TRANSATLANTIC CROSSING 8 to 22 December 2015

We made it.! Anchored in St Anne's bay on Martinique midnight local time on the 22nd December, then moved to the 'Le Marin' marina on the 23rd of December and were greeted enthuisiastically by the other Island Odyssey participants who were already there. Just in time for Christmas.!

To summarise the journey's main points:

OBSERVATIONS

1/ WIND AND SAILS

Most of the time the trade winds are constant 15 to 20 knots, however we experienced three different situations. The first third of the trip the winds were light at 5 to 10 knots so we used the spinnaker. The second third of the trip there was less than 5 knots so we motored for four days, then the final five days were hectic with 15 to 20 and occasionally up to 25 knots of wind, however the worst part was the swell that came from three directions. From the North due to a storm in the area, from the North-East and from the East from where the wind blew. The various swells made it difficult to steer and very uncomfortable.

The fluky wind direction caused us to lose our A sail when the sheet became un-clipped on one of the mast stays. We had to dump the sail in the sea and recover it from there. Unfortunately due to its light weight material it ripped to pieces during recovery.

We used poled out Genoa during most of the trip, and because of the balanced setup there was no chaffing at all. We used the main sail during lighter winds but due to 'banging' we limited its use. Later we noted a pulled rivet on one of the main sheet attachments caused by the severe tension fluctuations. The spinnaker was used in 5 to 10 knots of wind.

2/ BIRDS AND WEED

In mid Atlantic we came across large areas of floating weed. This tended to accumulate on the rudder and propeller, causing engine vibration. When the winds were higher and seas rougher the weed dispersed.

We did not see any Dolphin or Whales, and very few birds (about five or ten during the whole trip).

However we did have two egret birds on board for a couple of hours. They needed a rest on their transatlantic journey.

Desert sand was a nuisance for the first two thirds of the way, cockpit and cabin became grimy. The Cape Verde islands lives under a smog of desert sand.

3/ SQUALLS 

These were very frequent during our last four days. They brought very strong winds. You could see them approaching during the day but not at night so we reefed for winds of 25 knots.

When rounding the Southern tip of Martinique (at night) we noted that this was a wind and wave "funnel" or acceleration area. Best to keep heading West after the cape until the wind and waves normalise before heading North to FdF.

4/ FOOD

Food organisation was good. We had pre-cooked about twenty meals consisting of stewed meat, bolognese sauces, vegetable stews. This saved a lot of hassle since we were just two on board. We also stewed apples and pears. Breakfast was usually cereals with milk, plenty of tea. Then biscuits and nuts for casual eating during the day. Evening meal was mostly a hot meal except when conditions were rough.

5/ WATER

Drinking water was filtered tank water. After the finish we still had a full tank indication (350litres), although we did top up once using our water maker. We showered every day to basically survive the boredom and discomfort of constant swell and dusty / salty air.

6/ POWER

We ran our generator three times during the rough approach to Martinique because the autopilot was so busy and there was no sun to make use of the solar panels. The wind generator was quite useful when it had about 15 knots of wind. It could just about keep up with the autopilot demand.

WE DEPART FOR THE SECOND TIME FROM MINDELO, 8 Dec

The temporary repair was done according to our own design, signed off by the surveyor from Lisbon. It took about ten hours of hard work by some brave Cape Verde mechanics, hanging on the side of the boat in howling winds and a significant marina swell. It was done in two stages. First the grind-out and filling with new GRP inside and outside, then the installation of the window plug.
The next hurdle was the weather forecast. All of a sudden there was no wind out in the Atlantic because the 'horse latitudes' had moved South into the path of the usual trade winds. We therefore had to wait at anchor with some other folk that we had met who owned a HR49. They had even changed their destination to Surinam in order to cruise south of the zero wind zone.
Anyway on the 8th December we thought it was about time and we left the anchorage and headed West. We were on out way at last.!

