Well, tonight sees me sipping a glass of red in lovely Cadiz. Like it here, cool place. Muy tranquilo as they say around these parts, very relaxed.

Just another street in Cadiz

A view from the city walls

So what’s been happening, well, I left Gaudiana and came here. How come that took over 2 weeks then I hear you ask. Well, just the way things are down here. I’ll have to work backwards and get the log out for details. Today signed up for some Spanish lessons at "Spanish In Cadiz". Must have took ages to think of that name but seem ok. Got so far with the language (done all right this far – oon a serr veessa por fa vor, works every time, try it) Need a bit of help I think to get any further so what the heck. What else, new Spanish sim card, yoigo, that’s the way to go. Internet access on board and even if you stay online all day most you pay a day is 1.3 euro. Handy. New weather software of choice is ugrib (www.ugrib.com) which downloads just a little file of whatever area you define and gives you 5 days of wind data. Bit unreliable along the coast as sea breezes set up after lunch but seems pretty good really. Hired a mountain bike so mobile again, just as well, marina is a good mile from town. Still trying to source rear wheel for my fold up bike after it got liberated one weekend in Lagos. Found some fine mesh material in town so mossie nets coming along for the hatches, at last can sleep with the hatches open again. Not many of the little blighters here but it only takes one…

Apart from that last few days spent with tiny bit boatwork, bit fishing and lots walking the streets of Cadiz. Flamenco last Friday night in one of the multitude of bars scattered around the narrow windey streets. “Ooooolllllleiiiooooaaaass, aaaa eeeeeiiionnn oeiiisss” Dunno what he was singing about everyone seemed to agree that he was a damn good egg, lots of shhhssing if anyone spoke too loud at the back of the bar, no amps here. Just old boy with guitar and even older boy singing as he had done since he was a young boy.

What else, fantastic market, possibly the best I’ve been in so far. Big fish section, plus all the usual veg, fruit, snails, what do you want? If it grows swims flies of even moves just a little chances are it’s here somewhere.

Sorry, what was you wanted again sonny...

So since Gaudiana what have I been up to. River seems an age ago already. Went back down river and anchored up off Ayamonte then spent final couple of days in Portugal at marina in Santo Antonio. Friends Rory and Linda from Olhoa near Fara came to visit so very pleasant day spent sipping and eating sardines. Then uneventful trip round to El Rompido, long inlet with huge amount of moorings. Motored right up and anchored off a village. Then early start and sailed (uneventful again, motored most of the way, bit boring this sailing lark!) round to Mazagon. Nothing much there, nice enough marina but town touristy and bit of a walk away. So from there on to Chipiona, liked it there. Very touristy but Spanish touristy.

None of your full English breakfast and international daily mirror here, barely hear a word of English spoken. Consequently food much better and prices much lower. Just a few euros would see you right with a couple plates seafood tapas and a glass of red.

So I holed up there for a few days. Then on round the corner towards Cadiz bay.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=&ie=UTF8&ll=36.635917,-6.405029&spn=0.24409,0.559616&t=h&z=11&om=0

All started off nicely, little breeze onshore getting me out past the headland and reefs. Then it all but died away leaving me rolling about on a swell from the south, maybe from a gale in the straits of Gibraltar forecast around then. Engine on Conachair not the best thing to push 10 tonnes of boat against a swell but on it went for an hours slow progress. Every little while a couple of bigish swells will come in and stop her dead. Then the wind came back, about a 4 gusting 5 right on the nose. So engine off and beat we shall. After many more hours than had thought we got into Rota, about 8pm. Supposed to be pretty little place, looking forward to a beer and some tapas I was. “Ah, sorry senor, we only have berth available for 19 metre boat and will have to charge you that”. Don’t think so somehow, thanks anyway but I’ll try somewhere else. So quick pint of fruit juice and it’s back to sea, bit hungry, wind swept and sunburnt by now. DOH. Thought the wind would have died a bit by now but no, still gusting 5 maybe 6. (don’t have wind speed indicator so have to guess a bit!) . Right on the nose for Cadiz so I head south then tack across the middle of the bay and a few tacks later sees me anchored off Puerto Sherry. Phew, that was a bit more than was expected. Reefs in, out, in again as the wind varied. Little tense in Cadiz bay after the sun went down waiting for the bouys to start flashing.

