A huge thank you to everyone who has sent on good wishes either speaking to Alyson or through the website. I won’t be able to reply individually but I am grateful to every one of you.

Since coming back in I have taken advantage of the calm water here to finish off some of the jobs that weren’t quite done when we left last Monday. Read full log entry  The first day though was a drying off day. I was lucky and the weather was fine and dry. I try to keep below decks as dry as possible but when there is a lot of rain and spray around and you are clambering in and out in wet oilskins or, especially, changing headsails it is impossible. Elsi has hank on headsails rather than roller reefing so if a headsail has to be changed the old sail has to come off and the new one brought up and hanked on. I never keep bagged sails on deck so the old sail comes below. If I am changing to a smaller sail it usually means the weather is getting worse so the sail comes below soaked in rain or salt spray which ends up in the bilges.

So the first day I had the sails hanging up to dry off along with sail bags, oilskins, wet socks (my new pair of rubber boots had split the first night out) and any other wet gear. I mopped out the bilges and generally got everything else back into place. I’ve also sorted through some lockers and got myself more familiar with what is where.

I’ve checked through the initial route again from the Channel out past the NW coast of Spain and down to the Canaries. I’ll be able to hang up the oilskins for a bit and break out the shorts, T shirt and shades!

The forecast is looking better for the first half of this coming week so hopefully I’ll get away again with a wind that will get me south and west from here. If I were lucky enough to get a fair wind for the first few days it would give me good headstart.

24th November 2013

At noon yesterday we were only 110nm from the north coast of Palma and our course was such that I wasn’t sure whether we would pass to the east or the west of the island. In the evening I read for a bit then at 2000 put out the light and set the timer for 2 hours. But I couldn’t sleep. An hour later I got up and made a cup of tea then sat out in the cockpit for a while looking at the night sky.

I wanted to reacquaint myself with some of the stars and constellations I hadn’t seen for a number of years. It was a clear night and the sky was full of stars, so many in fact, that it made identifying separate constellations pretty difficult. By the time I drank the last mouthful of cold tea it was time to turn in. When I was up again at around midnight the moon had risen and now only the brighter stars were visible making it much easier to pick out the mythical figures and objects that look down on us in the darkness. I needed to sleep though and didn’t hang around to look any further.

By 0400 a clump of hazy orange lights was above the horizon dead ahead of us. I knew I was safe enough to sleep for a bit yet and set the timer for another hour. But I couldn’t sleep. I lay and thought the timer battery might run out. Or I might sleep through it. The first I knew we would be rumbling up onto the north coast of Palma. So, that was it, there was no more sleep after that. I got up and had a bowl of Weetabix and honey and washed it down with another mug of tea. The wind was actually freshening anyway and I took in a reef to keep us right. A shower of rain came with the wind and I collected half a bucketful of water from it.

Visibility closed in over the land around 0600 and from then until about half past nine all the horizon around me seemed clear except the bit I wanted to see.  Then as I was thinking about getting a bite to eat I saw a diagonal line of light and dark grey. It was unmistakably the east side of the island. The wind was about F4 from the NW and we were shaping up fine to go around the west side.

Then at about 1000 the wind dropped and backed more to the west. We could no longer hold a course to clear the island and were having to tack inside the land. The wind dropped further until there was hardly any breeze at all. By this time we were about three miles offshore. What little wind there was kept getting knocked out of the sails with every wave that rolled in. The swell was drifting us towards the shore and we were sailing nowhere. We had no engine of course so we had no easy fix to get out of it.

I had been in a situation like this in Elsi before. We were two miles off the south side of Amsterdam Island in the South Indian Ocean when the wind fell to almost nothing. Again, like now, the swell was onshore. It had been a very nervous time then and I was very glad when we got finally got clear of the land.

I looked at my watch, it was 1015. I thought I would give it 15 minutes to see if the wind would pick up. If not I would turn round and set the lightweight cruising chute and try to get east. Onshore I could see the spray breaking on the rocks. At twenty past I didn’t wait any longer and dived below and pulled out the cruising chute, dropped the Genoa and got the chute set. The main was more of a hindrance than a help so I dropped that as well.

