We thought that it might be an idea to upgrade this page with a few more technical details about the boat and the navigation aspects of our trip. Please feel free to ask questions in our guest page and I will try to answer them. Many items will be a reference to my opinions and sometimes I may differ from the norm but I hope you will find some interest in these pages as we progress.

May - June 2007

July 2007

August 2007

September 2007

October 2007

November 2007

December 2007 - January 2008

February 2008

March 2008

Mike’s Page 2         April 2008 - March 2009

Mike’s Page 3         April 2009 - March 2010

Mike’s Page 4         April 2010 -

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May - June 2007

Cherbourg to St Peter Port.

Navigationwise this is a challenge to strangers in these waters. Look at the charts and you will see that there are a lot of rocks about. Originally we had not intended to go to the Channel Islands so I only brought one chart for the area and that was an old Stanford chart (1979), which covered the whole area from Cherbourg in the North East to Treguier in the South West of the chart. There are insets much like an Imray chart and in truth I have found it adequate. I have found that you do not need a plethora of charts. A good pilot book and a Reeds or Macmillan’s are more important. The chart we use for planning and for plotting our positions.

We have the Shell Channel Pilot which has been updated by Tom Cunliffe. It gives good detail and a good description of the approaches as well as advice on the tides. In these waters the tides are particularly important.

We had wanted to call in at Alderney but there was an easterly wind and the only safe anchorage was at Bray Harbour which is open to easterlies and we had been advised that with any east in the wind, that harbour is not very comfortable. Apart from that we also heard that the Royal Lymington Yacht Club were there for the weekend and it was unlikely that there would be much peace and quiet there, so we plumped for Guernsey.

The main feature on this trip was the Alderney Race. The tidal diamonds give a tidal stream of up to 5 knots on the charts but in reality on big springs we learned it can achieve up to 11 knots and this was verified in the Channel Pilot. It is strange that in the Channel Islands there is a tidal range of over 9 meters yet due north in Portland just seventy miles away, there was only about 2.5 meters. To get the best of the tide and to have it working with us we needed to be off Cap de la Hague at slack water. It still seems that the almanac compilers are unable to show the tidal streams with reference to the local tide tables and we still have to refer to the Dover tables to interpolate the tidal atlases.

We left on the 8^th June. HW was at 1507 local time and it was neaps. We cast off at 1315. Cherbourg claims to be the largest man-made harbour in the world. I doubted it at first but we didn’t get through the piers until 1400!  It is big.  There are a few rocks about here so we kept a good offing from the coast. Visibility was down to about three miles at this stage. The sea was flat and the wind dropped. The tide was still running east so we needed to motor to get round Cap de la Hague.

There are a couple of Sea Cat ferries operating in this area so we kept a close eye on the radar. We set a few waypoints for the trip as we weren’t certain of the visibility for the journey. We were within three miles of Alderney but could only make out an outline in the mist. There were about six other yachts on our radar screen all going the same direction and heading for St Peter Port.

There was one target on the radar that caught my attention. He was doing about 10 knots and on a collision course but still about three miles away. We had had a confrontation with a French trawler before. They do not seem to want to give way no matter what the situation so I was ready. When it finally came into view, it was actually a yacht, a Contest 55 with Dutch ensign. No sails up and on full power with his engine and heading straight at us. I could see the skipper on deck but he made no attempt to alter course or slow down. In the end I had to alter course and avoided a collision by about ten feet! I used to have respect for the ‘Dutchies’ but perhaps they are no better than some Brits I could mention!!

We made course for the Little Russel channel which rounds the north end of Herm and forms the channel with Guernsey. The first mark you see is normally Platte Fougere which is on a rock at the North end of Guernsey but due to the reduced visibility it was the Tautenay beacon tower just north of Herm that we saw first. There were several other yachts entering Little Russel at this time and all heading for St Peter Port. We picked the other marks down the channel and headed for the harbour.

St Peter Port has a drying sill and it would be past midnight before we would be able to get into the marina. They were already rafting up on the waiting pontoons so we decided to go round the corner into Havelet Bay and drop the hook. It was about half tide so we needed to find about 6 or seven meters of water. The Channel Pilot says that it can be uncomfortable in here but we had a peaceful night and a good sleep.

I launched our hard dinghy the next morning, the first time it had been in the water since we left Sunderland and the first time since I had cut out the transom to fit it around the mainmast. It has turned out to be a good little workhorse and the cut-out also acts as good protection for the outboard especially when tied up along with many other dinghies. The down side is that with the C. I.’s there is a big tidal range and it is a little heavier than our inflatable so that carrying it up the slipway to the high tide mark is hard work. I am now looking at the prospect of fitting some wheels on the transom.

During a gale when we were in Cherbourg we broke a fairlead on our bow fitting. So I drew up a design similar to the ones we have on the stern and an engineer with a workshop on the pier made up some new ones. We bought our bow fitting at a boat jumble and it was supposed to have been off a Bowman 40. The rollers themselves were made of rubber and after about a dozen anchorings one roller was completely destroyed so we got the same guy to make up a couple of spares with a nitrile composite. Lets hope these will last a little longer.

We decided while we were there to take a trip to Sark. Tides are a problem here. To get to Sark it is almost a straight line across a little south of east but there is a reef stretching south from Herm and a South Cardinal to round. It means going South West to the buoy and then North East to the anchorage so one way or the other you are going to hit tide. So we decided to go as near to slack as possible. That meant that we would get to the anchorage late on and we would need to stay the night. The wind was from the South so we went to the North of Brecqhou Island which is almost connected to Sark but would give us shelter if the wind picked up through the night.

There was no access ashore here so the next morning we motored around to the South of this island and picked up a mooring buoy near some steps up the cliff. That evening we sailed back to Guernsey and to Fermain Bay where we went ashore for a meal. It was now springs and high tide so we needed at least 9 meters of water. This is a small but beautiful bay and to get the depth we needed meant that we were a little outside of the bay and a little exposed so we had our meal and went back to Havelet Bay and dropped anchor there again just as the wind started to freshen. The predictions from the Channel Pilot now came true. We had a rough night and at 0700 we weighed anchor and went round into the harbour. We tied up to the waiting pontoon and as soon as we had enough water the harbour launch beckoned us in to the marina.

St Peter Port to St Helier

The weather stayed for a few more days and eventually settled so we then were ready to set off for Jersey. Much the same again, it is the tides that influence the timing but this trip would take us more across the tide so the wind direction could also have an effect. The wind was South and we were going South East. If the tide was driving us south then once we were past Sark we could point east on a beam reach and the tide push us south. I didn’t bother to calculate the tidal vectors, I find that the chart plotter will give you that info and keep you up to date as you progress. These chart plotters make you lazy in many directions. Once we got to St Helier I vowed that I would do more homework and do some plotting of my own!

As we neared La Corbière lighthouse we knew that we were approaching more rocks. There are a couple of North Cardinal buoys close to the South Coast of Jersey on the approach to St Helier. I normally like to give a known rocky coast a good distance but you have to trust these marks so we went in close and followed the buoys. You then come to a channel marked with the usual red and green buoys and then a leading line to a mark called Dogs Nest and then turn to 023 degrees up the channel into the harbour there are a couple of turns towards the marina and a waiting pontoon. There is a tidal sill here. This one has a large flashing digital depth gauge over the sill. What a great idea. You can see at a distance exactly what water there is over the sill. So as soon as there was enough water we went in.

Here they have similar pontoons similar to Cherbourg. They are about half the length of El Lobo so that the stern is jutting out quite a way. The forward spring is the first line you need on to prevent the bows from hitting the pontoon and then two bow lines and a heavy spring from the stern. The fingers themselves are also very thin and not too buoyant so I have found that it is best to tie a short line amidships to keep her in tight and also to support the finger.

Our next port of call will hopefully be Treguier in Northern France. Once again tides will dominate our planning but as I write this we have gale warnings so we will sit it out and wait for clearer weather.

We have had many emails asking what our plans are to cross the Bay of Biscay. Well to be honest we haven’t made any definite decisions as yet. It will rather depend on the weather. We intend to go round the corner as it were to somewhere like Brest and wait for a weather slot. If the weather is a little more settled than it is at the moment then we will tackle it head on and go out a little way and then head for La Coruna. If the weather remains the same as it is now, then we will hop down the French coast to Northern Spain and round the corner that way. We are both keen to get out of the weather trap we find ourselves in at the moment. It seems that when we plan a date to move on, the weather steps in and we are delayed for a few more days. We are not fair weather sailors by any means but we are doing this for pleasure and have no deadlines.  

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July 2007

Well here we are again, and at last we have made a bit more progress.

However, by watching the weather forecasts we decided that we were in the wrong place to get further west. The winds have been strong (usually F5 – 7) all westerlies or from the southwest. We eventually need to be able to get round the corner to Brest or at least in that area to be able to tackle Biscay. However the greatest challenge we have at the moment is to get out of the English Channel and with these prevailing west winds, the Channel Islands are not really on the ‘ideal’ route.

In hindsight (wouldn’t we all love it!!) we should have kept to the English coast down to at least Plymouth and probably better to Falmouth, in which case it would have been a beam reach all the way.

Nevertheless we are where we are, and now our next intended stop is Treguier which is on the North coast of France. It is due west of Jersey but more of a south west from Guernsey. We were in Jersey, so once the wind dropped a little we set off for Guernsey again. This would give us a better angle of attack for Treguier although it would still mean a beat.

We left the marina in St Helier at about 0730 to go round to the fuel berth and topped up or tanks and then had to wait about ½ an hour in the inner harbour for the ferries to do their bit and then we went out. The forecast wasn’t great and it was pretty rough as we cleared the piers and turned west. The wind was on the nose and about F5. We had the tide with us but that also meant that we had ‘wind over tide’. Pat said that there was no way she was going below in this. A couple of boats turned back. I assured Pat that that as soon as we rounded La Corbiere Lighthouse the tide would be flowing up the west coast and the sea would be better. She wasn’t entirely convinced especially as we witnessed the race as we got around the corner. The sea did flatten out a little and from there it was about another 17 miles and the sea got better as we progressed. We had a couple of reefs in both sails and with the wind just forward of the beam we had a good sail up to St Peter Port. We went into the harbour and tied up to the waiting pontoon. It was another couple of hours we had to wait until there was enough water over the sill before we could enter the marina. By this time the wind had started to strengthen to F7. We had made it just in time.

We eventually got a weather slot to leave Guernsey and set off for Treguier which is on the North coast of France a little west of the Channel Islands. The wind was forecast as south west veering round to west later. So we rounded the south east corner of Guernsey at Forquie de Jerbourg and headed west with the tide for about seven miles and then bore away to a more southerly direction. This gave us the wind on our beam but also a line to avoid Les Roches Douvres which is the only real hazard on our route. This move also gave us a cracking sail towards La Jument des Haux which is a north cardinal and then to the Basse Crublent buoy. This is basically a fairway buoy and takes you on line to the buoyed channel.

On entering the channel we reefed both sails down to three panels each to slow us down to about five knots (you can do that with a Junk Rig!) and we sailed up the river. It was my intention to arrive at low tide so we could go up river on the tide but we had such a good sail that we arrived early so we were against the tide for a while. The buoyage looked a little weird at first as it zig-zaged back and forth across the river. We attracted a lot of attention with our rig and loads of boats were making towards us and taking photos.

We sailed almost up to the marina and it was now low tide and we were running out of water so we turned round and back down river to find an anchorage. The best looking one was pretty full so we motored further down river to Roche Jaune where an anchorage was indicated on our chart. We generally look for around three to four meters at low water to anchor. We got in quite close to the shore and dropped the hook. As soon as we got settled a small fishing boat came in to his mooring nearby and advised us that here was not good and indicated a mooring buoy that ‘would be OK’. So we upped anchor and moved over to this mooring buoy. When I lifted the buoy I noticed that the shackle and the shaft through the buoy had seen better days to say the least so I tied on to the riser which seemed in better condition and had a stainless thimble so I attached our line to the thimble with a shackle.

