St Martin to E Spain

[barnakiel]

Yep. They must by flying!

Meanwhile, those who are now underway towards Horta ;-) calms & light Easterlies ...

So we should hear from him very soon!

b.

[SaltyMonkey]

He's in! Hoooooowooooo!!! made it!

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

He's in! Hoooooowooooo!!! made it!

You must be going ape with excitement for boaty to report in

[boatman61]

Hey folks.. sorry I'm late but been having comms problems...
Did a lot of motoring from Horta till around 009W then it started nice from the N but by evening it was 25-30 and early morning 30-35kts with a big beam breaking sea... washed the decks beautifully.. mess inside though..
Anyway.. been here in Ferragudo for a few days now so head of tomorrow for a non-stop to Barcelona... owner changed end port.. unless he says I fuel in Gib.
Have to be in Lisbon End of month for a delivery to the UK so foot to the floor time..

[SaltyMonkey]

ape **** it is! Nice round, Boaty. GRIBs didn't display that high winds.

[barnakiel]

Eh. Talking of Portuguese trade winds ... ;-)

You made a nice shot for the Azores: if you look back, there are a handful of boats locked in the Easterlies still way to go before they can have a cold one in Horta!

Have fun in Gibraltar remember they were the nice guys NOT opting out of the EU ;-)

Nice following you with that tracker thing!

Sail safe, fair winds,
b.

[boatman61]

Well so much for the nice easy leg along the Algarve, Straits and across to Almerimar...
About 30miles from Cadiz the wind started picking up from the SE.. an hour later it was in the high 30's with gusts over 40kts.. one 10min period it reached 48kts.. short steep waves that were a stopper.
Took nearly 11hrs to cover the last 13odd miles into Cadiz engine full on.. thought we were flying when we got up to 1.5kts boat speed..
Anchored in Cadiz Bay for the night and woke to a gentle draft.. forecast calm sea and light SW winds with F4-5 forecast for the Straits...
********..!!
Got outside the bay and the winds built up to 28kts with waves to boot..
Straits was 35-38kts once past Barbette... plugged on however.. just wanted to get the job done and get off the boat ASAP.. to much like hard work for this lazy bugga...
So as I sit here in the Stumble Inn sipping a John Smiths my thoughts are on the Lisbon-UK trip at the end of the month.
Hope the thread was of some value to folks contemplating a W-E Transat..
My recommendation is go early rather than late.. unless your not in a rush.. this year could however just be an anomaly.. time will tell..

[boatman61]

Forgot to mention.. met 'Sailing Girl' a fellow CF member in Peters at Horta.. nice lady on a nice boat.. heading for the Med..
Safe travels lass...

[SaltyMonkey]

whoo ~~~~~!!!

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Eh. Talking of Portuguese trade winds ... ;-)

You made a nice shot for the Azores: if you look back, there are a handful of boats locked in the Easterlies still way to go before they can have a cold one in Horta!

Have fun in Gibraltar remember they were the nice guys NOT opting out of the EU ;-)

Nice following you with that tracker thing!

Sail safe, fair winds,
b.

Have not stopped in Gibraltar since they opted for self determination... long time since I visited the Dutyfree SuperMercado..

[boatman61]

Okay folks...
The Boat.. a lovely Laurent Giles Motor Sailor with a slippery hull.. bilge keels and as comfortable as they come.. awesome Mercedes V6 engine and variable thrust prop..
Was hoping to show a video of the Trio from San Miguel performing at 'Peters'... and some film of the rising N gale before St Vincent.. gusts hit 40kts during the night.. its around 25kts, gusting 30 here with sea's building.. doing around 6-7kts for comfort.. but the damn thing keeps coming up error while loading..

Posted this elsewhere...
Hey folks... back in Portugal again.. got out of Almeria the day before the earthquake.. first bit of luck the whole trip.

Started off well enough.. 3.5 days of nice almost beam reach (10 to 15kt wind and pushing us at around 5-6kts) sailing then hit the calms..
Decided to head NE under motor to find some S'lies which came up further East than has been the norm for me.. 8-12kts SE so rode those a few days before hitting an Easterly wall.. rode that N at 55-60degrees off the wind.. shes a bilge keeler and slips if much closer.
Got to 450 miles ENE of Flores and figured the way things were going it'd be Ireland before anything changed so kicked the Mercedes V6 into life.
Horta was a welcome break.. anchored around 8pm then a frantic race to lift the jet bike out of the rib into the water.. lift the big rib and 15hp into the water.. hook up the jet bike and lift it back aboard and lash it down.. quick shower and hit 'Peter's' around midnight.. just in time for some great live music from a San Miguel trio.. and they were Excellent...
So.. a Great Landing.. ran into Sailing Gal and her crew Nigel and Judith, also a crazy Viking from Norway and Katherine his US GF... Dave.. a Brit solo sailor and a few others.. a fun few days off.
From there it was more motoring till around 150nm from St Vincent where it turned into a rising N gale with gusts in the low 40's.. sea's went from ripples to 4-5m but easy riding in the main with the odd growlers bursting against the hull.. but went along nicely around 7kts with 50% jib and main.. any faster was just punishing the boat..
Bilge pump failed while this was happening so it was into the bowels to do a change of pumps.. slippy stuff..
Portimao was another relax and a chance to dry and remove the genoa whose uphaul D clip on the top roller had snapped off at the weld and stuff it below..
The strong East winds eased so headed on E for an alleged window at the Straits only to run into a 40kt+ E'ly W of Cadiz.. the Merc earned its keep and got us into Cadiz tho' at times in the stronger gusts (48ish) we were down to 0.5kts with the sea's and wind on the nose..
Next morning upped anchor to reports of calm seas with a F3 SW and F4-5 SE in the Straits..
Reality was 2m sea and 25-30kts to Trafalgar and 30-35kts through the Straits.. then a calm motor on to Almerimar..
Man I love that 'Merc'...
The 'God's' were definitely Not smiling on this trip...

__________________

[SaltyMonkey]

Laurent Giles Motor Sailor √√√ Fantastic boat.

Nice write up boaty!

[boatman61]

The night out in Horta.. via FB..
Shame everyone kept talking..

https://www.facebook.com/boatman.phil

[barnakiel]

Boatie,

How many days on the water was it for you?

I am asking as my clients are approaching Gibraltar I think it will be about 31 days for them from Puerto Rico (non-stop). Had to send them all the way up to 43N for wind. Boat a modern 40'.

I want to sail non-stop one day from there to here (home in the West Indie Martinique, home away from home Canary Islands). The problem is each time by now the wx took us right to Sao Miguel / Ponta Delgada. (A great spot anyways and well recommended to anyone sailing by).

Big hug from our warm place,
barnakiel

[barnakiel]

Urggghhhhhh can reach tour fb link. I think too many users.

b.