WAITING IN MINDELO, 4th DEC

The temporary repair was eventually completed on the Wednesday 2nd December in the evening at about 20.30. Our trick to get it completed was to demand that the insurance surveyor stayed until the job was done so that he could approve it and thereby allow us full continuation of our insurance. He had planned to just come and make his demands then dissappear and leave us with further headaches....

This surveyor (from Lisbon) was a nice enough fellow but pretty incapable, and loved telling us stories. He didn't even manage to perform a summary of the damage for the final repair.
Now we have to liaise with 'Netmarin' in Martinique to get a 'slot' for the final repair, and some kind of estimate on down-time.
So the saga is to continue.

WE DEPARTED ON SCHEDULE 24th NOV, BUT HAD TO RETURN TO MINDELO

Beautiful departure at about 10.00 local time here in Mindelo on the 24th November turned into our worst experience so far. A British registered boat called Lionheart of Clyde rammed us at 6 knots while we were raising our mainsail before heading out across the Atlantic.

The captain of this yacht was running on autopilot within the harbour and was not even at his helm, so he had very little chance to avoid us. We were sailing at the time so although we saw him coming we couldn't take avoiding action. We just shouted and then suffered to worst impact you can imagine. The culprit was as shocked as we, and tried to leave the scene. Luckily we got help from the marina manager and he called the port police. So the culprit returned reluctantly. He was very contrary in all respects and refused to fill out an insurance claims form. I had contacted both party insurances within an hour.

End result... We are now stuck in Mindelo with smashed window and structure damage where there is little chance of any repair.! Desperate! Our dreams of the Caribbean fading fast.

WAITING IN MINDELO

Nerves are on edge as we do final preparation ( our mental prep and the yacht prep). Last bit of veg shopping, some social events and route planning. We have checked the time zone and exchanged rates for Bridgetown Barbados which is our next destination after leaving MINDELO.

EL HIERO TO THE CAPE VERDE ISLANDS. 780 NM SOUTH EAST. 14 NOV

The beginning of the long traverse.! To follow the trade winds most yachts crossing the Atlantic head south (until the butter melts) then catch the trades across to the Caribbean.

Our Islands Odyssey was from the Canary island of El Hiero, which is the most Westerly point of the Canaries, with a scheduled stop-over in the Cape Verdes.

Many other transatlantic sailors just take the direct route from Canaries to Saint Lucia, without a stop. This takes about 20 days.

Our trip here (to Mindelo) would take volumes to describe, so to keep it short we can say that it was rough and persistent.! However we arrived in the amazing island of Sao Vicente on a sunny afternoon with azure sea and epic landscapes.

780 nautical miles in 5 days and seven hours.

LA PALMA TO EL HIERO, 12 Nov

This was the first leg of our transatlantic "Islands Odyssey". A relatively short sail of 55 Nautical miles from La Palma to the furthest South West island in the Canaries group. Weather was calm at first and then became more ragged with high swell and 23knot winds from the North. It was a downwind sail so we used our polled-out genoa sail and main. We started very sedately in the group of yachts that made up the "rally" then gradually overtook everyone to arrive at El Hiero in the lead. Our Kwanza certainly showed her sailing speed.

THE ISLAND OF LA PALMA, 7 to 11 Nov

This was to be our departure point for the Islands Odyssey transatlantic cruise in company of 14 other boats. We had quite a long stay on the island for the preparation and some sight seeing.

We were very impressed with the style of the architecture and the magnificence of this huge volcanic island with green wooded slopes and volcanic ridges.

Here are some photos:

CRUISE FROM LAS PALMAS TO LA PALMA, 6 NOV

With our technical problem we had to drop out of the "Islands Odyssey". We had intended to catch up with the fleet when it got to La Gomera, but decided instead that we wanted to see Santa Cruz on the island of La Palma, and this was the port from which the transatlantic was scheduled to depart from, and we didn't want to miss this departure.

