Heading to the Canaries - well almost

We arranged for Tim, the English guy from France to fly down and help us get to the Canaries via Morocco.  We needed to arrive in Morocco, which is outside the EU before the end of Jan to export the boat, and intended to stay for 2 nights then head to the Canaries.  Tim also needed the Skipper experience/sea miles to complete his final Yacht Master exam, so he was more than keen to come with us.

Anyway, the day before he was to arrive some people came to fix the leak, but when Tim tested it he found that they hadn’t and we spent the best part of a day locating it and fixing it ourselves.  We left Cascais 9pm Wed 23 and arrived in Agidir, Morocco Sunday morning.  (My solo watch story this trip, at night I went below for 3 minutes and came up to a horizon full of red lights, so many cargo ships!!!! that my heart started pounding and my stomach churned.  When I started breathing, I realised that it was Mr Moon coming up, but it still took me 5 minutes to calm down.  That night I also boiled the kettle dry, fell down the stairs, and also nearly set of my Man Overboard wristband alarm in the water doing the dishes!!!.  I still have a long way to go, but Tim started asking why we had put radar on the boat, because I can spot any boat including a small fishing ship miles away.

The radar was definately worthwhile as we moved past Cape St Vincent - we past the Western end of the Traffic Lanes and there were ships everywhere - and without being aware of them I am sure that we could have been surprised a few times. The photos below show 3 boats we can see and the plethora of boat on the radar - so it was handy.

Matt is still getting a bit sea sick, but Tim lead the way to actually be sick, followed by Matt, but Gilligan could only feel nauseous for ½ an hour.  To date I have not been actually sick and get over the nauseous feeling in 20 minutes, Matt has the feeling on and off all the time.


We also put the Gennaker out for the first time on this trip - rolling it and rigging it on the seas - not the easiest task but one the three of us managed with ease - ok some difficulty, but I have to say that it looked great and performed well - a great addition to the boat and one we will use by ourselves once we get a bit more experience.


On the way into Agadir I had my first nervous experience of being approached by a local boat - not quite sure if I ran over fishing nets / pots or were being approached by pirates or refugees - it is amazing what goes through your mind when there is nothing but new experiences. Well - there was no such dramas - they were looking to sell some of their produce - what appeared to be a very nicely sized crab - say hello to paranoia for me next time you see her.....


We checked into the Yacht Club in Agidir (which is really part of the fishing harbour) for our 2 nights.  We had about 8 police/customs officials board the boat, they were very friendly, but were most interested in our supply of foreign beer.  As the boys only had 1 six pack, we handed over a bottle of scotch we had purchased specifically, and our papers were signed. Karen was also promoted to First Mate on her shore pass (but I think that was actually Gilligans title anyway). The next day, we had dead fish floating around the boat, and we could not connect to power or water, so even though it was a great experience, I was glad it was only for 2 days.


When we planned the trip we had intended to head straight to Agidir, but Tim was really cautious about Africa and Morocco and terrorist attacks and changed our course for Safi, which his friend had said was safe.  We headed into Safi, but could not clear customs and decided to stick with our original plan, (added another ½ day to the trip).  When we looked at Agidir, all the sailing books said there was no Marina, but I found one on the internet the night before we left, but was dismissed as we were now going to Safi.  We had also read lots of blogs about a marina in Morocco that is listed, but doesn’t actually exist.  When we pulled into the luxurious yacht club (which was fun), I kept asking why we couldn’t go to the Marina, but the boys dismissed it as a figment of my imagination.
 
On our way down past Essaouira, we heard a yacht called Exceter calling port control looking to berth there - we all had visions of a large American motor yacht stinking up the bay - you can image the surprise we had when we pulled into Agadir yacht club and there was another 420 hybrid - Exceter - not the big polluting motor yacht but an environmentally freindly hybrid sailing catamaran. Charles the owner and his daughter were great and we shared our experiences to date with this new technology.

On our first day, we left the “Yacht Club”  (unisex showers with no doors) and walked around the corner to be met by a tout Akmed (on the right below), who took us by Cab to a huge market, and straight to his friend’s herb and spice shop.  We were given the complimentary free tea, and then smelt all these amazing spices.  Tim was keen to buy but we were suckers and spent so much that we came away with free samples of Moroccan viagra powder to be mixed with honey and left for a week to brew.  The tout was keen to show us the market, and also his friend’s stalls, but when we said we wanted to do it on our own he wanted 50E (A$90) for his time.  We settled for 10E and we looked around a bit more but were all really tired so went back to the boat.