We had a peaceful night and went ashore the next day and explored Treguier. It was about half an hour away by dinghy. We were looking to get a little nearer to the town. The population of the anchorage we wanted had thinned a little so we decided that we would move up river in the morning. When we got back to the boat we were just settling down to our evening meal when we were hailed from outside. It was the guy whose mooring we were on. He was actually Belgian and had a cottage here and a fishing boat. He was in his dinghy. Luckily he spoke good English and he explained that he had been to purchase a new bolt for the mooring buoy and had come out to fit it. It was rusted solid but I had the tools to sort it along with another shackle which he had forgotten to get. Between us we fixed his mooring and had a good bit of crack along the way. I felt we had paid our dues for his mooring and he was happy.

However the next morning the wind changed direction and just before low tide we swung round against the bank and suddenly we were aground! I started the engine and gave it full revs but we were fast. There was another hour before the bottom of the tide and we were starting to lean to starboard. Well, not being one to miss an opportunity I got out the scraper to trim El Lobo’s beard!! We needed to raise the water line a couple of inches anyway. So into the dinghy and scrape the weed and a quick scrub. Then look out my spare tin of antifoul (good cruising folk always keep some somewhere!!) and touch up a couple of areas that were suspect and raised the water line a little. So that’s the port side done. Pat now wants us to go aground again so we can do the Starboard side!

We eventually floated off, no harm done and then went up river to the other anchorage which is much nearer the town and slightly deeper water!

After a couple of nights the weather looked as though it was presenting us with an opportunity to progress west, so we upped anchor and sailed down river and out to sea once more. We had it in mind to try to go round the corner and into Brest or Camaret with the option of putting into L’Aber Wrac’h if necessary. We passed through the inside of Les Sept Iles with the tide and made good progress. The wind was South West but was forecast to veer round to the North West and then North. It didn’t! By the time we had crossed the Bay of Morlaix the wind strength had increased and as we rounded the Ile de Batz it was up to F6 and straight in our faces. The tide had also turned and now that too was against us. We were making about two knots across the ground with some discomfort with 30 miles to go to get to L’Aber Wrac’h. We decided to turn back. Unfortunately there are no ports along this part of the coast that we could get into except at high tide so we doubled back towards Treguier. Within half an hour of turning the sea seemed to calm and the wind seemed to drop so we eventually decided to turn again and have another go. I might have known, as soon as we levelled with Ile de Batz again we were hit again and this time we were further out to sea, pushed out by the South Westerlies. We turned again. By the time we returned to Treguier it was 0130 and teeming with rain. Entry into Treguier is straight forward by day but I hadn’t studied it for a night entry. Half the buoys we were looking for weren’t lit; in fact we nearly hit two of them! The chart plotter definitely helped us here and we made it back to our anchorage. We had been at sea for 20 hours and logged 90 miles and were back where we had started from!

Forecasts were still not good for a few more days so we went into the Marina to do a bit of work on the boat. The windlass had gone on the blink and 35 meters of 10 mm chain is heavy for a sixty-year-old to haul up without electrics!

The following Thursday was the next weather slot so it was an early night on Wednesday for an early start. When we got up however it was thick fog so we abandoned our start and went back to bed. When I got up again it was still foggy but by the time we had our breakfast it had lifted so we quickly let go our moorings and set off again.

We had a good start and the tide with us again. The wind was North North West, perfect. We had a good sail but eventually the wind dropped to about F1-2 so engine on.

We turned South about 0100 to enter the Chenal du Four. The route takes you inside the Ile de Ouessant in the North and then between the mainland and the Plateau de Helle which is a group of small islands, or to be realistic, large rocks.

The passage is well lit with numerous beacons and lighthouses and it took a while to sort out which ones we needed and which ones to keep clear of but as usual the further we got, the more clear it becomes. There is a leading line with the lights of two lighthouses at the Southern corner of the peninsular which takes you through the rocks of the Platresses, but beware. As you pass through there is a starboard hand green beacon just through the gap which is unlit and again we nearly hit it. These French certainly have a funny way of buoyage! The rest of the passage through was fairly straight forward and we rounded the Southern cape at around 0400 and made for Camaret across the bay. By this time we had more wind but we wanted to try to get into Camaret in daylight if we could so we dropped a couple of panels out of the sails to slow us down a little and got into Camaret a little after 0600, in daylight!

We stayed at Camaret for a couple of days but the weather turned foul and we were on the wave break without electrics or water so we decided to move up to Brest. There was a warning for strong winds and we were getting rocked about a bit. At Brest there would be better shelter. Nothing particularly technical about the trip except to mention that the Rade de Brest is like a large saltwater lake connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Goulet de Brest which is a channel about a mile wide at its narrowest point, but making the Rade a fantastic sailing area. There are two navigable rivers at the eastern end, L’Elorn and L’Aulne as well as many inlets to explore especially in a shoal draught boat or a boat that can dry out.

From Brest we headed South to Les Belle Iles. This meant sailing out through the Goulet de Brest and round the Pointe du Toulinguet. From this headland, rocks stretch about four miles west and out to sea. To save a few miles there are a couple of channels through these rocks. We had watched some yachts going through from the cliff tops. Careful navigation takes you through but as always best done with the tide behind you. However we had another obstacle ahead which is more dangerous against the tide and that is the Raz de Sein another 15 miles south. This a channel between Pointe du Raz on the mainland and the Ile de Sein. There are serious overfalls here and it is wise to time this right. If you get wind against tide, this channel can cut up rough. Best to time it at slack water. Once through here we headed for Les Belle Ile. The wind dropped for a while and then started to, pick up at about 1800 hrs and we were having a good sail. However by about 0100hrs in the morning the wind turned into our faces and built up a head sea, short and steep. We still had about 30 miles to go and we were only making about 3 knots over the ground with considerable discomfort. We tried to bear away to get more speed but that was taking us too far off course so eventually we decided to put in towards the coast to get a little lee from the land. The place to go seemed to be Ile de Groix just off the coast so we tacked and headed North East. There are a couple of anchorages on the island but the only one that was in shelter was a little tight and it was recommended that two anchors were needed as there was little room to swing. We were knackered so decided to head for the mainland and Lorient. This is known as a busy yachting centre in France so we rounded the island and headed North into the river. We opted for Port Louis, which is the first of three or four marinas on the river. It was a good choice and we may stay for a few days.

Navigation Tips

By popular demand, I will try to include some tips on navigation as they crop up from time to time. I don’t claim to be an instructor or to have any authority on the subject, but sometimes the areas we visit will have some anomalies peculiar to that area. I hope you find them interesting and of some use.

If you look at a chart of the Channel Islands the first you notice is that there are a lot of rocks and reefs about and that can be quite daunting at first sight. However there is also a lot of water in between and as long as you take note of the lights and buoyage then it isn’t too difficult to find your way around.

More important for this area is the tide. There is quite a tidal range around the Islands, over 9 meters on springs, so that there is a lot of water moving about. Get the timing wrong and you will be going nowhere for up to six hours. A local tidal atlas is handy if you intend to hang around for a while but as we all know it isn’t always possible to have all the atlases for all the areas you visit so we refer to our Reeds. The trouble is they show the tidal streams referring to the state of the tide at dear old Dover. Rather than interpolate I find it easier to look at the atlas and refer to the Dover tide table to tell me what time to set off.

The trouble is that all the marinas in the Channel Islands are tidal and have a sill so you need to plan when you go out of the marina and on to a waiting pontoon prior to your intended departure time.

With the strong tidal streams it is important to remember what you learned at night school about vectors. It will be brought home to you by the difference in the readings of your compass and the GPS. The GPS will tell you the direction which the boat is heading over the ground. Your Compass will tell you the direction the boat is actually pointing. When you are crossing a tidal stream or current these two will not tally. There is nothing wrong with your instruments just your navigation if you haven’t allowed for it.

If you set a waypoint on your GPS and steer for it with your compass when crossing a tide then your GPS will soon tell you that you are off course and the further you go the more off course you will be. Work out your vectors and maybe aim a little higher if you will arrive at your destination during the same tide. Better to be slightly upstream of your target than to be downtide and struggling for that last little bit as you enter a harbour.

If you have a chart plotter then things are easier. A chart plotter works from its own GPS and relates your position on to a complicated series of charts and of course shows your position on the screen. Your boat is shown as a dot or diamond or even the shape of a boat depending on which type you have. There will usually be a line behind your location that shows the route that you have taken. In front of the boat there is usually a short line that shows the course the boat is taking over the ground. If you can steer the boat watching the screen and then pointing that line at your destination or waypoint, then note your course on your compass then the tidal vector for that time of the tide will have been worked out for you.

Makes you lazy I know, and there is no substitute for good old-fashioned calculations and the ability to work out the tide naturally. You never know when electronic gadgetry will fail.

A Problem with Pat

Whilst on Jersey we went for a walk down a river valley. About half way we decided to stop for lunch at a farm museum called Hamptonne. It was one of the best farm museums I have ever seen and showed how life was back in the sixteenth century and onward. There were a few traditional crafts on show and one of them was the cider making. Whilst there was nobody about we tried a sample of the cider that was in the barrels around the cider press. Pat liked it! We also had some cider with our lunch. Pat liked it! In fact whenever we stop for a drink somewhere now, Pat’s first choice is for cider but now she’s getting a bit frustrated because we can’t get the real rough stuff like we had at Hamptonne! I think Pat has become a cidaholic! 

Moral of the Month

Never confuse having a career with having a life.

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August 2007

Brittany and beyond

At Port Louis we found everything we needed except fuel. The toilets and showers left a little to be desired but they were functional. The lads working the marina were great and extremely helpful. We had excellent wi-fi signal and a digital signal for the tv.

Port Louis doesn’t read that well in the pilot books but we found it the place we have most enjoyed so far. It is just one of five marinas on the river at Lorient but only three will entertain visitors. They are Port Louis of course, Kerneval and Lorient itself. Kerneval is on the opposite side of the river to Port Louis and Lorient is further inland. All three are served by a water buses which are fairly frequent.

Ian who sailed with me at Sunderland joined us on his boat FE2 which he keeps at La Roche Bernard which is up the Villain River. It was good seeing him again especially as he brought Gill with him, and he brought out a parcel from Blighty for us. After a few days together in Port Louis, we sailed in company with him for La Belle Isle where we had planned to go originally but beaten by a head wind. The wind was variable that day and we set course for La Pallais, which is the main port on the island. As we approached the wind strengthened and the heavens opened. We dropped sail and motored into the harbour only to be met by the harbour RIB and told that there was no more room. We tried to get a mooring buoy just outside the harbour but it was a bit of a melee with boats coming from all directions. The sea was a bit sloppy and although Ian had managed to get on to a mooring buoy he thought that it was going to be an uncomfortable night here and suggested we try Houat. Houat (pronounced as ‘what’ to rhyme with ‘that’ or whatever else you can think of as similar!) is a smaller island about eight miles away and there was a choice of anchorages so we set off once again. There are a few rocks on the way but all are clearly buoyed and once again the chart plotter is a great help.

When we rounded the point to the Treac’h er Goured there were about fifty other boats already anchored there, but there was still room for us! The wind was Northerly and the bay is on the eastern end of the island, but the forecast was for the wind to back round to the North West. It didn’t so we had a rather rocky and rolly night. However we did manage a good barby on the beach!

It was good to sail in company again especially with Ian and Gill but the next day we had to say our good-byes and parted company as they sailed off for Morbihan and we headed for Pornichet which is back on the mainland of France just north of the Loire Estuary. The Loire River marks the Southern boundary of Brittany. Once again a few rocks to avoid on the way but nothing too taxing. Pornichet is a manmade marina with probably the best pontoons I have ever tied up to. However no wi-fi and no laundrette on the marina itself.

