What a difference in these two days!!
Overnight, Thursday into Friday, I was expecting squalls and was thinking of taking in a reef,just to be prepared but, in the event, with stars overhead and no lurking squall clouds to windward, and since we were only making 3.5-4 knots in E-ESE3 (7kn), I didn't reef - and we had a lovely gentle sail all night, with occasional lightning flickering well off to the north. We did get one rain cloud passing over - at 5am - but it brought no strong wind with it, although the wind did back into ENE for a time after it.

By midday, we had almost reached longitude 025W & we changed course to head due S towards the Equator and beyond.... for the coming fortnight, winds permitting! Around that time, the wind increased a touch - we now had a true wind of E3-4 on the beam - to quote Slocum: "She picked up her skirts and ran!" We were sailing at around 7.3 knots in E-ESE4 all afternoon and on into the evening, when the (true) wind increased to ~14 knots - I took in a reef - we were still making 7.1 knots or more! Absolutely fabulous sailing under a clear sky.... until gone midnight.

At 2am, a small raincloud with veered wind headed us off to the WNW but eventually we were able to make SSW closehauled & then S again as the wind backed to its previous ESE, but now down in strength - and continued so, into daybreak & on through Saturday.

We were clearly seeing the effect of the Tropical Wave passing through. All Saturday, I was continually making course adjustments & trimming the sails, as the wind shifted with the clouds..... frequent long lines of dark grey rain clouds ... line squalls, I believe they're called... with big wind shifts on the approach, under them (often in heavy rain!) and afterwards. It was getting a bit bumpy now with upwind sailing into a SSE swell. At midday, a squall came through with really heavy rain that completely killed the wind - I took the helm to keep us sailing in the flukey wind but could only, for ages after, at best make a W course, closehauled in the strongly veered S wind, at all of 2.5 knots! It wasn't until sunset that we were finally able to get back onto a S course with the wind back into the ESE from the SE of the afternoon. (At which point, writing this, I noticed we were on a COG of 220T, not 180T ... Oops!....Yes, we were under a dark cloud.. & about to get wet! .....And shortly after, yet another, with heavy rain and wind shifts.... )

Oh well.... As the sun was setting, I'd seen a nasty-looking line of big grey clouds dead ahead .... and the night is yet young...!

DMG:

To Friday noon: 107 M (light wind all night) (700 M due W of Sierra Leone, near border with Liberia)
To Saturday " : 135 M (reflecting good sailing Fri pm - I'd hoped it would keep up overnight to give a really superb DMG!)
(900 M NE of Natal (Brazil), 920 M due W of Liberia, but closest land is Guinea-Bissau: 620 M!)

HOT sun around midday - I got slight sunburn on my lower back, despite keeping well out of sun except when unavoidable working on deck.

We're going relatively well, in wind that's a lot better than over Mon & Tues. I've tried to head to where the 'best' wind looks to be over the following few days, by downloading daily grib files for the next five days. Contact with my 'weather routers' is useful - mainly for keeping an eye out for nasty weather to warn me (such as the Tropical Wave presently just to the south and likely to bring more squalls my way), rather than actually 'routeing' me - I prefer to do that myself, assuming I have sufficient information, although I must say that on Thursday we seemed to be in total agreement (not many options, really!).

I was making a log entry just before midnight and had noted ENE 3-4, looked again - drat! - changed it to E... and then to ESE. We were sailing well under full canvas and genoa poled out. "Must be under a cloud," I thought - looked out - yes, the stars were obscured above ... and then the rain started ... and the wind got up... big time!! I had to force myself to stay calm - we were way overpowered & my heart was racing!.... I reefed down and handsteered for some time in heavy rain until things calmed down - as they always do eventually! I definitely had a very good shower and fortunately the air was just warm enough to be acceptable until conditions got better and I was able to go down below and towel down...! The wind returned to ENE - and died down to 5 knots. We had a near-miss about 7.45 am - the wind veered into the ESE again and I could see the grey cloud causing it - but it went on its way harmlessly. I took down the pole and by 9am I shook out the first reef (my whipping seems to be doing its work at present)... and then spent most of the morning cursing the varying winds - lots of windshifts, making it difficult to maintain a steady course without the continual handsteering and change of sail trim I had to do....

On the subject of weather information, I've been talking to the Winlink Development Team (Lor, W3QA, has been really helpful) about the possibility of adding a few more weatherfax 'products', if it can be arranged, to the present very useful, but restricted, listing in the Winlink Catalog - such as for South Africa, Australia and New Zealand (and something for South America?). It would be really great if they could be added - I'd find them really useful and would use them for sure - and they'd be much used and appreciated by a lot of cruisers either when on passage or for planning.

I'm hoping to cross the Equator at 25W, then head towards 20S, 25W unless winds dictate differently. I've been studying grib files for the S. Atlantic for last two weeks, to get an idea of where the St Helena High is likely to be as I get closer - it moves around a lot and I don't want to get headed.... (so going SE direct from here to the Cape of Good Hope is definitely not an option!) I think I must head S for quite a way before turning SSE and then ESE to pass the Cape. Adds a lot of miles to the 'direct route' - but that's pretty well unavoidable for a sailing boat.

Spent more time on the Jordan series drogue - finding a strong swivelling shackle (stolen off the unused Delta drogue salvaged from my old boat!) was a big bonus... that means I'll be able to use it to attach the two bridle arms to the main drogue line so that the bridle can be fixed in place 'ready to go' quite separately from the rest of the gear - which will be kept in the cockpit locker. The main drogue is now flaked nicely into its bag and I have the chain (acting as a weight, attached to the far end of the drogue) stowed separately in a bucket, ready to take to the stern when the drogue is deployed - it makes the bag a lot lighter not having the chain and bridle plus shackles in it! Then all I have to do is to open the locker, take out the end of the main line with cones & use the swivelling shackle to attach it to the end of the bridle (which I think I can keep safely secured in the cockpit, ready to hand) and then make my way to the stern with the bucket to deploy the chain etc! Think I should attach bucket to boat also!! I spent some time on Thursday afternoon, going through the motions, after using wire to 'mouse' the swivel shackle holding the two bridle arm ends together. (Many thanks to Coryn and Tony Gooch, who've deployed theirs several times, for their extremely helpful emails on the subject)

Early evening Thursday - after a good day's sail, we've slowed right down to 4 knots in just 6-7 knots of ESE wind now.. and we're surrounded by lots of grey clouds..... Feels rather eerie and threatening, especially knowing that they're likely to turn into nasty squall clouds as soon as darkness falls and it becomes difficult to see anything!!! Chances of being hit tonight are rather high....!

Later (2000 GMT): Still ambling along at 4 knots... lovely crescent moon high up and sky clear to windward ... Think I'll eat now - yesterday cooked last of aubergine, peppers & courgettes with some meat, potatoes and tomatoes (they're going off fast)...mmm! So far so good.... but I'll put a reef in the mains'l quite soon - and definitely before I start my night's sleep routine...!!

DMG .... to noon Wednesday: 94 M (very slow overnight Tues/Wed) 480 M due W of Pt Kamsar in Guinea, W. Africa;
.... to noon Thursday: 114 M (reflecting better sailing much of the time) 630 M due W of Sierra Leone, W. Africa

Mon 19th & Tues 20th October (Days 10 & 11) Lots of drifting with current... whipping..one lost bird...chute flown... drogue checked out... one poor puffer...

Several useful jobs done:
I decided to protect chafe area on 1st reef line by whipping it with strong twine - I'll have to keep an eye on that & maybe replace the whipping regularly.
Flew 'chute - good thing since furling line had got quite tangled from the abortive attempt to fly it off Puerto Calero... I did it in calm conditions on Monday,to try it out and see how it compared with genoa - it didn't give as good a speed as genoa but at least I've flown it and tested how it all works - and I know it now furls fine. Seeing a dark grey cloud ahead, I stowed it quickly...!
Saw tuna jumping (being chased) Mon afternoon...so let out line on rod....Much later, heard it running out... a beautiful deep blue and black good-sized 'spiny' puffer fish with bright white underside was reeled in ... poor thing - I tried to remove the hook from its mouth to release it - really difficult - it had puffed itself up into the size of a football!
A bird that flew onto boat on Sunday afternoon was still on board....but I made it fly off late Monday afternoon, there being no future for it on board 'Nereida' . Looked as though from dry grasslands (savannah?) but colour apart, I'd have said it was like a small heron with its long legs, big feet and long, dark, pointed beak, but it had green-yellow legs and feet, was striated brown & cream, with dark area on top of its head and a yellow line on each 'shoulder'. When disturbed, it held its head up high, neck stretched and thin, beak pointing up... looked camouflaged well for dry, yellow grassy places. I hope it made it to the coast.... Guinea-Bissau was 300 mls away... but we were headed even deeper into the Atlantic..

