Tin Tin's Sailing Calendar

Saturday 31 December 2016

New Year's Eve

Saturday 31 December 2016
Position 16 41.787N 54 26.048W 13.30GMT

Just before dawn Niall was on watch and saw the first ship for about 10 days. Called the Sea Biscuit, we wondered if it was a luxury yacht with a horse racing owner. I called on VHF and wished them Happy New Year. Turned out it was a 200 m long cargo ship heading for New Orleans.

It's blissful being alone on deck for the 6-9am watch, whilst the other three sleep peacefully below. The sky lightens a long time before the sun rises when the sky is clear. Flying fish scoot across the waves as we thunder down a big swell. I ate my muesli in bliss, eyes alert for any whales, soaking in the rosy dawn. Then two white tailed tropic birds joined me, circling overhead, long white tail feathers streaming in the wind.

Yesterday we saw no whales, but Kyle fished as usual. However he was shocked to lose the line and bait again to something very powerful. To bring in a big fish we really need to slow down rather than keep roaring along at 7-8 knots. However we had poled out the Genoa so that we could aim more directly downwind to Antigua, and turning to windward to slow down is more involved. So next the Watamu Yoyo was deployed with its very strong line and steel tracer. Not long later that lure had gone too and so had the teaser, an orange fish that splashes along on the surface, its wire snipped through by very big teeth we suppose.

We have now eaten all the last big dorado, cooked four ways over three days. Absolutely delish fish!

We had new signs of life yesterday with 20 metre-long strings of sea weed undulating over the swell. Mark captured some, and it seems to be like sea holly, with thin serrated leaves and tiny green-brown air-filled berries which provide the buoyancy.

Sea holly aggregates into long windblown strands across the ocean

Ahead we have the New Year of 2017 and, in four more days, Antigua. It will be a strange transition from endless cycle of watches as we race across the ocean, eating, sleeping, fixing boat issues, doing crossword puzzles, sketching or reading. Mark practicing the ukelele.......I need to do the same. Questions that we can't answer can't be Googled, the news is only just accessible through the crackle and whine of BBC World Service on the long range radio, but it doesn't seem worth worrying about. In this strange limbo we approach 2017, wondering what it will hold.

Best wishes to everyone for a HAPPY NEW YEAR from Paul, Mark, Kyle and Niall aboard TinTin

Here's a couple of sketches of the crew.    Sorry I haven't done Mark yet.
Kyle reading "The Worst Journey in the World"

Niall and Whales

Thursday 29 December 2016

We sail with Whales !

A Mincke Whale looks in on us.

29 December 2016 17 57.67N 50 08.38W 16:30 GMT-3
Every 15 degrees that we travel westwards our sunrise gets later and later.
So when we reached 45 degrees west of Greenwich I put ship's time back a other hour so that we are 3 hours behind GMT, which means that sunrise is back to 06:45 and sunset is 17:30 ish.

Yesterday we had a wonderful encounter with a whale which looked about 4-5 metres long, and had a greenish brown tinge. We could see a small dorsal fin and a white flipper. Attempts at photography were made both above and below water, but we didn't get a really good look at it. Studying our whale book we deduced it was a minke whale because of the white flippers.
It seemed to follow us discreetly for ages.
Beautiful Mincke 


Distant Mincke beyond our rudder
White flippers - like Tin Tin's twin white rudders.
Then today at breakfast we gybed to head SW and soon found that we had whale company again. But this time there were three Minkes, and they seemed very relaxed and inquisitive.. We furled the Genoa and hove to and, almost stationary rolling in the big swell, we had an extraordinary hour or so with our companions, and managed to get some very beautiful video in the clear blue water.

We also had brief visits from Wilson's petrel, Cory's shearwater and a tropic bird. The sea has more debris in it. Yesterday we passed a big black ship's fender, and a red milk bottle crate. Then today we saw a few bits of bladder wrack seaweed, the first so far, and just now a tennis ball. You can tell it's exciting out here! The puzzle is that the North a Equatorial current which is meant to be pushing us west at 0.5-1.5knots appears to be running north or south at different places. So debris mostly is blowing westwards, but the current may bring the seaweed from somewhere else.

Meanwhile Mark has got full capacity out of the watermaker so I can now allow everyone a brief shower. Having said that we stripped off on deck this morning to get a fresh water wash in a tropical rainstorm. The other problem of the engine battery appears to have been resolved too, so all is well.

Tuesday 27 December 2016

Calm and rainstorms & a strange light in the sky!

Yesterday was Boxing Day and we had a gentle time of it as the wind died and we ghosted along with quieter seas. We passed the midway mark and are now as remote as it's possible to get on this earth, more than a thousand miles from land in any direction, with no sight of ship or plane for a week now. We managed to make some more drinking water and provided that keeps going I can relax. However we need more wind to get to Antigua, and at this rate the computer estimates arrival on the 1st of February! We hoisted our colourful Parasailor spinnaker and this pulled us along well in the light breeze.

We had tropic birds occasionally visit us and all of us tried to get photos. Certainly we had red-billed tropic birds, but also one with black shoulders and a yellow beak that was likely a white tailed tropic bird.

Last night the calm seas were deceptive as big rainstorms crept up and suddenly delivered a gale and pouring rain. On the radar they looked like bright red blobs coming to get us.

On night watch I saw a strange light flash periodically near Cursa, a star near Rigel in the Orion constellation. Not an aircraft, as it held station for 15 minutes. Not a low earth satellite as they pass quickly. Just possibly a geostationary satellite, but these are 36,000 km away and they don't normally flash. So rather a puzzle!    Eventually I concluded that it must be Sirius, the Dog Star, which is extremely bright and has fooled me before.

The light winds continued this morning and we had another slow day being pushed north. Kyle and Niall got out the GoPro camera and got some great underwater footage in Bombay Sapphire blue water and bright sunshine. When we played them through on the computer the last shot recorded sounds like Dolphins clicking. At that point Mark yelled from the deck as a whale had just passed alongside. We rushed up but missed it. If only we had kept filming a little longer!

Kyle was disappointed yesterday by a big dorado that took his line and ran it straight out of the reel, but then today, as the sun was setting, he got another beauty a meter long and 7kg in weight. This time I brought the boat to a stop and hove to so that he could reel it in successfully.

