Monday, December 12, 2016

The night before - by Elsie

The night before….

Well, here we are the evening before the ‘big’ one. Everything on the list is ticked off, well almost, the water has still be to topped up and we need to visit the bank to get some dollars.
The stores have been a problem. Capo Verde is definitely African, very little European food. It’s a cheap place to eat as long as your diet is the same as the locals – fish and rice. The rice comes in huge 25kg bags. No tasty cheese, the local goat’s cheese is tasteless and bland, no Parma ham, only very fatty bacon ham, no chicken breasts, only salty fish. Thank goodness we did a huge provisioning in Santa Cruz. The tins of curry chicken and the Fray Bentos pies don’t seem so stupid now. Even the chopped ham in tins will be a God send. Vegetables and fruit are very expensive compared to Spain but the good news is fish is plentiful and cheap. So, the fridge is full even though it’s not our usual fare.
I checked and rechecked the weather – it’s as it should be, northeast to east force 5 to 6. The swell is forecast between 2 to 3 metres, not good. There are about six weather models we use and all have different variants but high winds prevail. The Christmas winds have come early. According to Predict Wind we will zoom across to Barbados in 13 days. I have persuaded the skipper to head south so we will miss some of the highish winds. The passage should take between 15 and 18 days, I’m a wimp. I know 25 knots of wind is not high when it is behind the beam and we will have three reefs in most of the time but I am still having misgivings.
Nervous, scared, terrified are all descriptive words to describe my feelings tonight. I knew once we left Tennerife there was no turning back, onwards and across we go, but now I am facing 2000+ nm at sea I am now having second thoughts or even third or fourth ones. To turn back is not an option, it would mean beating into force 4 winds which is not comfortable to say the least. This journey could take take up to three weeks. I don’t think it will with the winds forecast but that’s what we have provisioned for. Three weeks at sea, with the nearest piece of land five miles straight down. We know Ruby is ready. We have talked through all the ‘what if’ scenarios so all the emergency procedures are in place and we have back up plans for our back up plans. Steve is primed and ready to receive our 12 hourly position and state text via the satellite phone and the life jackets, emergency beacons and life lines are all primed and ready. Even the grab bag and survival suits have been moved to a more prominent home. We are taking nothing for granted and safety is priority so why am I so terrified?
It’s the biggest adventure I’ve ever contemplated doing and now we are on the eve of it starting reality has hit me. The skills I have learnt over the last five years could save not just my life but Lionel’s as well. Watch the sails, watch the compass, listen to the noises around you. Think about what you are doing and do it correct first time everytime. There will be no wind steering, Hattie is still not working so we will be relying entirely on George or autopilot.
If I make the wrong decision in a moment of panic it could spell disaster for us and Ruby. That’s the key, I must not panic. I must be level headed and work out the best action to take at a moments notice. Reef. Reef. Reef. Watch the radar for squalls and reef. Watch the sky. Watch the sea. Anything which indicates we are going to be hit by high winds, reef. It is very difficult to see the signs at night. When we start tomorrow we will have a full moon which is good but in two weeks time there will be no moon so I have negotiated with the skipper and it will be three reefs in the main sail for my six hour night watch, easiest thing to do.
Now I can see the advantages of sailing in company and rallies. You can’t let the side down, bravado rules, show no weakness. Even talking to random cruisers I show no hesitation. Yea, the wind will be force 6, won’t that be fantastic sailing? Inside I’m a quivering wreck but to look at me you see a confident upbeat sailor who can’t wait to get out there and sail.


One way or another we are all actors.

Sunday, December 11, 2016

December 2016 part 1.

In which we continue around the Cape Verde Islands and prepare for our Atlantic crossing.

We started December at anchor off Porto de Sal Rei, Boavista, Cape Verde Islands. It was our intention to spend another few weeks going round the islands and set off across the Altantic around the end of December. The next leg of our island hopping was about 90 miles, to Sao Nicolau, just too far to make it in one daylight so we decided to make it a night voyage. Having failed to test our wind steering since re-fitting it in Santa Cruz, we felt that we should do so now to check that it was now secure and that we could plan to use it on the crossing. So we got out Hattie’s rudder and fitted it.

We lifted anchor at 1700 and, with one reef in main and Genoa, set off on a beam reach with a NNE’ly F4 making a steady 7 knots. Hattie, at first, performed immaculately but, after an hour or so, the clacking sound returned. The lower bracket was still moving, so we had to lock the wind steering and revert to George. This was a big disappointment as we had little idea of how to proceed with it other than a complete re-fit – a dockyard job. The voyage, otherwise, went very well and at dawn we were rounding the SW’ly point of Sao Nicolau. As we did so, we came into wind shadow and had to motor the last 5 miles up to anchor off Tarrafal. There were only 3 other (active) yachts here, but 2 that sat at anchor without masts with every appearance of decay. We wondered what the stories were.
Sad yacht.

A leisurely breakfast and dinghy ashore to seek port officials. For once, the pilot book gave good directions but, when we got there, we were told that they had no interest in us and we should go to the national police. Here, we filled in the usual papers and handed over our ship’s registration document which is routinely held until departure. A wander around the well kept town showed the usual selection of mini-markets. These, as in Boavista, seemed to be owned and run by eastern Asians. Since my experience of West Africans is that they are very enterprising I cannot understand this.
Boavista from anchorage.

We spent a further 3 days here, mostly relaxing in the sun but we did make one foray into the interior to visit the island’s capital, Ribiera Brava. This was about an hour away and we could have taken a taxi, at a cost of about 25 Euros. Instead we found an aluguer (public transport) minibus who was happy to take us for 5 Euros. This did mean waiting 20 minutes while he drove around picking up sufficient trade to make his journey worthwhile but we were in no great hurry. Unlike the previous islands, the road was tarmac all the way, though very windy through the hills. Our driver stopped several times for other passengers, including a lady with severely disabled young boy. They both seemed to bear this affliction with good grace and Elsie got a smile from both in return for a gentle stroke of his arm but one does wonder what his future will hold when he is too big to be carried, in such a poor country. R. B. was, once again, very well kept but with no better selection of shops than Tarrafal. We did manage to find some flaky internet in a square and admired the decoration in the cathedral before returning in the same aluguer. Our driver mistimed his departure, following two others who picked up the majority of trade, including a large group from just outside the town. We managed to get in the lead to get the next passenger, but she took so long to board that the others overtook and managed to clear the route of further trade. Back in Tarrafal we tried again for internet (I still had my data SIM but some things are just so much easier on a lap-top than on a phone) but, having bought our beers at the one place that offered free WiFi, we were told that only the owner knew the key and he was absent. We needed a refill for a camping gas cylinder and found a supplier. The price for this service seems to get cheaper the further south one is. The most we have paid is £30 in Shetland (£10 per kilo!). In the Canaries, it was anything from 15 – 25 Euros. Here it was less than 3 Euros.
Ceiling picture, Ribiera Brava cathedral.

