Gibraltar again
Back in Gibraltar I had 5 days to get the antifouling on, grease the MaxProp, install new anodes and refloat Tainui before Maxine and Ian arrived. This re-commissioning business always depresses me. I look around…
Category Archives: Tainui 3 – Turkey to Sydney
Ne Plus Ultra
…except for us, roaring west in bags of wind. We left Gibraltar at 2 pm in a levanter, the moist easterly wind which cloaks the Rock with a plume of cloud and funnels west through…
Dogs, not Budgies
…the etymology of the name Canaries, that is. Our Canaries landfall was Isla Graciosa, a lazy, quiet island to the north of Lanzarote. White stucco dwellings with blue trim sit lonely on the sand and…
Lanzarote
It is only a short ferry trip across the channel from Graciosa to the big island. The trip is well worth it. Half of Lanzarote is covered with vast fields of sharp lava and eery…
Las Palmas
Here my will to live has been hijacked by Ian, off sightseeing Gran Canarias Island, and Maxine who has bolted for the hairdresser and manicurist. They left together this morning and I stayed behind to…
Departure delayed
After a splendid farewell meal last night we waltzed back to Tainui in good spirits. Moored bow in, the boat presents a mildly challenging hurdle when boarding, even though the thoughtful skipper has rigged a…
Western Sahara
It is 2 pm and we’re about 60 miles off Cape Bojador on the coast of Western Sahara. You wouldn’t know it though – there’s no red dust and the sea is deepest lazuli blue. We could be…
Tropic of Cancer
Without celebration we passed 23 deg 26.14 min this morning. It is sunny but wet on deck as we lope south under Yankee alone. The wind is cool, fresh and a remarkably constant 30 knots…
Cabo Verde
The islands slowly revealed themselves as unprepossessing hard grey lines in the soft grey skies. Only close in did the jagged, rocky profiles become apparent. A couple of timid terns welcomed us and the wind…
Sao Anton Island
Sao Anton is a 90 minute ferry ride west from Mindelo. If you find yourself in Cabo Verde, a visit to this lovely island should not be missed. The south of Sao Anton is a…
Collision reports
Between the Canaries and Cabo Verde, Yellowbrick tracker, our little GPS transmitter, started sending out collision reports to our friends and family. We didn’t know about any of this at the time. It turns out…
Satellite communications
In addition to 3 EPIRBs and the Yellowbrick transmitter, Tainui has an HF transceiver (Icom M802) which, using a Pactor modem and Sailmail, has been our main method of long distance communication at sea. But…
Clearance out (not)
On Saturday I walked round the waterfront to clear customs and immigration for our Sunday departure. They had warned me to clear out on Saturday because the Police department is closed on Sundays. When I…
Autopilots
We have a robust old autopilot whose drive unit is said to be the starter motor from a 1929 Buick. I kid you not. Wise engineers tell us it is bomb-proof and we must never…
Pas de vent
Maxine will appreciate the irony of this. After fuelling we left Mindelo at 1300h. A bright day with 25 knot winds and unusually clear blue skies. Tainui romped down the channel at 8-9 knots under…
Flying fish
In point of fact the breeze arrived after half an hour last night and we had fresh northerlies all night. 7.5 knots under reefed main and yankee. That hole must have been Sao Anton’s wind…
Dolphins
We clocked up 175 miles in the last 24 hours in a remarkably constant northerly. I hope it will stay with us for the next 14 days. The skies are clear and empty of Western…
Up the mast
Frustration It has been a slow and challenging day. Not enough wind, and that which we had was from dead astern. I suppose we have averaged 4 knots. But the relentless gybing of main and…
CPT
Overnight we motored over a restless, windless ocean. Under some cloud but with a life-affirming full moon. Yesterday I finally finished the new autopilot installation, rivetting the power unit bracket to the main steering pedestal.…
A tedious night
6 February – day 5 Another tedious night of light airs and sloppy residual swell. We try to sail with full main well-braced forward, and poled out yankee. The fully battened main thwacks as we…
Becalmed
Becalmed. This would drive Maxine bonkers. We’ve had almost no wind today (6 Feb). Our speed has varied between 2 and 4 knots. I have stopped scouring the horizon ahead for a first glimpse of…
Plus ca
plus ca change After a lovely (and suitably very expensive) birthday chat with Chris, who is sweltering in Alice Springs, we settled down to another languid and windless night. We have the yankee poled to…
Columbus
The horizon is sharp and unsullied by sails, masts or ship superstructure. Apart from flying fish and very welcome visits from spotted dolphins, we are quite alone. In the days of sail this westbound route…
Varsovie
Having just written a post about the absence of vessels this afternoon, I went on deck for a dingo’s breakast (a quick piss and a look round). I was astonished to see a sail on…
We have wind
now we have wind Last night we dropped the spinnaker at sunset. An excess of caution on my part, I thought at the time. But 2 hours later the breeze piped in and we…