The wind suddenly picked up after dark and we are now sailing fast in the right direction. However we now have a new puzzle to fix. The engine has insufficient electrical supply to start, despite having a new engine battery fitted in Tenerife. Fortunately we have a few days to trace the problem, and we still have the "house" batteries and generator working.

Sunday 25 December 2016

Merry Christmas everyone!

We woke this morning to find four little Christmas stockings hanging under the spray-hood. Somehow Santa had shinned down the mast last night between watches! For a nasty moment we reckoned that he wouldn't find us as our navigation lights were off for a while by mistake, but fortunately Niall put that right. Kyle was so entranced by the Christmas Dawn that he didn't retire to his bunk at the end of his watch but got out the rod and started fishing.

The tropic bird returned, a red-billed avian Rudolph, and looked at Kyle's bait with a knowing eye and moved on. The day opens before us sunny with deep blue seas towering above us astern and crests of foam roaring as they crash alongside, rarely offering more than a splash to our cockpit. The motion seems smooth, with occasional exciting rides down the steeper seas in a flurry of foam.

Happy Christmas!

Saturday 24 December 2016

Christmas Eve

Today we were already 100 miles west of Recife in Brazil! We are making good progress averaging 7.3 knots so far. With 1400 miles to go we are more than a third of the way there.

We had a lovely sunny day, as always amazed by the size of the big following blue seas topped with white foam, and often pale green blue at the crest where the sun shines through. Red-billed tropic birds are regular visitors which circle us briefly and then examine our foaming wake for food before heading south.

We have settled in to the process of running the boat, delivering meals on time and reading or fishing. Mark and I each spent an hour nursing the watermaker and achieved about 70 litres. Water rationing is on hold for a bit longer.

Mark erected a little Christmas tree on the aft deck and we listened to crackly broadcast of carols from Kings College on the radio. Then we had a sunset party with gin & tonic and nibbles before supper and delved into the Christmas box happily unwrapping presents of false beards, games, seashore party lights and miniature buckets and spades. All thanks to Anne!

Then as Mark produced supper Niall and Kyle spotted a pilot whale!

Finally we tested our satellite phone and managed a Christmas message or two. Now we are on night watch hoping that Santa will slide down our mast tonight

Friday 23 December 2016

Day 3 - Water water everywhere.......

We have had a day of sunshine and showers. I re-lashed the dinghy which had worked loose and was swinging about, and then emptied the aft locker of water. Yesterday's attempt at sealing the leak had been partially successful, and instead of 2.5 buckets I only removed one. More sealant applied, but In the process of crouching in the locker the door swung and banged a bolt into my head. Luckily nothing worse then a lump.

Kyle then got his fishing rod out and managed to get the line wound into the wind generator. This resulted in some risky balancing acts, whilst fully clipped on of course, which eventually got the mess sorted out. His rod is now deployed to port :-)

Mark not feeling well unfortunately. We are being vigilant about hygiene to avoid it spreading.

Water usage is a issue. Our 600 litre tanks are enough for each person to have 10 litres per day for two weeks. Yet usage has been double that figure. This is not a problem if the watermaker functions well as we can produce 60-90 litres an hour while the generator runs. But although it has been working OK up till now, yesterday it wouldn't. Today Kyle helped me to investigate, and we found the primary pump wasn't working. This turns out to be a failure of a transformer which delivers 12 volts. Fortunately the deck wash pimp is in the same compartment, and we managed to plumb that in. However the system did not run smoothly and although I sat hunched up in the forepeak for an hour twiddling the knobs to coax it along I think we only made 30-40 litres. So I have to institute water rationing until we can reliably top up the tanks.

Back on deck for tea and Stollen and the treat of seeing several individual red-billed tropic birds circle us and then head off south.

Thursday 22 December 2016

We're fixing a hole........

Mark and I checked the port deck locker again this morning, and in 12 hours it had collected about 45 litres of water. Once it was bailed out and dried I locked Mark in to look for light shining through gaps in the seal. Nothing there so we got it all dry and watched for water appearing. Eventually we found that the second stringer down from the deck was occasionally squirting water in from the weld to the transom. By videoing in a tight space I could see a small hole which was letting water in. The transom plate has a water tight box the other side, so that must have water in it which slops around as the boat heels. For it to get in that box there must be a hole and we hope that we have found and sealed that. It's where a block of wood was screwed in to support the swim ladder.

A few hours later..... we found there is still seepage but maybe not so much.

We crossed tracks with a ship and logged Tin Tin's 7000th mile at midday.

However midday is not what it used to be. I shifted ship's time from GMT to 2 hours earlier as we have come 300 miles west of Cabo Verde. I have also changed the watch rota so that each person has 3 hours on and 9 hours off. We had been doing 4 on and 4 off in pairs till now. The new crew are now trusted to handle their watch solo!

Imam sat in glorious sunshine on the aft deck with beautiful blue sky blue sea and blue flying fish around me as we make up tri 12 knots westwards.

Wednesday 21 December 2016

Kyle catches his first fish

It has been a grey overcast day with big seas and strong winds. We have seen 12.5 knots surfing down the waves. Eventually the clouds thinned and the sun gave us a little warmth and sparkle on the sea. We had three brief visits from dolphins today with flying fish a frequent sight springing from the waves. The only birds sighted were Wilson's petrels? In the afternoon I chucked the Watamu Yoyo out to try fishing and was soon joined by Kyle as he put his new rod together. He soon caught my line, but we sorted that out, and as we were just finishing supper his rod bent encouragingly and he soon had a beautiful electric blue fish with a yellow tail close alongside. I gave it a squirt of rum to put it out, and then Kyle set about filleting.
Today we managed 180 miles in 24 hours. The wind has eased a bit but is forecast to rise again.
Our position at 19:30 21/12/16 is 17 08N 28 17.5W on the direct Great Circle route to Antigua.

Farewell Cabo Verde

It was great fun having visitors in Cabo Verde, and sad to see Anne, Becky and the children off last night. But now with Kyle and Niall on board we have been preparing to set off across the Atlantic and today has been busy filling up with water, stowing food, fixing the aft heads again, hoisting Mark up the mast to check rigging, filling the gas tanks.

We had a final lunch in the floating bar, handed back our passes and detached ourselves from the marina. We had to circle while another French boat filled with diesel and then we got alongside and topped up with 122 litres. Our last fill up was in Cascais in Portugal.