We witnessed a variation on ring net fishing one morning. One boat laid the net round an anchored yacht which was sheltering a shoal of fish. ‘Divers’ in snorkeling gear maneuvered the ends round the yacht and prevented escapees. The net was drawn tight and the meager catch was emptied into a huge floating basket brought by a second boat. Another crew, using a more conventional approach of laying a horseshoe of net from a beach at slack tide and pulling it in got a far better catch, the downside being that everyone in the area lent a hand at the recovery and wanted some payment in kind.
Fishing, Boavista style.
On the 6th, we heaved up and proceeded the 26 miles to Santa Luzia to anchor off a beautiful deserted beach in crystal clear waters. Here we, once again, indulged ourselves by lazing in the sun, the only downside being the constant strong wind and the moderate swell which prevented our landing.


As stated, our intention was to spend another couple of weeks in the area, but we started to get itchy feet. We could see that the ARC and Odyssey rallies had, after a slow start, made good progress and were nearing the Caribbean. Another group of our friends, Dana de Mer, Mary Lou and Emerald Bay, were in Mindelo about to depart and the Trade Winds seemed to have settled into the classic NE’ly F4-5. Always flexible, we decided that we wanted to join the fun and decided that Mindelo, instead of just being a staging post back to the South East group of the C.V.s would be our point of departure. No rush, as we had missed our friends anyway, but head over, top up provisions, water, batteries and fuel and head off. Ruby’s bottom was getting a bit slimy so I took the opportunity of my daily dip to have a good scrub. This would have been easier without the 25 knot wind with consequent chop and surface current but I probably needed the exercise.
Bottom scrubbing at Santa Luzia
We heaved up at 0900 on the 8th and proceeded to Mindelo. At first, in the shadow of Sao Nicolau, we got a SW’ly F3 but after 5 miles we cleared that island and had a NNE’ly F4-5. To go round the top of Sao Vicente we were close hauled, making 6-7 knots with 2 reefs. We arrived at Mindelo at 1330 and moored at the marina, our first in over 3 weeks. The marina has been very cleverly planned with the pontoons lying across the, almost constant, prevailing wind and different arrangements for mooring lines depending on whether you are up- or down-wind of the pontoon. Usual formalities with Marina (cheaper than expected) and port authorities (who held on to our ship’s papers again) and ashore to check out the provisioning prospects. Given that the town is very cosmopolitan, by area standards, this was a bit of a disappointment. Basic and dry stores were available, though much more expensive than in the Canaries, but luxuries such as charcuterie, cheese and ‘fine pieces’ were unobtainable and the fruit and veg. were not of the same quality (and very expensive). The water, however, was good and the internet from the local cafe was strong enough to be be picked up by our amplifier, meaning that we could catch upon 3 weeks worth of I.T. and store some BBC podcasts for the crossing.

We had a plan of minor maintenance, stores etc. and all was going to going well until Friday afternoon when we looked at the weather forecast for the crossing. This had changed and it now looked as though our planned Tuesday departure would take us out into a forecast F6. As our experience shows that reality is usually 5-10 knots more than the forecast, from our current source, this meant that we could be committing ourselves to a week of gale force winds. If we hurried up with our preparations and left the following day, we could beat the weather but, guess what? The port offices had just closed for the weekend. Oh Bu**£r! A sleepless night while we pondered what plan ‘C’ should be.


We were woken on Saturday by sounds of drums which, on investigation, came from a parade of schoolchildren to celebrate United Nations human rights day. This led us to a part of town which I hadn’t visited but which, unfortunately, didn’t reveal a Waitrose, Tesco or even Pingu Doce. Back to the boat, a check of the weather and hurrah! The forecast wind had dropped sufficiently to make a Tuesday departure a reasonable plan again. So on with gentle preparations while another group of yachts, including an Israeli rally, departed.

Sunday was spent relaxing and Monday on final provisioning.  Unfortunately, fruit and veg are not as well stocked as on departure from Tenerife but we will survive.

Tuesday morning brought a few last minute butterflies but it was time to go.

To be continued...    

Monday, December 5, 2016

November2016

In which we cut our bonds to Europe and head down to Cape Verde Islands

November 2016 started with Ruby in Santa Cruz, Tenerife. Lionel was in the U.K. for routine medical checks and family visits and Elsie was on board, organising provisioning and having some overdue dental work done.

Lionel returned on the 7th with usual small chandlery items, including Caribbean flags and a piece of marine ply. This latter was for an attempt to re-fit the lower wind steering gear bracket. On the voyage from Gibraltar this had moved, sheering a bolt. The hope was that by substituting a wooden packing piece for the existing plastic, the bracket would be more firmly held, enabling us to actually use the system on ocean passages. A happy day was spent trimming, sanding and varnishing before re-installing the bracket. We also had a major shop for dry stores as we were sure that these would be either much more expensive or unobtainable over the next few months. Ruby is blessed with many spaces beneath the floorboards, seats and beds and these were well packed though even with our best efforts, we could still have fitted more in.

One of several food stores!

One of the major items was bottled water. We have 330 litres in the main tanks and, with practice, we have learned to extend the duration of this from about 4 days to over 2 weeks. We have a sea water pump in the galley sink and, when at sea, this is used to wash everything – dishes, clothes and ourselves - before a final rinse with fresh water. This should mean that, for our planned voyages, we should have sufficient but ‘should be OK’ is not good enough in the middle of the ocean so we bought 20 X 5 litre bottles so that, if all else failed, we would not get dehydrated. The weight of this, together with 4 cases of beer and 20 litres of wine was definitely having an effect on our water line.

The weekend of the 11th - 13th was spent attending a series of seminars with the Jimmy Cornell Odyssey organisation. Jimmy was the originator of the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers). He has passed this on now but still organises smaller rallies of 20-30 yachts. Having made countless ocean voyages and supervised literally thousands of others he is definitely someone who knows what he is talking about and we were grateful to be able to pick up what tips we could from him and his team. We were re-assured to find that we had got most things right in our preparations but took enough new stuff away to make it 3 days well spent.

Monday was spent with final provisioning for our leg down to Cape Verde Islands, including lots of fresh fruit and veg and a new fishing lure. As we were settling our bill with the marina, we spotted an advert for anchor chain. A German couple had bought 70 metres of 10mm chain, only to discover that their spurling pipe wouldn’t accept anything larger than 8mm. Our existing chain was both a little short, at 50 M and worn, with the galvanising being almost exhausted over much of its length. It would last another year or so but the price asked for this length was so attractive that we decided to go for it and our evening was spent checking that it would fit our windlass and stowing it in the chain locker. Elsie wasn’t convinced that it was a perfect fit so we were loath to dump our existing chain before proper trials and we now had an additional 200 kg on board. As this was at the bow and the beer in the cockpit locker, I reasoned that at least we would be well trimmed!

We finally left Santa Cruz at 1100 on the 15th. The forecast winds to the South were not good but the atmosphere with dozens of other aspiring Atlantic crossers making their own final preparations and having their own doubts was starting to affect us so we wanted to get away. We had a good sail down the Tenerife coast, starting stately in a F3 and finishing spiritedly in a F5, broad reaching all the way to anchor at our familiar place at Montana Roja. The plan was to spend a couple of days here and then pop across to La Gomera for a top-up of fuel, water and fresh food before our crossing. On the evening of the 17th, however, the forecast showed that the following morning would give us our best chance of good winds for the foreseeable future so made the decision to go for it. Accordingly, we lifted anchor at 0900 and motored the 3 miles to San Miguel to top up on fuel. There was the usual chaos here, but only wasted 20 minutes or so and at 1010 cast off and headed south.


