A Few Postcards...

Another lovely sunset... & Aguadulce Marina, off the cliff


Lagos, the old city...


Leaving Lagos... & Cascais waterfront beach


Camariñas & the Festa do Carme

Thanks to Mistas for the great pics!

Mutiny on the Tibby

Here goes, my breakfast lasted over a day I know, but it was sunday, hehe... I got down to Saint Tropez on a beautiful day, switching from train to bus to finally end up on the pier in front of what looked a very well equipped and looked out for Hallberg Rassy 42. I was there before everybody else so the owner invited me onboard for a little beer as we chatted waiting for the rest of the crew to get there. The preparations were quite thorough, I went up the mast, where i caught a bird's eye view of all the bay around Saint Tropez, we bubble wrapped almost all the saloon to keep it dry and from gettin the odd scratches. I felt the skipper knew what he was doing and eventhough he seemed a bit dry in some ways, I was lookin forward to goin out to sea... That's until he came back with our food: I unpacked tins and more tins, the only fresh vegetables we had were a bag of potatoes and a bag of onions.. oh and a few peppers... The rest of it was basically cans of diet cokes and corned beef. The plan was then to go out to sea for the full trip without hittin land, a full two weeks or so, I imagined what we would be on within a week... Anyways, DC, the skipper, seemed a decent bloke under the hard veener and we set off on a beautiful morning with little wind. As we left the bay we had our first encounter with what become a recuring sight throughout the whole trip: a fin whale.. What a great omen, I thought, barely out to sea and sea life was already surrounding us. I was my first fin whale in its natural habitat and even if it was a rather small sized one I was chuffed. I later learned that actually the whale, now named Desiré by the local press was an orphan calf now roaming the southern french mediterranean coast from Monaco to Marseille... So we headed south and I was starting to hope the winds would keep away so we would have to stop somewhere in the Med.. Ibiza was on the track and I kindda like the idea of spending an afternoon on one of Formenterra's naturist beaches, hehe... But that was not to be the case, clearly we were on a schedule and we were going to stick to the original plan, we left the party islands to the west and kept hitting south towards Gibraltar. The mood on the boat was a bit tense with DC constantly picking on the other crew member, Mistas, and for no particular reason at all. I thought nothing of it at first, supposing that it was DC's way on setting out the pecking order on the boat, he was boss, i was second and Mistas was well, getting all the heat. It was unfair, Mistas had more experience than I had for example, he just lacked the tickets.. Of course DC was the Million Miles Skipper, so we had no ground to stand on. I guess Mistas being the reasonable man that he is, just let it slide on his feathers. We were still gettin daily sightings of whale blows, for the first week we saw at least whale a day, bottlenose dolphins went almost unnoticed ... almost, I was on the bow once when a pod came over to "play" and one of them turned on its side, and looked at me... I could clearly see his eye starring me down a few feet away with some kind of inquisitive love, no fear, no anger, as if he knew I was enjoying this as much as he was. I know it's a bit daft to give animals feelings and characters that we only human claim to have, but I really felt close, we were linked under the sun & the bow wave... Moments like these always obliterate all the negativity in me and around me, DC and his antics could not touch me. His cooking did though, we were blessed with his creativity, one night we got cassoulet out of a tin mixed with 10min couscous, clearly food was just another energy source for our skipper, much like diesel, to be washed down with nutrasweetened soda... A week had passed and the Rock, Gibraltar, was just ahead of us, we squeezed through the straights at night in one the busiest waterways in the world and finally got into the Atlantic Ocean. That was my first real sailing trip in the Med over, most of it done under engine as the winds were either too weak or on the nose. By that time we had to stop somewhere for a refill. of diesel at least, I mentioned Lagos, since I had been there only a month ago and that it was a good stop before passing the Cabo Sao Vicente and the northern route to well, the north hehe... So Lagos it was, we got there early morning, moored up, ran for the soothing showers and the cold beers :) The conditions for the rest of the trip weren't lookin great too, the wind was northerly/ northwesterly and DC didn't want to skim up the coast in fear of traffic. Needless to say that when I mentioned that I