We Made It To Mainland Europe!

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For those of you that have been following our other blog that we used while making our crossing from the Azores to mainland Portugal are aware that we made it to Lagos, Portugal. We left Santa Maria on Tuesday, September 25th at 10:30AM and we arrived at the reception pontoon (dock) at 2:30AM (local time) on Wednesday, October 3rd. It was longer than we had originally thought it would be, but we are safe and happy to be here. The trip was alittle rougher than we had hoped especially in the beginning, but fortunately the last couple of days got better. The last day, October 2nd we had a very good sail and at 4PM we were greeted by a large pod of dolphin playing in our bow wave and putting on a great show for us. About 15 minutes later we were able to see the coast of Portugal - quite the welcome to the continent.

We checked into the marina at 9AM and then that day we had a great visit with friends from Ithaca, NY, Kay and Dave - what a great welcome to Portugal! They left Lagos the morning of October 4th and after they took off we started the process of getting some of the layers of salt off the boat and our belongings, got a few fresh vegetables and got some sleep - it may take us time to get completely caught up with our sleep, but already by 10PM on Oct 4th we are starting to feel more ourselves.

We will work on getting you caught up on our exploration of the last island, Santa Maria as well as our trip crossing to Portugal, hopefully during this next week. We have a list a mile long of things to get done, but will need a break from that and will enjoy sorting through our many photos to try to capture some more of our travels for you.

It is hard to believe that we have finally completed our crossing of the Atlantic Ocean and are now ready for our exploration of Europe - there is lots to see and we are excited to get started!

I tried to enter a video in the blog for the first time - can't tell if it uploaded or not - hopefully it has so you can get just a taste of what was like while sailing to Portugal.

For those of you that read our blog entries while crossing or are not interested in the daily updates you can end reading now - for those of you that might want to read what we had to say while sailing these last 8 days, we have copied the entries here as we would like to have a complete journal in one blog site.



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Wednesday, October 3, 2012 We are here in Lagos, Portugal

Sorry I didn't get this posted earlier, but we are safely settled into the marina in Lagos, Portugal. We had a fabulous day yesterday, Oct 2nd with great winds and with a hull speed averaging at 6 knots. The sun was out and we knew this was our final day before reaching land. About 4PM we were welcomed to the Portuguese coast by a pod of dolphin. They gave us a great show for about 15 minutes - what a treat going under the boat and jumping all around us. Just a few minutes later we could see the coast of Portugal. What a welome! Just because we could see the coast however did not mean that we were getting to land soon as that happened around 4:15PM and we didn't arrive into port until 1:30AM. The seas calmed down as we were coming into the harbor which was helpful and we had a beautiful full, orange moon to guide us in - what else could you ask for!!

As soon as we got tied up to the reception dock we got some sleep - we couldn't believe how calm it was and how the boat didn't move at all as the marina is located up a river and away from the movement of the ocean. Hard to believe the boat could be so still.

This morning, October 3rd we had another treat in being able to see our friends, Kay and Dan from Ithaca - we had been hoping that it would work out to see each other and it did - we are so pleased. Again, another great way to come into a country. We went out to lunch with them which was a treat as it was definitely more than a one pot meal that we have been eating on the crossing. Getting together again tonight as they leave this area to explore more of Portugal. We will then take our time to explore Lagos and get some of the basics done like laundry and turning the boat back into a home for the time that we will be here.

We will be returning to our regular blog and will not use this one again until another long crossing which won't be until next year. We will be here in Portugal until mid-December when we will be flying back to the US for 3 months. We are looking forward to getting a chance to seeing some of you when we do.

Take care and best wishes to you all from both of us! Hard to believe that we are finally on mainland Europe and got here by our own sailboat - quite amazing if we do say so ourselves!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Day 7 Report

Well, day 7 ended at 10:30AM on October 2nd with 149 nm traveled. We have been flying at 6-7 knots. The wind has not changed much in that it is still about 15-20 knots, but we have changed angle with the wind which increased our hull speed. We had to be sure that we were north enough before turning southeast in order to round the southwest point of Portugal. It is currentl 1:30PM on October 2nd and we are at 37.06N, 9.47W getting near to the traffic separation lanes. These are lanes that are used by the large freighters which we as a private sailboat need to cross at right angles. These lanes are about 10 miles across and fortunately as we have AIS we can easily see where the freighters are located. More importantly using that same technology they can see us! We had hoped to cross it at night as it is easier to see the ships with their lights, but this will be fine.