This was a major decision point. Up to this now, we knew that we could change our minds, spend another winter in the Canaries and remain in Europe. We were now losing that possibility – we were committed to the big crossing!
There are many debates about what sails to set for downwind passages. The ‘conventional’ way was two headsails, wing-on-wing or in tandem but Jimmy Cornell had impressed upon us that this was far from ideal as, once in a big swell, hoisting the main might prove impossible and heaving-to would become impossible if required. His view is that a main, however well reefed, is required at all times and we were happy to accept his wisdom so set off with 2 reefs in main and Genoa in a F6 quartering wind. This gave us a flying start and we averaged nearly 8 knots for the first couple of hours. The wind gradually abated as we left the land affect but for the following 36 hours we had at least F4, giving us about 6.5 knots. On the morning of the 19th, we shook out one reef, putting it back in that evening for the night watches. This proved to be wise as, for the rest of the passage, there were periods when the wind rose to over 20 knots and it was much easier, on single handed watches, to adjust power using just the furling genoa. The average wind, however, dropped and with it our speed. The first day’s run was 159 miles; this was followed by 143, 123, 114 and 122 mile days. Not classic by any means but we had plenty of food and water and no deadline to meet. Our progress was monitored by my kind brother-in-law who got twice-daily messages of our position, course and speed with instructions of what to do if they stopped! This almost failed when one of our messages went, inexplicably, to his spam box, but he queried us and we were able to re-assure him that all was well. Our new Iridium Go hotspot device was also used to download daily weather forecasts. While these were not totally accurate, at least we were re-assured that nothing nasty was heading our way.

We had not shipped our wind-steering rudder and were relying on George. The battery monitor showed that we were building up big amp-hour deficits and ran our little petrol generator daily to try to close this. This was only partially successful as the charging rate dropped sooner than expected. As the voltage was holding up well, there seemed to be a miss-setting somewhere but we were loath to run the batteries down and damage them. The big deficit continued after our arrival. We knew that, with the wind and sun that we were experiencing, we should be reducing it but it continued to increase. Nothing to do but continue to monitor the situation until we could have 24 hours on shore power and know that we were fully charged. Something else that we had picked up from Jimmy Cornell was to set the autopilot to wind angle rather than compass heading. This may result in a slight meander but it means you don’t have to keep re-trimming the sails to sail efficiently. It also means that, if there is a squall and big wind shift, you should keep the same wind angle and not round up – this could result in an even greater apparent wind speed with attendant dangers. A further benefit is said to be reduced steering movement and power consumption.

At mid-day on the 23rd we had 95 miles to go and with the wind now forecast to continue at 15knots on the beam, we decided to reduce sail and speed to ensure a daylight arrival. This, of course, put the jinx on the wind. It dropped and backed until we had less than 10 knots from directly astern and we even had to motor for an hour or so. It did pick up again in the small hours and we arrived off our destination, Palmeira at first light on the 24th. All the best anchoring spots were taken but we found a place not too far out.

It would have been nice to just collapse but I didn’t want to start off on the wrong foot with the authorities so the dinghy was dug out of the locker and inflated. Motored ashore to land at the little dock where the locals land their fish from open boats. The fish is cleaned then and there so the dock is a little ripe with scales, gills etc. I had not visited Africa for over 25 years but the village was immediately recognisable as belonging to that continent; the unpaved streets, buildings either unfinished or brightly painted, shops with small, barred windows. I was neck-and-neck with a Frenchman who had arrived the night before and was on the same mission. While I located the building which the pilot book suggested would hold the port officials, he looked in the one next door, which actually housed them so got ahead of me in the queue. This would be the story for the next couple of days, with lots of time spent waiting, having missed my turn by seconds. However, my old experience of Africa stood me in good stead: be patient, it would be good to do the job today, but tomorrow is also a good day. Paperwork completed, after a mere hour or so, I moved on to the next task: water carrying. From now on, we would be relying on carrying all our water to the boat, except when in a marina and there was only one of those in the whole island group. Most houses have no running water and there is a village ‘fontanerio’ to fill cans, buckets etc. Most of it is carried away 100 litres at a time in wheelbarrows so I looked a little pitiful with my 20 litre carrier, but every little counts. It was then time to return for that much needed rest. We made another foray ashore later, to show Elsie the village and get more water but the fontanario was locked for the night. We were met at the fish dock by a teenager who offered to look after our dinghy. I tipped him a Euro and his wide grin told me that this was over-generous but it didn’t seem a lot to spend to share a little joy around. I also ferried a couple of local fishermen from their boats to shore so, hopefully, we did no damage to the reputation of European sailors.

On Friday, we decided to make a morning trip to the big town, Espargos where wonderful things like banks and supermarkets could be found. After one round trip with the dinghy to get another 30 litres of water, we found the way to town. We were hailed by a passing minibus which then did a tour round the village picking up more passengers before heading off and dropping us just outside the town centre. This area was again very African, though the centre itself looked more European. We had a good walk round and did a little shopping before returning. Although it was now 10 days since we had provisioned in Santa Cruz, we still had fresh fruit and veg on board – very encouraging, so it was mostly fresh (or, rather, frozen) meat and a few treats. We had noticed mobile phone shops and I decided that I needed to get a data SIM card, so we returned to the town in the afternoon, hoping to spend 15 minutes getting this and then spending a leisurely hour over a beer downloading a weeks worth of ‘The Archers’ and other stuff at a bar we had spotted advertising free WiFi. I went into the first phone shop, but there was a bit of a queue. Elsie returned a few minutes later to report that the other shop had no queue and an assistant who spoke perfect English, so we moved to there, only to find that a queue had now formed. After half-an-hour’s wait, I got my SIM at a very good price. It was Black Friday and there was a special promotion. Elsie insisted that they activated it for me. A good idea as 90 minutes later they had not managed this task – it seemed that everyone else on the Islands had taken up the offer and the system had crashed. So, back to shop 1 where I eventually got connected. We did go for our beer and ‘Archers’ download but had to cut it a bit short as it was getting near sunset and we try to avoid dinghy travelling in the dark.

Queueing for water

The controller of the fontenario

On Saturday, we had an early trip ashore for bread and water. While looking for the former, we came across a family butchering a pig on the front verandah, not something you see every day at home. Final farewells were made to the lady at the fontanario and to our boat watcher, Gonias. We then heaved up and proceeded 5 miles down the coast to Mordiera, a beautiful bay where spent the next couple of days in almost perfect isolation. The only thing missing was the sun, with overcast skies and frequent light showers. As this end of the Island group is basically desert (the drinking water comes from a de-salination plant) the locals were probably pleased but our tans needed topping up. Instead of doing this, we spent Sunday on little maintenance tasks including a new joker valve for the heads. Anyone familiar with marine loos will know about the joy of this and the associated de-scaling. Others will probably prefer not to.


