A last look around the bay and round towards the Rock of Gibraltar. Tomorrow we start back for Cyprus.
Saturday, 24 May 2014
Final shot from Jasmine City
A last look around the bay and round towards the Rock of Gibraltar. Tomorrow we start back for Cyprus.
Last day on Jasmine City
This is Tim and my last day on on Jasmine City. Tomorrow morning we will fly to London.
The trip down from Sines in Portugal to La Linea in Spain, via an abortive short visit to Morocco was interesting to say the least. While we were sitting at the cafe yesterday evening enjoying tabas and beef burger and whatever else, Tim was reviewing what I had posted on the blog, and said that I hadn't posted much about the storm. THE STORM. In passing I had mentioned that we left Sines very slightly earlier than originally planned because the weather looked (from the shore) to have improved, but...
Earlier that day another Lagoon, a 560, had moored in Sines. They looked as if they had had enough of the weather and were looking for refuge too. As we left, one of the crew was watching us leave and I could almost feel her thoughts of 'Are they crazy, we're here for the refuge and they are going out in it…'
We motored out into the outer harbour to raise the mainsail. We headed directly but relatively slowly for the extension to the harbour wall as Bisher helmed the boat, Tim controlled the lines and Olivier climbed the mast. It takes a minimum of two people to hoist or drop the mainsail with this new on-boom furling system. We got it up with space to spare before the breakwater, but not a lot.
Having raised the sail we took off with full main and full genoa directly south on a beam reach. However… having had high winds for a couple of days from the south west and then south, and now from the west the seas were confused and messy. I was eating crystallized ginger - a natural cure for seasickness. Tim's prediction of 3m swell proved to be correct and even the ginger and a week on board didn't keep the sea sickness at bay. I lay down, while Tim cooked dinner for the rest of the crew.
The wind increased during the evening and into the night. Olivier was on watch and Tim sleeping in the saloon so that he was quickly available if needed. Olivier said he saw in one of the squalls the wind increase from the 40+ knots to 50 something, then 60 something then all the way up to 82 knots at the height of the squall. He was bearing off on the autopilot, but decided that against all that he really wanted, they would have to go on deck as the main had to come down, so he woke Tim.
Out to the flybridge they went, prepared everything, started the motors, headed into the wind and awaited their opportunity. The wind abated for a few minutes to high 30s so they took their chance and with Tim on the winches and ropes, Olivier, whose balance is amazing, went out onto the deck and up the mast to guide the mainsail down and put some straps on it. Success. He said it was a good job it was dark as they couldn't see the terrifying seas.
Then we were sailing on just a reefed genoa. However, to say it was now an easy passage would be to make a false claim. The confused seas were crashing on our starboard beam and giving Bisher concerns about what might break in his brand new boat. His cabin is on the starboard side so he got the worst of the crashing. He said he was sure in the light of day we would find a crack somewhere, but we didn't.
Tim then returned to our cabin. He had elected to sleep feet to head/head to feet. This was his pragmatic approach to ensuring that if I did throw up it would be over his feet and not his head! As the boat dropped away from waves I could feel myself flying above the berth. This was even worse for Tim, whose head was at the bow end of the cabin. We got the zero G force effect that some people pay money to experience. Free for Tim and me!
Sometime during the night I was woken to get up because the electronics were not working. The iPad repeater of the bridge navionics was not working. I cannot for the life of me remember now what the problem was, but somehow in my semi-dazed state I solved it and we were back able to helm and watch from the relative comfort of the saloon/chart table. I then raced for the bathroom, while the rest of the crew sailed the boat.
First light saw us with the sea state calming, I came up feeling nearly human again. As the day wore on and the sea state calming and winds down to 30 knots and then 20 and eventually we were motor sailing from Cape St Vincent towards the Straits of Gibraltar.
Final night sailing and Tim and I could take a realistic watch again. My shoulder is now back to 70-80% but I am being very careful and a sudden movement shoots stabbing pain around the top of my arm. This is pretty close to what Tim had over a year ago, so he is very sympathetic and keeps encouraging me to keep my posture good so as to keep my shoulder improving.
