you think the iow ferries are tough and ocean stuff

[iangrant]

back in the uk till half term now, bit chilly.

Approaching the entrance to Las Palmas, 0600 and dark, looking for the flashing green on the chart positioned on the breakwater, Range 10 miles -ha - no such bl**dy light.

Out comes this chuffin great ferry, straight at us, had to take avoiding action, like run away, he would have mown us down!

Still we got out of the way, another bit of the trip done and enjoyed.

Just under 700 miles logged, Vilamoura to Las Palmas with light winds, (sod it) so lots of downwind rolling.

Sorted out a rig by attaching a pully to the end of the boom and running the gib sheet through that as a pole, preventer, lazy sheet all rigged and it worked.

Not a lot of sleep in that kind of roll I have to say, big swell and little wind, but we sailed and did little time on the engine, hence 6 days to to the trip.

What surpeised me is how aware of creaks and bumps you become all dry wood in the heat makes for some interesting noises!

Nothing broke, fantastic night sky saw not another living thing for three of the days except some very clear skys and shooting stars.

Heard from About time on the VHF on the second day, he was north of us motoring, but lost contact so anyone know where he is?

Talked to a Aussie yacht called Shine, halfway round the world, they were 120 miles away closer to the African coast than us, what a range!

As for the VHF, there must be some very bored people out there on ships, endless whistling, "phillipino monkey" and other abuse, Music all sorts, quite surprising through the gibraltar straights, (well the outer end of the bit we crossed).

Big ships made big turns to avoid little us, except a warship in the dark that came straight up to us for a look then steamed away, looked like a type 42 destroyer in the dark. We were tempted to radio him up as the crew shopping list failed to take account of the tea bag stock!!!

Saw lots of Dolphins and sod all else..

Boat 28 deg north me 50.....

Ian

 

[PintPlease]

going to be doing the same route myself leaving holland this week (i hope). thanks for the heads up on the breakwater light, will note it.

 

[zefender]

We left from Cascais on Sunday 0900 - our rhumb line was just over 700 miles and the wind (what there was of it) was pretty much on the same line. We arrived Las Palmas at Midnight on Friday. Agree entirely about the total lack of lights and those listed on the chart (even the updates) just don't exist. After dodging loads of local small boats fishing without lights (they put them on when about 100 metres away and barely showed up on the radar), then a large freighter at anchor which blocked our view of the end of the harbour wall, we saw a green bouy and headed in very tentatively. The entrance to the marina (with the commercial port to starboard) is very small, or at least at night looks scarily so. We teetered in, (between two red lights, one it turned out being a daymark of the preferred channel!) half expecting to see rapid shallowing and a few local boats sitting in 6 inches of water, but to the left we finally saw the marina fairway.

The passage/weather: We logged some 830 miles. With swept back spreaders, a dead run isn't a great idea so we tended to sail about 40 deg off the wind, which kept up our speede and spirits and the slopping around in the swell. We tried twin headsails, which worked well though did increase rolling and the cruising chute did a good job too in the light winds. The wind was very flukey. It would sit around a fairly useless 8 knots for one minute and then puff up to about 15 for some 30 seconds, before dying back to 8 again. Only on one night and one day did we have decent winds at the top end of NNE4, gusting (for the now standard 20 seconds, at F5). We had two periods of about 12 hours when the wind refused to rise about 5 knots. It was difficult to sustain 5.5 knots though for periods we did have some good sailing at over 7.

Fish: Didn't catch another big Albacore Tuna, as on the Biscay run, but caught a 3-4 pound something, (maybe a sea bream?) which made a nice lunch. We also caught a fabulous looking yellow fin tuna (bright blue, with er yellow tail fin) but he jumped off the hook as we attempted to pull him aboard. Note to self: Need a net. One night, oddly, a six inch long squid jumped into the cockpit. The next day, we were laughing about this when I turned around and another had done the same thing, but, this time, landed on the garage roof.

Equipment: We had about 40 hours under engine though most was at low revs, making sure the battery was fully charged and making water, maintaining speed in wind lulls and for about 6 hours at full revs after getting bored staring at our destination in the distance. When we re-filled in Las Palmas, we'd used 101 litres - not bad.

The Duogen is a fab bit of kit, just whirring away and producing decent leccie power, particularly over about 5.5 knots.

Our fridge broke down on the third day. This was potentially a bit of a blow to morale. Finding the source of the fault was a bit of a chore. We checked the compressor with clean power and tried to override certain cut out controls such as the thermostat etc. The power in was showing 12.8 volts - all OK. Eventually, we traced the fault back to the main electrical board and the cut out switch (which stops the power if volts drop below 12v). the connection here had a bit of verdigris on it, creating enough resistance to trigger the switch. So, all back on, thank heavens. The weather was hot (even at night it was tee shirt stuff) so the fridge worked hard. I think I may get one of the those portable fridge units as a back up. Well done brother Patrick (known hereabouts as paddywackcocker) for sorting it.

