29th August 2024: Day 0
If all goes to plan, we set sail tomorrow! In a couple of hours our good friend John joins us. He is a veteran of sailing trips on Merryn – sailing with us for a trip to France from the UK, and for our big Biscay crossing in 2021. His presence is an extra layer of reassurance and competence.
Last minute preparations are being done, forecasts checked and re-checked, and fingers remaining crossed!
30th August 2024: Day 1
We departed Rota at 9.00 this morning and are currently 55 miles offshore on a direct line towards Madeira. We are now in water more than 800m deep, so hope that we are beyond the Orca feeding grounds of coastal Spain where there have been numerous attacks on sailing boats.
The weather is good and in northerly winds of 10 knots we are sailing well at 6 knots. We’ve set up our Hydrovane steering system which seems to be coping with the relatively heavy seas. Just about to have a sundowner and supper before we commence our night watches.
31st August 2024: Day 2
Hmm… Winds picked up last night after we ate supper and just as we were starting our night watches. We had a Force 4-5 but close hauled or close reaching which felt quite uncomfortable, particularly as the seas picked up and the boat was slamming down the waves, giving us fairly sleepless off watches. Still, even with 2 reefs in both main and staysail we were making speeds of 6-7 knots.
There was a moonless night with a stunning Milky Way visible but it was only as the sun rose this morning that we could see the true size of the waves, all in the 2-3m zone, giving us rough seas along with stronger winds. We’re feeling a little tired, especially as we’ll have similar conditions for the next 36 hours. But we have already covered 200 miles as we settle down for our supper.
1st September 2024: Day 3
Last night was a little calmer with 2m waves but the wind remained at Force 5 gusting 6. Fortunately it came round to northerly giving us a pleasant and fast beam reach. The Milky Way was amazing and dotted with shooting stars – cruising through the water in the dark under the starry sky 200 miles from land is so beautiful and surreal.
Today has been similar making it easier to do the daily checks, with Jonathan venturing out of the cockpit to check the rigging and take some video footage. We have sailed 340 miles and have 195 to go before we reach Porto Santo, probably in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
2nd September 2024: Day 4
Overnight remained settled with 15 knot winds on the beam and the sunrise watch was spectacular. We had a lovely day of pleasant downwind sailing with moderate seas….until late afternoon when the winds picked up, the skies darkened and the swell increased. By nightfall we had 20-25 knots and the seas were rough with 3m waves. It was impossible to do anything except hang on, watching the distance to our final waypoint slowly decrease as we surfed down the waves under a double reefed Genoa.
3rd September 2024: Day 5
The last few hours of the crossing seemed to stretch out forever. The night was dark and even darker silhouettes of waves pushed past the boat like monsters from the deep. As we focussed on the lighthouse of Porto Santo and the surrounding rocks, we could see rows of lights along the land but these were constantly obscured by the huge waves that rolled ahead of us.
We turned around the headland towards the harbour and, where there should have been shelter, the winds picked up to more than 30 knots. It was almost impossible to keep the bow into the wind but finally we dropped anchor and held fast. It was almost 4am. We had come 557 nautical miles in 91 hours and it had been a really challenging sail. We duly celebrated with a few beers before the sleep of the truly exhausted!
Some thought on the trip (by Jonathan)
Wow! The last few days have been exhilarating, exciting, and also a bit scary. We planned carefully for the trip – not only did we provision exhaustively, we also prepared the boat for downwind sailing, heavy weather, and long nights. We even signed up to the Predict Wind weather forecasting and sail routing service, which gave us invaluable advice on the optimal sail plan, route, and regular updates on the weather forecast, which we were able to refresh during the voyage thanks to our Starlink internet link. We also got to grips with our Hydrovane self-steering system, and it worked really well, giving us confidence for future offshore passages. Nonetheless, the conditions took us by surprise: the wind was just a little too much of a close haul for comfort at the start, and later the big seas proved challenging. However much we knew rationally that Merryn was well able to cope with the swell, seeing the big waves towering above us was more than daunting!
It was a great feeling to arrive safely, knowing that we had pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone and had successfully completed our longest ocean passage to date. As preparation and practice for the coming trips across the Atlantic, it has been extremely useful, and we have learnt a lot – both what went well, and where we need to rethink our strategies. Big thanks to our friend John, who proved to be more than an able seaman, and helped us both physically and mentally during the trip. We will be spending a few days at anchor in Porto Santo – time to recover, get some sleep, and enjoy this fabulous Atlantic island.