Good Morning.........Madeira
andromeda of plymouth
Susan and Andrew Wilson
Sat 5 Jun 2010 17:22
reads” Last, 107 metres” that you realise that you are well and truly on
your way in terms of an ocean sailing passage. Deep water, Abyssal Plain,
Sea Mounts etc. all indicate a significant amount of ocean and depth on
the charts and so it was when we prepared our charts for the crossing
from Gibraltar to Madeira.
Having visited Ceuta we returned to Gibraltar, passing three pods of
dolphins in the straits, to prepare for the trip. The weather appeared
favourable on Sunday 30th May. We cast off at 07:30am to catch the tide
down to Tarifa, motored out across the Traffic Separation Zones then set
our course for Madeira of around 260 degrees. We spotted our first flying
fish and were very surprised at the distances it covered. The wind didn’t
settle in any real direction for any length of time until the evening
which meant motor sailing for a few hours. Crossing the Traffic Separation
Zones requires some timing – some of those container ships are doing 20+
knots, and move very quickly indeed compared to Andromeda. When the wind
did arrive and we could set the sails on starboard tack we tried to set up
the Aries wind vane. However there appeared to be a problem between the
wind vane and the paddle in the water as the connecting mechanism was too
stiff for the wind vane to drive the paddle. Although the unit was cleaned
and oiled in Lagos it seems something has or may have been over looked so
its No. 1 on the To Do list. It meant a lot of hand steering over the next
few days (in other words whenever the sails were up and the motor was
off)(most of the time).
As we sailed into the evening the first night we encountered vast fishing
nets set across our path – we managed to motor around one but then went
straight over another one when fiddling with the wind vane. We only
noticed when we looked at the wind vane unit on the stern of Andromeda and
behind that, a line of floats stretching off into the distance on both
sides, with a small gap that we had somehow managed to sail through.
Thankfully we didn’t hook anything and managed to see the third line of
nets in time, just as the sun set. Much more alert we reefed our
sails(reefing means reducing the sail area), as we do every night, and
continued south west. Around 11pm a fishing vessel started flashing his
search light at us indicating that he wanted us to change course as he was
trawling. We rolled the Genoa away and started the engine and turned north
for about a mile until we could see the end of his net, indicated by a
strobe light. Changing back on course we rolled out the Genoa and switched
off the engine and continued sailing. However about 2 hours later we came
across a vast line of strobe lights across our course. This time we
altered course south, shepherded by a fishing vessel, but sailed for
almost half an hour before reaching the end of the nets. Once rounding the
nets we then had to sail north as there was yet another line of strobe
lights to avoid. It took a further hour before we were able to resume our
course. Although we may curse them they are trying to make a living so we
just took in a deep breath, exhaled slowly and did what we needed to do to
get round the nets and boats. Over the rest of the trip we only saw a few
more fishing vessels when we were approaching Madeira and Porto Santo but
you do need to keep a careful look out as they change course and speed vey
unpredictably, especially at night.
We have the VHF radio on Channel 16 at all times when sailing and were
intrigued by the sheer amount of traffic throughout any 24 hour period.
Most of Sunday evening the airwaves were full of fishing boat captains,
calling up the captains of cargo ships and tankers, trying to persuade
them to change course so as not to run over the fishing nets they had
laid, in the Traffic Separation Zones and approaches to the Straits, and
therefore directly in the way of the commercial behemoths, and the odd
sailing yacht. “Please Captain, give me red light, give me red light,
thank you very much” was probably the most quoted phrase of the week!
Others seem to use the VHF as some kind of outlet, much like call in radio
programmes – we heard a lot of moaning, someone calling for Mario over the
course of 2 days, cat noises, high pitched squeaks and squawks, whistles,
warships (Warship 75 about to start live firing exercises – call if you
have a problem, err Warship 75 - where are you firing and how wide is the
target area – it was 17 miles actually) and the daily chit chat of
Spanish, Portuguese and Moroccan fishermen moaning about the commercial
traffic ruining their nets and the antics of the gringo sailor who
zig-zagged across their fishing grounds – that would be us! We could hear
Rota, Tarifa and Las Palmas traffic control for days both calling up
ships, and berating them for not calling them up, and telling them what
they were up to.
Monday was spent mostly sailing with a few intervals of motoring when the
wind died away to nothing at all. Mal de Mer started to affect Susan, and
would remain with her for another day and a half. This meant that all she
really wanted to do was sleep! Monday night brought a significant and very
rapid increase in wind speed so we had to reduce our already reduced sail
plan even further (as noted elsewhere we endeavour to reef down at night)
and we put a third reef in the main (making it the smallest we could
before taking it down altogether) and left a pocket handkerchief of genoa
out – even so we were still flying along at over 5 knots with next to no
sail area at all. Fortunately the wind direction was such that we could
control Andromeda pretty well through most of the night until it finally
eased a bit on Tuesday morning. We had lots of spray everywhere and found
a small and evidently surprised young squid expired on deck the following
morning – alas too late for us to befriend or indeed eat (Ian and Phill
please note another option for live-aboard pets!), but it does give you an
idea of how the waves were coming across the deck.