Winds have again been variable... from E/ENE 3 to WNW 1-2 - we averaged 1 kn over 7 hrs from noon Monday .... WITH a favourable current of 0.6kn helping!! In fact, without that favourable current we'd have gone NOWHERE Monday! But by lots of handsteering, I managed to keep us heading in roughly the right direction. I spent most of Monday afternoon & evening in the cockpit with 4-5 knot winds, also overnight and early Tuesday when, with wind shifting to ENE2 from NNE we gybed... Taurus & the Pleiades were high up in a DARK sky.....Dawn was beautiful and calm...clear sky above... Then, soon after 0730, wind picked up to 12knots... & suddenly we were moving... making over 5 kn.... but now with speed reduced by a foul current of half a knot... an unexpected and sudden change.

By 9am, it had died again... but a grey cloud started developing overhead .. and gave us wind... - we picked up speed again .. and kept a reasonable speed for rest of day until early evening when it dropped well off.

In the early evening, I came on deck, hearing the throb of an engine as I was sewing on the drogue bag attachment. I spotted a boat not far away... on a roughly parallel course and not going much faster... NOT a fishing boat... and not on AIS,... It had a red, pointed, fast-looking hull & had me concerned - especially when it then seemed to be getting closer.. but it kept on going harmlessly as night fell... By which time I'd nicely flaked the Jordan series drogue into its bag, having sewn tape onto the bag for securing it to a newly fixed strong point in the cockpit locker (electric drills are so useful on a boat!!). I also checked out my procedure for deploying it in nasty conditions, as a result of which it now has a new home, and I've put the chain (end weight) into a bucket for ease of handling. A very useful job done this aftenoon!

This evening saw a lovely new crescent moon as the sun set..but it soon went down ... leaving a DARK sky... but later full of stars...

DMG to noon Monday: 50 M!! (3mls in 5hrs yesterday evening and generally light winds of only 5-8 knots overnight and morning.
DMG Tuesday: 58M (reflecting light winds again overnight and morning...)
We're back to 3.4 kn boatspeed, 3.0 kn SOG tonight.... making for another poor DMG tomorrow. But at least we ARE mainly moving - better than I was expecting - I'm trying to head us into the less light winds, based on grib files - not always the most reliable information! And I'm also looking ahead to crossing into the S. Atlantic & considering where is the best position, with regard to winds, to head south there.

Sat 17th Oct (Day 8) Midday, we were 240 nm West of Dakar (Senegal, W. Africa) and about the same distance E of the Cape Verde Islands.

Quite early in the day, I shook out the reef in the mains'l - and spent a lot of the day trying to figure out what to do about the chafe on the line near the reefing point on the luff. I fixed a block there in the hope it might ease the lead of the line down into the boom where it had been rubbing - we'll see if that helps.

The day was calm, hot and humid - I got very hot and sticky and enjoyed a shower late in the afternoon, as we were sailing along very peacefully and gently at just over 5 knots.

I inspected all the shackle pins after noticing that one (on a running backstay) was almost out - close thing!
Jan of Navalectrics in Puerto Calero has been really helpful via emails over my watermaker problem - hopefully, that's all resolved now... Thanks, Jan!

24 hr DMG to noon: 136 nm

Sun 18th Oct (Day 9) 250 nm due W of River Gambia ... and a long way due E of Barbados!!

At 2am, I had to take the genoa off its pole and over to starboard - the wind had dropped right down to ENE3 (8 knots) but we were sailing fine. The sky was overcast, except for hazy stars showing directly overhead, and clouds in the E and S were lit up frequently with lightning & there was occasional faint thunder. I'd been warned a Tropical Wave would pass over with a lot of wind changes but no great problems expected.

Within half an hour, the lightning was very frequent and the grumbling of thunder was constant. The wind backed into the NE and I adjusted the windsteering (Hydrovane) to keep us headed SSW - it was still very humid and calm, with almost no waves or swell. It all felt quite weird in the darkness, with the calm sea occasionally lit up by the brighter flash of lightning.

Another hour passed - HEAVY rain started! ... and the wind veered from NE to ESE. It then backed quickly ..to E2... (boatspeed 1.4 kn!)...NNE 1-2...NNW 2...NW2-3(SOG 1.4kn)... W... WSW ... the rain stopped ... just half-an-hour had passed!
Only 5 mins later, the rain started up again with the wind veering to NW1-2 - heavy, with lots of lightning & loud thunder around ... boat speed 0.0!! Ten mins later, the wind had backed again into the WSW .. and one hour later, all was calm, I'd stowed the pole, sorted the mess of lines & sheets but there was NO wind. Lightning continued to flicker for a time and soon after 6am, we were making over 1 knot in roughly the right direction but with the wind anywhere from WSW to NW.

0730 - heavy rain again! I finally needed a jacket to stay warm in the wet, windy and highly variable conditions and by 1130, realized it was time I had some breakfast!! Thinking things had settled down, I relaxed - only to realize the wind was swinging all over and dying ... the story of today!! According to the log, we made 3 mls in 5 hours this evening.... so we're not exactly breaking any speed records!!

Not surprisingly, today's DMG is down from the last few days: 93 nm (mainly due to the reasonable sailing conditions yesterday and some strong wind in the rain this morning)

I hate to think what tomorrow's 24hr DMG will be - I'm told (and gribs also indicate) that the very light winds will continue for two or more days .... patience...!!

POSTSCRIPT: Don't you hate it when you've worked hard writing - only to lose it without trace due to a PC glitch?? I'd written my 2-day report in full early this afternoon and was about to connect in to post it early when, to my horror, I saw the sentences disappearing rapidly of their own accord.... Why?? I don't know... and then, to make matters worse, a chunk of unsent (and sent) emails went the same way - irretrievably..!!! It was as though the 'mouse' had a mind of its own - I wondered if the lightning around overnight had somehow sent it crazy?? All that definitely sent me crazy (:o).... and gave me a lot of unnecessary work tonight!

PS2 A lovely, favourable current is still working for me (has been S-going over most of the day) - boatspeed: 1.9kn; SOG: 3.1kn!! In SSE 4-5kn of wind, we're managing to make a course of 230T.

It's early afternoon Friday and we're making excellent progress in good NNE-NE 4-5 winds - up to 19 knots. The wind got up yesterday soon after midnight and I had to put a reef in the mains'l but soon after lunch, with the wind down to 13kn, I shook it out - only to have to leap out of my bunk just before dawn today to put it back in with the wind up to 17-20 knots again! I'm trying to head more S than SSW so that when headed by winds, as I expect to be in the next few days at some point, I can go west a touch without that taking me too far off my preferred route S.

By all accounts, I can expect this good wind to continue for a day or so, diminishing from later tomorrow if not sooner, and then on Sunday and overnight things might not be quite so pleasant - the wind is likely to veer into the SE and a tropical wave is expected to come through - likely with the odd squall and wind all over the place!

By Monday, I could well be getting close to the Doldrums (ITCZ) - and running well and truly out of wind for several days... The only sure thing is that no matter in which direction I sail over the next 2-3 days, whether S, SW or W, it looks as though I can't avoid going through an area of little or no wind next week ...for at least two days, probably more.... time will tell!

The good news from yesterday is that there is no longer any problem with the second watermaker pump - not sure how it got fixed, since all I did was to check the connections inside a switch and check the wiring below the aft bunk. Did moving wires around fix it? Somehow I can't believe so! Anyway - it's fine and all connections are looking good, so that's one item off the job/worry list!

The not-so-good news is that the occasional drop of oil is still leaking from the rod-kicker - that is definitely something to worry about and keep an eye on - nothing to be done here and now, since the gas strut needs replacing, I hear. If all the small amount of oil in the seal disappears, the gas will escape meaning it will no longer support the boom and I'll be relying on my topping lift when reefing - at least I have one (some people with a rod-kicker don't bother - I was actually asked if I really wanted one...). It's been way too useful an item not to have and if nothing else, it's a spare halyard.

Just went to look again and take a photo of the oil drops on deck. While there, I looked at the first reef point - it's chafing again.... The line down from the shackle on the sail is being pushed out by the sail fabric and it's rubbing on an edge by the goose neck where it enters the boom to run to the aft end... With single-line reefing, I can't afford that end to break ... that's going to be difficult to sort out - I can't keep on cutting line away by the shackle - I'll soon run out of line.... LATER: Well, I've just cut & fixed a piece of clear tubing around it where it's rubbing, having released the reef a tiny bit - but that won't stay there for long, I'm sure... And I'd have to do that every time the first reef goes in... and take it away before shaking out the reef - not very practical.... Any suggestions??

With that, I think I'll close.... I'm not feeling a 'happy bunny' right now.....

LATER: Just to add to my woes... went to turn on watermaker when running generator because batteries too low to send this report ... NO water came out... flicked switches... nada!... upped aft bunk..checked seacock and pipes - all looked fine... realized pumps were running when switched on.. turned off and de-pressurised system, turned on - nada... re-pressurized - YES!....WATER finally.... Phew!!! Not a good evening - but at least that problem ended happily... Was there air in the system...? If so, is there a leak...??

