After a fantastic summer season in the Lofoten Islands, we have just started to make our way south towards the UK. At this time of the year our sailing changes from day sailing and exploring to milebuilding trips. These provide the opportunity to mix coastal cruising with short offshore passage making. These trips are ideal to get a taste of round the clock watchkeeping and night sailing without being too far from land.

We were a bit of an international crew for our sail from Bodo to Bergen. Jackie and Michael from Switzerland who had previously sailed with us day sailing in Spain, Adapia and Mario from Italy who had previously sailed with us day sailing in Iceland, and Jonathan, who keeps his own boat on the west coast of Wales. All were new to long passages and overnight sailing and looking forward to the experience.

In 10 days we clocked up 734 miles in bite sized chunks! 2 passages each lasting 2 nights and 300 miles. The remainder of the miles coastal day sailing, and including a detour to the glistening glacier at Svartissen.

Our route from Bodo to Bergen takes us around Statt headland, Norway’s answer to Portland Bill. The pilot book is full of warnings about not rounding the headland in bad weather, and so when we received a forecast for SW8 and 9 we decided that we had to divert and wait out the gale. As the forecast went up to SW10, we realised that we had a long wait; it was third day lucky before we were off again.

Our delay meant we approached Bergen in the dark, through the very busy traffic lanes and we were all kept on our toes keeping track of the lights of other ships amongst the many sectored lights and oil terminals. Great practice and experience for those new to sailing in the dark.

The tiny harbour in the centre of Bergen was buzzing when we arrived, and continued to get busier. A-ha, Norway’s biggest pop band were playing live in the city centre, and by 5pm on Saturday night, boats were rafted 5 deep all along the harbour wall – we couldn’t have left if we’d wanted to.

The weather has now settled down and we are about to set off on our next sail, the 400nm passage across the Norwegian sea to Scotland, followed by a cruise through the Hebrides and Irish Sea on our way back to Plymouth. After Plymouth, we continue with milebuilding passages and coastal cruising right up until December.

Across the Bay of Biscay early October, along the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal late October, Southern Spain to Madeira in November and finally Madeira to Lanzarote the first week of December. If you wonder what passage sailing and watchkeeping are all about, why not come along and give it a try.

6 weeks ago, we had an unavoidable cancellation, leaving us with a potentially empty boat for our last Lofoten Islands trip.  We reduced the price and sent e mails out to all and sundry to see if we could fill it.  Thanks to all who helped pass the message on the grapevine as we did indeed fill the boat and have just had another great week.

We were joined by three couples, including a friend of Richards sister, who had passed the e mail around at work!  Rebecca had not sailed before, but was keen to come and give it a try and afterwards wrote in our guest book

‘Thank you so much for a really lovely holiday and a wonderful introduction to sailing.  You took us to some beautiful spots and let us learn at our own pace which was really appreciated.  Felt very looked after and thoroughly enjoyed your company’

We had another great week, sailing 194 miles in 6 days.  The sun shone a lot, but for the first time this season we had fog.  Sunday morning with thick fog all around us we could do nothing but sit in the anchorage and wait for it to clear.

Perfect opportunity for a bit of fishing and Simon and Joel were up to the task.  2 hours later, and just as the fog cleared we had enough fish for dinner.  The fog was replaced by brilliant sunshine and mirror glassy seas.  We had a good distance to cover, to get us within reach of Bodo so we decided to go for some intricate navigation and take a short cut through the rocks!  Not something you would try under sail.

As Richard navigated us around some very tight bends, I tried to capture the rocks and islands on camera, with no great success.  At one stage we felt that we could reach out and touch both sides.

Our short cut took us to Helnessund, new to us and not very clear in the pilot book what we would find when we got there.  As we approached and passed the harbour, we realised that the pontoons were far too small for us, and the anchorage was going to be right in the way of the passing traffic – not ideal.  We continued on for a further 3 miles around the corner and found another idyllic new anchorage with white sandy beaches and water warm enough to swim in.

During the week we noticed that the nights are drawing in and for the first time this season we saw that the lighthouses were flashing.  At 11 at night we had to  put the cabin lights on to read, and one night we even needed the ‘anchor light’ on.