On Monday we heaved up and headed south to the next Island, Boavista. The wind was forecast to be light so we left early. In fact it was perfect, with 15 knots just behind the beam and we had a fine passage, anchoring just to the south of Porto Sal Rei shortly after 1400. A hurried lunch and dinghied ashore to find the port officials. Their office was closed and looked as though it had been for some time. A bit of research that evening suggested that they had moved to the main port but when we went there the following morning, no interest was shown so we concluded that we had made an honest attempt and gave up. After the joy of Palmeira, there was a depressed air about Sal Rei. The poverty may not be worse and, judging from the lack of water carrying, the facilities may even be better but there was not the same feeling of happiness. Tourism, albeit on a small scale, has reached the town and possibly the inhabitants are suffering the envy from seeing not only those with much more but those locals who are making a good living from the visitors. On Wednesday, we hired an aluguer (pick-up with seating in the flat bed) for a half day tour of the north part of the island, visiting a (very small) sandy desert, complete with locusts. From under a bush emerged a local artist with his sand pictures with which we were very taken but we have a rule of no souvenirs so I just took a couple of photos (and made a small donation). We also visited a couple of very well kept villages and saw the local agriculture which consists of free range goats and the occasional acre or so of market garden, surrounded by wind- and animal- proof fencing. Our driver, who spoke excellent English, came from one of the villages and said that he would rather be there, tending crops but agreed that the money from driving was much better. It was a very enjoyable trip apart from the spiders. Where the road passed between bushes, there were huge webs with dozens of monsters lurking. As there are no large vehicles using the roads we, sitting outside, passed inches below these. On the way ‘home’ we bought a bottle of the local Grog, a spicy 92% proof rum. Definitely an acquired taste.
 Aluguer

 Boavista road

 Elsie in the desert

Sand art


Monthly stats:

Logged 885 miles

Over ground 845 miles


Friday, October 28, 2016

October 2016

In which we head back to the Canaries, in preparation for our Atlantic crossing.

October opened with us tied up in Alcadiesa marina, La Linea, just across the runway from Gibraltar. The main engine had a 200 hour service, we got new service batteries and performed a few other maintenance tasks, but were basically waiting for the best weather for crossing to the Canary Islands.
Gibraltar from La Linea

There were several other yachts on the pontoon with the same end, so we would have daily chats about the prospects.  Monday 3rd looked good but for us, with time to spare before our next appointment in Tenerife, four weeks later, a better plan would be to head out to Madeira first, broad reaching, rather than the slower dead run to Lanzarote.  The ideal time to leave, for tides and winds through the Gibraltar straits, was mid-morning.  If we averaged 5 knots, we would arrive PM on the7th; if 6 knots then AM 7th.  This gave us good prospects of a daylight arrival so we set off at 0900.  Leaving with us was a 38 Ft catamaran, Dana de Mer, with which we had become friendly over the past week, although they were heading straight to the Canaries.


After the first hour, when we had to motor out of Gibraltar bay, we had an easy passage of the strait with the NEly wind building to F5 at the western end and then F6 as we exited the traffic separation scheme and headed down the African coast, which we did on a goose-winged dead run. At 1700, it was time to say goodbye to Dana de Mer, alter course 30 degrees to starboard and head towards Madeira on a broad reach. The wind was forecast to be just behind the beam, F3-4 for the next 48 hours, dying a little as we approached our destination. The first night went well and we were averaging nearly 7knots.

 We hoped that we now had our electrics sorted and reckoned that we had sufficient wind and sun generation to last indefinitely at anchor.  It’s a different matter under way.  We need power for all the navigation equipment and also the autopilot.  We have wind steering but have never really used it properly.  To start with, the installation was too flimsy; we got that sorted in Rhu. Then there is the additional rudder. This has great safety benefits for emergency back-up but it makes our already sluggish manoeuvring under power much worse and we have avoided installing it on shorter passages where we might need to enter a strange harbour.  We had fitted the Hydrovane rudder before departure and, the following day, decided that it was time to give it a meaningful trial.  The conditions were ideal and immediately Hattie steered a better course than George, giving us a better speed as well as saving us power. Hurrah!  Then the noise started. At first it was just an occasional click as the rudder went hard over, then we noticed that the top bracket was working against the hull.  I tightened all the bolts, the clicking stopped, so we continued.  A few hours later, the noise started again and Elsie was alarmed to see that the lower bracket was now moving not only sideways but also away from the hull.  We immediately reverted to George, removed the windvane and re-tightened the bolts (or 3 of them, 1 rotated and it wasn’t safe to hold the outer end in the current conditions). The wind continued to co-operate and we continued to achieve 7 knots over the ground meaning that, despite our planning, we would be arriving in the dark. We half joked, with 18  hours to go, that if we altered course 100 degrees to port, we would be set for a fine broad reach to La Graciosa. We arrived at Porto Santo at 2200 on the 6th, with the moon in the first quarter giving us a little light and dropped anchor just outside the port, intending to enter in the morning.

We had a quick check of the weather in the morning.  Horror!  The Northerly wind that we were expecting to blow for most of the next 2 weeks had been replaced by calms, interspersed with strong southerlies.  This left is with a dilemma: while we had no urgent appointments, I had a flight booked from Tenerife in a little over 3 weeks and, on the current forecast, if we did not leave now, there was no clear prospect of sailing winds in that direction for at least 2 weeks.  Porto Santo is pleasant, but we had seen quite a bit of it earlier in the year; we wanted to spend more time in Funchal, but it is very busy and does not accept bookings. You just have to call on a daily basis to see if there is a vacancy.  Being at anchor through the southerly winds was not an option, as there are no suitable anchorages sheltered from that direction.

A strong cup of coffee later and a quick inventory (food, water, fuel), a decision was made.  Off came the wind steering rudder; up came the anchor; up went the sails and off we went again.  A year before, a voyage of 270 miles would have been carefully discussed and planned but we now feel comfortable with just checking essentials.  Unfortunately, the decrease in wind had now happened and although we were beam reaching, it was at 4-5 knots rather than 7+.  Even this died the following morning and we had to motor for 3 hours.  It was galling to see that we were only 100 miles away from where we had been from where we had been 48 hours earlier.  So it goes. On the 9th the wind picked up again and we arrived at our favourite anchorage at La Graciosa in time for lunch.  As it is so popular and this was peak arrival time for Atlantic crossers, we were a little concerned as to whether we would find a spot but, while it was a lot busier than it had been in March, there was plenty of room. Dana de Mer, from Gibraltar, was already there, with her skipper, Jage, organising the social scene and, after a much needed nap, we were given a lift ashore for a sundowner party to meet the rest of the gang.  This is one of the things that we love about our life style.  We are not naturally gregarious but the easy friendships made with our fellow cruisers, exchanging experiences and general chat complements our alone time nicely.
A happy Elsie records arrival at La Graciosa

