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UK - Algarve - Canaries 2009

Sunday 1 November – 1000 GMT
Ouch....

Weeellll, what can I say. We found a lovely little restaurant, had some cold beers and a carafe of sangria for yours truly and fantastic garlic prawns amongst other delicacies. At about half past twelve local time (hour difference with Gibraltar) they were desperate to close up...but we weren’t quite ready for bed yet and decided to find somewhere else to have one for the road. Just the one....yeah right!

The boys and Janine opted for more beer, but as I didn’t want to mix, wasn’t quite sure what to have after my sangria in the restaurant...and that’s where it all went wrong. The bartender decided to make me a proper sangria, which involves sugar, Cointreau, brandy, Tanqueray gin, fruit, orange juice, lemon juice, a touch of sparkling water and lots of wine (rose in this case). It was delicious! Absolutely fantastic! If it would not have been a drink but a girl, we would have said drop dead gorgeous!

Needless to say, ‘just the one’ quickly went out of the window and we sat on the white lounge couches in the lovely weather for quite a while...we made it back to the boat, where we had a couple more before sleeping it off.

Feeling just a touch fragile this morning, and after moving and cleaning the boat, we’ll go for a quiet leisurely lunch, no alcohol involved!

For the next couple of days, will be exploring the island and then sailing on to Las Palmas on Tuesday.

Saturday 31 October – 2230 GMT
ARRIVED!

Arrived in Lanzarote and on the dock! Going for some drinks and some tapas!

Saturday 31 october – 19.30GMT
Land ahoy!

Saturday??? I’ve lost a couple of days on here it is so relaxed, you just settle into the groove and take it all as it comes. Hmmm gotta think about what has happened in the last 24 – 36 hrs. We have gone from motoring along on account of it being too calm to deploying the cruising pole and goose winging it with a favourable following wind of up to 20 kts. The current is setting us in the direction of Lanzarote and at times we are speeding along at up to 9.5kts over the ground. The nights are simply stunning, the moon lights up the surface of the sea so brightly that it looks like mercury. You sail along feeling the boat lifting beneath you on the swells, you hear the roar of the waves as they rush alongside you, you look skywards to the stars and see the meteorites that have ended their journey in your part of the sky. You watch the moon setting and then it looks like someone has turned up the brightness on the stars, the constellations stand out so well it’s like being on the inside of a planetarium

This afternoon we sighted the island of Alegranza just north of the main island of Lanzarote, talk has turned to the possibility of a nice cool beer this evening, we might be lucky and get in before the bars shut but I am not taking any bets on this, we can always raid Boogie’s secret stash of cold beers when we tie up alongside. He did mention about free beers for the first person to call ‘land ahoy’ which luckily fell to me, I willl have to report on the next blog as to whether or not I got it. We finally managed to catch 2 small dorados today despite trailing the lures for most of the transit. They were promptly released on account of their size, hopefully they are a bit smarter now and will be more cautious about what they try and sink their teeth into, next time they may well end up on the barbie or stove.

Sailing this afternoon has been very pleasant, all downwind with clear skies and a fair speed. We should be spending about 2 days in Lanzarote and then it is on to Las Palmas.

What’s planned for Lanzarote???? Guess we will have to see when we get there, report in next blog. Everyone is pumping up fenders and getting the mooring lines ready so I had better dig in and lend a hand.

Graham

Friday 30 october – 1030GMT
Downwind sailing…

After a night where Bertha had to work quite a bit, we were able to go back to sailing early this morning. As with our normal sail configuration and the light winds we couldn’t quite make our course without flappy sails (and you know, ’a flappy sail is not a happy sail!’), we went for the exciting setup: poled out head sail!

After a quick gybe and some preparations, Boogie came out of bed to give us a hand setting it all up. Meaning, that we’re sailing fantastically at the moment!

In only 6-8 knots of apparent breeze we’re doing almost 6 knots! And in the right direction!