We slowly began to inch eastward. The log line wasn’t turning we were going so slowly. The wind was getting knocked out of the chute as well but not so badly and we kept on moving very slowly eastward. The wind very slowly began to pick up after about an hour of this to about a steady F2 and it kept at that for about another hour before it crept up to a F3. By then I could see light at the end of the tunnel. We came nearer to the NE corner of the island and as we did the wind picked up another force so I could drop the chute and set full sail again.

I breathed a big sigh of relief that we were moving again. Twice in seven years was two times too many. It then went from one extreme to the other. The wind freshened till we were really on the limit for the sail we were carrying. We were really belting along and I had to hand steer to keep us on a steady course downwind.

As we were halfway down the east side of the island in the afternoon I saw a rainbow behind us. It was stunning. But it also meant rain and that probably meant more wind. We were at the top end of a F5 already. I dropped the Genoa and got it stowed just before the wind picked up.

So, it hasn’t been a very restful day one way and another. I’m writing now as we near Punta Fuencaliente at the south end of the island. From what I saw of Palma the north side seemed sparsely populated and the east side was almost all farmed land though what they were growing I was too far away to see.
I’ll be glad when we are clear of the southern corner and have some searoom around us again.

23rd November 2013

T-shirt, shorts and bare feet for the first time today! The few crumpled rags of clouds dotted around could offer the sun little resistance to warm everything up and by 1030 the cabin temperature was 23 degrees. I rigged a fishing line today as well. The lure was a plastic squid so enticingly well made I could almost eat it myself. Surely it would be irresistible to any fish in the area. I paid it out and could see the lure astern and for the first hour I was checking it every five minutes waiting for a bite. The second hour was probably every fifteen minutes and now six hours later it’ll probably be a can of something for tea again tonight. I’ve actually seen very little wildlife. I haven’t seen one dolphin yet or any flying fish. Birds were something I could almost guarantee seeing everyday last time, almost at any hour of the day, but they have been very elusive as well so far.

We had the wind ahead of us all night as we made our way south. It was no more than a F3-4 and was a fine and settled night. I was up several times to check that we were clear of the Salvegem Islands that lie to the north of the Canaries. But we were able to hold a course SSW and I didn’t see the islands at all. Our noon position puts us about 110nm north of Palma the most NW’ly of the Canaries. We should pass there tomorrow.

The book I’m reading at the moment is A Shetland Country Merchant by Robert L Johnson. It’s more of a booklet really at only 63 pages. It details the life of James Williamson who ran the shop at Linkshouse in Mid Yell in the mid 1800’s. Besides the normal business of running a shop at that time they sold virtually everything from needles to anchors, cotton thread to mooring ropes and oatmeal and flour in bags that ranged from the size you could carry home in your pocket to “bolls” weighing 140lbs. I remember the Hamnavoe shop in the sixties and they had to stock a huge range of goods to supply an island without a bridge at the time.

A merchant of James Williamson’s time, besides supplying the local folk with all their groceries and other needs also acted as a money lender to supply those men heading away to sea a loan to get on a ship or arrange to supply goods to the family before the man was able to secure a passage on a ship and send home some money to pay him back. Many Shetland men went to sea then as there was so little work at home. Any money sent back was commonly sent to the local merchant and several letters have survived to give some indication of where men were headed to at that time and what they could afford to send home.

Quite a number of the letters were sent from Liverpool from seamen usually outward bound. They were sailing on full rigged ships bound for ports all over the world including Melbourne, New York, New Orleans, St. Johns and Quebec. One man wrote there were seven other Shetland men on the ship he was on.

Daniel Scollay on his way back to Yell from Liverpool wrote to James that he intended to come home,”…to see my family and then if God spares my life and health I will proceed to California again as soon as possible”. The route he would have taken to get there would have been almost exactly the same route as we are on now; past Madeira and the Canaries, across the equator and down to Cape Horn. Then up the west coast of South America and on to California. It was one of the major shipping routes of its day.

