Funchal, Madeira to Tortola, British Virgins Islands.................the Trans At

5/2/15
Up at 06:30, doing a few finishing touches and move the boat down the dock to the fuel berth. We top up the port tank ready fro the trip......that's another 400 litres.
We exit the harbour wall at 10:00.................surprisingly we have a decent wind and set off on the port tack on a broad reach at about 7 to 8 knots..........excellent stuff.
The wind comes and goes through the day, so the engine (better known on board as the "donkey") gets a fair bit of use.
We pass a few ships during the night, one going to Columbia.
Our course is set and we are heading for the mouth of the Amazon river.........true...........there is a large depression to our Southwest, so we are heading southeast to avoid it. This only puts an extra few hundred miles on the trip and should get us into the Trade winds quicker.............they are unusually far south this year......just our luck !!!!

6/2/15
Having the craiche with Kevin during a session of Meatloaf on the ipod, he tells us this will be his 15 TransAt.................blimey not bad, this is our first........all of us..............Andy , Carolyn and me.

7/2/15
Plying on we go, weather is still fairly cold with strong winds at times and lots of squally showers.
Generally, the sun is out in the morning for a short while then it clouds over in the afternoon.
A very serious game of "Ispy" was undertaken by myself, Andy and Kevin...........it was a tough match...............with the the likes of:
Sea, sun, sail, shackle...........but i eventually won with Stay sail..........it was recorded in the ships log !!!
My watch's are 06:00 to 08:00 ; 14:00 to 16:00 and 22:00 to 24:00...............i passed my watch onto Carolyn at 24:00 that night

8/2/15
Then at 01:00 i heard an enormous crash........the visability had been bad when i handed over to Carolyn, you just could'nt make out the horizon in front. We had the radar, which normally picks up rain showers.
However, we had'nt seen what was coming.....we sailed straight into the middle of a huge "Storm cell"............Carolyn reflects............
"it suddenly went very calm, less than 10 knots of wind...........then heavy rain........the wind then increased to 30 knots, we had some main sail up so i decided to reduce that......in the time i got to the wheel it was gusting 50, then 60 then 70 and actually hit 90 knots".......
Andy in the saloon heard her shout for assistance, he went up and due to the downpour of rain could'nt see her at the binnacle...........less than 4 metres away !!!!!
Very, very, luckily the intense rain had flattened the sea so we were'nt knocked down...........AMAZING !!! The squall of 90 knots lasted for about 1 minute and caused havoc.....later in the morning we found another "Dan bouy" had been reduced to pieces on the rail !!!!!!!!!
Thank goodness it eased later and we had a good sail in 35 knots winds for a good part of the remainder of the day.

9/2/15
Ha ha ha ........Jim lad............Happy Birthday to me................and what a way to spend your 60th birthday..............just brilliant, though, i'm missing family and friends.
Kevin very kindly allows me to skype Gemma & Bryn on the Satphone wifi......blooming expensive, so i was only on a quick chat.
We had a beautiful, wind, sun and calm seas......just superb.....how many people celebrate their 60th on a $4 million super yacht in the middle of the Atlantic...............AMAZING !!!
Andy & i decided in Madeira it was going to be a Pirate theme for the day.......i bought a cutlass, eye patch, pirate earring and put on my white shirt , leather waistcoat, tartan trousers, wellies and buff neck warmer..........good stuff, i think Kevin enjoyed it too.
We had steak pie and chicken pie for lunch and eagerly awaited Kevin's award winning Cottage pie for supper, complete with a bottle of Cava we bought in Funchal.
Kevin informed me he never drank at sea apart from when he crossed Trafalgar ..................in honour of Admiral Nelson........but, as it was my 60th, he had a drink with us too........................what an priviledge...........i'm up there with Nelson himself !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

10/2/15
Plodding on overnight, we spent half the time avoiding storm cells..............engine on all night.
Took some photos of the cells and how they form into the hurricanes later in the season.......ooooooooooooo..........and a rainbow..............we'll see how that comes out.
We did pick up some wind in the afternoon today.........lovely sail and the sun came out again as well.................
Crossed a 6000m depth today.....................blimey........pretty deep !!!
I'm doing Chicken masala curry for supper.....mmmmmmmmmmmmm

 11/2/15
Wind heading us all night (25 to 35 knots)and most of the day today, very little sailing, but, alot of motoring.
Winds are forecats to be like this ubtil Friday...........DOH........horrid...........being rolled about, just can't steady the boat in these conditions.
Donk (engine) has been on for most of the day.

