Last day to do work on the boat before we leave the Marina tomorrow after breakfast.Thank you to everyone who has e mailed/ text their best wishes for a safe passage. Peter and Brent drive to Santa Cruz this morning to get the passports stamped for leaving in the morning and pick up exit papers.
I will be cooking so we have the first dinner already prepared before we leave. Laundry was done yesterday so all clean sheets and towels for the trip.
Just have one or two last minute things to buy then I think we are ready! Let us hope so. Peter has been studying the weather forecast and we should have favourable winds but a big swell so progress may be slow. Anyway we do expect to reach the BVI before the end of November.
The next blog will be from the Caribbean so it will be in 3/4 weeks time...all being well!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Final preparations before the crossing
Brent arrived as expected last night so we now have crew to do the Atlantic crossing with albeit one not two.Peter has spent the last few days studying the weather and has decided we can probably leave Thursday after provisioning the boat. We have a hire car for two days so can drive to the larger supermarket to stock up taking advantage of cheaper prices. It seems to be preferable to clear out of the country at Santa Cruz which is a main sea port. We will use the car to drive to Santa Cruz as it is a 6 hour trip by boat to the north of Tenerife. This means we get all the right paperwork when we enter the BVI as the immigration officers are very fussy.
Peter went through the boat systems and showed Brent how to put up the storm sail today. Luckily it was very light winds this morning whilst sails were being hoisted. This afternoon the wind has turned around into the south west and was blowing strongly at over 25 knots right into the cockpit! Brent went off to find a hotel where he can work in peace without any distractions whilst we finish preparing for the trip but returned for dinner on board.
Peter went through the boat systems and showed Brent how to put up the storm sail today. Luckily it was very light winds this morning whilst sails were being hoisted. This afternoon the wind has turned around into the south west and was blowing strongly at over 25 knots right into the cockpit! Brent went off to find a hotel where he can work in peace without any distractions whilst we finish preparing for the trip but returned for dinner on board.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
End of Holiday
Mike has left us now and flown back to England. We did manage a sail on his last day with us but really there was no wind and it was cooler and cloudier. Monday we set off to sail to Gomera and managed about an hour before we had to motor. Stayed in San Sebastian for 4 nights but at least the berth was good and no surge this time. Sailed back to San Miguel Friday and left as soon as it got light arriving back just after 4pm.Saw dolphins on the way!! We stopped on the fuel dock as we went into the Marina and filled the tank up so now we are ready to leave whenever the weather is right. Peter calculated it was £75 cheaper to fuel up here than in Hamble England!!
Have had lots of e mails back and forth between potential crews and most have fallen by the wayside for one reason or another eg smokers;flights too expensive;crew wanted paying!;dates did not fit etc etc So...just one prospect left which we are not hopeful about as he is in Germany and it sounds as though he would sail here rather than fly!
Anyway the good news is that Brent arrives tonight and he is easy going about the crew situation and happy for us to go with 3 if that is what happens. So now making plans to provision the boat this week and get ready!!! Earliest date we can probably leave is Friday looking at the weather forecast as the next few days are so calm with next to no wind to sail.
Peter is going to show Brent all the sails and have a general boat briefing this weekend so we can go for a sea trial with him as soon as the wind allows some sailing practice. Probably going to have to go up to Santa Cruz Tenerife to clear out as this is the main sea port and we can be sure of getting the right paperwork before we leave the Canaries as the BVI authorities are very particular about this.
Have had lots of e mails back and forth between potential crews and most have fallen by the wayside for one reason or another eg smokers;flights too expensive;crew wanted paying!;dates did not fit etc etc So...just one prospect left which we are not hopeful about as he is in Germany and it sounds as though he would sail here rather than fly!
Anyway the good news is that Brent arrives tonight and he is easy going about the crew situation and happy for us to go with 3 if that is what happens. So now making plans to provision the boat this week and get ready!!! Earliest date we can probably leave is Friday looking at the weather forecast as the next few days are so calm with next to no wind to sail.
Peter is going to show Brent all the sails and have a general boat briefing this weekend so we can go for a sea trial with him as soon as the wind allows some sailing practice. Probably going to have to go up to Santa Cruz Tenerife to clear out as this is the main sea port and we can be sure of getting the right paperwork before we leave the Canaries as the BVI authorities are very particular about this.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Crew!?!