Tacking across an unfamiliar bay in the dark with a fair bit of wind on the nose, all in all a fun end to a really good days sailing!!!

That was last Thursday, Friday I sailed off the anchor and across to Cadiz. Been here since. And shall be for another week and half at least trying to learn a few more words of Spanish. Then? Well, Atlantic beckons, Madeira possibly. Do I go over for a look at Morocco first? Hmm, deal with that closer to the time I think.

Adios Y Buenas Noches

Jul. 28, 2007 - Just can't seem to leave Cadiz.......
Still here!! In Lovely Cadiz. Just can’t see to get away….. Well, not strictly true, big rally from Portugal in earlier this week so got kicked out for couple of nights. No great hardship, just went over the bay to Puerto De Santa Maria. NICE marina, actually a yacht club but they have berths available for visitors. Swimming pool and everything. Meant some early mornings though, just spent a week at Spanish School trying to learn a little more than Otro Cerveza por favor. This meant a ferry ride from Santa Maria to school, not the greatest hardship known to mankind!. Don’t think I was born with a natural flair for languages but now I get glimpses of conversations and sometimes even understand roughly the gist of what is being said so well worth it.

Been a great week, took 2 lots of friends out sailing,

Ola Nellie!, Ola Mamajuana! OLA CADIZ!!!

Habrá siempre un lugar en mi corazón para Cádiz y para todos mis amigos allí

Such a nice way to spend an afternoon, do a bit of sailing, anchor up in a bay for something to eat and a glass of wine then sail back to Cadiz.

And if that’s not enough fun I was privileged to see some absolutely drop dead fantastic, buy some more hats so you can take them off Flamenco the other night. Quite possibly not actually possible to play guitar like that with only 2 hands each with 5 fingers but these guys hadn’t been told that. And dancing with passion. No, really, dancing with so much PASSION! All in a perfect venue, Baluarte de La Candelaria, a fort built in 1672 now used as an arts venue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A1diz

All in the open air in a perfect place with the moon and the stars watching over us.

Hats off.

And more tonight in a tree lined square, in the cool of the night surrounded by the wonderful, open, kind, friendly people of Cadiz.

No wonder I’m still here.

But enough of day to day events, blog needs a bit more home spun philosophy and details of what living and cruising under sail is really like, I think.

Now there are lots of books about long distance sailing, perhaps the first was “survive the savage storm” by Noah. (Possibly still available from amazon, some quotes: “40 days and 40 nights is a long time, take plenty of books”, “forget the 2 of each rule when it comes to doves, I was lucky but 'tis good seamanship to have spares”)

Some examples of reality.

It’s commonly believed that red and green channel buoys are there to mark a deep water channel into a bay or whatever. This isn’t actually the case, merely a coincidence, a happy accident if you will. The real purpose of these red a green floating bits of metal so that the wind knows exactly which way to blow so as to be right on your nose when entering or leaving. And even more complex than that, 2 boats can in a channel, one leaving one entering, going in exactly opposite directions maybe ¼ mile apart. The wind is so clever that it can be right on the nose for each boat. Must be some quantum physics effect, something to do with Schrödinger’s undead cat. Or was that in Pirates of the Caribbean? I get confused.

Another example: If you find yourself having a conversation like this it’s time to tidy the boat and head out to sea. (This is based on actual events but the names and places have been changed to protect the identity of those involved.
Alright it was me and a mate in Lazyjacks in Lagos.)