'Distance Made Good' (noon-to-noon positions):
Thursday 15 Oct: 138 M ; Friday 16 Oct: 142 M 150 M ENE of Cape Verde Islands

Air: 29C Sea: 32C!! 70% humidity Quite cloudy.

Dark, dark, dark...! No moon, just a few stars in a hazy sky. Some dew dripping off the boom. Very few 'diamonds' of phosphorescence. Then suddenly, a small pool of intense white light in our wake - and then another. Every now and then they flash on just below the surface of the sea.. and go just as quickly - seemingly relatively large beings - big jellyfish? I'd love to know but have no idea...

It's Wed night and we've picked up speed over the evening from the leisurely daytime progress we were making in gentle NE Trades under full canvas and quite a few clouds. Occasionally, we'd get up to 6 knots when the wind teasingly picked up for a short while .. and sometimes down to 4, at which point I'd be feeling guilty for not bothering to get out the asymmetric. (Interrupted as I wrote this - just had to get up on deck hurriedly to take in a reef - wind had picked up & we had turned more upwind, & off-course, with the Hydrovane struggling to keep control against the over-powered mains'l. It's large & fully-battened. All fine & calm now!)

I'm making for East of the Cape Verde Islands since that route seems to offer the best wind, with a large high pressure area to the west killing the wind there. But I don't want to go too close to the W. African coast since there's a chance of losing the wind ... I'm trying to keep a middle course while keeping out of the way of the coastal traffic .... of which there's LOTS!! So many ships.... I'm so pleased to be transmitting on AIS, since I'm sure that's why they seem to be keeping well out of my way!

I'm spending a lot of time pondering routeing across the Doldrums and down into the S. Atlantic towards the Cape of Good Hope - won't be easy to get it right, with both the ITCZ and St Helena high pressure area constantly moving!! But I'll probably have to get fairly close to Brazil to keep favourable winds and not get headed. I'll probably have to head quite a way S before I can turn E towards S. Africa, keeping a look out for depressions coming up from Cape Horn as I do so....

Tuesday's main news event came after a day of mainly gentle, often very slow, sailing after I'd gybed in the late afternoon to make a more southerly course. I was looking up at the mains'l, on the side that had previously been hidden from me, and spotted that the second reef line was badly chafed not far from the shackle holding it to the luff of the sail. I had to lower the sail to reach the shackle, remove it and cut away the section of line before I could re-tie onto the shackle & replace it. Sealing the end of the cut line was difficult in the wind and it all took a time.... Before hoisting the sail again, I checked the first reef point carefully - a similar problem, although nothing like as bad, right by the knot onto the shackle - better to deal with it now than regret it later... "Manana" is not a good attitude on a boat...!! I just managed to hoist the sail finally before dark. I'm suspecting the hard sail fabric as the cause - and I'm not too happy about this particular problem showing itself so early in my journey since I expect to reef a lot ....

The other problem showed up on starting the generator that evening to charge the batteries, when I put on the watermaker. (Not that I need the water, but just to keep it running well - "Run it often & it'll give no trouble," I'd been told.) I found only one of the two pumps was running.... I'm hoping it's just a wiring/connection problem which will be simple to find and fix.

Wednesday's problem was the kicker - I saw spots of oil on deck below its lower end - and have emailed for advice. The gas-filled rod-kicker is good in supporting the boom, but I do have a topping lift as a back up - although that's also supposed to be the halyard for the trysail.

But the good news of the day was - a FLYING FISH!! We're definitely in the Tropics! I found it on deck in the morning when I checked around.....

Fruit - is rapidly ripening! I'm having to keep an eye on it and I'm eating lots (enjoyed papaya for breakfast!.) Soft fruit won't last much longer, but apples and citrus should be fine, along with potatoes and onions. Eating well while fresh food lasts!

'Distance Made Good' (noon-to-noon positions):
Tuesday 13 Oct: 125M; Wednesday 14 Oct: 122M
Not too bad considering downwind sailing in rather light winds (mainly NNE-NE4, ~12knots) under windsteering...
Getting warm and humid: 28C both daytime air and sea! 66% humidity Mainly just a few clouds.

DMG (i.e. direct distance) between noon-to-noon positions:
(From Puerto Calero, on sailing out of marina entrance at 0645 GMT, to noon Sat 10th Oct: 29M)
To noon Sun 11th Oct: 139M
To noon Mon 12th Oct: 127M
Total DMG so far: 295M, compared with 314M from log readings.

Discrepancy due to mix of calibration error, occasional gybing, current effects and general 'wandering' off straight course due to wave action, wind steering and electronic autopilot steering (used until Hydrovane was set to work on Sunday to save power - it keeps a surprisingly good course and I'm really happy with it).

I'm not pushing the boat too much, partly still getting used to how she sails, and partly bearing in mind I've a long way to go so don't want to stress the rig. But tomorrow, if present light winds continue (which is very likely), I'll get out the as yet untried asymmetric and try that for better speed - it'll be a useful experiment - new boat, new sails.... I'll try to make sure I don't make the same mistake hoisting it as when we tried it a week or so back, out of Pto. Calero!!

NE-NNE winds should continue, maybe swinging to NW for a time over next few days - almost certainly light for several days, but better E of Cape Verdes than W, because of high pressure W of here.

I'm writing this as I heat up my favourite beginning-of-passage meal: a 'ratatouille stew' - thanks to Sally for chopping everything up so it could be cooked in advance of leaving - enough for three evening meals, easily!! Yesterday's squid (or cuttlefish? - can someone tell me the difference?) - was delicious! - cooked in green olive oil with plenty of lemon juice... mm!

Outside, it's calm but very dark- cloudy and far too early for the waning moon to have risen. Nothing and no-one out there - just me, the boat and the dark sea & sky.... 'Nereida' is like a small cocoon in the middle of the ocean - safe and familiar. Tonight, there seems not to be any phosphorescence in the disturbed water - unlike on the way down to the Canaries from Guernsey, when it was like hundreds of diamonds sparkling in the water!

Amusingly, after the nasty Capt of 'Jigawa', I had a pleasant chat overnight with the guys on watch on 'Rofos' - a tanker headed to Cotonou in W. Africa - typically nice, friendly Phillipinos who were clearly intrigued by the thought of a woman sailing alone - I'd seen them change course to pass astern of me as they crossed my path without my needing to contact them to ask their intentions...

This morning, I was getting breakfast after having looked around on deck (no squid this morning!)... went to poke my head up again - and to my amazement, found a small yacht sailing very close off to starboard & crossing my path. Seas were quite big at the time and the wind had suddenly strengthened so we were both moving around a lot... There was no-one on deck and no response initially when I called on the VHF... I steered to pass her astern as her skipper came up on deck - he hadn't realized I was there until hearing me on the VHF ... a close call! Bob, of 'Sylph VI', was also single-handing and was now on his way back home, after cruising around the N. Atlantic for a few years. He planned to take his time and stop in places en route to Adelaide via Brazil & the Magellan Strait. We had quite a long chat and arranged to do so again later in the day - but I pulled too far ahead of him, his boat being smaller, and by mid-afternoon, when I tried calling on realizing he was out of sight, we'd lost radio contact.

Time for food ... There are no ships around at present and we're over 100 mls off the W. African coast - hopefully, way too far for small, unlit fishing boats.... Goodnight from 'Nereida'....

The KISS torsion spring did not arrive by early afternoon Friday, despite being expected two days before. Having been busy up to then, making use of the chance to get some useful things done which would otherwise have been done when under way, I decided to have a meal onshore, finish with the Internet (for 6mths or more!) and get some solid sleep for a few hours before setting off around dawn.

So I motored 'Nereida' over to the fuel dock, to top up with diesel. Being pinned by the wind to the dock, I enjoyed the chance to 'spring' her off, using the motor in astern - necessary to get away at all and even more so in view of the angle needed to avoid an enormous catamaran ahead at the same dock. I then went over to an opposite dock ready for leaving under sail early the next morning & Paul & Sally came over to say farewell. I had my last steak and chips for at least 6 months, followed by my last ice cream, in company with Suzanne, Peter and Norman - and was presented with a big carton of UHT cream to go with the Xmas puddings I have on board - a lovely leaving present from the kind waitress at McSorley's, who raided the locked kitchen for me!!

That plan also meant that I avoided leaving on a Friday - not that I'm superstitious ... but you never know!! In the grey pre-dawn light, I raised the mainsail and sailed away from the dock - with a wave from Suzanne who'd surprised me by getting up early to see me off and take photos.

Today has been a very pleasant sail, gentle at first with increasing wind over the afternoon, and we're now making excellent speed of over 7 kn having gybed earlier to get away from the African coast - we were just 30 miles off, I suddenly realized, and meeting frequent shipping.

