In 2014 Adventuress sailed to Europe. She made landfall in Muxia Spain; then England. After cruising the English South Coast, and the Channel Islands, she wintered at Woodbridge, England. The next three summers we cruised England, Holland, Norway, Denmark, France, Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar. For the foreseeable future Adventuress will sail in Europe. UPDATE: it's October 2021 and we are sailing her back to the USA: Transat passage will be Nov/Dec: expect to be in Florida end of January.
Since Adventuress left Mindelo, Cape Verde, the winds have been moderate (15 kts.) to strong (35 kts.) averaging 20 knots. The sailing has been wonderful. The only reason to run the engine several hours per day is to supplement the three solar panels. With the refrigerator/freezer, autopilot, radar and other electronics, the house battery usage is significant. The solar panels do an amazing job but with that much usage, the battery charger on the engine is necessary.
Dan continues to catch fish: seven mahi mahi have been caught and three tuna. Only three mahis were too small to keep. John has taken to "heaving to" when a fish is caught. It gives a more stable cockpit for cleaning/filleting fish. Dan is really good at that! .....and I'll repeat myself. There is nothing better than freshly caught fish, from the hook to the frying pan! They are running a bit low on veggies but do have 2 frozen packs and some cans. There is no fear of scurvy!!!
Werner baked bread. He used the Spanish recipe on the bag of flour and it was a big success. Well done Werner and glad that you can speak Spanish.
Everyone has enjoyed showers every other day. These experienced sailors know how to conserve water, only a third of the 250 gallons on Adventuress has been used as of several days ago when the Captain "dipped" the tank.
The captain tells me that Adventuress will likely arrive at St. Martin during the coming week, if all goes well.
We wish them safety and great sailing on their last week of the passage.
Nancy
EMERGENCY REPAIR IN CAPE VERDE
After leaving the Canary Islands on November 28th, Adventuress experienced strong 30 knot plus winds and ten to fifteen foot waves from the stern. Adventuress sailed at 7.5 knots but saw up to 9.5 knots when she rode a large swell. All was perfectly fine and under control. The sails were reefed and Adventuress easily handled the sea state.
On December 1 the autopilot stopped working and the rough seas did not allow them to recomission it. They headed to Cape Verde which was three days away. Hand steering is hard work downwind in a big sea so John changed the watch schedule to one hour on watch and three hours off. I was so glad I wasn't on Adventuress because I would not have had the strength to hold watch.
They arrived in Mindelo December 5 at 4am. Werner was on the bow with the search light looking for unlit buoys and the large wreck in the harbor. All went well and they anchored in a safe calm place. Werner and Dan commissioned the autopilot. It was a Happy Cappy who woke up from his nap to find out the autopilot was fixed so off they went on their voyage to St. Martin, only spending 10 hours in Mindelo.
Since then the sailing has been excellent. John reports this morning and I quote:
"1743 3232 Moving along as I start my 0400 two hour watch. Wind pressure and direction is inconsistent, ranging from 18 to 30 kts and ENE to E. But the sails are set to cope. We have one reef in the jib, and a tiny four reefed main. The cog at 280 degrees average is excellent. And our speed over ground average is impressive at 7.2 kts. Offshore, speed is not the objective: you set up the boat and sails to go as fast as you can Without Stressing the Rigging! If you break something racing around a course inshore then you boast about it at the yacht club. If you break something offshore, then you have a big problem on your hands – perhaps even life threatening.
Weather is fine with no rain and no squalls imminent. We use our long range radar to monitor this.
Dan has been catching us dinner: but that's a large understatement: gutting and cleaning a fish on his hands and knees on the cockpit floor as the ship bounces around is the really hard work. So last night we had tuna and yesterday afternoon we caught a small mahi mahi that is in the freezer."
End of quote.
My news is that John texted me several days ago that he missed me so much that he asked me to meet him in St. Martin and the two of us would sail to Punta Gorda. He was a very Happy Cappy when I said YES of course!
Prayers for a continued safe passage,
Nancy
On Saturday, November 20, Adventuress left Estepona, Spain, to begin her voyage to the USA. The first leg was a five day passage to the Canary Islands. Her freezer was full of JFK meals prepared and frozen at a local Air B&B apartment. Three hanging net bags were overflowing and every nook and cranny was stowed with dry goods.
