Going West

Our two crew members, son Ivor and cousin Jim (aka Jim Lad or Cabin Boy), arrived as planned on Monday 14th September. Follyfin eventually slipped her moorings the same day at 17:30 and by 18:00 had full sail up in a benevolent north-westerly force 4 wind. Perfect conditions for us! The sunset was beautiful. Everything was going so well, we should have been suspicious. Indeed by midnight the wind had started to 'back', going anti-clockwise round to the west and then more and more to the south-west, which is exactly the direction in which we wanted to sail. This meant that we had to tack back and forth into the head wind and very lumpy sea for the next 36 hours. Talk about rockin' and rollin'! Certainly not ideal, and not what was expected from our researches which predicted predominantly northerly winds although the recent weather forecast had warned of this change. The crew took it in their stride however - very character-building stuff - albeit some of us (i.e. me) acquiring many bruises on the way. But despite the conditions, everyone went about their business most diligently. Cooking, baking bread, repairing/maintaining, taking watches night and day, crewing in general etc.

By Wednesday 16th evening, the sea was calming down and the wind veering (going clockwise) to the west and north-west and eventually north-east where it stayed (thank goodness) for the rest of our voyage. The gennaker sail was deployed at one point when the wind dropped in strength. We also sailed gull-winged, using our recently acquired pole, with the wind directly behind us for several hours. So the small foresail was poled out on one side and the main sail on the opposite side. The maximum boat speed achieved was 9.2 knots, and the maximum wind speed we experienced was 29.6 knots (force 7). During this period we acquired a passenger who was unfortunately dead by the time we discovered him on the foredeck.

Landfall - the island of Porto Santo - was made early on Friday 19th morning and shortly after that we saw the main island of Madeira on the horizon. The coastline is dramatic.

Having been warned not to enter the Quinta do Lorde marina before 18:00 because of a national festival involving lots of fishing boats full of local people and an effigy of the Virgin Mary - very complicated to explain - we decided to anchor for lunch and a swim in a small quiet bay just east of the marina. Halfway through lunch the bay was invaded by at least 20 fishing boats loaded to the gunnels with locals. Blaring music, jet-skis, motor launches and screams of young people jumping off the boats into the water (it wasn't that cold) removed the calm and quiet atmosphere... but it was a lot of fun to watch. 

And by 17:30 they had all departed taking the Virgin with them. We eventually berthed in the marina at 18:45, delighted to set foot on terra firma once again. The passage took us five days, was 619 nautical miles in length (instead of the planned 483 nm because of the tacking during the first couple of days) and we were all knackered after it. But want a sense of achievement!

Now to explore Madeira a little before the next longish passage down to the Canary Islands.