Photos

Home at last on Sunday after a good rest in the Canaries. Here are some of the many photos from the trip (videos best viewed individually and select the HQ option). Click either of them to get to the album.

Some photos are from the first week where we waited around for the start. (Also filled with interesting weather).


All the best
Colin & Louise

Thursday 12th November

We arrived in Madeira last night & having never been here before we're amazed by the taxi journey up and down hills, in and out of tunnels and the views of Funchal.

The spa hotel we are in is lovely and just the opposite of the privations of a boat at sea on a long passage. It's in a very pretty place (Santa Cruz) away from the capital and closer to the airport.

Very happy to be here and relax. Louise on the mend already, but has some work to do to regain all the lost weight.

It's been incredible to have tried this and a real challenge. Colin is glad to have escaped with only two skirmishes with sickness and really enjoyed the 2200 miles of sailing. Louise is pleased she was brave enough to try (twice) something that most leisure sailors don't experience - true open sea (and latterly ocean) sailing.

Thanks for all your good wishes on the way, see you when we get back.

Wednesday 11th November

Leave Phoebe B behind to the rest of her journey and hatch some plans to get to Gran Canaria by the 14th.

Essentially we'll get a ferry to Madeira this evening and stay there until we can get flights arranged by whatever route.

Tuesday 10th November

Arrive in Porto Santo (small island NE of Madeira) about 6pm. Not much in the port, but a nice town for a meal out and early bed after a much needed shower.

We both plan to leave here, as Louise can't continue and Colin wants to look after her (as well as being exhausted himself). For CJ it's been 2200+ miles at sea now and more than we planned to do originally. We're now 20% of the way across an Atlantic trip if this was the route taken.

Sunday 8th and Moday 9th November

Not much to report apart from more of the same. Lots of sun, 5 metre swell and the odd 30+ foot wave.

Louise again unable to raise herself much from her cabin as every time her head leaves the pillow she is sick.

Friday 7th November

Poor Louise starts to be seasick again and no amount of new drugs or ginger seems to help her.

Weather forecasts tell us and the office that winds up to storm force 10 await us if we continue south to the Canaries, and the only option if we are to continue is to turn west towards Madeira.

At least we are sailing 24 hours a day now with favourable NE winds in the vicinity (if we avoid the storms).

Bizarrely in the afternoon a Moroccan fishing vessel passes in between our two sailing boats, laying nets, and almost catches Tranquilizer. It's a mystery to most of us how we didn't end up spending the rest of the day diving and cutting away the nets, but we didn't and she escaped somehow.

Friday 6th November

Lots of hanging around avoiding the daily localised winds (30+ knots) before departing at 1730 for the Canaries with our storm jib ready rigged just in case!

The night sailing through the rest of the Gibraltar Strait was pretty calm though although extremely busy with large vessels entering and leaving the Med.

We went due south to avoid the large vessel traffic separation lanes and skirted the coast of Morocco for a while.

The photo is of Tranquilizer, an identical boat in every way, now we're sailing together.

Thursday 5th November

Having helped with loads of boat maintenance over the last few days and Louise's arrival we take a day off to tour Gibraltar. The unexpected 25 knot westerly wind (where have we heard that before) that delays our departure until tomorrow morning closes the cable car, so we decide to be stingy and walk up the roads and paths of the Rock to visit some of the attractions at the top. First stop was a cafe where we narrowly avoid having our lunch stolen by a Barbary ape which jumped onto the table between us, fortunately only managing to get away with an empty crisp packet. Then into St Michael's Cave, a spectacular cavern full of stalactites which housed an auditorium and "stage", which must make an amazing setting for some of the ballet and other productions put on there. Next stop were the Siege Tunnels, dug for miles into the Rock during the siege of Gibraltar from 1779-1780(ish!). A good look at the views on the way back down to Gibraltar town.

This might be our last post again for a few days, as the plan is to leave early tomorrow morning for the non-stop 4.5 day run to Lanzarote.

Wednesday 4th November

Colin's birthday starts with his wish for a climb up the mast coming true with 3 hours work strapping on protection for the sails ready for Phoebe B's trip across the atlantic.

Next up was a trip to Barry's villa just over the border in spain (where he's been hiding during our Gib stay enjoying a proper bed and showers) for a pleasant afternoon away from all things nautical and a tasty barbecue.