The sail across to La Palma was 150 NM, so we had to leave Las Palmas on Friday at 08.30 with the plan to sail a day and night in order to get to Santa Cruz on Saturday afternoon.

The sailing was super and the night was magnificent. A trillion stars showed up. Large passenger vessels lit up the sky as they gently cruised from port to port (Aidasol was one of them.!). We also travelled with Dolphins and saw some whales in the distance as we rounded to head of the island of Tenerife .

TECHNICAL PROBLEM IN LAS PALMAS, 27 OCT - 6 NOV

As mentioned we were struggling to get a berth in the Las Palmas marina when our propulsion system packed in. The system in question is called Dock and Go, which is designed by Beneteau and ZF and installed only on Beneteau yachts as an option. We had bought our yacht with the system installed which was unfortunate. It is quite useful while docking because it allows sideways movement in conjunction with the bow thruster, however it's very delicate and prone to expensive break-downs.

The headquarters of Beneteau reacted magnificently and dispatched an engineer from France with a replacement part.

The engineer arrived in Las Palmas on Monday the 2 Nov, and we met him on Tuesday 3 Nov. He worked on replacing the rotation motor and had it done in three hours. I had prepared the engine compartment and provided the tools, and of course assisted with the delicate operation, which I hope speeded up the process.

So with our problem solved we were free of worry and got on with some site seeing and shopping in Las Palmas.

This is the removed rotation motor. It weighed 28 kg.!

NIGHT CROSSING FOM FUERTEVENTURA TO GRAN CANARIA, 26 Oct

The rally organisers decided that an evening departure from Corralejo on the North tip of the island of Fuertoventura would allow us to arrive in Las Palmas during daylight the next day. Night arrivals in busy ports is not the best option.

So we lifted the anchor in Corralejo at 17.00 and headed out into the inter-island channel with a setting sun and a rising full moon. The winds were gentle and we sailed into the night at 6 or 7 knots, until about midnight when the winds dropped completely and we ended up motoring as did our nine fellow rally cruisers.

The island of Gran Canaria loomed in front of us and then at 09.00 on the 27th October we started our entry to the famous ARC port of Las Palmas. We berthed with the rest of the rally boats on pontoon R. This was a frustrating "squeeze" between other boats and unfortunately resulted in the failure of our propulsion system. We were berthed but incapacitated. More to follow:

ISLAND TOUR FUERTEVENTURA

When we arrived in Corralejo bay (Fuerteventura) we anchored off the port and went ashore to watch the rugby.. Next morning we were treated to a guided tour of the island.

Could only be described as amazing, and the highlight was lunch in the very old capital of Betancuria.

WE ARE OFF.! ON THE ISLANDS CRUISE.

Initially we wanted to go it alone from Lanzerote to the start point for the Atlantic crossing, which is in La Palma.

However after several event cocktail parties in the Marina Lanzarote, meeting the fellow participants and the amazing Jimmy Cornell ( event organizer) with his wicked sense of humor and wit, we just had to join them on the island hop.!

So the first leg of the Islands Odyssey was from Lanzerote to Fuerteventura. The winds were SE and sailing could only be described as "champagne sailing".

More to follow....

WAITING AND PREPARING FOR OUR EPIC ATLANTIC CROSSING

So we are still in Marina Lanzarote. Having taken a trip home to do some mundane but extremely important 'estate management' ( do our tax declaration etc.!) we are getting the yacht 'more' ready for the crossing. We bought two more 100 Watt solar panels and a new MPPT controller. The Iridium-Go satellite phone is turning into a small disaster. The company who shipped it are Satphonestore in Florida and now they won't reply to my enquiries even though their shipments are missing.

Apart from this every day is "meet the neighbor yacht crew" day. Great fun talking to all the Atlantic Crossers who are congregating here.

