SY Hullu Poro

Boating & Biking Adventures

Azores to Madeira – Logblog 3

It is 6:30am UTC after the second night at sea on this passage. The wind picked up a tiny little bit early in the night to around 13-15kn and veered around 40 degree to 260 TWA as predicted. Good progress under very pleasant conditions. Had good rest and wait for the day to break light. At 6:00 am UTC I will download latest weather updates to see how the rest of the journey will look like. I do not expect any changes but it is always good to check at least once per day.
 
I am currently not in a position to check the status concerning rain and thunder while at sea and when I left Vila do Porto there was a small concern on some light thunder coming through in the night from Friday to Saturday. During my call with Sutje-Jan yesterday evening on the Marine Radio, I have asked to check on this aspect and it seems, that it should all be clear now on our passage. Good to know and good to have sailing mates, who are sailing with us. Thank you. I will need to study on how this information can be retrieved while on longer passages and without internet connection. Intermar is another option to get this information but I was not able to connect with them since I have left. HF Technology at its best!
 
There were three encounters this night. Two commercial vessels and one sailing yacht. I could only see them on AIS, no navigation lights. They were too far way, around 15nm but it shows, that keeping watch even out here in the middle of nowhere is a MUST.
 
As there was little rest the night before, I was now tired enough now to catch good sleep in my 20 to 30min power nap routines. Still working on this but I feel pretty fresh and excited to enjoy another day on the ocean.
 
Time to prepare the first liter of tea.
 
Fair winds…

Azores to Madeira – Logblog 2

We are cruising along in 10kn of wind which gives us 4kn of speed…plus 0.4kn from the Northatlantic current pushing us South. I have just finished dinner in the cockpit and it almost feels like sitting on the boat while parked on the hard in one of the boatyard’s hall. Bit of wind whistling around. Splashing water now and then. That*s it. No movements. You can walk through the boat as if you are at one of these boat fairs, no hands needed. The waves have taken an interesting pattern. While there is neglegible wind wave, we got swell 1, swell 2 and perhaps even swell 3. These swells are huge flat monsters in form of a football field moving around. Well, now there are football fields moving around from three different directions but it does not matter because you, we, and finally only me, as the moving spectator, are not feeling these moving football fields. We can only see them at daylight but now…it*s dark. No chance you feel these wobbling masses of water around you. It is not always like this. If you have ever been in an elevator and suddenly it stops and the nice voice is telling you that you arrived on floor 55, sounds familiar, you know what I am talking about in terms of the boat cruising through these football fields. You don*t feel the movement of 4.4kn through the water like you do not feel how the elevator brought up in no time. Amazing nature and technology. Enough now.
 
I heard about Chorizo before. Arriving in Spain, I tried them. Not bad. Arriving in the Azores Susan bought them at the butchery market in Sao Miguel. Even better. I had one left, which went into a mixture of regional vegetables for dinner tonight (Azores is considered regional) and it proves again that good incrediants can replace a bad cook. I finished it all.
 
It is warm out here. I have not put up the cockpit tent yet because it is still pleasant to rest outside. With a pitch dark sky we can see million of stars before the moon rises around 22:30 and will give the sky and the ocean a completely new appearance. You will then be able to sea waves, clouds if any, perhaps birds but for sure the horizon. Sitting in the boatyard’s hall you can not even figure out which boat is next to you at the very moment but soon you will see, ups only one boat in the hall and that’s us. Only one boat here on the ocean…
 
Well, I better get my dishwashing done now.
 
Fair winds & good night.
 
PS: This logblog entry has been published via Winlink knot 8P6BWS located on the island of Barbados.

Azores to Madeira – Logblog 1

Took me a while to come up with the first logblog, different reasons and excuses. Lightwind sailing is a challenge in itself and in our case it get’s topped up by some leftover swell shaking us around. It was quite okay until last evening when the wind dropped further and the swell took control over the wind with the result that sails started banging. A true wind speed (TWS) of 8kts from an true wind angle (TWA) of 120° is just nothing where the lady get’s excited and is rather complaining. We are now pretty stable but our speed is just around 3kn. I am not getting the gennaker out in these conditions as I am not sure what the swell will do to it. Found a way to play with it and also prepared the spinnaker pole in case we need to shift even more in front of the wind, which is expected at later stage.. The hydrovane is engaged and another good learning under these light wind conditions This time the 5kn extra we normally get from Menno is just not there but would make a hell of a difference. This lady is sensetive although not light weight.
 
