Ana
Atlantic Crossing - Last leg - Fernando de Noronha to Recife
I explained we couldn’t go much more to the shallows and that we were just waiting for the night tide to come in although we were having tro
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LIFE ABOARD
The day-to-day of living full time on a boat with a dog, the life at sea and at anchor.
Where have we been?
Ana
- Feb 12
Transat - the Hydrovane and the jury rig
Despite being back at steering with the Hydrovane quite successfully, the failure of the autopilot presented a huge problem.
Ana
- Feb 5
Transat - Breakages and risk mitagation
When we set about on this passage we knew that this was not just yet another long passage. This was a challenging route driven by three mome
Sailing The Dream
- Jan 30
Brazil, Fernando de Noronha - checking in
Everyone already knew we had arrived before we dropped anchor, not because of our AIS or some fancy monitoring system.
Ana
- Jan 29
Transat Diary - Day 10 + 5 hours and 40 minutes - Land Oh Brazil!
It’s quite an interesting experience to hand steer a 50ft through a mooring field of 30+ft boats after spending more than 10 days at sea
Ana
- Jan 29
Transat Diary - Day 10 - We caught a fish!
We look at our beast! It is gorgeous and will keep us fed for really long time, nothing will go to waste.
Ana
- Jan 28
Transat Diary - Day 9 - Bye bye Northern Hemisphere!
A lot of discussion of our track and decisions and we still think our planning was the best bet that involved minimal time in the doldrums
Ana
- Jan 27
Transat Diary - Day 8 - The Doldrums
After a near sleepless night going through what it felt like the deluge of a lifetime we needed to complete the installation of the tiller
Ana
- Jan 26
Transat Diary - Day 7 - Could it be that we are free?
After a few hours rest we start working on John’s plan to sort out a structure to mount the tiller Pilot we bought specifically for this
Ana
- Jan 25
Transat Diary - Day 6 - Acceptance
We did a quick test of the autopilot now that it had cooled off but it seems it’s dead. It was just too much pressure from the sea weed
Ana
- Jan 24
Transat Diary - Day 5 - The butter has melted and maybe also did the autopilot
No matter how we trim the sails we seem to be doing less speed than before, can only imagine how much of this seaweed we are trailing
Ana
- Jan 23
Transat Diary - Day 4 - Caught in the evil golden claws of Sargassum sea weed
Since we lost the 240v on the first day the menu consisted of room temperature seafood paella twice, room temperature
Ana
- Jan 22
Transat Diary - Day 3 - Loom and gloom
For some reason I’m not being able to settle the hydrovane on an angle of 110AWA but I can 120-130 and even 80-90AWA but not what we need. (
Ana
- Jan 21
Transat Diary - Day 2 - No 240v, no hot meals or drinks…
We spent the entire first half of the day trying to catch up on our sleep but not very effectively, too many things going through our minds.
Ana
- Jan 20
Transat Diary - Day 1 - A rough start
More discussion, after all there was no fat chance to get it fixed in the Cape Verdes so we decided to proceed and shut the raw water intake
Ana
- Jan 16
Transat - the last day, the last preparations
With all that done it was time to relax in the cockpit.
My mind however had different plans and was constantly going through lists
Sailing The Dream
- Jan 5
Cape Verde, Mindelo - checking in, out and about
He explains he will keep our boat registration documents and that before moving on to another island we need to come here to get a clearance
Ana
- Dec 31, 2022
Mindelo, São Vicente Island, Cape Verde - the wrong turn
That’s when we came to full realisation of our mistake. We should have made landfall on the most Eastern island of the archipelago, Sal.
Sailing The Dream
- Dec 29, 2022
2022-12-17>23 Passito Blanco, Gran Canaria, Canaries, Spain > Mindelo, São Vicente, Cape Verde
Logbook extract for the sailing trip from Canary Islands, Spain to Mindelo, São Vicente, Cape Verde 849 nautical miles in 152 hours
Ana
- Dec 26, 2022
First trade winds of many - Gran Canaria to Mindelo, Cape Verde’s
We kept the two sails poled for a short while and until after sunset when the wind decided to pick up more than we felt comfortable with
Sailing The Dream
- Nov 27, 2022
The Dream - LiFePo4
A total of 600Ah capacity would give us up to 480Ah of usable power (at 80% discharge) of usable capacity with a total weight of 60kg
Sailing The Dream
- Nov 20, 2022
Galley mini-refit - Gimballed induction cooktop and convection oven
Since the beginning of our boat travels we did not like the idea of LPG on the boat.
Ana
- Nov 13, 2022
An upwind sail from Madeira to La Graciosa, Canaries
This was it we were going to sail upwind to the Canaries when most people sail downwid to get there!
Sailing The Dream
- Nov 6, 2022
Coppercoat antifoul treatment - preparation & application (part 2)
This stage of the preparation of the hull was not only backbreaking but also psychologically challenging.