MADEIRA TO THE CANARY ISLANDS, 1st September

Having cruised from the Island of Porto Santo to the new marina of Quinta Do Forte, and explored the beautiful island of Madeira for a few days, it was time to move South East to our next destination of Lanzarote. We had booked into the 'Marina of Lanzarote' situated beside the main town of Arrecife.

We left the Quinta Do Lorde marina at 8.08 on Tuesday the 1st September and motored out into the big blue, passing the uninhabited island just five miles to the South.

The winds were light so we raised the asymmetric spinnaker and zoomed along at 7 knots in 10 knots of wind. However as got behind the uninhabited islands the wind was disturbed and gave us some trouble with controlling the spinnaker. By nightfall the wind had gone up so we changed over to normal sails and sped into the night and through the whole of the next day.

As we approached Lanzarotte late on the second day the wind and sea state went wild. The waves were short and abrupt and wind was 20 gusting 30 knots, so we reefer the main and Genoa to a manageable level. Our intention was to sail over the North of Lanzarote and down the East coast to Arrecife, but the weather was too bad and we diverted into the anchorage off the island of La Graciosa at the North tip of Lanzarote for a rest. We continued the next morning in a howling gale up the channel between Lanzarote and La Graciosa and over the top for the downwind sail to the marina.

Arriving at the marina was okay except for high winds, but all went well with our berthing in position I22.

FROM LISBON TO MADEIRA, 23rd August

We departed from oeiras marina at about midday on the 23 rd August after fuelling both tanks with a total of 229 litres of diesel. Next stop was the bay of Cascais a few miles to the West. We wanted to be able to leave quickly and easily for our crossing to the island of Madeira.

The Cascais anchorage was not very pleasant due to the high swell during the night, so we were not in the best of moods when we departed the next morning at 08.08 hours.

The trip would be almost 500 nautical miles and would take 100 hours at an average boat speed of 5 knots.

The sea state just off Lisbon was terrible. Swell was at least 2 meters and sometimes 3 meters. There was not enough wind to allow us to sail which made the 'rolling' very annoying. The best we could do was motor with the main sail set to try to dampen the roll.

As we motored into the first night the wind picked up to 10 knots which meant we could stop the engine. Great relief because we do not like motoring. The yacht glides gracefully when under sail, but staggers along when motoring.

The dawn of the second day the wind died down and on came the engine again. Luckily the wind kicked in again on the evening of the second day, and the pattern continued. Motoring by day and sailing at night which on reflection was not a bad situation.

After three days, and almost four complete nights we arrived at the island of Porto Santo.

We rounded the Eastern lighthouse and dropped the anchor in the calm clear water off the main beach.

BAY OF CASCAIS TO OIERAS MARINA, 5th August

Along the way we had earned some marina cost discount from other marinas of 20%. Remember Marina costs use up a big chunk of cruising budget so any discount is enthuisiatically welcomed.

We motored gently Eastwards into the river Targus towards the centre of Lisbon. Easy until we got to the "neck" of the river and ran into a head-on tidal stream of about 3 to 4 knots. We could have chosen a different tidal time but hadn't thought the stream would be so vigorous. Oieras Marina is situated on this neck and the entrance to the Marina is swirling with dangerous eddy currents. What a welcome.. Never mind once into the Marina the water was more or less still so we squeezed (literally) into a pontoon slot with some help from our happy Dutch sailor from 'racing turtle' who had arrived the previous day, and the German neighbouring yacht. This would be our home for a week or so. Time to order parts, wash, clean and relax.

PENICHE TO LISBON (BAY OF CASCAIS), 4th August

Leaving PENICHE early in the morning was straight forward. The port is on a prominent peninsula so once off the pontoon is was simply due South to Lisbon and the Targus River.

Wind was minimal and the swell was quite significant. Nevertheless we made good headway and entered the Targus River when the wind picked up to 20 Knots. We even managed to sail into the lovely bay of CASCAIS with only our mainsail.

Here we dropped the anchor and had a pleasant evening while we decided where our final port would be in the Lisbon area.

