2. The Sailing Adventure Begins

December 2012

As every good sailor knows, the weather is your most important friend or foe. In this case, the weather was not so friendly. The morning weather report suggested gale force cyclic winds. It was a hard decision, but after a second of thought, we decided to stay around Les Sables d'Olonne just a little white longer. This allowed us time to do more food shopping (consisting of essentials such as wine and beer), wait for the dingy which had yet to be delivered, track down the evasive para-sailor and set up the sea anchor etc. See I'm starting to sound like a sailor all ready.

Whilst we continued to prep for sailing, we kept a careful eye on the weather and on the 21st Dec the decision to depart was made. Calm weather facilitated a smooth departure, with Tony's guidance and a little help from the motors we were making our way across the Bay of Biscuit towards Spain.

A plan for lookout was settled on; four-hour watches during the day and three-hour watches at night. Dave and I were quickly introduced to the log book and the sea charts which we would plot our course on. I had the first watch, during the day and enjoyed yet again the delights of the auto-steering with the added bonus of the radar, cool stuff.

Keeping on eye on any potential collision hazards whilst monitoring the wind direction and strength, I sat back and enjoyed the sound of the water rushing by along with the rare appearance of the sun.

Dave had the watch after me. Towards the end of his shift, he kindly cooked dinner while Tony and I slept. Once dinner was ready, he promptly rushed off to bed without part-taking in the meal with an upset stomach. He reckons it was the fruit cake, but I suspect he had his first dose of sea sickness. Having said that, he soon came right, so I'll let you be the judge.

My first night shift and it was pitch black. No moon and only the rare boat light in sight. Thankfully I had the radar to see by but poor Tony got very little sleep that night, as flashing yellow lights and what nots kept jumping out at me. Hey it was scary stuff for a beginner and Tony had said to wake him up if in doubt. The next day was pretty uneventful followed by a gorgeous evening with a nearly full moon. That night we were joined by a fellow yacht which just couldn't seem to get enough of us. It wasn't until the next day when we changed course that we parted company with it.

Apparently Tony had seen dolphins. Both Dave and I were getting a little envious as we watched expectantly for the playful critters. A whole day and a half went by and we saw nothing but sea gulls. Then early on the 23nd we finally got a good look at a large pod of dolphins and even managed a photo.

That night I went on watch from 2000 to 2300hrs. The night was an inky black and with nothing in sight when a large passenger liner suddenly appeared out of nowhere, coming straight towards us. Needless to say, having identified the vessel as massive by the appearance of it’s two bright white lights, I changed course. When confronted with a vessel of that size I wasn’t going to chance it not only seeing us, but even if it did manage to spot us, I wasn’t going to risk that it would actually bother to steer around us, even if we had right-away.

Tony emerged from his berth as I was making him a hot coffee to help him wake up for his shift, then exhausted I eagerly went to bed. I woke up to the roar of the wind and sea but it was probably the constant crashing of my bed, which felt more like a trampoline with some large kid jumping up and down beside me without the benefit of the soft landing, that woke me up. Then I heard Dave and Tony’s raised voices, looking at my watch I realized it was time for my next shift. Groggily I made my way to the saloon, only to bounce off every surface on the way. Clinging to the railing along the stairs, I peered into the red haze of the night light. Both men were on the deck pulling the sails down as the wind whipped the sheets violently. I made the executive decision to keep out of their way and promptly crawled back to my bouncing bed. Not surprisingly I did not get much sleep that night.“

Whilst MJ was enjoying her sleep below, up on deck the wind had risen to 50-60 knots. Tony needed to get the main sail down and fast. This involves going out to the mast and manually pulling the sail down. With 50 knot winds and waves to match it , it wasn’t fun. Sail down, we motored on slowly with still about 25 miles to go before we could land at La Coruna.

Creeping along at 2 to 4 knots we made slow progress but the wind showed no signs of letting off. The boat has a read out of the wind speed including max and min. When I came up to help tony the max was 62 knots about an hour later, we hit 68! In nautical speak that's force 11, one below hurricane. I couldn't help but think back to the conversation we had with the Spanish coastguard earlier in the afternoon, as we asked for the latest weather forecast, they had predicted a wind force of 5-6, with no hint of a possible gale. Not sure I'll trust the Spanish again.

