2003 - Cruising
Dixcart Bay, Sark - 31st July 2003
Dixcart Bay anchorage from the beach at low tide
Well here on Ramprasad we have made a bit of a start to our trip - With unsettled SWesterley conditions we haven't made progress as quickly as I might have liked but all things considered the crew have been settling in well and learning the ropes satisfactorily. Here in Dixcart Bay it is perhaps my favorite Channel Island anchorage - often a secluded spot sheltered by high rocky cliffs - we arrived here yesterday afternoon after a lively trip from Alderney in a WSW 5-6 - 2 reefs in the main and No2 Genoa - the crew were impressed by the size and steepness of the waves in the Swinge ( - at the start of the Westerly ebb) and Sam's WMD registered around 6ft-8ft and as many of you will know this is by no means exeptional for somewhere with the reputation of the Swinge. Inevitably some of the bigger ones timed it right to come aboard but the trusty sprayhood deflected the worst of them. Once clear of the Garden Rocks and the Pierre au Vraic we could bear away for the East side of Sark and hand steering with some anticipation was necessary. Indeed Lorraine steered for most of the way and coped well all things considered. Going ashore in the Calypso dinghyand beach landing for the first time was fun - we had a good walk around some of the island and found a pub well frequented by locals but Jamie and myself were not so impressed by the choice of beer there as we had been in Alderney where the Coronation in St Anne's served us a very fine pint produced by the Guernsey brewery. We were surprised to see flags at half mast but were informed that this was due to the death of an elderly and well-respected resident whose funeral yesterday had been attended by most of the island's population. Finding a different way back to our beach we enjoyed a little window shopping and then found the Dixcart Bay hotel where the chidren's room was finely decorated with scenes from Captain Pugwash!
Back on the beach the tide had risen fast in our absence so I was glad that we had taken the precaution of carrying the dinghy well up the beach to the HW mark AND used the dinghy anchor. In the increased swell launching was bound to be a dampening experience but all went well apart from the inevitable wet shorts. From here it'll be another walk around Sark this morning then probably a trip over to St Peter Port this afternoon.
8th August 2003 - approaching La Corunna
Since my last missive from Guernsey we have have a nice little cruise stopping at 3 places in Brittany. Our trip from Guernsey to Ile de Batz (82 miles) was pretty windless and we motored all the way. Eric the Perky having got us all that way we decided it was time to give him a rest and look at somewhere new - so we entered the canal de l'Ile de Batz between Men Guen Bras (off Roscoff) and Ar Chaden and proceeded swiftly with a following tide to anchor off Port Kernoch from where we took the dinghy ashore to the ferry landing slipway and had a very pleasant Sunday afternoon strolling around this small Breton island. It has a population of just less than 600 - appears to have a no cars rule (like Sark) - cycles were easy to hire but not really necessary for a visit like ours. It has a good tall lighthouse and many rocks all the way around and small scale horticulture in a sandy soil which included small fields of fennel and quite a few horses.
The lighthouse on Ile de Batz is surrounded by small farms
Next morning there was quite a decent Easterly breeze but by the time we got going it had eased off to require us to motor-sail for the first couple of hours. But we were pleased to have a visit from a school of common dolphins and Conny went in for a swim with them but appeared to have frightened them all off by diving in (-I don't think they had anything to fear from him since they could certainly swim a lot faster but perhaps they didn't like the look of him!)
Soon afterwards we got a Northerley breeze and could turn the engine off and had a good sail to and right up to the moorings in L'Aber Wrac'h. We entered through the Chenal de la Malouine having identified the transit of the Petit Pot de Beurre and the Iles de la Croix positively before committing ourselves to the entry through the gap between rocks of quite a forbidding appearance. Sails down we secured to a visitors mooring buoy and went ashore for a shower, drink and a walk.
Next morning visibility seemed a bit murky but with light winds the forecast seemed OK for a passage through the Chenal du Four. We slipped the mooring and had had not proceeded far when the vis deteriotated - we had seen one British yacht go out and come back and there was another at anchor in the Channel. Well we had the GPS programmed with all the waypoints and what did I get a radar for if it wasn't for Fog navigation! so we continued and vis reduced to 50 yards at times. A smaller French yacht (with no radar) overtook us as we were approaching the Petit Pot de Beurre, appeared to be intending to turn right to go out of the Chenal de la Malouine, then decided to turn back and follow us instead. We proceeded out past the Grand Pot de Beurre (which we didn't see at just over 100 yards and the final l'Aber Wrac'h West Cardinal "Libenter" also not seen. We carried on motoring in the fog past the rocks and wreck off Portsall, past Le Four lighthouse, past St Paul and St Pierre and then eventually at Grand Vinotiere got better vis and could see the Pointe de Kermovan and Le Conquet. From there on to the Pointe de St Mathieu where we rounded Les Vieux Moines (the old nuns?) and turned left for the Pointe de Toulinguet and then into Camaret where we anchored. We went out to get postcards and ended up eating Pizza in a restaurant and next morning went into the marina to get diesel. I was however rather surprised to be the focus of so much attention from members of the queue when having paid for the diesel I came out of the office!
