snuggly hung (if that is the correct terminology) off our new buoy, number 6 Bosham Reach. Sun going down over the yard arm. Me trying to work out how to write this blog as Squarespace has changed the way you do it and David cooking Chicken EIVIVA a new and exciting fusion dish…..and a few cans of Heineken.
Nice back comb.
EIVIVA’s new home. Number 6, Bosham Reach.