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machurley22

machurley22

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Nick and Kathy set off from Cascais today heading for the Canary Islands and I received this from them a wee while ago.

Postition at 18.00

N: 33 14.4
W: 009 38.8

Approx. 22 miles SW of Cabo Espichel

30nm from Cascais

572nm to Isla Graciosa

Woke up early this morning worrying about something I had seen on a weather site and had to go back up to the internet cafe before we left. Checked Theyr for the next three days and Magicv Seaweed for the next week, and it all looked OK - we can expect to hit some light Southerlies, but should have favourable winds at least half the time.

Got away from the pontoon in good style - having propwalk is wonderful. Topped off the tank and filled the cans with 50 litres. Left Cascais at 11.45 with two reefs in and a brisk Easterly blowing up to 18 knots, but within a couple of hours it had died away to almost nothing and the engine was on. Currently motoring at 5 - 5.5 knots with double reefed main up to damp the rolling. Tomorrow we will have to do some sailing even if there isn;t any wind.

Making a (very) little water in the bilge - I think it is because the electric bilge pump is teed into one of the cockpit drains and is taking a little in when the drains go under in this following sea. We are talking two strokes per hour, so hardly critical! MIght see a bit of shipping tonight- we aappear to be closing gradually with a shipping lane.

Will try to update with a noon report sometime tomorrow PM, sea conditions permitting . . . still no dedicated laptop station organised, am typing this on the sink.

Time for beef curry . . .

Fairwinds Out

There appears to be a typo in the latitude however (it's probably a bit tricky typing on the sink in an ocean swell /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif ) and I would guess that it is intended to be N 38 14.4 which would put them here:

271006-1.jpg
 
Saturday noon position

Noon Position 28/10/06

N: 37 08.8
W: 010 14.0

Approx. 55 miles ENE of Cape SW Vincent

NOTE - yesterdays Northing was a typo . . . should have been 38 degrees North etc

106nm from Cascais

501nm to Isla Graciosa

Gnarly night running in front of a solid F6 with building seas, dodging lots of shipping. Skipper did not sleep well. Still blowing a 6 this afternhoon, but gone S-Easterly, so best comfortable course (relatively speaking) is 225deg, which would take us close to Madeira. Montesanto Navtex is predicting this, but nothing untoward further South in the Madeira or Casablanca sea area.

Hope the seas die down a bit before darkness.

Fairwinds Out

600281006.jpg


Passed on all your good wishes today. Sounds like it was quite a bouncy night but hopefiully winds will ease over the next 24 hours.
 
Re: Saturday noon position

My original plan was to have a couple of months in Lagos, then head for the Canaries for winter. I was put off by talk of the weather at this time of year, so it will be interesting to watch their progress.
 
Re: Saturday noon position

Glued to the screen! - wish them well and I hope they are OK, his fixation with water in the bilge is giving me bad dreams
 
Re: Saturday noon position

Will catch them again one day. Great weather here in Povoa - 28 degs today - have started on our deck - might be finished in a couple on months ..... then on their tail!!! Fair winds for fair people
 
Re: Sunday noon position

Nick's satmail is (temporarily?) out of commission but he managed to 'phone Steve Birch this evening with a position which puts them about 232 miles out of Cascais 375 to go - according to Google Earth.

6001.jpg


Thanks Steve.
 
Re: Monday noon position

You wait ages for a noon position and then two come along at once, with a change of plan.

Noon position Sun 29 Oct

35deg 45.3min N
11deg 27.5min W

Days run 108nm
WP Isla Graciosa 402nm

Water depth approx. 4000m

Pleasant sat afternoon beam reaching in SW F6. Saw giant whale (Fin?) breach
once about 200 yds behind us - must have been 50ft long.

After dark the wind went more SW, still F6 steady with big seas and breaking
crests. Best course we can make comfortably puts us NW of Porto Santo, never
mind Graciosa. Hoping the wind will moderate soon. Close encounter with two
trawlers in the middle of nowhere around 04.39

So far today (Sun) we managed to sail pleasantly on our course close-hauled
in 12 knots apparent for about an hour, but then ran into a nasty squall
which ended up with us overpowered even with two reefs and half the genoa
furled, so ran off downwind for a while then snuck back up on it and
motorsailed through. It was a biggish system, part of a line and moving in a
similar direction to us, so it took a couple of hours to get clear. On the
other side the wind appears to be due S, so we are barly able to motorsail
our course of 196deg for Graciosa. Trade wind sailing huh! Gentlemen may
motorsail to windward . . . will burn some diesel for a while and hope the
wind shifts. Need to charge the Iridium phone anyway. Still having
difficulty sleeping, Kathy is fine though.