Setting a triple-reefed mainsail and full genoa we roared out of the harbour past the various wrecks and into the channel between São Vicente and São Antão. Big seas rolling down and wind a steady 35 knots, but nonetheless it felt comfortable and I was very happy and relieved to be setting off at last.

We soon passed the French boat, "Vedrouille", which we had seen earlier and spoke them on the radio. They are a family with a six year-old on board heading to Martinique.

The mountains either side are so dramatic and to my joy several Tropic birds flew past with their long pair of white tail feathers streaming in the gale. It's their breeding season and I'd been surprised that we'd not seen them or the Magnificent Frigate birds.

Mark produced an exceptional chicken balti with all the trimmings as night fell and we rounded the southern tip of São Antão and headed due West to the Caribbean.


Saturday 17 December 2016

The Roaring Forties!

When I went off watch last night at midnight we had been roaring along in a full gale towards the island of Sao Nicolau. Later, when I came back on watch at 03:00, Mark showed me the maximum speed on his watch, which set the record so far at 12.5 knots. The waves had got even bigger as the gale blew unabated, and he'd had a long surf!

The moon was full and, despite the veil of cloud, it lit the sea well so that one could see the waves rear up behind one. By early morning we were running along the southern coast of Sao Nicolau and its mountainous spine was clearly visible in the silver glow. As we rounded the southern-most point the sea shallowed abruptly from 3000 metres to just 100 and if the full swell had still been with us it could well have broken like surf, but we rounded it OK and hardened up to the north towards the port of Tarafal seven miles on. Here we finally dropped anchor in calm water under great cliffs, to the sound of a cockerel heralding the dawn! Once we were happy that the anchor would hold in the vicious squalls funnelling down from the peaks we turned in for a couple of hours of sleep.

Tarrafal, São Nicolau
Over breakfast we saw that the beach was a tumble of volcanic boulders and black sand. Buildings sprang from the same soil like unripe grey blocks, of which a relatively few mature ones had ripened into vibrant pinks, greens, blues and yellows. In front of us a huge canyon cut back into the mountain, it's alluvial fan dotted with buildings, built by people with so little experience of rain that they appeared to be unaware of the risk of being washed away by a hundred-year cloud burst.

I took the opportunity to try sketching the view, and then we watched while a tug towed in a yacht that had apparently been dismasted. A frisson of interest went through all seven anchored yachts and cameras appeared, while squalls blasted spray out of the harbour surface. We had considered a trip ashore, but the need to get to Mindelo was pressing, and we would be required to fill entry forms at the harbour office, so we upped anchor and set off.

Our route through the Cape Verde Islands before heading to Antigua

Along the south coast was smooth water with sudden squalls, and flying fish passing like plump guillemots. Soon we were out in the roaring sea again with good sized waves occasionally as high as the first spreaders on the mast. We found that the staysail and triple reefed mainsail was a good combination, and had a fantastic roaring sail in 40 knot winds for 50 miles along along the chain of islands to Mindelo, marvelling at the fantastic jagged skylines they presented. Despite the waves breaking over the cockpit I managed a couple of sketches to remind me of the dramatic views.

Big waves in Force 8-9 as we sail past Ilheu Branco
Sunshine breaks through the cloud over São Vicente
Sunset came at 19:08 and we eventually turned down the channel to Mindelo in heavy seas and pitch black conditions, cutting inside the rock, Ilheu dos Passaros, guarding the entrance and into a more sheltered bay full of anchored freighters. Amongst these were many anchored yachts and we found a good spot clear of all to drop anchor in 5 metres, letting out 35 metres of chain in order to secure ourselves in the gale.

Mark made a curry and we watched "Where Angels Fear to Tread", the title of which appealed to us after our adventure today. Tomorrow we meet Anne, Beccy, Kyle, Niall and the children and will get on with provisioning do the Atlantic crossing.

The following morning as we had breakfast we were shocked to see a great sunken cargo vessel lying on her side just astern of us.  In the dark with all the confusing bright lights we hadn't spotted the hulk at all!

We took the dinghy ashore and completed formalities at the floating yacht club, where we soon met up with the rest of the family after they flew in from Sal.   Beccy and family have rented a lovely apartment in an old merchant's house with a shady courtyard.    

We had a good day or so exploring the town with its very African market, and impressive blue and white tiles depicting historical scenes, and then explored round to a lovely beach looking across the channel that we had sailed in last night.   

Tile depicting the port and the headland called "Washington's Head"

Mindelo Market

View across to São Antão from Mindelo, with the rock, Ilheu dos Passaros, that we sailed inside at night



Thursday 15 December 2016

Exploring Sal

Coming ashore in a foreign port is strange, as one tries to orientate oneself to the layout, the location of the Port offices and Immigration and at the same time trying to gauge the temperament of the people one meets, trying to take your line at the dock, offering to sell baseball caps emblazoned with "Cape Verde No Stress", and vendors of cowrie shell bracelets, dolls, necklaces and countless other trinkets.

Cape Verde lager
We assiduously locked our outboard to the tender and, led by a lad named Sandro, wandered into the village of Palmeira. Sandro kindly relieved Stuart of the black bin liner of rubbish and then showed me the police offices. Here we hung around for a couple of hours waiting for the Immigration official to stamp our passports, and then eventually made it to a little bar overlooking the harbour for a well deserved beer.

This was followed by a fish lunch in a nearby restaurant, at which point I got a taxi to the airport to meet my incoming family.
Fishermen mending nets in Palmeira

Two hours later they had finally escaped the bedlam of visa queues and luggage mix ups, and we set off to their accommodation in Villa ao Mar at the southern tip of the island. I must say that I was impressed with the beachside apartment and the little town itself was most congenial and not overdeveloped. I would certainly come here again for a winter beach break.  Better still, the air fare is only about £250 return.

I stayed the night with family, while Mark guarded the boat, and Stuart had a hotel until his flight took him home.  Then the next day everyone trekked over to Palmeira for lunch before Mark and I set off for our next rendezvous in Mindelo Island.   Somehow I lost my prescription sunglasses at lunch!

The wind was now a full gale with 40 knots raising sand into the air. Mark had put a rope snubber on the anchor chain to stop it snatching, but it had snapped. He dived successfully to pick up the hook and severed snubber line before we set off.

