At Sea - On route to Lisbon

Hi All,

Well, we are 160nm from Lisbon now, and can see the end of our long passages at least for a few seasons. The seas were quite large for five days on this leg, we were faced with waves over a story high, the boat would rise beautifully up the very steep wall, sometimes we would go over the top as the wave would start to break, water crashing over us and then we would drop into the next trough with a huge thud and massive splash, which the wind would then blow all over the boat. Despite all our clears up, we had to wear wet-weather gear while in the cockpit. Fortunately this is now over and although we are rocking, we are at least dry. 
We have never seen so many ships around us, at times we have detected 30 ships on the screen on AIS and we have needed to contact one or two who were heading for us. Every single time these massive ships have been happy to comply and turn away from us to avoid a collision.
Within 36 hrs. we should be in Lisbon and back on our usual land internet, so you will be able to contact us. At last we will be in Europe, having done 16,961 nm to get here since leaving Sydney!

Best wishes.
Dimitri and Arti.

Hi Guys, I must be bored as I have written two poems for you - my first attempts so bear with me...

MADEIRA

We are eleven miles off the island of Madeira
With a million shimmering lights for me to stare at
The island like a jewelled necklace out to sea
Have we really come so far, can it really be?

Buzzing fishing boats with red and white light
A 300ft ship, why does it leave in the night?
Lighthouse warmly flashing "I am pharos"
As we round the point called Reis Magos.

White lights flashing on our starboard side
We give Ilhas Desertas a berth very wide
They wear an apron of rocks very deadly
Sheer, towering islands that are not very friendly.

We see a runway on stilts in the sky 
A wind farm built where the wind funnels by
Under the runway boats on hard-stand
What an elegant use of the limited land

A shining hill shawled in gleaming solar panels
Multicoloured houses just as the brochures show us
Friendly staff help us to tie up
Suggest a place for a long awaited sup.

THE OCEAN VOYAGE

At the centre of a large blue disc
Scarred here and there with white horses
We bob along, sometimes at risk
From the mighty power of water forces

Streaked in white foam the waves roll by
Sometimes rearing up to break over us
Dark blue beneath, where sea creatures hide
Gliding by in search of food and lust

We skirt great sea mounts rising up from the deep
From depths of five thousand to just twenty meters
They throw up the ocean and make waves steep
As we move away the swell slowly peters

Grey dawn pierced by silver streaks
Which quickly turn to purple and pink
Great golden ball rising out of the seas
To warm us and burn us and make our skin shrink

A line of cloud comes rolling in
Catching us with a wind short and sharp
Teeming rain follows, caught in our bin
Cool rain water just right for a bath

The sun beams down, bores into our brain
Breaking down man and equipment alike
Oh how we wish for the tropical rain
To clear our heads and bring us respite

Dark clouds appear looking very ominous
Grib files predict a very strong blow
Seas rising up, the boys feel bilious
We batten down and all loose things stow

We rock and we roll, we twist and buck
Bulkheads creaking and rigging shrieking
Great waves break and deep troughs suck
Everything's wet the boat is leaking!

Once again the sun comes out
With a wonderful glow is sinks to the sea
The water calms and the stars come out
At last it's calm enough to make tea

From the sea is born the gleaming moon
Tonight she rises as just a sliver
Our sails bow to her, both slivers too
We dance on wavelets she has turned to silver

In the rising dawn we see a haze
Wheeling sea birds too and sea lions race
We know that soon on land we will gaze 
And will leave this quiet expansive place.

Love ya all and thanks for putting up with me.

Arti

At Sea - On route to Lisbon

Hello Everyone

Well, it is wild and woolley out here at the moment. Our 30kn. forecast wind arrived on cue, with gusts to gale force (we had one gust of 41kn) and gradually through the night and day, the sea has been building. It is actually quite awesome. There is a grey sky, grey sea, all the waves are capped with white foam, there are foamy streaks across the backs of the waves and blown spray off the tops of them. Every few minutes one breaks over the deck and the water is managing to seep in through all the tiny nooks and crevices and gradually the boat is getting wetter and wetter. We too are bringing a lot of water in with us as the cockpit is soaked, even though we have all the clears up. This is forecast to last until the day after tomorrow so no hot meals or coffee until then. It is too wild in the kitchen to deal with boiling water or hot foods. Anyway, our spirits are still up and slowly we creep closer to Lisbon, albeit at a snails pace - still 400nm to go. Next letter will be on a more cheerful note I am sure.