At our present speed it appears that we will probably get to our destination of Lagos at midnight or after. We usually like to get to a harbor during the day, but this is a wide open one so should not present any problems. We have been in contact with the marina as well to let them know we are coming late.

The sun is out and the moon has been full which has made the night duties very pleasant. Last night we had our full genoa and 1 reef in the main out, but as we were heeling at 20 degrees all the time it was difficult to make dinner,etc. As a result we took in some of the genoa but with our change of angle we didn't slow down. It is amazing how your speed can change based on the angle to the wind and waves. We have had a few waves come over the bow and into the cockpit - that definitely gets our attention, but fortunately it isn't too much.

First thing when we get to Lagos after the official business of checking in will be getting a shower and then giving Tsamaya a fresh water bath as everything is covered with salt.

All in all it hasn't been a bad passage - a few days rougher than others but not bad. We will be glad to get our feet on terra ferma again for a while however and explore a new place. This definitely reminds us that the Azores really are out in the "middle of the Atlantic" - really about 985 miles off shore!

Will let you know when we get there and then will change back to our regular blog. Hope things are well with everyone - best wishes from us both.

Monday, October 1, 2012

One Day Closer

It is Monday, October 1st which means that we have been "at sea" for a total of 5 days now. We had a good day yesterday with a total of 125 nm traveled. This is good news! We had heavy cloud cover with a few bits of blue sky and no rain so things are going well. We have been using "monty" (our wind vane monitor) and "otto" (our autopilot) for steering. It is sure nice to have them as extra crew members as we do not have to hand steer. The wind has been much steadier now running between 14-18 knots out of the north/north east. We are starting to see more large ships out here and have talked to a few of them. One that just passed us is headed to Turkey and came from Charleston SC. He wanted to know if we wanted him to adjust his course for us as he was close to us. We are always surprised when we see these large ships adjust for a 40 foot sailboat, but very glad that they do!

We figure that we have about 231 miles to go. If we can keep the pace that we have been for the last couple of days, we should be in Lagos, Portugal on Wednesday, October 3rd. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the winds stay with us and that will be the case.

Our friends, Kay and Dan are in Portugal right now on vacation and they fly back on Oct 9th so hope to catch up with them before they leave - it sure would be nice to get together with friends from home.

Our position as of 12:00 noon (UTC) is 37.18N, 12.52W with a hull speed of 5.5-6knots. Winds are running 14 knots and our heading is 108 degrees. Keep your fingers crossed for us that we can stay with 125 nm days so we can make port on Wednesday. It will be great to be able to sleep in our own bed again, cook a meal without strapping ourselves in at the stove and have a decent shower! We have gotten into the routine however and the days are flying by which is good. We are both getting some reading done and between naps during the day and our 4 hour on/4 hour off duty schedule the days blend into one another. At least trying to update this daily keeps us on track of what day it is!

Take care & will keep you posted.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Another Day Down

It is now 10:30AM on September 30 which means we just finished day 5 of our crossing. We originally thought we'd be in Portugal on day 6, but with the trip being slow in the beginning it will take us longer. Right now our best guestimate is that we probably have about 3 more days of sailing before we get to Lagos. We have now traveled a total of 471 nm since leaving Santa Maria and have 343 nm left to go.

We really picked up speed last night and instead of the 2-4 knot average speed we have been doing 5-5.5 knots which feels good! It was really nice to have a sunny day yesterday where we could get out of our foul weather gear, but today we are back in them. Luckily we don't have any rain, but it is solid cloud cover so with the wind it is chilly. The actual temperature is 66 degrees which isn't bad when we are tucked behind our canvas dodger, but when you stick your head out to look around you feel the cold.

We are happy to have plenty of podcast from NPR to make it easier on night duty and of course lots of music to listen to. We get to read books during the day and the biggest struggle is getting meals made with being on an angle, but we take turns and it is working out fine - just definitely not fine dining.

Take care and will keep you posted. Currently at 10:45AM we are located at 37.30.075N, 15.34.077W with winds of 19 knots out of the north. As of 10:30AM we made 125 nm so hopefully we can keep up that pace, but it will all be up to the wind and waves ahead of us!

