West Cork Sailing and Powerboating Centre Blog of Customer Adventures

Keelboat Sailing in Bantry Bay Thursday 19 Feb - A lovely Days Sail

2009-02-20T11:49:00.007Z

Sat 22 Nov, 19:28 News - West is Best

2008-11-24T10:24:00.001Z

49 54 n
004 44.4444W
1810z

Since our last blog we eventually arrived in Plymouth after a long drag across the channel from Alderney. It was a long beat. Tiring and wet… and not in a good way. I cannot write who was on the helm because they want their identity protected… however, they did manage to tack through over 180 degrees… without noticing and happily trot away South… Alice who was watch leading, neglected to notice this wee mistake… resulting in the distance to Plymouth Breakwater increasing from 14.9nm to 23.6nm… Skills!

A careful and diligent pilotage plan saw us into Plymouth Yacht Haven safely. A highly efficient boat close down followed… everyone pitched in and it was done in record time. Everyone took to their pits (at around 0600) and had a few hours’ kip. 1030 was the objective wake up time. It was difficult! But we got to shower so that was the motivation. A good few hours was dedicated to the yacht getting some jobs done; before a few hours down time to relax and catch up with sleep.

Today started well, few jobs finished off, lunch was had and dinner cooked, before we set off to sea. After leaving we wrote a masterpiece of a song… details to follow once it has been tamed for public consumption. Currently we are playing a game of dodge the trawler; which we are winning! Just finished packing the kite… hoping to send it before the voyage is over.

The plan is as follows… we are going left. Having weighed up our options and utilising our new found weather knowledge we all agreed that [heading] west was best. We are just going to sail and have some fun in the big big water. We will turn back in time to make it home.

The song… (Can you guess the tune?)

Hello Pain, my old friend
You’ve come to screw with me again
My sleeping bag was sooooo warm and comfy
Now I’m out here in the cold North Sea [ed!]
And the wind chill factor would cut you to the fecking bone
So; we moan
This is an ode to Pain…

More to follow if you are good.

Captain’s Log

All is well aboard TGS Challenger II. Trotting off west for a few days blast, before a big ole wind shift and a flight back towards Ireland. Expecting a mixed bag of weather over coming days… a running theme of Baltic cold seems to be the case with the Northerly breeze set that we are currently experiencing… and of course that it is winter.

More exciting news to follow… watch this space.

Sunshine Sailing

2008-11-21T10:44:00.003Z

Log to Date

2008-11-21T09:48:00.000Z

C o r k - t o - C o r k 2 0 0 8
Dates Voyage Details MWF Days Distance nm Night Hours WL Nav GPS Trip
From To
09 Nov 11 Nov Cork to Kinsale. 1st MOB Drill! Night entry and berthing Kinsale. 5 2 38 6 n/a n/a 38
12 Nov 12 Nov Kinsale to Kinsale. Work-Up Sail. Headsail Change. Points of sail. Night entry 3 1 25 3 n/a n/a 63
13 Nov 14 Nov Kinsale to Falmouth. Poled Out Headsail. Tide calc Lizard. 5 2 222 9 Dazz Groinee Nelly 285
15 Nov 17 Nov Falmouth to Poole Bar 1. Poled Out Headsail. Reduced Visability. Zero notice nav change to GWQ. Tide Portland. 5 2 152 12 Phil Alice Phil (Alice) 437
17 Nov 17 Nov Poole Bar 1 to GWQ, Portsmouth. Reduced Vis Needles Channel. Solent Shipping Traffic. 3 1 33 0 Phil Alice Phil (Alice) 470
18 Nov 19 Nov GWQ to Cherbourg. Headsail change at night. TSS with traffic at night. Numerous Gybes. Night Entry Cherbourg 5 1 97 9 Kate Jen Kate (Jen) 567
19 Nov 19 Nov Cherbourg to Weymouth. Dawn departure. Night pilotage arrival. TSS. Cross Channel Tide Calculation. Reefing. 6 1 98 5 Tony Tony Jack 665
19 Nov 20 Nov Weymouth to Alderney. Night Depature. Stonkin' Downwind Blast & TSS.Harden Up Reef in breeze. 11.6knts Fets 7 1 56 6 Danny Grainne Danny Grainne 721
20 Nov 21 Nov Alderney to Plymouth. TSS. Start Point Tide. Reefing. H/s Change. Trawler avoidance close quarters. FDU Fun Storm Stay. Tack on 'I'. 7 1 146 12 Alice Peter Alice Peter 867