As I now write 2 days into our crossing of Biscay I can report that we had a good first 24 hours of progress with a NWley breeze giving us about 120 miles but with fog all night long which led to a rather tired skipper and a rather low battery from much radar operation but yesterday evening the breeze eased off almost entirely and we were down to 1.5 knots at 2300 before Eric the Perky was started and batteries were recharged and we had a fine clear night but there is still SO LITTLE wind that Eric murmurs on ( Yes I'm sure that those who know Eric think that it's a bit louder than a mere murmur!) even 15 hours later! We still have occasional fog patches but there is very little shipping at just over 100 miles from La Coruna.
Now 6 miles from Punta Candelaria, 13 miles from Cabo Prior and about 25 miles from La Corunna - again a very calm and fairly foggy night - cleared up now but Spain still not seen! Just got in between 2 container ships motoring at top speed along the coast - we did not press our right of way but slowed down and turned to Starboard! La Corunna seems to be our destination since an internet shop seems to be needed by more than one member of the crew and Jamie needs to pick up post at the main Post Office ( that'll have to wait. Yesterday evening we saw 2 groups of large whales - the first at 1840 by majority vote probably a pair of Orcas, the second almost certainly a single Minke. In the calm we have now been motoring continuously for almost 36 hours and Eric the Perky will deserve rather more than just a few kind words and a round of applause when we finally stop ( - perhaps even an oil change and a new oil filter!)
Camarinias 15th Aug 2003 Recent days have been a bit windless and since leaving La Coruna on Monday we tried to sail a bit from El Ferrol towards Corme but had got only a third of the way before the lack of progress led to a decision to motor the rest of the way. Today promised a slight headwind and so the decision was made to leave departure until tomorrow when there is a chance of a NWesterley and the potential of a sail. Kept busy yesterday re-windowing the sprayhood - more tricky than expected but Conny gave me a hand and gave me the odd idea. Lorraine and Jamie went around the boat scrubbing the waterline which certainly needed it. Also had a swim under the boat, which seemed OK considering the amount of time that Ramprasad has stayed in the water - just some places that only got 2 coats of paint that look like they could do with some attention. The prop had a small bit of rough rope and seaweed around it - well worth while getting off.
Some
interestingly shaped rocks of the Isla Sagres at the Northern entrance to the
Ria de Arosa
28th August 2003
We are now in Povoa de Varzim in Northern Portugal. At this time of the year we are supposed to have Northerley winds and fine weather.Now we have SW 4-5 becoming 6-7, Moderate becoming Poor to Bad Vis, West swell 2.5-3.5m increasing 4-5m and it's raining hard with occasional thunder and lightning. At least we are tied-up comfortable in a good, helpful, uncrowded, economically priced marina with good facilities. I last came here on Ramprasad 3 years ago and Joao in reception recognised me and I found my entry in the visitors book with remarkable ease. Many cruisers stop in Viana do Castelo - the first or most Northerley of ports in Portugal and then move directly on to Leixoes from there bypassing Povoa which is only 20M down the coast. We were glad however to stop at Viana which had the finale of an annual 4-day festival to celebrate Nossa Senhora de Agonia on Sunday evening when we arrived. The town was packed with crowds enjoying live music and dancing on temporary stages in the riverside parks - as well as numerous fairground and snack stalls and other attractions such as a tethered hot-air balloon. This event did however make the rather small marina uncomfortably full and did make the beaurocratic checking-in procedure a little more time-consuming. Having been there before on Ramprasad 5 years ago however led the office man to find Ramprasad's details quite quickly on his computer system and so he only had to laboriously input the passport details of the crew! While this was going on he was frequently answering the phone and talking to his colleagues popping in and out which inevitably led to some frustration among members of the queue now building up! The evening finished with a 45 minute firework display of dramatic proportions. The marina is straddled by a low iron double level bridge designed and built by Eiffel (famous for his tower in Paris) - and the display started with a firework waterfall from the full width of the bridge.
Part of the flaming waterfall from the Eiffel bridge in Viana do Castelo
It then continued with a well coordinated and colourful aerial display launched from small vessels moored in mid-river. I wondered to start with if this would be less noisy than the explosive dominated displays beloved by the Spanish (and already witnessed on this trip in La Corunna and Caraminial) - but we were not to be disappointed. It continued with more and more sky-busts in novel colour combinations and ended with numerous catherine wheels on the bridge and almost continuous electric storm-type sky bursts over us. There was an eery shocked silence from the large crowd at its conclusion before they erupted in applause! Comparison was made with large displays in other places such as London and Cologne for notable events - Jamie thought that this was "on a par " with the Millenium display in London and our German neighbours reckoned that it was better than the major Rhine display which they had seen!
Next day we climbed up the hill to the church of St Luzia which dominates the town. We took an unconventional and circuitous route up and were thoroughly impressed with its architecture inside and out but also with the grandiose hotel behind and the magnificent views - not only from the front of the church but also from the tower above the dome reached by a couple of tortuously narrow spiral staircases.