Best wishes to everyone. - Bob & Janice PS - Sailor is moving around more and acting more herself so guess she is getting her sealegs back after being at the dock for some time

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Completed Day 4 & Now on Day 5

It is now 3:30PM on September 29th and the trip is much easier now! In the night the winds and waves died down some consistently so in the morning we took the reefs out of the main and the genoa. The sky was overcast with lots of clouds, but blue sky peeked out and it has turned into a lovely day. So much so that we even have been able to get out of our foul weather bibs (like overalls) and are currently wearing shorts and short sleeve t-shirts - it is a nice break. As soon as the sun starts going in however it cools down and will add the layers of clothes back on. Previously we had been averaging 2-3.5 knots in hull speed and we are currently seeing 5 and 6 knots - definitely more like it! If this holds up we may be able to make it to Lagos, Portugal by October 3rd but lots of things can happen with the weather so we will keep you posted. Sailor is much happier now as well - she surprised us by coming out back in the cockpit more (don't worry, she has her leash on). We figured that if she was sort of sea-sick, it probably was better for her as well. Today she is back to enjoying tunafish water, some food, water and of course a few of her "treats". As Bob was saying, she never signed up for the sailing life, but has been doing really well overall.

Last night we had 2 large freighters go by - one was a mile away and called us on the radio to talk. It seemed as if the person on duty must have been bored and wanted to talk. He confirmed for us that the weather was going to get better from what his reports stated - glad it turned out to be true.

As of 3:30PM our time on Sept 29th we are at 37.35N, 17.38W with a hull speed of 5.5-6knots and heading of 72 degrees. Wind is 15-16 knots from the north. We have been treated to some beautiful sunrises, sunsets and a great full moon. Life is good!

Take care & our best wishes always - Janice & Bob

Friday, September 28, 2012

Finished Day 3 & On Day 4

Well, we continue to have heavy seas of 10-12 feet and winds of 20-25 knots which some of you may be surprised to hear has slowed us down. You would think with heavy winds we would be moving swiftly, but it all depends on the angle you are sailing. When leaving Santa Maria we knew we would need to move east and north to get to our destination. We have been doing fine with moving east, but the moving north is what has been more difficult. With this in mind it was not a surprise to us that the total mileage for day 3 was only 57 miles! We are hopeful that we will get a change in the winds ahead so we can get a better angle and speed. Time will tell. One good benefit of all this wind is that our wind generators are working well and keeping our battery charged - always have to think of the positives!

We were surprised today after being out since Tuesday AM to see our first boat (other than the 2 that left with us). It was a large fishing boat that we called on the radio to see how the weather was ahead of us as he was coming from Europe. Unfortunately our Spanish isn't that good and his English wasn't that great but did talk for alittle while and it sounds like some better weather is ahead which matches up with what we have seen on our weather files. Once we finished this conversation, another sailboat called us just to say hi and tell us the same about the weather. He is about 15 miles ahead of us - nice to know others are out here and he said he'd stay in touch for the rest of the journey.

2 days ago our autopilot died so we moved over to our backup of the wind monitor which has been handling things well. Yesterday the wind monitor decided to break, but fortunately Bob was able to quickly fix it so it was back in business. Today Bob got the autopilot fixed so we have both systems functional. It sure is great to have a handy guy around to fix these things. He mentioned that he was very glad that he had installed these systems so he knows them quite well which helps with a quick diagnosis.

It is somewhat hard to project how long it will take us to get to our destination with the winds possibly (and hopefully) changing. With figuring at a worse case scenario we may have 6 more days of sailing ahead of us getting us to Portugal Oct 4th instead of Oct 1st. Time will tell. As of 4:30PM today we have 520 more miles to go.

Other than us having a longer trip than planned things are going fine. Sailor isn't quite as happy on this trip - we think she may be alittle seasick - she even came out back with us for some time today - she liked the fresh air, but not the movement. Guess she is like us in that regard.

Take care & will keep in touch - Bob & Janice (and Sailor too!)

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Day 2 Complete & working on Day 3 (Sept 26&27)

Hi - Well, we completed day 2 at 10:30AM today, Thursday, September 27. It was quite a wild day with lots of wind and very large waves as a result. Even though we were having winds up to 30-35 knots at times it averaged around 25. With such heavy winds you might expect our mileage to be good, however, due to the high waves it really slowed us down to an overall average speed of 3.6 knots and total for the day of 88 nautical miles. It was slow but at least it is in the right direction. We got some rain showers as well, but the moon was nice when it was not hidden by the clouds. This morning we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise and we even got to see a full rainbow with both ends in the ocean - it was quite the sight! We reduced sail quite a bit and were sailing with 2 reefs in the main and a reefed down genoa.

We are trying to go north some with our easting, but the wind has not cooperated too well in that area, but we still have time to get farther north. Luckily we don't have to go too far north as we had decided to go straight to the marina in Lagos.