I'm now on watch at 23:00 halfway across the 70+ miles to Sao Nicolau. The wind is still a full gale blowing 35-45 knots and the seas are large. Under genoa alone we are making 8.5 - 11.5 knots. Once dawn breaks we aim to explore a new island and then push on the remaining 70 miles to Mindelo.

Wednesday 14 December 2016

arrival in Cape Verde

We woke on Monday 13th to find ten flying fish on deck! Their glorious ephemeral pale blue had faded, and their extraordinary gossamer wings tinged with chestnut were but shrivelled fins at their sides. Nonetheless one could see in the lower elongated tail fin how they could dip that into the water to give an extra boost to keep flying, and the extra muscle shows as a dorsal bulge. Their large round eyes must be adapted to see in air as well as water, because they quite clearly navigate the slopes of waves and guide themselves round crests. The less experienced flyers tend to get caught sideways by the wind and splash out rather too soon, but the big boys - the survivors- can keep flying a long, long way, just dipping the lower tail fin and giving a quick flick to keep flying, rising over the big waves using the lift to stay airborne. One wonders whether they revel in flight or whether it is a fearful escape, always anticipating the jaws of a hungry dolphin.

One of our unlucky flying fish visitors

All day we sailed downwind in force 6-7 towards the island of Sal.  Eventually I got fed up with tacking downwind and we set a direct course, goose winging the Genoa.

This evening I produced "Lake" soup and herb dumplings for supper, and we watched the sun go down and the full moon rise while we ate. ("Lake" soup is made of lentils, carrots and onions as produced by our cook Asafa to feed us children when we returned from a family weekend at Lake Malawi.)

Just before sunset we had a visit from eight blunt headed short finned pilot whales, who gave us a quick once over before setting off to find their own supper. No frivolous dolphin playtime for them, more's the pity.

Finally at about eight pm we began to see evidence of the island of Sal ahead. As the moon rose and illuminated the scene ahead it became evident that what we had thought of as a flat island was actually formed of several volcanic peaks. As we entered the channel between islands, and turned up to the wind we suddenly felt the full force of what we had been sailing in for the last 5 days, and with the wind on the beam we now we roared along at 9.5 knots.

Shortly afterward, at half past ten, with sails down we motored gingerly into Palmeira port, and found a spot to anchor amongst twenty other yachts. We toasted our 880 mile trip with a glass of rum, and reflected on the five and a half days it had taken to get here.

 Tomorrow we will deal with port clearance, and then meet Anne and Beccy et al.

Tuesday 13 December 2016

Flying Fish!

It is getting warmer as we travel south, and suddenly the seas seem to be more obviously alive. Sudden swarms of flying fish burst from the waves tails driving them forward to then glide off for a hundred yards to safety. Their bodies are an iridescent blue underneath and silver on top, and they hold transparent fairy wings that are held stiffly out sideways. Sometimes the bigger fish touch their tails into the water and give a powerful thrash that propels them back into the air.

We had two dolphin visits, the first of which was a group of 8-10 Atlantic spotted Dolphins which had new tricks to show. The waves had built up to impressive size so that we could see the Dolphins swimming just under the wave surface as it rolled towards us. Some of the group were leaping from high waves with a half twist to land with a loud smack in the water. Others had the trick of leaping out and tail smacking to make a loud slap. To my surprise I saw a small light brown shark amongst them, the first on this trip.

We tried to get video of the Dolphins, but as soon as I had the GoPro on a pole they shot off.
However it proved useful later when trying to investigate an annoying vibration in the rear cabin. Eventually we tracked it to the port rudder, and lowered the camera down to get a look at it. There we found a clump of reeds trapped between rudder and hull, tapping furiously as the water rushed past.

I have just come on watch at midnight and Mark reported seeing a blue light in the water earlier. The spotlight showed no reflections from liferaft or life jacket and it was consistent with an oceanographic buoy.

While we had supper the sun set and suddenly there was a shower of flying fish, one of which landed in the cockpit. It was about 9 inches long and I had difficulty grabbing it to get it back to the sea. Later Stuart was on watch and was pelted with fish, many of which are still on deck.

We are sailing a little to the east of our direct course, as this is dead downwind and uncomfortable to sail. With a steady Trade wind of 25 knots, gusting 30, we are making between 6.5-9 knots through the water. The Canaries current, which is meant to push us along has been ahead for much of the time, although now it is flowing across our track towards Africa. Our ETA at Sal is about midnight on 13th December, so there will be some tricky navigation getting into Palmeira amongst the wrecks and rocks.

The plan is to then complete port formalities, and put Stuart ashore as he flies home from there. With luck we will be able to meet up with Anne, Becky, Kyle, Elwin, Ion and Niall.

Monday 12 December 2016

The Southern Cross

I came on watch at 06:00 to find that the wind had conveniently come round to the East a little, bringing us back on track towards our destination. Yesterday it had backed North a bit forcing us to head towards Africa rather more than we needed.

The moon had gone down leaving the night really dark. I was thrilled to see that the Southern Cross, or Crux, was clearly visible above the horizon. A glance astern showed The Plough, or Big Dipper, upside down and pointing to the Pole Star. Our position is at 20 02.44 N and 20 30.93W at 07:00 as dawn lightens the sky and the stars are hidden.

Earlier I was on watch at about midnight engrossed in reading a book. I got up for a scan of the horizon to find a very brightly lit cruise ship just a mile away. Rather a shock after seeing nothing for days, and it is a reminder of how quickly things can appear over the horizon. I checked that we were going to pass clear, and then called the "Aida Cara" to check that they could see us on AIS. I was pleased to hear that it was working fine, and that we were also visible on radar. It was rather nice to have a little chat with them as I watched the purple, blue and red flashing lights of their disco floor glide by.

Sunday 11 December 2016

into the Tropics

Sunday 11th December 2016
We are making good progress southwards, and passed the Tropic of Cancer at about 1am this morning. Our three hour watch rhythm has settled in and is working well, giving us all plenty of rest.

Last night was wonderful moonlight again with a few bright stars easily identifiable, but it wasn't until about 4am after moon set that it became dark enough to see the multitude of stars, and then some meteorites as well. When I came on watch I found Mark practising his ukelel and that spurred me on to follow suit. I've got as far as Twinkle Twinkle .....