Louise insists on giving me a present of something all sailors of the high seas require (according to her). Words fail me so look at the picture.

Tuesday 3rd November

Provisioning the boat for the next leg and for the rest of its run to St Lucia - several hundreds of pounds spent in Morrisons here and 55 6 packs of 1.5 litre bottles of water!!!

Louise arrives back fit and well thanks to Mum & Dad's care & cooking - great news!

New crewmates Raj and Tom arrive.

November 2nd

A quiet day, mostly cleaning the boat after previous escapades & ready for new crew arriving.

November 1st

The mist has cleared overnight and after another confusing call to the Marina in Gib we now have a space. A very hasty set off with a no-show from Barry (asleep in his villa) and Adam in bed but hastily roused we get going in 5 mins flat.

I get to helm all the way around from Duquesa through the straits and up to Gibraltar marina - very happy indeed.

Moor up for the evening and get out for eats & drinks.

Sat 31st October

Motor all through the early hours & fog. Nice skirmish with an 800ft cruise liner overnight where fortunately he obeys the collision rules and steers around us.

First light brings lots of optimism about the fog here clearing by 10am (it doesn't all day). I wake to the sound of the radio wailing a 'pan-pan' alert for all vessels to look out for a small craft with 10 people on board lost at sea - not in our area so we cannot help.

Mid morning, skipper Matt spots a big target on radar and AIS which turns out to be P&O's massive cruise liner Aurora heading for a closest approach of 75ft (and they are travelling at 25 knots!) - a quick call on the radio produces a very cool response that they had already seen us and were due to pass 1 mile to our stern (coincidence?). We never saw or heard any of the 800ft(?)thing.

Mid-afternoon, the novelty of fog not disappearing in the Med wears off and we head off to La Duquesa, slowing to preserve the dwindling supply of diesel. The fog clears near land so no-one believes us.

Well deserved beers in the bar.

The picture is of the Costa del Sol

Friday 30th Oct

0800 start in the direction of Gibraltar, nice weather but little wind to start with. More dolphins visit us; no luck with the fishing even with a new weight to get the lure lower in the water.

Some choppy weather in the afternoon soon calms down and gives way to fog (yes fog) overnight. Radar and AIS on all the way. Night watches of 3 hours on and 3 hours off are more tiring than I realised.

29th October

Still in Cartagena. Today Abi left the boat as scheduled and Richard who joined on Sardinia to help with repairs and make up crew numbers left a little earlier than scheduled.

Prep the boat during the day to set sail avoiding today's headwind and ready for the southerly tomorrow. Plan to set sail 2100 or 2200 tonight non-stop to Gibraltar.

28th October

Still no favourable wind, so the fishing goes on and yesterday's is cooked to make a delicious lunch. Weather forecast is light winds until next monday now. At 0851 local time we crossed the Greenwich Meridian and later more excitement as 20+ dolphins come to play and swim under the bow of the boat. Not sure if the video will upload but here goes ...Arrive Cartagena at 1700 ish pretty tired now after the non-stop night watches. Amazing approach to the town and quite picturesque. Tapas and too much beer into the early hours..... oh dear....

27th October

Still no wind so motor on again to keep to the schedule for other crew.

'Biggles' the bird makes a brief stop for a rest on his way somewhere and in his excitement flies all the way into the boat and through an open hatch where we are stowing spare sails to disappear into the very back of the boat among the steering gear. A very hot half hour is spent chasing him back out again!

News from Louise about being checked out by the doctor and plans are laid for her to rejoin the boat on Gibraltar. :-)

Motor on through long night watches.

25, 26 October

Slip the lines at 0930 and start the 480 mile non-stop run to Cartagena in Spain. Mostly motor sailing in light or no-existent winds.

At last we caught a fish (a dolphin fish) so Barry a happy man & can't wait to get on and cook it.

Later on a school of dolphins 10 or more visits us amid lots of excitement, encouraging them by leaning over the side and banging on the hull of the boat.

Saturday 24th October

Probably the last post for a few days now. The plan is that Louise (better but still not right now the injections are wearing off) will fly home to her parents for some TLC and try to rejoin later (maybe Gib). Colin will rejoin Phoebe B at 1600 today as she has set sail from Porto Corallo for Cagliari to at least make some progess (40 miles) before sheltering from the next forecast gale (this is getting repetitive).

