To Zig or Zag?

As you can all see when you check the Tracker section we are wobbling along out here.

We go from 270T around to 245T compass heading to keep the boat rolling down to as little as possible. But take the room you are in..Lean it over to 20 degrees and then to 20 degrees the other way and do it every 10 seconds.. Then walk around , cook, do laundry and  sleep?

Anyway we are getting used to it now.

We had a fairly good day catching up on Paperwork, Doing Accounts and tidying up after the refit. Sun is getting warmer and we are now in Shorts and the Aircon is back to cooling mode. Temps are 20c as is the water temp. We now have about 1900nm to go.

Photo by Ricardo "The Wall" Pires

Tradewinds?

We are scooting along and trying, Not very well, to limit the rolling. We have genoa and staysail out and drawing. Some Engine assist to help the steering and we are doing around 14 knots.

These are not yet the real trade winds but are providing a connection to them. We should be seeing 20 - 25 its from the ENE to E in a day or so. For now we will take the NNE 30kts as a way to get South if only that N swell of 3-4m would start to come round!

Photo by
Hutch"I" San

View from the Office

We got away in good order and stood down the East coast of Tenerife. Smooth seas and not too much wind. Then we reached the bottom of the island and the squeeze point and wind acceleration Zones between Gomera, Hiero and Tenerife. Big seas and confused also. About 3-4m again but different directions Winds peaked at 48 knots.. You have to love Winter Atlantic crossings even this far South. Of course all of the above happened as Raya was serving a Lamb Roast. It was excellent but how she did it I don't know. People were sliding all over the Crew mess!! As for the Vaunted Super Moon it was nice but not the Blue/blood we are hoping for. Just a great round full moon you could read a newspaper by

Photo by Hutch i San

Atlantic Bound!

We are off the dock in Tenerife on the way across 2600nm to go. We are all looking forward to seeing the Super moon tonight. Although it has been spectacular already on our trip so far.

We have refueled with 30 tons of fuel. Re provisioned for 10 days and ,hopefully, correct some parts of the boat that were causing us problems. This photo is sunset on the 30th.. 

Photo by Ethan Toal

Tenerife and Rosehearty

Always with an Eye for a shot Richard took this great photo of Rosehearty in the marina.

Photo by "The" Richard Smith

Tenerife

Early the 30th of January we made landfall in Sea Cruz Tenerife. We came alongside and off to the Supermarkets for fresh produce. everyone was happy to be stationary for a while and the first few hours were spent catching up on sleep. A quiet night on board with Fresh Pizza and an early Bed at least for the oldie (me).. Here Raya , Hugo and Lenka who just re joined us, Watch a very nice Rainbow..

Photo by "The" Richard Smith

Then the Flash!

It was about .5nm away very loud and extremely bright The right hand flash is just starting the return to Earth. The left was the closer

Photo by Ricardo "Like Thunder" Pires

Oh What a Night!

We moved South Pretty Quickly from the Straights but even so it has been quite rough.

We had winds to the 30s and the NNW Swell of 4m  (13") made life onboard a little tedious with the rolling However we have made nice progress and hope to be in Str Cruz Tenerife tomorrow morning at 0800z We have a few parts to wait for and plan to head on over the Atlantic Departing the 31st. Meanwhile we have some nice Storm Photos from last night. It was fairly intense.. The leader going up is on the right.

Photo Ricardo "flash" Pires

Gibraltar

Here it is Gibraltar the 3rd gate for us. 1st gate to pass is crossing Golfe du Lion then passing Cabo de Gata and the last in the Med are the Straits of Gib. The weather calmed for us on approach and the Shipping and Ferry traffic was kind. We had a nice lunch in calm conditions. However by evening dinner time it was fully back on. Poor Raya in the galley did a great job as we rolled down wind in 4m seas and 35+ knots..Great Chili and Fish Tacos! Also we are making nice time with the weather behind us. We did get lucky in that 6 hours after we passed the Straits it was blowing a Gale there.

Photo by Hutch

Last flat Water for a while!

Well it eventually flattened out. ItWas a roughish evening and night with winds in the 30's and the sea on the beam.  Lots of ships around so I guess the world economy is doing OK. So it is goodbye to the Med for a while. Lots of sailing to come..