The watermaker stopped working but we managed to trace this to the inlet hose which had been squashed by the weight of mineral water bottles. I think I need to get some tougher hose or clip it out of the way.

We'd had cockpit cushions fitted before leaving the UK. These made a hige difference to the quality of life aboard, avoiding everyone feeling they had been on a horse for hours on end. The bimini was essential to avoid folk getting sunburn as we only had cloud for one day.

The autopilot (6000+) did a remarkable job, only getting a bit crap in big swells on the aft quarters. But we have a fault on ours which has been there from new (4 years). It makes a beep sound everytime it checks its course and starts to whirr the wheel back and forth. I can cope with the whirr but the beep beep really gets irrirating (and drove Mrs Zefender to the forepeak to sleep). I've had the 'warm start' bit changed by Whistocks and Raymarine say there is nothing on their side of things that can make the noise (personally I have my doubts). I've got used to it, but we really need to get it sorted.

Crew: There were five of us - Me, Mrs Zefender, Paddywackcocker and Mrs Paddywackcocker plus my youngest daughter as lastminute addition, just back from a Camp America job and needing a break before heading back to uni. The four of us (i.e. exc daughter) will be doing the ARC so this was the shake down and last chance to see if it all worked and if anyone wanted to back out. The very gentle weather helped confidence (the two missuses hadn't stood night watches alone before). Given that we covered more than 25% of the future trip distance, it was important that life was tolerable. In the event it worked very well. The watermaker (big feature in Mrs Zef's decision to come at all) made it bearable too. There was no 'tension' or 'strain' which made it a fun trip.

We had Film Nights, showing DVDs, cockpit discos, Curry Night and a daily Happy Hour (which was extended to Happy Two Hours to enable a glass of wine at dinner). Noone got pissed but it made it civivilsed to have drink available.

Although not necessary given the number of crew, I found I slept in very small naps, falling into very deep sleep very quickly but waking immediately the boat slowed, changed course slightly or clearly wasn't sailing efficiently. Although maybe a bit dozy at times, I never felt exhausted.

I agree with Ian's comment's about the chatter on the VHF. One guy started making quite funny (at first) comments about another boat's crew, which then deteriorated into rascist abuse and foulmouthed, sexual comments that became increasingly offensive. It went on for hours on end - I'm amazed noone 'official' tried to stop it.

Las Palmas: Cannot be described as a beauty of a city though it's not an entire dump. I was surprised to learn how big it is in population terms - about 400,000. The marina has poor security and the pavements are covered in scuttling (and squashed) one-inch long cockroaches. The people are friendly though. There are very good chandleries and facilities at the marina. Ian has a crew staying on on Asterie (Brian) who kindly agreed to keep an eye on our boat.

The boat: Not exactly testing conditions but the boat (yes, a Bavaria!) behaved really well and was very comfortable to live on - a decent berth for all and enough space to keep things tidy throughout the trip. She handled the sometimes swelly seas very well and I never felt in the slightest bit concerned that she wasn't up to the job. When the wind did offer a bit more, she accelerated quickly and made the most of what was on offer.

Roll on the big trip... Sadly Ian left for his flight back just after we arrived so we didn't hbave a chance to down a few beers. 8 weeks time maybe?....

 

[iangrant]

See you there mate.

we didnt use the water maker and had half a tank left (350 litres) each having a couple of showers.

We just about stayed on the power budget with the towing gen giving a 4 amp output, the boat draws about 6a with the laptop on and about 7 at night. The fridge pull 5/6 amps. Now and again the airgen whirled into life for a few more amps.

Rolling is a pain, zefender is right about the "gusts" they just tease the boat up to speed then when it drops you overtake the sails and they flap, the swell changes direction for a couple of waves and in comes the roll.

I'm hoping for 20kts across the Atlantic to keep on top of the swell or it's gonna be an uncomfortable and long trip!

We poled out the genny on the boom but have yet to try the other genny on it's pole which we have to adapt as it's too long.

Sleep, exactly the same for me, each big roll wakes you up, then you drift off again, every new creak, windshift, motion change will disturb sleep so I dozed a lot during the day, ear plugs (tomes suggestion) are a good idea, espcially with flat footed crew!!! Two of the crew had never been offshore before and had not really much idea, but better novice crew that are easy to get on with than a pain in the a*se you can't...... You can teach people to sail on a long passage and lookout at night.

We had nothing break except the pin on a pulley that bent, engine for about 8 hours when we dropped below 2 knots 30 miles off Las Palmas and a bit in the middle.

Felt like a very Solo trip, in that bit of the ocean, the arc however should seem quite busy with 225 boats all off together.

The aries wind vane steering was pretty goo but struggles in light winds downwind. A fair bit of hleming, but in blue water at 85 degrees who cares!!

Brian will watch out for About time, off this moring with your sail to the repair shop.

See you soon, maybe for a beer.

Ian