Had an e mail from Rob yesterday to advise he is not now coming with us as he has accepted a place on an ARC boat as they leave later and the timings suit him better which is fair enough. Oh well we still have a few possibles out there. Received an e mail from John Martin friend of Paul Sowman who is keen to do another Atlantic Crossing (has done 3 already!) so this morning have e mailed back for more details regarding his availability as he is in Germany at present. Have another couple of prospects from the ARC Cruisers Forum who we are waiting to hear from too - oh and Brent may have someone also! So...............hopefully it will not be too long before we know where we stand with regards to crew.
It is possible to do the crossing with just three of us and indeed many couples do the crossing on their own without difficulty so we shall just have to wait and see how things progress. Just frustrating that is all when we thought we had everything sorted!! Oh well as the saying goes 'best laid plans....' and all that!!
Anyway where are we? Oh yes back in San sebastian on La Gomera having had a funny old sail across with wind then no wind then strong winds just as we approached La Gomera! The Marina have put us in exactly the same berth we had before but this time there is no surge like ther was last time when we were here with Jenny & Bill so the boat did not dance about all night thank goodness! We went out to eat last night (later than intended as Peter saw Saltwhistle 111 was in and went across to talk to Tony about his rigging) so an hour later we walked to the lovely sea front restaurant only to find it was closed! So back into town for a different venue and found a small local place which gave us a good dinner at Eur50 for the 3 of us including beer and wine was not bad.
Staying put today as we are all pretty tired and have another night booked in the Marina. Maybe do some exploring this afternoon. There is another HR42 next to us with a lovely English couple called Andy and Sue who are our age and very interesting to talk to them as they have done quite a bit of ocean sailing but on another boat as they have only had their HR42 since January. The boat is an HR42E and is called Spruce.
It is possible to do the crossing with just three of us and indeed many couples do the crossing on their own without difficulty so we shall just have to wait and see how things progress. Just frustrating that is all when we thought we had everything sorted!! Oh well as the saying goes 'best laid plans....' and all that!!
Anyway where are we? Oh yes back in San sebastian on La Gomera having had a funny old sail across with wind then no wind then strong winds just as we approached La Gomera! The Marina have put us in exactly the same berth we had before but this time there is no surge like ther was last time when we were here with Jenny & Bill so the boat did not dance about all night thank goodness! We went out to eat last night (later than intended as Peter saw Saltwhistle 111 was in and went across to talk to Tony about his rigging) so an hour later we walked to the lovely sea front restaurant only to find it was closed! So back into town for a different venue and found a small local place which gave us a good dinner at Eur50 for the 3 of us including beer and wine was not bad.
Staying put today as we are all pretty tired and have another night booked in the Marina. Maybe do some exploring this afternoon. There is another HR42 next to us with a lovely English couple called Andy and Sue who are our age and very interesting to talk to them as they have done quite a bit of ocean sailing but on another boat as they have only had their HR42 since January. The boat is an HR42E and is called Spruce.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Lazy Day
Mike arrived last night as expected and the Marina staff were on hand to take him and his bag to the boat in one of their little electric buggys so saving him a short walk!
Peter is relieved to see the dinghy stayed inflated overnight so it seems his patches have worked thank goodness so said dinghy is now rolled up and back in it's bag again ready for the trip.
Mike is happy to spend the day with Peter tinkering on the boat so we will head out for a sail over to La Gomera first thing tomorrow. Cloudier today which makes it seem cooler although at 24 degrees C it is not really cold!!
Have made a decision regarding crew for the Atlantic Crossing and offered Rob Freeland a place on the trip. He sounds ideal and is even talking about a family sailing holiday in the Caribbean when we arrive. So he has a quote from The Moorings already!
Rob expects to join us on 30 October so we could still be away by the end of the month if we leave on 31 October putting us in the BVI around 24/5 November maybe? Depends on how much wind we get and how fast we can go but the distance is around 2,800 miles. When we did Hamble to Tenerife it took 13 days to cover 1,562 miles and that was 3 days motoring across Biscay included.
Met a couple in the bar last night called Kate & Phil who own and charter their Oceanus 50 called First Essential. They have been in France for the last few months and actually moored next to Paul & Debs on Chicago Breeze whilst they were in the Marina at Cannes. CB is a charter boat with The Moorings and we actually know the crew so it is a small world!
Peter is relieved to see the dinghy stayed inflated overnight so it seems his patches have worked thank goodness so said dinghy is now rolled up and back in it's bag again ready for the trip.
Mike is happy to spend the day with Peter tinkering on the boat so we will head out for a sail over to La Gomera first thing tomorrow. Cloudier today which makes it seem cooler although at 24 degrees C it is not really cold!!