Cheers for now.
Arti and Dimitri

At Sea - Just left Madeira on route to Lisbon

Hi one and all,

Well we decided to try sail, rather than motor to Lisbon. It is 500 odd miles as the crow(?seagull) flies but we will need to zig zag and will probably double that distance. We are expecting strong winds over the next few days, and are already reefed down, nursing our torn Genoa. No birds, not much animal life to see, but lots of ships to keep us on our toes.

Madeira was a magical island. We arrived deliberately just before dawn, to see the whole south coast lit up like fairy lights. The island is small, 35 by 16 kilometers, very mountainous and green. There are about 500,000 people on it. Wherever possible, they have terraced the land, and there are houses and market gardens everywhere. The coast is spectacular, the roads are amazingly good, VERY high bridges and tunnels everywhere, the houses are all built to a high standard, there is NO graffiti, it is clean, well maintained, with a good bus system. The only flat land is in the interior at very high altitude, and is always foggy, so they merely suspended an entire runway on the coast between 2 hills! The space under it (it is about 10 floors in height!) is used for yacht hard stand, sports fields, etc. The coast is sunny and warm. The climate is semi tropical, so all fruits are on offer, they make a great rum punch (called pocho, of course),very potent, of course Madeira wine,and Madeira cake. They do scabbard fish in passion fruit, banana or pepper and honey. They have great wilderness walks along their waterways, often on the edge of high cliffs. Waterfalls are abundant, and there was a very scary landslide near us on the walk of the the 25 cataracts! 

Well, last leg our weather grid files were inaccurate, so I will check daily for changes.

Love to all, 

Arti & Dimitri

Madeira

Hi Everyone,

We have had a lovely time here.  We rented a car and drove all around and across the island and yesterday we did a hike along one of the Levadas.  These are watercourses in the mountains that have been built (I don't know how anyone could possibly build anything on those sheer cliffs) to collect the waterfall and spring water and funnel it down to the villages.  There is a narrow path along each Levada that is just possible to fit one person (and at a very tight squeeze to pass someone) with a 1,000m drop off the edge.  We saw some waterfalls.  We stopped for lunch at a little bridge and while we were eating there was a huge rockfall into the river about 20m from us.  We heard the noise, didn't know where it was coming from so by the time we reacted and started running, the rocks had fallen and there was a huge amount of dust.  There was no way we would have escaped if it was where we were!  Lucky it was just up from us.  When we returned, we saw new mud in the river, so a second landslide must have happened in the meantime.  We also saw a few other fairly recent landslides.  

Lots of love

Arti & Dimitri

At Sea - On route to Madeira

Hi Everyone

At last we are within 24 hrs. of Madeira. This has been a trying but uneventful trip. The last few days we have been in the centre of a high pressure system, the wind has been very light, the famous tall North Atlantic swell has been rolling gently under the boat, moving us gently from side to side to remind us that we are still at sea. We have been forced to motor for the last three days but have enough fuel to reach our destination. We are planning our arrival at dawn tomorrow. Yesterday we saw a pod of dolphins. They came to have a look at us but to our regret, didn't stay to play. John has been inspired by all the rap he listens to and is now writing folk poetry to our delight. He is really turning out to be quite good at this. Arti has also been inspired and has written a very long poem about John to the amusement of us all. This has really been a long leg of the journey and we are all looking forward to about a 10 day stay in Madeira. We will have good internet contact in Madeira so we will be back on our land internet 

Lots of love,

Arti & Dimitri 

At Sea - On route to Madeira (near Canary Islands)