Just before dawn, MJ came up to do her watch, only two hours late for work . Still if nothing else, we were comforted by the way the yacht performed in such rough conditions. It gave us a boost of confidence for what would lie ahead.”

Port of La Coruna - After the Storm

Yes, I had risen for my shift just and just as I had the wind calmed down to 40 to 48 knots. Maybe I should have left bed earlier! With the ongoing prevailing winds, it took a little longer to get to the port of La Coruna. Though at least once we entered shelter of the port the waves decreased even while the winds continued. Let's just say berthing a 42' in 40 knots winds is tricky. Lucky the marine guard took pity on us and provided any easy dock location.

A Christmas Eve Party in La Coruna

Having completed our passage across the Bay of Biscuit we celebrated at the local pub called the Nemo Bar located about 100m from where we were docked. We were indulging in local cuisine and some well-deserved beverage, when a large group of Spanish travelers poured into the pub. The music went on and they started dancing. Enjoying the music, I started sway in time to it - be it discreetly. Having said that, I obviously wasn't too discreet, as one man from the group waved me up and gave me a glass of red and that’s when the party really started. I won't get too much into the details but needless to say, we all danced our hearts out. Dave tried to sing "waltzing Matilda" and impressively they let him.

The Port and Ham Bar

Once we had our fill of dancing Tony took us to our ‘rite of passage,’ the peanut bar where Dave demonstrated his skills at drinking the local drinking blend from on of the most delicate and complex vessels I have ever seen. On top of that we got to enjoy the yummy cheeses and cured ham. To us it was one of the best wine and ham cafes in the world.

I love Spain. I tried to convince Dave to give up the Bahamas but he wouldn't be persuaded, something about language, weather and sailing.

Boxing day arrived and I was content to lay in bed and recover like any normal person. Certain other people had something else in mind. The weather was looking good not a gale in sight, darn it!! We got everything together and were of the dock by 0900. First things first we needed fuel and with 500 N miles under our belt the engines required a service. So off to the closest marine services dock. For some unknown reason some people don't work on boxing day it seems. We waited for an hour or so then realized we needed a backup plan. All the while I was thinking of those wasted hours, I could have been getting some much-needed beauty sleep.

Twelve nautical miles away we located an open marine service provider and even better they could understand English. We docked the boat did the shopping and took lunch in a very local pub. And after my first wine of the day things were looking much better.

With all the chores completed we were off on the sea again and back into our lookout routine. Our next port of call would be Cascais in Portugal, my first visit of Portugal. The voyage to Portugal was a lot less adventurous with moderate seas and winds. Having said this the 1st reef sheet (rope) broke which was attributed to the boat design, to be addressed in Alicante.

A part from that the only note of mention were three dolphins which dove out of the water, synchronized but unfortunately, I didn't have my camera on hand, bet Victoria wouldn't have missed such an opportunity.

The fact was I almost missed the Spanish fishing boats tease us. For whatever reason, whenever we passed or got close to a Spanish fishing boat at night, they would stay close either just a mile a head or circle around us. As a new night explorer, I noticed their movements a lot and if fact got quite concerned but now that we were in Portugal, I sadly missed the excitement. The Portugal fishing boats pretty much left us alone.

Soon enough we arrived in Cascais. Though this was just a quick visit and while Dave and Tony retrieved the essentials such as lots of rope for the reef line plus extra for the para-sailor I got to visit the rubbish bin and had to stay with the boat at dock. Off-course being a true opportunist I poured myself a wine and conscientiously studied my yacht master manual. The guys got back somewhat reeved up. Not sure why but they were obsessed with the para-sailor and proceeded to put in place blocks (pulleys) and feed the sheets (ropes), one green and one red.