(Later) The idea of having a remote screen so as to keep the laptop tucked well out of the way is good when it works - but I'm constantly having to get the laptop out to re-set the remote screen because the system doesn't seem to like going to sleep - Vista again? I've had to learn more about my PC.

Winds definitely picked up overnight - I put a reef in & we still regularly made well over 7 knots with seas having built from the 2m of earlier to about 3m, somtimes 4m - not too bad.

I met up with a particularly obnoxious Captain (of 'Jigawa II') whom I'd tried to contact when he was well off because his closest distance was showing as just over a mile. It's always nice to confirm the big ships know I'm there to make sure we keep well clear of each other & that usually takes only a brief contact. I had a big problem for some time hearing him at all on the VHF radio, his transmission was so broken, and when we finally made contact, he clearly did not know I where I was, despite my transmitting on AIS, & said he couldn't see me on his radar (at which point he was 4mls off & his lights were clearly visible to me) so I turned on my deck light to light up my sails. All his responses were very uncooperative and dismissive and it was a most unpleasant experience, unlike similar occasions in the past when captains have been perfectly pleasant, professional and helpful. He clearly disliked sailing boats....and maybe hearing a female voice didn't help either.... So often, ships I meet up with not only have helpful, polite crew but very friendly ones - often only too happy to have a chat to break up the boredom of their long passages.

I'll sign off now and see if I can send this via radio well before midday when it gets less easy.... (Detailed position & weather reports are being posted every day, independent of any log report, like this one, being made)

Jeanne
'Nereida'
27N, 015W

Wed 7th Oct '09

For several days, the winds have been non-existent - just a short time of onshore breeze mid-afternoon dying away to nothing until the next mid-afternoon.  The result - a delayed departure - presently  projected toThursday early evening - IF the wind doesn't die away.... I can't sail anywhere without wind ... not even away from the marina!  Motoring isn't an option - a) I don't want to, b) I haven't enough fuel for anything except occasional use of my little diesel generator over the next 6-7 months when my solar &/or wind input is too low... so unless there's decent wind tomorrow, I may have to delay  yet again to Friday - but hopefully not.

I seem to have got myself a great team of supportive helpers here in Puerto Calero .... Peter (from Holland) has put me in touch with many useful people to resolve whatever my current problem happened to be, Suzanne (from Michigan) has done brilliant work helping to organize my provisioning/stowing/listing (I've never been so well organized!!) and any other job I threw at her, Sally (from UK) has cheerfully ferried me around from place to place for shopping and trying to solve my ongoing gas bottle problem as well as helping with laundry, her husband Paul has spent a lot of time helping me with several boat jobs - including dealing with Kiss generator, re-stowing anchor rodes, fixing closures on lazarette lids, replacing metal washer(s) on loose rodkicker-to-mast joint with larger nylon washer (manufactured several times over in minutely varying thicknesses by Wes from San Diego), Jan (from UK) who has spent several hours sorting out  the electrics, watermaker wiring & instruments (although even he couldn't fix my Furuno weather fax problem - doesn't look as though it's receiving via its own preamp & aerial  - so one or t'other is faulty possibly), Norman (from UK) who supplied 10 dozen fresh eggs, cleaned the hull and changed the prop zinc, Walter (from Germany) who gave me a lot of music for my time offshore and Mel Symes, Daniel Calero and others at Pto. Calero Marina who tried to help me resolve problems whilst here.  Many grateful thanks to all of them!

I've spent more time clearing away & fixing items in place, with lots of lacing eyes, string and bungy being used up!  The diesel leak was finally dealt with by the yard here and several shackles spliced onto ends of lines by Olivier (from France) - he's done a far better job than I could have done!

Lots of time has been wasted on trying to sort out a regularly-malfunctioning Iridium connection to my laptops.  Whilst here,  the XP laptop has occasionally connected, the Vista one never... computers!!  Today, the serial/USB adaptor completely gave up the ghost -  so we've been chasing aound trying to find a new one - found tonight and about to be tested.  I hope it works and keeps on working - otherwise I'll have no data transfer for emails and weather info when out of SSB radio range....  Unfortunately, the shop only had one - it would have been nice to have been able to buy a back-up.

So tonight I had a farewell 'tapas' meal with my new-found friends under a waning moon beside the flat calm water.... coming back to the boat to write this long-overdue update before getting to sleep...  We'll see what tomorrow brings.... and whether or not I manage to sail away....  I'll keep you posted!

Thurs 8th Oct '09

With no wind still, departure delayed yet again to Friday - but then I MUST leave!!

Good news on several fronts today - with one of the most important being that the new serial/USB adaptor I bought yesterday seems to have solved the problem of the useless laptop-to-Iridium (satellite telephone) connection - both laptops (including the **!@** Vista one) immediately 'saw' the modem connection to Iridium with no hint of hassle - brilliant news, but highly annoying - I've wasted so much time and effort over the last two months - seemingly because of a faulty adaptor from the Iridium telephone supplier (being replaced, with apologies, under warranty - but no substitute for so much hassle and lost time)   Sally picked up a spare one for me tonight....   George (from Bavaria)  from the diveshop also came along and checked over my Vista laptop settings.  He found & fixed a few small problems and then we got the remote screen, mouse and keyboard configured (- I'd pretty well abandoned all thought of sorting that out, with so many other distractions up to now) - another good job done since my laptop can now be stowed away securely out of harm's way in big seas, but still in use remotely - we're getting really 'techie'!!.

Peter spent a long time emptying & totally cleaning out the gas locker of acccumulated rust & then cleaning and greasing the bases of all the gas bottles in an effort to prevent future rusting.   Paul popped by and pointed out an easier change-over of the in-line butane bottles - useful! (But still no sign of the elusive Kiss wind-generator torsion spring...)  Suzanne spent several hours equipping me with fishing rod and lures - she's determined that this useless fisherwoman will manage to catch fish very soon as she sails around!!

Evening was mainly spent relaxing and chatting - I won't be able to do that for some time!!  This should be my last shoreside night for a long time - so I'm going to enjoy sleeping in my spacious aft cabin tonight.  In future, it'll be my passagemaking bunk in the saloon or huddled in the cockpit.

Photo of new asymmetric - unfurled a bit too soon -  as we were hoisting it!! And, of course, a strong gust came along just then....  Nice view of shoreline of Lanzarote ( no, it's not the Sahara .. although you'd be forgiven for thinking so!)

Lesson learned!! 

I can't believe well over a week has gone by - I seem to have been so busy since arriving here but it's only tonight (Sunday) that I feel as though I've made real progress toward being ready to leave by the end of the week.

Before Tony left for B.C. last Sunday, he helped take down the KISS wind generator to see why it was not turning freely, as it normally does.  That problem turned out to be simple to deal with - the base of the collar that holds it onto the pole just needed loosening a touch.  But I'd also wanted to check that the steel & aluminium surfaces were properly protected from corrosion with grease or silicon sealant, not really trusting the job done by the guys who'd last 'helped' me.... Sure enough, although that aspect was fine, another problem reared its head in that they'd not properly dealt with a torsion spring whose job is to stop the generator from over-rotating  (It has no brushes or commutator ring, being very simple in design) 

I spoke to Doug Billings in Trinidad, who designed it & manufactures them there. (What a fabulous thing Skype is when you've good wifi to the boat! )  Doug informed me that a short straight wire I could see should have been over twice the length - at 4" - in order to position it easily when the generator was replaced on the pole.  He had no problem sending me the item - but receiving it without trouble here in the Canaries  just wasn't going to happen!   After lots of discussion of available options, I heard  that there were visitors were coming out from England this weekend - problem solved.... Quicker and far simpler to get the spring sent to England & they bring it to me - guaranteed quick delivery ...!  It left Doug in Trinidad Wed 1pm, was in Stansted by 7pm Thursday (via depot in USA!) & delivered to Wisbech, UK, before 6pm Friday...!     Monday update:  Well, that's what should have happened - but Fedex completely messed up - so no delivery as promised.. so spring NOT received here.  I'll have to try to use damaged item - unless neighbour can send to Canaries in time to reach me before I leave - We'll try that but unlikely to happen... Pity...! Of course, I now have to fit it somehow ... Another job on the list.... The KISS did a superb job on the way here, in supplying lots of battery power - quietly!!

Did a 'dummy' run wih my weather routers to check on our communications - and also so I could see what info they were proposing to send me & how... That was a useful exercise, so that's now set up.

Updated all my weatherfax radio frequencies and timetables (took ages chasing around the Internet with an unusually erratic connection...) - but believe my Fax408 isn't behaving properly - I suspect that the boatyard omitted to set a small switch correctly behind the fascia - so another job for tomorrow is to disconnect the unit, remove it and check the switch setting....