Have made a decision regarding crew for the Atlantic Crossing and offered Rob Freeland a place on the trip. He sounds ideal and is even talking about a family sailing holiday in the Caribbean when we arrive. So he has a quote from The Moorings already!
Rob expects to join us on 30 October so we could still be away by the end of the month if we leave on 31 October putting us in the BVI around 24/5 November maybe? Depends on how much wind we get and how fast we can go but the distance is around 2,800 miles. When we did Hamble to Tenerife it took 13 days to cover 1,562 miles and that was 3 days motoring across Biscay included.
Met a couple in the bar last night called Kate & Phil who own and charter their Oceanus 50 called First Essential. They have been in France for the last few months and actually moored next to Paul & Debs on Chicago Breeze whilst they were in the Marina at Cannes. CB is a charter boat with The Moorings and we actually know the crew so it is a small world!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Holiday time again!
Mike is due to arrive tonight at some ungodly hour - his flight gets in at 11.45pm!!!! Needless to say Peter will be the only one up to meet and greet him and I expect a few beers will still be consumed. The plan is to head off to La Gomera and maybe onto La Palma with him.
Managed to do the weekly wash today despite winds in the marina over 20 knots still. Had a narrow escape when the dinghy bag blew overboard but fortunately Peter dived in and rescued it just before it started drifting out to sea! The poor old dinghy has spent the last couple of days getting patches replaced as it was starting to lose air in one side. the test is tonight when it will get inflated again and examined in the morning to see if it is still hard!!
Have met another World ARC boat here in the Marina - Juba a Bavaria 44 owned by a German couple Bergen and Uwe. Bergen spent some time chatting to us yesterday and seems good fun.
We have met a really kind guy called Rob from Newcastle originally who lives nearby in Los Abrigos which is where there is a good chandlery. He very kindly spent yesterday afternoon driving Peter around the island getting all sorts of spares and a full gas bottle as well!
The replacement crew for Mick has been narrowed down to Jack or Rob (a coincidence as not the Rob above). Rob sounds good as he posted an Ad on the WCC forum and has sailed all his life and is being made redundant end Oct with new job not starting until Feb 2012. Also he is aged 42 which is quite close to Brent so they should get on (oh and he has also worked in the States!!). he has told us he can be with us 30 Oct which although later than we originally planned Peter has looked at the long range weather forecast and we may not be able to leave until then in any event.
Managed to do the weekly wash today despite winds in the marina over 20 knots still. Had a narrow escape when the dinghy bag blew overboard but fortunately Peter dived in and rescued it just before it started drifting out to sea! The poor old dinghy has spent the last couple of days getting patches replaced as it was starting to lose air in one side. the test is tonight when it will get inflated again and examined in the morning to see if it is still hard!!
Have met another World ARC boat here in the Marina - Juba a Bavaria 44 owned by a German couple Bergen and Uwe. Bergen spent some time chatting to us yesterday and seems good fun.
We have met a really kind guy called Rob from Newcastle originally who lives nearby in Los Abrigos which is where there is a good chandlery. He very kindly spent yesterday afternoon driving Peter around the island getting all sorts of spares and a full gas bottle as well!
The replacement crew for Mick has been narrowed down to Jack or Rob (a coincidence as not the Rob above). Rob sounds good as he posted an Ad on the WCC forum and has sailed all his life and is being made redundant end Oct with new job not starting until Feb 2012. Also he is aged 42 which is quite close to Brent so they should get on (oh and he has also worked in the States!!). he has told us he can be with us 30 Oct which although later than we originally planned Peter has looked at the long range weather forecast and we may not be able to leave until then in any event.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
All Change
OK so we popped out for a sail last Sunday and spent a few hours beating to windward to get to the anchorage and then Peter says the wind is coming out of the East which will make the anchorage untenable so why are we doing this?!! So at 4pm we were back in the Marina tied up in our berth!!
Yesterday was SO hot as the temperature touched 34 degrees C it was hotter than the BVI! Saw a sweet little baby turtle pop it's head up in the Marina just behind the boat - that is the second time we have seen it so it must live here. Went for a walk along the coast path yesterday and everywhere you look it is all black volcanic rocks and sand but they do try and pu some sort of path in and fence it all off neatly as it runs alongside the golf course so it has to look good!