News from a Busy Crew - Thu 20 Nov, 21:00

2008-11-21T09:41:00.001Z

Date: 20 Nov. 08

050’ 13.14 N

002’ 44.12 W

Alderney to Plymouth

So here we are now on the way to Plymouth after another brief encounter with the French coast. The days are blurring together as a result of the watch system, but we’ll try and get them separated out!

I think it was Monday that we zipped into Portsmouth and ramped up alongside another Challenger skippered by Cmdr Bond, who like Adam and Paul, brought a whole new charm of his own. We spent the day doing jobs, and then went out for a bite, but we were already fairly knackered so it wasn’t a late one. Next day we shipped on out at 1400 and set course for Cherbourg. Kate and Jen were navigating and got everyone there perfectly, even through the treacherous English Channel at night (incidentally, Kate is writing this part!). The channel was great craic though and really interesting because even though you know what way the ships are going, it’s pretty impossible to judge how far away they are. But including today, we’ve now done the channel four times, with no dings to report.

Once in Cherbourg – we arrived about 0500 – we came alongside, had a quick briefing and clean up, and then it was off back to Weymouth with nav team Tony and Jack. Phil came out with a good summing up of our first trip to France: ‘We came all the way to France, just to drop off a big bag of shit!’ this was in reference to the bin bags out of the heads!

Got back across to Weymouth safely, with absolutely stunning sailing conditions. The sun was shining and we were whoring along upwind in a nice force 5. I nearly didn’t want to go to bed, but after a zombie like turn on helm, I crashed. As for the watches, we are getting used to them at last, and no one seems to be too tired, apart from Jack obviously, who is currently asleep and soon to get a rude awakening from Alex!

After 2 hours in Weymouth – from about 2100 to 2300 - where we met the other tall ship Stavros Niarchos, we jumped port again and set course to Alderney, which is one of the Channel Islands and all new to us. This time our turn around was even quicker, about the same length as a tack to be precise! Daniel and Grainne got us there, and as I speak poor little Jersey boy is working out the pilotage back into Plymouth. Our progress back is a bit slower this time as the wind is not quite the way we’d like it, but we’re fussy now after all the good stuff. Sun is shining again though!

As for morale: everyone is still getting on really well, although the tiredness has made us a bit mental and inclined to laugh at ANYTHING! A shower is on order, but I dunno how long it’ll be till we get one. At least we all smell the same! One suggestion by Paul to save water on the boat and get a wash in was to shower together… this is still under debate!

So far, so good. Getting our miles in, and doing some proper navigating and night sailing, whilst still managing to keep the comedy act going. Alex just banged his knee, now that’s comedy!

Additional Note from Fets

Tonight, we will learn how to roll our own cigarettes! Paul has volunteered to teach us – brave man! We are hoping that it’ll be a success because nearly all of our Marlboro lights are gone now. Will keep you informed on our progress.

It’s safe to say that our navigation skills have improved greatly since the start of our voyage on challenger 2, however, there may still be a few details that need to be ironed out for some of our crew members. Today, the instruction was given to tack when we get to the I in submarine! It would appear that our navigators thought the word submarine actually appeared in reality as it does in the chart. Our skipper, in his wisdom, said “No problem, just let me know when you see it”! Needless to say, we sailed straight past the submarine training area because not one of the people on watch spotted the I!

