6 1/2 days and a Birthday at sea

Well, it seems that we were not destined to go to Madeira.

As we waited out the strong NE winds in Graciosa harbour again, we were beginning to wonder if we were just being wimps about the weather. Then a 40-foot American yacht arrived from Morocco as the wind was picking up. Their last day at sea had been horrible they said, a nasty swell which made everybody seasick. It reassured us that we had made the right decision.

waiting for weather window at Graciosa

We had met the yacht, ‘Pelagic’, briefly in Gibraltar back in November, but we had left before getting to know the family. They had three children on board, aged 13, 10 and 6, and were taking three years out to adventure before heading back home. They had spent the winter in the Guadiana with our friends on ‘Spirit of Mystery’. It was great to meet up with another boat with children, swap DVDs and hear news of our friends.

We spent time together while the wind blew at sea. The town itself, and its little beach, were surprisingly sheltered from the northerly winds, and we enjoyed sitting at the beachside bar (with outside couches!) while the children played and swam.

Relaxing at the beach bar with 'PELAGIC' crew

We all went for a hike – aiming to climb the tall central mountains, Agujas Grandes, and then visit Pedro Barba, the only other village in Graciosa. I had a basic map which didn’t show an obvious path up the mountain but we figured there must be a way up. We followed the base around to the lowest point of the summit, and found ourselves scrabbling up a 45-degree slope on all fours, dislodging sharp little lava rocks at each step. Not a secure feeling, especially in the wind, and 6-year-old Anna got rather scared. Reuben didn’t seem fazed, just keen to keep up with his new buddy Porter!

climbing steep sides of Ajuga Grande

sharp volcanic stones, which slip away underfoot

Going down the same way didn’t seem like an option so we carried on regardless, hoping to find a ‘proper’ path at the top. Thankfully, there was one, and we were soon tucked into a sheltered nook at the top, eating our picnics – the perfect way to restore strength and bravery!

sheltered picnic spot at the top

From here, we could see the ‘real’ summit marker, on the opposite side of the horseshoe-shaped caldera. The path led right around the rim of the caldera past the topmark, and (we hoped) down the other side. Despite the strong wind, the going was flat and easy with fantastic views of the islands to the north and down into the next caldera on Graciosa.

windswept at top of Aguja Grande, Alegranza island behind

view across SW end of Graciosa

Unfortunately, the path petered out at the other side of the horseshoe, but we reckoned we could follow the back of the ridge down towards the village. Once committed, there was no going back, and we found ourselves slipping and sliding down similar terrain to the way up, but the wind was now so strong, it was almost blowing us over. I fell over three times, while simultaneously trying to hold Reuben up by the hand. The children were not impressed! We tried to keep them going with the promise of an ice creams or cool drink at the village. How disappointing, then to arrive and find no shop, no café, no bar!!

crashing waves at Pedro Barba

There was, however, an impressive surf crashing up over the harbour wall, so we sat for a while to watch the waves and regroup, the boys daring each other to walk along the wall dodging the bigger waves! We still had a 3-mile walk to get back to Caleta del Sebo, but this time followed the coastal path marked on the map, and the children impressed us with their ability to keep going. They certainly deserved their ice cream on arrival, and we were glad to flop down on the beach sofa with a cool beer each…

The long walk home

lava stone spiral

Finally, the winds were forecast to drop right off. We had just gained approval from the authorities to anchor for a further ten days in Playa Francesca while we waited for a weather window for Madeira, and then the battery charger decided to stop working!

This was a special marine battery charger, which charges our batteries at 50 amps, allowing us to run the generator for just half an hour each morning and evening. We thought we could manage with our secondary charger which was meant to charge a bit slower, at 20 amps, so we thought that and simply run the generator for a bit longer. However, the cooling fan on that soon failed and it kept overheating and cutting out. Dave rigged up an external fan to cool it but it is hardly something we could rely on.

We could still charge the batteries by running the engine but this was slow and fuel-heavy.

There were minimal facilities on Graciosa so we decided to head back to Arrecife and try and buy another charger there. ‘Pelagic’ were heading that way, and Katie’s birthday was coming up, so we made a plan to meet up there on Sunday and have a pre-birthday visit to the Gran Hotel swimming pool – free if you bought a drink or two!

Choppy swell on way to Arrecife

It was still windy on the day we went, (but dropping), and a nasty 2.5m swell was running so we had a bouncy ride from Graciosa around the NE corner of Lanzarote. The children’s cowboy game was cut short by the motion of the ocean, and they slumped in the wheelhouse with us. We were cheered up by watching our speed accelerate down the waves (10 knots!!), and a visit from an elegant long-tailed seabird, who we later identified as a red-billed tropicbird.

red-billed tropic bird, who kept circling us

The motion eased as we got further down the island and sheltered from swell, and we were soon anchored up in Arrecife. We all had a lovely time at the pool the following day, the children splashed around happily for three hours, and we could almost see Reuben get braver and braver in the water. It’s amazing what motivation another child can give!