We only intended to stay a couple of days but as usual the winds turned and we had to ride out two gales here. The marina itself is well protected from winds in all directions and is accessible in all states of the tide. It is in a wide bay with a beach about 7 km long and runs north west to south east with Le Pouliguen at the north west end, which has a marina but with limited tidal access, La Baule as the main resort and Pornichet at the other end. The seaward side of the bay is fringed with a few rocks and is fairly shallow but there is a well buoyed channel leading to both marinas.

We left Pornichet with a North West wind behind us and headed for La Rochelle. The bay of La Baule where Pornichet is situated is a shallow bay and protected by a fringe of rocks not all of which are marked with any kind of buoyage so careful attention to the charts here. Heading South you then have the dredged shipping channel for the Loire River entrance which can get rather busy at high tide. Ships go in here for St Nazaire and further upriver to Nantes. After this we passed some distance from the Ile de Normountier as there is a reef of yet more rocks extending about 4 miles to seaward. Once past these it is a fairly clear run to La Rochelle and our route would take us inside Ile d’Yeu and then Ile de Re.

When about 5 miles from Ile d’Yeu the wind dropped but the sea didn’t! There was a bit of a swell and no wind in El Lobo’s sails to steady us, so we were starting to roll and as we got nearer to the island and shallower waters the seas were shorter and the motion was not comfortable, so we decided to have a look at Ile d’Yeu.

The only port on the island is Port Joinville and there is a sizable marina there. As we approached we couldn’t believe the number of boats that were about, all shapes and sizes, and most heading for the harbour. So we dropped our sails and motored for the entrance. As we neared the entrance, a sea-cat ferry can up behind so we slowed to allow it in and as soon as we resumed course another came in from another direction! Once we were between the piers, yet another appeared behind us, just like the London buses!!

We were met by a little launch from the marina and he guided us in to our berth. This marina is yet another recent manmade harbour made up with a wall of dumped rocks and a concrete road set on the top. The marina seemed well run as most of the French marinas are, but here, again as in Pornichet, no laundrette and no wi-fi. The marina itself is well protected and once again we rode out another gale whilst we were there. Then as soon as the weather allowed, we set off south again, again for La Rochelle. With the wind behind us we made good progress and had a good sail. We went inside the Ile de Re with the tide that gave us an extra knot or so then under the road bridge that connects the island to the mainland, then turn to port to the channel. La Rochelle is a fairly straightforward entrance, it was dark when we got there, and there is a good pair of leading lights to guide you in.

The entrance to the marina at Les Minimes is a sharp right turn off the main channel with the visitors pontoon dead ahead. However the channel is shallow and down to about 1 meter at LW springs so timing is important. The marina itself has around 3000 pontoon berths which makes it one the largest yacht harbours in the world, or so they claim, and it is quite a complex. We were planning to stay here a while and have a good look around and intending to make this our set off point for Biscay and Spain. However the next morning we were told that we could only stay for three days as there was a boat show starting on the Monday and they we not accepting visitors. Basically La Rochelle is a no-go area for sailors throughout the month of September. That was not mentioned in our Pilot Book!! We even enquired at the old port in the city but it was the same story there.

So now we are planning to go a bit further South to Rochefort to prepare for the crossing. So more of that next month, however, I’m told they make some nice cheese there!!

Weather Forecasts

I have been asked about weather forecasts and how we get them. If you have been following our trip on these pages, then you will realise that the weather has played an important part in our progress. My policy has always been to get as much information as possible from as many sources as are available to me. The Internet is useful here. There are many web sites for the weather for various countries around the world. In France the Meteo France web site is a good base to start from but there others such as movingweather.com that ask for a subscription. We have not as yet contributed to these, as we are not always able to get on line.

 It helps to learn the local lingo a little here as far as the terminology is concerned. You won’t find many of these terms in a normal translation dictionary, but you will find all the necessary translations in your almanac, we are using the Reeds.

We have Navtex but although we have both local and international wave bands we found that we are not always in range of the transmitting stations so we are unable to rely on it to keep us up to date.

However we have found that the marinas in France offer a good service as far as weather forecasts are concerned. There is usually and up to date forecast posted first thing every morning with copies available for anyone who wants one. These are good forecasts with synoptic charts, wind force arrows, reports on sea state and wave heights, barometric predictions, visibility and a five day forecast as well, not just a printout of the BBC shipping forecast that you get in most UK marinas if you’re lucky. They also include tide times and tidal coefficients which is also a great help when passage planning.

The Boat

Once again we have had emails asking how the boat is going and how all the bits of equipment are performing so I will try to include some successes and failures each time.

Generally I am well pleased with the boat itself and the rig. We are still a little overloaded so we are a little slower than we know we can normally go but things are slowly sorting themselves out. We set off with far too much on board. We know from nearly every publication we have read about blue water cruising that you nearly always set off with too much gear on board. We knew that we were falling into that trap but we also knew that we needed to find our own level. However we have contributed to many skips on our journey so far and the latest item to go the journey is our washing machine!

The junk rig has proved itself quite versatile in many ways. A few times now the wind has increased in the night whilst Pat was on watch and she has had no problem reefing the sails herself which is a real boon (it means I get a longer sleep!!). When sailing up a river it is always good to keep the sails up for as long as it is safe to do so and we tend to drop a couple of panels out of each sail and keep good control. We are then in a better position to completely drop the sails quickly when we need to. Despite the weight of the boat at the moment we are still faster than many Bermudans off the wind but I don’t think we would win many races!

Electrically we have a battery bank of 480 amp/hours. To charge these at sea we rely on two 54 watt solar panels and our Aquair which will charge using wind power or when on passage we can change its mode to tow an impellor through the water which will turn the generator. This will give us about 4 amps at 6 knots. Even on a cloudy day these together will keep our batteries to between 12 and 12.8 volts and even with the freezer on 24 hrs a day so I am well pleased with that part of the system. When alongside we have our 40 amp Sterling 4 stage battery charger which keeps the battery bank at a steady 13.2 volts. At anchor however we don’t get quite as much free power as we always try to find shelter from the wind so I generally run the engine for an hour or so about twice a week.

The only gas appliance we have on board is the cooker. It is a Plastimo Neptune 2000. It is basically just a token cooker with two burners, a ‘grill’ and oven and has little to recommend it. The grill is pathetic and the oven burns anything too near the back. As soon as we can find another cooker that will fit in that space, that will be the next thing in the skip. How Pat serves up the meals she does is a credit to her patience and culinary skills. On the credit side, we do now eat more salads!! As far as our gas supply goes, we carry two 17kg propane bottles. I hooked up one bottle a couple of weeks before we left Sunderland and I had to change it last week, so we are getting about five months out of a bottle. Have to get it filled as soon as I can or I may not get my Christmas lunch!! If we still have this cooker it might be salad anyway.

Moral of the Month

If you can keep your head whilst all about you are losing their’s…….. you just don’t understand the situation do you!!!

Top of Page

Sept 2007

At the end of last month we went into La Rochelle intending to stay there for a week or so to get ready to cross Biscay and to sort out a few admin things such as insurance etc. However we were told when we got there that we could not stay as they needed the berths for their annual boat show. We managed to get the weekend out of it but then we were unceremoniously asked to leave. As I said before there was nothing in any of the pilot books about this show and nor were any of the other ‘foreigners’, that were there, aware of it. I feel that this is a quite important piece of information. We had an insurance policy at the time which covered us down to the 46th parallel and I don’t think that this policy is unique. Because of this show it meant that all the other marinas in the area were pretty full any the only option we had was to go to Rochefort which is just a few minutes south of the 46^th parallel so basically we were uninsured until we got the new policy sorted out. We should of course have got all this sorted out earlier and we would have too if we were aware of the boat show at La Rochelle.

You can be sure that we are contacting the relevant publishers to try to get this event into the pilot books.

So we left La Rochelle without really being able to give it a good once over but you will get the gist from Pat’s pages.

We decided to go to Rochefort which is a little further south and about eight miles up the River Charente. The pilot book showed a few anchorages with a small marina at Rochefort itself. We left La Rochelle on the early tide and headed out and then south. Here there is a large bay which is guarded by the Ile d’Oleron. To the south of this bay is the estuary of the Charente. Not far from the mouth of the river is the Ile d’Aix and between this and Ile d’Oleron is the famous Fort Boyard where just about every European country films the popular game show.

The bay is fairly shallow all over and the deepest we found was no more than 12 meters. We sailed close to Fort Boyard to take the proverbial photos and then to Ile d’Aix and anchored there to go ashore. We needed to waste some time for the tide to be right for us to go up the Charente. Pat will tell you more about our visit there.

The entrance to the Charente is fairly straight forward, there are shoals but there is good buoyage and we went straight in and followed the buoys. After a couple of miles there are leading lines, mainly for the deeper ships which still go up to Rochefort. The current in the river is quite strong and with the engine on tick-over we were doing about 9 knots over the ground. There is a yacht club about half way up the river with moorings and a suggested anchorage. Looking at the state of the buoys with the tide nearly burying them in the water, I was not looking forward to the prospect of anchoring here if we could not get into the marina!

The marina is locked with a single gate which only opens for about ½ an hour before high water so arriving late is not an option. There is a waiting pontoon but it dries into soft mud. Anyway luck was at last on our side and they found us a berth. It was cheap and they had all the facilities we needed. Here we also made some new friends but again see Pat’s pages.

Once we had sorted everything out we were now ready for our Biscay crossing. We had now managed to sort out our SSB receiver and we were now actually able to receive weather faxes on our laptops. The weather whilst we were in Rochefort was the best we had on our trip so far and for the next few days there would be a high pressure system over the North coast of Spain. 

We decided to aim for Gijon which is about half way along the north coast of Spain, so as long as the wind didn’t come from the south we had several options if the weather decided not to co-operate. We would have liked to have landed a little nearer the French border but one of the terms of our insurance policy was that we had to be South of La Coruna by the 1st October, so there would not be enough time to explore all the Rias along that coast which was a pity but we can’t do everything I suppose.

The weather forecast proved quite accurate. We came down river on the falling tide and out into the bay and headed north to round the North end of the Ile d’Oleron and then out into Biscay. There is a bridge at the south end of the island linking it with the mainland and there is a passage through but it is reported to be dangerous at full flow with shifting shoals. It would have cut about 25 miles off our journey but even the locals advised against us trying it.

Once round the end of the island we headed on a course of 233 degrees and straight for Gijon. The wind of course died and we motor-sailed for most of the first day. The wind got up a bit in the late afternoon so we sailed until about 0200 the next morning when we had to start the engine again and were running it until about 0800 hrs. At 1000 hrs we were joined by dolphins who stayed with us for a few hours. For the remainder of the crossing it was engine on and off for about four to six hours at a time.

Our pilot book states that the south of Biscay does not deserve the reputation that it has. Yes, Biscay does get some rough weather and we have witnessed some big seas from the right side of a few breakwaters but I have seen just as bad in the English Channel and The North Sea. In fact the worst conditions we have experienced on our trip so far have been in the English Channel!

As we neared Gijon we did not get the usual excitement of a landfall by one of us shouting ‘Land Ahoy!!’ There was thick fog along the coast and we couldn’t see Gijon until just two miles off! The entrance is fairly straight forward and we went straight in to the visitors berth and moored up. The check-in procedure is a bit more complex here. Passports were to be produced along with insurance certificate and boat registration but it was all a friendly process and we moved over to a more permanent berth.

We were told that the main features about sailing on this coast were the fog and the swell. The fog we had already seen and the swell in Biscay was a little different to what we had experienced so far. Influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, the swell is long and slow compared to the likes of the English Channel or the North Sea. It is reasonably comfortable to sail in but as you approach the coast it starts to become a little more significant and as we were to find later it can also become uncomfortable. Another feature we found on this coast is that being the North coast of Spain, you are always facing South as you enter a harbour or port. This means that if the sun is out, it is also low and in your face as you are trying to enter port in the afternoon looking to locate marks and leading lines. So either the sun is in your eyes or it is foggy, either way it means that a GPS or chart plotter is pretty handy along this coast.