This morning we started the watermaker which replenished our tanks, giving everyone the chance if a shower. We had three Dolphins visit us, and both Mark and Stuart saw turtles swim past. Wilson's petrel had been an occasional visitor, and to my astonishment I saw a small moth, 180 miles from Africa and heading south.

The barometer dropped from 1012 to 1008 this morning suggesting that stronger winds are due to arrive later.

Saturday 10 December 2016

Down the coast of Africa

Saturday morning dawned and I came on watch at 09:00 to relieve Mark. The boat is sailing fast under full sail with a 25 knot beam wind taking us along at 8knots or more. As a result our ETA in Cape Verde has come back from 14th December to the day before.

We breakfasted together in warm sunshine in the cockpit and the day has been absolutely perfect as we race along with a very peaceful motion. A couple of cargo ships appeared on our AIS chartplotter but at 10 miles I couldn't see them. One was a Chinese tanker heading to Singapore with an ETA on 14/1/17. By then I trust we will be with Kate and family in the Caribbean.

Bits of driftwood appeared intermittently. Mostly reddish sticks from reed beds, occasionally with a green shoot poking hopefully skywards. Mark saw a small white bird. Exciting stuff!

However last night I had a magical 3 hour watch from midnight with the moon blazing a path across the sea. I hard a few unusual wave sounds and soon saw the dark shapes of Dolphins. Over a period of an hour they kept coming from the west, leaping through the moonlight to play under our bow wave.

This voyage is almost perfect with steady wind, lovely temperature, and a kindly motion over the swell. However we have all been taking time to get our sea legs so there has been an uneasiness as we go about the tasks of navigating and making meals. Yesterday both Stuart and I succumbed briefly, but today are feeling on top of it all. Big smiles all round!

Friday 9 December 2016

Farewell Tenerife

I rejoined TinTin on 6th December after my medical course, carrying a big bag of Medicines and first aid kit and an improved knowledge of how use them. I found that Mark and Stuart had done lots of useful maintenance jobs and had got an electrician to deal with battery issues. It being a bank holiday we had a couple of days delay whilst a new engine start battery was procured and fitted. Stuart and I took the opportunity to explore the island by car, and were able to get up the volcano Pico Teide by cable car. Such dramatic scenery ,
Sketch from Pico Teide 

We left Tenerife on Thursday 8th and have now sailed 170 miles South. Atoll Feeling a Kittel qu'est, (errr... All feeling a little queasy!) but hoping to get our sea legs back soon. Today we had a welcome visit from exuberantly leaping Atlantic spotted dolphins. Later I spotted a big green turtle swim past. Sun is now setting and Mark is putting together couscous and ratatouille for supper.

Friday 2 December 2016

Medical training in the UK

Mark and I have now completed the 4-day Medical First Aid course at Hamble School of Yachting with our excellent trainer Sue Johnson.  The four day course was tough but very interesting and engaging, and has given us a great set of skills to respond to medical emergencies at sea, from fractured limbs to heart attacks.
Putting a neck brace on a suspected spinal injury
Then, while Mark and Stuart went Tenerife for a few days maintenance work, I stayed on for the  5-day Medical Care course, so that I could get the full Marine & Coastguard Agency approved qualification required for commercial vessels, which will allow me to prescribe and requisition any necessary drugs without recourse to a doctor.

Days 5 & 6 dealt with lots of wound treatment, and a detailed practical using sterile procedures and proper equipment to learn to insert catheters.
Ready to start with the sterile catheter kit


At the end of Day 7 I am proudly able to inject sub-dermal anaesthetic and suture wounds neatly.  
My dressmaking skills are handy suturing wounds
Following the course our over-riding aim is to prevent accidents from happening!

Meanwhile back in Tenerife, Mark & Stuart are cracking on with all sorts off outstanding jobs.  To my great relief they report that the freezer is working well and maintaining -12.7 degrees C.

I aim to be back on board on Tuesday 6th December and to then set sail for Cape Verde on the 7th.  

Sunday 13 November 2016

Arrival in Tenerife

Rather than arrive in the pitch dark we dawdled downwind overnight, timing our arrival for dawn. What a great sight as the clouds cleared to show the 3870 metre volcano of Teide lit by the rising sun.

Before dawn however we had an interesting moment as several huge cruise ships arrived and raced at full speed to be first to get a pilot and be docked.  In the dark we felt rather vulnerable, lolling along in the swell.

Once the sun rose we made our way into port, squeezing past oil rigs into the marina and found a berth close to the Capitainerie.


Alongside in Tenerife



Mark gives a hand to the Tunny fishermen



Views of the Opera House

We spent time getting everything ship shape, explored a bit round the opera house and along the waterfront,  and then secured the boat and headed back to the UK for our medical course.

Saturday 12 November 2016

The Salvagem Islands

I woke at 08:00 to relieve Mark to find that the Salvage Islands were just 15 miles ahead. By 10:00 we were in rough seas approaching the rocky NW approach. The depths suddenly decreased from 4000 metres to 80 and I called Mark from sleep to come and see. The island shows orange red layers buckled and twisted and then capped with a thick flat layer of black basalt. A red and white pole on the highest point carries a light. Then we rounded a little headland to find the marked anchorage and a buoy in a very uninviting cleft in the rocks. Ashore there is a building and potentially there are people there who monitor the nature reserve, but we didn't see anyone.




So we turned and made our way out of the various offlying dangers into deep water. The other yacht, Vahine, (Finnish) had nearly caught up by now, but were less adventurous and stayed well out in deep water. Despite their size they kept disappearing behind the large waves!

We set sail for Tenerife, 90 miles due south, noting that the barometer had dropped 3millibars in the last three hours, a sure sign of an impending blow.

Moonlight sailing

It's 03:00 and I have just completed the log with another hour to go on my watch, before I hand over to Mark again. We are at 30 54.56' N 16 14.74 W. On the radio earlier we heard an All Ships call to help with a Man Overboard from a commercial ship at 42 N. That was 600 miles north of us, so not something we could assist with, but it is a bleak feeling to think of the man in the water on this rough night.

Heading south from Madeira, tonight has been brightly lit by the waxing moon. So bright that the colours of the yellow diesel cans on the aft deck, and of the orange life buoys and the "Red Duster" flying from the stern are clear. Rare to see colours by moonlight!