Having the headsail poled out (meaning it’s on the other side than the main sail, seothing we call Melkmeisje (Milkmaid) in Dutch), is a big advantage: you can sail a bit deeper without your headsail being blanketed by the mainsail, which generally makes for flappy headsails…and we’ve picked up some speed!

Right now our Scotsman Graham has made some porridge for Olaf, our German representative, and Harm-Jan, one of our fellow Dutch countrymen. Personally I still believe you have to be brought up in a Common Wealth country to properly appreciate porridge, but with a German and a Dutchman tucking into it like there is no tomorrow, I might be forced to review mmy beliefs…ah well, as long as they don’t make me eat it!

Our crew is an eclectic mix: first of all we have Graham, a true Scotsman (as I’m on watch with him am picking up some good stuff! ’Hour’s yer doo’s? Aye pecking!’ Whoever knows what that means, send us a message via the website!). He’s 55, in the offshore industry and has the weirdest stories about deep dives, alien creatures at almost 8000 feet deep and a proper Scottish sense of humour. I’m not getting bored on watch!

Then we have Olaf, 28, German but living in Algeciras (southern Spain) and in the shipping industry: we keep on seeing ’his’ containerships passing by! He’s very keen as he has never sailed before, but has done some motor boating. So far I think we’re doing a good job converting him from the dark side to become a proper sailor.

Harm-Jan, 66, Dutch and a retired veterinarian, is an old friend of the family and my dad can’t wait to hear his stories of this trip. He’s done a good deal of sailing, but never on this kind of boat. We’ve all found out some pretty amazing stuff about animals and what can go wrong!

Janine, 36 and in the building industry, is my little who’s joining us for her 2nd offshore trip. She’s still a bit apprehensive and starting with our full on night was a bit much! Her confidence is growing though, she’s starting to get cheeky again!

Then, for the newbies under our readers, there is of course Boogie, the skipper (and my fiancé! J ) Another Cloggie, 37 and calm itself. He’s a proper rock in the branding and funny to boot! Not quite sure who’d win the story telling competition between him and Graham!

And there is me, Marlies, just turned 40 (yes have got myself a bit of a toyboy) and acting as the mate, chief food manager and travel writer. Gave the writing over to Janine and Graham yesterday, as a bit of a terrible headache got the better of me. Much better today!

Everybody is enjoying the sunshine on deck at the moment, we’ve got hot cheese and tomato bread out of the oven and risotto for dinner to look forward to…life is good!

Thursday 29 october – 1700 GMT
Bliss

A lovely, quiet day, lots of sun, a it of breeze, and now and then the engine running to help the wind a bit.

The watch system works fine, so there is time to relax, read a book and catch some sleep. During the day it’s 4 hours on and 8 off, during the night it’s 3 hours on and at least 6 off. Sometimes even more, what is really good when you have a ‘morning-mood’.

The watch system is divided in three watches being: Boogie & Olaf, Marlies & Graham and Janine & HarmJan.

During the day there is also time to get to know each other better and you learn that the big question: “why are we on earth?” is something that is keeping some some people quite busy! Some others on the other hand go with the motto: “it is like it is and that’s Ok”.

We haven’t caught any fish (yet) but the fridge is full of fresh products and dinners and lunch are always good!

Janine says hello Bella and sends some kisses back over the ocean.

Graham says to all you folks thinking about doing some sailing – get after it, life on the ocean wave is great!

Blue skies, a calm sea (at the moment), good company. Horizon to horizon stars in store for us tonight, moments etched forever in your mind.

Thursday 29 October - 0100 GMT
Setting off into the sunset

One might think this an odd hour to write the blog and they would be absolutely right. 1am on a Thursday night, one should be in bed sleeping, or if awake, be out partying in a trendy club or at least watching a good movie on the couch.

Not so here. We’re back at sea and after a day and a half, full on in our watch system.

It’s the usual 3 watches, this time with 2 people per watch, and I’m writing this, while my trusty watch mate Graham holds the fort outside.