 Even though the marina at Gijon seems well sheltered the swell seems to get round the breakwater and even in calm weather there is a lot of movement on the pontoons. We were pretty knackered by the time we settled the boat down, so after a meal ashore we still managed a good nights sleep.

After a couple of days we were ready to move on again. There are quite a few potential stops along this coast so we have decided to just day sail from port to port as the weather allows. The next port of interest was Cudillero. It is just around Cabo Penas and about 27 miles from Gijon. It has a narrow entrance but the entrance is deep so as long as the swell was not too big we should be OK here. We sailed in company with a small catamaran from the south coast of England and a single-hander from Germany flying a Belgian ensign (not quite sure why).

The entrance to Cudillero proved a little hairy with rocks either side and not much room for error. With the sun in our eyes the entrance was difficult to see but once round the corner and in the harbour it was calm. The pontoons were quite small and not much room for El Lobo so we tried to pick up a mooring. I pulled on the rope but it just kept on coming. Eventually I felt the weight come off the bottom so we decided to anchor. We found a spot next to a big white plastic gin palace. It was a bit tight so we also put out our stern anchor and we held firm for the time we were there.

I went ashore to register but the Capitania had gone home. The next morning I tried again but he still wasn’t to be found. Eventually we managed to find someone who told us that if we were in the middle of the harbour there was no charge.

Cudillero was a very pretty little town and also very old and little spoilt so we stayed a couple of days and then left for the Ria de Ribadeo. The wind was unfortunately from the west but light so we were motoring for a while then by early afternoon the wind increased so we bore away to get some power from the sails and ended up on a hard beat, out to sea for about 5 miles an then back to shore and repeat!

As we approached the entrance to the Ria, the visibility was not that good and spotting the leading marks wasn’t easy. Once we turned south into the Ria we dropped the foresail but with the wind now on the beam coupled with the long swell we were surfing in at tremendous speeds. We were at the bottom of the tide and the route in is under a large road bridge and the arch nearest the west shore is the one with enough water. There was a plethora of small fishing boats in this stretch and many seemed to be drawing nets between them and pointing for us to go round them. Where they were pointing was close to the shore so we eased down our speed and dropped the mainsail. I had thought we were going to have a bit of a conflict here but the fishermen rowed towards each other and then waved us towards them using sign language to say that there was more water where they were. A relief as the depth sounder was telling me that the bottom was steadily coming up to meet us!

The marina is just a few hundred yards past the bridge and as we turned we saw the German we had met earlier and he indicated us to a pontoon further up the marina as where he was moored was subject to the proverbial swell. So we went over to another pontoon and the Capitania was there to give us a hand. All the electric points were the large 32 amp variety so we had to borrow an adapter from the marina. They were very helpful and willing despite the language difficulty.

The next port was Ria de Vivero, another 35 miles west of Ribadeo so just another day’s sail. The wind was in our favour now but not strong enough to run without the engine. There were big swells and we needed to keep some speed on to keep the boat as steady as we could in the conditions. However the engine decided to die on us! We had changed tanks and were running on fuel that had been on board for a while and a residue blocked the secondary filter. I changed the filter and the engine seemed ok until it stopped again. This time it was just an airlock but it happened again so we changed back to the other tank and had no more problems. So now I have to drain that tank again to clear out the contamination.

We got into Vivero without further problems and found a really nice, friendly marina and the Capitania was a really helpful fellow. This could be a good place to winter the boat as it is well sheltered and reasonably priced. The marina is a short trip up the river and the pontoons are fairly new and in good condition.

Our next target now was La Coruna which is some sixty miles away so we thought we would split it into two trips and visit Ria de Cedeira for the night. The trip out of the Ria de Ribadeo was pretty bouncy as we headed into the swell and it was nearly five miles before we could bear away to a little more comfort! We noticed a Spanish yacht motoring out before us and also saw that he was pretty close to the cliffs on the western side of the Ria. There was a huge rock ahead of him and then we realised that he was going inshore of it. Looking again at the chart we could see that there was a possible route there and a short-cut. I would not normally have contemplated such a route in strange waters but decided to follow him through. There was plenty of water there so we should be safe and we would also get a short respite from the swell. Well we got the respite alright but there was also a goodly concentration of pot buoys to weave around! As we emerged from the rock we then had the wind on the beam and were soon powering on. The swell stayed with us however making it an uncomfortable ride but we had a good sail and we were pleased when we arrived at the Ria de Cedeira to calmer waters. We met a French catamaran coming out and they made a gesture to signify a rocky sea and we pointed out to sea indicating that it was. On reflection we think that he meant at the anchorage but we went ahead and found a spot to drop the hook and settled down for the night. The wind was increasing in strength but was coming off the shore which was about 500 meters away so there was little fetch. The wind got up to force 7 during the night and the boat moved about a little but we have certainly been in worse. The bottom seemed like a muddy clay and the anchor held firm, in fact it took a bit of lifting out. Thank goodness I fixed the electrics on the windlass! 

From Cedeira it was just another 30 miles down the coast to La Coruna. Thankfully the swell had diminished. We had a strong wind at first which was on the beam so we had two reefs in both sails which gave us a comfortable ride averaging around six knots. Then just after mid-day the wind dropped. We hoisted full sail but still needed the engine. So for the last ten miles we motor sailed along the coast and then into La Coruna.

I feel that we have skipped along this coast much too quickly but we had a deadline to meet in order to comply with the insurance and to be honest, that is what our trip was to have been all about, no deadlines. There was so much that we have missed out  that we would have liked to have seen and explored. We have done in two weeks what we would have liked to have spent two months doing. It is a very attractive coast with beautiful mountains inland. Well worth a long summer cruise.

Next month we hope to round Cabo Finisterre and into the Rias of the Atlantic coast above Portugal but we certainly won’t be doing the mileage that we have done this month.

The Boat

Well we have now been six months on our voyage and I would now expect things to start to go wrong with the equipment and to a certain extent that has been happening. On our trip from Cudillero to Ribadeo we noticed that we were not getting sufficient charge into the batteries from the engine’s alternator. Once tied up in Ribadeo I checked through the system and isolated and checked all the batteries. Eventually I found that the earth wire connecting the domestic bank to the boat’s ground had come out of its terminal. A simple thing that can have you confused. Perhaps I have been at sea too long already!!!

As mentioned above we also still have a bit of a fuel problem which I believe still stems from sea water getting into the fuel tank a couple of years ago. One of our winter projects will be to clean the tanks out thoroughly. It will not be possible to do it whilst on the move as we are, other than to try to remove as much contamination as we can by drawing off the fuel from the tank.

We have been tweaking the rig as we go and have discovered a few items of chafe. Nothing serious, just a few items of cordage which are easily put right but this has made us aware that we need a checklist for various sections of the boat. I have a few ideas that I hope will improve things and I will tell you about them if they work!

Weather Forecasting.

As mentioned earlier we now have managed to rig up our Target SSB receiver to receive weather faxes. We have a little Sony radio which is supposed to be able to do the job but we have been unable to get any joy from it so we bought the Target whilst we were in Guernsey (VAT free and all that!) but the aerial supplied with it was just not adequate. So whilst we were in La Rochelle I managed to get hold of an ‘active’ aerial. When in Rochefort we met a French couple who also had a Junk Schooner and they showed us what frequencies to look for. So when back on the boat I rigged the aerial while Pat twiddled with a few knobs and Bingo we now have weather faxes!     

Moral of the Month

This one needs a little introduction. Whilst in Rochefort we met a couple with a new boat who were on their way the La Rochelle and their boat was to be in the show. It was a Southerly about 48 ft long. It was a beautiful boat with extremely clean lines. Simon and Jacque invited us on board for a drink and he proudly showed us his boat. Most of the systems on board were computerised and this he admitted was the Achilles’ heel as there were a few glitches in the systems. On deck the mast was carbon fibre and all the lines leading back to the cockpit were below deck level so not a rope to be seen. She was also obviously a fast boat under sail but a cruiser just the same.

They came on board El Lobo the next day and the comparison was that theirs was the luxury city apartment and ours was the country cottage! We exchanged cards and emails and they went on their way to La Rochelle.

A few days later we received an email from Simon. Basically he said how they had enjoyed our company and also how they envied our project. He pointed out that although with their much faster boat they cover far more miles than in their holidays and weekends but unlike us they never get the chance ‘to smell the roses’.

We though that this was a great expression and generally fitted our situation. Thank you Simon.

So the moral of the month is when you are travelling great distances slow down a little and give yourself a chance to ‘smell the roses’. 

France

Well we have now left France and I have to say that we have left it with a little remorse and with a much different feeling towards the country and its countrymen than we had before we landed on her shores.

We first landed at Cherbourg. This is a busy port with its ferry terminal and as well as a commercial and Naval port it has a busy fishing sector so we automatically assumed that it would be a little bland with commercial docks etc. we couldn’t have been more wrong. When we arrived and moored up we went to the Capitainerie and the first thing we noticed was the green of a marina park, well manicured and laid out. The walk round to the office was on clean gravel and the whole atmosphere was pleasant.

The town was occupied by the Nazis during the war and was relieved by the Americans after the Normandy Landings so there was some bitter fighting in the area. But the town has recovered and is making the best of the history. We found much to do and see here.

From here we went to the Channel Islands where we stayed for six weeks and our next port in France was Treguier. This is Brittany and here we learned to love France and its people. We were lucky enough to be here on July 14th, their National Day. The celebrations were basic but still a sense of a major event. There was open air dancing of the Breton style and we made some new friends with whom we are keeping in touch as we go.

We were in Brittany until we left Pornichet having also visited Brest, Camaret, Port Louis, and Houat. The people were laid back and easy going and always willing to help especially with our lack of a French vocabulary!

From Pornichet we went to Port Joinville on the Ile De Yeu, basically a holiday island but without high-rise hotels, discos and neon lights. It was almost like going back half a century and many of the cars seemed to have been there that long as well. From here our next stop was La Rochelle. Whilst this is a more commercial centre it still retained some of the charm that we had found elsewhere. From here to Rochefort via Ile D’Aix and more new friends.

As a cruising area, the West Coast offers a tremendous variety of sailing. From Brest and its large sheltered bay and rivers to explore going South to rocky inlets and rivers there are conditions for all to enjoy. The costs of the marinas are also a lot less than the ‘rip off Britain’ prices of the South Coast of England.

It is true that we have not ventured very far inland but most places we have visited in France were ports with some commercial interest but that somehow did not take away the impression that we gained from our first landing in Cherbourg. If you get the chance to go to Brittany, take it. We don’t think you will be disappointed, as long as you take the time ‘to smell the roses’.

Top of Page

October 2007

La Coruna.

We landed in La Coruna to meet up with Pat’s daughter Margaret and her new husband John. Whilst there we sailed over to El Ferrol and then down to Sada. There are four Rias or bays within this whole inlet making it a mini cruising ground in itself. These are El Ferrol, Ria de Ares, Ria de Betanzos and Ria de La Coruna.

El Ferrol has little to offer visiting yachtsmen with just a small marina for locals. It is mainly a commercial port but also is reputed to be the largest Naval Port in Spain. It is a natural harbour with a narrow entrance opening out into a large bay, the north side of which accommodates most of the commercial and naval facilities. The prettiest anchorages lie on the south of the bay with a couple others on the north side along the entrance channel near an old fort. There is now a new breakwater about halfway across the entrance to the Ria with a new harbour facility just inside. This would make the anchorages inside the Ria pretty well sheltered from most winds.

To the south of El Ferrol is Ria de Ares with a little harbour where anchoring by the mole will give protection from the north and further on south is the Ria de Betanzos with Fontan and Sada. Although La Coruna is usually the target for yachts crossing Biscay, the facilities there are minimal but at Sada they have a much larger marina and were still installing more pontoons whilst we were there. This, I feel, will now make Sada a more practical destination for Biscay crossings. There are chandlers handy to the marina with new hoists, an engineer and a sailmaker. Whereas in La Coruna the chandlery is about a mile from the marina.