After night watch we went to our berths in relative comfort. I awoke early and went up to see the sun rising over the Straits of Gibraltar. It was stunning. It exceeded my expectations. By now we were seeing the big ships entering and leaving the straits. Somehow we had timed it almost perfectly. We arrived at the Traffic Separation Scheme between lanes, having crossed the lane outbound on the previous watch. We therefore sailed up the middle, avoiding the numerous fishing boats and, at the point where all the ferries crossed, moved to the northern coast of Morocco.
The marine band radio announced a pan-pan message asking all ships to look out for a wooden boat with 11 passengers that had capsized somewhere in the straits. There are so many people from Africa attempting the dangerous and often overloaded attempt to covertly get into the EU. We never heard, but I suspect this was another of the casualties of this problem. Poverty creates desperation.
The trip in and out of Smir was uneventful if unsuccessful. Then it was across the straits again, full genoa and engines racing to try to beat the current. Finally arrived that the very beautiful and efficient marina of La Linea. Mooring was tricky as there was a 30+ knot north west wind, but Olivier again proved his capability with the Lagoons and we're safely in Spain. Today we all agreed, this marina is definitely a serendipitous find. Tomorrow, sadly in some ways, we leave the boat. That having been said, I'm really looking forward to seeing wife and family again.
The trip down from Sines in Portugal to La Linea in Spain, via an abortive short visit to Morocco was interesting to say the least. While we were sitting at the cafe yesterday evening enjoying tabas and beef burger and whatever else, Tim was reviewing what I had posted on the blog, and said that I hadn't posted much about the storm. THE STORM. In passing I had mentioned that we left Sines very slightly earlier than originally planned because the weather looked (from the shore) to have improved, but...
Earlier that day another Lagoon, a 560, had moored in Sines. They looked as if they had had enough of the weather and were looking for refuge too. As we left, one of the crew was watching us leave and I could almost feel her thoughts of 'Are they crazy, we're here for the refuge and they are going out in it…'
We motored out into the outer harbour to raise the mainsail. We headed directly but relatively slowly for the extension to the harbour wall as Bisher helmed the boat, Tim controlled the lines and Olivier climbed the mast. It takes a minimum of two people to hoist or drop the mainsail with this new on-boom furling system. We got it up with space to spare before the breakwater, but not a lot.
Having raised the sail we took off with full main and full genoa directly south on a beam reach. However… having had high winds for a couple of days from the south west and then south, and now from the west the seas were confused and messy. I was eating crystallized ginger - a natural cure for seasickness. Tim's prediction of 3m swell proved to be correct and even the ginger and a week on board didn't keep the sea sickness at bay. I lay down, while Tim cooked dinner for the rest of the crew.
The wind increased during the evening and into the night. Olivier was on watch and Tim sleeping in the saloon so that he was quickly available if needed. Olivier said he saw in one of the squalls the wind increase from the 40+ knots to 50 something, then 60 something then all the way up to 82 knots at the height of the squall. He was bearing off on the autopilot, but decided that against all that he really wanted, they would have to go on deck as the main had to come down, so he woke Tim.
Out to the flybridge they went, prepared everything, started the motors, headed into the wind and awaited their opportunity. The wind abated for a few minutes to high 30s so they took their chance and with Tim on the winches and ropes, Olivier, whose balance is amazing, went out onto the deck and up the mast to guide the mainsail down and put some straps on it. Success. He said it was a good job it was dark as they couldn't see the terrifying seas.
Then we were sailing on just a reefed genoa. However, to say it was now an easy passage would be to make a false claim. The confused seas were crashing on our starboard beam and giving Bisher concerns about what might break in his brand new boat. His cabin is on the starboard side so he got the worst of the crashing. He said he was sure in the light of day we would find a crack somewhere, but we didn't.
Tim then returned to our cabin. He had elected to sleep feet to head/head to feet. This was his pragmatic approach to ensuring that if I did throw up it would be over his feet and not his head! As the boat dropped away from waves I could feel myself flying above the berth. This was even worse for Tim, whose head was at the bow end of the cabin. We got the zero G force effect that some people pay money to experience. Free for Tim and me!
