Heading South!

While watching the weather for a suitable window to head south, we busied ourselves preparing for our longest passage yet. We thoroughly checked the boat, making sure that all was working correctly and nothing was damaged. This included a full rigging check which involved me going up the mast to check fixtures and fittings. Great view from the top!

We also needed to provision for the trip, as once we left the coast of Portugal, we would be too far off shore to pop back if we had forgotten anything.

We made some meals for the freezer (in case things were rough or we were sea sick) and stocked up on fresh and dried/tinned food. Not having a car for this, meant several trips to the supermarket.

We set off, leaving Povoa de Varzim behind us and set a course straight to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria.

The first afternoon the wind was SW/W at Force 2 (4-6 knots). This was not good for sailing, so the engine was on.

By the early hours of day two, all had changed. The wind had moved round to N/NE and picked up to Force 3 (7-10 knots). This was perfect for a downwind sail to Gran Canaria.

We set the sails in a ‘goosewing’ position with the Genoa poled out on one side and the main on the other side, held in place with a preventer. It took some time to set them up, but this is how they stayed for the rest of the journey. Even when the wind picked up to Force 4 (11-16 knots), gusting Force 5 (17-21 knots). All made for a speedy sail of up to 8 knots.

The journey went well; our only real problem being the Atlantic swell. At times, this was up to 3m and generally came from the side and/or slightly further back. From behind meant that, sometimes, we were surfing and from the side meant we were rolling. Unfortunately, every now and then both came at the same time and the boat did a kind of corkscrew motion. This was a little unsettling, very noisy and uncomfortable. We didn’t get much sleep for two days!

We also had some wildlife excitement.

On our first day, we were joined by a pod of 20 + dolphins who swam along with us, playing in the bow waves for 20 minutes. (Apologies – I did get a video but when I come to edit it, it had disappeared!!)

Later in the passage, early one morning, we spotted a squid who had ended up on deck. Not wanting to waste our ‘seakill’, Martin prepared and cooked it. Unfortunately, it had obviously dried out too much and had the texture of old boots!

Finally, on our last day, Martin caught his first fish! A reasonable sized Spanish mackerel. Now that was tasty!!