In La Coruna there are a few options as far as berthing is concerned. You can of course anchor just inside the breakwater or across the bay at Ensenada de Mere. To berth to a pontoon there is the yacht club pontoons where you can moor up bow or stern to. We berthed in the Darsena de la Marina which is relatively new and just around the corner from the yacht club moorings. Fuel is only available at the yacht club. From the first of October all the mooring charges are considerably reduced so from now on our trip will be considerably cheaper. British marinas take note!

When we were ready to leave there was little wind forecasted so we fuelled up round at the yacht club and set sail for Ria de Corme y Lage.

Lage (Laxe)

This was a journey of about 38 miles further round the Cote de Mort. This has an obvious reputation with many wrecks marked on the charts. This coast stretches from Cabo Ortegal to Cabo Finisterre and includes the Rias Atlas. The weather here can be quickly changeable but there was a high pressure system coming in from the Atlantic and we had little wind so the engine was on for the trip. There was a swell coming down from the south so when we entered the Ria we headed for Lage which is on the south shore of the Ria. There is no actual marina here so we anchored just off the south mole of the small harbour there. We still suffered a little from the swell and rocked quite a bit through the night. There was little wind and the tide was slight so we seemed to lie across the swell. Next time I may try the stern anchor to keep head to the swell.

Camarinas

The next morning we raised the anchor a set off for Ria de Camarinas another 20 miles along the coast. Once again there was little wind so we motor sailed all the way. There are a few hazards along this coast with rocks strewn along the cliffs but we kept out about three miles well away from the dangers. There is a rock called El Bujardo just off Cabo Villano which you have to round to enter the Ria and from then on into the Ria careful pilotage is needed especially at low water.

Even though it was a little misty the scenery was fabulous with some good looking beaches with white sand as we passed on to the marina. This is a comparatively new marina and Pepe the manager showed us to our berth. Here we bumped into a few old friends we had met previously along the coast.

Portosin  

Our next stop was to be Portosin which is about half way up the Ria de Muros a few miles south east of Cabo Finisterre. I felt it was far enough up the Ria to provide adequate protection should the weather turn foul. We are well into October now and wary of the possibility of sudden weather changes especially in the vicinity of Finisterre. The trip itself was not complicated. As long as you give the coast an offing of about three miles you will have little to worry about. Actually rounding the notorious Cabo Finisterre turned out to be a bit of an anticlimax. There was little wind and we had the engine on at about half throttle.

Another ten miles and we rounded Pta Queixal and into Ria de Muros. At last the wind got up and we had a good sail up the Ria and few other sailboats showed interest in our rig and tried to join us but we had the wind on the beam and Lobo, despite being a little overweight, just showed them her stern! We raised a lot of interest in our rig that night.

Entrance into the marina is straight forward and we tied up to the wave breaker before being allocated our berth but the Capitainia told us we could just stay where we were. At first I was happy with that but we were soon to realise that this was not a good spot. We had arrived on the Friday night which just happened to be Spain’s national day so nobody was at work. Over the weekend it was the same then on the Monday morning the fishing boats started. The 3 knot speed limit is of course ignored in Spain and we had a rough ride tied up to the pontoon. I had to complain to the marina and told them we would have to move. They tried to place us in another awkward place but I refused and moored inside a large ex-navy launch and told them that we would be there for one night only and then we would leave.  We did get a better nights sleep but we still left the next day. If you ever happen to go to Portosin and it is otherwise a good marina, make sure you are well inland of the wave break. The facilities are good and the yacht club is welcoming with a good restaurant.

Bayona.

Bayona is the last port in Spain with a marina and we had arranged to meet others there. From Portosin it is a distance of about 45 miles but with many rocks on the way. There are ways through them with careful pilotage, but there was a risk of poor visibility that day so we decided to just keep well out and keep it uncomplicated.

We passed some interesting Rias on the way that we would have liked to go into and explore but the year is getting late now and we need to push South before the winter really sets in.

Bayona is on the south of the Ria de Vigo about twenty miles west of Vigo itself and is well sheltered from the Atlantic. It is protected by a ring of rocks which seem to kill the swell. As you round Islas Cies at the mouth of the Ria, carry on south for about another three miles before heading in and pick up the south cardinal buoy. This marks the southern end of the ring of rocks. There is then safe water to enter the bay. There is a yellow buoy in the bay, keep this to port but give the pier a good offing. There are a couple or red can buoys to guide you into the marina. These are not lit. Here there are two options to moor. Either the yacht club which runs its own moorings with bows to pontoons, or the new marina. We chose the marina.

The marina itself is new but unfinished. The visitors moorings face the fish quay and small boat moorings. There is supposed to be a speed limit here but again nobody takes a blind bit of notice. Consequently the visitors are given a rough time of it even in calm weather. I could find nothing to recommend Bayona as a marina at this stage. The toilets were portacabins and are also used by the staff and passers-by and they were filthy. It was the most expensive marina we had stayed at since leaving England and the bimbo in the office was the epitome of sales prevention. Her attitude left me reeling so we spent one sleepless night on the pontoon thinking we were still in the gale we experienced at Cherbourg and the next night we were peacefully at anchor at the other end of the bay. We had intended to stay a while at Bayona but the prices and attitudes shortened our stay. So we left for Portugal.

Portugal

Viana do Castelo

We left Bayona at first light and headed for Povoa de Varzim. It was a bright morning but little wind to start with as we headed out with two other boats. Again it was a matter of keeping well out but not for the rocks this time but for the density of lobster pots! We were seeing pot floats even where there were depths of 80 meters or more! About mid morning we received a text from our friends in the Catalac saying that they had engine problems and had put into Viana do Castelo so we replied that we would come in. They also told us that it was cheap! We told them we could be there by around 1500. This shortened our trip this day to around 35 miles. The entrance into Viana do Castelo is straight forward. It has commercial docks there so the channel is deep and well buoyed. The marina is about 1.5 miles up the Rio Lima with the cutest little swing bridge across the entrance and a waiting pontoon that has water and electrics on it! I assume that this would be used as an overspill when it is full as the marina itself is quite small. There is a small yacht club by the marina which is welcoming and where we watched South Africa beat England in the Rugby World Cup Final! Viana is beautiful and well worth a visit, but Pat will tell you more.

Povoa de Varzim

Friends of ours wintered here last season and said that they enjoyed it so we decided to call in. It is the next marina south of Vianna do Castelo so just a short trip. Once again, lobster pots are most prolific and there was little opportunity to use the autohelm. We tried going further out to sea but they were still there. However we did notice that the swell was more gentle and speaking to others this was to be our plan for future trips.

The entrance is fairly straight forward except for breaking water at the end of the north breakwater so the message was to sail well south of it before turning in to cross the bar. The marina itself was a little disappointing as again we suffered buffeting from the swell and wake of the fishing boats so we didn’t stay long.

Figueira da Foz

This was a trip of around eighty miles so we left early. There was little wind to start with so with the engine on we headed straight out to sea and into the more comfortable swell, still having to avoid the pots. The wind was easterly about F1 which only just managed to fill the sails but gave us little assistance until about mid-day when it picked up a little and by about 1400 it backed round to the north and increased so we managed to sail on without engine at last. This wind is a regular occurrence and can be quite ferocious but more on that later. Later that day it increased to around F6.

Figueiro da Foz is at the mouth of the longest river to rise in Portugal, the River Mondego. In a heavy swell the entrance is dangerous and there are times when they actually close the harbour and no one is allowed to enter or leave. We arrived in the dark, not what we wanted to do but we needed to make some distance. The swell we had experienced was coming from the north so it was considerably lessened as we rounded Cabo Mondego and our entrance was quite smooth. We tied up to the reception and were greeted by the uniformed marina capitaina who wanted to see our registration documents and our passports. There was also a customs officer in the office, armed to the teeth and trying desperately to look like Doc Holliday! We were then directed to our berth and settled down for the night. On reading the pilot books we were expecting it to be subject to swell again but we found it quite comfortable.

The Boat

Generally the boat has performed well. I am still tweaking the rig a little as we go. I  removed the bottom batten on the foresail to extend the fendering and lash on a longer parrel as it was restricting the forward movement of the sail. With the foremast being raked forward we need a little more adjustment than would normally be required if the mast was perpendicular. Hopefully this will give us a little more efficiency especially when the wind is aft of the beam.

As I reported last month we have suffered a little chafe. The worst was to the yard parrel which holds the yard close to the mast. It is attached to the yard then goes around the mast back to the same fitting then through a block and down the mast and back to the cockpit where we apply the correct amount of tension for the conditions. In a choppy sea with not enough wind, the yard will try to move back and forth putting pressure on the yard parrel and chafe the rope by the yard fitting. On the Chinese Junk of Michel and Anne that we met in Rochefort, they used wooden parrel beads as is sometimes used on gaff rigs. I couldn’t get any parrel beads of a sufficient size and so settled for some 1” diameter reinforced water hose cut to the length of the circumference of the mast plus a couple of inches. This allows a little slack around the mast and holds the fitting away from the mast as we were getting a little damage to the paintwork at the top of the mast. This was important as Pat was getting sick of being pulled up the mast to touch up the paintwork!

For the batten parrels I have changed from a traditional looking polypropylene rope to a more conventional hard orange polypropylene as used by the fishing industry. It is a much more slippery and therefore causes less wear to the paintwork on the mast. It doesn’t look quite as pretty but works better. As it is slippery, it is a sod to lash on so I have had to sew the rope ends back to the standing part to prevent the lashings from coming undone. This seems to be doing the trick so far.

We are now thinking of the winter and will be seeking somewhere in the south of Portugal or Spain where we can winter up and get some more work done on the boat. We will probably try to find somewhere to lift out the masts and overhaul or replace the anemometer as well as installing a TV aerial at the top of the mast (Pat’s orders!). So we need to be round the corner past Cape St Vincent by the end of November which should also take us out of the Atlantic swell!

The Weather

For October we have been extremely lucky with the weather. We have been in shorts and tee shirts most of the time. It rained as we were preparing to leave Viana but it stopped before we set off and we sailed in the sun again. We do not recall having sailed in the rain since we left England.

The winds on this coast are fairly predictable (so far). About mid morning a sea breeze starts from the east and by early afternoon it veers round from the north and increases in strength. This can get up to Force 7. The swell is also affected by the wind and towards late afternoon sailing with the wind dead behind you it can be a little tricky especially as you close the coast. The swell out in deeper water can be reasonably comfortable and it can give false confidence, but as you close the coast you soon appreciate the power that is there.  The wind generally starts to die down towards dusk.

Winds can also be strong in river mouths and in the lee of a headland due to katabatic effects so care is needed when entering under sail.

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November 2007

Nazare

 We spent a couple of extra days in Figuiera da Foz as I picked up a bit of a tummy bug, so once fit we set off for Nazare, a distance of about 38 miles. We came out into an easterly wind about F4 and had a good sail for a couple of hours until the wind died in the late morning so engine on again. We arrived mid afternoon with no problems. Nazare is one of the few harbours on the Portuguese coast that is safe to enter in all conditions. The harbour is man-made as is situated at the end of the Nazare canyon which gives deep water to within about 100 meters from the harbour entrance which apparently kills the swell giving a relatively calm entry in all weathers.

We arrived on one of their Bank Holidays so that the Harbour Master was off. I dealt with all the other personnel that I needed to and the next day he arrived, Captain Hadley that is. I had been warned about him. He was from the Isle of Man. I think he feels that he is the only one who knows how to moor a boat as no matter what you do, he will advise you how to do it better. We had moored up to the hammerhead and as usual I allowed as much room as I could for another boat to be able to moor up in front of us. Apparently I should have moored up to the middle! We mentioned that we were headed south. Big mistake!! He then proceeded to advise us on the best course between the island of Berlanga and wanted to show us on our chart. I daren’t tell him that this stretch of the coast was the only one for which I did not have a chart. I managed to bluff my way out of it at the risk of having to do 50 lines!! 

