FIRST COUPLE DAY'S AT SEA

We left Lagos at 10am on Wednesday 12th June around 0830 am we motored out of the cut and stowed all fenders ropes and bits and pieces , i decided to leave the anchor on the bow roller and lashed it down firmly , blocked up the chain hole with some rag , ( Which turned out to be inadequate )  but more of that later , As soon as we cleard the cliff and started to head west we found a nice south westerly and sailed along the coast towards Cabo Vicente , by the time we had got there we had tacked onto starboard and got lifted as the wind was coming from the north , we intended to get a little North before bearing away to cross the traffic lanes ( TSS ) at right angles , we were had the no 1 genoa and half a dozen rolls in the main and doing a steady 4 knots into a rather large north westerly swell , not sure what time we bore off but by mid afternoon we were half way across the lanes with very little shipping to worry about , The AIS was working fine now and we had ample warning of ships long before we sighted them

going across the lanes on starboard 

our AIS gave good warnings of big ship's

We were now steering around 270 degrees with nearly 1000 miles to go , it was to become clear just how big the ocean is if you boat is only 25 feet long + a bowsprit , the wind continued to cme from the north during the first day I suppose it must have been about 16 knots the big swell continued through the day and occasionally we would get a dollop on board but it was all harmless fun ,

always a cuppa to hand 

 

a bit rolly

lee cloths are ready

wet decks already, the swell is deceiving

4/5 knots just the ticket 100 miles a day love it

 we had a nice lunch of salad and ham sandwiches and were in pretty good spirits. Cups of tea were plentiful and we even had a few biscuits. Planning for dinner was pretty easy and we had steak and kidney from a tin beefed up with peppers and onions boiled potatoes and green beans and carrots , it was all done in the pressure cooker and apart from saving time/gas it was a sealed unit that could not spill , we had brought some plastic bowls for the purpose of having our evening meals and serving up time was around 8 pm and even if i say so myself it was delicious and filling  cooked on our little two burner cooker 

our little perfectly formed galley

unfortunately the cooker was fixed and not gimballed and sometimes things proved a little testing but all in all we coped well. Dinner over we had not really sorted out the watch systems and that first night we kinda did two on and two off David had not done a great deal of night sailing and I was reluctant to leave him on watch for a longer period , following the first night we both agreed on four hour watches. The wind was fairly constant that first night although we took a lot of water on board and you needed to fully kitted up for your watch , and we made it a rule that you wore your life jacket when on watch in the cockpit and also you did not leave the cockpit without the other person watching over you. we were well out of the shipping lanes before dark so it was just a matter of setting up the Hasler vane and keeping our eye on the wind , the first night went by without incident and Thursday's dawn was welcome, it had been a roly polly night on starboard tack with the odd wave breaking on deck , nothing too harsh but the decks leaked a tad, all in all a great fist night for both of us , breakfast was an orange for David and cornflakes for me followed by a couple of cups of tea,
more later !!!!!
make a comment if you want 

PREAMBLE TO DEPARTURE

David arrived on the 8th June and I had a list of things we needed to sort out , The A.i.s was not working and it would probably need stripping down to sort out what was wrong , as an ex RAF flight engineer David was up to the task , we also felt the main bilge pump rubbers and seals needed replacing as i doubt they had been touched for ten years and an emergency at sea with the pump needed was not going to be the best time the rubbers perished , both jobs were completed successfully, as well as a number of other tasks before we left Olhao ,

the bilge pump renewing the rubbers

tricky soldering of the A.I.S and success

 On the Sunday we went for a sail and ventured out of the entrance, remember this was the first time David had sailed on the boat and he was committed to half crossing the Atlantic, all went very well and we anchored and decided to set sail at 10 am the next morning for Portimao , we had a nice evening meal on board glass of wine and retired to bed after a very good first day.
at 0930 we set of and out through the channel on starboard tack the wind was light but we knew it would build when the sea breeze kicked in , but 1300 we had full number one genoa and a few rolls in the main and were doing a steady 4 knots to weather , it was going to be a long day and we sailed untill around 8 pm when the wind died and we had to motor to Portimao arriving aroung 1am the next morning