12/2/15
Beautiful morning this morning, lovely clear skies, the wind has eased and the sea state is nearly flat...........just brilliant.
It gets better as the day goes on, so, Kevin says if you want a swim in the mid Atlantic..............now's the time..............into our swimmers....Andy, Carolyn and i take the plunge................it's fantastic, perfect temperature................we have a swim around for about 10 to 15 minutes...................depth 6000m !!!!!!
22 04.3'  N...............   36 46.8'   W
We are very aware there maybe sharks about , so Kevin stands on deck with a fog horn (for a warning).................just in case !!!!!!!!!
All's well though..................really another one off the bucket list

13/2/15
Wind picks up and veers to the East.....................at long last a decent wind we can sail. The sails are set up as "Goose wing"..........for non sailors one sail is set out to the port of the boat the other to the starboard........................we start slowly but soon pick up to around 6 or 7 knots.
Overnight is interesting .............a few rain squalls pass over, we are all ready to trim the sails, however, they carry on over with no great problem.

14/2/15
Stronger winds this morning, mean we are averaging 8 to 9 knots................yyyehhhaaaaaaaaaaa....eating up the miles...............only 1200 to go..............tomorrow should see us break the 1000 nm marker.
Whale broached about 100 m to the starboard of the boat this afternoon..........we reckon he/she was just having a look at us......... it soon peeled off to the North...................last seem about 2 miles away.
Red Thai curry tonight.........and blooming good it was too.....though i say it myself

15/2/15
We have now not seen another boat or aircraft since the Canaries.............is there anybody out there ???
So, a sweep............who will guess when we see ournext boat..............
Phil........... 16/2/15.......between 06:00 & 12:00
Carolyn...... 17/2/15.........12:00 to 18:00
Kevin...........17/2/15.........18:00 to 24:00
Andy............18/2/15.........00:00 to 06:00
We'll give a prize to the winner
Still on Goose winged sails...............East to South East winds..............anything up to 35 knots.......especially when we get a squall passing over.
Stood out in the rain today..........it was great...lovely and warm............i dried out in about 10 minutes.
Some excellent shooting stars tonight.

16/2/15
Well my time slot came and went ...................no ships...........nowt !!!!
Not even an aircraft.

17/2/15 to 19/2/15
Same as....same as...............eat , sleep, watch.........sail.
Winds are very fickle, vary from South East to East and the seas are very disturbed especially in the squalls, which are quite regular at nightime...........a good soaking has been had by all. However, Kevin does seem to get more than his fair share !!!!!!!!!!! :-)
The one redeeming feature is it's lovely and warm.........even the rain and you soon dry out.....................cooler than a cool thing from Coolsville Arizona !!!!!!!!
500 Nm to go comes and goes, then 400...then 300............we are down to the last 200Nm.
i play a few tricks on Kevin as the days meander along.......invariably with my gnashing skeleton as the main theme.................he pops up all over the place...........oooooooooooo Kevin does think it's funny .........;-)
20/2/15
Got Kevin good styley this morning................i managed to get behind him (without being seen) on deck during his watch this morning.................gnashing skeleton and mouth organ were with me...................

Gibraltar to Funchal, Madeira

28/1/15 to 29/1/15
Sailing onward for these next few days. the wind was variable, but generally between 18 and 43 knots all on the starboard tack. It's down to eating , sleeping and doing your watch's.......all good though everyone in good spirits.

30/1/15
Porton Santo was spotted at first light on the starboard bow in thick mist/cloud.
We press on and soon see Madeira. I'm on watch and the land becomes fields and houses...............then the sun comes out..............ahhhhhh lovely.
The new airport runway comes into viz...................quite a structure, all on piers out over the coast.........very impressive.
A local navy corvette shadows us for a while then gives up bored !!!
We try in vain for an hour or so to contact Funchal marina. Eventually we get a response and find they have a space for us. In we go, the space is somewhat awkward . as we end up rafted to a local national park vessel (gaff rigged)............they are re varnishing their decks ......great ...........we can't walk across that, we will take wet varnish onto Call of North. Luckily the guys on board put down some cardboard sheets, which makes it easier for us.
The park vessel is very hard to get off mind you and numerous occasions we have to wait while the tide alters to get ashore.....even thoughthere is only about 1.5m of tide here it makes a differnece.

Madeira

31/1/15
Work on the boat, look around Funchal and take on provisions.
Andy and i also fixed the seat on the rib................it had pulled the screws out of the seat, a major job as we had to undo all the staples to get at it. Excellent job when finished though............nice one Andy dude !!!!!