There are two marinas inside, one is private and the other takes visitors. However it is a busy fishing port with the fish quay adjacent to the visitors’ marina. Whenever a fishing boat comes in, a siren is sounded to call in buyers from the town and the catch is sold there and then. This happens 24 hours a day and we had heard that it would not be a peaceful stay but we were not disturbed whilst we were there. It seems as though there was an attempt to develop the area about a decade ago but never finished and just left to go back to nature. There were wild dogs roaming around and the long walk through the docks at night was not very inviting. After a couple of days we left for Cascais.

Cascais

We fuelled up at Nazare in the morning before we left. The fuel berth was run by a BP service station which was just above the private marina and is open 24 hours so we managed an early start. The journey was 76 miles to Cascais and we had little wind so engine yet again. Cascais is situated near the mouth of the River Tejo where Lisbon is situated.

The route took us between Peniche and the Island of Berlenga. We had met a German boat at Pavoa who was sailing with his family and they were intending to anchor at the island. It is a bird sanctuary so much of the island is out of bounds but it looked very picturesque as we passed.

As dusk approached we passed the Cabo da Roca which is the most westerly point of mainland Europe. The clever clogs amongst you will say that it is not the most westerly point of Europe proper and you’d be right, Dunmore Head in Ireland is slightly further west by almost one degree of longitude, but this is mainland Europe.

It was pitch dark as we rounded Cabo Raso and we were presented with a coastline of lights and it was difficult to pick out the lighthouses and beacons as they were pathetically dim by comparison. We found that we needed our GPS waypoint to locate the marina as eyeballing the way in at night was difficult to say the least and this was confirmed by others we had spoken to who had the same difficulty. There are three south cardinal buoys just outside the breakwater but we couldn’t see them until we were within about half a mile of the marina. Once round the breakwater we found the reception berth and were given a warm welcome by Miguel who gave us a temporary berth for the night.

The next morning we were directed to another part of the marina where we stayed for ten days and joined up with friends we had met in France and Spain. This was the best marina that we have stayed at so far on our trip. It was friendly and helpful and seemed very efficient. It is apparently quite expensive during the peak sailing period but we found their winter rates quite acceptable.

Sesimbra

 Sesimbra is just 30 miles south of Cascais. We had planned to get an early start and go straight to Sines but we needed more fuel and the pumps were not available until 0900 so we decided to break the journey in two and called in here.

We had good wind to start with but as we were crossing the shipping channel dodging tankers, the wind died so back to the iron tops’l. However once clear of the shipping the wind got up again, so engine off again. It was a dead run and we averaged about six knots all the way to Sesimbra and even had to put in a couple of reefs in each sail.

Sesimbra itself is situated round the corner of Cabo Espichel a little to the east. By the time we got there the wind had increases to F6 still from the north so this made a good haven. It is a small marina with small prices and I would imagine that in the summer it would be quite busy and full. However there were plenty of spaces and as we came in we picked out our pontoon. We always try to moor up port side to especially since we fitted the new engine and the bigger prop. As we approached the pontoon I allowed for the wind that was always going to blow us away from the pontoon but I got it wrong! We slowly slid across to the neighbouring pontoon and tied up starboard side to! To any observer they would have thought that we always did it this way! One little point here though, as we are always entering unfamiliar marinas we always rig lines and fenders so that we can moor up either side when we come in. With just the two of us there usually isn’t time to change over especially in cases like here.

We just stayed the one night and set off for Sines the next morning when we had the most spectacular sight of a pod of Bottle-Nosed Dolphins escorting us for a while. There must have been two or three dozen of them. After they left us, within about 15 minutes, another pod of common dolphins joined us and one in particular was a real show-off! But get more details from Pat’s etchings.

Sines

Sines is well recommended in our pilot book and is just another 30 miles south so a nice comfortable day sail. The wind was a lot less this day so we had to use the engine for the whole trip. We had sails up of course and we did get some assistance at odd times through the day. One good advantage with the junk rig is that you can keep the sails up when motoring without them flogging, and as you get a little wind the sails can be adjusted to suit to give a little extra speed or you can drop the engine revs.

The marina itself is about ten years old and very clean and pristine. It is used by many as the set off point for Madeira or the Canaries as it is the last marina south on the west coast of Portugal.

Entrance is easy enough. There is a long man made mole extending south from the main shipping harbour with a reef of rocks at the end of it. There is a red can buoy marking the end of the reef but it still needs a wide berth especially if there is any swell, and there usually is! There are a few rocks just off the mole but a half-mile offing is sufficient. The harbour itself is quite huge with breakwaters to the east and west. The marina is situated on the north shore with its own breakwaters forming a little harbour in itself, with local fishing boats and motorboats on moorings to the west and the marina itself to the east. There is a reception pontoon but there were plenty of spaces so we picked one out and went straight in, and we got it right this time!

Although there was no visible swell coming in to the marina, there was a lot of movement on the pontoons. All the boats were moving about and snatching at their moorings so we had three rather uncomfortable nights here.

Lagos

We then headed south to round the south west corner of Portugal. We now needed to find somewhere to spend the winter and we felt that we would be in a better climate along the Algarve coast or even across the border into Spain. We decided to head for Lagos to start with a journey of around eighty miles. As we like to arrive at a new port in daylight if we can, we decided to set off at around 1600 hrs and sail through the night and then we would arrive around mid morning the next day.

The stretch of coastline from Sines to Cabo St Vincent is basically one long sandy beach until you near the cape itself, and that means very few pots to avoid! So we were able to keep a fairly straight course all the way to the cape. There are no real hazards to worry about until you reach the cape. There can be some rough water if you get too close although there are no rocks to worry about. From the cape to Lagos is another twenty miles and a straight forward entrance.

There is a reception pontoon where you register and then a lifting footbridge to allow entrance into the marina. The marina itself is secure and clean with all the facilities. The summer rates are fairly expensive but the long-term rates are a fair deal. In fact there is also a fair community of Brit live-aboards there who have organised themselves with a pretty impressive social calendar with quiz nights, computer sessions and walking or rambling tours as well as a monthly book swap.

Portimáo

Portimáo is just about eight or so miles east of Lagos so a sail of just a couple of hours to get there. We are mindful now of looking for a place to stay for the winter and we needed to be fairly close to Faro from where we would be flying back to UK for Xmas. We had a cracking sail across the bay with a fresh northerly wind. The river entrance is bound by two low breakwaters and we sailed in with reefed sails and up the river. We passed the main marina and considered dropping the anchor in a small bay opposite. However we carried on upriver as we knew that there were other mooring options further up. There is a smaller marina nearer the town and as we approached we could see a space so we moored up. We stayed a couple of nights (very Cheap!!) and then moved on to Vilamoura.

Vilamoura

The sail to Vilamoura was one of the best we have had for some time. We were close hauled all the way but kept up an average of around six knots for the journey. The trip was just 24 miles, an easy day sail without much in the way of hazards. The entrance into the marina is straightforward with a reception pontoon as you enter. However the pontoons that we were allocated were short and very thin with just the one bollard at a very narrow end and the services pillar with the water and electrics just in line with our anchor. We only just managed to avoid demolishing it. Why they cannot position them in the middle of the two pontoons I cannot imagine. There are so many marinas that do the same. One day someone may be able to explain the reason why. We were still looking for somewhere to winter the boat reasonably near to Faro for our flight home for Xmas. Although the marina was well run, there seemed to be few facilities here for us. The only chandler we found had little stock and the lift out prices were nearly as much as in England. It is purely a holiday resort with a marina. Nothing more.

Olhăo

Olhăo is the neighbouring town to Faro and it showed a new marina in Reeds so we thought we would have a look. If we could get in it would be really convenient to get our flight. Another trip of around 20 miles but the wind was on the nose so it was a beat and we actually logged over thirty miles. There is a sand spit at the entrance that we had to go around. The tide was flooding as we entered and we logged nine knots over the ground along the first channel. It is basically a large lagoon with salt marshes enclosed by a series of sand banks. Once inside the current eases but then it is careful pilotage along buoyed channels one of which meanders up to the marina. There are also several anchorages within the marshes. We followed the channel up to Olhăo and along to the marina only to be told that there was no room so we doubled back seaward to find an anchorage in one of the larger stretches of water and anchored for the night.

Ayamonte

Ayamonte is on the Rio Guadiana which marks the border between Portugal and Spain and is on the Spanish side. Friends we had met on our travels were already there and had told us that it was cheap and secure. That was just what we needed so the next day we upped the anchor and headed out of the lagoon to the sea. We were in fact about four miles into the lagoon so we had to head west back to the entrance only to have to turn east to Ayamonte, so that was an extra eight miles on our journey. Planning didn’t go so well there!! Once we got to sea we had to head into the wind and were beating until the afternoon when the wind died so for the last ten miles we were motoring. The coast along here is mainly sandy beaches and on this particular stretch there are sand banks that are always changing. As we approached our destination large buildings appeared at Monte Gordo, which is about three miles west of the river entrance. With the sun behind us they were well lit and seemed for all the world like we had discovered Atlantis as the buildings looked as though they were rising up out of the sea. There are huge fish farms to avoid here as well and it was difficult to pick out the channel buoys from the many buoys around the fish farms. We were approaching high tide as we entered the channel and our sounder was showing only about four meters at one stage. When we leave I will make sure that we are near the top of the tide! Although there are few facilities here, it looks as though we may be staying at least until January when we will need to look for somewhere where we can lift out for a few days.

The Boat

We have had a recurring problem with fuel so I finally decided to drain one of the tanks that seemed to have the problem. I got quit a bit of dirty fuel out and heartbreakingly had to dump about sixty litres. I filled the tank again only to find that the engine stopped when I turned over to that tank. More investigation and I have now found that there is a slight leak to the suction pipe that is allowing air in so that the engine’s lift pump is not sufficient to extract the fuel from the tank. I can pump it out by hand with a little piston pump that I have for all sorts of uses but I now have one full tank of fuel that I can’t use. I also cannot get at the pipe whilst the tank is in position. (I think I need a small boy with a very strong wrist!) So once we have our wintering spot I will have to drain the tank again, move it so it can get at the pipework and put it all back together again. Not a job I am looking forward to!

On the plus side, El Lobo has at last gone electric! I don’t know why it has taken us so long. Now it is ‘winter’ or at least out of season, the marina prices have dropped considerably so that we now spend most of our time alongside and plugged into the mains. We have now invested in an electric kettle, a toaster and a two-ring cooking hob. We don’t actually spend much on gas but the problems of getting the bottles is quite an ordeal, in fact we have been told that it is illegal to refill bottles in Portugal but we may have more success in Spain. But toast in the morning is now one of those little luxuries that we can again enjoy!

We have a few jobs to do this winter. We have been cruising now for over eight months so that in itself will take its toll. There are no facilities for lift out here in Ayamonte but work will start here with the view that when we return after Xmas we will go further along the coast where we can lift out for a few days.

Winter Cruising in Iberia

Since October 1^st most of the marinas on the Iberian coasts drop their prices by nearly a half (British Marinas take note!) the exception being Bayona, and the fact that many local boats lift out for the winter also means that there is usually no problems with getting a berth. The weather has been great and we have not been holed up anywhere with bad weather as we were in the spring and early summer in the English Channel and North Biscay. Also at the time of writing we are still in shorts and tee shirts!

When we arrived in Lagos, however, we had the heaviest rain that we have experienced since we left Sunderland.

We had been advised by various publications that the officialdom in this area can be a bit overpowering. I have to say that we have had no problems at all. We have been treated politely everywhere (except perhaps Bayona!). You need to produce your passports and the boat’s registration document and on the occasional time we have also been asked to produce our insurance certificate. Personally I feel that this should be done everywhere. The old days now seem to have all but disappeared when you had to take your papers from one department to another now that computers have taken over. There is still a problem with drug smuggling along this coast and we have to accept that the authorities need to be vigilant.