Ads’ Note

Things have been fairly full on since leaving. Lots of shorter coastal passages, plenty of pilotage and passage planning from the troops. Each and everyone of them stepping up to the plate and delivering what was required. All have been adapting to the way of life on board… sleep management being one of the key things that everyone has come to terms with.

As a team we have all shared some highs and lows. Some classic quotes:

“It was all making sense skip, I thought I had it sussed and then you introduced your pole.” Let us not forget,

“I spy with my little eye something beginning with France.”

And my personal favourite

“Crickey, it is raining in my head!”

Last few days have been especially gruelling as we zig zag across the channel. As it happens the vast majority of arrivals has been during night hours which has been keeping all onboard on their toes, especially the nav teams.

Guys and Gals all becoming very familiar with the Reeds Almanac and Chart 5011. Also learning to use the heads without sinking the yacht.

Some words from Arnie Archy Renegade Ruprect the IX

“I am fascinated by the snakes and turns that my name takes… I am I am I am in awe of The Great One who precides over his minions as a shark does its kill. Having spent many hours grabbling with the rain in my head. I finally figured out that the ‘Shark Break’ is actually the ‘Shaft Break’ Will report as soon as if able… Over; but not Out… Yet. (a snake twit in the making!)”`

“It is pretty demoralising looking at the same light house for about three hours.” Phil.

News from Alice (Alex), Sun 18:00

2008-11-17T11:22:00.001Z

16 NOV

On our trip down from Kinsale was well navigated by Neil and Darren, but all Darren’s good work was to be undone shortly before Foulmouth. Darren’s vey minor indiscretion was standing on the soon to be leeward side, behind the mast as we were gibing with his life jacket on in an interesting and incorrect way. It was looked on very dimly by the skipper which meant press ups were imminent. He was lucky to only get 15 down hill press-ups as even after being warned he could not figure out what he was doing wrong. With the press-up account now open all be warned more are likely to be on their way.

Once we had landed in Foulmouth the cleanup operation was underway. The following day with some we started getting the boat ready for the next leg of the trip and decisions needed to be made as to where we should go. Our skipper, in his infinite wisdom gave us the responsibility of deciding where to go, as he did not want to be bullied by the girls, Coward!!!! We were given the choice of sailing to Lisbon and back to Cork with just a short stop to refuel and resupply, or a series of shorter trips along the north of France and maybe Belgium. By blind ballot it was decided to stay with the shorter trips so we head off to Poole before making a short trip south. But short as it was, our stay in Foulmouth was not without incident.

We spent the first evening rafted to a 15 million pound boat and thankfully managed to avoid dinging it on the way in, no thanks to Neil who thought that he might be able to be afford the boat if we put a large scratch down its hull (luckily the helm has a little more sense, but not much).

After the clean up was completed a few found their to watch Ireland getting thumped by the All Blacks (please note that this bog s written by a foreigner). The sensible crew members found their way back to the boat via several fast-food joints, but some crew members who shall remain nameless decided to take in some of the local sights. So after bouncing around town for a while they found themselves in a dodgy nightclub and eyeing up the local talent. At this point someone suggested commandeering a German Submarine (u-Boat) which had been moored up near us for the most of the day. Luckily none of them were capable of figuring out how to get across the bridge to the U-boat so instead they decided to revert to Plan A and start a mutiny onboard our yacht (yet another failure).

With an early start this morning, most of the crew were out on deck getting ready to make way accept for one who was late to raise his head from the pillow. A warning was issued and said person is now the dogs body for the day. As I write this the dogs body is doing press-ups for stuffing up a sail raise and I feel it could be a long day for Neil, with no rest bite.

We are presently discussing naked Wednesday’s which unsurprisingly was a suggestion by the girls. The skipper has finally agreed to one of our suggestions without reluctance and naked Wednesday could be passed as a proposition in the next couple of hours.

Alice

Sunday 17:55

2008-11-17T11:19:00.001Z

The guys currently dragging the #1 up through companionway steps. About to change from #2. Currently poled out with Full Main and Stay. Throw in the need to gybe shortly and you have a group of busy happy troops! Phil and Alice taking care of the nav. Doing a really good job.