Hello Everyone, 

Well, we are getting closer to Europe now. Yesterday we saw a few steam trails from aircraft above and our first bird in a long time. We are opposite the Canary Islands now, named for the large dogs the first Europeans who arrived saw there. The little birds by that name, take their name from the islands, where they were first found. The pilot book tells us that there are a lot of refugee boats coming across from the African coast. Most are intercepted by the Spanish coast guard, but those that get through are abandoned and left to float out to sea. There are also others that don't make it to the islands, with fatal consequences for the occupants. They are a hazard to yachtsmen as being wood, they can float, semi-submerged, for a long time. Of course they are unlit so they make a collision hazard. As they are all around the same length as us, this is a very sobering thought. Also, it has evoked a conversation as to what we would do if we came across one with people (most likely deceased) who had not made it to land. I guess we would have to hang around and try to contact the Spanish Guardia by HF radio to inform them - that in itself would not be an easy matter.
Anyway, to a happier note, we are making good headway and are now 350nm from Madeira. We are starting to run low on fuel as the wind we were hoping for did not materialize so we have been unable to progress without motoring. The good news is that we should have enough to get there and if necessary, we can divert to the Canary Islands to get some, so we are not worried. 
Today is a wonderful day here - sunshine, cool breeze, some white caps but not too big a swell. It puts a smile on our faces!

Love you all
Arti & Dimitri

At Sea - On route to Madeira

Hello Everyone,

Well, it is now obvious we are moving towards winter (or shall I say early spring). It is getting quite cool out in the cockpit at night and this morning it was very cloudy again. The cloud does seem to burn off through the day though and we are not getting those lovely tropical rainstorms that washed the salt off the boat. Today the swell is very big (about 4m) but because the waves are far apart, we ride up and down them very nicely without slamming into them too often. We are still motor sailing north-east and are hoping for the predicted wind direction change tomorrow which will enable us to go north under sail alone. Unfortunately we seem to be just behind the weather pattern we need and never seem to catch up! We are now level with Western Sahara to the east and Key West, Florida to the West. (Hello all my lovely family and friends in Florida, we are just 3,155nm from you!) Things are going smoothly with no breakages so far on this leg although our gennoa (big white sail in the front) has seen better days and may not last till we get to Lisbon as we were hoping. When we get to Madeira, we will have another repair done and we will see....

Our most useful member of the crew, our autopilot, continues to work unfailingly. I have named him "Kanenas" (meaning "Nobody" in Greek, the name Ulysses gave himself, I think when escaping from the Cyclops). He just works quietly in the background, day and night. Without him, one of us would have to be steering at all times, putting a huge stress on the rest of the crew. Our rudder stock has developed a "creak" so hopefully we don't have problems with it. We will give it a good greasing when we get to Madeira. That's all for now folks. Keep well and fair winds. 

Arti & Dimitri

At Sea - On route to Madeira

Hi Everyone,

Things are hotting up here. The wind has picked up and we have a grey sky, lots of wind, quite a large swell and lots of white caps. We are reefed and smacking into the sea so we have quite a lot of spray over the boat. All good though but still slow going. 750nm to Madeira, 1330nm to Lisbon, i.e. as the crow flies but we are NOT crows! 

Love to all

Arti and Dimitri

At Sea - On route to Madeira

Hello Everyone,

Well we have once again settled into a way of life here, sleeping, keeping watch, meals (prepared with difficulty as we are now constantly on a lean), reading and the boys playing backgammon. We are unable to travel in a direct route to Madeira (NE) as the wind is directly ahead, so we are going north-west for a few days. Our route is pointing to somewhere between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland which is a bit disconcerting. As a result, the distance to our destination has also not decreased very much and we are only 60nm closer to Madeira than when we left almost two days ago! Nevertheless, when we turn east, the distance should decrease rapidly. So far the Atlantic has been much quieter than the Indian and we have not seen any ships for many days. There are also few sea birds out here and we have not seen dolphins, although we still see the occasional flying fish. These should also decrease in number as we go further north into cooler latitudes. We are now at 19 degrees N and the nights are getting cooler. Once we reach 22 degrees north we will be out of the tropics and into early spring proper. Madeira is at 32 degrees N, the same latitude as Sydney is to the south. Lisbon is 38 degrees north, much further north than the Cape of Good Hope is to the south (34d S) so it would be quite cool there at the moment. Hopefully when we get to Lisbon at the beginning of May it should be a bit warmer than it is now. 
This morning it is cloudy. It was very pretty seeing the sunrise - the rays of sunshine were streaking through a small gap in the clouds, turning a small patch of the grey sea silver in the distance.
Bye for now. 

Arti & Dimitri