We stayed for 4 nights. Of course, during this time, the wind forecast changed, so that we could have easily spent 10 days at Madeira and had a good sail down.   On the 13th, with a NNWly forecast we set off for the other end of Lanzarote.  We had made this voyage of 35 miles 4 ½ years earlier on Fumeke, Ruby’s little sister chartered locally.  It was then our longest ever trip and felt daunting; now it was like popping out for a pint of milk. A great close, then beam, reach down with 1 reef in main and Genoa in a F4 which increased F6 as we turned at Pta. Petchigura to give us up to 10 knots surfing on a broad reach over flat seas.  Anchored of Marina Rubicon in time for a late lunch and to watch those who had left before us and motored down the sheltered eastern side of the island arrive and enter the marina.  After 3 nights at anchor here, with just one dinghy trip ashore for groceries, we picked up and headed into the marina.  The wind was forecast to change to a southerly for a few hours, which would have been uncomfortable for us.  We also had been at sea for 13 days so needed water and some shore power to top up the battery bank.  We spent 2 nights in the marina achieving these essentials, together with a little maintenance and a catch-up with others from La Graciosa.  I looked again at the wind steering and discovered why one bolt was rotating: it had sheered inside the casting.  This was very worrying as, if Elsie had not spotted the movement, the whole lower end could have broken away leading us to possibly lose the steering gear and the skin of the gas locker with it.  On the 18th, we headed out again, this time to anchor off the beach at Papagayo.  The wind was forecast to be a steady F3-4 N’ly for the following 36 hours, which would give us a comfortable night and a good sail down the coast of Fuerteventura the following day. Unfortunately it died, leaving us to swing and roll uncomfortable overnight and gave us a slow start for our onward journey. The wind did pick up at mid-day on the 19th giving us a good afternoon of sailing to arrive at Gran Tarajal at 1600.  We intended to enter the port but, to our surprise, the bay to the east was flat calm so we elected to anchor off.



And there we stayed, anchored outside for 4 nights, then inside for 3 as the wind changed to southerly.  We were watching the weather for our passage to Tenerife, where I needed to be for the end of the month.  The southerly winds were forecast to decrease and back a little on the afternoon of the 26th and, according to predict wind, our latest planning tool, we should be reaching all the way and make an average of 7 knots.  We were a little sceptical of this, having sailed a bit in the Canaries and knowing something about the effects of the islands on the winds.  Nonetheless, we decided to give it a go as the next window, to actually sail rather than motor was the day before we needed to arrive and I’m not sure my nerve would hold.  So, we cast off at 1800 and headed out through the entrance, which was still pretty wild from the earlier wind.  Our scepticism proved correct.  Sure, the wind died. Unfortunately to about 5 knots and, instead of backing, it veered to head us, forcing us to motor down the coast.  After a couple of hours, it did back to right astern, 8 knots, still not good enough to sail.  This lasted until the tip of the island (just as we expected) where it swung round to the beam and increased to 15 knots, giving Elsie a cracking beam reach with one reef in main and genoa.  By 5 AM this had increased to over 20 knots and she called the watch below (me) to assist in putting in the second reef.  Having dressed, I stayed up and enjoyed the sail for the next 3 hours until we reached the lee of Gran Canaria.   No surprise that it backed and decreased, despite the forecast, and we were back to motoring for the following 3 hours.  Again, it was Elsie who got the ‘spirited’ sail, touching over 9 knots and achieving an average of 7.9 for one two hour period, our highest ever sustained speed.  I’m not sure that she appreciated my generosity in allowing her the ‘fun’ but she did get a little back by watching, as we approached Santa Cruz, a rogue wave come over and drench me standing at the wheel.  Into the marina at a civilised 15:00 and parked for our longest stay anywhere since we left Inverness over 18 months earlier.  

Monthly stats

logged              1063
over ground     1060

Saturday, October 1, 2016

September 2016

 In which we continue westwards, through the Balearics to Gibraltar

September started with us anchored in a bay to on the east of Isola de Sant’ Antioco, Sardinia.  Once again, we were waiting for a weather window for a passage and had time to take things easy.  We picked up anchor at 12:50 and had a pleasant, into-wind, sail round the bottom of that island and up to I. di S. Petro, again anchoring in a small bay.  On the second, we decided to go into Carloforte, the largest town on the island.  It was only 4 miles up the coast, so we didn’t bother with sails and just motored.  The pilot book suggested that we could tie up, for free, on the town wall but, as so often happens, this information was out of date.  The space was occupied by a marina which charged us 40 Euros per night, quite reasonable by Italian standards and gave us water and power.  The Town turned out to be very pleasant, with usual tourist stuff near the harbour but a picturesque old quarter on the hill behind.  We took full advantage of the water to wash all our ropes, which had become salt encrusted over the summer, together with a good wash down of Ruby.  We also went ashore for our final genuine Italian pizza of the year.

Ropes hanging out to dry, Carloforte.

The forecast was for a good wind for crossing to Menorca on the 6th but it looked as though we would get a better angle to use it if we started further north.  We believed that we could get a beam reach, on the 3rd, for the 40 miles up to Oristano bay, so did a good shop before departure and left at 12:30.  Unfortunately, the wind was 45 degrees off and, even close hauled, we couldn’t quite make it up the coast without tacking so it was a motor-sail for much of the way to arrive at sunset to a bay to the north east of Capo San Marco. Here, there were many mooring buoys laid, anchoring being prohibited to protect the Posidonia (sea grass).  The buoys are free to use, so we picked up a convenient one and settled in.  I regret to report that, even though there are extensive ruins on the shore, half a mile away, we did nothing but relax for the next two days, apart from one re-position to be further from the swell creeping round the headland.  Eat, sleep, sunbathe, repeat.  We reasoned that we need to get into practice for the Caribbean.

We had about 200 miles to go to Menorca and estimated about 36 hours so, to be on the safe side for a daylight arrival, let go our buoy at 0400 on the 6th and motored the couple of miles to the point where, as forecast, we found a nice easterly F4 to help us on our way. Unfortunately, it only lasted for about 6 hours but we managed to get sailing winds for most of the way having to motor for only about 90 minutes the next night.  The last 40 miles were done on a slow broad reach but the timing worked and we arrived at Fornells at 1600 on the 7th.  A daylight arrival was a good thing as, once again, the pilot book information was well out of date.  The area where we expected to anchor had been taken over by mooring buoys and we were resigned to sitting on one of these (had actually picked one up) when a helpful chappie in a RIB came over, confirmed that we were welcome to use it at E29 per day but were equally free to anchor further south.  We quickly went for the second option as we had shot through Menorca on the way east and wanted to spend some time exploring it now.
On Thursday, 8th, we took a bus into the capitol, Mahon.  This is only 24 Km but the bus calls at every tourist resort on the way and takes 90 minutes.  While waiting for the bus, we discovered that it was a local fiesta.  Our joy at this was damped on arrival as everything was closed but we made our way into the centre to see if anything was happening.  As we approached, there was an obvious throng and emerging from it was a, very slow, procession of horses.  We stopped in a side street, expecting a fuller parade but just horses and riders both done up to the nines.  I am certainly no equine expert but they were foaming at the bit and very skittery so we deduced that there must be more.  We found another way down to the throng and pushed our way through.  In a long plaza, there was a stand with bigwigs and a band (which only knew one tunes – memories of Up Helly Aa).  Teams of 4 riders would enter, salute, and have 32 bars of the tune to prance up and down while persuading their steeds to walk on their hind legs and paw the air.  Onlookers were encouraged to mix in with this and physically support horse and rider.  I say prance up and down but, occasionally, they ended up sideways.  I unfortunately did not have the camera ready as Elsie found herself face to hoof with a ton-and-a-half of black stallion and ended up sitting in the sand.
Dancing horses, Mahon.