Not that there is much at the moment to hold it against: saying it’s pretty calm out there, would be an understatement, even for the English. When I went down, we had a full whopping 2 knots of breeze out there, but while I’ve been writing down here, it’s more than doubled and I’m looking at a good 4 knots on the instruments!

Still, not quite enough to get sailing again, so we continue to motor sail…Bertha, our trustworthy 7th crew member (aka the Perkins engine) got called into action again earlier tonight, just after dinner, about 7pm. She’d done a few short stints during the day, but luckily enough we could sail pretty quickly again most of the time. Not tonight. Looks like she’ll be on for at least the rest of the night if the forecast is anything to go by.

What a difference 24 hours can make!

Last night we had an absolute blast with some proper down wind sailing: 30 knots from the quarter blasting us along at 8, 9, sometimes 10.5 knots! The big seas that went with it made for some challenging but very very exciting sailing, surfing down the waves with 23 tons of Swan underneath our feet.

I was thrilled to be on the helm, even when I got caught out by a big wave from behind that left me with a wet bum or when I saw this wall of water on our port side and only just had time to shout ‘WAVE!!!!!’ before getting another dousing warm water though as we are sailing even further south.

We left Gibraltar Tuesday at about lunch time and are on our way to Lanzarote. No Madeira this time, as there is a nasty weather system lurking around the corner there. We’ve got 425nm to go before exploring a new island.

And as exciting as that will be, right now we’re still enjoying being out here for another few days, with the sun, the sky, the sea, Star Chaser and some new and old friends as company.

Monday 14 September - 1400
Arrived!

Just arrived in the Marina in Portimao!

After 6 days and a very quick Biscay Crossing, we’ve arrived in the Algarve in the hot sun. Although, it is threatening to rain and by the looks of it, there is a bit of thunder in the air as well…probably want to make us feel at home!

It’s been a great trip, with lots of experiences and a great crew – thanks to Erwan and Peter for being brilliant on board, you are stars!

Thanks for following us on our trip south – the next one is end of October, a short hop from here to Gibraltar and then on to the Canaries, so stay tuned!

We’re off to the bar now, getting on dry land and having our first cold beer in Portugal….

Star Chaser’s Crew - Boogie, Erwan, Peter & Marlies

Sunday 13 September - 1915
Preparing for life on land.

This is Erwan on watch at the blog… After avoiding adventures with some massive lightning storms last night, everything is calm again on Star Chaser. I did the first part of the morning watch by myself, being the only one who got a reasonable amount of sleep. At the change of the watch Marlies and I got our revenge on Boogie and Peter. For the last couple of days they’ve had the sunshine while we had the fog. Today at last they’ve been soaked in rain for four hours, while the warm Portuguese sun greeted us as soon as we came on deck. I suppose we’re even now…

The end of our trip is near, we’ve just sailed past Lisbon. I’ve never been to Portugal before but sailing along this beautiful coastline I can imagine what treasures are waiting here. Unfortunately there is almost no wind to keep us entertained and our thoughts turn towards ‘normal’ life on land. Portuguese women might be impressed by tough stories of crossing the Bay, but not if you smell like a sailor. So I’ve washed my clothes and had a proper shave. I start to feel like a new woman again.

Having ditched a (bad) crew opportunity earlier, this trip on Star Chaser turns out to be everything I wished for. I’ve been on lookout for massive ships in the shipping lanes, helmed until my shoulders ached, surfed a wave at 13 knots on the epic sound of Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries. I’ve experienced moonrise, sunrise, birds, dolphins and the deep translucent blue color of the sea. Surely a voyage I won’t forget soon!

However all things come to an end. Peter flies back to the UK, Boogie and Marlies will move on with Star Chaser on their yearly journey across the Atlantic. And me? I’ll continue sailing for a few months, maybe in the Mediterranean or towards the Azores. If it will be as good as sailing on Star Chaser, it’s going to be great!

