2007 Cruising
We have indeed made some progress! The crew assembled - Myself, Kathleen, Conny and Ian -
and with the weather set fair for a Channel crossing and after visits from Felicity, Rob, Amanda and Gordon we slipped the SYC visitors berth and locked out of the port of Shoreham at 2200 on the evening of 1st August. We got the mainsail up got out of the harbour, set the big Genoa and set a course for Cherbourg with a nice gentle North-Westerley to get us going. However after a couple of hours this dies and we get Eric the Perky doing his murmurring for a bit before the wind returns permitting us to sail again for another few hours. Later on we get headed by wind and tide and we end up motoring quite a bit to get into Cherbourg by late afternoon. Next day we go and do a little wine tasting, place an order with Normandie wines and go around the Carrefour to stock up on other important supplies. By the time we get back we observe that we are not the only British yachties stocking up our depleted reserves. Our wine arrives swiftly but we are disappointed to see the number of abandoned supermarket trolleys build up in the marina (Conny has taken ours back to the shop even with no financial incentive). On Saturday afternoon we motorsail on to Alderney trying out the new Crusader mainsail. It seems to set well - it is of course made of slippery new cloth but after having had so much trouble with the now ten-year-old Arun mainsail it is a delight to hoist. Alderney's Braye harbour seems pretty full with most of the moorings taken so we anchor and take the dinghy ashore for a drink and meal at the Diver's Inn, one of Alderney's many delightful "local's" pubs and very full of local characters it is by the end of the evening! Next day we walk up into town, have a drink in the Marais Hall which we observe has an interesting collection of German memorabilia ...
The lowest flag in the hoist Conny identified as the German naval ensign from the era of the First World War - we were all greatly amused by the little Adolfs above the bar!
We then take a longer walk to see around the 19th Century Albert fort (near where we are anchored) - it is closed but this does not prevent access to some of the deep concrete reinforced excavations constructed during the German occupation in the 1940's.
The entrance to the german bunker which we partially explored and half of Ian is just visible scaling the walls of the Albert Fort - fortunately it is undefended!
Later we are informed of the opening of the main fort itself later on in the day for introductory archery and shooting sessions as part of "Alderney week", so after some lunchtime refreshment Ian and I go back to partake of these activities.
Ian does a shoot in the Albert fort
After a delightful and very well presented meal at the "First and Last" restaurant we head back and next day sail on to Sark where we anchor in Dixcart Bay. This is as before a delightful anchorage in a lovely island - no cars apart from that owned by the feudal ruler the Seigneur whose gardens are open to the public. We do hear considerable murmurings about the rich Barclay brothers who have built themselves a castle on the neighbouring island of Brechou and seem to be engaged in a campaign of buying up all the viable businesses on Sark and getting some monopolistic control.
Dixcart Bay from the beach ... and the Seigneurie in its gardens
Thereafter we sailed to St Aubin in Jersey for a quick visit and then to St Peter Port in Guernsey. The latter we found much modernised from my previous visits - the old market had been refitted as a shopping centre for DVD and fashion clothes shops - I found that buying veg and produce there previously to have been much more fun. We seemed to have to walk for ages to find a shop to cater for our modest means - and then had to walk our shopping much further back to the boat. Then we did a long motor to near Roscoff and the Ile de Batz.
See Conny's server www.geeks2rent.co.uk/sail07 for the pictures I have taken up to Portimao. Open a folder and you will get a gallery of the pictures taken in the same area. A picture may tell a thousand words but a little text can explain the background to some of the pictures!
Also see Fabian's server http://www.coCoKNIght.com/ramprasad/ for the same pictures up to Gijon in a different gallery format - plenty of space to add comments Thanks Fabian!
