Logs

Timshel - Timshel - the last leg Oeiras to Lagos

Too many choices for this one - due to the closure of the marina (and official anchorage) at Sines, done boats set off Sunday, some Monday,  some stopped at Sines some at several other anchorages. We elected to sail the 125 miles overnight setting off just behind Pirates Moon and Arrietta.  Major worries were the fishing buoys lying in wait and the possibility of Orcas - reports had them moving on from the Gibraltar strait and some sightings off Cape St Vincent.  Wind came up and we were bowling along merrily reefed and wing and wing (Timshel sails very well like this) when we got reports on the WhatsApp from Assifa who had just had an Orca attack - luckily no serious immediate damage to boat or people.  Their position was right on our route and everyone headed. read more...

Majic-L - Portugal ARC Leg 6 – Oeiras to Lagos

P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}Portugal ARC Leg 6 – Oeiras to Lagos We spent our last morning in Oeiras designing and then painting our mural on the marina wall (big ambitions but like theother boats who joined in we had to do what we could with the brushes and paint colours available). Great fun and the four of us all got involved, although we did need a long cold drink after as it’s hot in the sun. The ideal cooling off after lunch was adip in the sea off the rocks around the corner from the main marina. Enjoyed that although we decided to get out after some jellyfish appeared and some of the barnacles were quite sharp as Richard and Tony can now testify. It was quite windy in the marinain the early evening as we found out when one of our large towels was taken by the wind and blown. read more...

Majic-L - Leg 5 - Nazarre to Oeiras

Given we were not surrounded by any other boats, we were able to get off easily and we were the first boat across the gate start at 7am on the nose. We waved our ARC flag up at rally control on the cliff and Tony didhis best “Titanic Kate Winslet” pose at the bow of the boat. Like everyone else we negotiated multiple pots and a fishing boat laying pots on our way to clear water. We saw several dolphin pods and a shoal of fish that attracted loads of seagulls.  After lunchwe saw a pod of about 10 dolphins who were with us for a good 15 minutes, so we got good photos and videos. Tony got his Go-Pro camera out but unfortunately needed a longer mount to get it in the water to film under the boat. It wasn’t Tony’s day as againhe had his fishing gear out with the. read more...

Majic-L - Leg 4 - Figueira da Foz to Nazarre

After heavy overnight rain we were pleased to wake up with the sky relatively clear as we joined the other rally boats on the start line. Unfortunately, there was no wind for sailing, so we all motored off the line onthe go from rally control. We did try slipstreaming Infinity of Yar having watched the Canadian Grand Prix at the weekend but not sure this tactic worked like it does on the road! We did get some good photos though of other boats jockeying for position atthe start which will be good for the rally photo competition. We saw John making a gesture from Sofa So Good at 11am to let us know that the fishing competition was on. Tony had his line out for 20 minutes but no luck.  He decided to add a plane and spinner for extra depth on theline but again no luck. Just as we. read more...

Majic-L - Legs 2 & 3 – Povoa de Varzim and then Povoa to Figueira de Foz

Wanting to get off to a good start after our relatively low position in the arrival order in Bayona, we prepped our jib sail and cruising chute ready for fast use once we had cleared the cardinal markers. Winds were strongerthan we were expecting and we managed to do the entire sail without using the engine. This was the best news of the day, however all did not quite go to plan. As soon as we could, we decided that suitable time to get the cruising chute out, however found thatit had twisted inside the snuffle bag. After a bit of quick jiggery pokery with the lines, we were sorted and the chute was working well. In fact so well we didn’t need the main sail – Tony commented how he’d enjoyed the sorting out of the sail up on the bow“gets the adrenaline going” but I’m not sure we all felt. read more...

Timshel - Timshel leg 5: Nazare to Oeiras

The hospitable Club Naval da Nazare gave us all a burgee and a lanyard.It was Steves birthday so he got a card from the fleet when he went to check out (also a card and present and tea in bed from me).And the yellow shirts sang Happy Birthday to him as we went through the gate start!No wind so everyone motored on rolling in the swell.After a couple of hours a breath of wind had sails setting and we were able to take some pics of Fisk who was close by.As we rounded the Cabo inside the islands and came onto a run we set our sails wing and wing, but our speed decreased - eta at the finish was now after 2200.Luckily the wind filled in and we had a lovely sail with dolphins playing round the boat - either 2 pods or the same ones twice.Saw reports on the WhatsApp chats of 25-30 knots round. read more...

Timshel - Timshel Leg 4 : Figueira da Foz to Nazare

We had a lovely few days in Figueira, looked after by the marina and the yacht club.  Apart from the trip to visit Coimbra and the magnificent Montemor Castle, a highlight was the walking tour of the city guided by Miguel Amorel who is not only Commodore of the yacht club but also head of the Bull Ring and a barber shop, he was so enthusiastic telling us about his city.  And we all got a gift of a local product: salt.There was not a breath of wind at the start.  Some had mainsails up, all lined up behind the line ready to shove throttle levers forward on the starting signal.Sayonara and Mahi headed way off shore and found some wind (though a longer route).  We motorsailed with main and staysail and eventually were able to deploy the Yankee on a nice reach and turn off. read more...

