We are very lucky to live next to the most difficult shores on earth. We get so many factors while learning to sail, we end up knowing what we're doing a lot of the times.
Today, somebody on a sail boat complained to me about the Westerly wind. I can understand they don't get that often here, but I almost got rammed twice from a Westerly force 4 blowing in the marina. The first boat lost engine power in the middle of the marina, dropped anchor and sheered with its stern across our mooring line. They missed us by inches. When they upped anchor, the speeds they developed in harbour while going back and forth were amazing.
Instead of putting a line to the pontoon, they trusted their engine to help them into the next pontoon. They luckily succeeded.
Later, a 41 foot charter yacht with a very nervous skipper got in next to us, which he did quite admirably, until he throttled forward to try and pull the boat on one mooring line at the stern into the wind. Of course, all he was doing was pushing against us quite violently. When I suggested he just put into neutral and pick up the front line from the pontoon, all I got was abuse. He then suggested I moved away. Again, the Westerly wind was blamed for the incompetence of the skipper.
When they asked me where I was from, I couldn't help remarking we get quite a lot of Westerlies in the North Sea. Didn't make any friends there, I can tell you. But the British boat that came in earlier wasn't doing too well getting into the apointed spot, so he decided to ask for a different one a bit further down. A very smart move and although less cool and macho, a lot more sane. Something I've done time and again, knowing myself and my boat well enough not to be too adventurous when mooring.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Whales
Sometimes in life you get lucky. It happened to me yesterday, when we were motoring in dead calm from Gomera to Tenerife. I spotted a large group of whales right in front of the boat. We'd been snorkeling at noon in a bay off Gomera and so it took 2 minutes to stop the boat, don the gear and dive in.
It was a group of about 20 pilot whales, Globicephala melas, with some three young. They were sleeping or resting so it was easy to swim among them. I could see them perfectly in the crystal clear water with the sun filtering through. I managed to stay with one group while another smaller group dove a couple of meters. When the others turned around, I positioned myself in front of them so about eight of them swam past me at less than one meter. Had I wanted to, I could have touched them.
They were swimming in pairs or threes, beneath me, next to me on both sides, sometimes turning slowly. They didn't bother with me or check out what I was,being, after all, less than half their size.
The person on the right in the picture is me, before the group on the left catches up with me.
So, was this a life altering experience? Let's say it was very relaxing and I was very relaxed observing the whales, never feeling any kind of anxiety or fear. I didn't go too close to the young, even though it might not have been dangerous doing so. The tranquilness of swimming with these cetaceans is something I'll never forget. Humans aren't sea animals, but to get the opportunity to swim this close to large friendly whales is a once in a lifetime thing.
To do it from my own boat on this journey, I now profoundly and fully appreciate all that's made me be here now.
It was a group of about 20 pilot whales, Globicephala melas, with some three young. They were sleeping or resting so it was easy to swim among them. I could see them perfectly in the crystal clear water with the sun filtering through. I managed to stay with one group while another smaller group dove a couple of meters. When the others turned around, I positioned myself in front of them so about eight of them swam past me at less than one meter. Had I wanted to, I could have touched them.
They were swimming in pairs or threes, beneath me, next to me on both sides, sometimes turning slowly. They didn't bother with me or check out what I was,being, after all, less than half their size.
The person on the right in the picture is me, before the group on the left catches up with me.
So, was this a life altering experience? Let's say it was very relaxing and I was very relaxed observing the whales, never feeling any kind of anxiety or fear. I didn't go too close to the young, even though it might not have been dangerous doing so. The tranquilness of swimming with these cetaceans is something I'll never forget. Humans aren't sea animals, but to get the opportunity to swim this close to large friendly whales is a once in a lifetime thing.
To do it from my own boat on this journey, I now profoundly and fully appreciate all that's made me be here now.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Deploy all lines
Last Sunday, after we slept off the passage, we got some disturbing news. Six metre waves were coming our way! After some checking on various weather forecasting sites, it turns out a big storm is coming down from Greenland. It will reach the Azores on Thursday, which is today, and create 50 knot winds and 10 metre waves.
So what has that to do with us, who are a thousand Miles away from Flores, where the worst wil hit? Well, in two days time, the waves will have traveled South West to reach us, and still being over four Metres high, could prove somewhat unsettling. So we would have to mind this storm and the effects it has. And today, sure enough, the wind is howling in the Azores and on Saturday, we'll get almost 5 metre waves from the North West.
So what did we do? The first thing was to check for dangers in La Palma. The sea wall is strong enough, the harbour offering a lot of protection to the marina entrance and the berths are pretty wide and the pontoons strong. So we could always just stay.