Splashing pre-birthday fun

The weather was looking favourable to run for Portugal so we started to think that might be the way to go. The winds were light SW all week, a real rarity in an area of predominantly northerly winds. My parents by now had cancelled their flights out to Madeira as we couldn’t guarantee an arrival date (sorry Mum!), so we were free to change our plans.

The only worry was the swell - a big ‘low’ was sitting above Madeira sending large swells our way -  over 4m on Monday, then dropping slowly over the next few days. Despite the 3-4 m swell on Tuesday, it looked to be the best day to go before we missed our ‘window’.

Visual forecast of swell the day before we left, (light green = 4-5 metres)

The Canaries are the bunch of islands at the bottom

Although the ten-day forecast looked good, only the first three days can be ‘guaranteed’. You get a good indication for days four and five, but beyond that is anybody’s guess. The low could strengthen or peter out, move south or north, completely altering the forecast winds and sea state. It was a 550-mile passage to the SW tip of Portugal, (5 or 6 days for us), and by the time we arrived, the current forecast may not be valid.

Monday was spent preparing to leave. Dave managed to buy a new battery charger. It didn’t charge as quickly as our old one but would see us through. We stocked up on food supplies and bottles of drinking water, stowed everything away above and below decks, and put out the lifelines (to clip onto in rough weather). We had a last trip to the playpark with the family from ‘Pelagic’. Then we hauled the dinghy on deck and enjoyed our last full night’s sleep for a week.

The next morning, we set off. As forecast, there was minimal wind, so we enjoyed a calm trip up the coast past Arrecife, all out on deck to make the most of the Canaries sunshine. As we got closer to the top of Lanzarote, the swell steadily increased, until we were going up and down 3m or more with each rolling wave. Not a problem, but the boat lurches drunkenly over each swell and it's quite impressive looking down into the troughs and then up to the next big mass of water coming toward you. Impossible to capture on a photo!

Reuben helping hoist the sails

We're off!

The first day was ‘dolphin day’. It seemed that no sooner had we settled down from watching one pod of dolphins playing around the bows, then Dave was ringing the bell for yet another dolphin visit. One pod had three young ones among them. It is such a treat to sit out on the bowsprit hammock and look down on them as they play and jump in the waves. Often they turn on their sides, as if they are looking up at you. Reuben got quite annoyed when his afternoon DVD got interrupted for the fourth time – he didn’t want to go through the rigmarole of putting his lifejacket on AGAIN!

Katie on dolphin watch

The third day was Katie’s birthday, and the calmest day so far. The swell had died down to around 2m, and the seas were glassy smooth. Dave had decorated the boat with balloons, banners and bunting during the night, so the boat looked very colourful. When Katie emerged in the morning, we spent a lovely half hour watching the sky turn pink as the sun came up, and we even had a brief birthday visit from some feeding dolphins.

Birthday sunrise

Reuben was very excited when he woke, and couldn’t wait to give Katie her presents from him – and help open them! We saved most of the presents until Dave woke up at 9 o’clock, but she had a handful of cards and a couple of presents to open in the meantime. We had a morning dance session and the children had lots of fun drawing on each other (and me) with ‘tattoo gel pens’.

early morning presents

fun with tattoo gel pens!

dolphin 'tattoos'

While Dave was still sleeping, we managed to bake a cake – quite a feat at sea! For one thing, the digital scales don’t work at sea (unstable), and the needle on the manual scales surges up and down as the boat rolls, so there is quite a bit of guesswork involved! Despite this, and my infamously bad baking skills, the cake actually rose and didn’t burn!

So when Dave woke up there was a present-opening frenzy, and then a paper-ripping frenzy to throw the bits over the side. There was fun and games with the new walkie-talkies, a colourful birthday hat, and lots of food throughout the day – tuna sandwiches, egg sandwiches, cornflake crunchie, a bottle of Coke, jelly and ice cream… By the time we got round to the cake, we were all a bit full, and the lashings of buttercream probably pushed us over the edge! Nothing a bit of fresh air and a go on the swing couldn’t cure.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!!!

At Katie’s request, we had pesto pasta for tea, eaten in the wheelhouse, as the sunset spread across the horizon. All in all, a happy birthday was spent at sea.