The broad reach under Genoa alone has taken us roaring along at between 7 and 9 knots in 20-30knots of wind. We rise over the swell which breaks beneath us, with an occasional dollop into the cockpit. The wind is mild, but it feels chilly enough to wear full thermals and the Musto suit on top. My new Madeira cap keeps the head warm.

Astern is a 20 m yacht, Vahine, which has been struggling to get within 5 miles of us all night. I still cannot see her lights. Otherwise the sea is empty of traffic.

We are about 50 miles north of The Salvage Islands (Islas Salvagem) a nature reserve which requires permission to anchor in. We should be there about 10:00 and will have a look. There appears to be a mooring buoy which we could pick up but if not we will sail through.

Friday 11 November 2016

Farewell to Madeira

Friday 11th November 2016
After a happy day exploring the island we prepared to set sail for Tenerife. But first I had one of those nasty jobs that a skipper has to face from time to time. The aft heads (WC) wasn't working. This has happened twice before, but I had taken most of it to pieces before I remembered that I have an equipment book in which I note problems and solutions. There it was "16/4/16. Stuart removed pump and found that the pressure switch was stuck". Sure enough I took it off and pressed the switch a few times to ffee it and everything functioned again. Next time I will consult the manual before taking everything apart!

With that fixed we were heading out of the harbour at 11:00 and set off due South towards the Selvagem islands 24 hours away. The islands are home to the greatest colony of Cory's Shearwaters apparently. We aim to stop for lunch and then it's only another 18 hours to Tenerife.

Thursday 10 November 2016

Exploring Madeira

Mark and I had a great land exploration day. Hired a Fiat Panda (received empty of fuel) put in €10 of fuel and off we went. Madeira is either travelled below ground in miles of EU funded tunnels. (known as Portugal's Greece for its fiscal policy)

Instead we did our best to stay above ground on winding tracks up impossible mountains. I doubt we got out of 1st and 2nd gear until we got back to the motorway.
We mooched in Porto Cruz sketching the cliffs and visiting the rum distillery, saw Madeiran Firecrests (Mark got a great photo. I get credit for identifying it.) Then a walk along a levada to a precipitous drop over a valley, with blackcaps and chaffinches and? Canaries.
Finally a mad drive into the cloud to 1810 metres so we had done the peak, before descending through a giant forest fire burn scar that had taken out much of the forest above Funchal and the botanical gardens.

Tomorrow we set off for 48 hours sailing south to Tenerife, aiming to drop in at the Selvagem islands on the way for lunch. Does anyone know anything about these?

Tuesday 8 November 2016

Four nights to Madeira

I came on watch again at 04:00 on Tuesday to find that the island Ilha do Porto Santo was visible ahead with its lighthouse flashing 3 times every 15 seconds. Given our speed through the water we would be arriving in pitch darkness, so as a mark headed for his bunk I reefed the Genoa right down and slowed up to 3 knots so that we arrived as dawn broke.

The rhythm of our sail from Cascais had settled down through initial queasiness to feeling much more at home. There's a curious separation between the outside and the inside of the boat. One can step below out of the wind and noise into a calm environment. A glance out of the windows shows the sea going past like a roaring river, but the sensation is of a smooth calm ride, despite the surge and roll of the sea which one's brain somehow discounts.

During the night hours we alternate four hour watches on deck and in our bunks. In daylight we are often both on deck enjoying the sunshine. "George" steers most of the time, although occasionally Mark or I take the helm to enjoy the ride more.

Yesterday I finally dug out the fishing kit Tom th aft starboard deck locker ( pity it as the the other side ass it turned out later) and trailed it astern. The Watamu Yoyo was with us in 2005 on the ARC but didn't catch much. It trails a very strong line with a bungee to take the shock of a strike, with an orange fish that skitters along the surface trailed by a bright red 4" long squid which hides a big hook. Two hours later I checked again and there was a big golden dorado. Once aboard, this beautiful golden fish was subdued with a slug of rum in the gills, and then we saw its beautiful sky blue spots and golden colour change as it died. It weighed 6 kg and was 85cm long, and as I butchered it on the rolling aft back, slippery with gore I wasn't sure I had the appetite to eat it. We had a couple of big steaks for supper though and they were excellent with rice and tomato salsa.

We have been plagued with a mysterious electrical problem which Mark has been very assiduously trying to track down. Something somewhere is leaking electricity to the metal hull. We spent many hours trying to track it down, finally concluding that the problem got somewhat better when the boat rolled heavily to starboard. Mark crawled into the engine space to see if a loose wire was swinging and making contact. We lifted floorboards, isolated electrical systems and still it continued. We postulated that it might be water in the bilges sloshing into a piece of electrical equipment and spent ages pumping water out of every place we could find. All to no avail !

So our arrival at Porto Santo was to find a calm anchorage and go through Nigel Calder's book The Boat Electrical Bible and follow his methodology to isolate and disconnect each piece of equipment in turn to track down the current leak.

As we prepared to enter the port we had the option of anchoring or finding a spot in the little marina. I got fenders out of our aft port deck,locker, and was horrified to find it half full of sea water! In there is also our long range radio transmitter, and here was the solution to the problem that had been plaguing us for the last three days. Once pumped out, rinsed with Fran water and dried the cu rent meter was showing all green again. What a relief! The problem was to find out how the water had got in and we can only conclude that the new seal we installed round the lid has failed.

Sunday 6 November 2016

en route to Madeira

We set sail at 16:00 on Friday 4th November from Cascais heading for Funchal, Madeira. The wind was brisk F5 and we sailed close hauled into th night and heavy rain. The following morning dawned with the wind having backed round to the NE so that we were on a broad reach making 9knots.

Last night we sailed past a series of submerged sea mounts, part of a long line of volcanic pimples leading to Madeira, where the continental plate has slowly slid over a hot spot. They rise from 3000 metres to just 30 metres below the surface, and with a big swell running wouldn't. constitute a great hazard to a small boat, as the swells will slow down, rear up and break.

Settling into our 4 hour watches, still a bit vulnerable to seasickness.

To my alarm we seem like to have -50mA current leakage again. Spent a lot of time isolating systems, crawling in bilges and cupboards to no avail.. not great for feeling queasy.