”So what’s your favourite shower cubicle?”
”Well……2’s good, not keen on 6, got to be 5 really”
”Yeah, 2’s not bad, doesn’t have the little shelf of your soap and shampoo though. Good consistence of water temperature, though. Hate that when someone uses a tap at the sink and the water goes hot, 1’s really bad for that. Don’t like 1. 6 is useless, no pressure. No, you’re right, 5’s the one. “
“Yeah, 5’s the best”
”Yeah, 5’s as good as it gets.
.
.
’Nother glass of red?”

This is when I knew it was time to tidy the boat and eat a few miles.

So all for now, it’s seven O’clock on a Saturday and I must have a little siesta and head out into town to see some more flamenco and just to have the pleasure of being a part of Cadiz on a cool summers evening.

Hasta Luego.

Aug. 27, 2007 - What, you're still in Cadiz??
10th August

So what’s been happening this past while? Well, finally left Cadiz (but not for too long, going back before long). Went down coast to little place called Sancti Petri and spent night on a buoy in the river. Pretty little place, not much there. A load of boats, couple of bars and ruins of a deserted village. From there down a bit more and into Barbaty, smallish Spanish town with the usual perfect beach and seafood restaurants. And across the Straits we go to Morocco. Pretty windy but I decide to go for it anyway, after a stressy little while clearing tunny nets in what must have been a good F7 I get out into the straits, showing constant 30Kn plus on the little hand held wind meter I’ve got so must have been gusting 8 at times. Seas not huge but short and steep, 2 reefs in main with jib furled and staysail up, really must get that 3rd reef line in permanently, that was not the place to be fiddling about with bits of string on deck so a bit over canvassed. . But boat handling it all very well, fair bit of water over the deck and a few drenchings in the cockpit, one way give your boat a good wash I suppose. Once in the lee of morocco the seas went right down and the wind eased a bit, good 6 I suppose and we flew along down the coast. Rapido!!! Thought about going to Tanger but that would have meant closed hauled into the straits, no thanks! Asilah it is. No marina here, you tie up along with the fishing boats. Very friendly and helpful, I was given fresh fish every morning and countless cups of mint tea. Don’t think there are many yachts come through here and they seemed quietly impressed that I was single handing. What it does entail though is a bit of juggling every time a fishing boat comes in or leaves, not a place to be if you are overly precious about your boat. Got a few scratches but could be worse. What good timing, cultural festival started the day I arrived, lots of art and music around.

Some really dodgy mobile phone video here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFVNoxWpxPM

And very few hustlers, nothing like Tanger. Think I only got approached once and even that was a half hearted attempt.

Kids fishing across the harbour in Asilah

Oh, watch me paint....

More mint tea anyone? My neighbors and purveyors of fine anchovies to any yachts nearby.

Just another street in Asilah

now, where's that shower block?

A typical day sailing. 7/8/07.

Wake about 6ish Moroccan time (2 hours behind Spain), usual early morning rush hour in the harbour. My friends from the bigger fishing boat (about 50’) which goes out each night have returned and are now getting into the raft inside of another 2 boats and me. Lots of waves and Ola’s but first I really must get out of the way a bit, my anchor isn’t really designed to fend off so many tonnes of timber fishing boat. So release a spring line a get Conachair back out of the way a bit. More lines are released and without too much trouble a raft of maybe 100 tons of boats is moved to let the night birds in. Before leaving I need to retrieve boat papers from customs office on the quay, several cups of mint tea later the office opens and papers retrieved, off I go. Happy smiles, Adios, Au revoir and waves see me off. Little swell coming in from the west but high water so no probs getting out between the quite narrow breakwaters, motor for maybe ¼ mile then get a bit of jib up in the southerly breeze and turn engine off, I’ll get off shore a bit and tidy the boat a little before getting the main up. Mile or so out I pass a little open boat with 3 Moroccans fishing. They recognise me, wave and shout. “Adios senor”. One of them points north and to his chest “Contigo, contigo!” I go with you! Sorry mate, can’t help you there. To far away to see his face but I know he’s laughing.

So am I.

Adios beautiful Asilah.