didn't see much traffic last time around, it fell on deaf ears. We stayed there a day and a half before we packed up and hit out west, DC wanted to do some 300 miles westwards so he could cut back up directly towards England... Another plan that fell through, after another day and a half sailing in strenghtening winds and rougher seas, we decided to turn back and go to... Lagos, lol. 3 days for feck all and we were on a schedule remember! Actually it wasn't worthless, I was on the helm lookin ahead one morning when I heard a blow just over my shoulder, I looked to the side and right there, some 5 metres away was a huge fin whale, the visible part, around the fin, was as big as the boat, that's like 13 metres and without the head or tail I couldn't stop thinkin how big the beast was and how surprised it must have been coming up for air so close to me! Another of those I-Love-Life moments, memorable! We had a steady force 8 wind on that trip and maybe that's what pushed Mistas to tell DC to give a little more respect if he wanted some in return. Our second stay in Lagos turned out to be the one that bonded us, Mistas and I, we felt like a mutineering crew, our humour being our deadliest weapon! So, goodbye Lagos and up north we go, following the coast this time, the winds had died down on us again so by the time we got half way up Portugal it was time to duck in for more juice, and guess where we end up? Yes, Cascais, another port I had visited on my last trip, which was lookin more and more like is one. We left the next morning, planning another stop on the northern spanish coast before crossing Biscay.. Camariñas it was, and yes by that time I was thinking we were heading into a force 11 in the Bay, just like last time. That trip to Camariñas led to my first blown out conflict with DC, as we were approaching the little gallician village, he inadvertently mistook a light for another and I pointed it out to him: Million Miles Skipper told me to shut up, wait and see that I was wrong... Well, as we passed the light on a spit of land with froth all over it (this is called the Costa do Morte) I guess he noticed that maybe he was wrong so he went into some kind of mute snit and I was singin to my heart's content, hehe. I didn't say anything, neither did he, but things got worse from there on. We got there on the break of dawn, waited for the pump to open, filled her up and left. It was the 16th of July, the yearly patron saint's festival, with bands all over town and fishing boats covered with flags and palms. They go out to sea on a procession where they abandon the statue of Carmen in offering. But clearly, we were in a hurry, so we left like 15 minutes before the procession... Running like sheep to the slaughter, I mean we had been at sea for over two weeks now, how was an hour or two hanging around enjoying the festivities going to delay us? My mutineering friend and I now spent most of our time together chatting away, criticising the lack of savoir-vivre of our Captain. Surprisingly Biscay was flat all the way, like a pond, we barely touched the sails, engine on most of the time until we finally reached the british south coast and its gorgeous summer weather.. It had been raining for two months there and our arrival didn't change anything, my watch approaching the Isle of Wight was the last dry one and my last conflict with DC... More lights, more confusion, this time he asked me why I was always double checking what he said and that he had done navigation before... Maybe because all human beings can make mistakes? And that an extra pair of eyes is a advantage rather than a threat? I guess when you have a Million Miles under your belt, you are far from the days where the beauty of sailing is that it is a constant learning curve, that everyday brings its load of surprises and challenges.. Overblown Ego doesn't help, I have learned that we all must stay humble in the awe that the mighty Sea inspires!

Fin Whale!

Yay! Made it back safe and sound... The trip lasted just over three weeks and was a very interesting experience with a totally moronic individual. Just got up, am at home, will have breakfast, recollect my thoughts and lay them down here in a few hours...

Saint Tropez - Lagos - Cascais

Well well, didn't actually believe I was going to end up doing almost the same trip as the last one... Apart from the Mediterranean bit, as soon as we got passed Gibraltar we ended up in Lagos again (twice) and Cascais where I am now.. It's ISAF Sailing Championships here so the town is buzzing, sailors from all over the world are everywhere.. Funny atmosphere and such a change from last time.. Anyway this was just a little update, I will come back in more detail on the rest of the trip as soon as I get home, some 10 days from now I suppose. Let's hope Biscay won't bring the same surprises hehe...