Power usage is a challenge. Using the autopilot to steer ( rather essential on a dark, cloudy, moonless night) and running the freezer both consume power at about 6 amps. After 6 hours we need to run the generator to restore the 36 Amp-hours used. During the day the solar panels extend that period. Last night, Saturday night, I was on watch twice, and watched the battery capacity run slowly down to 90%. Then I discovered that I should have been following the voltage which was down to 10.5 volts. I tried to start the engine and just got the useless ticking of an under powered solenoid. Then the generator...... same thing! I recalled that Kate and Mark had had the problem of power failure about here in 2005. Their plottings are on the same chart that I am using now.

Fortunately I recalled that we can cross link the bowthruster battery to the generator, and it was with immense relief that I heard it rumble into life.

Breakfast of Bircher muesli and fresh baked rolls with butter and honey. Sadly Mark saw his again shortly afterwards. It's an unsettling big sea.

Friday 4 November 2016

Exploring Lisbon

Today I woke ridiculously late at 09:30 after vivid dreams involving boats, driving a Landrover across boggy terrain and rescuing a strange floating ice sculpture on a rocky coast - probably St Mawes. It was all so real that even at breakfast I was still concerned about what I had done with the Landrover keys!

Mark then set about changing the oil in the new engine, which seemed to take a very long time, and I did my bit struggling to get the oil filter off, and devising a strap lever to do it.  No success there as it had been spray painted into the engine! A call to John at MarineTech put our mind at rest, as the filter is good until the first proper service after 12 months.

Then at last we could set off into Lisbon, catching the little coastal train which costs just 5 euros return for the half hour ride.   Once in Lisbon I could see just how huge the river is, with ferries to the other side travelling the same distance as crossing the Solent.  Much of the waterfront was being torn up and improved, but we soon came to magnificent buildings and the most enormous square, Placa Commercao, dominated by a great statue of Saint Vincent, I think,  with his horse trampling a nest of great snakes beneath its hooves.

Mark had been there before and guided me through little crumbling streets and alleyways, past tiny restaurants and cafes, and up flights of stairs, steeply climbing walkways and tunnels until we popped out on the terrace at the top of Alfama, overlooking a great sweep of roof tops down to the waterfront.  A little formal garden with shady parapet walkway led to a higher terrace where I could wipe the perspiration from my brow and enjoy a, much longed for, cold beer.   Mark was very patient as I set to sketching the great sweep of buildings in front of us.  As dusk fell I had to rapidly convert my painting into a night scene with all the different lighting emphasis. A second beer was very much called for to carry this through.

Lisbon's streets as in Cascais are all paved with little black and white blocks of stone about an inch and a half each side.  The patterns are lovely square edged shapes in some streets, but in larger spaces and wide streets  there is a superb pattern of alternating black and whit waves.  Seen from one angle they produce a convincing illusion that the streets are deeply rutted, and that one must be careful to avoid stumbling over the raised ridges. The astonishing amount of labour need to accomplish this iss quite mind boggling.  I picked up a couple off pieces from a damaged area, and was surprised to find that they were blocks rather than tiles, as I had hitherto imagined.

We caught one of the flock of ancient and picturesque trams and came down from the heights with a great screeling of metal wheels on metal rails as we rounded the corners.  I smiled at someone enjoying a ride in the opposite direction, as we were both videoing each other's tram passing, and as we came to a halt alongside she reached out to me and shook my hand. A brief encounter!

Thanks to arriving, euphemistically, on much more solid ground at last, I was really looking forward to enjoying some Portuguese cuisine.  We walked a very long street lined with restaurants, tugged, cajoled and importuned by the doorman of each to enter his fine establishment,  The range of languages tested was impressive, and eventually we gave in at one owned by Luis, who got us sat down and hooked with a complimentary glass of port before proffering some rather disappointing well-thumbed laminated picture menus.  Nonetheless once he presented the platter of fresh fish we settled on sole and grouper, and very much enjoyed the dishes once they appeared. I took the risk of  enjoying a half bottle of Dao white wine, which was bliss after almost two weeks abstinence.

Meanwhile Luis had triumphed over all his competitors by hooking a group of 14 Dutch tourists who settled in noisily next to us.   It was time to leave!

On the night train back to Cascais I caught up on news on my phone and, reading about the parlous state of American politics, was reminded that although Hilary was corruptly using a private email server, the other candidate seems to use another method of sending signals through the fog of campaigning.  These are foghorns which I found in a chandlery in the Isles of Scilly !


Thursday 3 November 2016

Wednesday 2 November 2016

A relaxing day in Cascais

We had a relaxing day in Cascais, enlivened by the arrival of visitors Tamsin Isaacs and friend Alex, who took us through the streets of Cascais to have breakfast in the delightful House of Wonders.  this colourful cafe serves a wonderful array of vegetarian and fruitarian treats.  In the light of tummy troubles I opted for the safe option of a big bowl of yoghurt, wisely refusing the granola, but for better or worse still had the mango chunks  Of course coffee was out of the question - orange and maracuja is lovely.

Later on we completed port formalities ad paid or fees, receiving a presentation bottle of wine as a welcome gift.  Outside the heavens opened briefly - November weather had arrived.

With the lure of the big blue and white lighthouse nearby, I set off to explore and sketch.  The Farol Santa Marta lighthouse museum was excellent with great displays of Fresnel lenses to focus light.  Amazing how a small light bulb can be concentrated into a bright bean to sweep across the sea.  Next door is a fascinating palace or mansion house, with lovely walls of blue painted tiles showing great scenes, ad little balconies out over the rocky inlet giving views of the lighthouse.
Across the inlet a convenient cafe gave a great view of both buildings, and sheltered from the rain showers I settled down to sketch.  Midway a cheese omelette seemed a good idea (although medics please note that I didn't touch the salad!)

I made it back to the boat just as the sun set dramatically behind the lighthouse,

Tomorrow, all being well, we will probably set off on our 3 day voyage towards Madeira.  We take individual watches of 4 hours over the lengthening night, trying to keep the sails trimmed for maximum speed, but motoring if the wind falls too light.

Our battery banks give us about 6 hours operation at the power consumption of the freezer, autopilot and other instruments at night, and longer in the day with the solar panels. If it's very windy the wind generator makes a big input, but with the wind behind us at moderate strength it doesn't keep up at night.  A water driven version is supposed to get round this, but that we do not have. So often we run the diesel generator for an hour or so to get everything charged up - it can be a surprise to those asleep in t forward cabin to have that leap into life under the bunk.  Sorry about that Niall - should have warned you !