Guess it is time to check out our navigation lights, put batteries in the torches, and get used to watches in the dark.  The Norwegians are very fond of their sectored lights and we are looking forward to using these to guide the way through the rocks!  These are shown in colour on the chart making them exceptionally easy to use.

Our destination this next trip is Bergen, 400 miles south – Perhaps we will see the northern lights!

After a really busy summer with short 3 day turnarounds between our first 3 long trips, Richard and I were thrilled to have a slightly longer break before the start of this trip.

We are often asked if we spend the time between trips getting out and about, but the simple answer to that is no.  By the time we have done the laundry, the shopping, made up the cabins and cleaned the boat, kept up with the maintenance, and checked out the weather for the next trip, our 3 days have passed.  We manage to get a bit of a rest in that period, but we are also always adding to our ‘to do’ list.

Whenever we have a longer gap, we try and tick off as much as we can from the to do list, but also have a bit of time to ‘treat’ourselves.  So what do we do for a treat in a foreign country.  Well last week we ‘treated’ ourselves to dinner and a movie.  Dinner was a pizza and beer, followed by Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in ‘Knight and Day’. All the films in Norway are still in English with Norwegian sub titles, so that helps a lot.  Only problem was, we had not thought the cinema would be so full, and we never thought about ‘allocated’ seats, so although we were in the back row – Richard was at one end of the row and I was at the other.  I enjoyed the film (and I think Richard did, although he was sitting next to a 10 year old munching popcorn).  Full of ‘action;’ it reminded me of Tom Cruise in his Mission Impossible days, so much so that I am now looking for MI3 on DVD as I never managed to see that one first time round.

So relaxed after a day of rest and our treat, we were all set and ready to go for the first of our shorter 7 night Lofoten Islands trip.  Our guests arrived and amongst the 6 of them 2 were sailors and the other 4 were relatively new to sailing.  All had come to see the Lofoten Islands, do some sailing, but also climb a hill.  We knew just which hill to take them to.  Here in Bodo, the sun now sets although it still does not go dark.  To catch the last of the midnight sun we had to go further north, and climb a hill which gave us a clear view of the northern horizon.

The wind was light as we motored across to the Lofoten islands and made our way up to Digermulen, a very small town on the island of Hinnoya.  The town lies at the foot
of Keiservarden, a 384m hill, to be climbed after dinner. The aim to be on the top at midnight and catch a glimpse of the sun still above the horizon.

With light wind again the next day we motored north to look for trolls in Trollfjord, before heading south again to anchor in Haversand for a BBQ.  Although we have been into Trollfjord on most of our trips, we have never before noticed so much bird life.  There were hundreds of black eyed guillemots nesting on the sheer rock. What stops them falling off I wonder.

At the beginning of the week, Marina had expressed a wish to see a sea eagle flying.  We were not disappointed, we saw sea eagles on every day this last week and some of them from really close up.  On our last day there were 5 soaring above us as we left our lunch time anchorage and headed back to Bodo.

Despite this trip being 3 days shorter than our previous ones we still sailed 192 miles and visited 7 stunning places, including a new anchorage with many birds.  Jo, Marina and Chris went walking ashore amongst wonderful flowers and butterflies, whilst Mike and Mary fished for our supper.  Our newcomers to sailing were broken in gently at the beginning of the week, with sunshine and flat seas and learnt about tacking at the end of the week on an exciting beat home!  The sun shone for our last afternoon in Bodo, and with a couple of 6 packs of beer from the supermarket we sat in the cockpit and learnt to play ‘Liar Dice’.

Getting ready now for our final Lofoten Islands trip before we start on our coastal sailing, milebuilding and ocean passage trips.  We again have a slightly longer break – and this time our planned treat – a visit to the hairdressers!

We have just completed our third 10 night sailing holiday in the Lofoten Islands. We were pleased to be joined this week by more old friends.  Liz and Dave had previously sailed with us in Iceland, and Lynn and Geoff sailed with us last year in the Lofotens.  We were also pleased to meet Ian and Kay, who were joining us for the first time.   The first night as usual was spent getting to know each other and discussing the itinerary.

The itineraries on all of our trips are tailored to suit the weather forecast.  We are always listening to the weather, and make our plans to allow us to sail during the day time and find safe protected harbours for the nights.  We use many sources to gather our information, the navtext, the barometer, the clouds, the internet, the shipping forecast (in Norwegian) and the VHF radio.  The weather is only announced in English on the VHF radio if a Force 7 or more is indicated – so whenever we hear the announcers voice in English we immediately tune in.