Following the debrief on arrival Falmouth with Nelly’s passage planning and pilotage from Peter and Darren there was a request as to whether they would all have the opportunity to navigate and pilot. I explained that with plans to do a longer leg this would not likely be possible. After further discussion the option was presented to the group as to whether they would prefer a shorter number of longer legs or a larger number of shorter passages with pilotage back-to-back. They took a closed ballot and decided as a team they would prefer the shorter passages option.

The plan for the moment is: to Poole for a touch and go, then through the Solent turning South to Cherbourg (in one-side of the breakwater and out the other) and from there onwards and upwards.

Alice in the midst of writing his own version of War and Peace – you may need to increase your internet server space to create room for it to be published!

Arrived in Falmouth - Friday 14th @ 21:00

2008-11-16T16:40:00.002Z

Just made Falmouth.

Troops coming along.

Making a cunning plan for tomorrow.

Some tasty dins prepped by Daz and Jacques. Nav here successfully completed by Nelly. He was somewhat relieved to see the lights of Anthonys head flash as predicted.

Till the morrow with the warmest of wishes from all on board.

TGS Challenger II and Her Crew

First News from Challenger 2

2008-11-14T15:12:00.001Z

Challenger 2 Location

49 46N
006 25W
1017Z

Hello Gail, Niall, Rory, Oisin, Kuba, Simon, Brambles, Daisy & Barney!

Apologies for the delay. We’ve been working like dogs since you left us with this sadistic tyrant (Adam)!!!

So, we’ll start at the very beginning and bring you up to speed on what’s been happening. In order to do so, there are a few terms you will need to know – Adamisms.

He is constantly harping on about this thing that starts with a ‘C’ and rhymes with dommunication. Needless to say, the crew are flummoxed. Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

Arms like fire
PLF – Pull like fire
JAFSS – Just another fecking sunset
JAFSR – Just another fecking sunrise
JAFD – Just another fecking dolphin
Man–up – stop being a big girls blouse
Open your angry box – get cross – this may help you to man-up
Hairdresser – the wrong way to turn the winch
CF (Charlie foxtrot) – apply for definition if required

Now for the banter:

Day 1:
Jen’s thieving tendencies are realised for the first time. Poor Kate woke up after an awful nights sleep without any pillow, complains to Jen about this, at which point, Jen (kindly) offers to give her one of her 2 pillows! Much laughter ensues! Kate promises to get her back.

Also discovered on this day, Alex snores like a dying whale. Everyone plans on seeking revenge!

We have a surprise poet onboard – Neil.

“Keep an eye on the clouds; but keep your head out of them!”

Status update on Jack – still awake!

Day 3:

Left Cork – very excited. Heading for Kinsale. Loving the boat – sails much heavier than expected. Will never complain about furling jib on Jessy again!

We ALMOST made it to Kinsale before smoke started gushing out the back. Having just dropped the sails, there was a slight rush to get the main back up and the engine switched off. Never before has such a measured and calm response been witnessed on the high seas, as that by the current crew on Challenger 2, as Captain & Mate crumbled under the pressure!!! We swiftly dropped the anchor and Daniel got stuck in fixing the engine. Always good to have a fully qualified diesel mechanic onboard – thanks Daniel! The crew on deck set about picking up transits to ensure the anchor was set. Luckily, three of us took separate transits as Jacks was soon found to be a shooting star! So, with the engine back in working order, we raised the anchor and headed on for Kinsale. At this stage, there was a slight tide issue and we found ourselves giving the ground a gentle momentary gentle love-nudge! But the tide returned in no time and once again, we set off and made it in to Kinsale shortly after 11pm.

Mutiny attempted….. failed.

Day 4

MOB much harder on this boat.

Mutiny attempted….. Failed.