1/2/15
Day off............yyyehhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
Kevin has hired a car, so we are off around the island for a day.
Points of interest including.........
the steepest roads in the world...............bar none.............you can tell they never get ice here !!!!
viewpoint at...
Porto Mozin
then a swift run back on the "rapida" to Funchal.
A grand day out .......................thanks for that Kevin.

2/2/15
Shopping in the morning and fixing stuff on the boom, preventers and other bits and bobs
Made supper...........lemon chicken coriander................surprise ....surprise !!!!!!!

3/2/15
Kevin is having endless problems downloading charts for the Caribbean, he spends most of the day on the phone  & wifi trying to get it set up on the chart plotter.
This is all a bit of a blow as we were hoping to set off tomorrow, that's looking unlikely now!!
Andy and i have a look at the "Outhaul" carriage on the boom, it ran very badly on the way from Gib. The carriage has a series of "Torlon" bearings in it...........it sounds as though a couple may have collapsed. We decide to take it down and have a look.
Well, i say have a look at the boom, in actual fact we disassembled the carriage and tried in vain to fix it. We wondered if a few bearings had collapsed, as it sounded so rough, however, they were all in good order, so we just cleaned it. Sprayed the track with PTFE spray and then the big moment, put the carriage back onto the track. Now, this here carriage is a Harken design and i have to say, not particularly brilliant, the bearings will go for a wander about and jump out of the holder just by looking at them. So, here we go...........Andy holds a basin under the carriage, i climb up the vang, sit on the boom and offer up said carriage to track...................yes you've guessed it ...................all i hear is plop.....plop.........2 bearings make an escape attempt...........1 succeeds and ends up in the dock, Andy saves the oher.............bollards, i hear you say..............well i said a lot worsererer !!!!!
We tell Kevin and he say's the same as i did................then he announces, try the Chandlers over the road........well that flippant off the cuff remark is akin to saying, "pop to the Ford garage and see if they have a Bugatti Veyron in for a test drive"!!!!
So,Andy and i meander over to the chandlers...........................unbelievable !!!!!!!!!!! he has 50 !!! at £1.00 each.....we purchase 36 + 1 half a set plus the misssing one................really pleased with ourselves we hurry back to the boat. Kevin is dumbfounded...........i can't believe it, i thought we might have to fly some in from Gibraltar...................they are even the correct size, though Lewmar make......................i'm sure they are probably all made by the same manufacturer..............what a result..................so off we went to find a Ford garage.......:-)
The carriage is soon fixed and running luvely .............

4/2/15

Big shop getting ready for the off tomorrow and basically sorting the boat out ready to head to the Caribbean.


Sailing in between Madeira and the Desertas Isles

Rainbow..................nice

First signs of Funchal

Amazing structure for the runway at Funchal airport

And a plane takes off as we speak

and flies over head

some of the property coming into Funchal

blimey Kevin !!!!!!!!..........we've taken a wrong turn .................we're in Rio !!!!! ;-)

Funchal at night from the boat

We hired a car for the day, this is Curral Das Freiras.....................i think !!!
There was a church service in the village below........we could hear the music flaoting up the valley...........very moving, i must say......noice.........:-)

road shot

Kevin and carolyn admiring the view

Panorama's from the top viewpoint

spikey orange flower..................any ideas what it is anyone ???
There's a prize !!!!!!!

Bananas growing along the road to Porto Moniz

Again, i think i'm right here...............this is Praia da Calheta. Clearly they have had big plans here...............there's a half finished block of flats at one end,,,,maybe a victim of the global crash in 2008 ???? Who knows ????

brilliant little port / marina though

Porto Moniz

natural rock pools

my new deck shoes.........mmmmmmmmmmmm.....................i look like a brain surgeon in them !!!!
£4..................Bargain !!!!!!!!!

 couple of shots of Funchal from the Marina as sunsets

TransAt - Cartagena & Gibraltar

Cartagena
21/1/15

A leisurely wake up this morning after a large tapas in the marina restaurant last night, a few beers and then back to the boat for a night cap.
After the rough passage from Palma the boat was covered from stem to stern in salt......................after all our hard work in Palma !!!
Hosepipe out....................cleaning gear at the ready and we're off...............plenty of fresh water and a good soap down, she's nearly back to her pristine self again.
Kevin cooked a brilliant chicken and Cherizo dish for supper..............mmmmmmmmmmmmm, spot on. He was devastated though, he was hoping we would hate it.........so he would'nt have to cook again................ha ha ha ....................best laid plans...........tough luck dude !!!!
Kevin decides to look for a chandlery in town while we settle down to a showing of "Indianna Jones and the crystal skull"............excellent stuff !!!