I had two days with interviews over the week (local LanzaroteInformation website and German magazine 'Yacht') - that took quite a time away from my jobs.... and I'm finding that relaxing in the warm evenings to chat with people here and have a meal, nice though that is, is also eating into my time badly...  I think the thought of being away from people for 6-7 months solidly is affecting me in that I'm enjoying their company (being the highly sociable being that I am!) and I'm unwilling to forgo it .... OK, so I'll leave a day or two later.... Not the end of the world!!

On Friday, I took 'Nereida' out motoring with Paul of 'Atlantic Islands Sailing' (www.saillanzarote.com - he and Sally have been amazingly helpful and kind since my arrival - thank you!) and also Suzanne and Walter of 'Double Moon'.  I wanted to calibrate the log (which has clearly been madly under-reading!), try to locate the ongoing diesel leak source and try out my furling asymmetric spinnaker...  It was lovely to get away from the dock, even motoring...  The calibration involved a whole series of runs, starting around slack water - but the S-going Canaries current was present to complicate matters, and even going over to inshore of the nearby fish farm wasn't so very useful since it showed a counter-current there!  Seems to me that the calibration factor should be around 1.56 so all my previous log readings and speeds need to be multiplied up by that amount since the default log factor was 1.00!  Unfortunately the unit doesn't seem to want to allow me to set the factor manually - keeps beeping at me irritably when I try - I'll try disconnecting the yellow data (GPS/Seatalk) wire to see if I can fool it!

The fuel leak was going great guns - but we did eventually find the source - the on/off valve on the engine supply pipe leaks fuel from its threaded connection to the tank - another job now scheduled for Monday (the yard here will do that for me).  My gas alarm keeps going off- presumably due to the fumes from the bilge.... another job is to clean that out....

We had sudden activity trying out the furling cruising chute - I didn't think to tie down the furling line - so no sooner had we hoisted it than it began to unfurl at great speed .... and, of course, then a gust came through... A good lesson learned - I was pleased to have two other people with me helping to tame it and get it down on deck safely....!!  But my 'sailbin-in-the-forepeak-below-the-forehatch' system looks good...

Propane - took time chasing after possibilities but as yet still no sign of a positive outcome - although it might be possible on Gran Canaria, I was told.  It would be nice to have my US bottles filled before leaving.  The US (propane) system is so much more easy and sensible to deal with compared with the stupid European (butane) system...  The thought of trying to change over Camping Gaz bottles in the stern lazarette in big seas, by rotating the bottles themselves in order to disconnect & re-connect to a fixed supply pipe to the galley, does not thrill me!  It never occurred to me that I'd have so much trouble in Europe filling my US bottles.

Ran two new preventer lines separate from the pole after (lazy) guy - decided trying to combine the two functions was not OK.   Sometimes you want to gybe the main and leave the pole out where it was, with the genoa taken over to the other side, off the pole...

Checked out lines & sheets in general - and shackles, blocks etc..All looking fine, except for the topping lift shackle - pin keeps coming undone so may have to 'mouse' it.  Twice found the topping lift swinging around wildly on my way here.

Suzanne was very helpful and kindly did a few useful jobs for me yesterday while I got on with checking over spares and tools and their organizing, stowing & listing ... and then finally got around to fixing all loose items in place.  My electric drill has been well used this weekend and I only have a couple of minor outstanding items to fix now in the forepeak.

Weather has been good - warm, but not too hot, and no rain, but it often gusts up strongly and then dies away- I hear that's typical around here - keeps sailors on their toes when out sailing!

I'm working towards leaving next weekend - hopefully that will work out - I suddenly realized last week (with a strong feeling of panic at all still left to do!) that 1st October is Thursday..  But I shan't leave without feeling comfortable that my preparations are complete - I'm not in a race (except against my own 'clock')!!

Wed-Fri 16-18 Sept 09 - Puerto Calero, Lanzarote, Islas Canarias

A big-eyed squid (one of two found on deck, one day out from Lanzarote):
 

Stern steelwork  for solar panels, wind generator., antennae, GPS and radar ..... with Hydrovane windsteering doing a good job at dawn:

One rocky islet to avoid!    .... A bird sanctuary....

Lanzarote - old volcanic slopes:

It's nice to be somewhere warm!  Although there's been quite lot of grey cloud and wind, I'm in shorts and vest and enjoying the excuse to play with water as I clean Nereida's decks and cockpit after her journey.

Arrival here was 7pm Wed evening, after tacking the last section in flukey winds, which often suddenly gusted strongly (I actually had to reef both sails quickly at one point coming down the coast!) & often swung all over the place,.... and then finding myself becalmed in lovely clear water, I was very tempted to jump in for a swim! But eventually, I made for the marina entrance, downed sail and headed in as darkness was falling.... to be greeted by a smart 'marinero' with check-in papers he wanted completed... a chance to polish up my Spanish again....?  No, the forms were bilingual!

Having had little chance to sleep Tuesday night, since we were so close to land, I nearly went straight to bed .... but that just didn't feel right - you don't make landfall after 12 days' passage and ignore the fact that you're in a foreign country.... even if it did mean what seemed like a half-mile hike around the enormously long, protective, high seawall from my 'check-in' berth to where I could see the bright lights of restaurants and bars, with people moving about... just across the water if I could only have jumped that far!

Of course, I had no idea of the local time and had no Euros on me ... and I was famished!  I approached one place & was told their kitchen had just closed (9 o'clock, I was told) - but next door was open...  What lovely people they were... In my bad Spanish, I pointed over to my boat, explained I'd just got in after 12 days from England - and please could they let me have some food - no, I had no 'dinero' to pay just now - but would have tomorrow...  "I'll lend you from my own pocket," the chief waiter said with a smile - "Have what you want...!"   They were all so nice and came over to chat while I waited for my meal (steak with mushrooms!) - what a lovely introduction to the Canaries!!

Thursday morning, both friend Tony Gooch and helpful, welcoming, marina manager Mel Symes came over to greet me and help with lines while I took the chance to top up with diesel before moving over to my berth - where I slept some more!

There are several cruising boats here and Tony made sure I met up with quite a few cruisers at the 'sundowner' get-together outside a nearby bar, later having a meal together - & I made sure I repaid Mohammed with interest for his kindness of the evening before.  I'm still hopeful of getting propane - although not officially...

I've quite a long joblist, as you'd expect, but hope to get all done within a fortnight or so, ready to leave around the end of the month.  No cruising of the Canaries, as I'd originally hoped - too much to be done.  One thing I have managed is to get my XP laptop to 'talk' to the satphone -  that's quite a relief but it would be great if I could persuade my 'Vista' laptop to do the same.  That's proved impossible so far.. I need a computer 'whizz-kid' to help sort that out, if it's possible...

BBC Radio Guernsey called me up on my satphone for a 'live' update Thursday morning, which was nice of them.  But they moved the time forward to 10 minutes before 9am instead of 10mins after - so friends in Guernsey will almost certainly have missed it - pity!

The excellent news of today (Friday) is that Weather Routing Inc, based in NY state, have agreed to help me with weather info over the critical parts of my journey - getting through the Doldrums with the least hassle (insofar as is possible, given they often jump several hundred miles unpredictably in no time at all!), both heading south and, finally, back north; Southern Ocean from Cape of Good Hope onward and  around Cape Horn, with a 'heads up' any time really bad weather is heading my way.

This weekend I'll continue the boatjobs - the sooner I can get everything done, the more chance there'll be to relax for a few days before starting off.

Tuesday 15th Sept '09

I plotted our daily noon positions to check on the actual daily 24hr distances run ('distance made good' - DMG - in a straight line from one noon position to the next day's noon position, that is). From Tues 8th Sept, when I was able finally to stop tacking against a SSW-SW3 and the wind veered to N5-6 & then to NNE 6-7, so I could make the rhumbline course to well off Finisterre and then on south, our 24hr noon-to-noon distances up to today have been: 132, 170, 123, 136, 150, 157, 161 mls. Seeing as I've been sailing rather conservatively, and the seas got up quite a lot over several days, and even allowing for what I'm sure must be a south-going current (although I hear it might only be half a knot or so), I'm not too displeased with the figures! Today's won't be at all good because the wind has died this afternoon, as forecast, there have been a few showers around and we're slopping about in the left-over swell. So it could well be a slow finish to my passage to the Canaries - pity!! (Later - We got up nicely to 6knots for a time, but are back down to 5knots now - 11.30pm - 50 mls from the northern island of Graciosa in the Canaries)

I've been 'talking' to Bob McDavitt, a well-known 'weather guru' in New Zealand, about passing through the Cook Strait. It would be good if there were a possibility of finding a 'weather window' for getting safely through the Cook Strait after reaching Farewell Spit (NW point of South Island) after crossing from Tasmania. My idea is to divert initially into Nelson Bay (to wave at my aunt and other relatives there, if they can get there and if it's reasonably calm!), ready to head straight on back N to sail on east through the Cook Strait if the weather is good to do so... But if the choice is between catching a weather window to get through safely or waving at relatives .... I'm afraid safety would have to come first....!! Cook Strait seems to have almost the same fearsome reputation as Cape Horn - due to its underwater topography, I'm hearing from a good cruiser friend. I must read up about it in the British Admiralty New Zealand Pilot that I have on board.

