After some toing and froing all was set to collect the new cockpit enclosure from Fofovelos. We arranged to stop on the waiting pontoon at Lagos marina and managed to dodge the Orca pod on the way there. A welcoming committee consisting of David and Nicky from Whimsy and Phil and Sarah from Vagrant were waiting to take our mooring lines as we rafted against a hefty French Bavaria.
A short time later, Antonio arrived with his small entourage to fit the new enclosure (sounds like some airy-fairy designer swanning in with his Spring collection). He’d also brought the repaired monster genoa and, after a small enclosure alteration back at the workshop, everything was complete and the time had come to settle up.
The total cost for the sail repair, the cockpit enclosure and the removable stay amounted to less than €2,000. I’d expected the bill to be higher, though in fairness, we’d undertaken some of the work ourselves and used some fittings we had onboard for the removable stay. Even so, it was great value and we knew all 3 items would make a huge difference over the months to come.
One more thing left to do before leaving, fill the diesel tank. It was phenomenally expensive. Our fuel tank is a whopper, which is great for crossing oceans, but it cost 1/3 of the total price of the Fofovelos bill for 300 litres of diesel.
The following morning, we left Alvor and Portugal and mainland Europe for the last time. We motored out of the bay, dodging fishing pots and Orcas, our plan to sail straight to La Graciosa, just North of Lanzarote. The following is pretty much a straight lift of the posts put out while enroute to our ultimate destination, which turned out to be Tenerife:
Day 1 Midday
Fri Nov 04 2022
Mixture of weather, alternating between cloud & some wind, to sunshine & low wind. The seas are quite calm, though this looks like it might change over the next few days.
We’ve taken a 1/4 of a sea sickness tablet each to try and ease ourselves in for the first few days. Both had showers and made Elice ready for the passage. This first day or 2 are always tricky as you ease yourselves into the new routine, lose sight of land and generally feel a bit ‘bleh’. Not a lot of traffic so far and thankfully no orcas.
We’ve sent text messages via the Iridum Go to family and friends, please do reply if you’ve had one as it would be great to know if it all works. I think that iPhones may have a bit of an issue receiving them. Who knows?
Time to update the log and have a pre-lunch snooze.
TTFN
Sarah
Day 2 – First 24 Hours Done
Sat Nov 05 2022
Well, first full day has been an eventful one and not necessarily in the way you might think. We’ve spent most of the first full day getting used to the constant lolloping and pitching from side to side. So, no big winds or sea’s just a nausea inducing motion accompanied by the constant hum (not the first mate) of the engine. You wouldn’t think it would cause any issues, but it leaves you feeling listless and drained of energy.
Not all bad though, we did manage to sail for a few hours and it’s always a relief when the engine goes off and you fall in-line with the rise and fall of the water rather than trying to power through it.
Never mind that, the big event was that we’ve become Grandparents during the passage. It’s our first Grandchild, a boy weighing in at a whopping 9lbs 14oz!! I think my daughter Ella deserves a medal. Congratulations Ella and James and we can’t wait to meet our new grandson in a few weeks’ time.
Adios
Captain Mac
Day 3 – Neither of us could be arsed!
Day 4 – On Top of the World
Mon Nov 07 2022
Well, 3 days done and we’re back on engine after testing our downwind sail plan for over 24 hours. The good news it all worked well and we sailed at between 3.5 and 4.7 knots. Not quick, but in fairness, the wind tended to fluctuate between 8 and 12 knots so not too bad all told.
We’re currently riding a long lazy Atlantic swell, which I’d estimate is around 3 to 3.5 meters with wave peaks at about 15 seconds, which beats the gnarly snappy stuff you sometimes get in the med.
The sky is totally cloud free and the sun is kicking out some heat even at 9 in the morning.
I think most of the remaining voyage will be under engine unfortunately, but you can’t have it all I guess. I just hope the cost of fuel in the Canaries is better than Portugal as our last fill up was eye-wateringly expensive.
