16-11-2008
Gran Canaria her we come
After 2 days in Oeiras we were ready to take off. The stay had been short, but sweet. It had climaxed in our epic “Capture the Flag” and we were definitely ready to feel the wind grab a hold off the sails again.
We set sail in the afternoon when the wind was most favorable. It was nice to finally have the forecast kick in. We motored for less than 30 minutes, before we shut off the engines and hoisted the sails. The awesome thing was that we didn’t need to power up the engines again for propulsion before we got to Gran Canaria.
Trond and I decided that we would sail conservatively, so that we wouldn’t rip any sails or have any other mishaps. This really paid off, because nothing broke on the way. The only downside was that we perhaps didn’t push the boat as hard as we could.
The trip was a true joy. The first three days passed in normal fashion, where we basically sustained ourselves on bread, apples and biscuits, but late on day 3 Trond cooked up a storm with a very tasty pesto chicken pasta. After that it was no turning back. We enjoyed all the food we had brought and could finally feel our bodies properly adjusted to the motion of the ocean.
The wind was surprisingly a bit challenging, because we got it straight from behind. Add in modest sized waves and both we and Otto (the autopilot) had to get a bit creative. The main sail and genoa saw the most amount of work, because the waves were a bit too big to fly the gennaker safely. The wind was also a tad strong, so it was bordering on when we would take the gennaker down had we been flying it, but we still let it feel the air for a few hours when the wind was not as aggressive. In essence we decided not to fly the gennaker if the apparent wind was bordering 15 knots. When we were in the vicinity of 15 knots of apparent wind, we normally saw from 23 – 28 knots of true wind, which could have been a pain if something had gone wrong. During the last 24 hours we had decent sized waves, so we opted to drop the main and just use the genoa. It worked like a charm and let us sail doing 6 – 8 knots in a very relaxed way. When we got to Gran Canaria the wind died, so for the last few hours we had to fire up Judas to get us to Porto de Mogan. I would have liked to have gone to Las Palmas, but with the 250+ boats sailing in and around the ARC staying there now, it was better to head further south to a place we could chill and be comfortable.
All that remains now is to wait for the crew members that will sail across the Atlantic with me … and get the boat ready … oh and naturally enjoy some MUCH NEEDED summer and sunshine …
09-11-2008
A day for the iron top-sail
Peniche wasn’t a bad place, but with no wind and no waves there was no point in sticking around there. It’s true we could have waited there, but I was advised to head further south, where the wind is more predictable and steady. The fact that there was no waves meant that we couldn’t do what my brother suggested: Go surfing. In fact a big competition was cancelled the day we sailed in, because of an utter lack of waves.
We though we’d only stay in Peniche for 2 hours, so the authorities didn’t make us pay any mooring fees, but when we spent the night there, we made sure we left before they would come descending on us in the morning. So at 06:26am we cast off leaving the waveless surfer paradise behind us.
We were able to take advantage of the morning breeze and sailed for the first hour, doing an impressive 7 knots in 8 knots of true wind. That was however the only time we were able to sail without the iron top-sail. For the rest of the day we had to motorsail, because the wind never exceeded 5 knots, but stayed between 1.5 and 5 knots. This gave us plenty of time to read, solve Sudoku, talk … and eat. The trip went very well. We headed down to Oeiras, which is located right as you start the sail-in towards Lisbon.
As soon as we got in, we checked the forecast and from the looks of it Tuesday will be our day. The wind looks very promising from then and through the rest of the week. So now we have 2 days in the most expensive marina I’ve ever stayed in: €54 per night!
Having said that it’s probably the nicest marine I’ve ever stayed in, so I’m not complaining to loudly. We’ll chill here till Tuesday and then set off. I can’t wait to finally sail in optimal winds. Hopefully it will pan out.
08-11-2008
Povoa de Varzim to Gran ... Peniche I mean
I was planning to set sail as soon as my latest crew member Trond came down from Norway. Unfortunately the winds wanted it otherwise, so we ended up spending two extra days in Povoa before we finally cast off. The winds were going with us, but at strengths of 2 – 4 knots, we had to hoist the iron topsail to make any meaningful progress. We quickly calculated that we’d be using a lot of fuel, just getting down to where there wind was forecast, so instead of shooting straight for that, we aimed at Peniche (130nm south of Povoa on the Portugese coast), so that we could top off our tanks and download a new grib file (A grib file is a weather file, that certain programs allow to download. They are great for seeing when and where winds will blow.)
