So long, farewell, auf wuedersien, adiue..........'til the next time, perhaps...........
andromeda of plymouth
Susan and Andrew Wilson
Thu 10 Jul 2014 14:45
|
........well nearly - this will be the last blog
posting to the ARC Europe Website, though we we shall continue to post to the
Andromeda bog at mailasail.
Well we made it to Lagos some 25 days after the
last ARC party and prize giving, no drink to be had though, so we think its time
to say farewell to ARC Europe as we think about what to do for the next
year.
Our last night at sea was dark and we had up
to 35 knots of wind from the NW most of the time. We were double reefed on genoa
and main, with mizzen stowed, so felt reasonable comfortable, though it was
pretty cold, and were steering 104 then 112 Magnetic, as part of the last bit of
the route from the Azores, with the wind mostly on the port stern
quarter.
We did have a very close encounter with a very
large container ship as we approached Cape St. Vincent the following day (lunch
time Tuesday) - the Hyundai Ambition did not show up on AIS, though we could see
it, and was heading towards us at some speed. They must have known we were
there (we had the ECHOMAX on, and a number of other commercial vessels had
altered course when they came across us, so the radar reflector was presumably
doing something) but they did not make any attempt to alter course, though we
were under sail. We were to the north of the TSS, as advised, under sail and
sailing at 6knots in some 20-25 knots of wind from the NW. They must have
made the turn out of the St. Vincent TSS very, very tightly given the course we
were on (112 Mag) from Sao Miguel and their course to the north.
Anyway, they did not alter course at all, so we ducked the stern at some 200
meters and dived into a huge stern wash which crashed over the deck, big time,
and stopped us dead for a time. Still they did not alter course, nor slow down,
but headed off towards europe, somewhere. Very scary given the lack of AIS
response which had been very reliable for the last 3000 miles - something was
going on, and we got a bit of it. Can't think why they did not acknowledge us
unless there was no one on watch - one for the authorities perhaps? With
hind sight we should have called them on the radio, but with only one person
awake and steering the boat, we didn't do this - our mistake which we can only
explain by tiredness.
Then we sighted land (Portugal, europe,
another continent!) at 1:12pm, what a momentous achievement we thought, and
we got very excited and Susan started texting folks - some of you may remember!.
After that it was relatively fast sailing to the Cape and then into the Sagres
anchorage for the night at around 5pm - calm sea, but very windy
(protected from the north) the guide books say! Ha! Wind at 25-34 knots
protected - I think the Oxford English Dictionary has some explaining to
do. Anyway, the following morning after dodging 3 very, very large fish
farms on the south coast between Sagres and Lagos, we finally made it to Lagos,
and to a very warm welcome. Wind, initially 25 knots when we left
Sagres finally calmed down to nothing and the sea became flat as we
arrived off Lagos - almost like some of the trip to Bermuda (boo!).
We broke a record on this trip - our daily 24 hour
noon to noon was 160 boat miles or 153.62 GPS miles - amazing for us and it does
show something about the strength of the wind, the wind direction, sea state,
current, sail plan and, of course, the lack of lots of fishing line around the
prop! We have sailed 5,088.98 miles from Trinidad this year (2014) and Andromeda
has completed some 25,000 since launch, or when the log was last replaced(!).
What a yacht - we usually plan on 100-120 miles in 24 hours - amazing for us,
given our lowest boat miles enroute to Bermuda was 22 miles, noon to noon,
though a huge 28 miles drifting as far as the GPS was concerned!
Anyway. Yippee! We are here! We had a lovely
Chinese dinner last night to celebrate our arrival - and then went to bed and
missed the Holland-Argentina game!
So more in due course when we have something
to say!
Hope all those on ARC Europe enjoyed the experience
and we wish them safe sailing, fair winds and following seas.
Goodbye, ARC Europe 2014.
Andrew & Susan
S/V Andromeda (finally in Lagos!)
|