Spent some time today, reading the manuals & playing with the buttons on my new SSB radio (Icom M801) and Fax408 - it's nice to get to know how to work the new instruments properly!!

Just wish my laptops were talking to the satphone - spent quite a time today trying to get a shoreside radio connection for sending/receiving emails whereas data transfer via the satphone would have been so much quicker. I'll definitely be needing it over the next few months, since I could well find it impossible at times to make radio contact, so I must try to get that sorted in Lanzarote.

A Canadian friend who arrived ahead of me in Lanzarote is looking into propane availability - looks bad! But I bought extra butane bottles back in Guernsey for that reason.

Today's noon position report:

31d 12'N, 013d 22'W; course(COG) 178T; speed(SOG) 5.7kn; wind NNW4 (13kn) (down from overnight 18knots); baro 1020; air 25C; sea 26C; swell NNW 3m 7s; cloud 60%

Sun/Mon 13/14 Sept 09 - No complaints... fabulous Tradewind sailing!!

13th Sept sunset:

Broken vang shackle found lying on deck beside the block - clearly a metal defect - a time when a good spares kit comes in useful!

Well, the wind might not be from the NE - but this is definitely very enjoyable, brisk 'Tradewind sailing' to the east of the Azores High. For several days now, we've been mainly under full canvas, but tonight we're reefed down (one reef) because the winds started building just before sunset - as did the seas... We're rolling about quite a lot fairly frequently - and cooking my evening meal got pretty 'interesting' several times with the galley 'bumstrap' proving how useful it could be!

The Hydrovane is coping well, although when the wind got up, it definitely preferred a reef in the mains'l to avoid us rounding up so much in the gusts. The genoa is poled out and we're on a very broad reach, but occasionally a big wave comes along together with a gust, knocking us about, making us round up badly & the wind has got ahead of the genoa. Then I've had to intervene to get us back on course.

Weather has been superb - lots of sunny blue skies and warmth, although just as an enormous tanker (making for Lagos, Nigeria) had finished crossing our stern before midday, it actually rained quite heavily ... but, half an hour later, we were back to blue skies and sunshine again!

Last night and tonight, the stars have been out in their millions - along with hundreds of twinkling diamonds in our wake - lot of lovely phosphorescence in the waters here. I was delighted to see, almost straight up, my favourite little constellation of 'Delphinus' - the dolphin in the sky, which keeps the Swan company. Lovely to see all the familiar figures - with Orion striding majestically the right way up - not on his head, as he is in the Southern hemisphere!!

A real worry tonight was catching sight of red and white strobe lights not that far from our port side - perhaps only a mile away. I'd come up fairly regularly to check whilst preparing my meal and writing up my log and emails because I'd earlier seen a bright light over the horizon which didn't come up on AIS - so presumably a smaller fishing boat or a yacht. I had vivid recollections of stories of bad encounters with over 1 mile-long unmarked tunny-fishing nets off the coast of Morocco - which is exactly where I am now.... What was I supposed to make of the strobe lights?? They were presumably marking nets of some kind or
other.... A happy thought was that they were not dead ahead and seemed to be out of my way... what luck! I think the fishing boat was nearby just over the horizon ... but I have no idea really what system of nets they use - or what exactly the lights (seemingly in just the one spot) were warning of... what a nightmare! Somehow, that scares me! The other happy thought was that I'm sailing and not running my engine & prop - but who knows what might happen if I were to run over a cable holding large nets in my path....

Noon position report today: 33d 53' N, 013d 21' W; COG 180T; SOG 6.5kn; Wind NNW4-5 (14kn); Swell NNW 2m 6s ; Clouds 12% ; Baro 1022; Air temp 25 C ; Sea temp 26 C

309mls to go (ETA: Wed). Plenty of ships around. Wrong (previous day's) latitude given yesterday!!

Sat 12Sept09: Day 8 of passage to Canaries - Just like Tradewinds sailing - but wind is NW, not NE! Fluffy little white clouds in lines along the wind direction.... Gentle sailing, poled out ....

Noon (BST) position report: 39 00'N, 013 21'W; course(COG): 180T; speed (SOG): 5.6kn; wind: NW4 (10kn); barometer: 1022; air/sea temp: 24C!!; swell: N 3m 8s; cloud: 10%;

606 ml to go (DTG) to destination (equidistant between Azores and Canaries!), 200 ml due W of Lisbon. Warm, bright sunshine, ambling along....

Last night I had no problem whatsoever using Bluetooth to connect into the Pactor modem for my emailing and weather info via Airmail using my SSB radio ..... Now, when I just tried to connect - I found my computer (which ran out of battery power on standby overnight) seems to have no Bluetooth enabled and isn't 'seeing' the modem... Why not??
(One hour later!!)... Finally got it going again - after a lot of cursing and effort.... !

Yesterday's hiatus was finding the Iridium (satellite) phone had switched itself off - for no apparent reason. Later, I noticed it switching itself on again completely of its own accord as I was seated nearby writing up the log.... and then soon afterwards, I noticed it was off again... Overnight, it came on yet again and has, so far today, stayed on... "Not guilty!" I plead - I was touching nothing when all that happened!! Presume it's a faulty handset, base unit or connection - although, having checked them, all connections look absolutely fine, as is the 12V power supply so I strongly suspect a faulty unit.

The wind swung to NNW from NE soon after midnight Thursday and then died, only picking up near midday - but that gave me an ideal chance to get to know the Hydrovane windsteering gear. Really easy and straightforward, so that's now in use - at least some of the time. My wind power input to the batteries, plus some solar power, is working really well, so using the electronic/hydraulic autopilot doesn't seem to be pulling down the batteries hardly, if at all. I'm sure the use everywhere (cabin & nav lights) of LED lighting must also be helping. Overnight, the wind picked up to around 15 knots, rather than the fairly consistent 10 knots we've been having during the day both yesterday and today.

Other problems: The shackle holding down the block at the mastfoot which leads the boom downhaul aft broke into two halves - clearly a major metal defect... Fortunately I was able to replace the shackle from my spares kit, so all is now well - I'd wondered, before I found the block and broken shackle lying on the deck, how the main had suddenly become 'scandalized'!! A possibly associated problem is that the boom regularly jerks up with a bang - the vang/mast connection is a tad loose and needs an additional washer to fill the slight space allowing movement - that pin will wear quite quickly later if not dealt with when I arrive.

A lovely sight was a bright silver Venus hanging high in the East before dawn this morning - and last night, I enjoyed an excellent meal by starlight in the cockpit of the 'Chez Nereida' restaurant....

Thursday 9th Sept 09

Today and yesterday have been excellent for speedy sailing - in NE winds up to 30 knots!! Should keep NE wind now all the way - effectively the start of the NE Trades.. Downside was the big swell that often made us crash about, making it difficult to move about . and not much sun either... but good progress made finally, after a series of long tacks against the previous SW wind... This afternoon, having finished crossing the Bay of Biscay, I was able to gybe onto a southerly course, headed from well off Finisterre (~100 ml) towards the Canaries - hopefully in one last long leg, arriving 15/16th Sept, depending on whether winds pick up or not...! Again, we're running with a poled-out genoa but now I've let out both reefs in the mains'l so we've full canvas in increasingly light winds. I let out the reefs not long ago in the dark - it always seems a bit weird to be out in the middle of a pitch black ocean rushing along with overcast blanketing out the stars - and NO phosphorescence in the disturbed water - most unusual...

Today was notable for an effort to get radio communications back again - it's been an ongoing problem and has kept me busy on and off since I left Guernsey... Today, I actually soldered the ultra-fine wires of a USB cable together, thinking it would help - but not so... Amazingly though, I finally figured out how to get my laptop to talk 'Bluetooth' to the Pactor modem between it and the radio ... so here we are!! Whilst doing that, I disturbed my chart-plotter - to my horror it ended up with a blue screen and no chart displayed but lots of incomprehensible messages - major disaster, I thought... unable to sort it out... but later, whilst fiddling with the Pactor modem and radio connections below it, suddenly, there it all was again ... right as rain! ... What a relief!... I thought I was headed into more soldering of fine data wires in the Raymarine seabus connection... Now I can sleep well - my AIS alarm is working well and I'm well offshore, away from the shipping and fishing along the Portuguese coast.

Look on 'Travels' page for my noon position report...

Bye for now....

Jeanne
"Nereida"
42N, 013W

Previous reports I couldn't send at the time....