So we will be sailing in the wake of Daniel Scollay and the hundreds of other Shetland men who have passed down this way over the years. We’ll be doing it in a lot more comfort than they had. I have a good variety of food aboard, warm oilskins, a dry bunk and I can speak home almost every day. It’s a very different and far cosier world than the one they had to live through 150 years ago. I’ll sit on deck and drink a toast to them tonight and pour a drop over the side as well as a sailors toast.

22nd November 2013

We’ve made reasonable progress during the night. The wind was WSW F4-5 most of the time so the best we could hold was a course almost due south. Because of this we won’t get a sight of Madeira, we passed about 70nm east of there overnight.
When I checked at 0500 the wind had veered more WNW and dropped to a F3-4 so we are back up to full sail again. Ideally I’d like to steer a course to pass west of the Canaries but that means we would be hard on the wind so I’m letting Elsi sail a bit free and that keeps the speed up. If the wind doesn’t back around any more it will mean sailing through the islands.  Once we pass the Canaries we should be more in the NE Trade wind and have some really good sailing.

Terry, my brother, and I stopped at Madeira in 1988 on Elsi’s first circumnavigation. The custom then was to paint your boats name, and any logo, motif whatever, on the harbour wall. We actually had a job to find a clear space, as there were so many names there before us. I suppose it’s a sort of locally approved nautical graffiti.  Several people have been on holiday there and taken photos of the name to prove it’s still there. Last year Maurice and Beryl Smith were there and actually repainted it, which was really good of them.  Today is Terry’s birthday, so very many happy returns to you Terry.

This time of year yachts will be gathering in droves in Madeira and the Canaries to set off across the Atlantic at the end of November for the Caribbean. Most people try to time it so that they arrive in time to celebrate Christmas in one of the islands. We crossed at the end of November 1988 and got into Antigua on, I think it was the 23rd December.

Places like Madeira and the Canaries are great meeting places and crossroads for yachties. Everyone tends to be following the same Trade wind route so you meet up with the same people time and again. Many a night we sat around the harbourside pubs with yachties we had met swapping stories. For a couple of green hands like us it was a great learning time as several people had been across the Atlantic before or were on their second circumnavigation. Some of the friends we made then are still friends yet. One of them, a singlehander from Launceston, Cornwall, Graham Collins, was down in Falmouth to see Alyson and me just before I left.

Forty years ago there were only a handful of yachts sailing across but now there are hundreds every year. You can do it on your own, as we did in 88′, or you can join an organized rally and sail across like that. The numbers have swelled considerably since the advent of GPS and chart plotters. You no longer need to master how to work a sextant in order to cross an ocean any more.

18th November 2013

The radio schedule I had with Alyson and the Radio club members after tea yesterday wasn’t clear at all. It was very difficult to make each other out. Just as well I said as the wind had picked up and I had to go and take in a reef. I did that and had just got back down to my bunk for a sleep when we lurched on a wave and there was a nasty sounding crack on the deck above me. I pulled on oilskins in a hurry and got on deck to find the roller fairlead for the headsail had pulled itself apart and the sheet was going straight from the winch to the sail. The Jib had been poled out to starboard and the pole always puts more strain on the lead. I quickly dropped the pole and got it stowed on deck. I sat watching conditions for a while and not long after the wind had picked up more. We rounded side on and got hit by two larger waves. I had to drop and stow the mainsail as well. I wondered if it was even too much wind for the Jib alone but we seemed to be ok. However an hour later I did swop the Jib for the Storm Jib. It wasn’t maybe a full gale but there was a lot of motion and I wanted to play safe for the rest of the night.

I’ve rigged a block for the sheet which will do for now. I’ll have to think what to do with the roller lead. It would need welding to repair it properly but maybe I can rig it with a jury rig somehow. These fresh Northerly’s are sending us south fast but we are paying a price for it.