Day 5

Sailing to Falmouth (pronounced Foulmouth) an ancient historic reference to the potty mouthed folk of the Southwest!! We woke up early Thursday morning and did some jobs on the boat before setting off. Prior to departure BDBT (BirthDay Boy Tones) was sent aloft to reattach bungee to the staysail halyard blocks. The beaming smiles from above were hard not to miss and highly infectious. Photos to follow…

We left at 1330 with Darren doing pilotage out of Kinsale. He dabbled with death (and nearly got it from Ads) as he swerved several times attempting to dash our vessel into the rocks!

Once out of Kinsale, we hoisted the sails and knocked off the engine. When this is done, the shaft must be jammed off to stop it turning (the shaft-break). While this doesn’t appear to be hugely complicated, it was grossly misunderstood by Arnie who thought he was being asked to do something with the “shark-break” which he believed protects the boat from sharks. We laughed.

Nelly Furtado, AKA Twinkle-tits (Neil) took over as navigator shortly after.

We did 3 hour shifts that night which was great fun. The headsail change took the 2300 – 0200 crew (Ginger) from 2300 – 0200!! Obviously, quite a bit of gruelling work involved! The main was reefed by the other watch - the sharks.

Our Captain has admitted that we didn’t suck entirely, but there’s AMPLE room for improvement!

After a long night, the gingers were looking forward to a few hours kip… But this was not to be. As we write this, we are running low on sleep, but not on enthusiasm! All in all, very challenging but spirits are high and there are smiles all-around.

Mutiny about to be attempted….. Failure expected.

Signed off by The Crew & Adam the skipper of Challenger 2

Crew head off in Challenger 2

2008-11-10T10:55:00.009Z

The crew all boarded Challenger 2 along the quay side in Cork City. "Excited", "Nervous", "Ready to go" were some of the comments made as they embarked yesterday afternoon. This morning they will head out for their first sail to get used to her and learn how to sail such a large vessel. The skipper, Adam Tuffnell, said "I am really looking forward to this trip, as we have enough time for everyone to become a well formed crew and to get the know the boat really well."
Here are a few images of some the crew on board.

New Arrivals for the 2008 - 2009 Commercial Yachtmaster Course

2008-09-16T07:29:00.002+01:00

The new trainees arrived yesterday and we had a super day on the water, with light breezes and sunshine - perfect. The atmosphere is wonderful and it is smiles all round. We have a super gang on the course this year and we will be posting a profile on each trainee over the next couple of weeks. The phone is still buzzing with enquiries for joining the Commercial Yachtmaster course, so we are planning to set up a second course, starting October / November time. Get in touch if you are interested in finding out about the new course dates and schedule.

100% PASS

2008-04-11T14:22:00.002+01:00

Everyone of this years Commercial Yachtmaster trainees passed their final assessment and are now qualificed Yachtmasters. Congratulations.

6 New customers have booked in to the 2008 / 2009 course so far.

If you are looking at payment options, one of our trainees has managed to get a student loan and won't have to start paying it back untill he is earning - a brilliant option.

Tall Ships are excited about us chartering one of their 72 foot Challengers, but not nearly as excited as our trainees are about sailing her - she is a really super addition to the training experience building.

I will keep you posted on new cllients booking on and activities a the centre over the summer, so keep an eye on us here.

All the best

Gail

Jessy comes home

2008-02-16T10:57:00.002Z

Well we made it home. Jessy arrived back to her berth in Adrigole last night at 1900 UT. We had a great sail back accross the bay of Biscay with about 20 knots of wind from the east pretty much all the time. The swell was a little bit sloppy being from the east (shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth) but Jessy flew along at a constant 7.5 to 8 knots all the way home. Michael was skipper for the first part of the trip and although terribly sea sick for the first part he soldiered on regardless and by the end of the trip was eating pasta carbonara down below and playing sudoku. We were all very proud of him. Gerry from Adrigole Arts skippered the second leg of the trip and took to the job in hand organising watches and keeping everyone busy.