Not easy saying goodbye like this, hard not to miss out and hard to know Louise will be sad at not continuing, but it's for the best.

Friday 23rd October

A day in Cagliari for the two of us, trying to sort out arrangements for Louise to get home for some recovery at her parents, with the hope of coming back to joint the boat again for the later stages of the voyage.

Colin is reluctant to leave Louise to travel home alone after being so ill, but eventually we decide that he will stay here and rejoin the boat tomorrow when it is due to set sail for Cartagena. (The boat has fortunately had to hang around here too for the day due to storms to the south and west of Sardinia, so the option of rejoining it is still available to Colin.)

Thursday 22nd October

In the middle of Wednesday/Thursday night the wind again came round to an unfavourable westerly direction, making the boat slam and crash into the waves, and again the wind speed rose to 30-40 knots (Gale force 8) with a 5m swell. Skipper Matt decided to turn northwards for the sheltered eastern coast of Sardinia instead of continuing to head towards our intended destination of Cagliari.

Finally made it to a small, more easterly safe harbour called Porto Corallo, just to get some respite from the weather (and to give the now very sick Louise some rest).

Today we got news of the other Sail Ionian boat Tranquilizer (which on the original schedule would have set sail a week after us). They had already "lost" two crew to uncontrollable seasickness and had left the boat at the first opportunity in Messina. When they came out of the Messina straits and turned west, they were apparently caught out with too much sail for the wind and in the process of furling the headsail away they had ripped the sail and destroyed the furling gear, leaving the sail to be shredded by the wind. The process of cutting it free required someone to climb the mast in 40 knot gusts of wind to cut the damaged gear away. So maybe we aren't doing so badly after all.

Matt was now concerned about the safety of Louise staying on board and a doctor was called. After a stilted consultation with a doctor who only spoke Italian, an injection was administered - an interesting experience on a bouncing boat!

After some agonising decision making, we decided to leave the boat and head for a hotel and think what to do next.

Wednesday 21st October

Colin saw a beautiful sunrise this morning (while covering the night-watch for the bed-ridden Louise, now on her ninth day of being repeatedly sick).

With the morning light, our crew mate Barry saw the trailing fishing gear caught round our propeller lying in the water behind us, so we had to cut it free and hope that the prop. would survive until we next reached a harbour.

Whilst sitting in the (unfamiliar) sun later that morning, Barry spent some time fishing and Abi saw turtles swimming near the boat.

Louise's condition has now taken a turn for the worse and she cannot even keep rehydration salts or water down, so not a happy sailor! Unfortunately, the weather during the later part of the day and into the early hours of Thursday again deteriorated and we again faced winds of 40 knots (Gale force 8) and wave heights of up to 10m. Yes, really 10m. So not ideal conditions for the poorly sailor, now confined to her cabin.

Tuesday 20th October

Left Milazzo, again to try the non-stop run to Sardinia, with a good forecast of south-easterly winds. However, the forecast lied to us! Again we hit strong head-on westerly winds. We now know from our pilot book that this area is known as the "Aeolian Triangle", which apparently did for Odysseus and his crew and the weather here has been catching sailors out ever since.

The wind did improve for a time, and we had some fun watching dolphins swimming and jumping around the bow of the boat for a while, which was great.

Later on, while off-watch, we hear sounds of the others reefing the sails and exclaiming that the boat was now making about 10 knots (very fast for this kind of boat).

Little did we know that in the darkness, one of the sets of fishing gear we had been spotting and avoiding all day had become entangled round our propeller, to be discovered tomorrow.

While on night-watch, we saw loads of shooting stars.

Monday 19th October

Left Messina at about 11am after doing a few jobs on board, one of which involved hoisting one of our crew mates, the intrepid Abi, to the top of the mast. Photos from the top to follow at some point. Our intention was to set out for a non-stop sail to Sardinia today, but we headed into a repeat performance of Sunday: after rounding the north-east corner of Sicily we again hit strong westerly headwinds and pounding seas, but this time with the added spice of thunder, lightning and hail. For those of you who thought we were off on a sunny Mediterranean cruise, think again!

