Sailing The Dream
Brazil, São LuÃs - a difficult check-out
With the flop of our previous day with the anchorage in Alcântara and now in São Luis with waves breaking violently on our stern
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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?
Sailing The Dream
- May 9
Brazil, Camocim - arrival and departure pass and visit by the Navy
We were inside but noticed the jet ski looked like it had Coast Guard signs, so I came to the cockpit to see what it was all about.
Ana
- May 6
Camocim - the village of dunes and freshwater pools
the view was incredible, we could see the mangrove forest and river extending to our right and several dunes with fresh water pools
Ana
- Apr 29
Sailing the north coast of Brazil - Cabedelo to Camocim
A very nervous 1h as we made our way through the narrow passage, but we did cross it without any hiccups.
Ana
- Apr 22
Sailing north, up the Brazilian coast - Maceió to Cabedelo
We powered up the radar that was on standby since morning and saw it, the big pink stain indicating that we were right, a Pirajá
Ana
- Apr 15
Sailing north, up the Brazilian coast - Salvador to Maceió
For hours that day, the wind would blow nearly nothing (up to 4 knots) or it would be 15-18 knots whenever we got hit by squalls
Sailing The Dream
- Apr 12
Brazil, Salvador - arrival and departure pass or maybe it’s not needed - it’s the flavour of the day
They called the supervisor that came in and gave us a big lecture that Camamu was part of the Salvador harbourmaster territory…
Ana
- Apr 1
Transat - Repairs off the beaten track and another lesson learned - part 2
After having our spirits crushed again when the autopilot blew the fuse after a couple of hours of use, we decided, we had nothing to loose
Ana
- Mar 18
The Bay of Todos os Santos, Bahia
big Araras (Macaws) visit the boats on the mooring field looking for snacks and are quite friendly, resting on people’s heads, on the boats
Ana
- Mar 11
Transat - Repairs off the beaten track and another lesson learned - part 1
The dark cloud had rolled back over our heads, and we knew we had an urgent problem to be solved before we could start exploring the country
Ana
- Mar 4
Sailing South, down the Brazilian coast Recife to Salvador
We were just doing a huge circle around the boat when we saw a day tripper boat approach our boat a bit without care grabbing the stanchions
Ana
- Feb 25
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 18
A taste of Recife and Olinda
Distractedly we followed Google directions, and all of a sudden, we found ourselves in a favela (slum).
Ana
- Feb 11
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
Ana
- Feb 5
Transat - Breakages and risk mitigation
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 18, 2022
Sailing from Gibraltar to Lisbon, Portugal - Aka Orcas Lane!
Moment of panic, were they Orcas or just dolphins? Two more sightings with the binoculars confirmed they were Orcas coming in our direction
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
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