Porto Santo to Madeira N32 45 W16 42
Gryphon II
Chris and Lorraine Marchant
Tue 8 Sep 2009 17:15
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We left Porto Santo in a good
northerly breeze and had an easy sail to Madeira. The only real problem was
trying to persuade the Hydrovane self steering to steer the course. It
does not like a following wind, and we will probably have to be rather more
creative with our sail plan and sail setting on the longer
passages.
  We soon found our intended anchorage in the lee of these
impressive volcanic cliffs and had a disturbed night due to the fierce gusts
coming straight down from the top of the cliff which spun us around and made the
anchor cable graunch and chafe aided and abetted by some swell that rolled the
boat unpredictably.
 The following morning the wind eventually abated so
we were able to go ashore to explore the barren, volcanic landscape. We had an
exciting walk along the cliff edge to the extreme eastern headland of Madeira.
The path is a popular one and we saw a lot of very white people who were clearly
on holiday here. We realised how brown we are becoming, despite the rather
indifferent weather.
 This view looking back shows our rather exposed anchorage.
You may just be able to pick out our boat and 2 others further inside than
the fish cages at the mouth of the bay.
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