We did most of jessy's cleaning heading up bantry bay into the swell so we had very little to do when we arrived in the blissfully peaceful Adrigole harbour, with welcome comitee waving from the balcony. A quick shower and a bee line for the pub was in order to share tales with the other groub who have had fantastic adventures sailing round Dursey into Kenmare bay in the Keelboats this last week.

The very serious business of yachtmaster prep begins in earnest next week with dilligence, early mornings,late night passages,blind navigation, pontoon bashing, and picking up m o bs being the order of the week.

All for now will keep posted about the ym prep next week.

Niall

Heading for home

2008-02-13T15:41:00.001Z

The starter motor arrived and they are on their way. Niall rang from the Sat phone today and all is well on board, with a good breeze and great speed. If things continue as they are then they should be passing Mizen Head by lunch time on Friday. Will keep you posted on their progress.
Gail

La Coruna Still - very Still!!

2008-02-10T17:01:00.000Z

Well they were all ready to leave on Tuesday and the starter motor decided to keep turning and burn out. If you thought it was difficult to get anything done in a hurry in Ireland or France, then northern Spain will amaze you. The mechanic came straight after lunch on Wednesday - 16.30pm. The part was ordered and on Friday we discovered it is lost in transit.
Here is a lovely picture of Gerry chilling out on deck as the crew patiently wait for the part to arrive - hopefully tomorrow now!!

They could be in a worse place though. The sun is shining and Niall wishes he had packed some shorts.
Gail

Photos at last.

2008-02-07T09:46:00.000Z

Sues adventure to the Top of the Mast
La Coruna Boulevard, and Arrival Sunset

Bay of Biscay and France - Here we come

2008-02-05T11:44:00.000Z

Hi all

Well David has left this morning and handed the boat over to me and after a good clean and sort through we moved her to the outer marina to fuel up and get her ready for her Biscay crossing. Sue has been up the mast checking the rig and we took some picies of her which I hope to have up soon.

The weather has been calming down since my arrival and is now quite balmy with a fresh breeze from the south west dying as I write. The winches have been stripped the fuel filter drained and the heater got working after patrick and I sucking diesel through the tiny pump to prime it. So all is well and the plan is to leave La coruna after lunch as the wind will be a bit calmer and still blowing from the south west. An anticyclone is building over biscay so we may even get to put the spinnie up which would be fab.

The town of La courna are still cellebrating the festival of begining of lent, all week end and yesterday the whole town has been partying with fire works and dancing on the streets. It seems it is important to dress up in costume as everybody from babys to grannys were in fancy dress. Streamers fillled the streets at night and different bands and singers provided loads of entertainment for all on the narrow avenues.

Gerry from Adrigole Arts has joined the crew for the last leg back home and he has fitted in with the rest of the guys and was busy stripping a winch as I left. Gerry is taging along to build up some more miles and will be taking the Yacht master exam with the others in March.

Will sign off for now and will re contact again in Camaret Sur Mer. Vive La France and Biscay here we come.

Niall

Not that I'm superstitious!

2008-02-05T11:42:00.000Z

Well we can safely say that sailing is an unpredictable activity!
After the forestay was fixed on Monday we had some engine trouble that evening when getting ready to leave Cascais. So Tuesday was spent getting that fixed as we really need an engine, especially since all the weather forecasts we had said that there would be no wind and lovely sunny weather! Michael headed home on Wednesday morning and we, David, Patrick, Phil and myself headed off for our trip to La Coruna in Spain that was not going to be very exciting as we were not going to be able to sail much and would have to use the engine because of no wind!!
Fat chance!! We got to the headland at the corner of Portugal and a really strong wind (gusting up to 30 knots) whipped around the headland at us. So we had a very bumpy ride with strong winds and a huge swell the whole way up.
We had to duck into a sheltered marina in Novara at 6am on Thursday morning to do some repairs to the boom.
Ever since the cork from the bottle of champagne that was used to launch Jessy fell off the wall there´s been nothing but little (and some big) things to fix on her. Not that we´re superstitious or anything but the first thing we made Niall do on his arrival was stick it back on!!!
We arrived very tired and wet in La Coruna at about 8pm on Saturday evening. Niall and Gerry joined us on Sunday afternoon, to our surprise as we were expecting him on Monday!
We´ve spent the last 2 days waiting out the storm and preparing Jessy so we can cross the Bay of Biscay to Brest in France. We leave today after lunch, again with a lovely light wind and sunny weather!!!! fingers crossed!!!
Sorry no pics today, forgot to bring camera with me to the Internet cafe. You´ll have to wait for pictures of me at the top of the mast this morning!!!
Next stop France!!!!
Sue