The temple-church of St Luzia which overlooks and dominates the town of Viana do Castelo
On Tuesday we left there and motored and sailed the 20 miles or so here to Povoa in a very light WSW-SW wind. With an inkling of what was to come I wanted to be somewhere more comfortable than our crowded raft in Viana.
We took a bus into Porto yesterday - the elderly local railway which we took 3 years ago was in conversion to a modern metro track and the temporary replacement bus service did of course get rather more delayed by traffic jams than the old train was or the new metro would be. The bus dropped us off to take the new metro train for the last leg of the journey into town - a new, spacious, smart public transport system but still with the last 3 stops on the line under construction, there were some very big holes in town surrounded by construction site fencing. We had a very fine lunch of extended sandwich in sauce - one of several local specialities recommended by the waiter in a cafeteria style restaurant, climbed up the tallest tower in the city in a church called the Torre de Clerigos, took a walk down to the riverside breaking to look at some azuleros in the booking hall of the main station, then walked over the Eiffel bridge to Guaia
The Eiffel Bridge and Port wine lighters on the Rio Douro in Porto
... and visited the Offley Port wine lodge where the port is aged in oak barrels for periods of up to 30 years! It was a great pleasure to taste some of the results of this aging process ( - even if not aged for quite this long) before the walk back across the bridge, up a long staircase and back to the metro station.
Part of the long staircase going up from the lower level of the Eiffel bridge in Porto
I look forward to future visits to this delightful city when rather more of their metro system is complete!
Seagulls appear to patiently wait while fishermen clean their nets in Peniche
... and then it's feeding time!!!
4 friendly Spanish girls in a pedalo at Cascais near Lisbon
Porto Santo is a nice place. It is a small-ish island about 25 miles NE of Madeira Grande - it has a very different character from that more mountainous and famous place - it has a population of a few thousand and serves to some extent as a beach resort to its larger neighbour. A recent Yachting Monthly Portugal supplement wrongly describes Porto Santo as being "... practically flat." Yesterday I saw this island from the deck of Ramprasad at a distance of 25 miles. Given that the earth is a spheroid with a diameter and radius of whatever it is and that Ramprasad floats in what is essentially a flat medium (-and it was yesterday) and that atmospheric refraction is not a lot this would not have been possible if the island was in any way flat! It is however slightly less mountainous than its large neighbour which made it much more suitable for the building of an airport some 40 years ago.
Ilheu de Cima and Porto Santo from the East - they are clearly quite bumpy and not at all flat!
Porto Santo and Madeira Grande were discovered by Joao Goncalves Zarco in 1419 (4 years after our King Henry V defeated the French at Agincourt) They were almost unpopulated - At Machico (in Madeira Grande) Zarco found an English boy called Roger who was the only survivor of 3 - his captain Robert Machin, Mrs Machin and himself who were abandoned by Machin's mutinous crew who deserted them there and presumably came to a well-deserved sticky end! Zarco gave the deceased Machin the honour of naming Madeira's first settlement after him. Porto Santo has a lovely long golden sandy beach. This as a great contrast to Madeira Grande's beaches which make Brighton's beach look smooth. I landed on Machico's beach 5 years ago - it is of football-sized boulders! - and there was a considerable swell!
We left Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on Thursday 20th November and are now making good progress towards our proposed destination of Mindelo/Porto Grande on Sao Vicente in the Cabo Verde islands. We are Streets, Adam and myself on Ramprasad. Las Palmas is a good anchorage within easy range of good shops and a good market and in general has a good reputation among cruising yachties as a provisioning port in advance of an Atlantic crossing.
The trip started off with a good NEley 3-4 breeze to get us down the East coast of Gran Canaria and then out to sea but then on the second day it eased right off down to a SE 1 by midday and so Eric the Perky was started and pushed us along all afternoon. We had already had a large school of dolphins come and visit us. Perhaps 30-40 similar to Common dolphins but with spotty rather than cream sides and a distinctive pink end to their beaks. Until advised otherwise I shall describe these as "spotted dolphins" since it was this type which were to visit us several times over the next few days.
One of the spotted dolphins which swam with us for a bit
Both Steets and Adam were keen to do some fishing and so we got the dorado line out (with a squid lure made from the finger from a yellow rubber glove) and after a couple of hours Streets hauled in a 20lb 3ft6in long dourado. This was to keep us in fresh fish for the next few days.
The Dorado we caught lying in the cockpit - squid lure still in its mouth - Adam a keen river fisherman was astounded with its appearance - "A Martian Fish" - by using the cockpit grating graduations it measures at 42 inches and its weight at 20lb is two experienced fishermen's guess
The 4 Flying fish which came aboard the night before we arrived in Sao Vicente - the first one flew into the cockpit between my legs! Streets prepared them, stuffed them with a chopped seasoning mix dipped them in seasoned flour, beaten egg, then flour again, and then fried them. Best prepared flying fish I've ever tasted! And this is before Streets has learnt the filleting technique!
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