…….and the crew was ready for adventure. The crew includes:
Werner Brouwer from Holland. He and his wife Ad have been friends of ours since we met them sailing about 5 years ago. Werner, Ad and a friend built a 50 foot sailboat which they cruised Europe and the Med. Since then it was sold. Werner and Ad are now building a 40 foot sailboat.
Jim O’Shea we met in Marco Island when he and his wife Laurie were cruising on their Island Packet 350. They are living on their Island Packet traveling to the Bahamas and New England annually. Jim is a retired large animal Veterinarian. Hopefully his medical skill wills not be needed on this trip.
Dan Gray and his wife Laurie own a Cabo Rico 38 which they restored and they spend six months per year sailing her south and back to New England.
Adventuress arrived in the Canaries Thursday November 25. Unfortunately the winds were light and fickle for the five day passage. The good news was that Dan, the resident fisherman, caught a mahi mahi and a tuna, and then a second tuna in the Canaries. There is nothing like freshly caught fish for dinner.
Adventuress picked up fuel, water and a few provisions in the Canaries. The weather forecast was perfect for a Sunday, November 28th departure. So they are off again! They will head southwest to a waypoint west of Cape Verde. John says "We will sail the wind! So as long as we are heading about SW for the next 900 nm then we will get to where the wind takes us!"
They will ultimately head to St Martin which is approximately an eighteen to twenty day passage. We will stay in touch by texts through the Zoleo and InReach satellite communicators. The forecast is for northeast winds 20 to 30 knots through Friday, a sailor’s dream.
Here are some photos taken by our German friend, Jessie Schoeller, when Adventuress was leaving Marina Rubican in the Canaries.
Werner is keeping close watch at the bow
Praying for a safe, enjoyable passage,
Nancy
After biking about three miles from the Marina, Nancy is resting on the promenade seats - at the far end of Estepona.
We had a good berth at Estepona, near the office and the restaurants, and that worked well until Friday and Saturday nights, when the parties stopped at dawn.
Estepona Marina is a well-designed and managed marina, with kempt gardens and clean paths.
After a good lunch in the Old Town.
Two days later we sailed 30nm along to Gibraltar: and boy what a difference! All that gunk was costing us about one and a half knots of speed.
So here is an unusual post! No pretty pictures. Instead you will be interested (or bored) to read a bit about diesel. This stuff is a necessary evil aboard a cruising sailboat. Yes, it's a SAIL boat! But it needs wind, and when that doesn't happen, a sailboat needs an engine and propeller - or a lot of patience.
What I insist on calling "The Wuhan Flu" prevented our return to Spain until September 2021.
So what? Simple: when we left, Adventuress had about a third of a tank of diesel fuel: call it about 50 gallons, or 190 litres. And that diesel fuel has a shelf life! It gets gummy after about 6 to 12 months: and as they say in Wuhan: "Engine no likee gummy!"
The ship's engineer/cook/bar tender/captain was nervous about the diesel: and his misgivings turned out to be correct. The engine said "Enough of this crap food!" Now engineer John had a dozen fuel filters aboard: but three were soon used up, full of gummy crap. Nancy spotted a safe haven just five miles away, and, with no usable breeze about, and an engine gummed up and able to go at less than half speed, we turned Starboard 90 and at 2 mph we limped into Caleta de Velez.
There we waited for a weekend and a Spanish Holiday (seems like Holidays are once a week in Spain), and then we had excellent luck! We were berthed literally right next to the boatyard, and along they came with pump, hoses, and 200 litres' worth of jerry jugs. We emptied the tank into the jerry jugs using a sucking hose, and then we rinsed out the tank (with rinsing diesel put back and stirred up with an air compressor - attached to the boat's pick-up tube.)
Then off they took me in a van to a fuel station where I purchased 200 litres of fresh diesel in 8 jerry jugs. And into the empty tank it went, with quite a few prayers. So the happy ending is: the Yanmar diesel engine is purring, so is Admiral Nancy, and therefore: happy am I!
John: Estepona, 25 October, 2021