17th November 2013

The wind had died down enough by 0600 for me to drop the Storm Jib and set the Jib, and by 1030 we were sailing with the full main as well. We’re still holding a good course and making about 6kts. The Magnetic variation here is exactly the opposite to the deviation on the compass so the compass course is also the true course as well. It’s one less thing to work out when shaping a course.

The collision warning sounded on the AIS at 0730 this morning. I pulled on oilskins and went on deck to check our course. It was the cargo ship Ouro do Brasil making steady progress north on her way to dock at Ghent in Belgium.

Our track down the Spanish and Portuguese coast this time is very different to 2006. Then we had a lot of light winds and calms (it was July) and it took us a while to get south. Since we left Falmouth we’ve never had a day under 100nm and have been very lucky with the wind. Let’s hope we get a few more days of this yet.

All these reports are being sent back home via the radio. I have a magic box called a Radio Data Interface which goes between the laptop to the radio. It basically converts what I type into data and sends it over the radio in a data stream, via a program called Winlink, to a Winlink volunteer (a middleman), who has a radio and computer set up to receive these reports It then gets sent on to Alyson as a normal email.

The program I use to type up the reports is called RMS Express , it’s a piece of software specially for the purpose. It’s a great way to send info back and fore. Being radio though, it’s not guaranteed to work every time and at any time. It all depends if the propagation is ok or not. Sometimes it works first time. Other times I might have to try a dozen “middlemen” to get the message out. Sometimes it won’t go at all. But it’s a very cost effective way of doing it compared to using the sat phone last time.

16th November 2013

Alyson and I had a contact arranged for 0700 (0800gmt) this morning but I had to postpone it till 9am. The wind had been a F7 all night and just before our schedule it picked up to a full gale. I had to set the Storm Jib and call her back. This is the first gale of the trip and it won’t be the last. I’ve been on deck most of the morning seeing how everything is and we are doing pretty good really.

The wind is from the north so we are able to hold a course south and the Aries is doing a sterling job in keeping us sailing downwind. It isn’t that cold really just very windy. Every now and then a frusssh from astern will signal a bigger than normal breaking wave coming at us. Each time I am sure it will swamp us but each time Elsi will lift her stern and surge forwards and we stay mostly dry. She really is a remarkably good sea-boat and I am immensely proud of her. Occasionally a wave will sneak in from the side and land a dollop of water in the cockpit but mostly we are doing really well. The weather looks to continue for the next couple of days so we’ll just have to get used to it. It’ll pass and be fine again before too long.

Thanks again for all your comments, really good to get them.

15th November 2013

There’s a bit of rock n’ roll going on here just now. The wind has picked up to a F6-7 and the sea is building as well. I’ve just taken another reef in the main so we are going along fairly well with the Jib and two reefs in the mainsail. We’ve covered a lot of miles in the past 24hrs and had a cracking sail all last night. I didn’t get much sleep as I was up frequently to check how we were going as we were on the limit for carrying what sail we had set. But each time we seemed to be holding up ok. From 0600 yesterday to 0600 today on the Walker log we covered about 150nm. I’ve never seen Elsi sail so fast over a 24hr period. I think the best before was 143nm.

Alyson gave me an up to date forecast for here at 0800 and at 0830 the wind had picked up so I had to change down to the Jib. It has slowed us up a bit but we are safer and it has eased the strain on everything including me.  So our days run is 140nm which is still one of our best ever.

There is a lot less shipping here as we are further off the coast.

I’d just finished writing the above when the wind picked up another notch and I have ended up dropping the main altogether and we are sailing now with Jib only and still sailing fast. The wind must be over 30kts now. The Aries self steering gear copes with it all amazingly well and I cannot praise it enough.

We had our first flying fish onboard this morning. He was a little fellow only 2 inches long. Not enough for breakfast.

Madeira is about 700nm away so if we can make 100 miles a day we will be there this time next week.