Monday 7Sept09

Ahoy there from "Nereida" in a fog-ridden, relatively calm, Bay of Biscay - we thought we were back in touch again... but not so... have had a major, ongoing struggle trying to make a connection - or the lack of...! Now that it's calmed down from the rough seas of Sat & Sun, I was able to get some jobs done... fix the catch on an annoying, swinging-freely, galley locker door (TG for electric drills... even so, it took an hour), domestic duties: clearing up in galley and also in saloon (loose papers I'd overlooked soon ended up all over cabin sole as we moved about in the seas!!) and finally, but most importantly, removing chart-plotter, radio & Pactor modem from instrument panel to locate serial number of the modem - vital info to enable it to 'talk' to my laptop via Bluetooth so I can send/receive emails and weather info via my SSB (high-frequency) radio.... That turned out to be a lot less hassle than I expected, having tried to avoid the issue by searching through paperwork - but no sign of info there... I'm hoping to be able to send this report later today OK (but I couldn't ... not until Thursday...!) ... The outstanding problem I can't really deal with now is a diesel leak, which I'd thought was fixed before leaving. Because we were moving about so much yesterday, a lot ended up in the bilges - a horrible smell!

Neither of my laptops is talking to the Iridium satellite telephone just now, so that way of emailing is closed until I reach shore... The XP laptop was doing so fine just before I left.. so why has it stopped now...? And the Bluetooth connection was also fine the last time I tested using my SSB radio for emailing.... so frustrating and time-consuming...! But the phone itself is working fairly well - I had a welcome SMS message from a friend (free from www.iridium.com!) and a call this morning from the presenter of 'Five Live' - but unfortunately reception was too poor for the hoped-for live transmission on the Breakfast Show.

At noon today: Posn: 48 17'N, 008 06'W Course: 207T Speed: 6.8kt Wind: SSE F1-2 (6-7kt) Air: 20C Sea: 16.6C Baro: 1022 Swell: WNW 2m 4s Cloud 100%

I'd had to motor since 0540 when I found us drifting E at 1.5 knots. We had been sailing SSW nicely - at 5 knots in fairly calm seas - since 0200 when the wind shifted as drizzle came in. Prior to that, since early Sunday, I'd been headed due W in good sunshine through the heavy shipping just north of the Ushant shipping lanes and then on, unable to turn SW due to the southerly wind direction. I had a nice chat on the VHF radio with the Aussie Capt of the 'Eileen C' after he gave way to me just before noon while I was reefing down in stronger winds (18knots). Whatever happens, I want to avoid sailing well into the Bay itself, for fear of getting 'embayed' (getting trapped in the Bay by the prevailing SW winds) - I'm trying to keep well out, off the continental shelf, in deep water..

Sunday's noon position report: 49 02'N, 005 44'W SOG: 8.4kt (nice tide!!) COG: 270T Wind: S 4-5(~18kt)

12 noon (BST) position: 49 25'N, 002 54'W

Left St Peterport Victoria marina last night after last fish and chips - courtesy of friendly 'Ship and Crown'! Had a cranberry juice rather than their 'Special'. Sat with friend Liz, who'd kindly ferried me around earlier in the day for last minute visits, and ITN TV crew who've been with me a lot of the day. Amusing being filmed (I gather item was later put out on 6 o'clock news, repeated at ten o'clock) but it definitely didn't help me keep to my schedule - too many jobs still to do plus unexpected extras - like the Hydrovane rudder... I fixed it in place - beautifully easy....but then putting in the pin to hold it there, it got jammed and was impossible to release (not helped when I forced it!)... Two Dutch cruisers close by put down their glasses of wine to help me - and eventually sorted it out. Before that, I'd just finished drilling and fixing the remaining two brackets for the under-floor reinforcing strut - which job, when started, caused me to spot water in the bilges - lots!! I'd topped up the water-tank and the overflow into the sink had obviously run in water faster than it could exit. It must have overflowed as I went to close the tap.... Time had to be spent mopping it all up, and more time was wasted trying to set up a 12V power supply to a small pump which would have speeded the job up, but changing a cigar plug from German to British got too convoluted & was taking up too much time so I abandoned it & went back to a floorcloth on the end of a long 'grabber'! (At least that helped get rid of the remnants of the diesel leak in the same place I'd had to clear up two days earlier!)

I had to leave the marina around high water to get over the 'sill' which keeps boats inside afloat when the tide goes out - so after my supper, I went back to 'Nereida' and motored out to a pontoon outside in the main harbour to finish tidying and organizing - so the start of my long passage was delayed until I felt comfortable that I was prepared for putting to sea safely...

I then found the wind still not quite as the weather forecast predicted and decided to get a few hours sleep to wait for a favourable tide around dawn - at least I could make use of that help when I sailed away from St Peterport.

So here we are finally sailing nicely in a WNW F4-5 at around 6 knots but having to head rather more inshore than I wanted in order not to get headed I expect to have to tack out shortly to keep well offshore when rounding Ushant to begin the Biscay crossing - I'm not looking forward to that, since SW winds are expected by tomorrow and Monday. I may have to head well out, not to get 'embayed'. We'll see how that pans out - weather forecasts are rarely correct in detail...

I found very rough water around Guernsey even though I tried to stay in deeper water - a strong 'Spring' tide and lots of rocks around...!! But it's nice to be sailing and on passage finally. ...

Later(7pm): We're really struggling to make headway against the tide... having to tack and making very little real progress ... Speed is 3.5-4 knots over the ground with full canvas and tide is likely to get up to 2 knots against (HW was at 5.30pm) - stronger more inshore so a good reason to try to stay well out - except must try to avoid shipping in lanes to north of here.... It's going to be a frustrating several days, since crossing Biscay is likely to be similar... Oh well,..... at least the threatening rain of mid-afternoon came to nothing and the sky is only lightly clouded and I'm getting frequent 20 minute sleeps to catch up.

7.18pm: Speed (SOG) 2.1 kn, course over ground (COG): 170T - I'm going backwards!!! Wind has dropped to around F2-3 (7 knots or less) so the tide is taking me east.... grrr!!!

8pm: Sun just set. Decided to use the 'iron horse', heading due west to make for waypoint north of Ushant, just outside shipping lanes (busy area)- time to slack water is at least another hour - I'll see what happens then and if there's wind enough to sail... at least on this leg I have this option - not so, once I leave the Canaries. Present position: 48 24'N, 002 10'W

Thurs/Fri 3/4th Sept 09

"Nereida" preparing to start passage to Canaries Friday evening... under a full moon...! HW is just before 7pm so I hope to leave around then. I'm hoping for fair winds initially to head for Ushant, maybe light, but hoping for mainly favourable winds as I continue down across the Bay of Biscay, keeping well off, if possible, to avoid the heavy traffic between Cape Finisterre and Ushant
Log is now reading correctly and fuel tanks and chain locker(& food lockers) are full!!
I've been busy clearing up and stowing away - with lots of interruptions from well-wishers - but many thanks to them!!

Regards,

Jeanne

Anchor chain arrived last week ..and then had to wait while I had  a shelf glassed in to the chain locker.  Wed's task was biking to DSV freight terminal with an angle grinder to cut the chain into 3 pieces - 100m for main anchor, 25m for secondary (plus 100 m multiplait) and 5m, which I worked out weighed just over 7kg or 15lbs, for the end of the Jordan series drogue to keep it well below the sea surface when deployed.   It was quite difficult getting the chain off the pieces of thick wire it had been looped onto for the galvanizing process but helpful guys at DSV took time out to extricate the chain to measure it and then insisted on cutting it  for me - not easy. Talk about fireworks!! Being high tensile chain meant it was more difficult to cut than ordinary chain but my kind helper made short work of the four cuts - I was amazed he didn't end up with his jeans on fire but he seemed oblivious to the stream of hot sparks landing on him.... I was quite pleased to be well out of the line of fire!  

Plan then was to deliver it to nearby fuel dock Fri morning where I'd come to fuel up at high water around midday and get help to load the chain onto 'Nereida' ... which is more-or-less what happened, except that the replacement floorboarding had arrived in the meantime - more problems.... I had hoped it would be a simple matter of making two long cuts to trim it to size, and had already been investigating where I could do that, but found that more intricate cutting was needed than I could manage.    At one point it seemed everyone was looking out for good 'chippies' to help me at short notice... ! (It's the long August Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK so timing for work to be done has been getting difficult).  Mike, one of the Guernsey Harbour Dockmasters, very kindly came to the rescue, offering me the use of the Harbour facilities, & by late Fri morning, Neil, the Harbour 'chippie', had cut the board beautifully, along with a replacement headlining board and an aluminium strut .

   By the time that was done, we were OK to get out over the sill at the marina entrance but not to get back in after the refuelling and chain manoeuvres- which took 4 of us: two lads high up on the pier above the fuel dock, myself receiving the chain as it was fed down & helper Nicholas flaking the chain onto the deck...!!  (It still has to be marked and attached to the anchors)   So I stayed at the fuel dock overnight and then moved onto a waiting pontoon until high water near 2pm Saturday - when I gingerly crept over the sill, half expecting to touch... relieved to say, I didn't, although I should have done!