The early indications for this trip were light winds on the first day, moderate winds for the next couple of days and then strong south westerlies.  We decided to spend the first fews days exploring the south side of the Lofoten Islands, and then when the southerly winds came to head north of the Lofoten islands and sail in the protection of the land and flatter water.

We sailed a total of 272nm this trip.  We spent our first few days visiting Kjerringoy, Reine, Nusfjord, Ballstad and Haversand.  Ballstad was new to us and what a find – with lovely walks ashore.

As we headed north via Trollfjord and through the narrows towards the north coast, the barometer started to drop like a stone and we realised that we were in for ‘a good blow’.  This was backed up by the VHF warning us of a ‘Temporary Gale force 8’, but when and how long for?  Our next navtext weather update had no mention of a Gale, which surprised us until we noticed that it was the forecast for yesterday.

We holed up in a quite peaceful anchorage in Brottoya, in flat calm, and wondered if we would escape the gale!  It came, all 45 knots of it, just as we were dishing up the dinner.  It was hold on to your wine glasses as the boat heeled sharply in the anchorage!  We can monitor the wind speed from down below, and saw a gust reach 53.  Time for the cheeseboard to take our minds off it!

I took a quick peek outside, and although it was flat in the anchorage, I could see rolls of white horses and surf breaking on the rocks that protected our anchorage – and another yacht heading in to shelter.  Glad we were here and not there.

As quickly as it started, the wind died, and by the time we had finished dinner and washed up it was all gone – I guess that’s what they meant by temporary!

We set off again and sailed to Stokmarknes for lunch before investigating another new anchorage at Nesoy.  We were surrounded by puffins as we crept in between the rocks to this tiny cove.

We continued our lookout for wildlife, and spotted many more white tailed eagles, but despite seeing lots of shoals of fish on the surface still didn’t spot any whales.  A conversation with a local told us that they are much further north this year.

Our last day before returning to Bodo was perfect.  We sailed 40 miles across from Heningsvaer in the Lofoten islands and anchored in bright sunshine off a white sandy beach.  After piling into the dinghy to go ashore, there was time for a swim and a snorkel before the barbeque was ready to cook our burgers.

We all ate on deck in T shirts with the warmth of the evening sun on our backs and after toasting marshmallows in the embers of the fire Ian entertained us with number games.

Back in Bodo now and it’s a ‘holiday weekend’ with a funfair set up in the middle of the square.  Richard has promised me a trip on the waltzers later!

Picture this!

10pm. We are sitting at anchor in a quiet secluded anchorage.  We spent the evening snorkelling and fishing.  Dinner is  over and the washing up done.  We are quietly reading and playing sudoko when there is a loud knocking noise on the side of the boat.  There, in a rowing boat, is a local from one of the few houses on the shore.  ‘Welcome, we would like to invite you to our house for a drink ‘.  How could we turn down such hospitality, and so armed with bottles of wine we clambered into his rowing boat and were ferried ashore to the family holiday house on their private island!  The house was warm and inviting, heated by a log burning fire and thermostatically controlled by opening and closing the door.  Apparently during the season there is about one yacht per night at anchor in the bay and these friendly people, attracted by our British ensign, wanted to know what had brought us to the Lofoten Islands, and how we heard about this tiny little anchorage.  In return we were entertained with stories of their lifestyle, whilst sampling their home made smoked salmon and dried fish.

This is just one of the memories of our second 10 night Lofoten Islands trip.

We had a great time, sailing 252 miles including 2 nights on the northern side of the Lofoten Islands.

Our first night on ‘The dark side’ , in the sheltered anchorage at Nordvagen, Dave went digging for cockles on the beach at low water.  Within the hour he was busy in the galley, gently steaming them in white wine before dishing them up on a bed of freshly caught seaweed as a starter.

We visited 11 different  places during our 9 days sailing,  a mix of fishing ports and isolated anchorages, including a stunning new anchorage to add to our list of favourites.  We sailed under 3 bridges this week and each time had to hold our breath as there never looks like there is enough room.  We saw many eagles and even an otter, but despite being on the constant look out, still no whales.

