Last night our ideal downwind sail set-up took an early demise. The mounting seas and wind astern had us surfing and corkscrewing down the waves, putting a lot of strain on our genoa and spinnaker pole which gave up with a bang. I was snoozing down below and heard the bang but Jonathan, listening to …
It’s the evening of our second day at sea and, so far, it has been magical. The seas have been calm but the wind a little too light. We’ve been trying several downwind sail set-ups – goosewinging the headsails, the main on preventer with a poled-out genoa or conventional set up depending on whether the …
At last! The day we have been planning for, for so long, has arrived! At 09.10 we were the first Vikings to depart Las Palmas, in the rain! We’re one of the smallest boats so we’re likely to be one of the last to arrive at Mindelo, Capo Verde. As we left the pontoon there …
Over the last three weeks we have been sailing around the Canary Islands and seeing the sights. The sail from La Gomera to Tenerife was varied with an initial good wind that dropped to nothing in the middle of the strait. But then, as we rounded the southern coast of Tenerife we were blasted by …
We departed Madeira ten days ago on a 580 nautical mile passage to La Gomera in the Canary Isles. Happily the seas were calmer, giving us the chance to try a few downwind sailing options on our passage. It took just over 50 hours thanks to a surprisingly adverse current but we enjoyed the sunny …
It is just over a week since our arrival in Porto Santo, just northeast of Madeira, but it has seemed so much longer as we explore these islands of many contrasts. Having dropped anchor and slept soundly, we pumped up the dinghy and ventured ashore. The island is only 11km long but 9km of the …
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 …
Another two weeks have passed and, looking at the map, we don’t seem to have travelled very far! We waited another few days at Motril for the winds to turn from strong Westerlies to more favourable Easterlies, enjoying another evening with Frank and Rosi, our fellow Vikings. We headed off west along the Costa Del …
For the past few weeks the sun has shone and we’ve been out walking almost every day, spending every evening on our terrace and having plenty of barbeques. Down in the valley it has hit 30 degrees but it’s pleasantly cooler up in the mountains. Jonathan has taken the opportunity to develop his skills with …
We departed Santa Pola on the last leg of our trip from Sardinia to Almerimar. Thankfully the winds and swell had calmed and we had a great sail to our next port of Les Salines. This is an interesting little port with a big fishing fleet so we were greeted with strong fishy smells as …