Diary - Sail to Madeira

Sailed to Madeira leaving Porto Santo this morning.  The trip was about 25 miles so for part of it we were surrounded by the waters of the Atlantic with no land in sight.  Saw three ‘Tall Ships’ on the horizon during the course of the day so assume there is some Tall Ship race on around here.  And that water is a wonderful deep but bright blue.  As I write this we are anchored up in a bay at the far eastern end of Madeira.  We are surrounded by colourful sandstone cliffs so we are protected from the 20 knot winds coming in from the other side of the island and relatively still, although the wind is whistling around the rocks that surround us.
 
Tomorrow we drop off Mark T so he can get to Madeira airport and fly home for an interview.  Myself, Graham and Tracey will stay on the boat for a few days and explore Madeira. 

SailBlog - Sail to Madeira

Graham
29/09/2008, Enseada do Abra, Madeira Archipelago

A short hop today in a south westerly direction got us from Porto Santo to the eastern end of Madeira, where we are now anchored in a rugged, somewhat wild, bay surrounded by very high cliffs, which at 575 metres high, are the second highest cliffs into the sea in the world. Impressive. We are protected from the large ocean swell which has been increasing

throughout the day and due to peak at about 4 metres sometime around 10 pm before it starts to die down again. With a crew of four at the moment, there is more time to relax on passage as there is less time each on the wheel. Madeira looked very impressive as we arrived, albeit slightly obscured by the thick black rain clouds over the central and western parts of the island. Where we are is still fairly clear, with a good view over to the Isla Desertas, which, as you may expect from the name are a group of deserted islands.... Tomorrow, we have a really long trip of about 3 miles to the Quinta Do Lorde Marina where we are stopping for a few days to give us the chance to explore the eastern part of the island. Looks like the walking boots will need to be found again as there are a large number of people walking along the upper rocky areas of the land near us. Looks good.

Email 28 September

Got to Madeira Monday and caught ferry to Porto Santo early Tues to be met by Graham.  Went for a walk up one of the taller hills on the island that afternoon.  It’s small and quant here and so relaxed.  Weather is hot but it has rained during the night on a couple of occasions.  Been in the marina since we arrived which is a mile’s walk down the beach road to the town.  Off to Madeira tomorrow and then to the Canaries.  

Email 28 September

If you have tried to get through on the boat email you may have been bounced as it only accepts emails from those on the accepted list.  By sending you this e-mail the problem should be resolved and you should now be on that list so feel free to keep in touch!  Please though, no attachments.  And if you press the ‘reply’ button can you make sure any copy of previous emails is deleted – it makes a big difference to our very slow link.

Despite our intentions to anchor off Porto Santo the other day we elected to stay in the marina. Turns out that the local authorities charge you for anchoring (only place any of us have heard of where you are charged for anchoring).  Not only that but to anchor off the shore, bouncing around in the sea with no facilities, costs more than staying in the calm and shelter of the marina with as a much electricity and water as you want and a perfectly good bar along the quay.  No competition!

Saturday we went for a sail a couple of miles off Porto Santo and brushed up on our man overboard procedures (with a fender – not a real person you will be pleased to hear).  None of us have done it since we sailed round Britain last year so it was good practice and nice to get out on the water.  Saw my first flying fish.  Very weird thing.  First I thought I was looking at some sort of sea bird but it looked like a giant green dragonfly.  They actually appear to fly along just off the sea surface and not just jump out of the water and back in again.  Today (Sunday) we have sailed around the island of Porto Santo in perfect weather.  It took six and a half hours, which is significantly shorter than the time it took to sail round Britain last year.  Deep blue water, a good breeze and hot sun with ‘Bat out of Hell’ over our speaker system (for some reason Vaughn Williams’ Sea Symphony was vetoed…).  Tomorrow (Monday) we are off to Madeira which you can see on the horizon about twenty miles away.  About 5 hours sailing. 

