Madeira at last

Spectra
Paul & Norma Russell
Sun 26 Oct 2014 11:18

32:38.696N 16:54.63W                                        26 October 2014

 

Madeira at last.  ……………………………… 1842 Miles from Ramsgate by Log

 

I have been a bit remiss in my blogging of late and I also noticed that one of my position reports put us about 400 mile further South than we should be. By the time you read this it should have been corrected. So onto my excuses for not writing, well we are in Madeira and have met up with Tommy and Sue, when you add to that mix restaurants and bars aplenty what chance did I stand? I have now resurfaced and so here we go.

            The last night was not pleasant at all, again no wind so we were motoring the last 50 miles as the sun went down. Batty bat woke up again as was his routine and did a couple of circuits of the boat before noticing that the island of Porto Santo was only a couple of miles away. Without a backwards glance he was off heading straight for shore the blooming freeloader. Anyway it was strangely sad to see him finally go as to be honest I didn’t rate his chances much when he first crash landed. We carried on and all was fine until around midnight when we were abeam of the last light before turning right for Marina Quinta do Lorde and the engine decided to die again. Serious sense of humour failure now but a wiggle of the wires and the fuel pump started to buzz and the engine fired up. The entry to the Marina was pretty fraught as I was waiting for the engine to die all the way in. I shot through the marina entrance doing 6.5 Knots, slammed the old girl in reverse and she settled alongside the arrivals berth leaving Norma a bit of a jump to get the lines ashore. Not my best manoeuvre especially as Norma fell onto her cut knee and bruised it again. But all in all we were just glad to be tied up and able to go to bed. I must say Norma and Peter have been brilliant on this leg, it has not been easy hand steering for over 500 miles and with the stress of gear failure, but they have both been cheerful and supportive while I quietly went doo-lally. Norma typified it by responding when told we would have to hand steer all the way with, “Oh well, that will be good for keeping the bingo wings away then”.

            The next day we booked in and had a look around, not very impressed to be honest it is a bit of a toy town and a very expensive one at that. The marina also had a swell running through it (In a force 1!!) which was uncomfortable as we tied onto our allocated pontoon, a rather spindly affair that Spectra could have pulled to pieces in short order if the wind and swell really got up. On top of that the bus service to Funchal stopped at 6 O’clock and a taxi ride was 50 Euro one way. Peter and myself pulled the engine electrical connections apart and made sure they were secure which hopefully will solve the fuel pump problem and thus with our faith in all things mechanical restored we decided to move the 15 miles down to Funchal that afternoon.

            Finally a pleasant sail, we even had the cruising chute up for a while. We pulled into Funchal at 1830 to be met by Tommy and Sue on the Quayside. We had a beer on board and a right good natter to catch up on all of the doings in London and Ramsgate. Unfortunately I don’t think Norma, Peter or myself added too much to the conversation as we only had about one brain cell functioning between us. A good night sleep and crew de-stress was in order. Good night sleep provided by a calm Funchal harbour and de-stress provided by copious quantities of well applied alcohol, the next day dawned bright and sunny if a little hazy round the edges. Unfortunately we have missed Roger and Davina by a couple of days as they had to fly back to the UK, but that is the vagaries of a life dictated by wind and tide I suppose. Maybe they will turn up in another port on our travels?

            We spent a day on maintenance and have sorted the auto pilot pump (subject to sea trials), rechecked the engine and compiled a list of spare parts required. The list will shortly be sent to my son Tony and our sterling crew mate Steve, along with a begging letter of course, asking them to bring the goodies out with them to Tenerife. I must mention that Norma, not being one to miss an opportunity, took herself up to Tommy and Sue’s hotel before they booked out and had a really long and bubbly soak in the bath. Here we are again almost ready to set off again. The plan at the moment is to leave on Monday 27th and head straight down to Tenerife passing close by the Ilhas Desertas and the Ilhas Selvagens. Both of these islands are Portuguese nature reserves inhabited by lonesome wardens so perhaps we will get the chance to give them a wave as we sail by.

            I am back on WiFi again and so I have attached pictures below from the last hop.

 

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Norma’s latest and greatest                                                                                 Last meal before leaving Sines

 

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More dolphins, I think they are following us.                                                       And he’s off again

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Batty bat shortly after his arrival                                                Batty bats sleeping arrangements

 

 

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Porto Santo a very welcome sight                                                                     The airport