We then hired a car for a couple of days to see the rest of the island.  On Friday we started along the north coast driving, after a trip toCcap de Cavaleria, to Cala Algaiarens, our first anchorage in May, to see it from the shore.  There is a free car park about half a kilometre short and a good hike but, even this late in the season, the beach was packed.  We had a short bathe and continued on to see Calas Morell, Blanes Blanco and en Bosc, with a walk round the harbour at Cuitadella on the way. We thought to finish the day with another trip to a beach at Macarella.  While the roads in the centre of the island are good, those leading to the coast are small and all dead ends.  This one proved smaller than most and it took us 30 minutes to travel the 15 Km each way and then another 15 minute walk down to the beach.


The following day, we took it a little easier and spent most of the day at Santa Tomas, on the south coast.  It is definitely a leisure resort, with hotels, tat shops etc, but has good access, a variety of beaches and some nice housing behind.  Definitely gets added to our list of ‘maybe’ places.  A good shop at Mahon supermarkets on the way back and we were done.

On the 11th, we picked up and had a pleasant sail the 14 miles down to Cala Algierens.  The anchorage was a little fuller than it had been in May but no problem in finding a space and repositioning to the prime spot once the day trippers had left.  We spent an idyllic couple of days here – swimming, sunbathing and generally being lazy, then picked up again to continue to Mallorca.  We had a good sail back to Pollensa, getting in at 1830 and staying for 3 nights. We had a much better look round the town than we had in the spring, liking it very much.  We also hired a car for a day and explored the east and south coasts.  We do like the Balearics.
Sunset at Soller.

On the 16th, we motored the 6 miles to Cap de Formentor, then sailed along the north coast to Soller, anchoring inside the harbour.  This gave us an easy get-away at 0500 the following morning to continue on to Ibiza.  We struck 5 miles offshore on the port tack and were then able to continue on the starboard tack, at first close hauled, then beam reaching most of the way, just having to motor the last 10 miles onto Cala St Vicente, our departure point in April. We stayed here 2 nights then, on the 19th, motored first to Cala Llonga for lunch and then on to Cala Talamanca.  Longa is beautiful formed but unfortunately has a hotel with loud air conditioning and generally a lot of people about.  Talamanca is a lot less scenic but is just across a narrow isthmus from Ibiza town, which we wished to see. We dinghies ashore on the 20th to do this and a bit of shopping.  The old fortress was well worth the trip though we failed to spot the supermarket 100 metres away from where we parked Rubette and carried our groceries much further than necessary.
Olt town, Ibiza.

Once again, we were waiting on a weather window for our next leg and decided to go back to the beautiful anchorage at Espalmador, between Ibiza and Formentora, pausing to take an extra 50 litres of fuel in Ibiza, in case the winds disappointed on our way to Gibraltar.  Our anchorage had been covered in mooring buoys for the summer and we were required to pick one up at a cost of E29.  We did this for one night and then, as the wind had died, motored down to the port of Sabina on Formentera, anchoring just outside.  As in May, the area between was decorated with many super yachts, including Prince AbdulAziz, once the largest yacht in the world and now owned by the prince so named.  We wondered whether he got any more joy from his yacht than we did from ours and decided probably not.  A dinghy ashore in the evening to look at the port – definitely tourist central with literally thousands being shipped over each day on high-speed ferries and, judging by the numbers available, each hiring a bicycle or scooter to tour the small island.


The wind forecast led us to leave at mid-day on the 23rd.  After an initial, excited, spell with the cruising chute, we motored for a couple of hours in variable winds until well clear of Formentera when the wind settled to its forecast easterly.  We continued under main and CC with F 2-3 changing the latter to full Genoa at 2200 as it increased to F4.  There were huge lightning storms to the north, apparently well clear of our track and we agreed that Elsie would continue with one reef in the main unless she actually heard thunder.  At about 0130 the wind suddenly died, which should have alerted me.  20 minutes later there was a northerly squall.  Fortunately she had furled the Genoa, but it was still a struggle for the 2 of us to put 3 reefs in the main. The northerly F5-6 continued through her watch then started to veer and, by 0900, I was on a broad reach with 2 reefs in the main and one in the Genoa. By mid-day it had decreased to F3 and we continued under full sail, mostly broad reaching but occasionally goose-winged.  As we approached the Spanish mainland, the forecast suggested that we would get better winds if we delayed by 24 hours, so we dropped anchor just to the west of Cabo de Gate at 0945 on the 25th.  We set off again at 0750 on the 26th and, once we were clear of the land, it looked very promising.  I had rigged the inner stay while waiting and headed off downwind with full Genoa on the port side and staysail to starboard in a NNE4, giving us a good 7 knots. This increased to 8, then 9 knots as the wind picked up more and we reefed the Genoa to the same size as the staysail.  The wind then started to decrease (full Genoa again) and then died forcing us to motor or motor-sail through the night. It was no better in the morning, by which time we had furled the Genoa and just left the main up for stability.  It was stowed at 1100 and we motored round Europa point and up to Gibraltar, pausing to get our fuel tank refilled duty-free, and then on to La Linea where we had engine maintenance booked, tying up at 1310.

We soon found ourselves in a little community of others doing much the same as us, waiting for weather to take us to the Canaries and beyond.  The main engine was serviced, at eye watering cost as a leaking sea water pump needed replacing.  We also bought new service batteries to replace ones that had been overcharged due to tour lack of understanding of our systems.  This involved a little voyage back to the fuel dock at Gib to get them duty free. Elsie did lots of laundry and washed Ruby down while I caught up on a few maintenance jobs.  At the end of the month, the forecast still looked good for a departure on the 2nd or 3rd so we relaxed a little with the promise of a fellow sailors birthday party on the evening of the 1st to look forward to.

Monthly stats.

Logged           897
Over ground   829


Thursday, September 1, 2016

August 2016

In which we go back to our sailing roots and start the voyage back to the west

We started August at anchor off Othoni, an island to the North West of Corfu.  Elsie’s goal for the summer was the island of Kalamos, where she had once had an excellent swordfish steak and she wanted another before we started heading west again.  We had agreed that mid-August would be our turn time so we had a couple of weeks.  The forecast for the foreseeable future was hot, with little chance for good sailing so we decided to take it slow.  We timed our departure for the 9 mile hop to the next island, Erikousa, to catch the afternoon breeze and left at 1500, with a following F3 but, an hour later, it died and we had to motor anyway.  

Corfu

There was a forecast for strong overnight winds on the 2nd and 3rd and I was a little concerned at the lack of healing on my finger, damaged last month, so we booked into Gouvia marina for 2 nights.  We woke to a NNW4 on the 2nd and were underway by 0830, with reefed sails.  After an hour, the reefs came out and, by 1000 we were motoring for 30 minutes until the westerly wind picked up enough for us to get the chute out.  This took us to the north east tip of Corfu, where the wind died again and we motored down the coast to Ypsos bay, intending to have a swim.  As we entered the bay, the wind sprang to life.  We dropped anchor anyway but the wind increased and, after an hour or so, we picked up and proceeded to Gouvia where we found ourselves at the back of a long queue waiting to berth.  By now the wind had increased such that maneuvering in a tight marina would be a challenge, but we managed to negotiate a stern to wind berth on the outside wall, tying up at 1630.