Sunday 13 September - 0735
Goin’ South…North…South…North…South!

The sun has just come up and put the world in a beautiful glow…not that we haven’t had any glow last night!

For those of you that don’t just read the blog, but follow us on the tracker as well in the middle of the night, you might have been wondering ’What on earth are they doing?’

If you didn’t notice, we’ve been doing a bit of zigzagging, going North and South for some hours…

Why you ask? Treasure hunt? Lost hat? Lost?

No, nothing quite as fancy as those, we were simply doing a bit of thunderstorm avoidance…while screaming South at 8 knots after dinner, we had noticed the first light lightning up ahead to our right. Nothing much to worry about.

However, the occasional lightning and thunderbolt soon turned into our own private light show!

And we were having front row seats!

A bit too up front and a bit too close for comfort to be honest – as it seemed to be a fairly stationary and at the same time massive system, there was no skirting or moving around it…so we’ve gone back North for a while, turning back and forth for some hours to wait for this massive thunderstorm to blow itself out.

No reason to be in one of those if you don’t have to; we’ve been there, done that and got the t-shirt and really do not need any more of those, so avoiding action was the way to go!

So no strange or scary reasons for our little zigzagging nor anything to worry about. All is good aboard the good ship Star Chaser and everybody is in a good mood.

We’re now back on track going South at a respectable 6+ knots, motor sailing. The thunderstorm has taken all the wind with it and we are left with about 6 knots from all over the place, so Bertha is back in action and loving it.

Looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day, but after being up for a few too many hours all I want to do is sleep!

More later today!

Saturday 12 September – 1815
Life is good

After twelve hours under engine off the coast of Portugal, this afternoon we’ve been enjoying an unexpected breeze – the forecast was for a windless few days but right now we’re making a steady 7 knots, with Marlies currently at the helm. The sun is shining, a few hours ago we saw a whale only a few metres off the port side and, after another excellent meal, all is definitely well. Except for Erwan that is, who is now manfully battling a streaming cold (the result of two long watches in some foul fog last night – Portuguese weather isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be).

I should probably point out that, with Marlies otherwise engaged steering the boat ever southward, it’s Peter here, on blogging duty for the first time, on my first voyage aboard Star Chaser and my first time sailing the Atlantic. With very little sailing experience and no real idea of what lay ahead when I arrived in Hamble a week ago, I can honestly say this has been – and continues to be - an amazing adventure. Learning to live aboard under the watch system has not been without its hardships (we operate as pairs, on duty for four hours at a time in the day, three at night). I think the countless small bruises on my head, incurred while trying to scramble out of my bunk in the pitch dark, may soon join forces to form one massive lump. And, with more fog predicted tonight, I suspect Erwan’s cold is heading my way next.

But every small trial is overcome by the joy of life aboard this brilliant boat. We’ve had dolphins jumping across our bow, spent nights under the clearest skies imaginable (thanks to Boogie, I will now always be able to find the North star), made the most of fantastic following winds across the Bay of Biscay, and all to the strains of Boogie’s eclectic musical tastes (honestly, there are some great tunes in there, if you can forgive the theme tune from Titanic… Actually, I’m still not sure I can).

So, with the end of our trip to Portugal almost in sight, life on Star Chaser remains a blast. You should be here – you’d love it.

Friday 11 September – 1700
Bliss

I know it’s getting repetitive, but it just is another day of bliss on the water…this surely is my best Biscay crossing ever and well up there with some of my best sailing trips.

This afternoon has just been one blast after the other, surfing down waves, sometimes 4 to 5 m high, with a force 7 from behind. Boogie hit 14.5 knots going down one of them! Must admit it was a bit scary at times and certainly exhilarating!

We’ve had force 6 since we entered the Bay and since this morning it has become a steady 7…when helming this morning, the wind instruments were showing 35 knots true continuously!

