Position: 33:03:73N 16:18:96W

Porto Santo, Madeira

Some pictures from the crossing from Portugal:

A rolly ride

Big waves and wet decks

Jemima having a daytime sleep

Emilia watching a DVD in the cockpit

We spent a few days in Porto Santo, not doing a great deal except for recovering from the lack of sleep and luxuriating in the comfort of having the boat tied securely to something immovable.

Porto Santo really is a lump of rock in the middle of the ocean. It is only 8km long, and has a sandy beach stretching the full length of one side of the island, ending in the Nato-built harbour at the North end.  I think this was a reserve harbour, whatever that means – I assume they used it as a refueling station rather than a missile base.

You really feel like you are very isolated from everything and whilst there is obviously no shortage of money on the island, it feels like one of those places where they only get contact with the mainland once a week.  I am sure it is nothing like as bad as this, but that’s how it felt.  I like it!  The main town is tiny; it’s main claim to fame being a house that Christopher Columbus once owned.  It is 2km from the port to the town along the beach, which makes for quite a hot walk – temperatures are certainly higher here than in Portugal, but it is a nice heat with little humidity.

Porto Santo, with Madeira in the distance

View North from Porto Santo – we sailed over that horizon!!

There are probably 20 or 30 or so foreign yachts in the harbour, a mix of nationalities with mainly Dutch, Norwegian & French with one or two English boats.  We have met very few English boats doing a similar thing to us – we’ve seen a few charter-types with lots of very keen people aboard, but only one family (that was “Starblazer” back in the Rias) so it is a bit disappointing to think that the Brits don’t have as much “get up & go” as our European cousins.  We will do our best to fly the flag!  We met a few people we have met before, such as “Balu”, a Northern Irish yacht painted emerald green, and an interesting couple called Anthony & Celia on an Oyster 43 who came over for drinks. 

In talking to people who crossed at a similar time to us, the consensus is that it was actually quite rough.  Almost every boat we spoke to had had some seasickness and many appeared to find it quite tough, especially in terms of finding a sail combination that worked.  Those boats with kids who had not already elected to fly the kids for the Transat itself were certainly doing some thinking about whether to sail with them or book some flights.  For ourselves, we are quite glad that we have made the decision to fly the girls over, and we’re also quite pleased with how we fared on the crossing itself.  Things like cooking up meals in advance (and having leftover Indian takeaways!) to eat on the first couple of days is really helpful.

The hard standing at Porto Santo was full of racing yachts, and it turned out to be a large fleet of French yachts who are taking part in the Trans-Quadra race, which I had never heard of.  On talking to one of the competitors who was next to us in the marina, it is a single- or double-handed race from France to Madeira, where they leave their boats for a few months, then over to the Caribbean.  Unless I misinterpreted what he said, it is for the over-40s!  I think they try to organize it around 2-week blocks to allow people to fit it in around their holidays, hence why the boats are all laid up in Porto Santo for a few months.  The crazy French – they have so many rallies and races that we aren’t even aware of!

Porto Santo harbour – check out the fleet of French Trans-Quadra yachts on the hard

Looking towards the harbour from the road into town

View towards town and the other end of the island

Yacht murals on the harbour wall at Porto Santo