Tuesday found Susan still dealing with the Mal de Mer while the sailing
was pretty good until the fog arrived and the temperature turned dropped
significantly in the north wind. The surrounding sea (using our chart
plotter /AIS etc) was fortunately completely empty of cargo boats, yachts,
liners, tankers, fishing boats, etc., just as well as we until we couldn’t
see the horizon or indeed anything at all really when the fog arrived. On
Susan’s watch she managed to pop a lens out of her glasses, when trying to
get them off to clean, but somehow she retrieved it, put it back in,
cleaned her lenses, peering myopically in the meantime at the instruments
and maintaining the course, in almost pitch back darkness(no moon in the
fog, and without waking Andrew.
Wednesday the fog stayed with us until the afternoon so we were once again
motor-sailing with the chart plotter on looking for large ships around us
using the AIS - one passed about 4 miles behind us, but that was the only
one of note, though we scarcely saw it in the gloom. Finally the fog
lifted and we put up all three sails and began to really enjoy ourselves,
particularly as Susan’s Mal de Mer was just about finished. Another
hitch-hiker arrived, a small cream coloured butterfly that stayed with us
during the night and left on his way somewhere the following day.
Curiously we saw quite few butterflies over the next few days, perhaps we
were on a migration route or the northern air stream was pushing them down
towards Madeira rather than to the Azores – not sure. Later in the
afternoon Susan saw a turtle swimming away to the north- west, about 24
inches long and brown in colour – and if you can spot it in the sea in the
photo please mark an X on it and send a copy back to us. Susan assures me
you can see it in the sea – honestly.
Thursday morning found us with the engine on again as the wind died
towards early morning and eventually there was no wind at all and didn’t
pick up again until mid morning. We resumed sailing with the sun trying to
break through the clouds. Just after lunch we reached a milestone – 504
miles covered which is a qualifying passage for the ARC – Susan was very
excited and a very loud Whooppeeee!! resulted (bet you can tell from the
photos what she was wearing).Most of the rest of the day we enjoyed
fantastic sailing with all three sails up and Andromeda charging along at
between 5 and 7 knots, really stable, well balanced and a joy to sail.
Fantastic.
Friday morning came and found us in a very lumpy and horrible sea with the
island of Porto Santo off to starboard and Madeira ahead – we were really
excited to see our destination where we wanted it to be – ah! the art of
navigation. We used paper charts for the crossing and used GPS to confirm
our position and didn’t use the chart plotter, apart from using the AIS in
the fog, until we were about two miles off Madeira. We put the engine on,
tidied up the boat and prepared lines and fenders and called up Quinta do
Lorde Marina, who sent a rib out to show us to our berth. The Marineiros,
Bruno and Carlos, couldn’t have been more helpful and welcoming, including
taking our photo for the album of us newly tied up in Madeira. Later on we
met Katia in the marina office who gave us the most helpful, informative
and friendly welcome we have ever had – just what we needed after 5 ¼ days
at sea.
Once berthed we cleaned and tided up Andromeda and realised just how tired
we were, had a light late lunch, freshened up and had a very early night.
This is probably the first long passage of note we have undertaken
entirely on one tack! It was also the first time we have sailed for any
length of time and not seen another boat of any description for nearly 48
hours – the horizon was completely empty and not a light could be seen –
kind of odd in the crowded world we live in. However we could hear folks
on the VHF!
We will update on our stay in Madeira in due course........but we
certainly like what we have seen so far.
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Statistics:
Average Speed – 5knots (fastest observed was 7.4 knots)
Daily Average – 120 Nautical Miles (for those interested in the ARC this
would translate into a 21 day passage)
Marina Bay Marina, Gibraltar to Quinta do Lorde Marina, Madeira
– 639 nautical miles
Hours underway – 132 hours
Breakages:
Mizzen sail slider
Mainsail top batten pocket, starboard side, torn
Mizzen kicker – shackle at the base of the mast broke when reefing
Aries windvane (to be sorted – not sure if it’s actually broken)
Wildlife observed:
1 brown turtle
several species of sea bird
1 young squid
1 flying fish
several species of butterfly, wasps and flies (not great in number) – even
3 days out
and one reddish coloured dragonfly!
ps have included some photos of some lovley skies