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December 2007 - January 2008

Well, we’ve had our Xmas break back in Blighty and now it’s back to the serious side of cruising, which is the winter maintenance. Generally the boat has performed well and we are pleased with our comfort level on the boat.

We seem to have much more in the way of what we would class as essentials on El Lobo than many that we have met on our travels so far. We have running hot water and our own shower, as well an efficient water filter so that we have good drinking water wherever we are. We have a freezer which is water-cooled and is therefore much more efficient than most we have seen so that we do not have problems with food storage, and we have a bed with a proper mattress. It have surprised us at how many cruising boats do not have these things, which we feel are essentials for successful and happy cruising.

Whilst in the UK several people have suggested that we include more detail about the boat itself and how we run it, so from now on I will try to describe some detail of the boat and what it needs to maintain it.

For a detailed description of the boat, I have added some extra pages, which you will find, on our ‘Boat’ page. Next month I will try to have another section on the rig and how we built it.

Sailing

Well up to now, this year we haven’t moved much except to go up river again. The river is the Guadiana and basically forms the border between Spain and Portugal. We went up as far as Sanlúcar de Guadiana last year and as we liked it, we decided to go up again and spend a little more time there. The Tourist Offices in this area have nothing to offer the tourist except for a sparsely detailed map of the town and little about the surrounding area. However we did manage to obtain a hand made ‘chart’ of the way further up the river, beyond what is covered in our pilot book, so we decided to do a bit more exploring.

We set off with the tide to see how far we could get. We knew that at Pomaráo there was a sand bank that needed careful pilotage and the way round was clearly marked on this ‘chart’. Even though we were now about thirty miles up the river, the flood tide was still quite strong and even though we followed the ‘chart’ carefully, we hit the sandbank! We were using low revs at the time and were doing about three knots through the water but with the tide we hit the sandbank doing nearly five knots over the ground! As El Lobo has a canted keel, we were forced some way out of the water and so we heeled over a little. On the plus side, the tide was still rising, but with the strength of the current, as we became more buoyant, we were forced further along the sandbank.  We were about three hundred yards from the pontoon we were aiming to tie up to for the night.

I obviously could not rely on the ‘chart’ to help us here so I got into the dinghy and decided to plumb the water to see where we needed to point the boat. I found deeper water just a few yards to our starboard side. Firstly I tried to tow her to the side with the dinghy with Pat on the helm and the engine at nearly full revs. The current was too strong for the little outboard and we made little progress.

The only other option was to kedge her off. For this I tried our ‘Fisherman’s anchor which we keep on the stern gantry. It has a rope rode with a couple of meters of chain. We use it as a stern anchor. With the rope rode it is easier to handle in the dinghy. I took it out as far as I could to our starboard side and dropped it in the water. Back on the boat I used the rope drum on our windlass with Pat again on the helm but no joy. The anchor just didn’t bite and it came back to us with little effort.

Back into the dinghy again and I took off our main anchor (a 45lb CQR) along with about 40 metres of chain into the dinghy. I needed to get the anchor across the tide to pull the boat at about 90 degrees to the way she was lying. So I aimed the dinghy down river against the flood paying out the chain. The flood tide by this time was running at about two knots, it might not sound much, but in a little inflatable with a 2.5 hp outboard, this was not an easy task. I managed to pay out all the chain and eventually get the anchor into the water, a little disappointed that I didn’t get it a little further away from the boat.

Back on El Lobo we repeated the earlier process and at first the anchor was coming back much too easily. I could tell by the feel that it was dragging on solid rock and thought that it would not take. Then the chain went taught as the point caught on something. I stopped pulling for a second or two to allow it to dig in and then gradually put on the pressure. I signalled Pat to put on the power and put some more pressure on the chain. At last El Lobo started to swing around to the chain and we were moving. The chain suddenly went slack and I realised we were off. Pat faced the boat into the current whilst I got the anchor back on board and we turned around to head back upstream. We were now in about 4 meters of water but as we progressed towards the pontoon, the depth sounder showed the water shallowing at an alarming rate again. We crept forward as gently as we could with the tide pushing us expecting to hear that dreaded crunch as we hit bottom again but according to our depth sounder we had at least three inches as we passed over the edge of the sandbank and into deeper water.

We tied up for the night resolved to carry our expedition no further. Ours is probably not the best boat for this sort of work as we draw just over two meters. However we still had to get back down river! We took a day out to do some exploring on land and the next day I decided to explore the river to find the way out. We spoke to a Dutch sailor who had settled in the village and he drew a chart showing us the best route back. This differed somewhat from the chart we had been given. So, not feeling confident in relying on anyone’s advice, I decided to find the best way out for myself. I checked the Dutchman’s route and couldn’t find the channel he described. The tide was on the ebb. I found the end of the sandbank and the edge and deeper water which was on the west side of the river. The east side had a spit coming out from a hydroelectric plant that almost connected with our troublesome sandbank. There was a small channel between but only about feet wide. That must have been the channel that we came through after our grounding, but the chances of finding it again would be slim. I decided to buoy it with a pop bottle and note some leading marks on the cliffs for our way through. I went back to the boat and made up the float and then went back to find the channel again. Whilst weaving back a forth looking for the channel again, a local fisherman set off to his work and waved me over. He had obviously been watching me and realised what I was doing. He didn’t speak any English but beckoned me to follow him to the west bank. He stopped by some bushes and pointed to them saying ‘Aqui, aqui’ (Here, here to the uninitiated!) and pointed to a tree diagonally across the river and drove his boat in that direction and beckoned me to follow. He shouted ‘Aqui, aqui’ again pointing to the tree. With thumbs up, I thanked him and went back to check the route. He was spot on. Nowhere along this channel was it less than 2 meters. We were at about half tide and we were leaving at the top of the tide.

The next morning it was thick fog as we got up as it had been for the last few days. We were hoping it would lift before high water. It didn’t, quite. We could only just see across the river but we needed to go. Just in case, I switched on the radar and cast off. We found deep water near the west bank and proceeded to the bushed. I couldn’t see the tree on the opposite bank with the fog but made a good guess at its position and got it right. We passed through the channel with about a foot of water under the keel and into deep water. Within a couple of hours we were back on the pontoon at Alcoutim.

Winter Maintenance.

For us, winter maintenance means basing ourselves in one location and doing proper repairs and installations that we aren’t able to do whilst on the move. Whilst on the move you tend to do what you can just to keep the boat operational but there comes a time when temporary measures have to be made permanent.

As you will have seen last year we finally got around to equipping ourselves with a new electric toaster and electric hob as well as a new electric kettle. This meant that we had trailing wires across the galley which isn’t a good thing in a confined space. So whilst back in England I bought another circuit breaker for our electric consumer unit and wired in another circuit for the cooker and toaster. Of course we bought these extras in Portugal and so they have the two pin plugs so we bought continental style sockets and I have wired them in to more convenient locations. The galley now looks a little more organised. My aim now is that wherever we have an English 13 amp socket, I will also have a continental type socket alongside it.

The fuel system is not yet as I want it, so I have a little more work replacing a couple of lines before I am happy here.

Obtaining timber in Portugal or Spain isn’t easy. There aren’t any B&Q’s or the like around so I am relying on a couple of ex-pats who reckon they can get hold of some plywood. I need to make another unit to store our laptops as well as a couple of shelves in the doghouse. Also I need to make up a proper coal scuttle for the stove. At the moment we are using a galvanised bucket.

We needed a new carpet for the saloon. The one we fitted originally has taken a beating. With just a small area to walk on, it gets a lot of traffic. However as you may have read in Pat’s page, carpets shops around here are a rarity so we had to get one in the UK and bring it back with us on the plane. This one is a commercial ‘walkway’ type of carpet, not as soft as our old one but still softer on the feet in the morning than bare boards!!.

We had a leak in the fore cabin when it rained or going through rough seas. I traced it to one of the base fixings to the pulpit. There was damp in the fore cabin also that we couldn’t account for. So we stripped out the bed and the headlining to sort it out. There is an area of storage under the forward end of the bed where I store various spares that I hope that we won’t need very often. It is awkward to get at as we have to remove the mattress into the saloon and then lift the forward section of the slatted bed base. There is a limber hole system through the length of the boat which allows any water that gets into the boat at any position to drain back to the main bilge where it can be pumped out. Some of the parts that I had stored in this section were still in their cardboard packing. Water had got into this section from the chain locker and the cardboard had got wet and eventually blocked the limber hole, or in this case a  ‘pipe’, from that compartment. Subsequently this compartment had about 4 inches of water in it! Every time the boat heeled this water was slopping about under our mattress. I had to mop all the water out and then find a way of unblocking the drainage pipe.

With the assistance of a long flexible spring with a corkscrew at the end, acquired from the local Chinese Emporium, I managed to clear the blockage. All the spares are now packed in plastic bags and I hope this problem will not repeat itself. The pulpit base was loosened off and cleaned underneath, packed with Sikaflex and rebolted. That now seems to be cured.

The jobs list is quite large and I doubt if we will be able to complete all we would like to do. The major job is to service the masts which may mean lifting them out and then repainting them. We are also seeking somewhere to lift the boat out and raising the waterline a couple of inches, and we may as well check if there is any damage from our recent grounding, although John Law built her well and I feel confident there will be little damage from that event.

Moral of the Month

Cruising is doing maintenance in exotic places.

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February 2008

This month we haven’t moved about very much and have stayed in the Rio Guadiana. My intention was to spend as much time as possible doing maintenance and generally  checking the boat over and seeing how she had come through our travels so far.

We have had a some rain this month and much of it was heavy but we have found no leaks of rainwater into the boat. We have had some in the past whilst on our way but I have managed to cure those as and when they occurred and a check around the boat in the previous problem areas has found that we should have no further leaks for a while. Most of the leaks that we had found were in the usual places where the wooden coach roof joins the ferro deck and one where I hadn’t sealed a window correctly (I never said I was perfect!!)

We did however have a little water seepage in rough seas when we caught a ‘green un’ over the bows. This was coming in around the main mast. So the on going project here is to recaulk the mast partner fitting and the surrounding woodwork. Originally I varnished the deck woodwork but have found, along with many others, that varnish does not fare well in the heat so I have sanded the timbers down and I am applying teak oil instead. It still looks reasonable and is much easier and less time consuming to maintain. We know several boat owners who have gone down the same route. Three or four coats initially ad then it is just a matter of a quick clean down and reapply when needed.

We haven’t hauled the boat out of the water as yet. The only facilities on the river are at Villa Real da San Antonio and it is a little dearer than we know we can get elsewhere, so we will leave that until a little later on.

There were a few little bits an pieces I needed to finish off and a couple of extras to add. Getting plywood was the biggest headache, but we befriended a chap called Chris Ashdown in Ayamonte who is starting up a business as a shipwright and carpenter. He is also English so the language barrier did not hinder. He managed to obtain a sheet of 10 mm plywood for me so I was in business! Chris can be contacted on gannetahoy@hotmail.co.uk He is a useful guy to know if you are ever in this area.

I managed also to obtain a piece of teak from Titch and Stella on the MV Karina. Titch managed to salvage a quantity of teak decking when HMS Beagle was decommissioned and refitted. I needed to replace the rear coaming of our cockpit but I also wanted to make it a little higher so that I could pin the tiller in position without ropes tied across the cockpit. This piece was about two and a half inches thick and six inches wide. Chris was also helpful here as he allowed me the use of his workshop to rough it out using his band saw and other items of equipment. Thanks Chris. The final fitting was back on the boat with router, plane and spoke shave. Its tough stuff!!

We use our computers quite a bit on board and whilst we had a little cupboard to store them, it wasn’t easily accessible so that we tended to leave them out a lot of the time. We felt this was not a good idea so we decided that we needed something a little more convenient. There was a space at the bulkhead under our table so I decided to build a special rack there with an electrical socket so that we didn’t have wires trailing about. The end result is good and a lot easier to use. The old cupboard is now used to store the printer and scanner.

