5 days and 6 nights – that is how long it took to get here… I started with the outgoing tide on Saturday (around 17:30) The forecast was for the wind to shift slowly from SW to NW. I motored due west and at 2am, I was hit by a rain squall and then the wind shifted quickly!
I made good speed and around 5am, I passed the route from Gibraltar strait to cape st Vincent. It was like passing a highway, I had to stop and let a big ship pass before I crossed! At 9am, I was here:
The next day came with continued good wind (around N 10-12 m/s) and I sped on. During the night, I felt the smell of fish, but since there was a ship close by, I thought it was from there. The next day I found this in the cockpit:
My first flying fish! It was some 20 cm long. It had been laying there since the night before and was stiff, so I threw it overboard….
On the morning, I was here:
I got very seasick, so the first two days, I ate nothing, just drank water and rested in my bunk. Every time I hade to go up and fix something on deck, I threw up afterwards – terrible!
The third day came with less wind and calmer sea (yes, the 2 m swell was there, but that only makes you go up and down, slowly. I did not feel anything from this, only the difficulties to see ships, since they dissapear behind the swells!). The wind died down and I motored most of the day. When the wind came back in the evening, it was dead on the nose! I tacked through the night… (at 9am I was here:)
…and all day against this SW 10-12 m/s. The waves built up during the day, so I made less and less progress. Finally late evening, the wind died down, and I could start going towards the goal again.
In the morning, there was a weak wind from N, so I sailed on. I could see that I would not reach Porto Santo before dark, so I took it easy, planning to wait the night outside the port. When I had some 40 NM left, I started to look at the horizon. But not until after lunch, when I was around 30-35NM from the island, it suddely appeared:
I tried to lower my speed to arrive the next moring, but a little after midnight, I was outside the island. The wind turned to SW, so I stayed on the east side. I let the boat drift and slept. 4 hours drifting one way, the 3 hours drifing the other way. By 6:30 I was up and headed round the corner towards the harbour. I came into the harbour when the sun had come up and was waved in to a place on the pontoons.
I was expecting a lot of boats in the harbour, but, hey – where IS everybody? There is only 4 of us here…
Many people have painted their yacht name on the harbour wall, much like in Horta on the Azores. I saw many Swedish names, some of which I know from before. I will need to do something similar too!
Madeira have no beaches, but Porto Santo has a beach, 8 km long!
You can see the spanyards building a new marina at La Linea. Planned to be ready by 2010. Boats are now anchored uoutside the port, rather than inside…
(The top of the rock can be seen just to the right of the big building to the left)
