Arrival is Sweet 37.05:02N 08.15:87W
Tioram 4
Tina & Tony
Sat 12 Jun 2010 11:40
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10/6/2010----- Blog written whilst approaching
the Portuguese coast.
Wow!
Cap St Vincent at dawn lifts the spirits after 2 days of
4m waves and high 20 knots wind with 33 knot gusts. Strong NW winds have kept us
skipping along with just a genoa flying.
It seems that all good arrivals are all the more sweet for
being around dawn and early light. The low lying coast swaithed in cloud and
mist, occassional light driizzle and two rainbows thrown in.
For all you sailors out there, you know the glories of
first light on the ocean and the fireball rising.
Now sheltered by the land from the north westerlies, the
lack of wind is a welcome break from being beaten up but with it comes the need
for the engine again.
The guys are in bed and I've
left them to rest after they were dodging tanker lanes last night. Our AIS
system which picks up boats and tankers was registering 11 tankers at one moment
coming from both directions as we passed through at nearly 90' to the
tanker traffic. An 1100ft long tanker passed in front of us at 1.5 nm
after we had radioed him. The gentleman on watch of the Budapest Express
bound for Port Said had a nice chat with us as he said he too was a sailor.
After radioing him he had picked up our radar signal at 5 miles and a
visual of our port red mast head light at 3 miles which was a little
disappointing considering we have a sea-me booster for our radar reflector.
However, we were in lumpy seas and swinging around a lot.
My only naigation concern now is fishing boats and lobster
pot dodging under engine which feels like a small task after our Atlantic
crossing. It has felt like a long crossing---19 days from Antigua to the Azores
and 7 days to Portugal.
We have been in great company with John Richards our pal
and my great watch leader who has made my rough night watches feel very
safe and has made a huge contibution to the trip.
James our friend who successfully rowed the Atlantic
and sailed back after only 3 weeks on land and despite having
never sailed before rose to the challenge of 'ropes, sheets,
halyards, helming' and of course a new aspect of his life
'cooking'.
Our German friend, Malte, who brings humour to
the boat, a real gift in his second language. It's great to see his
enthusiasm and energy as he bops around the foredeck, trims sails at any
opportunity having read two sail trim books on the trip and 're-written' his
own, ----'as it is much more organised'.
He has also been inspired by reading 'Close to the
wind', by Pete Goss and is now 'chomping at the bit' to do single-handed
sailing---perhaps Minitransat.
With his enthusiasm and charm I'm sure we will have the
priviledge of watching a young man set sail one day in the future. This will
equal the pleasure of watching another young man, James take his last rowing
strokes as he touched the dock in Nelson's dockyard, Antigua after 110
days.
And so to us----------- Wow! have we really just sailed
the Atlantic again ? Sailing oceans is really a microcosm of life.
Beautiful moments, uncomfortable times, fun with friends, tiredness,
dodging whales day and night and yet marvelling at their beauty-------and
when you are really tired the dolphins come to play.
However, arrival is sweet. The Caribbean has been just
magic and now feels a long way away. We are nearing the Med and meeting our
great friends Andrew and Trish in a few hours when we dock in
Albufeira.
Malte will sadly be leaving us in a few days to
fulfil his dream to travel from Brazil home to Germany mainly by sea and
over land.
We will head off to Gibraltar and Tioram completes the
circuit and returns to the Med.
We are hugely grateful to all our friends who have made
this journey possible for Tony and myself----from the UK to the Med, on to the
Canaries, across the Atlantic and back via the Azores to the Med.
But perhaps this is also our time to reflect upon our own
achievements and put modesty aside----just for once----and say, 'Hey we did,--we
really did it'.....................
Love to all
Tina, Tony and Malte x x x
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