The next job was to finally build a fuel bunker for our stove. Up until now we have just been using a galvanised bucket! Not very sightly and certainly not the best use of the space. The design was a bit of a challenge. I wanted to hinge it from the bottom so that it swung out, but measuring the true radius from the bottom meant that there would be very little left of the back of the box bearing in mind that the bottom needed to be curved up to the shape of the hull. I didn’t need the box to open fully, just enough to get the logs in and out, so I made a template and adjusted the shape so that I had the maximum capacity and reasonable access into the box. The end result has worked out well, but I had to remove part of the floor to actually fit it!

My other project is to build some removable shelves in the cockpit. I have cut them out but I am a bit short of hardwood to make the fiddles and supports so completion of these will be at a later date.

Sailing wise, as I have mentioned, we haven’t moved much this month. However we did have a three day trip up the river a little to a small tributary of the Guadiana called the Vascao. We were told that it is great to explore there and were also advised that just before the mouth there is a sand bank stretching halfway across the river and also the best anchorage was by a large Eucalyptus tree. So that is what we did. We went up the river in the dinghy and …….. well I’ll let Pat tell you about all that.

There was one down day this month, however. It was a Saturday and we went up to the market as usual and on returning to the boat, it was raining heavily and I slipped on the ramp down to the pontoon, banged my head and cracked my elbow. It was quite a heavy fall and I was a little dazed. The wind got up and waves built up on the river. Our hard dinghy was tied up alongside the boat. I had it tied fore and aft so that it wouldn’t swing with the change of tide. The outboard was still attached. We could see the outboard bobbing up and down through the window. Then we noticed it wasn’t there! I went on deck to find that the dinghy had sunk, it was still attached to the boat, but the outboard motor was well under. I was still a little dazed but there was no option. I climbed on to the doghouse and released the main halyard and tied it to the rear painter on the dinghy and hauled away. The dinghy is heavy enough with the outboard on but the weight of the water as well, it was a hard haul, especially in the winds which were now up to gale force. Once I had the gunnels of the dinghy out of the water, Pat held on to the halyard whilst I got into the dinghy with a bucket to get the water out. Eventually we got the dinghy around to the pontoon and hauled it out of the water. I then removed the outboard and stowed it under cover in the cockpit. I also turned the dinghy upside-down on the pontoon and secured it to a cleat. We lost the oars though along with the petrol can. The rowlocks were still in place but they had been rubbing against the hull. They had removed some of the paint work but no real damage to the hull. If we had a plastic hull then I believe we would have been holed below the water line. Insurers please note!

It was a hard day, and then to top it all, Pat’s Yorkshires didn’t rise!!

The next day the wind subsided and I went to work on the outboard. We were lucky in on respect in that the water here, although tidal, is barely saline. I removed the spark plug and drained the petrol tank and the sump (it is a 4 stroke), then I removed the carburettor and drained the float chamber. I then used Pat’s hairdryer to dry the electrics. I have never really been a fan of the more modern electronic ignition as you cannot do much about tuning with the sealed units, but I am now converted. The sealed units on this ignition system really are sealed so that once I had reassembled the engine and got it back on the dinghy, it started first time and has been running OK ever since.

The only other thing to report is that the shower pump has given up the ghost. Here I intend to replace it with a small electric bilge pump and float switch as these are more readily available. This will mean that I can carry spares that will suit both applications. The set-up is not really ideal, and probably designed for weekenders or for the odd fortnight’s holiday and not really robust enough for constant use. We find that the filter clogs up regularly with Pat’s hair (well it certainly can’t be mine can it!!) and I need to clear it about once every three weeks or so. I may even build a larger unit if I can find the appropriate materials in the near future. A thorough scouring of the local skips may produce something suitable. I’ll let you know how I get on with this project next month.

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March 2008

Well, we are finally on the move again after we had spent some time going up and down the river from Ayamonte up to Alcoutim and Sanlúcar where we managed to get quite a bit of work done and a few extras added to the boat.

Mazagon

From Ayamonte we set off to Mazagon, but to leave the Guadiana we needed to leave at high tide, as the entrance at Ayamonte is fairly shallow for our draught. This meant leaving at 0600 hrs, so it was an early start in the dark. The entrance is buoyed but there are big sandbanks within the river that are not so obvious so planning the way out was essential. Once clear of the entrance it was a straight run down to Mazagon, which was about thirty miles. The entrance here is quite straight forward and well buoyed and the marina is about half a mile inside what is supposed to be one of the longest breakwaters in Europe.

We secured to the reception pontoon and were allocated our berth. The marina is quite well sheltered with good facilities and well managed although a good walk from the town.

We stayed at Mazagon for a few days (see Pat’s page) before moving on again, destination Cadiz. However we decided to break up the journey and anchored a little way up the river Guadalquivir which goes all the way up to Seville. It is possible to get to Seville by river and we did consider it. It is possible to get up the 55 miles of river in one tide as high tide at Seville is about 4 hours after high water at Chipiona at the mouth of the river, but getting back would have meant anchoring somewhere on the river where there are no recognised anchorages and where there is enough water to anchor would always be close to the navigation channel. There are ships up to 6,000 tonnes regularly using the river. Their favourite sport is to buzz yachts at anchor so we decided against the trip. There is a marina at Chipiona but we were advised that they were re-arranging the pontoons at the time and friends who travelled before us had an uncomfortable night against the harbour wall a couple of weeks before.

The first anchorage we tried was on the east side of the river but we felt a little too exposed so we went another mile or so further and found an old jetty and anchored just inside it. It was a little shallow for my liking, and when low tide came around we found that we only had a few inches below the keel but we managed not to get stuck in the mud this time!

Next day, after breakfast we set off for Cádiz.

Cadiz

This is a fairly straight forward trip but as we came out of the river we were against the swell with only a little wind so that the first hour or so was slow and uncomfortable. Once we rounded the cardinal buoy and altered our course the boat settled and had a comfortable sail with the wind on the starboard quarter. We had read up our pilot book on Cádiz, and the description was not exactly encouraging. Our pilot book is about 10 years old and therefore not exactly up to date, but we have compared it with more recent editions and there is little difference. It stated that the marina was subject to wash from the ferries and ships that used the port and that the visitors berths were the nearest to the entrance thus getting the worst of it. However we had managed to get some more up to date information which showed an extension of the sea wall with more pontoons and much better shelter from the swell.

The entrance was easy enough with a buoyed channel leading to the harbour mouth with the marina just inside. Of course you have to be on the lookout for ferries, cargo ships and cruise liners as well as the occasional tugboat but once we were in the marina we were welcomed by their representative who guided us to our pontoon. We did get rocked about on odd occasions but generally we had a comfortable time here despite being hit by gale force winds on two occasions during our stay.

There is a small chandler here and although just a small business, I found them helpful and was one of the first I have seen for a while that is stocked for boaters and not half full of fishing tackle. There are lift out facilities for smaller boats and a wide slipway where you could dry out for a tide. I was tempted to stay here a little longer to try to raise our water line but we would have had to lay starboard side to and that’s the side we need to raise.

We enjoyed our stay at Cádiz, the only drawback was the distance from the marina to the town, but the walk was always worth the effort.

We left the marina at Cadiz to head for Barbate but as got out into the bay the wind freshened and the swell increased. We were in the bay for two hours, enough to realise that that it was going to be a rough ride so we decided to return back to the marina where we stayed for another couple of days until the swell died down.

Barbate

When we eventually left we had a wind from the north west and the swell down to about 1.5 meters. The trip was about 40 miles in all which took us through the ‘battle ground’ of the Battle of Trafalgar, so we had a tot of rum as we passed the cape, cheers Horatio! There is a shoal off the cape so we could not get close enough for a good photo. The only other real hazard on this trip is the tunny nets. These are heavy nets suspended from the surface with a strong cable that can damage the props of small coasters. They are set in place usually from March until September. They are marked on the local charts but the position varies slightly from year to year. There is one off Barbate which stretches to within 100 meters of the harbour entrance.

The wind was slight to start with but soon started to increase. The wind was on our quarter and we soon had to start reefing. I like to limit our speed to around 6.5 knots. If we are going any faster we tend to get water on deck and in a swell the boat starts to become little harder to handle. Eventually we had four reefs in the mainsail and two in the foresail and still doing 6 knots. We dropped the sails early as we neared the breakwater so that we could creep around between it and the tunny net.

The Boat

Still doing bits and pieces on the boat. This month I have built a new shower sump. As I reported last month, the pump in the previous one packed up along with the electronic float switch. I was disappointed with the original unit that we purchased as it seemed a little flimsy for the money, made with the type of plastic that you felt would crack if you tried to force it into position or drop a spanner on it for example. I really believe that it is yet another example of products aimed at the ‘yottie’ market and intended for weekend use only, in which case it might just last out the guarantee! So I have built a new one. The sump itself I built out of plywood, and as it was not a particularly good quality ply, I fibre glassed it inside and out. I purchased a small electric submersible pump, as in bilge pump, and a float switch. For a filter I found a flour sieve in a supermarket approximately six inches across and shaped it with a hammer to the shape I needed and made another smaller box to fit it and hold under the inlet pipe. Hopefully this will collect hair etc. and will also be a lot easier to clean and hopefully will go a lot longer between cleaning. The original one needed cleaning once every two or three weeks. So far so good.

I have also started making some shelves for the doghouse. The port side one is just about finished and seems to be useful already. I am making them so that they are removable as they cover the lines that come into the cockpit from the masts that control the sails. It will mean that we have useful areas where we can keep the log book and charts etc. whilst we are at sea without getting them wet. Although I daresay that it won’t be long before a small potted plant or two appears there!!

We still had the old deck light that was mounted on the spreaders on the old rig and I was going to mount it somewhere on the gantry to illuminate the cockpit at night when we are at anchor. However one thing we have had a problem with is spotting pot buoys when sailing at night. If we are sailing then we do not have a problem, but when we are motoring, then there is a chance that we could get a rope around the prop. That’s not funny in daylight but even worse at night. So I have rigged this light on the pulpit and it is swivelled so that it will also light up the fore deck to help us when anchoring. 

As far as lighting the cockpit is concerned, whilst back in Blighty at Xmas, we purchased a couple of stick-on LED lights from B & Q and fixed them just inside the doghouse. They seem to be just right, with enough light to see what you are doing but not enough to lose your night vision.

Future projects

The major change that we are now committed to is a Hydrovane wind vane steering system. We had a Gunning which was with the boat when we purchased it but it had seen better days and required lines around the cockpit to work the tiller. We have spoken to many, many other voyagers about wind steering and the Hydrovane seems to been the most successful and reliable one as well as the simplest to use. All you need to do is to set the boat sailing in a straight line, lock the tiller in position and put the unit in gear. Your course can then be controlled by setting the angle of the vane. We had to measure the transom and send photos and the unit is being made specifically for our boat. It is a little more expensive than some but we have been told by everybody that has purchased one that it was the best investment they have ever made for their boat.

Another project which is just in the mind at present is an adaptation of the coal scuttle. When back into warmer weather and we don’t need heating, I have thought of making an insert to fit inside which will convert it into a cocktail cabinet! Posh eh!! More thought needed on that one for a while.

Whilst in Alcoutim, we acquired a pair of Vetus davits, but I need to see the Hydrovane system in place before fitting them or even to see if we can fit them without compromising the steering system.

Water Supplies

We have three tanks on board, the forward one and the one amidships are both filled from the deck and the filler for the aft one is in the cockpit. At almost every marina we fill the tanks but we have found that there is a variety of different fittings required to fit the hose. It is necessary to have your own hose as many marinas do not supply them and the ones that are supplied look a little dubious to be using for drinking water. So to this end I have built up a variety of adaptors to cope with most situations (see photo on our pictures page). You will also note that I have a short length of hose with an in-line filter which I use when filling the tanks. It doesn’t get rid of everything but it does stop the majority of solids that may be in the supply.

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Mike’s Page 2     April 2008 - March 2009

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