Held up in Portugal

2008-01-29T18:05:00.000Z

Hi all,
Well Friday didn't go quite as planned. It has been decided that we should get the forestay fixed as the one we replaced in Lanzarote was a couple of cm too long. So after a good clean of the boat we had the weekend off. We went to Lisbon on Saturday for the day, it's only 30 minutes by train. We did one of those open top tour buses around the city. We stopped off at the aquarium, it's fantastic. The most amazing fish from all over the world. I was going to send some of the pics and claim we went diving but honesty got the better of me (and the fact that some of you would know you can't see all those fish in one place!!). Some of the most beautiful and some very strange looking fish, like Sunfish, Sea Dragons, a Manta Ray and the the cutest Sea Otters! All in all a nice day trip that tired us out so it was dinner and a movie for us Saturday night (thanks to the wonder of modern technology, the laptop).
Yesterday, Sunday, was a day of rest, I spent the afternoon sitting on the prom reading my book and soaking up the sun!! Apologies for that one if you're in rainy Ireland!!
So the forestay is being fixed this morning and we should be heading off this afternoon. Fingers crossed. We'll be sailing up the Portuguese coast and hopefully arriving in La Coruna, Spain in time for David & Michael's flight on Thursday. That should give us enough time to have the boat pristine clean for Niall's arrival and to find a pub to watch the first 6 nations match on Saturday!!!
All the best,
Sue

Sunny Portugal - great beer

2008-01-24T19:31:00.000Z

Greetings from sunny Portugal.
We didn't leave Madeira until Saturday as the wind on Friday was a little bit on the strong side. Thankfully the wind shifted and we had a lovely reach for the first 2 days. We even got the spinaker up!! Great couple of days sailing. We had lovely weather, although at night it was cold and a bit damp so we all ended up in our oilies. We made it in 4 and half days which was great, we had thought that with the NE trades we'd be beating up for about 6 days!
We arrived yesterday (Wednesday) evening after some engine issues! We managed to get her parked with the engine still going thanks to the skippering skills of Philip. We also had loads of dolphins on the bow for ages on the way into Cascais.
First thing off the boat yesterday the 5 smelly sailors went for a well deserved beer and 3 beers later even went for showers!! Then it was steak on a stone for everyone and maybe 1 or 2 more beers before bed.
Today has been a lovely relaxing day off. Once the laundry was sorted we went walkies. Cascais is a lovely town and myself and Philip spent most of the afternoon people watching on the prom!!
Back to business tomorrow with the boat cleaning, engine fixing and picking which ports we'll be visiting over the next few days before the big handover at the end of the month.

92 miles to Lisbon

2008-01-23T07:31:00.000Z

David called from the Sat phone yesterday at 16:00, they were 92 miles from Lisbon, about 20hours, making their eta lunch time on Wednesday 23rd.
The wind is running at 14 knots on the nose, making it a tough sail.
They are all enjoying the warmth of the sun.
Gail

On the way to Lisbon

2008-01-22T12:05:00.000Z

After a couple of days of rest and boat repairs, the gang headed off to Lisbon. THey now have the wind on the nose and lots of heavy helm, so they will be glad to see land and take rest on arrival.
News of their trip will be posted as soon as they arrive.