We had a mix of wind conditions, ranging from close reaching at 8 knots to motoring in glassy calm seas.  We gybed many times during the week but as we approached Bodo on our last day we realised that during the week we hadn’t tacked once!  Much to the bemusement of the boat behind us, for our last gybe of the trip, we went the long way round and tacked through the wind to a round of applause.

After so many nights of peaceful anchorages, it was a bit of a shock to the system to arrive back in Bodo on a Friday evening and be surrounded by people.  With everyone wondering around in T shirts and shorts, it certainly looks like the summer holiday season has started.  We joined the locals on the terrace and toasted the end of the trip with some well earned local Arctic Beer.

Due to a recent cancellation there is still a chance to join us in the Lofoten Islands for a 7 night holiday at a reduced price of £675, and one last space on the coastal cruise from Bodo to Bergen

Summer 2009 we had such a great season in the Lofoten Islands, that we just had to return for more. As always when you ‘revisit’ a favourite place, there is a danger that you will be disappointed.  After our first 10 day trip here in the Lofoten Islands, we are pleased with our decision to return and were not disappointed.

Norway’s coastline is as staggeringly beautiful as we remembered it, and the locals just as friendly.  The Lofoten Islands are 150nm north of the Arctic Circle, and as to be expected the weather is often mixed. Last week we had some warm sunny days, some cold windy days with bright blue skies, a couple of days of flat calm, and one day with a huge amount of rain.  We sailed 282 miles in the 10 days, walked to lakes, climbed hills, tried our hand at fishing and two hardy guests even took a dip in the sea off the white sandy beaches on Skrova.

We visited small fishing ports and had a close look at the cod drying on the racks.  We anchored in secluded bays and enjoyed the peace.  One night we drank gluwein and barbequed reindeer burgers, but ate them down below out of the wind!

We added 4 new places to our itinerary this week, the fishing villages of Aa and Sorvagen, and new anchorages in Ankersvagan and Breidvika.  Each week this season we will continue to revisit favourite places and search out new treasures.

Our favourite place this week was Ankersvagan, a new anchorage on the island of Engoloya.  As we arrived in this wonderful peaceful anchorage, the water was so still we could see reflections all around us, and up ahead on a rock sat two glorious white tailed eagles (sea eagles).  We silently crept up to them, cameras clicking away, and managed to get some great photos of them.

As we were dropping our anchor we could see fish jumping and knew that here would be a good place to get out the fishing line. We weren’t wrong, within minutes of casting the line, Miles had caught a large cod. The stillness was amazing and in the silence we could hear the tinkling of the bells around the necks of the local sheep, and the calls of two cuckoos talking to each other.

As we left the following morning, we again spotted our pair of eagles, and spent another comfortable hour, just watching nature in action, and before we left we also spotted three harbour porpoises!  No whales this week, will they come out to play next week I wonder.

Back in Bodo, midsummer celebrations were in full swing.  We arrived to hear a band playing over the tannoy and just as we tied alongside it seemed that the canon was fired in welcome!

We’re here.  We’ve arrived in Bodo in Norway and are getting ready for our summer season.  The sun is shining and the sky is blue, even if it is a bit chilly. We feel very at home here, no more so than when both the customs man and the owner of the garage where we get our gas both say ‘its you again, welcome back!’

Everyone who came on our passage from Oban to Bodo was looking for something slightly different.  So, when asked to describe their particular highlights, there was a huge variety.

For Keith, it was helming around Cape Wrath and past the Orkney Islands in strong winds, racing along at 8 knots – he did say he was both surprised and chuffed that we let him! (Of course we do, that’s all part of adventure sailing)

John’s highlights were the ‘Runs Ashore’, particularly Lovund, our first stop in Norwegian waters – and the best part, a fantastic Sauna.