Ormos Ay Yeoryios, Corfu.
On the 3rd, we hired a car for a look at Corfu.  On advice, we stuck to the north end of the island, heading off to Paleokastritsa and then taking minor roads round to Sidari, stopping to look at possible anchorages along the way. Round the north coast and stopped for a nice moussaka lunch at Barbati.  The air-con on the car wasn’t great and, by now, we had had enough heat so headed for Lidl for a big shop and back to Ruby.  In the evening, we went out again for a quick tour round Corfu town, not finding anywhere to stop but we did confirm that the anchorage to the east of the town looked good.
Corfu town

On the 4th, I managed to get a replacement element for our immersion heater, which was tripping out the mains, then we topped up the fresh water and headed round to Garista anchorage and dinghied ashore for a late afternoon wander round the town.  There seem to usually be 2 – 3 huge cruise liners in for day trips, adding maybe 10-12,000 tourists.  There were none this day but the centre of the town with endless tat shops and cafes was still packed.  Just a few streets away, off the tourist trail, was much more pleasant – still traditional Greek.  On the 5th we motored across to the mainland, anchoring in a very sheltered bay at Pagania half a mile from the Albanian border.  We almost had this to ourselves but for a lone fisherman who circled endlessly with a trolling line without ever catching anything.  We heard a goat bell but, on looking for the goat, found a horse.  One other yacht joined us for the night.  Saturday, 6th, we picked up anchor at mid-day and motored back to Corfu and down the coast in light airs.  We had been led to believe that it was tourist central but, from the sea at least, it looked inviting and we regretted not keeping the car for a second day and doing a bit of exploring down here.  As we passed O. Psara, the afternoon SW’ly wind picked up and we had a pleasant sail down to Lakka at the northern end of Paxos.  This was a similar sized bay to where we had spent the previous night but had 25 yachts at anchor and another 20 moored to anchor and lines ashore round the edge.  Now being fairly practiced, we found a spot without too much trouble, although a following French yacht tried to cut across our bows just as we were about to let go and looked daggers at us then wandered round for 20 minutes before laying his own anchor.  As 5 other latecomers also found spots, I wasn’t too sympathetic.  Most people behave in a civilised way in anchorages but I was incensed at the RIB from a large motor yacht that repeatedly shuttled through this one at full speed creating huge wash and endangering swimmers having an evening dip off the backs of their boats.  Me hurling abuse at the driver, in front of his clients, at least made him vary his route away from us.
Floating bridge, Levkas 

Levkas canal

We wanted to be in Nidri, Levkas, on Monday morning, for some maintenance work, so on Sunday we set off for the Levkas canal.  There has been engineering work taking place at the northern end and charts, pilot book and reports all gave different advice.  The floating bridge had been away but was now back and, in theory at least, was operating its normal schedule of opening every top of the hour.  We set off at 10:15 and alternately sailed and motored with the aim of making the 1700 bridge.  With 3 miles to go, it looked as though we might miss it as we were arriving at the entrance just after the hour and didn’t want to rush through uncharted waters.  We needn’t have worried as we joined a waiting throng milling round and, after a 30 minute wait, dropped our anchor.  10 minutes later the bridge opened and the flotilla headed through, mostly in good order apart from one Italian, proclaiming to be a school boat who elbowed his way through the pack.  There was then a 3 mile motor down the canal and a further 6 miles, alternately sailing and motoring down to Tranquil Bay at Nidri.  Here, with light airs, we had some difficulty finding a good spot as everyone was lying in different directions.  A few knots of evening breeze sorted that and showed us a space for the night.  We had been told of a hotel pontoon, used by a charter fleet for weekend changeovers but with cheap space mid-week.  We gave them a call at 0900 on Monday and, sure enough, they had space so we wandered over and tied up.  We soon had a sailmaker on board to take away our main which was wearing through at the batten pockets and the bimini caver with a broken zip.  We thought he was joking when he asked if we expected them back the same day but by 1700 back they were, jobs done.  We were not so fortunate with a bracket for our new satellite aerial but we managed to get water heater repaired, windlass stripper straightened and top ups of diesel and very good water.  All this with a complimentary swimming pool with (not complimentary) iced coffees.  While here, we celebrated a year since setting off from Monkstown, Ireland.  Nearly 8,000 miles sailed; no major damage; lots of lessons learned and still talking to each other.



We spent 3 nights at Nidri before setting off for where we had done our first cruising, nearly 5 years before, on a 27 ft boat.  No particular place to go so, once through the Meganisi channel, we let the wind decide and ended up in O. Filatrou on Ithika.  Mooring required laying the anchor then taking lines ashore.  Elsie is confident driving neither Ruby nor Rubette, so it needed a bit of planning which came to nought when a lady, swimming from a tripper boat decided to stop exactly where I needed to go with the dinghy and berate me for using it in swimming waters.  The fact that her boat had been moored the same way didn’t seem to figure.  We eventually got moored, with a little help from someone from a motor boat and spent a reasonably comfortable night. This was aided by following the example of the larger vessel to our East who, when the nightly westerly sprang up, shifted his moorings from stern to bow and lay head to wind.  We did likewise.  

We did have a target on Friday and set off for Port Leone at the nearer end of Kalamos. This is a bay that we have visited each time we have cruised the area and is one of our favourite places.  There was a brisk NW’ly blowing and we had a cracking close hauled sail with 2, then 3 reefs in main and genoa.  The wind backed a little as we progressed and we ended up on a broad reach with reefed main and full genoa.  We expected to find the bay full, but there were only 2 other yachts there on our arrival.  We have always anchored at the south end before but, with the prevailing wind, the western side looked better.  As ever in these parts the chart was inaccurate and there was only a narrow rim to anchor on so we laid our main to hold against the wind and kedge further out to keep us offshore in case the wind changed.   A couple of hours later, an Italian came inside us and started to lay his anchor over ours.  I pointed this out to him but he continued, then swam out and assured me that he could see both anchors and they were clear.  To cut a long story short, they were not and, at a time when we should have been enjoying sun-downers, it was up to us to sort out the mess, re-lay 2 anchors away from him and then watch him take the prime spot we had chosen 6 hours before. 

We were troubled by wasps that evening but managed to clear the inside of the boat before bed.  The next morning, they were back in battalion strength and, rather than the planned lazy morning with maybe a donder ashore by dinghy, we made a rapid exit. Winds were light and directly ahead, so we didn’t even bother to prepare the sails but made for our destination of Kalamos port.  This is run by an enterprising local, George, who acts as unofficial harbourmaster, personally tying up visiting yachts and pointing to his restaurant.  This has doubled in size since our first visit, so he must be doing well.  Back then, we had had magnificent swordfish steaks and last time, 3 years ago, we had come especially for Elsie to have another, only to be told that they had sold out and it had been a half joke that the only reason we were in the Med this summer was for Elsie to get her swordfish steak from Georges’.  That evening we popped a bottle of fiz to celebrate our goal and my forthcoming birthday and went ashore.  There were a worrying few moments while the waiter checked the fridge but all was well.  Elsie had her swordfish. 