Just a note, with our speed being much slower than we had forecasted we will be longer than the orginal 6 days that we planned. Don't worry about that as we definitely have enough food and water on board for an army!! Just wanted to let you know that it will take longer than projected as we are figuring on the same types of winds and waves as we have been having for a few more days. We would rather be as comfortable as possible. Yesterday eating was minimal as we were heeling quite a bit and weren't up to cooking. Right now we are moving ahead at 3 knots and not heeling as much so will have a hot dinner tonight!

As of 4PM (our time) on 9/27 we are at 36.57.425N, 20.33.979W with a heading of 85 degrees magnetic and wind speed of 20 knots - things are good!! Take care & best wishes - will call in to shiptrak again later tonight for those that are interested.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Completing day 1

It is just 10:30 AM on Wednesday, 9/26 which means that we have just completed 24 hours of sailing since leaving Santa Maria. The winds stayed around 15-18 knots through part of the night which was nice as it was consistent, but then it picked up to 20-25 knots. With this of course the wave size increased so it was quite a ride! Fortunately it wasn't so bad that we couldn't sleep when we were off duty, but it definitely is making it difficult to make any breakfast. Made a cup of coffee for Bob and that was enough of a challenge so think the rest of the breakfast will be an energy bar and an orange as want to stay away from anything hot that can fly off the stove easily as well as keeps us up on top out back in the open air. That definitely helps so neither of us gets sea sick!
The benefit of the wind is that we have been making good time with average speeds of 6-6.5 but we have been seeing up to 8 knots on the meter!

We are staying in contact with the other 2 boats by VHF as we are close enough together so we do not need to use the SSB. We are sharing our coordinates with each other and of course any weather information that we receive.

Our daily total as of 10:30AM was 125 nm (nautical miles). We have been going in and out of rain this AM, but hopefully we will be getting into some blue sky ahead. Looks like today will probably be somewhat of a repeat of yesterday with wind and waves so we will just have to roll with it.

It is now 4:30PM and the wind is up again - now to 30 knots so had to reduce sail again. We have to look on the bright side - the sun is out! We are doing fine, just wish it would calm down some to make the ride alittle more comfortable. Oh well...

Take care & we will keep in touch.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

We Are On Our Way! Tuesday, September 25

Well, we finally did manage to get that weather window after tropical storm Nadine went through the Azores and we left Santa Maria at 10:30 UTC (Azore time) and headed toward Portugal. Our friends, Christa and Pascal on Titom started out ahead of us and another boat we know started out after us, but all are headed in the same direction. Today 7 boats left the marina - 3 going our way and 4 heading south toward the Canary Islands. We got more wind than we thought we would and definitely much higher waves. The wind has been hitting us forward of the beam running between 18-25 knots with seas 6-8' high making for a "sporty" ride. We had 1 reef in the main and our staysail out at first, then added our genoa later in the day once it became steady at 15-20 knots. The wind and waves were taken us south of our planned route, but now at 7PM we are able to get some speed and better direction. We have set it up to talk to 2 other boats on the SSB daily so that is always enjoyable to touch base with others while on a passage.

I will not be able to provide the daily numbers of miles until 10:30AM tomorrow, but as of now we have traveled 34 nautical miles of a 6 day trip. Dinner was simple as it is somewhat difficult to make a complicated meal when you are heeling 15 degrees! We also have to get back into the rhythm of a passage which usually takes a day or two.

Current details as of writing this at 7:15PM - location 36.51.133N, 24.22.430W, wind speed 13-15k, heading 112 degrees,hull speed 6-6.5 knots. This is much better than earlier in the day when we were averaging 4-4.5 knots due to the waves.

Update - we didn't get this sent before - it is now 11:30PM- the wind and waves evened out for a pleasant ride. Averaging 6 knots with great moonlight for our night passage. Location 36.50.805N, 23.53.105W now. I did call in and report our position in shiptrak so it should show up there as well.

Will write again tomorrow - best wishes from Bob & Janice (PS - Sailor is in her "sleeping position" on the setee - lower side of course!)

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Photos

Watching the Sunset
It is amazing how spectacular the sunsets when sailing - we looked forward to them every night!

A few big waves
Just a taste of what we were seeing while sailing to Portugal

Tsamaya at the reception pontoon
We made it to the reception pontoon (dock) in Lagos at 2:30AM on October 3rd. Now at 9AM we are ready to officially check in.

Tsamaya's home
The Lagos Marina will be where Tsamaya will be for the next 6 months. Looks like it will be a nice base to be.