For Malcolm it was ‘to be given hot crumpets while helming at 8.5 knots across the Arctic Ocean’

Clive’s highlight was the whole trip and the fact that it could be sub divided into so many different sections and types of experience

• A day sail in the Sound of Mull
• Beating against a near gale out of the Minch followed by 2 nights at sea on passage to Lerwick in the Shetland Islands (320nm)
• A day stopover in Lerwick to recover, and prepare for the longer passage
• The watch system on the 5 nights at sea as we sailed across the Norwegian Sea and past many oil rigs to Norway (570nm)
• The intricate navigation as we took the inshore route to Bodo, sailing amongst the many islands and skerries, including a stop at the Svartissen glacier (200nm)

Relaxing at the Glacier with a hard earned Arctic beer, after a good sail and a climb right up to the ice

For Richard it was the seals and the Puffin Walk in Lovund even though the Puffins were not easily seen as they were flying in circles above our heads.

Other memorable moments not mentioned are Whales, dolphins, seals, eagles, crossing the Arctic Circle and logging 1000nm.

For me, my highlight is always when we exceed people’s expectations and they want to come back for more.

We’re ready now for our next set of new guests who are due tomorrow, and looking forward to more sailing in the Lofoten Islands.  Although we are now almost full for this summer in Norway, (one space on 14th August),we do have spaces later in the year, and are already selling spaces for 2011.  Check our our Schedule for full details

Dolphins, whales, seals, birds – wind, waves, rain and sun, this last week had them all.

‘Does everything it says on the tin and more’
‘Excellent company, much learning and even more fun’

We left Plymouth on our 500 nm passage to Oban in sunshine and light winds.  After a day sail to Fowey for our first day, we headed south towards Lizard Point, motoring in the still light winds.  There was an unusual dark line on the sea ahead of us, and as we were motoring we set off to investigate.  We found the sea teeming with dolphins, a pod of 100 or more were playing follow the leader so we joined in too.  There were obviously quite a few mother and babies, who kept very close together and plenty of playful teenagers as well!  After an hour of running with the dolphins and filling memory cards with photographs we decided to head south again on our passage, only to find the dolphins then followed us.  It is really hard to describe the sheer wonder of watching nature at work; we have some great video, which I am trying to load at the moment.  The link will be here soon!

As we rounded the Lizard the wind filled in and our passage to Lands End was fast, we rounded late afternoon doing 9 knots, and had to put a reef in during dinner! A good lesson as to why we eat in shifts.  As we continued north into our first night and the Bristol Channel, the strong wind and bumpy sea claimed a few casualties.  The strong wind stayed all the first night and then gradually reduced to a peaceful force 3 to 4.  After 24 hours, we had all recovered from seasickness and settled in to the watch system and enjoying the sailing. With 4 people on each watch there was even time to warm up down below in the cold part of the nights.  The Irish Sea was busy, with fishing boats, ships, ferries and other yachts to look out for.  At night our bow wave and wake glowed with phosphorescence and we were treated to more visits from dolphins, they looked like approaching torpedoes with a large green streak behind them.

There are many tidal gates here, but on passage we had to take the tides as they came. Sometimes our speed over the ground was 10 knots other times it was reduced to 3.  We knew we had to make good an average of 4 knots and so we were constantly working out the sums.

Only when we were round the Mull of Kintyre did we have the luxury of thinking about stopping for a night.  With time in hand we realised we could afford one stop as long as we were within spitting distance of Oban.  After considering the options we settled on the tiny village of Port Askaig, in the sound of Islay.  I remembered this very small but picturesque harbour from my days with the Ocean Youth Club 20 years ago.   Then, we used to tie up on the Cally Mac ferry berth and Reeds confirmed that this was still possible.  We arrived to discover that the pier has recently been refurbished to take bigger ferries, and so the large fendering made getting ashore one of the challenges of the week.  Dave managed to clamber along a gap in the fendering and set off to chat up the landlord in the pub for the loan of a boarding plank. Currently there are 9 whiskey distilleries on Islay, one no more than half a mile from the boat, so it was imperative that we could reach the pub to try the whisky.

After a peaceful night alongside, an early start saw us leaving Port Askaig at 5 am, to catch the tide north, just as the sun was rising.  Beautiful.  We headed towards Colonsay, reported to have a puffin colony, found no puffins but loads of razor bills, seals, porpoises and a very large minke whale, all this before breakfast.  We stayed with the whale for about half an hour catching glimpses of it as it surfaced whilst enjoying its own breakfast.

Our early start gave us time to detour up the sound of Mull and anchor in Duart bay for lunch before arriving in Dunstaffnage for dinner.  605 nm by the log was something to celebrate as every one on board had come along to build up their miles.  We were slightly put out to discover that the pub in the marina was shut, but not to be deterred from celebrating we made a dash out to the local shop for supplies and had our own lively party on board.