Again, we had to think again about our destination, and after several hours of battling the weather again, we admitted defeat and turned in to Milazzo, which had been our original destination the day before. We arrived in Milazzo at about 9pm, very tired and glad of the chance to stop, only to be met by a marina official standing on the quay wildly gesticulating at us and shouting at us to get lost - even with our combined very limited knowledge of Italian we managed to work that out. We moored up anyway and spent a happy hour or so gesticulating back at him until we had negotiated a one night stay.

Sunday 18th October

Good night sailing through the Messina straits, with plenty of traffic to look out for and calm conditions. Both Colin and Louise up on deck to see as much as possible and to really get used to using the radar and chart plotter. Unfortunately, once we rounded the north-eastern corner of Sicily and started to head west along the north coast of Sicily on our way to Milazzo we really began to hit some rough weather. The wind started to pick up to a consistent 20-25 knots (Force 5-6) and eventually rose to gusts of 45 knots (Gale Force 8-9) head on to the boat, with waves of 5-7m and torrential rain. Louise took the helm for a while.

We battled against this headwind for a few hours, but eventually took the decision that we weren't going to get to Milazzo, so our skipper Matt took over the helm again and turned us round to surf the waves back to Messina under a pocket-handkerchief sized Genoa. Arrived in Messina about 4am.

Saturday 17th October

A long day's fairly uneventful sailing across the Ionian Sea with reasonably good weather until we saw our first sight of the heel of Italy in the distance. By about 10.30pm the weather had deteriorated considerably and our skipper had taken the helm, not trusting us amateurs.

Friday 16th October

Set sail at last, with ARC flags flying and a big send off from the Sail Ionian team. Motor sailed round to the south of Lefkas and then raised the sails to take the north-westerly wind past Vasiliki and out into the Ionian Sea. On into the night. Louise not feeling too good and took to her bed to avoid the night watches! Some good night sailing, with speeds of up to 8-9 knots at times and not much traffic.

The team comprises Matt the Sail Ionian skipper, ourselves, the adventurous Abi, a care worker, Iona, an air-hostess, and Barry, a retired Spanish-villa owner (and good cook).

We will sail the boat in turns or watches, especially when sailing the longer day and night passages. Essentially these are 3 hour shifts in pairs 1.5 hours as crew and 1.5 hours as helm. With the number of crew we set out with (until some of the changeover stops) this means we get 4 hours rest in between watches.

News at last

Storm avoidance and Greek legal issues surrounding safety kit have
delayed departure so far, today looks good. Tracking link
http://live.adventuretracking.com/sailionian our boat is Phoebe B. (After our bit of the trip the link will stay live as Phoebe B carries on with a new crew across the Atlantic so don't think we've stayed on ;-) ).


The week has been spent day sailing, and finishing the setup of the boat.


More detail later.

Edit:
Highlights of the week apart from the Greek legal issues were -

• Torrential rain and thunderstorms
• Anchor dragging in Sivota and having to come off the quay and re-anchor twice in the dark at around 0500, before a 180 degree shift in the wind caused havoc with everyone else who had moved and anchored - rather than lift the anchor with potentially crossed chains it was safer to hold the boat steady on the engine if required and stay up until first light.
• Practice sailing in Force 8 winds!
• Sunbathing on a calm day in Dessimi Bay
  

Outline Route for 2009

We now have an outline route for the journey, but the details will change frequently with the weather and wind. There will be an extra stop along the Spanish coast to be decided nearer the time; non-stop past Morocco (which is a shame not to see some of the country, but more practical).

Hopefully we'll be able to either post or put the boat's satellite tracking link on here soon. Given the distance to travel we'll not be ashore much so updates apart from maps might be few and far between.

Departure date for the boat is 12th October.

Not sure I trust google with my position data long term, or publishing it freely, but if network charges permit or wifi in port is available then Google Latitude might give an alternative to more frequent position updates that concerned familiy seem to be interested in. I've tried to embed a latitude map on the left.




View Med trip 2009 - outline route in a larger map

Start of a blog

Well it's not much, but it's a start to see if we can get this working for later in the year. A map our first ever trip in the Ionian Sea is embedded here. The photo is of dawn at Port Atheni, a beautiful bay on Meganissi

View Ionian Sept 08 in a larger map