Around Porto Santo

SailBlog - Porto Santo

Graham
27/09/2008, Baia do Porto Santo, Madeira Archipelago

 
With Mark A now back with us, we are engaged in some refresher training as it is a while since he was last out on a boat. We are in the bay at the moment just off Porto Santo and had

intended to anchor for a few nights until we found it costs 27 Euros to anchor! That is more than the cost of tying up in the marina! We will be heading back into the marina this evening, then do the same again tomorrow. Our plan is then to head to Madeira on the 29th and find somewhere to stop there for a week or so.

Email 26 September

Got to Madeira on Monday night, caught ferry to Porto Santo early Tue and joined the others on the boat.  For the last couple of days we have been ensconced in the marina, which is about a mile along an empty beach to the local town.  Not very built up and very mellow; the sort of place where you spend all day waiting for something to happen only to be disappointed.

Currently enjoying a coffee in the local town square making use of the free wifi to get e-mail access.  Not quite hardened adventurer, no frills, basic life stuff really but then who's complaining….?

We are moving out of the marina later and then going to anchor off the beach about a mile further along.  All being well right opposite a little beach bar in the town. Waves are a bit choppy so I reckon we will be rolling around a bit and although only a few hundred yards off shore will possibly not be able to get ashore in our little dinghy.  We will see...Plan is to sail to Madeira in a couple of days and spend some time there before moving on to the Canaries.  First stop will be Lanzarote. 

Porto Santo Marina

Quasar IV

Diary - Admin Day

Today was an admin day with a casual start.  Sorted a few jobs on the boat; the outboard and installing split pins where needed.  Thorpey went off to do a mural on the harbour wall – a sailing tradition for those setting out to cross the Atlantic.  We then went off to the centre for coffee and bill paying but bumped into Dave and Fi, a couple the others had met previously and who were on an adjacent boat.  He likes his drink so we ended up having a beer. And then more beer.  Thence to beach bar.  It rained.  Back to join the others then on their boat until 10pm and to the café for steak dinner. 

Diary - Madeira Arrival

Arrived at Madeira.  Up at 6am in my pension accommodation and had a breakfast of cheese and bread and a chat with a Venezualan guest.  I lugged my bags to the ferry which seemed to be miles around the far side of the harbour; found it in the end.  It was a quiet sail across to Porto Santo and Kytie met me off the boat and from there we walked around to the marina where the boat was moored – via the bar and a beer where we were joined by Tracey and Mark Thorpe. 
 
On the boat I got the passage berth which is ideal.  Thorpey has bagged the front cabin and the other two the rear one.  But I am not sharing and can go to bed when I want to.  We went off to the town centre for a couple of beers and cooked a dinner of pasta and tomatoes with salad. 

A Plan is Born...

During my last few years in the RAF I came across an adventure training opportunity, a call for people to crew a boat sailing across the Atlantic.  I had always wanted to learn to sail – my previous but limited experience had been helping to crew but under the close observation of those who knew what they were doing - and crossing the Atlantic sounded like a great undertaking and learning opportunity.  However, even if I got offered a place on the trip it would necessitate three weeks away from work which would be unlikely to get approval. On the one hand my boss, an Admiral, would no doubt be pleased that an RAF subordinate was taking a keen maritime interest.  On the other, because of the work I did, the same boss had put his foot down with the RAF in the previous year, preventing them from sending me on an operational detachment to Baghdad; no mean feat. 

As expected it was agreed that there was no point in submitting an application and life went on.  However, as my time in the RAF drew to an end my friend Graham – not knowing about my earlier hopes to do so - approached me with the idea of sailing the Atlantic with his wife and a mutual friend (Mark Thorpe) after our time in the military had ended.  And so a plan started to develop…

Driven largely by Graham we found and bought a boat (some work required), identified a three month sailing course – the Round Britain Experience – which would provide not only a great adventure but extensive training, and got ourselves booked onto the Atlantic Raleigh for Cruisers in 2008, an annually organised group crossing of the Atlantic for sailing boats. This blog attempts to capture that trip drawing upon blog entries by the crew and personal emails and diary entries.