The trip down was very uneventful, except for a school of dolphins that came and played with us a few times. Magical animals that you felt were observing you, just as much as you were observing them. We came into the harbor in Peniche fully intent on staying an hour and then shooting off again. Alas that proved to be too ambitious. First of all we couldn’t get diesel for another hour and any internet place opened 2 hours later. These people start work late, have a few hours of siesta in the middle of the day and even leave early … What a great life!
We did a break-neck diesel filling at a tiny pier with a shallow right in front of it. Then we downloaded the grib file and to our disappointment it promised no wind at all. So instead of sailing on, we’ll stay here till tomorrow, then we’ll hopefully sail, if not motor down to Ceicos, to wait till Tuesday when real wind will finally kick in …. Unless the forecast changes … again.
05-11-2008
Kicking it in Maryland and D.C.
When Knut and I arrived in Povoa de Varzim, I knew he was going home to work, before rejoining me on Gran Canaria in November, but I had no idea if anyone would be able to join me for the sail down to Gran Canaria from Portugal. That particular sail is around 850nm long, so it would be tough to do on my own. This meant I had a few days on my hands to figure out what to do. I put up a notice on couchsurfing.com and wrote a crewing site, but nothing materialized. I was getting a little worried and decided the best therapy would be to do something completely different.
Lauren really wanted me to come and see her … So I decided: Why not? You only live once! This was a perfect excuse to not think about the crewing problem. The next day I boarded a flight and flew to Washington DC, where I was picked up by Lauren in her sweet ride … granted her Jeep Cherokee has the World’s most dangerous tires and breaks … but it still gets you from a to b. In the coming days it proved to be a real workhorse.
We stayed in her mom’s awesome apartment and used that as our base of operations while we were exploring the vicinity. We managed to cover a fair share of things in the 10 days I was there. Downtown D.C. was only 30 min away, so we went down and had a look at the sights: The Lincoln Memorial, The Reflecting Pool, The Pencil (I forget what it’s really called), The Vietnam Memorial, the WW2 memorial (a lot of memorials to be honest), the White House (which will soon be inhabited by Obama :-)and last but definitely not least, we went to the Smithsonian. I LOVED it. We didn’t have a chance to see even a fraction of it, but I got a tiny overview. It was cool to see the dinosaurs, the Hope Diamond, their under water exhibit and my first IMAX movie “Deep Sea”. It was a winner! Everything in between was equally impressive, so I need to go back and do it proper justice one day.
We also went to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space museum out by Dulles. This was hands down the coolest museum I’ve ever seen. My favorites were the SR-71 Blackbird that set the record from LA to DC. It did it in 1 hour and 4 minutes. They also had the original Enola Gay bomber that dropped the a-bomb on Hiroshima. The also had a Concorde and lastly a space shuttle. On top of these amazing planes they had a couple of hundred other impressive air crafts. It was a stunning collection and very impressive to see. We also went and saw a new IMAX movie, this time we saw “Fighter pilots”. If I had seen that movie when I was in my teens, I know I’d be a pilot today.
October 31st happened to swing around while I was there and what better way to celebrate Halloween than at a house-party. We met up at a friend of Lauren’s and partied properly, all of us dressed up in costumes. It was good fun. Of course earlier that same day, I did my first pumpkin carving. Lauren did the sketching and then I did the carving. Lauren also proceeded to fry the pumpkin seeds in her own fashion, resulting in an interesting taste that only she enjoyed. At least no one will steal them from her!
On a particularly nice and sunny day, we drove down to Annapolis and enjoyed a good day walking around in the sun looking at the old town. I really liked it and what really made the visit was the awesome chilidog I got a diner. Yummy!
Besides these things, I also met most of Lauren’s family and got to hang out with some of her friends. On one of my last days there, we drove down to Salisbury and met her brother Erik and hung out with him. I learned to play beer pong and to my surprise I wasn’t completely crap at it.
The 10 days flew by. It was nice to get a little break from the sailboat and it was a lot of fun to hang out with Lauren. My crewing problem solved itself, when a guy who had called me a month earlier inquired if he could still come to sail to Gran Canaria. So when I flew back to Portugal, he was flying in on the same day.