Our weather window is open towards the end, meaning that there are no severe conditions at the time of arrival in Funchal, which is set to sometime on Sunday, 18th September. My berth is confirmed and even if we arrive a day later, it does not matter – one more day on the ocean! Let’s see.
 
If I am not trying to catch up some sleep over the day, I simply enjoy the magnificence of the ocean.
 
Fair winds…

👌…pleasant start…👍

We had a pleasant start and I hope it goes in like this.

Azores…will be back!

We have to move on, not easy but necessary. The weather window shall be okay to sail over to Madeira now and spend a few days in one of my other favourite marinas in Funchal. The last bits and pieces of former Hurrikane Danielle have been pushed away by a huge high pressure system currently developing southwest of Santa Maria and moving in our favour. That is the plan, a bit fragile but “tries make wise” as Volker from SY Hexe use to say: “Versuch macht klug!”

Moving on, I am still a bit puzzled how different the Atlantic Islands are. This not only from a landscape point of view but also from climate, culture and cuisine, just to name a few. Not to forget the cycling 🚴‍♂️ aspect.

🎼...pack ich meinen Mut unter den Hut und jag den wilden Träumen hinterher...🕺

The passage north to the Azores from Lanzarote was not a piece of cake for me but without doubt worth the effort. A brilliant archipelago during summer.

Feel free to join me out on the ocean over the next few days!

Fair winds… 

☝️…2nd departure shift…😉

I have shifted again. Above shows simulated passages over the next 48 hours. Looking now for the white line with a planned time of departure tomorrow, 14th September, in the evening hours.

Time for a tasty omelette.

Fair winds…

☝️…new headsail…🙋‍♂️

The lady will get a new dress. While we replaced the mainsail two years ago, it was now time to upgrade the foresail as well. It will be delivered to Lanzarote in October. We are then perfectly equipped for all type of events and any dress code required.😉

Fair winds…

😋…Melon of Santa Maria…😋

Apart from many other excellent fruits and vegetables cultivated across the Azores,  the melon produced only here on Santa Maria Island requires special attention. With a splash of Kefir into its core and a spoon to dig into it, you will not stop until hitting the pure bark. They call it a gastronomic wonder.

Extremely tempting!

💨…strange winds…🙃

It was an interesting night – no sleep. Very quiet all afternoon and evening until short tempered gusts up to 36kt started to shake hands with ambiguous silence at 5kt. Total silence until…💨

Lucky 13 lines gave a good load distribution on the pontoon and its cleats. With a bit of fine-tuning and the help of the integrated dampers the boat movement was smooth at any time. Even the ball fender at the stern did his job giving some proportional relief to the spider network.

This situation shall stay on for another 24 hours. Despite these circumstances, I am glad,  that I did not set sail for Madeira on 8th trying to escape these excrescences of Madame Danielle. Initially Madeira was cleared from these winds but now it appears, that the track of former Danielle is moving a bit further South, 2 degree in latitude, I would guess, which equals to about 220km.

In 24 hours we should see some relief.
Entry into Funchal at ETA a challenge.

The original passage plan estimated an arrival on 12th and the wind & wave conditions at Funchal are anything else than pleasant at that time for a single handed sailor without fixed appointments and commitments.

I am glad that I could talk to Sutje Jan this morning on the Marine Radio. Due to a very fast passage they will escape most of the following severe sea state although one more challenging night is still ahead of them before arrival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. We will try to connect again at 8:00 UTC tonight.

Need a strong coffee now.

Fair winds…

🙋‍♂️…Vila do Porto…👌

It has become quite here in Vila do Porto on Santa Maria. I have taken the marina photo to the very right above upon my arrival a week ago. The bigger tuna fishing vessels have been hauled out last week as the season is considered to be over. Commercial quota has been reached. At the moment we are the only sailing boat in transit left, all others are either running diving business or staying/living here with their boats over winter.

The wind shall increase over night up to 35kt in gusts and by Monday evening Danielle shall finally be history. 

Have a relaxed weekend.

Fair winds…

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