Early Friday morning, I removed the speed transducer - the impellor was badly fouled with weed and eggs!

You can just make out the position of the marina sill in the foreground and up on the right is a (red) light indicating it's unsafe to try to enter!!

When leaving DSV earlier in the week, I found a group of people in a shed nearby decorating a flower float, ready for the flower festival the next day:

Maybe this coming week, I'll be sailing away from this lovely old harbour-front church!

    "Nereida" in Victoria Marina, St Peterport, 17th August 2009 - no problem celebrating a birthday with flowers here in Guernsey!!

Sunday 16th August 2009

I'm told I should see my anchor chain on Monday (that would be a good birthday present!)... then I'll have  associated problems to deal with, but since I'm now waiting for a replacement main cabin floor section to be sent from Sweden it looks as though I've a week in hand to resolve them.

Spent most of yesterday fitting the port settee leecloth (my passagemaking berth) in the main cabin - difficult getting  one of the fixings in the right place without destroying the saloon/forepeak bulkhead.  It's a problem being single-handed at times - I needed to be in two places simultaneously!!

Have been busy most of today (Sunday) whipping bungy connections to secure gas tanks and flares canisters in place - but gave me an opportunity to work outside for a time in pleasant weather.  Then I got down to clearing up in the saloon before finally getting to the forepeak to sort out the gear there - my next major project (in between dealing with anchor chain) ... I've several items I need to stow there securely (my folding bike among other things) and it's my spares' stowage/sail-bin/general store/'garage' ... so plenty to sort out and organize ready for sailing.

If flooring section arrives by Monday week, hopefully I can 'escape' from here by the midweek, weather permitting.  I need to get going down to the Canaries to see how 'Nereida' sails and check all systems out on a good long passage (about 12 days, I reckon).  I need to leave from the Canaries after final checks and preparations by end September to make Cape Horn mid-January - time is slipping by fast...

Mon 17th August
A lovely sunny day... Started with a visit from Andre to instal my bilge alarm - yet another kind soul being really helpful and friendly in giving me freely of his precious time to help me with my problems.  We also had a useful discussion about organizing the chain locker and how to have the 2nd anchor (20kg Delta) ready to deploy overboard in an emergency - so much important detail to consider...!  Ideally, I should get a partition glassed into place in the locker, and maybe a high shelf to take the 2ndary rope rode so it's in place ready to go...
I relaxed quite a bit today, visiting the Dockmaster here for a long chat (he keeps an eye on all ferries, freighters, fishing boats and small boat movements in & out of the Harbour - it's a busy place!) and then later got on my bike to go to Fermain Bay.  "Nearby," I'd been told... not so near!    Up a LONG steep hill and quite a distance away.  I walked up most of the hill and then had a great freewheel down a steep path to the shore of lovely Fermain Bay - beautiful scenery  and views on the way and thick, mature woods down to the beach - but the highly-recommended 'Beach Cafe', where I was hoping to have a good meal, was closed, it being Monday - no-one had mentioned that.... oh well!.. Back to town, where I ended up at 'Le Petit Bistro' - and had a very nice French meal - no complaints!
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** Digital selective calling (DSC), allows mariners instantly to send an automatically formatted distress alert to the Coast Guard or other rescue authority anywhere in the world. Digital selective calling also allows mariners to initiate or receive distress, urgency, safety and routine radio calls to or from any similarly equipped vessel or shore station, without requiring either party to be near a radio loudspeaker. DSC acts like the dial and bell of a telephone, allowing you to "direct dial" and "ring" other radios, or allow others to "ring" you, without having to listen to a speaker. All new VHF radios have DSC capability.

My efforts at re-positioning the fluxgate compass took a time, as expected, with having to get behind panels & woodwork in order to re-route the wire, but it is now behaving reasonably well in its new position. I presume I'll have to re-calibrate the compass once I get out of here but that's a simple matter of turning the boat slowly through a couple of 360 degrees - no big deal!

I received a couple of parcels, one with warm base- & mid- clothing layers and one with fax paper rolls for my weather fax machine. The Harbourmaster's Office are very kindly forwarding post to the marina office and they bring my post directly to the boat in a dory ... I'm really impressed by how very helpful they're all being!

The week seems to have gone by without my joblist getting noticeably shorter, although I did spend two days cutting a small hole in quite a few loose panels & fixing a locking device and 'lip' on each of them so that they can be prevented from flying about if we should broach (or worse..!). I went up the mast to re-tie some twine that had come adrift between steps and shrouds & fixed some hooks and other items in place in the cabins - minor, but important for living on board.

The latest problems to raise their heads have been a flooring problem (I'm having to repair the floor just ahead of the companionway steps until a new flooring section reaches me - probably in the Canaries),  a charging problem (having checked voltages with a multi-meter, it looks as though the chart table display unit is showing the wrong information on state of charge of my domestic and start batteries, possibly leading to over-charging of the domestic bank), making sure I've sufficient cooking gas to last for several months (I'm trying to fill two empty US tanks tomorrow, with propane if possible), and realizing that with all this time I've been tied to the dock here, sorting out the boat down below (we've had some rain of late!), I've not been paying enough attention to checking on the sailing side of things.  I suddenly realized that I need to deal with a few shackles, eye splices & lines ,..  I had thought all that side of things had been sorted out a long time ago... It's top of the list now!

I was delighted to get an email from the Quartermaster on board the 'Queen of Oak Bay' (a B.C. ferry that runs between Horseshoe Bay, N. Vancouver, and Nanaimo on Vancouver Island) who had very kindly spent quite a time with me last October showing me over the bridge when I was on my way to visit friends in Parksville.  He emailed me because they were wondering how things are going with the new boat and when I was planning to take off. Questions I've had from quite a few people - it's difficult to explain just how many different things I'm having to think about, get organized and then achieve, what with it being a new boat with new instruments etc and also because I expect some difficult conditions while I'm on passage - I'm trying to be prepared for all eventualities!! My latest project is trying to sort out how to get good weather info when I'm in the Southern Hemisphere and far from land - with the patchy, unreliable Internet connection I have here, it becomes really time-consuming trying to sort out the various options or even just to send important emails.

  

I've been meaning to post this photo dating from June when I stayed over in Cowes, at UKSA, before leaving England to come here.  It shows 'Nereida' rafted up alongside the famous 'Gipsy Moth IV'!!

Tuesday 4th Aug '09

Great fun and games this evening at high water with so many boats moving around. Normal to be in a raft of four these days - makes for excellent tea-time spectator enjoyment as people try to move out from within the rafts and others try to come alongside too early...!  The marina staff in their dories often use the dory as a 'pusher' to help people get into position....  All good fun to watch!  And I'm having a great time practising my French there being so many French boats around with the French coast so very close by.  I keep feeling I should be keeping to the right on the road....!

Total waste of time yesterday afternoon - got on my bike with two US propane tanks and went a long way uphill to a local garage who'd said that maybe they could fill them for me - nada!!  Quite apart from fittings giving a problem without a suitable adaptor, I'd already heard that "we only fill our tanks, no-one else's" from the Guernsey Gas company and from another source, "It's against EC regulations to fill ANY aluminium tank anywhere in Europe"....!!   Oh well... at least I had a brilliant fast ride down the hill back to the marina!!

Gave gas locker a thorough clean afterwards, added another lacing eye for secure bungy fixing of tanks and will need to buy two new butane tanks since heard via email that same filling problem for US propane bottles exists in the Canaries.  I don't want to run out of cooking gas whilst still on passage early next year.

Spoke to Simrad about problem with AIS not 'talking to' VHF radio for DSC communication ... useful ... Turned out that I'm missing a power lead which should have been installed in Sweden and the lack of it should have been spotted by the electronics guy working on board at Hamble Point in June.... Nothing like checking out things yourself to get things working properly...! Cable now ordered and should arrive Thursday - easy item to instal.

Spending time on computer & Internet, looking into weather/routeing options - also finding out about 'polars' (useful articles by Stan Honey), although possible that none exist for N380.

This morning had a useful visit from Andre Ferbrache who'd been recommended by Mastervolt UK to sort out my wiring/charging problem.  Have now had everything checked out and wrong wiring (as I'd suspected!) put right - I'm feeling much happier that at least one thing is dealt with OK now!  He suggested installing an audible  alarm on the automatic bilge pump circuit for safety, so I am warned in good time should it start up - they take almost no power and it looks like an easy thing to do, assuming the boat wiring diagram will  show me in which circuit to place the alarm.

Payment organized to Italy - should mean anchor chain starts its journey here by Thursday or Friday - then lots of fun & games dealing with it after it arrives next week.. "Watch this space!!"