Month: November 2021 Page 3 of 4
This is the final logblog on this passage as we will have GSM coverage soon. Landfall was interesting with two fishing boats only and a clear identification of the lighthouse signals. The sun is out and we are heading South along the coastline of Lanzarote. The wind is pushing us with 9 to 15kts true wind speed depending on its own convenience at the actual moment. Therefore the boat speed varies between 4 and 6kts with a slight current in our favour. It will take another 6-8 hours depending on the wind until we reach Puerto Calero in the afternoon hours. It is time for a proper cup of tea and a decent breakfast with some opulent omlett. I am looking forward to our arrival.
Fair winds…
Bernd
As I mentioned earlier, sailors plans written into the sand are valid until the next high water. I have just downloaded the latest and final weather data for this passage and the expected drop in wind comes slighly earlier according to Mr. Menno Schrader from Wetterwelt. After running the weather routing simulation, my ETA in Puerto Calero is 15:40 in the afternoon and I don`t mind a bit earlier. In order not to end up motoring too many hours to my final destination, I have taken the reef out of the foresail to make more progress. Perhaps some motorsail will be required on the final miles. Weather routing based on good wind data is a fantastic tool to ensure cruising in Safety, Comfort and Style although on the first day we had 5kts more actual wind as predicted, which might still be within the tolerance as the direction was given highly accurate. I look forward to my arrival on Lanzarote/Spain.
Fair winds…
Bernd
We are set for the night and decided to slow down as the Spanish Coast Guard has issued now a PAN PAN PAN message via Navtex concerning migrants boats drifting from Aftica towards the Canary Islands. I will post this message here a bit later once connected to the internet. It seems that a bunch of boats has left recently trying to take advantage of the current wind situation although this seem to happen on an ongoing base. The other day a report was issued that people got rescued from a boat drifting 200 nautical miles Southwest of Gran Canaria. At that time it became clear, that the trade winds would blow them all over the atlantic with no chance to survive. As this is a very delicate subject, I am grateful that we had a seminar on this particular challenge organized by Trans-Ocean e.V. It was supported by the German Police during the course of the “Losseglertreffen” I attended earlier this year. We got very good advice and direction to manage such a situation. For this reason I prefer “land, ho!” at daylight although, as you can read above, these boats can drift anywhere at anytime. A sharp look-out on the radar will be key tonight for the very unlikely event of an accidental encounter.
Fair winds…
Bernd
It is approximately another 80 miles to go to reach the nothern island of Lanzarote – Alegranza. I am still a bit too fast but let´s see what the wind game will be tonight. Worst case I stop and throw the fishing line. There are no warning messages issued on Navtex for sailors about actual drifting refugee boats in this particular area, so perhaps I might take part of the final leg still in the dark for an earlier arrival in Puerto Calero. The other condition in mind is that the wind and waves shall further decrease second half of tomorrow, which makes the approach into the marina easier for a sleepy sailor on arrival. It will all depend on the actual conditions but a plan is at least a plan. An old saying goes that we sailors only write our plans at low tides into the sand, they will last until the next high tide!
Fair winds…
Bernd
Today is one of these days – Bluewater Sailing! You could easily believe you are sailing The Baltic in July, if there is not the colour of the water. The Baltic on a good summer day, Air temperature of 24° and water temperature at 19°. We are in November here and heading further South, so I expect a bit more at later stage. Blue sky scattered with white cumulus, some bigger some smaller but leaving enought room for the sun to come through to make it a pleasant day. The main difference clearly is the colour of the water – damned blue, intensive but light blue as you can still watch through. The wave pattern is quite similar here at the moment compared to The Baltic after some storm gone through, somewhere far away. Long swell from far way mixed with the actual local wind wave. It is similar but not quite the same. Anyhow, the birds are also the same, saw some seagulls out here like in The Baltic, same same. No, there is no doubt, the colour of the water makes the difference, BIG DIFFERENCE. Once ashore I will add some photos here under this blog and I bet you anything that you cannot determine: The Baltic or Atlantic Ocean?!? Excluding the colour of the water.
Fair winds…
Bernd
I am about 4 hours ahead of schedule as per my updated weather routing. The strategie is/was to arrive at the nothern tip of Isla Graciosa at sunrise and then sail along the east coast of Lanzarote to my final destination Puerto Calero. Therefore I keep the reefs in the sails to reduce speed. There are two reasons for this strategy: a) I like to arrive at daylight and b) I don´t want to risk bumping into a refugee boat at night! Right or wrong, I am double conservative in my approaches, which in return has given us smooth passages up to now. On top, I took quite some rest during the last 24 hours and will do the same today during the day to be ready for another night-shift based on the 20min sleep routine. Well, sleep, it is rather dozing along to the next beep beep beep from the alarm clock.
Fair winds…
Bernd
Twelve hours darkness is a long time. The wind dropped a bit to 15 to 20kts after midnight, which turned the sail from wet into dry. Much more pleasant. My headache is almost gone, still need to be careful with my movements as seasickness is still around. Hope for a decent breakfast once the sun is out and my riggcheck done. Have not eaten since departure apart from a piece of bread with cheese. On the positive, the clouds dissapeared, so did the moon but 360° view on a sky full with starts is just amazing and pays a little bit off against the energy to put into this passage. Got my Pactor modem working now – Windows, no comments – and will now download the latest weather forecast to check my progress against the planned schedule. Looking foward to see the sun coming out.
Fair winds…
Bernd
It is dark now and the tiny little moon we have is hiding behind the clouds.The day was two folded. On one side, we made very good progress due to the fact that the wind is higher than predicted. We have around 20 to 25kts almost constantly. Sometimes it drops but only to take a short breather and then it is back to push us South. Despite the reefs in main and foresail our speed is around 7kts. Tomorrow we have to slow down as I do not want to arrive in darkness at the tip of Lanzarote. Will see tomorrow. On the other side, I started with light headache in the morning. Jutta, Will, Anton and Martin were all there to help me throwing the lines and say goodbye for now. As we are all heading down to Lanzarote, we will meet again. But then with the headache my stomach started to complain and a light seasickness came along. I rarely get this but while sailing single-handed it is the least thing you want to face. The whole day, I took it very very lightly and feel much better now after some rounds of short sleep and watching the ocean. Therefore I could not completely enjoy the day today and hope for a smooth night sail and a better day tomorrw.
Fair winds…
Bernd