Niall and myself returned from the London Boat Show at midnight last night, 10 days of exhibition really takes it out of you, but we are full of beans today and really happy to be back in Adrigole with the fresh air open space.

Gail

Arrived in Madeira

2008-01-18T13:17:00.000Z

Hey all,
Well we had a lovely time in Lanzarote, a bit of diving, a bit of sight seeing around the volcanos and a nice bit of sunning ourselves on the beach!! We had two very sad Polish leave us on Saturday (and we miss them terribly, silence, I kill you!!) and the usually chirpy David arrived later that same night. And then the fun began. Replacing the forestay was an interesting and very timeconsuming affair and took all of Sunday and a fair bit of Monday but we did learn alot about Jessy in the process. So with a fully stocked boat and a "very excited to be heading off" crew, with Michael as skipper, we left early on Tuesday morning with lovely sunny weather. This didn't last long though, the first 24 hours heading to Madeira were quite choppy. We were back into this sailing lark with a bang (and a few weak tummys!!). It cleared up yesterday, we got into the whole 4 hours on 6 hours off routine and we got to sail the rest of the way averaging about 6 knots. We also had some dolphins and a turtle pop up to say hello!!
We arrived in Madeira at 6pm this evening and after a lovely shower (obviously a seperate one for each of us, it's not that kind of trip!) we had a bit of a wander and a nice dinner in the marina here. It's a lovely spot.
We're planning on leaving here again tomorrow, under the skippering skills of myself, should be fun. The beat up to Portugal should be an interesting few days!!
We check in again in about 5 or so days,
Sue

Greetings from London

2008-01-11T07:45:00.000Z

Niall and I finally set up our stand at the London Boat Show yesterday, after a series of unfortnately events - wrong stand location, no electricity, getting lost in London!! We are up early today ready to beat back the customers from our stand. She show is looking good, lots of lovely boats, beautiful people and trendy cloths to see - oh and some fab holidays and training courses in Ireland to here about.
If you are in London, come by and see us on Stand N066M, the one with the 12foot yellow flags on top of it!
We'll keep you posted with news from teh show.
Gail

Greetings from Canaries!!!

2008-01-11T07:43:00.000Z

It’s a nice feeling to step out of a plane straight into over 20 degrees evening. The six of us (Sue, Michael, Patrick, Philip, Gosia and Kuba) arrived into the marina on Saturday tired but happy to be here. Jessy was fine (she still is), so after we boarded we went for a lovely fish in a near restaurant. Next day welcomed us with sun and fresh breeze, so we decided to walk to Puerto del Carmen (nearest town about 3km away) to frighten some tourist from the beach by showing them our white bodies (it worked, the beach deserted as soon as we took off our clothes). Water is about 20 degrees, bit cold but still much warmer than in Adrigole ever…
On Monday Michael, Patrick and Philip started their diving (actually they started on Tuesday after whole day of brainwashing theory the day before) and we (Sue and The Polish) went to the beach and enjoyed the sun for the whole day.
Tuesday was guys first time in the pool and as Michael said “That first breath under water was just amazing”. They covered most of the skills and were ready for the sea…The three of us went diving and we saw some great life including an eagle ray and a huge barracuda.
On Wednesday the guys went for a nice dive into lovely lagoon and after doing some skills they got time off to wonder around and admire fish. Unfortunately Sue’s ear got blocked the day before so this time The Polish only went for their first deep dive (30m). It was most extraordinary experience thanks to George – 5ft long grouper that lets you tickle his chin and rub his side!!! The guys and hopefully recovered Sue are going to do that on Saturday.
Today (Thursday) the guys had two dives in the morning and we (The Polish) joined them for the second one. It was great to see how much they learnt in four days and take some pictures of them. They are now qualified Padi Open Water Divers so they can “meet people, go places, and do things” and they are really looking forward to dive with George. I just came back with lovely blue VW Caddy and we are going for a trip tomorrow to explore the island. We hope to see camels, volcanoes, caves and remote beaches…
Lanzarote, here we come!
Kuba
Photos to follow.