Monday afternoon we spotted another HR 42F called Saltwhistle 111 come into the Marina and realised they were taking part in the ARC so went across to introduce ourselves to Tony and Rachel the owners. We ended up inviting them over to Trompeta that evening for drinks and they stayed for supper too. It is always interesting to see how oither people adapt their boat and inside Saltwhistle 111 it is a different layout as they have two armchairs rather than the sea berth/setee that we have. Saltwhistle is a year newer than Trompeta and they have spent quite a bit replacing things (well they have owned their boat 3 years so have had time!!) and the end result is a smart boat. We said our goodbyes that evening as they were planning to leave in the morning to sail to La Gomera and stay in San Sebastian so we told them about the surge in the Marina and hope they got a better berth than we did!
Tuesday we received a disappointing e mail from one of our crew Mick saying he cannot now spare the time to do the crossing with us :-( So back to the drawing board again with only 10 days to go - yikes! Fortunately we remembered Jack (who sailed from Hamble to Tenerife in August with us) was looking to do an Atlantic crossing with the ARC so we sent him an e mail and await his reply. In the meantime we are trawling the cruisers forum to see if there are any suitable candidates there. Have found a few hopefuls but most cannot spare time until November and we want to leave by the end of October. Oh well will just have to wait and see what responses we get.
Yesterday was SO hot as the temperature touched 34 degrees C it was hotter than the BVI! Saw a sweet little baby turtle pop it's head up in the Marina just behind the boat - that is the second time we have seen it so it must live here. Went for a walk along the coast path yesterday and everywhere you look it is all black volcanic rocks and sand but they do try and pu some sort of path in and fence it all off neatly as it runs alongside the golf course so it has to look good!
Monday afternoon we spotted another HR 42F called Saltwhistle 111 come into the Marina and realised they were taking part in the ARC so went across to introduce ourselves to Tony and Rachel the owners. We ended up inviting them over to Trompeta that evening for drinks and they stayed for supper too. It is always interesting to see how oither people adapt their boat and inside Saltwhistle 111 it is a different layout as they have two armchairs rather than the sea berth/setee that we have. Saltwhistle is a year newer than Trompeta and they have spent quite a bit replacing things (well they have owned their boat 3 years so have had time!!) and the end result is a smart boat. We said our goodbyes that evening as they were planning to leave in the morning to sail to La Gomera and stay in San Sebastian so we told them about the surge in the Marina and hope they got a better berth than we did!
Tuesday we received a disappointing e mail from one of our crew Mick saying he cannot now spare the time to do the crossing with us :-( So back to the drawing board again with only 10 days to go - yikes! Fortunately we remembered Jack (who sailed from Hamble to Tenerife in August with us) was looking to do an Atlantic crossing with the ARC so we sent him an e mail and await his reply. In the meantime we are trawling the cruisers forum to see if there are any suitable candidates there. Have found a few hopefuls but most cannot spare time until November and we want to leave by the end of October. Oh well will just have to wait and see what responses we get.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Windy!!
The wind over the last 3 days has been pretty strong so we are still in the Marina as we did not fancy going out in 30 knots of wind!
Have discovered the Marina bar does a Happy Hour each day from 5 to 6pm and we have met quite a few other crews at this. Serendipity the Oyster doing the World ARC is here and David has four others on board at present but the two girls fly home soon leaving the men to sail to the Cape Verdes next week.
Went shopping yesterday with Adrian and Sam who have hired a car to do their provisioning as they leave for the Cape Verdes today. There is a larg English expat community here and we went to an Iceland which had all English products on the shelf and even English staff which was weird. The prices were about 40 % more expensive than UK prices but I did manage to buy bread flour!!
We also went to another Spanish supermarket where you could buy litre cartons of wine for 55 Euros which is about 50p!
The Bimini top is getting repaired as it had rubbed a hole where the boom touches so patches ar being sewed onto the weak areas and we expect it to be returned to the boat today. all being well we will go out to anchor later today ( if the wind drops!) or tomorrow morning.
In the meantime just topping up the tans!!
Have discovered the Marina bar does a Happy Hour each day from 5 to 6pm and we have met quite a few other crews at this. Serendipity the Oyster doing the World ARC is here and David has four others on board at present but the two girls fly home soon leaving the men to sail to the Cape Verdes next week.
Went shopping yesterday with Adrian and Sam who have hired a car to do their provisioning as they leave for the Cape Verdes today. There is a larg English expat community here and we went to an Iceland which had all English products on the shelf and even English staff which was weird. The prices were about 40 % more expensive than UK prices but I did manage to buy bread flour!!
We also went to another Spanish supermarket where you could buy litre cartons of wine for 55 Euros which is about 50p!