Sometime during the night I was woken to get up because the electronics were not working. The iPad repeater of the bridge navionics was not working. I cannot for the life of me remember now what the problem was, but somehow in my semi-dazed state I solved it and we were back able to helm and watch from the relative comfort of the saloon/chart table. I then raced for the bathroom, while the rest of the crew sailed the boat.
First light saw us with the sea state calming, I came up feeling nearly human again. As the day wore on and the sea state calming and winds down to 30 knots and then 20 and eventually we were motor sailing from Cape St Vincent towards the Straits of Gibraltar.
Final night sailing and Tim and I could take a realistic watch again. My shoulder is now back to 70-80% but I am being very careful and a sudden movement shoots stabbing pain around the top of my arm. This is pretty close to what Tim had over a year ago, so he is very sympathetic and keeps encouraging me to keep my posture good so as to keep my shoulder improving.
After night watch we went to our berths in relative comfort. I awoke early and went up to see the sun rising over the Straits of Gibraltar. It was stunning. It exceeded my expectations. By now we were seeing the big ships entering and leaving the straits. Somehow we had timed it almost perfectly. We arrived at the Traffic Separation Scheme between lanes, having crossed the lane outbound on the previous watch. We therefore sailed up the middle, avoiding the numerous fishing boats and, at the point where all the ferries crossed, moved to the northern coast of Morocco.
The marine band radio announced a pan-pan message asking all ships to look out for a wooden boat with 11 passengers that had capsized somewhere in the straits. There are so many people from Africa attempting the dangerous and often overloaded attempt to covertly get into the EU. We never heard, but I suspect this was another of the casualties of this problem. Poverty creates desperation.
The trip in and out of Smir was uneventful if unsuccessful. Then it was across the straits again, full genoa and engines racing to try to beat the current. Finally arrived that the very beautiful and efficient marina of La Linea. Mooring was tricky as there was a 30+ knot north west wind, but Olivier again proved his capability with the Lagoons and we're safely in Spain. Today we all agreed, this marina is definitely a serendipitous find. Tomorrow, sadly in some ways, we leave the boat. That having been said, I'm really looking forward to seeing wife and family again.
Friday, 23 May 2014
Arrived in Jebel Tarik... now commonly called Gibraltar
Well, having sadly had customs problems in Morocco, we made some quick phone calls to other marinas in Gibraltar and then Spain. All the Gibraltar marinas were full but we struck gold with finding that there was a new marina in La Linea which is just on the Spanish side of the border.
So, we made a quick dash... motor sailing at up to 8 knots across the straits of Gibraltar to La Linea. The new marina has 850 spaces and is fantastic. The wind was difficult coming in - 30 knots behind us - so mooring was tricky to say the least. But we're here and we overlook the rock.
 |
| Jasmine City moored in La Linea |
Arrived Morocco
However, this was only fooling us, in fact it deteriorated. I got pretty sea sick for the first night and the guys told me they saw 80 knots on the wind speed indicator! It was pretty hairy changing sails. Meanwhile to say I was sick in my bunk would not be true, I was only in my bunk for about 75% of the time, the rest of the time I was flying as the boat dropped away beneath me.
Then it really did improve and the run into the straits of Gibraltar was amazing, as was our timing! The sun rose over the straights.Wednesday, 21 May 2014
Leaving Sines tonight or tomorrow for Morocco, probably via Gibraltar
This is the track for Jasmine City, which is owned by by a friend of ours called Bisher. This is the second leg of the delivery from Sines in Portugal to Morocco.
Tracking for the first leg of Jasmine City can be found at the following post: 'Delivery and sea trials for Jasmine City'
Wind speed in the marina
Beaufort 8 - 'Gale'
The wind got up to 64knots, but it took a few moments for me to find the camera. Olivier got a picture of it nearly at the height. I'm very glad we're holed up in a marina in Portugal rather than out on the Atlantic, with a predicted 3 metre swell and a confused sea because of the wind direction change.
If all goes well, we'll leave either late tonight or early in the morning when the wind will have dropped and the waves more manageable!
Tuesday, 20 May 2014
Is this day 4 or 5?