Perfect sailing 3 sail reach on starboard

 Early the next morning we motored the 10 miles or so to lagos and moored up on the visitors pontoon after refueling and making sure we were chock a block with diesel, they allowed us to saty on the visitors pontoon as we would be setting out early the following morning, We recharged the Gaz bottle so we had two full bottles, filled the water tanks and then went shopping at Pingo Doce the local supermarket and got all the things we needed except some bacon style ham we got 4x 5lts of water that were to be stowed on the cabin floor , with things ready we went to Lazy Jacks bar and had a delicious steak

arrival in Lagos

Lazy jacks bar

So we were leaving the next morning on our adventure so a goods nights sleep were in order, Our thoughts ,,, not sure , it had all been a rush to get to this stage the weather although not perfect for the first few days was ok and we were ready , we estimated between ten and twelve days for the trip and were not going to starve as there was enough food on board for a year
more later

SIMO ARIVES IN HORTA

1600 hrs 22ND APRIL 2013 , Simo arrives in Horta after 10 days and 8 hours.

Simo arriving in Horta

 starting out with strong northerlies she headed out from cape Vicente and across the TSS ( shipping lanes ) with a large swell from the north east , in what turned out to be a very wet and wild ride for the first few days, Simo with No 1 Genoa and 8 rolls in the main maintained a steady pace with 4/5 knots being recorded. There will be more of the detail of the day to day bits and pieces of the trip and many photo's and short video's either on here or on you tube for you to enjoy in the day's/weeks to follow , but for now please see the first you tube video at    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lFftldzvhk  hope you enjoy .
we shall catch up soon ,,,,,
Mick and David

THIS IS IT , HERE WE GO

Well we are ready for the off , David arrived in Olhao on the 8th and we wasted no time in going for a trial sail , bit of a shake down , and then we headed up to Portimao , bit of a trip as we had to tack all the way sometimes into 20 knot winds , but with No 1 genoa and the main with 6/7 rolls in she did a steady four knots we left at 10 am and arrived at 1230 am the next morning ( early hours ) after a quick breakfast we made our way round to Lagos to stock up with fresh food Diesel and water , and are ready for departure which will be around 8 am on Wednesday ( tomorrow morning ),
gribs look like this for the start Horta probably 12 days.
best
Mick and David

FLIGHT OUT AND FIRST COUPLE DAYS AT THE YARD

1 day till launch June 2013

Well I got the train on Sunday down to Southend after a fab Lunch carvery with the missus , she dropped me at the station and that was that , Journey down uneventful and only cost £ 27.00.

It was a hot day about time after all the freezing weather we have had so as soon as I got to the hotel I needed a drink , A few nerves I noticed , after all the months of preparation the trip was finally staring me in the face and in a few days , we would be getting on with it in earnest. I didn’t sleep that great , more to the worry of missing the plane than anything , the hotel was less than 200 yards to the terminal, took off on time and a couple hours later we landed , temp must have been 20degrees and it was not even 10 am , took a cab to the yard , and there was Sergio to greet me , almost like I had not been away.

I was worried that after my last visit I had left my Lumix somewhere on the cradle , so did a quick search but nothing  need not have worried cos next day it turned up as I was clearing the pile of junk from David’s bunk , I quickly got all the covers off her and got the hose on and cleaned all the decks funny how earwigs seemed to get up there but they did , just hope none found their way down below. I was almost daunted by the amount of work/jobs I had to do but one by one I ticked them off the list , there just seemed to be so much stuff around and instead of putting away I just seemd to move from one place to another, I sort of thought this could be the time I wished Simo was a forty footer, but somehow or other it all had to fit.

First job on Tuesday morning was the anti foul and once I had cracked that one, I could get back to moving stuff around again , at least it looked good

JUST ABOUT READY FOR THE SPLASH

So here we are the yard have brought forward launch day to tomorrow Wednesday and will move her round to the slip in the morning, I guess high water would be around 2 pm , Today I got the flying jib basically on after having a last minute panic with  the bearings in the upper furler , all sorted now , got the liferaft packed up and ready to be lashed down, , idunno there just seems to be tons of stuff to do before David Arrives on Saturday  but you know it will all be done , and we can have a bit of a shakedown cruise on Sunday , I don’t think he realises just how cosy it all is.