It really doesn’t feel like the image you’d conjure up thinking about a force 7 in the Bay of Biscay though, which has always sounded nasty to me; but this is the right sort of force 7, from behind with following seas!

Not a frequent occurrence either so we are feeling really good and lucky about it.

We’re also really really happy to be going south rather than north….we’ve seen some of the freighters and fishing boats ploughing their way, pitching and rolling into the wind and the massive waves, taking on tons and tons of water over the bow; it makes us realize we are actually in a force 7 with big seas!

Things have calmed down a bit again now we’re around the corner, with ‘only a force 6’ from behind, so we’re having a blast helming the boat.

The sun has been out all afternoon, but the skies have been a bit hazy…so our first sight of land was a dark shadow in the mist…but as we were getting closer and the sun started to burn off some of that fogginess, these impressive rock coasts of the Spanish Rias were materializing out of the haze, with little houses and massive white crosses…a beautiful view in the Spanish sun, with the waves all around us…

Friday 11 September – 0845
Early birds

We’ve been seeing lots of birds over the last few days, from big sea birds to rather tiny ones, which almost seem to be lost so far out at sea. Yesterday we had a couple of them taking a break and enjoying the great hospitality on the good ship Star Chaser, couldn’t quite catch their tjilping accent, but they sure seemed happy!

Happy is also the right word for our crew, which we haven’t really gotten round to introduce. We’re sailing with Boogie (37), our Dutch owner/skipper, who’s always in a good mood, cracking a smile even when you wake him up in the middle of the night; his watch mate, Peter (29), who’s taking some time off from filming (no, behind the camera, not in front, we’re not having a celebrity on board) to get some more sailing experience. He’s doing really well, and despite being a bit wobbly the first few days, he stubbornly hung in there, getting on with it all, including teas and cleaning! Well done!

Then there is Erwan, our Dutchie, who just turned 28 two days ago and has just finished his geography studies. He is doing some offshore sailing trips at the moment and didn’t quite like the look of the first boat he got on – so he jumped ship and joined us, and we’re happy to have him! Already learned some new stuff about music I never even dreamed about.

And me said the fool (I know, I know, another translation of a Dutch expression (‘en ik, zei de gek’), but does it really matter? Personally I think we should keep this one in English, as it applies to more than just a few! Thinking about it, would it be I said the fool? Or me? Am a bit lost…), your faithful blogger (39, soon to be 40, ouch), Dutch as well (yes we’ve got something going here!), secretly organizing the food, trying to boss everybody about a bit and letting you all know how things are going on this great yacht.

So how are things going?

Pretty darn good! We’re 57nm to our waypoint off Cabo Finistere, jus around the NW corner of Spain, doing speeds of 8, 9, 10 knots over the ground; the wind has picked up a little this morning and we’re seeing wind speeds of up to 28 knots apparent! It makes for an exhilarating sleigh ride and we’re having a great time.

The sunset this morning was wicked: a faint blush of pink all over glow came peeping above the horizon, before this perfectly round ball of fire just rose out of the sea…we were awestruck and really happy to be here…

Thursday 10 September – 1830
AMAZING DAY!

It has been the most wonderful day today; some great sailing, wind on the port quarter 15-20 apparent, us blasting across the Bay of Biscay on a good swell, the music blasting through the cockpit speakers with some great tunes. Smiles all around, happy faces, excitement filling the air.

Just after lunch we were halfway across the Bay and still making good speed – hopefully by tomorrow dinner time we will be passing Cabo Finistere on the NW corner of Spain…

Helming Star Chaser in these conditions is absolute heaven, she responds well, and you can feel the power when you’re surging off a big wave, 23T of beauty rushing through the water.

Just before dinner, turned out we were not the only ones rushing through the water, we had company! A pod of about 5, 6 dolphins came to play for half an hour, darting around the bow and the sides of the boat, jumping up and down, performing some wicked jumps and generally being happy to play with us. Not as happy as us watching them though! For Erwan it was his dolphin baptism, so that was pretty special.

