End Sept/early Oct
Nightsong
Fri 9 Oct 2009 15:18
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Dear Blog
Finally got round to writing an update. It's
been a while now - I left the boat at the Quinta do Lorde marina on
the east end of the main Madeira island and rejoined it over 2 weeks ago.
spending a couple of days repairing the Duogen water generator with parts I
successfully took thru customs. The new crew of David Morrish, Dave Wood and
Keith Leighton were all delayed by the TAP pilot's strike (called by the union
after the management awarded themselves a bonus and asked the pilots for a
reduction in wages - I am glad to see that British management practices of
the 1970s are still alive and kicking in Europe!!). The late arrivals somewhat
curtailed our time in Funchal but the boys saw a bit of the city tho not alas
Reed's Hotel.
We set off for the nearest Canarian island the most
NWerly, La Palma on Sunday 27th September at midday (see picture below)
 - strangely the normally reliable NE trade winds
were very fickle and we had to motor a lot but we still made it to Santa Cruz de
Palma by 2000hrs on Monday a total of 34 hours of which 20 hrs were motoring to
cover 250 miles. We did have a brief spell of NW 4/5 during the first
day, and N2/3 during the second day which we sailed goosewing with the Code 0 up
- this works well as long as there is no sea.
We then spent a great day on La Palma exploring the
pretty town and taking a taxi up to the famous observatories on the 8000ft peak
(more than 10 of them) - supposed to be the clearest air in Europe -
unfortunately it was a cloudy day but we luckily went through the cloud at about
6000ft. Sadly views of La Gomera, Tenerife and El Hierro were obscured by the
cloud but it was still a magnificent view and the gamma ray observatory in
particular is spectacular.
 The next day we set sail for la Gomera motoring and
swimming in the open ocean in a very light < 5 knot wind. Decided to change
up to the 165sqm gennaker and in 10 knots of wind we were soon rollicking along.
Suddenly it started to blow up and in 5 mins was blowing 25 knots (force 6) - we
furled the gennaker, set the jib and reefed the main. Unfortunately the gennaker
though furled caught the wind above the clew and it started to flap quite badly.
We tried to bear away but the boat wouldn't respond with the keel half up
so decided to let the halyard go and pull the sail in from the water - the
sail managed to catch and bend the radar strut/Iridum aerial quite badly
before with a massive struggle from all the crew pulled it up over the side and
eventually back to the cockpit and below. Discovered 5 rips in it!! LESSON
LEARNT for the Atlantic crossing where such gusts are common - with the gennaker
we must take it down not just furl it at the first sign of a squall. Code Zero
is fine thank goodness so that will have to be the nighttime sail.
 Great picture above is of David Morrish helming as
we approached La Gomera - the 12000ft mountain El Tiede on Tenerife visible 40
miles away in the background. We were intending
to go into a marina at the Valle Gran Rey - unfortunately this marina like the
one on El Hierro, both of which were mentioned as being imminent in the
pilot book of 10 years ago, just do not exist - however the outer breakwater is
there which gives good anchoring shelter although we had to deploy the kedge
anchor (for the first time ever) to prevent hitting the other boats in the
anchorage.
A few days exploring various anchorages on the
western isles of the Canaries and 2 marinas on Tenerife - one under the
magnificent Los Gigantes 1000ft cliffs, the other on the southern tip of
the island called San Miguel where we found a tourist submarine owned by my
old friend Odd Gaskjenn whose company Scandive A/S I bought for HMB Subwork 20
years ago. Took a trip in it which lived up to expectations!
Tomorrow Libby and the Loomes join for a further
trip around the western isles of the Canaries - must spend more time on La
Gomera which is very pretty and special. It's been very hot and humid with
westerlies over the last week but hopefully the NE trades have set in again so
that the nights will be cooler - cabin fans have been a must and I am very
glad I fitted them
AJB 8th October
2009
PS thanks chaps for the photos - sadly I cannot
download them until I am on wifi
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