When you get on a sailing boat for some time, somehow days seem to merge into one another, you almost lose track of time. You develop a different rhythm of life, based upon the needs of the boat. There are four of us on the boat, and overnight there has to be at least one person on watch, and watches last for two hours, so your sleep is somewhat disturbed and so you also sleep during the day. This is the rhythm of life on a boat.
DAY 1: We left at 9pm on Thursday. I remember that much. We had worked hard for three days getting the boat ready. A new boat is not ready to sail. It might have all the linen on board, but this is equipping a small mobile home, so there are pots and pans to buy, food and provisions. And when we say provisions it's not just the food, but all the little things like salt and pepper and other sauces. We had to get a microwave, and all the things needed for bathrooms.
And it wasn't quite finished. There was a washing machine from Korea that had been freighted over by and and needed fitting. This took Costas, the distributor for Lagoon, the best part of a whole day to do. This is a special upright washing machine like I have never seen before. Light weight, not the really heavy front loaders we have in Europe normally.
Then there was the sea trial as part of the handover procedure. This boat has one of the new roller booms that Lagoon are developing, and it broke on the sea trial, so they then had to get new parts sent over from the factory to be fitted before we left.
I had a frozen shoulder, what they call 'iPad shoulder' I think, which made things doubly difficult. Getting on and off the boat required me to grit my teeth catch hold of the boat with my good arm and one leg, then hoist myself up enough to grab with my bad arm in a way that didn't make me scream with pain. It worked but took a lot of effort. In between all this we had fantastic French cuisine in the evening at different restaurants in Les Sables.
So... Back to the story... We left at 9pm and ate our first meal of the trip on board. The winds across the Bay of Biscay we predicted to be almost perfect for a downwind run from Les Sables to the north western tip of Spain. If all goes well it will take two days across the bay. The Bay of Biscay is notorious for bad weather so I was somewhat apprehensive, especially with a bad shoulder. I don't have great balance at the best of times and the thought of falling and not being able to catch myself... well... it made me even more careful than usual.
DAY 2: The night watches went well. One thing that's really cool about the new Raymarine E-series chartplotters is that you can view and control them remotely with an iPad or Android tablet. This means that you can stay in the relatively warm saloon which has great all round visibility and watch the radar and AIS for other ships without sitting outside in full foul weather gear. You still need it on or available as if the sails need trimming then it's out into the cold of the Bay of Biscay you go. Tim and I were doing a double watch together, because my arm would not allow me to trip sails too easily, even with electric winches.
Today we sail with just the genoa. Nobody is really excited about trying the roller main sail. And we're doing good speed because of the wind.
DAY 1: We left at 9pm on Thursday. I remember that much. We had worked hard for three days getting the boat ready. A new boat is not ready to sail. It might have all the linen on board, but this is equipping a small mobile home, so there are pots and pans to buy, food and provisions. And when we say provisions it's not just the food, but all the little things like salt and pepper and other sauces. We had to get a microwave, and all the things needed for bathrooms.
And it wasn't quite finished. There was a washing machine from Korea that had been freighted over by and and needed fitting. This took Costas, the distributor for Lagoon, the best part of a whole day to do. This is a special upright washing machine like I have never seen before. Light weight, not the really heavy front loaders we have in Europe normally.
Then there was the sea trial as part of the handover procedure. This boat has one of the new roller booms that Lagoon are developing, and it broke on the sea trial, so they then had to get new parts sent over from the factory to be fitted before we left.
I had a frozen shoulder, what they call 'iPad shoulder' I think, which made things doubly difficult. Getting on and off the boat required me to grit my teeth catch hold of the boat with my good arm and one leg, then hoist myself up enough to grab with my bad arm in a way that didn't make me scream with pain. It worked but took a lot of effort. In between all this we had fantastic French cuisine in the evening at different restaurants in Les Sables.
So... Back to the story... We left at 9pm and ate our first meal of the trip on board. The winds across the Bay of Biscay we predicted to be almost perfect for a downwind run from Les Sables to the north western tip of Spain. If all goes well it will take two days across the bay. The Bay of Biscay is notorious for bad weather so I was somewhat apprehensive, especially with a bad shoulder. I don't have great balance at the best of times and the thought of falling and not being able to catch myself... well... it made me even more careful than usual.