Will try and get some pics of the launch tomorrow and maybe some video although not quite sure how to upload it . so sleep tight, and see you tomorrow.

ICE TEA AND PIECE OF CAKE PARTIALLY HIDDEN

OLD MEMORIES to share with you ( maybee boring )

Many year's ago when I was just a snip of a lad , I got into sailing because I had to give up football    ( dodgy back) I suppose I was around 25 years old , I brought a little Corribee mark 2 and kept her at Hoo Marina in a mud berth , Before that my only experience of sailing was when I was eleven years old , Lived on a farm up in a little place called Sudbourne in Suffolk , my stepfather and the farmers son who was crazy took me out in a cadet sailing dingy on the river down near Orford, I just remember it was a windy day, and I was told to sit near the mast while these two crazy idiots tried there best to scare the living daylights out of me, tacking up and down the river gun-whales under water, me baling them laughing, and me ,, well I was scared to death we were going to capsize or sink or both . That day must have been placed in my subconscious, and I will never know why I returned to do something I hated all those years later. Well back to the Corribee, she sat on that mud berth for a couple of months and I would go down a couple of times a week and sit and dream, but I was so scared to untie the ropes and go out and set sail. Eventually I did and after having the Boat ( Selene was her name ) I met a guy who had a little racing boat ( mini tonner ) and he asked me to race the boat for him, so without further ado got a crew and started racing on the Medway with a bit of success, we did Ramsgate week and everybody had a lot of fun.

Ozzeebee the original winning off Ramsgate

I then moved on a bit and helped build a quarter tonner that we raced on the east coast with not to much success but in 1984 we took her down the French canals and into the med 9 months off work , and were then faced with the dilemma of getting the boat back to the UK and only having £ 200.00 in our pockets , A Saga followed  and it is a long story but here are a couple of pics of this fantastic little boat .

Ozzeebee 2 sailing in the Med 1984 

     Briefly we took her through the canals to the Med , took 6 weeks and we had a whole summer down in the Balierics , run out of money and sailed to Gibraltar non stop , took 6 days , and we had already decided to sail non stop back to the UK ( non stop cos we had no money )

Shepherds Marina Gib the day before we left 

Looking back the trip was OK , but there were scary moments and when I say scary I mean scary , after 23 days we sailed into Brest after coming close with the elements and complete exhaustion.

Mick and Les in Brest 1984 drying out , no money but we made it so far

 We borrowed a fiver from a guy on a motor boat ( a fiver was quite a lot in '84 )
and in a couple of day's sailed out and up channel to Ramsgate and finally the Medway
Adventure over, next up was Tom Bombadil  a Peterson quarter tonner , I still can't believe 3 of us sailed it back from Falmouth to the Medway non stop with only a camping gaz stove that you sat on the floor of the boat and held onto while it boiled the kettle , Apart from John having hallucinations in the fog off the Isle of Wight we did it OK , and the next year raced it in the EAORA series on the East coast winning class 4 in the process .

Racing off West Mersea  in 1986

Just after the start in front of Local Hero

 We had a great year with Tom Bombadil but then I met a beautiful Lady ( OK it was a boat ) her name was Viola she was a forty two foot Fife and she was lying in the mud up at Ipswich looking forlorn and unloved ,,, well here goes it is another long story and we will not be going into to much detail here. Upshot was I spent a lot of time and money working on her and then with a gang of people went sailing across the bay of Biscay down to the Med , back out and down to the Canneries where I spent the winter , before once again running out of money ,,,,, sailed her up to Madeira, and then with two others sailed her back to Brighton non stop with just a sextant and log and a bloody great bilge pump  She leaked like a sieve and the most we pumped in one hour was 142 pumps , she had a single cylinder Ducati engine and when approaching the western approaches, the prop shaft came adrift of the aft end and in wide sweeps disintegrated the saloon till it stopped , Oh dear the saga's never stopped on Viola , but we had a year out sailing and it was another adventure under my belt , Viola has since been restored to original and is in La Rochelle with a very rich owner , and I am still waiting for my invite aboard ,

wow what a yacht Viola a William Fife yacht 1906

 well your almost up to date , but not quite , I will also just say that I took all my exams , Yacht master offshore and Ocean at the Greenwich college ( I think ) back in the early 80,s  ,,,,your now up to 1986 and more adventures are to come next time.