Next up was to look for alternatives. The next port we could reach was around the East of La Gomera, so also protected from North Westerly swell. But we couldn't leave before Monday because the marina office is closed on Sundays, so then we'd have to leave early on Monday without having seen La Palma and find a berth in the marina in La Gomera.
From looking at Google Earth pictures, this looks like a well protected marina, but alas with only some free berths near the entrance. So any swell would likely affect those spots worst. On top of that, the berths aren't that wide, so big swell could lead to some damage from adjacent boats.
So the next alternative is Tenerife. About a 110 Miles further East, but offering very good protection. But the forecast for Monday until Thursday was light winds, so we'd probably have to motor all the way there. There is some wind predicted for Friday, but that's cutting it a bit fine with the swell coming in Friday night.
And of course with the ARC coming up, all the Eastern ports fill up quite rapidly. Perhaps combined with the storm, we might find there is no more room in Tenerife either, though that's not very likely. So it was a long 24 hrs motoring to Tenerife, or staying put and making the best of it.
So this is what we've chosen to do, we'll leave for Gomera next Monday and since we don't have to be in Tenerife until next Thursday, that gives us some time to visit before we leave for San Miguel on Tenerife.
Until then, we deploy all mooring lines and hope the marina poles are well anchored.
So what has that to do with us, who are a thousand Miles away from Flores, where the worst wil hit? Well, in two days time, the waves will have traveled South West to reach us, and still being over four Metres high, could prove somewhat unsettling. So we would have to mind this storm and the effects it has. And today, sure enough, the wind is howling in the Azores and on Saturday, we'll get almost 5 metre waves from the North West.
So what did we do? The first thing was to check for dangers in La Palma. The sea wall is strong enough, the harbour offering a lot of protection to the marina entrance and the berths are pretty wide and the pontoons strong. So we could always just stay.
Next up was to look for alternatives. The next port we could reach was around the East of La Gomera, so also protected from North Westerly swell. But we couldn't leave before Monday because the marina office is closed on Sundays, so then we'd have to leave early on Monday without having seen La Palma and find a berth in the marina in La Gomera.
From looking at Google Earth pictures, this looks like a well protected marina, but alas with only some free berths near the entrance. So any swell would likely affect those spots worst. On top of that, the berths aren't that wide, so big swell could lead to some damage from adjacent boats.
So the next alternative is Tenerife. About a 110 Miles further East, but offering very good protection. But the forecast for Monday until Thursday was light winds, so we'd probably have to motor all the way there. There is some wind predicted for Friday, but that's cutting it a bit fine with the swell coming in Friday night.
And of course with the ARC coming up, all the Eastern ports fill up quite rapidly. Perhaps combined with the storm, we might find there is no more room in Tenerife either, though that's not very likely. So it was a long 24 hrs motoring to Tenerife, or staying put and making the best of it.
So this is what we've chosen to do, we'll leave for Gomera next Monday and since we don't have to be in Tenerife until next Thursday, that gives us some time to visit before we leave for San Miguel on Tenerife.
Until then, we deploy all mooring lines and hope the marina poles are well anchored.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Passion fruit fraud and Canaries
After 43 hours of favorable wind, we got from Funchal to Santa Cruz de la Palma in the Canaries Islands.
The two island groups are very close, but quite different in ambiance. The Portuguese and Spanish like to stress the differences between them, and for once they are right. But of course we sailed from one island to the next, and islands and the people on them are often quite similar. A shared European culture with tourism added in does a lot to blur the distances.
So a new island culture to discover, and our first impression was from the concert in the local theater, where Compay Segundo was feted with an hommage to his music. Everybody was well dressed while we definitely had the tourist look. The explanations in between were long as well as in Spanish, which made the concert somewhat stop and go, but the music was enchanting.
Today saw a lot of odd jobs as well as laundry being done and some fun and games to boot. The local market was quite interesting, with sweets, fruits and drinks of the region. The food will prove interesting enough, without us having to resort to strange passion fruits like the ones Ines and Spencer bought in Funchal in the local passion fruit fraud. Yet another tale to tell...
The two island groups are very close, but quite different in ambiance. The Portuguese and Spanish like to stress the differences between them, and for once they are right. But of course we sailed from one island to the next, and islands and the people on them are often quite similar. A shared European culture with tourism added in does a lot to blur the distances.
So a new island culture to discover, and our first impression was from the concert in the local theater, where Compay Segundo was feted with an hommage to his music. Everybody was well dressed while we definitely had the tourist look. The explanations in between were long as well as in Spanish, which made the concert somewhat stop and go, but the music was enchanting.
Today saw a lot of odd jobs as well as laundry being done and some fun and games to boot. The local market was quite interesting, with sweets, fruits and drinks of the region. The food will prove interesting enough, without us having to resort to strange passion fruits like the ones Ines and Spencer bought in Funchal in the local passion fruit fraud. Yet another tale to tell...
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