22/1/15
Another lazy wake up...........08:30...............breakfast and then out to the chandlers / coffee shop and Lidl ................in that order.
Taxi back to the boat and we're just about provisioned for the trip to Madeira.............might have to pick up a few bits in Gib............ready for off tomorrow.
The wind picked up a bit over night, so we'll see what it's doing in the morning.

23/1/15
Up early this morning, all the jobs done, we're ready for the off.
Lines slipped at 10:15, we are out the harbour and putting up sails by 10:50.
We are running on a reefed main and Genoa...........getting 10 knots .......lovely stuff.
Nearly had a knock down as we passed  one of the headlands......a sudden gust of 45+ knots caught us slightly on the hop................main sheet out rapidly, we're soon under control again.
The wind comes and goes, exactly as the "Gribs"(these are online weather forecasts for sailors,windsurfers and the the like, they show wind direction and strength, also wave heights) said................we are soon motoring as the wind drops.
Overnight the sails are up and down like a lift in "Harrods" (well they are expensive sails !!!).
24/1/15
We eventually pass Malaga and start to see the mountains of Northern Africa (Andy and i reckon it's the Atlas mountains) and the first signs of "The Rock".
A large amount of sea traffic from here into Gib, it's worse than The Channel...........all's cool though....a lovely day, time to catch a few rays.............yes Gemma.........i had my sun lotion on !!!!
We arrive into Gib around 17:15 and proceed straight to the fuel dock................Kevin is chuffed to mintballs............fuelled up ready to go and the price £0.35 / litre...............a happy bunny !!!!
Soon as we've finished, off we pop to the Queensway Marina............what a team.......moored up and deck washed by 20:00.........sorted !!!!!!!!!!!
Tortilla's for supper...................nice one Carolyn....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
few glasses of wine and off to bed...................

Gibraltar
25/1/15
Up early............ready for a major deck wash and run to Morrison's.
The deck is soon finished and we head for Morrison's.
 We all mucked in and soon had a trolley bursting at the seams.................that's enough for now Kevin declared, we'll get the rest in Madeira.
I meander to the check-out with the trolley, Andy decides we need another to load the first trolley into once it has gone through the till.
So, the machine is bipping it 's way through our produce.....................the running total soon appears next to Kevin's head ...................WHAT !!!! he exclaims in horror..............we are only half way through the trolley and it shows £606.98.
It transpires the lady at the checkout had put through 297 avacados........not the 2 we had !!!! The boss lady came over...............all chuckles apart from Kevin !!!! She soon sorts it and gives us the 2 avacados for free........result !!!

26/1/15
A free day to do what we liked today, so Andy and i trundle off for a walk and do the touristy bit around Gib. The Rock was a bit too much for Andy's new knee............going up is ok......coming down not too good and the cable car was'nt working.
However, we had a meander around the sights and were soon heading back to the boat.
Kevin treated us all to a meal at the "Water Front" restaturant and bar...................Andy and i had the pulled pork special....................blooming excellent it was too, with mashes sweet potato and 2 eggs.............mmmmmmmmmmmm.

27/1/15
Early up, the gribs are good, we're off as soon as they open the barrier from the marina...........leaving Gib about 08:30.
Into the straits................as usual we got held back a bit by the current running through at Terifa (the most Southerly point of Europe) and soon, after dodging 2 Tangier's high speed ferry's we are out of the clutches of the Mediterranean. Yyyyyyeeehhhaaaaaa :-)
Madeira, here we come. There are huge amounts of shipping as we exit the strait, including dozens of fishing vessels.
All good stuff and we are eventually clear of the floating debris and on our own...............or so we thought............next minute Andy yells out from the cockpit......"chuffing eck"........or words to that effect.......there are 4 lads in a 18 foot open fishing boat about 50 miles offshore..........flipping nutters !!!!



The entrance to Gib

First view of the town

Some of the anchored vessels

Approaching the fuel dock

Sunrise over the "rock" in Queensway marina

Our neighbours

Part of the old fortifications of Gib

Typical street in gib

Government buildings in the square

....and some cannons..........wow !!!

bought Andy a coffee.......he's a happy chappie

part of the old naval docks..............noice chimney

long way to Argentina from here !!!

Andy looking for shipping

Strange spot to dump an anchor............

Andy still looking for shipping...

natural or man made.........not too sure

stairway to heaven..............:-)