Out in the morning and a beat into a heading F4 back down to Ithaka, mooring a little further in O   Filatrou than before.  I reconnoitred mooring points with the dinghy in advance and had ropes ashore so that, after we had dropped anchor and backed in, I could bring them back aboard while Elsie held Ruby steady.  There were light winds and we had a big space but she still found it stressful and we, once again, resolved to get her to do more of the manoeuvring under power.  She did go out in Rubette that afternoon, and again the following day, to practice using the outboard which again I always use.  The gaps on either side of us were filled with catamarans and, inevitably, it was an Italian on our port side who decided that he needed to keep his engine running to provide his guests with hot water and power.  This is a no-no with sailing sailors and irritation levels rose.  After 3 hours, with a bit of shouting and us running our generator with the exhaust pointed at him, he eventually consented to turn it off.  He pushed off the next morning and we decided, as there was no obvious weather window to start our journey back west, to have a day off, just reading, swimming and having little potters in the dinghy.
Moored stern-to, Ithaka

By the 16th, it was looking like the best time to depart back to Sicily would be the weekend, so we had a few days to spare and, the wind seeming co-operative, we decided to cross to Astakos on the mainland.  This is described in the pilot book as a rural town with little concession to tourism.  With the normal morning light airs, there was no need for an early start so lifted anchor at 1225.  We had to motor away from the island and were then close hauled in a N’ly F3 past the island of Atokos.  Once past this obstruction in the middle, we had a fine broad reach in a W’ly F4.  This increased to F5 as we approached our destination and we were a little concerned that the crosswind would prevent us from berthing.  This fear was allayed as we got a little lee in the harbour and a helpful local aided us in and then pointed to his restaurant.  The writer of the pilot book has evidently not visited for a while as the harbour front was very touristy with tavernas and tat shops.  The harbour water was pretty putrid too.  We had a stroll ashore and found places to provision the following day then decided to do the decent thing and eat at our mooring assistant’s establishment.  We were pleased to find that prices were about half of those at Georges but that was the best that could be said.  Main dishes were plain meat and chips and the service was appalling.  As there was no berthing fee, we consoled ourselves, by regarding the meal as a freebie in a E30 marina.  Oh, and free beer too.  After provisioning and watering in the morning, we headed out to find a good sailing wind. Unfortunately it was coming from where we wanted to go so we had a spirited beat with 1 then 2 reefs in F3 increasing F5 across below Atokos then north to the Meganissi channel where it died leaving us to motor the last few miles back to Tranquil bay where we found a good spot to anchor.
Tranquil bay, Nidri

 On the morning of the 18th, we motored up to and through the Levkas canal then alternately motored and sailed up to Paxos, anchoring outside the main harbour at Gaios.  As so often, we were neck and neck with another boat on arrival.  As he was on our starboard bow, I did the seamanlike thing and gave way and he validated my choice of spot by laying his anchor there. As we backed off a (inevitably Italian) motor yacht roared past feet away at 15 knots to screams of abuse from yachts who had swimmers in the water.  This put me off my stroke a bit and first shot at anchoring put us too close for comfort to someone but second attempt was better.  We dinghied into the packed harbour with Elsie driving though she did let me park as we had to squeeze between two yachts.  Having a beer let us have internet for our essential last check on the weather for the following day’s departure, confirming that late afternoon should get us the best winds for the passage.  A lazy day on the 19th, with just a little more dinghy practice for Elsie, including a first solo under power.  It seems ridiculous that we have been living on board without this happening before but we have just got into a routine of who does what.  We are making determined efforts to change this so we can be more flexible should events require it.

We picked up anchor at 1800, motored the mile or so to the bottom of Paxos and set sail for Sicily.  The wind forecast suggested that we should be able to put it just ahead of the starboard beam and make a nice curve across but it wasn’t quite that kind and we were just short of close hauled reefing as required as the strength varied from F3 – F5.  We made good time though, averaging 6.5 knots.  The wind died on the afternoon of the 20th and, apart from a few hours sailing the following morning it was motoring all the way.  We had intended to anchor where we had on the way out, under the toe of Italy, but the timing looked good to go through the Messina strait so we continued.  The forecast light headwinds here turned out to be 18-20 knots, but this came as no great surprise and we passed through without problem and a neutral current until we reached the fabled Charybdis where we were headed by 4 knots for a while.  We continued motoring, with a little wind assist from a light northerly across to Vulcano.  We were going to arrive after dark but before moonrise and our hope was that, it being late August, the French would have headed home and there would be plenty of space in the anchorage.  They may have gone but there were more than enough Italians to compensate.  We circled for a while and made one attempt to anchor but couldn’t find space without being in ridiculous depths.  We could see many mooring lights in the bay across the isthmus and anywhere else locally was likely to be exposed to the westerly swell so we bit the bullet and went to the marina.  Shocked to discover that the band 4 charge advised by the pilot book translated to E100 per night but sleep was important so we grimaced and paid. 
Approaching Vulcano at sunset.
More internet gave us a forecast for onward departure to Sardinia on Tuesday 23rd so a top-up of water and provisions then a motor up to Lipani for fuel and an anchorage halfway up the island.  At the fuel dock a 50 ft motor launch, ahead of us in the queue, got within rope throwing distance then thrashed his engines back and forth while the shore staff pulled him in;  we were waved in ahead of him and glided serenely to our berth, Elsie lassoing a convenient bollard to a calls of ‘Bravo, Signora!’  He later demonstrated his true superiority but passing us at 25 knots and leaving us rocking in his wake.


Calculating the time to depart for the next leg was problematical.  Weather forecasts suggested a slow second half of the passage and I wanted to avoid another dark arrival in an unknown anchorage. The moon was in the last quarter, so pre-dawn was better than post-dusk.  We decided on 10:00 but the weather, as so often decided otherwise.  The overnight wind was from the south west but this veered to the north and our anchorage, at the south of a bay, was uncomfortable so we picked up at 0930.  Elsie has written about the passage.

Having made better than expected progress from Greece to Sardinia, we felt that we could relax a bit which was fortunate as there seemed no good weather window in the near future to take us onwards.  We spent two nights at anchor off Villasimius before moving on in a series of short hops. The first, on the 27th was under Genoa only to Marina Picola del Poetto.  The wind was forecast SE’ly but was almost due east and the anchorage was a little lumpy until it died down at sunset.  The following day we wished to go south.  Again the forecast was SE’ly but this time it quickly veered to head us all the way, F4, so it was a beat down the coast with one reef.  We passed Kokomo, possibly the largest sloop in the world at 195 ft, but he was motoring so we didn’t get the full sight. It took us nearly 8 hours for an achieved distance of less than 30 miles but was enjoyable in slight seas and brilliant sun.  Anchored for the night in the bay at Malfatano and decided, with still no weather window in sight, to stay for a second.  On the 30th we alternately sailed and motored round to Porto Ponto Romano, a largely derelict commercial port on the causeway between Sardinia and Isola di Sant’ Antioco.  Here we were able to go alongside a quay, free of charge for up to 2 nights, though there was no power water or rubbish bins.  We did manage to do a good shop and laundry.  In the morning we went round to the fuel berth where the helpful attendant not only gave us good water but also took our rubbish – thanks. We concluded the month with another beat down I di S. A. to anchor off a beach for a quiet night.


Monthly stats:
Logged                 984
Over Ground     928