Tuesday 1 November 2016

Sailing to Lisbon

We set sail from Oporto on Monday morning, but with no wind were forced to motor all day and night. Finally got some wind at 4 am and lay close hauled down south. Then as we approach Lisbon we have a lovely 20 knots but right on the nose with current against us it took ages to make any distance.

Sadly my guts are still playing havoc with my body. Ho hum!

Oporto

The entrance to the Douro River and Oporto was a lovely sight in warm afternoon sunshine with an avenue of palm trees along the waterfront making it feel really foreign. Up river the gorge narrows and is spanned by many bridges, the first giving a huge 60metre clearance.
We moored up in the very welcoming Douro Marina, and met up with Mark's friend Frank Verheijen. He whisked us of in his car along the waterfront and up the gorge to the most spectacular city. The buildings cling to the cliffs rising high above to grand buildings set high on vertiginous drops. I hopped out to sit on the riverbank and sketch whilst Mark got a city tour.
The river flows at a great rate through the gorge, setting up standing waves like rapids. Through this power the trip boats, built on the design of the long elegant barges that carry the barrels of port down river. Along the bank, original barges are moored, their long steering oars trailing in the current, angled down from the high steering platform above the precious cargo. Flags fly from the barges with familiar names such as Sandeman.
As the sunset I packed up and headed across the bridge amongst the throngs of visitors to meet Mark and Frank at little restaurant set into the walls of the town above the river. What a spectacular spot to sit and eat dinner. Fantastic!

The following day I fully intended to head back to explore Oporto, but was laid so low by gastroenteritis again (3rd day) that I couldn't manage it. However in the evening Mark coaxed me into the dinghy and we went up river to view the city again. Well worth it!

Friday 28 October 2016

Arriving in La Coruña, Spain

The weather was kind to us as we arrived off the Galician coast and we made our way down to La Coruña, retracing the route we had taken in 2005 in Laros on the way to our first Atlantic crossing in the ARC.




It was a relief to be moored up in the inner harbour, and a strange sensation to walk across the wide expanse of the plaza to find a well deserved beer, feeling the ground lift and swell beneath our feet like a live thing.  




We spent a day here relaxing, and I enjoyed making a sketch of a local fisherman.  



This was where Niall left us, having proved himself a great member of the crew, and accepted onto the team to rejoin us with Kyle for the Atlantic crossing from Cape Verde.



Dawn in France

We had a stormy sky to send us off across Biscay, but the forecast was OK and so we set off for La Coruña, leaving behind the iconic Vauban tower in Cabaret, and heading out past the dramatic cliffs of Brittany.  


It was encouraging to see that there were several other boats heading in the same direction.
It is a three day sail to Spain, and Biscay is notoriously dangerous where the sea floor rises from a depth of thousands of metres to become relatively shallow and the Atlantic swells can suddenly become dangerous as they are slowed by the seafloor and become steep and breaking.






Sunday 23 October 2016

A Stormy Passage to France

We had a peaceful night anchored in Newton Creek on the Isle of Wight, and I had everyone up for a 6 am breakfast before we set off at 07:00. There was a fair wind and, as we sailed out of Hurst Narrows on the rush of the ebb-tide, the grey morning was enlivened by a ray of pink sunrise illuminating the Needles. 


Our course took us straight out past Poole and eventually past Portland. I had calculated our departure to enable us to arrive at the entrance of the Chenal du Four at 10:42 GMT to pick up the south going tide. However the shipping forecast was for an easterly gale after 12 hours. The satellite weather maps agreed that winds of up to 30 knots were due late evening and all Sunday. I took the view that Niall was proving to be hale and hearty, and that we should be able to handle a gale.

We have now passed through the Chenal and are at the entrance to Brest, having arrived exactly on time for our southward passage.

However the gale was not quite as forecast, with winds rising to sustained 52-59 knots for several hours. This qualifies as Violent Storm 11, after which the only other classification is a Hurricane above 64 knots. I'm glad to say that both boat and crew did very well in mountainous seas, reducing sail appropriately and surfing at almost 12 knots at times. The autopilot, George, did his job well too.

Once in the Chenal du Four the seas were flatter, the wind dropped to 40 knots or so and we shook out some reefs to race another yacht through. Now as I write this we are held up waiting for a naval convoy with a submarine to pass before we make for a mooring in Camaret or Brest.

Friday 21 October 2016

Off at last!

We did our engine trials on Thursday as planned, and found that new engine runs at a slower speed than the previous one, but at full revs we still make over 8 knots, although fuel consumption is then rather heavy!.

Friday came and we still had Steve and John from MarineTech on board finishing off the engine, and helping fix the electric loo and repositioning some deck hardware. Then we set off as far as the fuel pontoon, took on 360 litres of diesel and, at 6pm sharp, Mark steered us out into the Solent.  Unfortunately he has damaged his vital middle finger, having slipped while stowing sails and got it trapped in the boom.  I'm worried that it is broken, but he is very stoical/ brave and has fashioned a splint.


Darkness fell as we navigated through the lights of buoys, sailing boats and great illuminated cruise liners, past Cowes and down to Newton Creek where we dropped anchor for the night.

Mark cooked up some pasta, and then we turned in ready for an early start. Tomorrow we head down Channel towards Dartmouth and will then turn left towards Brest.

At last we are taking the first step on our voyage round the world!

Tuesday 18 October 2016

Our crew arrives

Our novice crew, Niall Gallacher, arrived today catching the green foot ferry from Portsmouth Harbour station to Gosport where Tin Tin is moored.  The exceptionally high tides mean that we get a great view out of the harbour entrance and can wave at visitors arriving on the ferry.

In a spirit of optimism we loaded frozen goods for the freezer and our personal kit bags.  Mine is packed with thermal underwear and thick jerseys and socks for the first part and shorts and T-shirts of the second part.

At the boat we found three engineers still struggling finish the engine installation, plus Jerry the Rigger installing the boom vang.

We did a tour of the boat for Niall and then some knot training.  He quickly got the hang of round turn and two half hitches, clove hitches and bowlines.

We left with hope that the boat would be ready for trials on Thursday morning.