Timshel - Timshel Leg 3: Povoa de Varzim to Figueira da Foz

This leg was in the handbook as 55nm, 65nm on the briefing slides but actually nearer 75nm.The evening dinner was 2100 and several boats left an hour early to be sure of making it in time.The rest motored across the line at 0700, except Majic-L and Arrietta who managed to drift across under sail.Special mention to Vibe who very correctly displayed a motoring cone.The boats motored on in the sunshine.Sayonara proposed a fishing competition - probably won by Majic-L.As the wind came up Parasailors and similar coloured sails blossomed.Those like us with white sails only had to wait for more wind - which did come eventually so that we had a nice broad reach and finished under sail, though the finishing line was a little confusing as no outer limit had been set.The rally WhatsApp group set up. read more...

Timshel - Leg 2: Baiona to Povoa de Varzim

The wind came up just before the start (showing the sagacity of Rally Control setting what seemed to be a late start time) and we were able to sail across the line on starboard tack.Soon boats started sprouting coloured sails as they bore away down the coast.After some messing with a new system for the tack involving parrel beads round the furled Yankee, we set our cruising chute and dolphins came to play under the bow.Unfortunately this was short lived as taking off the autopilot I managed to over correct, boat came up to wind apparent wind increased and the chute blew out.Guess it was getting rather old and faded.I dragged the bottom half out of the water and the got the top half down shoving it all down the forehatch.No rest though as Steve was demanding the pole be set up so we could. read more...

Timshel - Baiona

A lovely few days here starting with crew dinner at a great local restaurant on Friday, a nice tour to Santiago de Compostela on Saturday, a lovely walk to visit water mills yesterday which concluded with an absolutely superb lunch.At the Prize giving dinner on Sunday we were astonished to find that we were placed first in Division B completely unexpected as we were one of the last boat to finish.All down to the motoring hours factor, with our little engine trying to motor in a seaway against the wind is pointless so we worked hard and sailed as much as we could.We got a nice bottle of local wine for our prize.Now off to the start for the sail to Povoa , just hoping we can go fast enough to get there in time for dinner!. read more...

Majic-L - Log Leg 1 Plymouth to Bayona

After months of preparation the crew of Majic-L (Richard our skipper, Linda his wife – the boat owners, Tony and myself Mark) set sail from Plymouth with Tony’s wife Karen waving us off enthusiastically from the cannonson the Hoe. Wind picked up as we cleared the breakwater and we were keen to launch the cruising chute as soon as we could. With the sail being bright red we stood out amongst the other boats, although we noted we were not alone in using this sail. Unfortunatelyfor us, a change in the wind fairly early on meant we had to pack it away again and unfurl the Genoa. Whilst we were doing this, other boats forged ahead and most stayed ahead until Bayona. This being said, with the changes in wind direction, course corrections,trying to sail smoothly as possible at night to help. read more...

Timshel - Days 4 and 5 Arrival

Wind died early evening as we sailed close hauled towards Cabo Villano and the Finisterre TSS so we motorsailed, not wanting to hang about there with bad weather forecast for next day.But it came back during the night so we could sail onwards putting in a few tacks.A tiny bird (a finch?) hitched a ride for a short while.Sudden squalls (30 knots +) and thunderous rain had our decks awash before we could reef, then it die away so we’d end up with full sail again.There was a pod of dolphins as we approached Bayona, but wind deserted us again as we approached Isle de Cies so we put on the engine again.Managed to sail across the line (though yellow buoy seemed to be absent) with reefed sails between more squalls of wind and shower power rain.Lovely to be welcomed at the pontoons by Yellow. read more...

Timshel - Timshel ARC Portugal Day 3

Nice sunny day; we resumed our proper course once we were clear of the Naval exclusion zone which took until 15.00.Some great fast reaching overnight, and it was warmer - probably because of the cloud cover.Early morning it started to rain (the first for weeks) and the wind headed us and died away.Just when I was thinking we would need to start the engine wind came back and there was a dolphin swimming alongside - maybe its the same one that was there last night.Now sailing close hauled in variable wind with Hydra the Hydrovane steering.. read more...

Timshel - Timshel ARC Portugal Day 2

Timshel ARC Portugal Day 2.Sailing on a broad reach all day, just about at dusk took out last of reefs, and crossed the Continental Shelf - depth goes from 100s of meters to 1000s.Last time we were here (well the only other time we crossed Biscay) there were hordes of dolphins at this point but not today (though forgot to mention the 2 groups that came to the boat yesterday).Seemed to be a very cold night, with a bright moon of course.Sunny morning though and warmer.We were pleased to see from the position reports that we have taken up our customary position at the back of the fleet - we really are not racers.We were just sorting out the weather info when we wre called on channel 16 by a French Naval aircraft telling us we were about to stray until a firing zone, we had to alter course. read more...

Timshel - Timshel ARC Portugal Day 1

Lovely weather for the start, we hung back out of the way, but still ended up in the middle of the pack all stealing each others wind so it was slow getting out of Plymouth.Once clear coloured sails started to appear - initially these didn't seem to confer much advantage, then suddenly those boats pulled away. Our cruising chute hasn't been out of the bag for 2 years or more and with the sloppy sea we decided not to wrestle with it and stuck to a reach with 3 white sails.We do suffer a disadvantage with the cutter rig the yankee and staysail combination are great to handle a blow but we are under powered compared to boats with a big genoa, and our rolling main is smaller too.We spent some time playing with the Hydrovane self steering which also had not been recently used.It was lovely. read more...