Photo by Hutch

OFF Again

Well there was a slim weather window which we left on and are still hanging on too. Winds dropped in Cartagena allowing us to get out. We would have had to deal with Gale force winds from the East (behind us) through Gib. So off we went. Been pretty windy with winds into the low 30s and a short nasty sea. But we are slowly getting along. Lots of ships around tonight as we all converge on Cabo Di Gata. From here it is straight to Gib. 

Photo by Catherine Carr

Market in Cartagena

Early this Morning, Sun rises late around here.. Raya and Renee went off to the fresh daily market.

Some Seafood collection and it was all super fresh. Well we saw that as there were lots of Fishing vessels out and about as we approached the Spanish Mainland.

Photo by Ricardo Pires

Diver Dan

On the trip we heard noises from the Bow Thruster tunnel which meant a Thrusterless docking in Cartagena. After safely along side Peter Box Donned his wet suit. He loves the rubber... and jumped in to dive on the bottom to check out the noise. Turns out we had sheared a set of bolts off a Zinc on the Hub of the thruster propellor and could have become a serious issue. So full marks to Peter for rectifying the situation. Oh and yes it was cold....

Photo by Hugo Thomas out fit by Peter Box

Cartagena

As we expected 2 days ago the weather on down the track from Cape Palos to Cabo De Gata to Gibraltar is not great. 25 to 30 with higher gusts to the high 30's..So after a few Gale warnings on the radio we have pulled in to a slip here in Cartagena.  We hope to get going again on Saturday Morning/lunch time ahead of an Easterly Gale!!  At least it will be behind us. Once in and safely tied up we checked our bottom and our rigs both of whom have recently had a lot of Work. The rigs checked out nicely.   If you look at the photo closely you will see the new Sailing yacht A in the background. 

photo by Hugo "snapper" Thomas

Night Moves

A view or the lack thereof from the bridge at night. all these controls are duplicated on the flybridge for the Watch Keepers.. However in addition to 4 good Mk1 Eyeballs up there we have our Electronic eyes down here. All nice and dry.

What goes up!!

We have had a good day with many ship board tasks being undertaken. Raya working in the galley making delicious meals. We are powering along finally in flat water as we pass South of Menorca and Majorca on our way to Cartagena. One little excitement today was being boarded by the Spanish Aduana. They were very polite but had lots of equipment and no photos please...

So as the sun sets the night routine starts.

Photo by Hugo "Sunset" Thomas

Sunrise off Menorca

A cold night but it was in reality only 8c.. Sea is still rough and confused so we are moving around a bit but the swell has come down from 3m to 1.5m with more improvement to follow.but we are making good time towards Cartagena where we will hole up for a day or so to allow a frontal passage through the Straits of Gibraltar.  All are well on board and the routine feels as though We never stopped. This nice photo was taken by our New Stewardess Catherine Carr.  Welcome to the family..

Photo by Catherine Carr

Underway!

We left La Spezia this morning at 1st light. We are all excited to be off again. Weather is fair for now but it looks like a stop in Cartagena to let the Gib straits settle down will be the smart move.

as we do not like 25kts and 3m seas on the nose

The Temperature  is cool out but with the great fly enclosure and a small fan heater we are nice and warm even upon there on watch. The sea routine has started and while quite lumpy seas we are traveling in we all seem to have adapted to the motion.

We need to thank our perini friends for getting us out on time and we are on the schedule we made 5 months ago. so thanks to them all.

Photo by Richard Smith

Refit!

Well we are finally in place and getting in to the serious works. Bottom is washed. Keel chocks removed so we can lower the Centerboard. Anchors and chains off. Tanks being opened for cleaning..Etc Etc..

Photo by Hugo Thomas..

Next Chapter

Morning under way early (0300) Taking us back to Viareggio. We dropped our Lovely Guests off to continue there Italy tour on land. We removed all the sails in 1 day A Huge job. done by a great hard working crew. We parked the boat in the Perini Navi Synchro Lift. Friday we lifted the boat out the water for her Bi annual Maintenance.  After set up it only takes 30 minutes to lift all 500 Tons out the water.. Next we slide the boat sideways towards the camera using rails..