The Bimini top is getting repaired as it had rubbed a hole where the boom touches so patches ar being sewed onto the weak areas and we expect it to be returned to the boat today. all being well we will go out to anchor later today ( if the wind drops!) or tomorrow morning.
In the meantime just topping up the tans!!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Holiday time!
We have just spent a pleasant few days with Jenny and Bill who arrived on time Friday afternoon. After settling into their new home we set sail on Saturday to visit La Gomera and the pretty Marina in San Sebastian. Unfortunately there was very little wind and we ended up motoring all the way from Tenerife!!Saturday night in the Marina was VERY noisy as it was Fiesta time and loud music played until 3 am Sunday morning making sleep impossible for me at least. Everyone else managed to get some kip. The good news is that Sunday night was quiet. The Marina in San Sebastian does suffer from swell and surge as they have two ferries going in and out most of the time. This means the boat is dancing all the time! You do get used to it eventually. The trip back to Tenerife was a little better than going as we did get enough wind to sail which was nice for Jenny and Bill to feel how the boat sails. Jenny was suffering with a bad back so after 4 nights with us they decided to go to the Hotel Jenny had pre booked from Monday although they were a day late arriving there.
So.......very little maintenance on the boat took place whilst Jenny and Bill were with us so Peter was hard at it yesterday. The good news is he has traced and fixed the engine oil leak so no more oily mess to wipe up after the engine has run. Today he has the floor up to examine the diesel tank and make sure everything is in order with no movement. Also on the repair front we have Rick the stainless steel welder from West Yorkshire coming tomorrow to weld the starboard navigation light back after it came loose following the fight with the spinnaker line coming down from England!! We all met Rick on Monday night as he came to the boat to meet Peter. He is a very down to earth with a broad West Yorkshire accent! We will probably ask him to quote for replacing the stainless steel plate behind the anchor as we never got around to this whilst we were at Hamble.
We are now back in our berth at San Miguel Marina where the weather has changed and is cloudy and overcast today. Still warm at 28 degrees C but no blue sky. Th weather forecast is for strong winds Thursday to Saturday so we will probably stay put until Saturday then sail up to the Bay of Abona on the East coast of Tenerife about 12 miles away and anchor there for a few days until Mike arrives on 15 October. It will be cheaper for us as the Marina is expensive by Canarian standards!
In the meantime we have a good marina berth overlooking the golf course and open sea so we have a pleasant view each evening and usually some hot sunshine in the cockpit. Another smaller boat has moved in alongside us with an English skipper again called Peter and his Peruvian wife Martha. The boat on the other side of us across the pontoon is Belgium but the crew fly back Saturday so maybe it will be empty afterwards?
We have discovered the Oyster Serendipity is based here in the Marina and we did meet the owner David whilst in Hamble so he is known to us already as another World ARC boat! He plans to leave in about 9 days time for the Cape Verde Islands.
So.......very little maintenance on the boat took place whilst Jenny and Bill were with us so Peter was hard at it yesterday. The good news is he has traced and fixed the engine oil leak so no more oily mess to wipe up after the engine has run. Today he has the floor up to examine the diesel tank and make sure everything is in order with no movement. Also on the repair front we have Rick the stainless steel welder from West Yorkshire coming tomorrow to weld the starboard navigation light back after it came loose following the fight with the spinnaker line coming down from England!! We all met Rick on Monday night as he came to the boat to meet Peter. He is a very down to earth with a broad West Yorkshire accent! We will probably ask him to quote for replacing the stainless steel plate behind the anchor as we never got around to this whilst we were at Hamble.
We are now back in our berth at San Miguel Marina where the weather has changed and is cloudy and overcast today. Still warm at 28 degrees C but no blue sky. Th weather forecast is for strong winds Thursday to Saturday so we will probably stay put until Saturday then sail up to the Bay of Abona on the East coast of Tenerife about 12 miles away and anchor there for a few days until Mike arrives on 15 October. It will be cheaper for us as the Marina is expensive by Canarian standards!
In the meantime we have a good marina berth overlooking the golf course and open sea so we have a pleasant view each evening and usually some hot sunshine in the cockpit. Another smaller boat has moved in alongside us with an English skipper again called Peter and his Peruvian wife Martha. The boat on the other side of us across the pontoon is Belgium but the crew fly back Saturday so maybe it will be empty afterwards?
We have discovered the Oyster Serendipity is based here in the Marina and we did meet the owner David whilst in Hamble so he is known to us already as another World ARC boat! He plans to leave in about 9 days time for the Cape Verde Islands.
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