BLOW ME DOWN 12 DAYS TO GO

Well , after organizing the Radio Marblehead Nationals at My home club Lincoln I was shocked to sit down and see the clock ticking . For those of you who are interested Racing Model Yachts is a passion of mine and late last year I agreed to put on a major event at our water , I gotta tell you it all went fantastic , and with some close racing the world champion proved his mastery by winning the event and adding National Champion to his long list of honors, It was not without a fight though , even though he looked tired after his recent marriage to Victoria ( just Joking ) , we presented them both with a belated wedding cake which I doubt lasted the journey home , Have a look at some pics and then we can start thinking about Simo ,

The wedding cake , only the best will do .

early briefing for the competitors 

a good clean start

the world champion

Our promotion gazebo with Chaz Colin and Clive

Pete then Brad

Brad then Pete

wind what wind

  
Ok so it went well , well for me I just hope the next two months go well , because in 12 days I fly down to Portugal , get all the covers off the boat give her a couple coats of anti foul , do a few minor jobs and 3 days later  slip her back into the water . I will then just motor round to the markets in Olhao and wait for Dave who fly's in on the 8th , we then need to stock up a bit on fresh stuff and go for a sail , a bit of a shake down probably head up to Portimao , and the on to Lagos which will be our final place for fully stocking the boat with fresh stuff for the 10 day trip out to Horta , Plan is to Leave as soon as we are ready , my guess is before the 14th which is a Friday, and we don't depart on Fridays ( sorry ) . I will be checking the gribs on the run up to our departure , but am thinking the Azores high should be well established by the time we leave , We will be meeting up with a few O.C.C yachts in Horta and are expecting some fun and games , cycle rides, dinner in the cafe sport and sailing in company to some other islands , I dare say we shall be climbing an extinct volcano somewhere, Hopefully David can do a bit of this stuff before he has to fly back to Zurich. I have just been to the Doctor's to pick up two months worth of prescription tablets as I will be away till the end of July, Had my haircut yesterday , and planning to go and buy some new sock and pants for the trip later this week. Most of you will remember the Dam Busters and as you know last week was the 70th anniversary, well me and Jackie were in the Dam Busters pub that night having a couple of pints and were treated to a fly past by the only remaining Lancaster, it was fantastic ,, well this Sunday there is a walk through Scampton airfield with a talk on all things about 617 squadron and the Lancs , I am trying to get a few mates to go along as well because I think it will be very interesting , I will let you know what is was like .

The Lancaster on Thursday 16th May 2013

 Jackie is out in the garden doing the lawn , amazing how it has grown in the last week , have we finally turned the corner on the cold weather, it really does seem to go on forever this year.
Glenn has been showing some interest in a Vertue that has been in a barn for the last 19 years, It is called Elusive Vertue , and has only had one owner since new , it is about 50 years old just like Simo , I cant give any more info at the mo as it is top secret , as Glenn wants to Buy a Vertue and sail back to the west coast of the U S of  A , taking in the French canals the  Med and Caribbean then thru the Panama , what a trip that would be , if it comes of for him , I just found out today his flight is booked for the 26th June , so he should be in Horta when we arrive, as he is just doing the return to the UK bit with me . We intend to stop at a few places coming up channel the first being Falmouth for fish / chips and a pint , probably Dartmouth , to see the Guy who runs wooden ships , and sometimes has Vertue's on his listing , all my cousins and family around Shoreham , then a quick dash to Ramsgate for a visit to the Royal Temple Yacht club . its all getting close now and I can smell the salt spray .

All those years ago, Simo leaving Falmouth Marina for the bay of Biscay 

.

      all for now catch up soon