Sailing is a great way to meet new people and make friends, and our neighbours assumed we had known each other for ever!

‘Watch out!’ yelled Dan from the helm, two seconds later a gigantic wave crashed across the sidedeck and filled the cockpit, there was a loud crash and bang as it went accompanied by the hiss of my lifejacket going off, surprisingly my hair remained dry!

This was the largest wave we had ever ‘taken’ on board Velvet Lady in three years and clearly demonstrated the power of water.  As well as setting off my lifejacket, this wave managed to wash a lifering, over the side (which remained on board because it was attached to the danbuoy), wash the autopilot control box off its mount and fill the cockpit.  Down below the microwave moved 6 inches off its bracket, and the books on the bookshelves leapt over the bars that held them in place and crashed to the floor, no one was hurt.  It felt like being in the southern ocean all over again.

We were on passage from the Azores to UK, and this was one of the many memorable occasions on the trip.  We had set off from the Azores, a week earlier, and with a forecast for continuing gales from the north east had chosen to take an alternative route back home going south of the low.  Even heading south the wind managed to increase to gale force, with gusts of  force 10, and as it was now easing  it left behind a big sea.  We were glad we had opted for the easier route!

As the wind continued to decrease and we studied the weather maps, we realised that the wind was going to all but disappear for the second week leaving us a very long motor!

So much for the prevailing westerlies that are clearly shown on the routing charts.  Is this a result of the North Atlantic Oscillation.

Velvet Lady took it all in her stride, and as the wind eased to reasonable amount and the sun started shining we took advantage of a favourable wind shift and at last started heading north making 7 knots.

We quickly forgot about our first few days of windy weather, and settled down to sailing in the sunshine and passing our time reading and relaxing.  Before we left the Azores, Dan had downloaded an i-phone application to locate the stars, and during night watches we used it to identify the constellations.  We also found Mars and Saturn much more easily than studying the nautical tables!  Sunrises and sunsets were dramatic and many photos were taken.

As the wind continued to die, we headed for Spain and a diesel top up, with up to 12 sparrows perched under the sprayhood hitching a lift.  They were clearly lost in all this unusual wind as they kept looking at the chart plotter! Many of them spent more than one night in the comfort and warmth of our bookshelves!  We arrived in the Spanish Rias late afternoon to fill up with diesel and spend the night ashore.

Working out timescales for long trips is perhaps the most difficult thing to do.  Up until now, Velvet Lady has never been late back from a trip, and in the past 22 years I have always managed to complete trips on time.  This time however we had to face the fact that we were going to be 48 hours late, and some of our crew needed to go home from Spain..

As we came within phone range of the land, mobiles started beeping with messages, including one from Davids wife which said, ‘thought I’d better let you know, theres been a volcano erupt in Iceland and all flights to UK are cancelled’

Sorry Pam, we thought it was a wind up but after a quick google, we discovered it was in fact true. Our crew who needed to go home, contacted their companies, and were advised, stay on the yacht it will be the fastest way back!

We had a great night out in Sanxenxo, dinner followed by Spanish brandy.  After 10 days of being ‘dry’ the large Spanish measures soon went to our heads so it was early to bed.  Before we left in the morning we spoke to one of the guys working on Telefonica Blue (a Volvo 70) who said – we go out training in gales, we were out all last week, lucky for us they were not planning on going out this week.

93 hours after leaving Sanxenxo, we were motoring in fog up Plymouth Sound, early Sunday morning with no one around.  After a quick breakfast and tidy up, it was off to the station and trains home.

Although in the previous two years, we have completed this passage with a day to spare, we have decided that for 2011 we will be making the Azores to Plymouth a 14 night trip.  This trip and more for 2011 will be on line by the end of the week.

And finally – don’t forget to look in the June issue of Sailing Today, out on the shelves now, to read all about our trip from La Gomera to Madeira in March this year.

Part of the  RYA requirement for a passage long enough to qualify towards a Yachtmaster Ocean certificate is that it should be 600nm by the log and a minimum of 96 hours at sea. As we gathered around the saloon table at the start of our last trip this was an important point to consider as we planned our passage from Madeira to the Azores.