From Ile de Batz we sail on to L'Abervrac'h and then to Camaret. There we are delayed for a day by strong SW-ley winds but we leave on Thurs 16th with NW-leys forecast and we end up having a quick but lively three day crossing of Biscay arriving in Gijon (pronounced more like Heehoa but not exactly!) in Northern Spain. This is quite a way Eastwards from our intended destination of Cedeira since on the Saturday we get headed by the returning SW-ley and find that we cannot comfortably lay anywhere West of Gijon which is likely to have a good bus connection for our departing crew. This is however a new port for both Sam, Ramprasad and the rest of the crew, and it has a good reputation which turns out to be well-deserved. Ian has to leave us here to travel back to England and make arrangements for his further studies, we get delayed by a further day by inclement weather and then we sail on to the delightful fishing village of Cudillero. The harbour has a rather narrow rocky entrance which is made rather interesting by the swell caused by winds of previous days but all is well apart from a couple of bruises. The harbour is connected to an upper (or middle) part of the village by a drainage tunnel (dug through the hill) through which we walk and then we walk up to a look out point above the harbour which has wonderful views. Angie has to leave us here but next day we have a good long sail to Ribadeo which I last visited in 2000 and still has many charms. We then sail on to Cedeira - this turns out to be a lively trip but on arrival we take advantage of the lee of the hills to take the sails down and then motor into the harbour against a full gale which is funnelling down the valley until we can drop anchor in a suitable place. Here Kathleen celebrates her 40th birthday with an adequate measure of champagne and we meet Conny's friend Natividad who has got a lift over from a neighbouring village where she is working in a restaurant. Next morning Kat needs the best part of another bottle of bubbly as "hair of the dog" and then needs to swim ashore to sober up. After getting a lift back on board she leaves us to continue her continental travels alone. Conny and I continue next day on to La Corunna where we look around the military museum, around the town, do some shopping and then sample the hospitality of the yacht club. This being rather later in the month than all of my previous visits to this fine city we decide to press on in our coastal cruise and do so via Camarinias, Muros, San Xenjo and Bayona before we go ashore again. Bayona is a fine town and port with good facilities for the visiting cruising yacht and by this time we have certain requirements. A shower is provided by the Real Club Nautico but getting laundry done on a Saturday afternoon is not possible since the laundries are closed and places like yacht clubs and marinas do not have washing machines. Getting internet access is possible but free Wi-Fi (Conny's preference) appears to be only available in one bar which doesn't open till 1900. Not a big problem - we wait until then and Conny gets started and carries on until closing time which happens around 0400. Beer and Olives is not particularily substantial fare for such a long night and we realise later that the bar is quite appropriately named "D'sastre". Sam has fared better by taking the unwashed laundry back to the boat and on the way back has dinner at a budget restaurant with a bottle of Rioja. This dinner however makes him unfit to use a computer but at least the D'sastre's staff have no objection to laptops being used as headrests! Next day we do our laundry in the old-fashioned way and on Monday we buy diesel from the yacht club and motor in the virtual calm to Povoa da Varzim in Portugal. We then move on to Aveiro where after a night at anchor we head up-river, go alongside the yacht club's pontoons (which are being redeveloped) and dinghy through the lock up to the town to do a bit of shopping and visit an old acquaintance. It is a delightful town and well deserves its reputation as Portugal's little Venice. We then move on to Figuera da Foz and then do a very foggy entrance with radar into the cove of Sao Martinho do Porto. This place must be Portugal's nearest thing to Lulworth Cove. It is of course a bit scary and un-nerving to do an entry like this seeing the rocks appear in 100 yard visibility but provided the radar works and the operator knows how use it there's no big problem. Once inside and anchored the visibility seems a bit better but we put extra anchor lights on to make ourselves that bit more visible. The circus is in town and I am reminded of an unhappy-looking caged tiger outside another Portuguese circus which we saw 4 years previously. However next day in better visibility we move on round Cabo Carvoeira and then anchor outside the harbour at Peniche. The following day we depart again in light winds and try the new Asymetric cruising chute/spinnaker which we keep up for quite a bit and get a few admiring glances. At the end of that day we arrive at Cascais which is an elegant sea-side suburb of Lisbon. On Monday we take the train into town in search of a hardware shop which is reputed to stock spares for the Taylors paraffin stove. This turns out to be not too far out of our way from the railway terminus (Cais da Sodre) to the German embassy which Conny needs to visit to follow up on his visit there 4 years previously when he was on a then unsuccessful quest for a passport. We have lunch and then we return to Cascais by train where we follow directions we have been given for a motor spares shop which may have the sort of washers I need to fix the gearbox leak. This turns out to be a successful venture for after a substantial wait in the rather busy car spares shop, the shopkeeper gives me the washers free of charge! Free internet is available in the youth information building in Cascais but only in 30 minute sessions with some site restrictions. This reflects the internet access often to be found in Portuguese towns with generally limited or expensive availability of Wi-Fi. We move on to Sines (the birth-place of Vasco da Gama) and then do an overnight passage around Cabo de Sao Vicente (the SW corner of Europe) to Portimao on the Algarve coast. Here Conny gets the news that is dad in Germany is to undergo some chemo-therapy treatment for cancer and understandably decides that he must return there and look after his dad for the duration of the treatment. This leaves me single handed again but at least I feel as if I know the way from the Algarve onwards since I have done this route before.
Saturday 29th September - I arrive in Porto Santo (about 500 miles SW of Cape St Vincent and not far from Madeira Grande) after a 5 day passage from Portimao. I have mostly NW-ley winds with the first night being pretty lively but ending with the last 24 hrs working against light to moderate headwinds and I end up motorsailing for the last 5 hours to get in before dark.
This is Ilheu da Cima off the SE coast of Porto Santo - my waypoint for the previous 5 days
A sight to please the eyes of Conny - this advertises the Porto Santo free Wi-Fi zone in the centre of town!
Julia flew out to Porto Santo, we sailed to Madera Grande and we had a lovely week having a good look around this lovely island including doing some of the levada walks. These are almost level paths along the irrigation channels constructed to bring water from the wetter less sunny parts of the island to the drier more sunny parts.
Subsequently I motor-sail back to Porto Santo and then sail to Graciosa in the Canaries, then on the Arrecife and Punto Papagayo in Lanzarote and then past Fuertaventura to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
I have a good quick sail from Arrecife to Punto Papagayo at the Southern end of Lanzarote
One of my neighbouring boats in Las Palmas has had a very nasty collision with a ship - this would have sunk most other yachts!
Cunard's Queen Elizabeth 2 leaves Las Palmas one evening (3rd Nov) She is the smallest (but perhaps best looking!) of 3 large cruise ships in Las Palmas on that day.
A floating hotel comes in next morning!
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