NAZARE TO PENICHE 3rd August

Leaving NAZARE was perfect. Sea was calm and there was a gentle breeze. We had already talked to the captain of the Belgium yacht that was with us in Nazare to loosely agree that we could 'raft' against each other if the need arose in the port of PENICHE. We had read that mooring space was limitedso people  'raft'.

As we entered PENICHE there was room on the pontoon and we moored successfully. We were greeted by enthusiastic crew from a Norwegiam boat and from a Dutch boat called 'racing turtle'. Great jokes about our flag and I lent the Norwegians my electrical cable so that they could hook up to shore power.

Our visit to this port coincided with a 'fiesta'. We had hoped that these were typical of the Spanish and no one else would be crazy enough. However this was one hell of a fiesta and had been in action for several days already. Festivities included loud live musical at the harbour until 04.00 in the morning interrupted only for extensive and very loud fireworks at 02.00 in the morning.

We had already endured the most awful rough conditions caused by the many fishing and transport boats motoring past the pontoons (within a few meters sometimes). Our yachts were rolling and pitching to a dangerous extent. Apparently this harbour is well know for this.

Then just to completely ruin our visit a Dutch yacht wanted to raft against us without adequate fenders. By the time we convinced him that he couldn't ( too rough for rafting, and we were leaving early next day) he had severely scratched the gelcoat on the side of our hull. No 'sorry' uttered and of course no offer to pay to repair the damage, and their yacht was probably valued in the millions of Euro.

AVEIRO TO NAZARE, 2August

On the next morning we left the anchorage in the port of AVEIRO and cruised South with the intention of bypassing Figuero DaFoz and getting to NAZARE.

We always have several plans sorted for the occasions when our cruise timing and conditions dictate some changes. On this particular day the weather was glorious as we got to Figuera da Foz so we happily continued.

There is an usual phenomenon close to NAZARE and this is a massively deep chasm in the sea just off the coast. This causes the highest waves recorded in Europe because the big Atlantic rollers come very close to the shore before they break. NAZARE is famous for daredevil surfers. Record surfed wave stands at 33 metres high. I presume this was in winter when storms are churning up the great Atlantic, because when we entered the bay and the port there was very little swell.

In the port of NAZARE space was scarce but we were assisted by a kind captain on a Belgium boat to moor close to the fishing vessels. Smell was pungent but the area was nice and the local people very kind as we discovered the next day.

We waited until 09.00 the next day to pay our port dues and were surprised that several yachts didn't bother paying, they just sneaked out. Taking risks like this could have repercussions with the authorities.

PORTO TO AVEIRO, 1stAugust

We decided it was time to leave Porto before we grew roots, and anyway we were keen to see Lisbon next. On the morning of our departure it was clear but mist was moving in over the sea from the West. By the time we had given back the marina keys and cleared the mooring, the fog was dense. Navigating out of the Douro River was quite hair raising. The ebb tide was strong, sweeping us sideways and we could not see anything. We just relied on the chart plotter.

In hoping that the fog would 'burn off' as the sun came up we kept going with very watchful eye on the plotter, AIS, and of course the sea ahead. The main problem in these waters are the little fishing boats and their thousands of crab trap markers. These markers are usually in the form of a boue of about 15cm diameter with a trailing rope ( so that the fishermen can haul it into the boat we presume). They are mostly found near fishing ports and are planted in depth between 20 and 80 meters. Other yacht people have told us that you have to cruising in about 100 meters to avoid them, however this would mean going 8 to 10 miles offshore which is a hassle when 'coast-hopping'.

By the time we were nearing Aveiro the fog had just about cleared. The AVEIRO port authority called us as we entered the estuary and then amazingly a police boat escorted us through the many fishing and sports boats until we were at our intended anchorage.

Finding a place to drop the hook was quite easy and the only problem was that boats arriving later tended to crowd around us too close.