Fairwinds out.


Noon position Mon 30 Oct

34deg 36.4min N
12deg 50.9min W

Days run 108nm
WP Porto Santo 198nm

Have reqalised that the wind gods do not want us in the Canaries yet and we are now hard on the wind for Porto Santo and not quite able to lay that. Our course is about 270deg, we require 243deg. Going to have to motorsail some more to gain any Southing at all.

Right . . . fifteen minutes later, two reefs in main, headsail away and 2100 revs means we can make 235 degrees. It's a pain though, as it is a perfect sailing day - puffy trade wind clouds, warm water, blue skies and a gentle ten knot breeze. If I trusted the weather to be stable we'd tack our way to our destination . . . but having already seen dozens of boats held up in Portugal for up to six weeks by the endless succession of South Westerlies I'd rather use the iron headsail to point somewhat higher - and damn the expense, which has mostly already been incurred in the installation of the new engine. In actual fact it's costing us aout 25 cents a mile for the diesel.

A bit of exceitement just now - Kathy thought she saw a line of floats. We are on a bank marked on the chart, but it's still too deep for lobster pots! It's probably junk that felloff a fishing boat, and anything to do with fishing boats is best avoided. Bet we see loads of then tonight . . . last night was a ship-free zone, which was quite relaxing.

Main epic of the day so far was my ascent of the mast while at sea (as far as the crosstrees anyway). Cause was a tinkle last night and finding an 8mm bolt and washer on deck just under the staboard crosstrees. Tried to go up last night, but beateb back by the swell and onset of night, and although the mast didn;t come down overnight I thought it prudent to check the crosstrees. They are fine, and the errant bolt almost certainly came off the gooseneck. Very glad we have the mast ladder - couldn't have managed without it, it was hard enough to hang on with the rolling as it was. Did it while sailing on a bam reach on the genoa, as that seemed the most comfortable position. Not as epic as Dame Ellen, but I have a couple of scathes to show for it and a couple of suggestions as to how George Deffee can improve his mast ladders.

ETA Porto Santo is Weds am, but don't hold your breath . . .

Fairwinds out

600301006.jpg
 
Re: Tuesday noon position

Noon position Tues 31 Oct

33deg 45.9min N
14deg 40.7min W

Days run 107nm
WP Porto Santo 93.5nm 243 deg (but see below)

Lovely sunny afternoon yesterday after the mast ascent. Motorsailing in light winds. Topped up the diesel tank with 20 litres. We motored until 01.30 then sailed the rest of the night with two reefs in the main - night sail plans are always conservative. Shook the reefs out at dawn, put them back in an hour ago.

Our shoreside weather routing specialists are predicting the possibility of a bit of a Southerly blow tonight and tomorrow morning, which might make the approach to Porto Santo harbour a little tricky. They are researching this as I write, and in the meantime we have hardened up on the wind to make as much Southing as possible to be sure of clearing the Easternmost point of the island and making our approach on more of a Northerly heading. Current best track is 210 degrees, but we may be able to improve that if necessaryu with mechanical assistance. Should Porto Santo look uninviting ogur alternative will be to press on for Funchal, which has a hue wide entrance, but at the moment the weather looks like it might be a bit lighter than predicted.

Find out what it was like in the next episode, hopefully blogged up from an internet cafe in Porto Santo.

Fairwinds out

600311006.jpg
 
Re: Tuesday noon position

Lot's of people watching.

Refreshing to see a passage being reported in a easy and practical format as it happens.

There is none of the over dramatic journalistic bells and whistles which are frequently tagged on in some writers articles to make them 'more interesting'.

Cheers

Iain
 
Re: Tuesday noon position

Yup, I'm another one following along. Great to be reading about a trip as they're doing it and glad its going well! Long may it continue to do so.

Rick
 
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