The next day we made it out of the Yacht Club without escort, and found the beach and also the Marina I had googled and kept asking about.  Tim even apologised for not finding it and heading straight for the fishing port.  The marina was located on a great Bay and beach and was nearly empty.  The rates were expensive compared to Europe and we were proud of ourselves for negotiating a lower rate.   It took all of 10 minutes for Matt to convince me to stay and discover Morocco for 2 weeks, then head to the Canaries by ourselves.

Christmas New Year 2007/08

We had xmas day in Baionna Spain with the English pipe smoking guy Geoff.  It poured and was really windy, and we all huddled in his 26ft boat and enjoyed a bottle of bubbly and a few reds. It was one of the best Xmas days we have had in years despite the close quarters.

Christmas lights in Baionna

He had left the pontoon for the anchorage, and we were supposed to drive over to him in our dinghy, and practiced getting in and driving on Christmas Eve, but to our disappointment, he moved back to the pontoon Christmas morning because of the weather.  Lucky as it would have been a very wet and choppy drive.

We got the sailing instructor (Luis) to help us get to Cascais on the coast near Lisbon. He hoisted the sails as we left the harbour, even though there was very little wind.  We motored until 11pm and then sailed for about 14 hours and lost the wind again, but it gave us our first real go at the sailing thing for real.  We left Boxing Day morning and arrived midnight the 27th.  Luis was a really nice guy and loved cooking and taught me how to make a Spanish tortilla as well as do a bowline, which I still completely forget after 60 seconds.

Matt’s new  $4,000 laptop decided to join the boat and stop working, so we spent a week on the boat calling and waiting for HP to collect it.  By then the Lagoon dealer had re-opened and we spent another 2+ weeks waiting for them to co-ordinate all the repairs.  Being boat bound really starts to get on your nerves, but we did get out a few days and saw the sights of Lisbon and Sintra and the biggest Casino in Europe at Estoril.  We had a fairly quiet New Years Eve watching the fireworks over Cascais and the Marina, and then hit a bar until 4am. 
We had an interesting New Years Day.  The marina said a big wind and swell would come in over the breakwater and asked us to move to a more sheltered spot.  We asked for assistance at 20 knots, and 4 nervous hours later when the wind had got to 30+knots they arrived to help us move.  We were both shaking, but with a dinghy pushing us off the pontoon, we made it around, to be greeted by a very rich Portuguese man who owned a 60” motor yacht (it uses 150 litres of diesel an hour compared to our 5 litres).  He even had ducted vacuuming and a cleaning lady on Fridays!  The wind and rain howled for 3 days, then we moved back to our private (only boat on the pontoon) spot.

Biscay Brilliance 23 November 2007

So we have been in France now for 5 weeks and while we were originally in no rush to get going, everyone’s insistence that Biscay is not somewhere you want to be in November has now made us more and more anxious to get going, adding to the frustrations of getting the boat commissioning and repairs completed in a timely fashion. We were assured that the boat would float off the slip at lunchtime so we again engaged the skipper / crew, Damian and Morgane of Flat Earth Sailing to meet us on board at the pontoon at 12:00 Friday with the aim to load and leave. This time everything went to plan and by 15:30 we were at the fuel dock for my first experience in purchasing 400l of diesel – not cheap…… but given that Karen and I no longer spend $130 a week on petrol for my car I suppose it is not bad. Whilst we were refuelling a large racing trimaran (it was red and if I was truly a sailor I could tell you who it was) went past – very impressive and I would imagine at least 5x faster than Where II with our friend, Yann aboard another boat with the press photographers. By the time we were ready to leave Yann had docked and came to say goodbye with news that he had passed his exams and would try and catch up with us in the Med.

At 15:50 we slipped lines and departed Les Sables d’Olonne –it was a sight that I am sure a few people that we had said goodbye to a number of times did not truly believe would happen and our new life began. It began smoothly in force 3 NE and slight seas, but by 1800hrs we had 1 reef in both the main and the genoa with the wind peaking at Force 7 (near gale) by 2200.