DAY 2: The night watches went well. One thing that's really cool about the new Raymarine E-series chartplotters is that you can view and control them remotely with an iPad or Android tablet. This means that you can stay in the relatively warm saloon which has great all round visibility and watch the radar and AIS for other ships without sitting outside in full foul weather gear. You still need it on or available as if the sails need trimming then it's out into the cold of the Bay of Biscay you go. Tim and I were doing a double watch together, because my arm would not allow me to trip sails too easily, even with electric winches.
Today we sail with just the genoa. Nobody is really excited about trying the roller main sail. And we're doing good speed because of the wind.
DAY 3: Today is time to try the new furling main sail in daylight. But... sadly it breaks again. This time it's a lot worse than the first time, as some parts jam in the luff, making it impossible to completely raise or lower the sail. Frankly that makes me edgy, being unable to easily drop the mainsail if you needed to in an emergency.
So we spend the rest of the day attempting to un-jam it sending emails back to the manufacturer for advice and comment. We have a Thrane and Thrane Sailor 250 system on board. It's very expensive, but really, really efficient.
Today is not a good day, not only is the sail broken, but I get sea sick. Makes me feel less than fully able to pull my weight when I'm in my bunk feeling like nothing on earth.
DAY 4: We pass Cape Finistere. And I'm feeling a lot better! We found a way to drop the main sail and put it up again. It's not easy but possible. And that's a big step forward. And Cape Finistere is spectacular.
Alongside the Raymarine chart plotter we're using iSailor on my iPad and PocketGrib on the iPad to download weather forecasts over the satellite internet? This is the new version of iSailor and it's very much improved in all functions except for one, and that is plotting multi waypoint routes. That feature used to work well, but the new way, I cannot get the hang of. I've read the tutorial, and it just doesn't seem to work for me. Everything else though is great. One of the other crew mentioned that as a chart plotter it's easier to use than the Raymarine! And it is.
We're all growing to love the remote control of the Raymarine with the iPad, because amongst other things the touch screen of the iPad is significantly better than that of the E-series chartplotter, so it's actually quicker and easier to use the remote than the actual device.
The grib files on PocketGrib have been pretty accurate for the main part, but with gusting way, way higher, but I guess that's Atlantic weather for you. This is my first time not sailing in the Med, and to be honest the jury is still out on whether I like Ocean sailing compared to the Med.
DAY 5: The grib says we will wind will turn southerly, which means that we would be beating into the wind and waves on the engines, not the great downwind or broad reach sailing we have had so far. So there are long discussions about the alternatives. Final decision is to hold up in Sines for 27 hours when the wind will have moved back to the west and we can broad reach down the rest of Portugal and sail downwind to Gibraltar.
Sines is a wonderful little marina, makes you realise what Larnaca has to live up to... and fail. It's amazingly well protected, for the final few hours into the marina we were beating into the wind with wind speeds showing in excess of 45 knots and speeds (SOG) of up to 12/13 knots. That's pretty much roller coaster sailing. I'll try and see if I can upload some of the footage of this onto YouTube. I didn't get the fastest speeds filmed. The Lagoon 450 is a very sea friendly boat, you don't get the hull slapping you do on the Lagoon 560.
So here we are sitting and catching up, looking forward to a meal ashore this evening and watching the flag gently waving in the breeze, the rain falling, and the wind gauge... which on our mast is well above the harbour wall showing 30s and 40s. Yes, I'm very glad we're taking a break. The hot shower was wonderful. We do have hot showers on board, and that is good, but with onboard showers you .always have to be careful of water usage.
So we spend the rest of the day attempting to un-jam it sending emails back to the manufacturer for advice and comment. We have a Thrane and Thrane Sailor 250 system on board. It's very expensive, but really, really efficient.
Today is not a good day, not only is the sail broken, but I get sea sick. Makes me feel less than fully able to pull my weight when I'm in my bunk feeling like nothing on earth.
DAY 4: We pass Cape Finistere. And I'm feeling a lot better! We found a way to drop the main sail and put it up again. It's not easy but possible. And that's a big step forward. And Cape Finistere is spectacular.