Right then, I’m going to stare blankly at the water for a bit.
Toddle Pip
Captain Mac
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As always, I think about food, so prepping for this has been fun. Last night was chicken & aloo gobi, tonight is roasted cod with celery & leek risotto (recipe from our lovely friends on Whimsy). Tomorrow will be either spaghetti Bolognese or lasagne. I might try some bread in a bit as the last fresh baguette has become a handy cudgel for use in fending off any pirates we come across.
Exciting this to happen at sea – dolphins, dolphins at night, seeing a plastic thing, seeing a butterfly, seeing a plastic bottle (with red cap to differentiate from the previous plastic thing), being hailed on the VHF by the French boat behind us to ask if we had wind.
I shall have a coffee and take over the staring at the sea watch for a bit.
Sarah
Day 5 – The End is Nigh!
Tue Nov 08 2022
Sixtyish nautical miles to go, so we should be snuggly anchored in La Graciosa at some point tonight, just in time to be fully adapted to weird sleep patterns and constantly moving around as though you’re well oiled.
As always there are a few jobs to do as a result of the crossing. One of the handrail stanchions has corroded through, but overall, it’s still very solid. We’ve sussed out why the starter batteries wear down slow quickly (engine cooling fans constantly on when motoring), so can try and find a suitable fix. NB: The cooling fans were doing exactly what they should be and this was nothing to do with the battery charging problems!
On the plus side, the poling out set up has worked well with “Big Genni” and the brand-new temporary stay was put to work with a jib sail poled out to windward. The new cockpit enclosure has been used with various panels over the course of the passage and has worked well.
On the interesting things that have happened front, we spotted 3 cargo ships during the night and saw a stick float by yesterday. When the call came from Sarah to let me know she’d spotted a stick, I abandoned the washing up to go outside and witness this passage highlight.
My plan over the next hour or so is to sit and wonder whether I’ll sleep well tonight although, I’ve a suspicion that I know what the outcome of my pondering will be!
Captain Mac
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Exciting things at sea – part 2!
When I shout out that I’ve seen a bird (indicating we’re closer to land), the immediate response from Trev is now ‘Boobies?’ You can imagine the fun we’re having on board.
We’ve also been busy inventing games to play when Simon comes out to join us for the Atlantic crossing. In the words of B.A. Baracus’I pity the fool’
I’m off to take advantage of the hot water and to have a shower, whether I need* to or not. The luxury of a hot shower and still knowing that you’ve got 700 litres of water left, even though you’ve been off grid for nearly 2 weeks is just awesome.
Sarah
*I need to
Day 6 – The littlest Hobo
Wed Nov 09 2022
And there’s a road, that just keeps moving on … Maybe tomorrow, I’ll want to settle down, but for today I’ll just keep moving on, Sing along ‘80s kids.
After a late-night anchoring in 16 metres of water (super deep for us), with 60m of chain out. We settled down for a relaxing night’s sleep. Only to find that we rolled around all over the place (& not in a Fun time way)!
We checked the weather this morning and realized that we could either hotfoot it across to Tenerife & see if we could get into the marina early to sort ourselves out a bit. Or stay in the rolly anchorage till Tuesday. So here we are, the wind has kicked in and we’re moving really nicely at 6 knots or so, on our way to Tenerife.
We’ve had around 7 hours of sleep in a single night, had a phone signal for a short while. Which allowed us to catch up with family and see the first pictures of the most marvellous child ever to exist (bar his parents & uncle of course)!
We should make landfall late tomorrow afternoon, or early evening somewhere on Tenerife.
Till then I’m going to enjoy some speedy sailing in the sunshine.
Sarah
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Next time we arrive in Tenerife and puzzle as to why we’ve never visited this little gem before. And everything gets set for the big one, not Simon’s arrival, the crossing itself.
Ta ra a bit
Captain Mac
Our Big Boaty Adventure 