The men admiring their work having set up the ParaSalior

After the fuel had been topped up, we were once more away to sea. Dave started out of port and once we were passed the massive ships lined up to enter port, he passed on the helm to me. The boys were all set to try out the para-sailor. Unlike the normal sail this thing is very much like a kite. Yes, there is a port and starboard sheet but the sail flies rather than been hard fixed to any mast. It's weird but after a couple of tries to launch it properly it worked. You can only use it when the wind is behind you or within ~90 degrees each way but there is no adjustment which in my book is fabulous. Once we actually got the sail up both of the boys were on the front of the boat staring up at the para-sailor like kids watching their first successful attempt at flying a kite. Absolutely fascinated! I had the first watch and when the wind reached ~21 nots the boat sailed at 8 N mile/hr. I have to admit I loved it. The great thing about the para-sailor is that when we finally cross the Atlantic Ocean the wind will be mostly behind us and hence the para-sailor will be perfect for the crossing.

Everything was going well but as I was reminded, we were here to learn and Tony had the perfect port and channels to provided us with the training we required. The main part of the exercise was to navigate an unknown channel at night by a well-designed and executed pilot plan. Unfortunately, or fortunately I was on watch when we were close to approaching the port in question. Tony announced that I should complete an exercise called the blind approach to port prior to the main exercise. This means you have to use the depth contours to enter port such as you would be required to do if the fog was too thick to see the entry. After a quick theory on the subject I attempted the blind entry. And to be fair all was going well until I was almost on top of the entry and Tony noted there was a fog horn sound. OK I admit I had no idea what the fog horn sound meant but it was the last chapter of the book. Consequently, I had to admit defeat. Apparently the fog horn was to indicate I was on tract. Note to all learn your fog horn signs!

That night the tension was high. Both Dave and I prepared our night pilot for the channels in question. I was up first and proceed as best I could. Apparently, I'm an impatient person who is too ahead of the plan but even so Tony was happy that I managed to complete the night passage without grounding the yacht. Needless to say, Dave passed with flying colors.

The pressure was off. The next hard part was convincing Dave that rather than rushing to Gibraltar we should actually 1) see some of Portugal while here and 2) enjoy News Year’s Eve on land rather than at sea. Of course, with my years of experience of manipulation we managed to slow our passage down and enjoy.

New Year’s Eve in La Coruna

It was time to wake up the boys. I had dressed conservatively in a nice top, my warm trousers and trainers, hey I needed to be warm even here, then we ventured off towards town. Once there, we decided on a quick drink before dinner, we have a lot of hours to occupy before it would be New Years. By 8:30 we were at the restaurant, diving into the fixed menu of seafood, roast etc. and lots of wine. Maybe a little too much wine. I have to admit I can't remember much of the conversation, but I'm sure it was deep and meaningful as we celebrated the new year in with champagne. The details of exactly how we got back to the boat are a little vague, but I was comforted when I woke up in our bedroom well at least until I moved.

The famous BBQ

Off now to Gibraltar where we will hopefully have Internet. Dave's planning on using his BBQ tonight and the weather is most definitely warming up, though we've yet to see if it is going to be warm enough for those red shorts.

PS. Happy New Year’s everybody and lots of love XXXOOO .

Tavira

We arrived at the port of Tavira. Anchoring in amongst a mass of moorings of questionable rating, we prepared the dingy for the first time. It should be mentioned that the motor for the dingy had yet to be delivered and as such we were relying on oars. A major problem occurred when one of the essential nuts on the one of the oars was missing!! After fastidiously searching the boat we identified an appropriately sized nut and made our way to land.

As usual, the boys insisted chores come first. My focus was on finding easy to prepare meals, the kind you just add water and heat and hey presto its ready. After shopping, we finally got to eat! We chose a breezy restaurant located next to the Tavira River. Relishing the rare glimpse of the sun, we sat in its warmth and enjoyed a long session of fresh seafood, wine, port and coffee. Of course, Dave had to taste the dessert, but anyone who knows Dave, would know that was always going to happen. We enjoyed the meal so much that we reserved a table inside for dinner (it still gets cool at night), and took a taxi to the boat.

Unfortunately, they don't make men like they use to so I'm up ready to party and the boys are in bed resting for their night ahead. I've got half an hour to myself and then I'll wake them for the continuation of our New Year’s Eve in Tavira.