Alongside the Raymarine chart plotter we're using iSailor on my iPad and PocketGrib on the iPad to download weather forecasts over the satellite internet? This is the new version of iSailor and it's very much improved in all functions except for one, and that is plotting multi waypoint routes. That feature used to work well, but the new way, I cannot get the hang of. I've read the tutorial, and it just doesn't seem to work for me. Everything else though is great. One of the other crew mentioned that as a chart plotter it's easier to use than the Raymarine! And it is.
We're all growing to love the remote control of the Raymarine with the iPad, because amongst other things the touch screen of the iPad is significantly better than that of the E-series chartplotter, so it's actually quicker and easier to use the remote than the actual device.
The grib files on PocketGrib have been pretty accurate for the main part, but with gusting way, way higher, but I guess that's Atlantic weather for you. This is my first time not sailing in the Med, and to be honest the jury is still out on whether I like Ocean sailing compared to the Med.
DAY 5: The grib says we will wind will turn southerly, which means that we would be beating into the wind and waves on the engines, not the great downwind or broad reach sailing we have had so far. So there are long discussions about the alternatives. Final decision is to hold up in Sines for 27 hours when the wind will have moved back to the west and we can broad reach down the rest of Portugal and sail downwind to Gibraltar.
Sines is a wonderful little marina, makes you realise what Larnaca has to live up to... and fail. It's amazingly well protected, for the final few hours into the marina we were beating into the wind with wind speeds showing in excess of 45 knots and speeds (SOG) of up to 12/13 knots. That's pretty much roller coaster sailing. I'll try and see if I can upload some of the footage of this onto YouTube. I didn't get the fastest speeds filmed. The Lagoon 450 is a very sea friendly boat, you don't get the hull slapping you do on the Lagoon 560.
So here we are sitting and catching up, looking forward to a meal ashore this evening and watching the flag gently waving in the breeze, the rain falling, and the wind gauge... which on our mast is well above the harbour wall showing 30s and 40s. Yes, I'm very glad we're taking a break. The hot shower was wonderful. We do have hot showers on board, and that is good, but with onboard showers you .always have to be careful of water usage.
Entering Sines on Jasmine City.
This gives you a little impression of what it was like coming into Sines and why we decided to take a break for a day. At times it was significantly more confused seas than the video shows.
Thursday, 15 May 2014
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Sunday, 11 May 2014
Delivery and sea trials for Jasmine City
This is the track for Jasmine City, which is owned by by a friend of ours called Bisher. It's a brand new Lagoon 450. Tim and I have been graciously allowed to help in the sea trials and delivery from Les Sables to Morocco.
Les Sables d'Olonne is a famous marina where the Vendée Globe starts from. The Vendée Globe is a round the world single handed yacht race... 'without assistance'.
Les Sables d'Olonne is a famous marina where the Vendée Globe starts from. The Vendée Globe is a round the world single handed yacht race... 'without assistance'.
Saturday, 10 May 2014
Short sail with friends
Short sail this morning with Andrew, who helped with the galley, his son Perry, Andrew's brother George and his girlfriend Maria. Oh, it's so nice to have a silent motor!
Sunday, 4 May 2014
Another test sail...
Just a quick 75 minute trip out round the bay to test the new batteries/motor. Everything worked fine again. Having fitted the auto-pump-changeover for the salt water cooling pumps it was great not having to remember to change them manually!
It was very relaxing and showed how it should be on an electric drive: Easy!
It was very relaxing and showed how it should be on an electric drive: Easy!
Saturday, 3 May 2014
New batteries working
We connected up the final two wires on the new batteries this morning and then went out for a test with two friends Steve and David. Fantastic. That's all I can say. We motored in and out of the marina. Motored for about half an hour, motor sailed for two hours and the battery indicator showed we had only used 10% of the capacity!
Yesterday I finished some of the software for the pump system so after lunch we fitted the pump control system... which also worked.
In about a weeks time we will be travelling to France to deliver a new catamaran for a friend and picking up the contactors and extra components to finish the battery installation. Then we sail... through the summer!
Yesterday I finished some of the software for the pump system so after lunch we fitted the pump control system... which also worked.
In about a weeks time we will be travelling to France to deliver a new catamaran for a friend and picking up the contactors and extra components to finish the battery installation. Then we sail... through the summer!
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