Category: Portugal Page 16 of 24
+++++Land, ho!+++++Land, ho!+++++ Land, ho!+++++
We have 32nm to go but the island of Santa Maria is already clearly visible on the horizon. The weather is back to expectation – sugar sailing conditions. 15kn wind from NNE quadrant with a 1m wind wave under 4/8 blue sky. As I have taken the reef in the foresail out, we are pushing ahead for arrival late afternoon in Vila do Porto, the one and only marina on this smaller island of the widely spread archipelago.
The routing strategy overall worked well with the only exception, that the wind was within some stretches significant higher than predicted. Not the first time but the first time up to this extend. BUT, they – the weather makers – rather get the wind direction right and cheat a bit on the speed than the other way round. I think for us sailors is the accuracy of the wind direction more important than the accuracy of the wind speed. Open for discussion.
The first two days on this passage from Madeira to Azores were hard. I have observed before, that it takes initially some time to get body and boat in line. More rest, less food, ultra slow movements, just be there, save energy as and when needed. The last two and a half days of this 4 days passage I could move around without constraints, had good appetite and was able to enjoy the ocean environment more. I believe this is a pattern which stays after the initial acclimatisation while starting a longer passage.
Thanks for your accompany of our passage from Canary Islands to Azores with two(!) stop-overs at Funchal/Madeira. I hope you enjoyed it, even with some distance. Feel free to leave a comment under any of the blog posts and my answer on the same will be guaranteed. It will be nice reading these comments – years after this Boating & Biking Adventures are over – to recall, who joined us mentally, if not physically, and we shared a moment.
I will start to prepare the lady for the marina now knowing that Petra & Jan from SY Sutje together with Rony from SY Blue Aligator are expecting us to come in shortly.
Fair winds…
A bit disappointed as my expectation was to have a pleasant sail through the night. Although clause hauled all the way, with winds around 13kn and a wave of 1.3m the lady is more than willing to ensure a smooth ride. The weather system we went into offered 20-25kn (still on) and a wave juggling the boat around. Menno, this is too much deviation. We add the 5kn from experience but the significant gap is not acceptable.
Under max reef again with a claused hauled setting, which is still allowing some minimum comfort, we are still bouncing into the waves now and then. It is a balance between comfort and not arriving in Santa Maria to far in the South In other words, you just postpone the pain. In sailor’s language: beating time! Sailing against the wind.
Nevertheless, my sailing limits are being pushed on this passage like never before. The same counts for my confidence and trust into our lady AND the pilot They negotiate the deal and after some fine tuning get you through the water with no complains.
Daybreak is arising and it still looks grey and miserable. Not sure we see the sun later the day. It is another 55nm to go until we arrive in Vila do Porto. The ETA will shift and best guess is later this evening and worst case scenario is tomorrow morning. The latter one is in case I will not make landfall in daylight. The harbour can be approached at any time of the day, but I prefer to wait until next morning.
And the saying goes: Jung, blief tuhüs.
Fair winds…
PS: I will talk to Jan from SY Sutje at 8 o’clock UTC on 2Mhz Marine Radio to update each other. Very much appreciated.
We tacked and are now in convoy with three tankers/bulk carriers/container vessels in roughly 15nm safety distance. They are running at more than 12kn, so in a couple of hours we shall be clear. I cannot even see them through the binoculars but the beauty is that they appear via AIS on the chart plotter.
I got two sailor’s opinion just before tacking. One saying, its time to tack and one saying I shall tack in a few hours time. I decided to follow my qtVlm routing as it seems to be logic and look forward now for the wind to veer back via North to hopefully a tiny little bit NNE. As a result, we are going to sail a lee-banana as shown in the routing I have shared earlier. With a slight hockey stick swing to the South (lee-banana) I will hopefully end up at the doorstep of the Marina Vila Do Porto around lunch time tomorrow. Worst case I have to tack again or use the engine a bit longer depending on the distance to the harbour at arrival South of the island. I have to squeeze a bit for more close hauled sailing position going forward.
Well, it’s nice out here on the ocean and there are no severe conditions approaching my neck, so let’s keep learning.
Fair winds…