Rhythm
There is one, of sorts. We sail during the day, slop around at night as the wind dies and, finally, drop the sails and run the engine between 10pm and sunrise. Then the breeze seems…
Sargasso work day
Another windless 24 hours with lurching cross seas and slatting sails. It is very frustrating – not good for the sails or the soul. We spent the morning siphoning diesel into the tanks from our…
Like pregnancy
10 days and half way through this interminable crossing I find myself marvelling that I managed to survive that Southern Ocean crossing all those years ago. There are sailors out there/here who do this all…
Wind
For the last 72 hours we’ve been rolling downwind at 6-7 knots, under twin poled headsails. The seas are lumpy, with at least 2 cross swells, but our little CPT autopilot is managing them silently…
Things are OK
Things are OK here. We’re loping downwind at 8 knots under twin poled out headsails, across iridescent and sparkling seas. Whitecaps break noisily on either side of the cockpit and send schools of flying fish…
Galleon’s Passage
By midnight last night we could see the loom of Scarborough to starboard, and an hour later a scratchy image of Tobago was visible on the radar screen. Struggling against an inexplicable easterly current in…
Trinidad at last
In oddly green (shallow) waters we motored 40 miles along Trinidad’s steep and jungle-clad northern shore. Heady floral smells and occasional showers drift down from the mountains. Magnificent frigate birds, pelicans, boobies and lazy dolphins…
A lonely death
There has been much talk in the bay today. A single-hander was found dead in his cabin this morning, after his dinghy was seen to be floating upside down behind his boat. There were no suspicious circumstances…
An empty boat
Ian is an enthusiastic and committed chef on board. But he is a tiny bit messy. Dave used to complain that he had to clean pasta off the deckhead after Ian had cooked. But before…
Departure
Having prepared Tainui for sea I have had a self-indulgent week stocking up on all those experiences which will be denied me after Tainui’s RSM arrives – Bach keyboard music, the Beethoven fiddle concerto, some…
Los Testigos
The 105 mile run from Trinidad to Los Testigos Islands in Venezuela was a romp. With small yankee, storm staysail and one reef in the main we averaged over 8 knots. Mind you, there is…
La Blanquilla
Our 90 mile run west to La Blanquilla took less toll on us. A square run in dwindling breeze meant Mr Ford was called into service. 2 noteworthy events. First, in pitch black we passed…
Spring equinox
Archipelago Los Roques is an absolute jewel! We entered this vast array of coral cays, tranquil lagoons and islands soon after dawn, threading our way between coral heads into a broad, deep and protected anchorage…
Bird Islands
Sotavento in Islas de Aves was the second last of our remote Venezuelan anchorages. We have run out of superlatives to describe the colours, space, silence and beauty of these islands. Apart from two fishing…
Bonaire
Bonaire is 35 miles west of Islas des Aves and our downwind run was gentle. The country came as a shock – 2 cruise ships, row upon row of candy coloured houses along a flat,…
Darling, our first outboard
Our 15 year old 3.5hp Mercury outboard hasn’t run well since it was inadvertently filled with diesel instead of petrol, in Corfu. How that happened is a very private issue, but suffice to say the…
Aruba
We hadn’t intended to stop at Aruba, but a fast westerly trip from Curacao had us off the southern point at 11 pm and Maxine, Tainui’s fount of unassailable logic, asked why we shouldn’t anchor…
The last Venezuelan island
Monjes del Sur, the last of the Venezuelan offshore islands, is a lonely coastguard outpost some 20 miles off the Columbian coast. I don’t think that many yachts stop here, although it is an ideal…
Vela
At Monjes del Sur we threw our bow line, poled out the big staysail and the yankee and loped west along the coast of Colombia in a respectably gentle breeze, ticking off lighthouses. Not rocket…
Santa Marta
At 9 am we left Punta Vela for the run down to Santa Marta 130 miles west. After yesterday’s fresh easterlies we were expecting strong winds, but the breeze dwindled and Mr Ford was asked…
A windy place
The Colombian coast hereabouts is notoriously windy. In December they had two 70 knot gales in Santa Marta and through January there were regular 40 knot breezes. Now, in early April, things are moderating but…
Cartagena
We decided to visit Cartagena by bus rather than sail 100 miles down the coast. However you get there, Cartagena is not to be missed. The narrow streets of the old walled town are a…
A picture’s worth a thousand of them
Looking back through our photos I am struck by a preponderance of statues, monuments and frescoes in them. I don’t know why. This blog contains nothing but random images I have uploaded from our Dropbox…
Portobello
A fast sleigh ride out of Santa Marta took us across the murky Rio Magdalena outflow, west past Cartagena. Then the wind died and Mr Ford was called upon. 2 noteworthy events en route –…