The Azores are a group of volcanic islands situated approximately half way between Europe and America.  Although it is only 470nm from Madeira to Santa Maria, the closest island, it is a further 300nm to Flores and Corvo the westernmost islands.  Depending on the weather we would definitely be able to sail the 600nm by the log, but the question was – which island would we visit and when! As well as the RYA criteria to fulfill, we had to make sure we were in Ponta Delgada marina in San Miguel on 6th April to catch our flights!

Andy joined us this week full of beans and fresh from his ocean theory course, ready to practice with his sextant and take his sights.  Frances and Chris joined us to find out what long distance sailing was all about and would they take to it, and sadly, due to a last minute cancellation we were without our fourth guest, Charlie.

A quick look at the weather map showed Madeira right under a large area of high pressure, but also showed a low moving towards the Azores, how was that going to affect things.  We all agreed that deciding which island at this early stage would be too presumptive.  The best plan was to leave, set off towards the Azores (312T), sail for 96 hours, look at the log, look at the weather and decide where best to go then.  Full of the spirit of Adventure we all agreed this sounded good but we would spend the first day on a short sail to settle us all in to the routine on board.

Safety briefing complete, we left Quinta do Lorde marina late morning, waiting to take advantage of the afternoon sea breeze and enjoyed a fantastic sail to Funchal.  They are working really hard in the harbour here to clean up after the recent floods, and although the entrance was reported to have silted up there was still 3.5m at low water, plenty for us.

From Funchal we set off at noon, again waiting for a sea breeze, but as soon as we left the harbour instead of the forecast light winds we immediately found ourselves with a stiff westerly.  Hard on the wind on the starboard tack we sailed away from Madeira and away from the Azores, notching up 40 miles on the log before the wind shifted and we could head towards the Azores.  As the wind gradually shifted to a northeasterly force 4, Velvet Lady under full sail on a close reach was tearing down the dotted line on the chart plotter at 8 knots.  If this continued, we would have to do 700 miles just to stay at sea for 96 hours.

This is ocean sailing, and the thing to notice is how often the weather changes.  We continued at 8 knots for 48 hours, and then the wind gradually died away, and the speed dropped until we were ghosting along at 3 knots.  At just under 2 knots with the yankee wrapping itself around the forestay we gave up and motored hoping for the wind to pipe up again.  We continued through the centre of another high, mixing motoring with sailing until we made landfall on the eastern tip of  San Miguel.  As we approached the coastline the wind backed to the west again, to give us either a long beat along the coastline to Ponta Delgada, or a comfortable reach down to Santa Maria.  We had now done 100 hours at sea and 580 miles on the log.  Santa Maria at 40 miles away would crack the 600 mile barrier, so we freed sheets and headed south.  We arrived in Santa Maria at midnight – 108 hours and 622 miles from Madeira all on starboard tack.  We celebrated our arrival with a beer in the cockpit before heading off to bed.

During the trip Andy became extremely proficient with his sextant taking shots of the sun, moon, various stars and even Venus.  The saloon became a work station with sheets of paper everywhere, numerous graphs, plots and calculations as Andy worked out our position the traditional way.  The rest of us managed a bit more of a relaxing trip, sitting in the sunshine reading and completing crosswords (when not on watch of course).

Santa Maria is a beautiful island with a brand new marina.  The town of Vila do Porto is up a steep hill behind the marina, a lovely old town – so very real and Portuguese. Arriving on Easter Saturday, we visited the church which was beautifully decorated with white lilies.  We stayed in Santa Maria for Easter Sunday – or Chocolate Sunday as it became aptly named as we feasted on chocolate treats, some of us had given up chocolate for lent!

Easter Monday we sailed from Santa Maria to Ponta Delgada, a great broad reach on port tack in a SW6.  8 hours to complete the 56 mile crossing and then an extra one waiting for a ship to leave the harbour before we were allowed to enter!

A 4 hour day sail to Funchal, 108 hours sailing for our ocean crossing, 48 hours relaxing in the sunshine in Santa Maria, a few drinks and nibbles along the way, 8 hours sailing on the last day and a total of 700 miles in the log book, this is what cruising is all about!  Why not join us on a Blue Water Adventure later in the year.