During this wind we also had a game of cat and mouse with a fishing boat that seemed hell bent on tagging us no matter which way we turned, we dropped the sails completely (with some manual assistance as the cars were a bit sticky to say the least. Karen’s idea of not yelling at one another on the boat was quickly thrown out the window as under these conditions – there seemed no other options.

Through out the chilly night and next day the winds maintained a 5-7 and the seas build to moderate. (I will quote Sailing For Dummies here in describing Force 7 – “ Only for skilled sailors on well–prepared boats. Staying dry is impossible; Lunch is all wet”). This all seemed manageable to both Karen and I as Where II made this feel not so bad with one exception. Morgane’s cooking had been spoken of by a number of people, but little did I imagine that I would spend 20minutes or so at the back scoop after just one mouthful. I was seriously seasick! All I could think of was 5years of this I don’t think so!  Well after I had finished with that task, I sat back down and finished most of the meal – reminds me of university for some reason.

By 0600 on Sunday this had all turned around and we were again on a flat sea with no wind which lasted until 2000 that night. Morgane notes in the log at 1500 that she had spotted a whale – but it was funny that it was only when she was alone on deck????
Winds started to pick up around 2200 and the trip around the corner began. We spotted the A Coruna Lighthouse – the oldest working lighthouse in the world built in Roman times.
We were following Damian on watch and at 0700 on Sunday just after we rounded the corner, I was laying awake in bed listening to the noises of the boat.

This is an experience I cannot fully explain but I will try. Firstly an electric motor and propeller is under each of the stern cabin beds. In addition the generator is next to our cabin – well insulated but another noise source. Then you have the noise of the water over the hull and probably most frightening at this stage was the noise of the waves crashing against the boat. The sounds of these combined you would think would not be melodic but not true, apart from the crashing wave, the rest combine to form an eerie sound, and in this instance I could hear Nick Cave resonating with one of the songs off the Orpheus Blues CD. The waves and this did have me freaked as I went to take over the helm from Damian, particularly when I saw the view from our bedroom window – why could I see the starboard keel???

And I did have to take over the helm – It was blowing Force 8 (Gale and as described by SFD – “Time to head home no matter who you are”) and rough seas 4-5m as we approached Finnestere. So I took over the helm and started to surf down the wave and manage the boat through the rough seas. No easy task and one I am not sure I got right every time as the waves hit the side of the boat. The dolphins did however join me to make sure I didn’t stuff it up to much….

During this period of rough seas Karen had taken to walking out into the cockpit backwards as the waves look enormous as you look out the back of the boat – you are sure they are going to crash over the transom and flood the boat – needless to say this doesn’t happen so walking out backwards allayed this rational (well we Karen thinks so) fear.
The wind and seas moderated only slightly for the rest of the trip until about 1400 on Sunday when we tried to put the sails up again, but as we did, we found ourselves preparing to put the 3rd reef in again as the wind picked back up, but then the top two cars became unattached so we dropped them again, This was not so bad as it hit 7 again so we were glad to have them down. But in total we sailed only about 7 hours of this trip.
Karen took over the helm from me as we were approaching the entrance to the Rio in which Baionna lay. She was talking to Damian when I walked out of the saloon to see a very, very large fast liner starting to broadside and turn to avoid us – the man at the helm had blue eyes……. Luckily it managed to avoid us, but it had come from the horizon to so close in under 10 min so you can see how fast things change.

We tied up at Baiona marina at 1900 after travelling a total of 456 nautical miles, averaging 6.1 knot with most of that under motor. We used 4.6l of diesel per hour the generator was running and averaged 1.5 NM per litre for those that are interested. Here’s the best bit though. The maximum wind speed was 38knot, and the Raymarine said our maximum speed was 50 knots for the trip with an average speed of 79 knots!!!!! Can any one tell me how this is possible unless we passed through Bermuda!
After tying up, we found the showers and made for a local restaurant El Tunnel where we enjoyed fine wine and good food before heading to D’sastre for a few drinks and back to the boat for a few more until someone responsible suggested bed at 0500 Monday morning. Next morning (just) Morgane and Damian left us to our own devices and headed back to Les Sables.