An amazing day on the water once again.

Wednesday 9 September – 1820 BST
Birthday Boy!

And sailing we did!

We’ve had great winds ever since I went back up deck last night to get the headsail out and go proper sailing instead of motorsailing. 15- 25 knots, starting with close reach, and slowly veering through the night and day, until we are now on a broad reach (for the non sailors amongst you, we now have the wind from behind,slightly to the left).

Gybed this afternoon and are now running south at great speeds with the wind on the port quarter.

It’s been a fabulous night, with mostly clear skies, a moon bright enough to light up the whole boat and lots of stars to gaze at. Great start for Erwan’s birthday.

It’s not been really sunny today, but who needs sun when you can have wind!

Although, admittedly, a bit of sun came through later afternoon when I was on watch with our Birthday Boy! Special birthday request that was, and much appreciated! Great moment for Erwan as well as he is half French and Britanny and Ushuant are special places for him; and yes, on his birthday we sailed right past those! Quite symbolic we thought.

We are now just to the SW of Britanny and in the famous Bay of Biscay, steaming along at speeds of over 10 knots at times (both spped over ground as well as boat speed!). Yippie!

Just had our little birthday candle and balloon moment, with the 3 of us singing ‘Happy Birthday’ in 3 different languages (English, Dutch and French). Erwan’s cabin is now proudly decorated with the special pink and green Birthday Balloons.

Erwan, HAPPY BIRTHDAY from all of us!

Tuesday 8 September - 2000 BST
Lovely day on the water

Well, that’s us here: about 6n to the NW of Guernsey, after a lovely chicken tandoori (Thanks Erwan!), dishes done and ready for the night. Yep, ready for the night, not ready for bed, as we do not spend our whole nights in bed! We’re on a watch system with 2 watches; Peter and Boogie in the one watch, and Erwan and I in the other. During the day we do 4 hours on, 4 hours off and during the night (from 6pm to 6am) 3 hour on and 3 hours off. So no continuous night’s sleep, but not bad at all for a boat! Needless to say we do a bit of catching up on sleep during the day.

Today has been lovely out there, even though we’ve had to put Bertha (for our new readers, that’s our engine) on at about 0930. We’ve been motorsailing ever since, mostly in calm seas and with a great sun. Had one little fog patch of about 2 hours this afternoon, but other than that nothing but sun!

Wind’s picking up a bit so I better get out there, roll some headsail out, give Bertha a well deserved rest and get sailing!

Tuesday 8 September 2009 – 0232 BST
Sailing into the sunset!

Or actually, not quite…we did plan to leave Monday afternoon, sailing west into the sunset, but with a few last minute things to do and pick up we missed our tidal gate. So rather than punching the tide and the wind at the Needles heading out, we decided to get a few hours of sleep in and leave at the next favourable tide. Sleep when you can!

So we got up at 0030, got ready and slipped our lines for our next adventure, our 3rd Atlantic Circuit. As said, we’re sailing to Portimao first, and then end of October on to Las Palmas (Gran Canaria) for the start of the ARC.

It’s good to be out here again on the water!

More tomorrow!

We’re off!

Sunday 6 September 2009
Going South

After finishing the Rolex Fastnet Race, we have been extremely busy getting the boat ready for our next Atlantic circuit; although it starts with only a relatively short trip to the Algarve (south Portugal for the geographically challenged amongst you!), but we need to have everything with us that we need for the next 9 months, including 2 Transatlantics!

It also means making sure the house is ok (luckily enough we have our housemate Richard, pfew!) and our own personal stuff is in order, so you can imagine - it’s been a bit hectic!

Tomorrow, Monday, we hopefully set off on our sail to the Algarve. We’ve got a great crew, Boogie, Erwan (our Dutch cabin boy), Peter (our English cabin boy) and myself – wonder if that makes me the cabin girl then?

More about the crew later, as I am finishing getting my last stuff together and we have our crew dinner at 7pm!

Time flies!

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