Next leg

[Nick]

We are off in an hour or so for Tenerife . . . I have checked five different weather sites plus Grib files and can;t find a single excuse not to go - everyone is predicting three or four days of moderate to fresh NW to NE winds.

From here the course is 172deg True to clear the aptly named Islas Selvagem (Salvage Islands) by ten miles then bring us in about eight miles E of the NE point of Tenerife. Interesting features to watch out for en route are the aforementioned Islas Selvagem, which we will almost certainly be passing in the dark tomorrow night - the lights are unreliable, and so apparently is the chareted position. Once past them the next surprise lurking in store for the unwary is the wind acceleration zone off the NW cost of Tenerife, where the windspeed increases by anything from 5 to 15 knots.

We will probably put into Santa Cruz de Tenerife . . . should get there just before or just after dark Saturday all being well, but if it's the middle of the night we may continue down the coast to see our friends Dave and Nora who are living on board in a marina near the airport.

Fairwinds has a crew of three for this trip . . . a friend of ours from Aberdeenshire, Charlie Wright, is on board. This should help the skipper get more sleep.

Will send a noon position report to Silkie if technology and weather permit. Otherwise, will update the blog and post here when we get into Tenerife.

Fairwinds out.

[Aja]

...and enjoy the trip.

Donald

[Timbo]

If you are still receiving, Silkie will be unavailable for position reports for a day or so as he is with me trying to find a hole in the alleged gales we are supposed to be having to move up to Dunstaffnage. Likely to be here a couple of days so send position reports here & I'll see he gets them.

If you have already sailed, ignore this message

Tim

[Timbo]

Just got a call from Nick via the miracle of Iridium.

Noon position today N 31 19.1 , W 16 27.8.

Running before a F7 most of the day, apparently. They came across an abandoned yacht, looking a bit scraggy. It was too rough to board, but they sailed round it a couple of times blasting the foghorn but nobody surfaced. Phoned Falmouth who told him it was Hercules, SSR 41232 (whatever that means, something boaty no doubt), abandoned 6 weeks ago, and apparently his if he wanted it. He didn't, so I presume it is still bobbing about there if anyone else wants it.

More tomorrow no doubt.

[ash]

Thanks Timbo

It's good to get a report from the intrepid pair ( trio on this leg )

SSR

Small Ships Register

To All

Looking at Google Earth - I assume that the dot at 30.143324°, -15.863840° ( N 30 8.6 W 15 51.8 ) is Islas Selvagem (Salvage Islands) as decribed by Nick above.

Ash

[Timbo]

Noon Position

N: 31deg 19'.2
W: 016deg 27'.8

91nm from Quinta do Lorde

80 miles io Islas Selvagem waypoint

180 miles (approx) to Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Left the marina in very strong gusty conditons and ran for most of the night
before a F6-7 (much more than forecast - again . . .) with steadily
building seas. Charlie seasick, Kathy not entirely 100%, which meant the
skipper had to heat up the tin of Cassoulet instead of the crew tucking in
to the planned steak dinner. Wind began to moderate before midnight, but I
didn;t trusst it and we ran with just the headsail until dawn, when we
raised the full main and began broad reaching in about ten knots of wind.

The swell is down a bit and the motion is more comfortable - people are
rested or getting some rest. We are heading for a WP about 10 miles E of the
Islas Selvagem (Salvage Islands) which we expect to pass about 2 in the
morning. They need a good offing because the lights are unreliable and the
charted position suspect - they are a regular ships graveyard apparenlty,
lying very close to the direct route between Madeira and Tenerife. We will
be running 2 GPS sets on the approach to be sure to be sure, as the Irish
would say.

Slowish progress - looks like it might be Sunday morning before we get into
Santa Cruz..

Fairwinds Out

[Timbo]

18th November Noon Position:

29deg 41.9 N
016 deg 11.21 W

82 miles from Santa Cruz de Tenerife

Yesterday afternoon we came across a drifting dismasted yacht. Circled round
as close as practical - washboards out, no-one on board. Sounded the foghorn
a feq times to rouse anyone, then phoned Falmouth MRCC on the Satphone. We
also phoned Quinta de Lorde and asked them to get in touch with the Madeiran
authorities as we had been unable to telephone the number given in the
pilot.

The yacht was the Hercules, SSR41232. Falmouth phoned us back to let us know
that she had been successfully abandoned by her crew after the dismasting
six weeks previously. Quinta de Lorde told us that the Portuguese
authorities had confirmed the yacht as abandoned and that she was ours if we
wanted her. Unfortunately there was no way to board her safely in the
prevailing swell conditions without risking serious damage to Fairwinds, so
reluctantly we put aside any thoughts of salvage and left the sad vessel to
continue drifting. Still afloat after six weeks with the washboards out -
remarkable.

We passed the Islas Selvagem at dawn - hoping to get into Santa Cruz
tomorrow morning. Wind has got up - F5 on the beam right now - and we are
hand steering as the Navik seemed to be having some difficulty. Just going
up to put a couple of rolls in the genny - we have already put two reefs in
the main.

Fairwinds Out

[ash]

Thanks again Timbo

They appear to be making plenty of Southerly progress this trip.



and this is where they are headed.



Ash

[Nick]

. . . we must have passed them during the night.

Arrived in marina Atlantico, Santa Cruz de Tenerife at 06.00 this morning after a hectic couple of hours dodging shipping on the way in.

Distance from Quinta de Lorde 285nm
Time on passage 65 hours
Time under sail 60 hours

On the way in the VHF went down, the autohelm mysteriously malfunctioned, the stern light wouldn´t illuminate and the companionway step finally collapsed. The flogging continued however, and crew morale finally improved.

Off to do some sightseeing aka find a bar . . . moving on to marina San Miguel tomorrow, where we have been promised a berth alongside our old Tenerfinean pals Dave and Nora.

Fairwinds out.

[ash]

. . . we must have passed them during the night.

Glad to here that you've arrived safely, and that you didn't have any problems with my giant drawing pins! By default, the majority of them are always behind you ( Noon positions ) but I admit that you do need to be careful not to hit my waypoints. If you do happen to spot them, they should look like those big yellow racing buoys. They aren't lit - sorry.

Haven't been able to find out how big Hercules is, but I'm sure that she would have proved too big to use as a tender to Fairwinds. Would have made an interesting entry on SailRoom though, and the salvage money would have topped up the kitty.

Anyway - Well Done. Looking forward to the write up on your website.

Ash

[hazard to shipping]

Glad to hear you have arrived safely. Hope the crew have recovered.

Is it possible to buy tins of Skippers down there - I would imagine with Charlie on board supplies are running low!!

Regards to all. Have a fun time.

Jill

[EagerVega]

Well done Nick,

We are all following the trip with interest,

Have a good rest before the next hop!!

Nigel et all.

[SteveM]

Glad to hear you're safe and sound in Tenerife after what seems to have been an uncomfortable voyage. Hope it's warmer for you down there than it is here at present!
Best wishes to all
from
Steve and Ruth

[Alba]

Congrats on reaching the Canaries. Looks like you are heading south on your next leg, I take it the butter hasn't melted yet. If you visit Grenada on the other side let me know and I will give you a contact. Anne's in Scotland and says it's freezing, so maybe life isn't so bad.
Keep the reports coming they're great.
Tom