Sailing The Dream
- Oct 29, 2022
2022-10-25>27 Machico, Madeira, Portugal > Playa Francesca, La Graciosa, Canaries, Spain
Logbook extract for the sailing trip from Madeira, Portugal to La Graciosa, Canary Islands, Spain 272 nautical miles in 46 hours
Sailing The Dream
- Oct 23, 2022
Coppercoat antifoul treatment - considerations and costs (part 1)
A pure cost analysis not factoring inflation over a period of 10 years puts normal antifoul paint at 4500€ against the 4200€ of Coppercoat
Sailing The Dream
- Oct 12, 2022
Building a hardtop - costs, other numbers and conclusions (part 6)
To our surprise the weight difference between the old set-up with the original Bimini and the new hardtop was negligible.
Ana
- Oct 11, 2022
Half-day sail from Porto Santo island to Madeira Island
We start getting closer to Madeira, the winds start pressing blowing close to 20 knots true wind, and we pick up a bit more speed 7/8 knots
Sailing The Dream
- Sep 24, 2022
2022-09-17>20 Cascais, Portugal > Porto Santo, Madeira, Portugal
Extract of the Logbook for the sailing trip from Cascais, Portugal to Porto Santo, Madeira, Portugal 486 nautical miles in 79 hours
Ana
- Sep 21, 2022
A fast run from Cascais to the Madeira Archipelago
The PredictWind routing weather forecast did tell us the previous days that we should have tracked north to try and keep with the winds
Ana
- May 11, 2022
Sailing West along the coastline of Southern Europe - France to Gibraltar
Eyes glued on the water, Ella going crazy and there it was a huge whale surfacing 50-100 meters to our starboard!
Ana
- Apr 22, 2022
Crossing the Bonifacio Strait and making way to mainland France
We took a sneaky short cut exiting the Ajaccio gulf by passing in between the Iles Sanguinaires (the Bloodthirsty islands, interesting name)
Ana
- Apr 16, 2022
Crossing the Tyrrhenian
The boom jumped further to port side with a slam and stayed in that position. The German Mainsheet system looked weird but it was not broken
Ana
- Apr 14, 2022
Crossing the Messina Strait
At this point we experienced 3 knots of current against us. Running the engine at 2000RPMs we were only doing slightly above 3knots of speed
Ana
- Apr 7, 2022
Crossing the Ionian
Think it’s safe to say that at this point we both felt this was more than we had bargain for, the winds were way stronger than forecasted
Ana
- Apr 2, 2022
Crossing the Aegean
I woke up due to the rolling swell and feeling really cold. John was furling the Jib, the winds had just picked up that extra notch
Sailing The Dream
- Mar 27, 2022
Building a hardtop - stainless steel works and installation of equipment (part 5)
They were quite surprised that John and I could lift it reasonably easily just the two of us
Sailing The Dream
- Feb 25, 2022
Building a hardtop - joining the pieces and painting (part 4)
With a plan in mind, we prepared a set of lines and straps, arranged in a way that allowed us to flip the 3.8x3.8m hardtop
Sailing The Dream
- Feb 19, 2022
Building a hardtop - fairing (part 3)
Once all the fibreglassing for both pieces was completed it was time to start working on preparing for fairing and primer painting.
Sailing The Dream
- Feb 12, 2022
Building a hardtop - the construction (part 2)
With the decision of building the Bimini on the foredeck, we wasted no time while still waiting for a few work supplies we built a mockup
Sailing The Dream
- Feb 4, 2022
Building a hardtop - the idea, concept and material choices (part 1)
After living on board for four years, we became more and more convinced that a rigid Bimini was one of the items that would improve our life
Sailing The Dream
- Sep 16, 2021
2020 Fuel, engine hours & nautical miles summary
So what do we have to say about our favourite taboo subject, that no one really wants to discuss, in the year of 2020? Seems like...
Sailing The Dream
- Mar 29, 2021
2020 Budget
The time spent in lockdowns and repairs under insurance in cheap or affordable countries allowed us to keep the budget controlled.
Sailing The Dream
- Feb 4, 2021
Italy - Costituto in arrival per il naviglio da diporto (ships arrival declaration/transit log)
Not much can be found online regarding the real need of having this document while sailing in Italian waters or the details on how to get it
Sailing The Dream
- Dec 9, 2020
The costs of ownership - maintenance (version 2020)
On the follow up of the 2019 overall maintenance costs for The Dream, we have further updated our schedules with additional "jobs"
Sailing The Dream
- Nov 18, 2020
Greece, Itea - checking in
This had been the easiest check-in in Greece so far and we had finally managed to get on the Transit Log!
Ana
- Nov 13, 2020
Sailing through two Engineering marvels in Greece
As we were still passing over the submerged bridge the warning siren for the raise of the bridge sounded and we could already hear the...
Sailing The Dream
- Nov 4, 2020
2020-10-23>25 Syracuse, Sicily, Italy > Zakynthos, Greece
Extract of the Logbook for the sailing trip from Siracusa, Sicily, Italy to Zakynthos, Greece 276.4 nautical miles in 50 hours
Sailing The Dream
- Oct 19, 2020
2020-10-18 Valletta, Malta > Portopalo, Sicily, Italy
After trying to sail under full sails we heard a loud grinding noise that seemed to come from under the emergency tiller cap (rudder top)
Sailing The Dream
- Sep 30, 2020
Malta, Valletta - checking in and out
I will stamp you both on the crew list (not on the passport - so the time spent in Malta doesn't count for the Schengen time) but be sure to
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