Birthday sunset

The wind picked up throughout the night, and the following day we were finally able to sail. However, the wind was behind us, which makes for a rather rolly ride, especially with the swell still coming from our beam. We spotted a couple of turtles close to the boat, and a SHARK! This set off a great game on deck, with Katie sporting a set of shark teeth and tail! It amazed me how the children managed to chase each other around the rolling boat without injury.

nice sailing wind

the shark game!

chasing round the deck

We sailed through the night, but the jib was blanketed by the main and kept flapping violently from side to side as we rolled. By morning, it became apparent that this had caused the wood to split at the inner end of the bowsprit where the holding bolt goes through it. We pulled in the jib and lashed a strop to hold the bowsprit in place but we were now unable to use it.

Cracked bowsprit

On day 5, the wind dropped away throughout the morning and our speed dropped below 3 knots. Back on with the engine! It was very frustrating to have the wind with you and still have to motor – one of the drawbacks of a big, heavy boat. However, the wind in our favour at least meant the sea was pushing us on, rather than slowing us down with each wave.

We could see land getting closer and closer on the GPS as we crossed the shipping separation zone. This is where our new AIS (Automatic identification System) came into its own. Previously, if you had been on a collision course with a ship and wanted to call them on the VHF, you would have to call ‘ship in position ……….’ and hope you guessed it right, and that the person on watch would respond.

AIS showing dimensions of an enormous ship - 300m long!

Now we could see the dimensions, course and speed of all the ships around us, and if we needed to contact a ship, we knew its name. When the ‘Anzac Splendor’ looked set to run us down, we were able to call them up and they politely altered course to pass behind us. Brilliant stuff!

Early morning dance session!

Under the flight path to the Canaries

We were still heading for Cabo San Vicente, the SW tip of Portugal, undecided whether to go to the  left or right of it. It was tempting to stop and relax in the Algarve, but also tempting to carry on while the weather was good and catch up with our friends on ‘Spirit of Mystery’, who were heading north. But we were unsure if the fair weather would continue to hold…

Finally, about 20 miles from the coast, just as land became visible, the phone signal picked up and we got a message from Paul & Emma on ‘Spirit’. The weather was settled until Monday, and they were heading to Aveiro on the west coast, where we knew there was a free anchorage. This was, however, nearly 200 miles up the coast, beyond Lisbon, or another 2 days at sea!

We decided to carry on and see how we all felt. It would be great to make ground while the wind was in our favour, but it was very hard to shout ‘land ahoy’ and then keep sailing on! Day 6 was warm and sunny and we had an easy day travelling up beyond Lisbon. The children were excited to make fresh bread for lunch, and the afternoon was spent sitting out on deck enjoying the sunshine and trying to catch fish.

trying out lure no 3...

The night was harder. We were close to land so there were lots of crab pots and fishing boats to watch out for. We were incredibly tired by this stage, so at three o’clock in the morning, when the wind picked up a little, swung round on our nose and our speed dropped to 3.5 knots, we were ready to throw in the towel. We could put on more power and get to Aveiro but it was still 70 miles away – equivalent to a Channel crossing!

Did we really want to put the children through another long day at sea? We wanted to see our friends but this was meant to be a pleasure trip, and it was starting to seem like an endurance test… We headed in towards Nazaré harbour with the thought of sleep on our minds. Closer to the coast, however, the chop died down and the wind came round more easterly. We were able to motor-sail at 5 knots. We were back on for the challenge!

sunset at sea with ship on horizon

As it turned out, we have had a lovely calm day following the coast up. The wind has stayed light and easterly, just enough to help us along. There have been lots of fishing boats, one who circled close and gave us a big thumbs up! A black speck whizzing up at speed turned out to be the Maritime Police RIB – they slowed down and gave us a quick once over before whizzing off again. The children have been happy, even cooking pancakes after lunch, which has become our end-of-trip tradition!

All in all, it has been a good trip, despite all the motoring. There was a big swell but it wasn’t rough, and nobody was seasick. We have seen lots of wildlife – gannets, turtles, jellyfish, dolphins, a sunfish, a shark, swimming crabs…. Dave grew a beard. I knitted yet another hat. We saw beautiful sunrises and sunsets. The children invented new games, including a ‘weather station’ on Post-It notes stuck to the mast.

Reuben's weather station!

We are sad to miss out on Madeira but glad to reach the mainland, with no ‘big trip’ looming in front of us. We will be happy to see our friends, and try and fix the bowsprit.

We will definitely be glad to stop, and sleep!

halfway through the journey

Trip Details Arrecife - Aveiro

Total distance: 760 nautical miles

Total time at sea: 6 days and 8 hrs (152 hrs)

Average speed: 5 knots exactly!

 “ROS AILITHER out”