Blogs from Porto Santo, Madeira, Portugal, Europe

Last minute checks before departure revealed a shattered pulley wheel on the boom vang. Luckily we managed to cannibalise and fit a spare. We’ve bought five diesel cans here from a Chinese market, doubling our fuel capacity to 200L. Not being able to find them elsewhere, we just hope they sustain the journey. The passage to Porto Santo which sits 20 miles off Madeira would be 480 miles, and our first significant passage double handed. We finally got away at 11.30. The passage began with light winds, but once we cleared Capes Razo and Roca to the north of us the wind strengthened to a NW 4 – 5, and a brisk sail. We kept a beam reach for the whole passage, although lighter winds on the second day allowed us to set the asymmetric, which ... read more

Lagos to the Island of Porto Santo - 450 nautical miles. We spent our last day at the Sopromar Boat Yard getting the boat readied and the last few glitches with the windows being sorted out at last. Final provisioning was done for what we had anticipated was going to be about a four day passage. Debs has been very busy cooking up lots of individual meals that we just have to slip into the oven and half an hour later, voila!! Instant meal. We tried this out on our Bay of Biscay crossing and it worked a treat and I am sure it will be just as successful on this passage. We met up with Kel and Kerry from a Hanse 470 called Freedom. We had spent some time with Kel in the Hamble at ... read more