But now time to sail. A handful of clicks on the windvane gets the bow closer to the wind, main up and sheeted in, then clicks back again on the windvane control and she bears away slowly but deliberately in perfect control until the winds just off the port quarter. All without a hand touching the tiller. Beautiful. I adjust the sheets a little and watch the log as she settles into the days work. 4.5kn, 5kn, 5 1/2, 6, 6 1/2kn and settles between 6 and 7 knots. All in a lovely top end of a force 3 breeze. Beautiful. A short silent thank you is given to the gods of the winds. Course is a little too much east than I would like but that’s OK. Straight downwind in these light airs doesn’t really work so it’s better to keep the wind on the port quarter, jib slats now and again in the swell but nothing major. In the slight swell from the southerly wind there’s another swell coming in from the west so hopefully when I clear the northwest corner of Morocco the wind will get a bit more west in it. And sure enough, a few hours later I’m into the straits and the wind does veer just enough to steer for Barbaty. Was going to go to Tanger but only about 5 mile further to Spain (Morocco has recently declared an area prohibited to navigation around nw coast so would have to go out 5 miles then back in again). So across the shipping lanes again. Not as bad as going across channel to France but keeps you on your toes nevertheless. Wind dies slowly and eventually I give up and turn the engine on about 5 miles from Barbaty. Into same berth as a few days ago and thus ends another lovely days sailing.

27th August 2007

Well, Asilah seems an age ago now, will I ever leave Cadiz I wonder? Just too many excuses to stay a few more days. Some valid, new rigging arriving this week, leaky windows to fix etc etc. Next leg probably to Canaries so better get the boat watertight for that. And it’s just so easy to be in Cadiz. Fantastic food, met a load of new friends, both UK and Spanish. Music everywhere, final of Flamenco dance competition last night (thanks for ticket Nellie!!) . Amazing.

More ropey mobile phone footage. (Geedit? Footage? Ooooowwww)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I81FmWu163s

And last week a band not to miss if you ever see them advertised, Ojos De Brujo (lit. eyes of the wizard). Flamenco fusion and such a powerful sound. Most highly recommended.

Dodgy vid here -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg7gIC8PrFE

All in open air venues with the moon and the stars overhead.

So at least another week or so here then must get south before the weather starts to get a bit less predictable. But for now, I sit in a tree lined square sipping a cerveca and making use of Cadiz’s free wifi. Things really could be a whole lot worse.

Adios Amigos

Dec. 16, 2007 - Lanzarote and it's sunny...
Has it really been so long since I updated this site? Obviously so. Anyway, quick update, now in Lanzarote where, guess what, it's sunny and warm! Sine last post I did a little cruise back over to Morocco, Tangier this time, then journey into the mountains for a few days in Chef Chaouen then round to Ceuta for a bit and back to Cadiz. Scribbled this about trip down here but never got round to posting it:

12th Novemeber 2007
Fantastic,Long trousers back in the locker probably for some considerable time. Left Cadiz finally last Tuesday with good friend Fine Sailor Ted onboard for the approx 580 mile trip to Lanzarote. With a final trip to the market and one last (obligatory) beer in the marina bar about 3pm we cast off and headed out to sea. Bye bye Europe. Nice breeze so we were sailing fast with lights of Cadiz dissappearing over the horizon after sunset. Bye bye Europe. The wind was getting up by now so main had a reef put in and genoa rolled away, reefed main and staysail, nice snug rig. By now it was dark so we couldn't see what the seas were like, Conachair is quite a dry boat but there were a few waves broke into the cockpit. You hear a hiss then a moment later it's like 20 people all throwing buckets of water at you simultaneously. But usually enough time to dive for cover under the sprayhood. Dodged some shipping but nothing major, bore away a bit to go behind one but apart from that we kept to course. 220 deg all the way. By now we were into our night watch system which was 3 hours on, 3 hours off from 9pm to 9am, during the day there was always someone on deck. Once in the lee of morocco the seas and wind died just a little and we were bowling along nicely, a billion of stars overhead, aries steering perfectly. By now the wind had went round to northeast from the easterly across gulfo de Cadiz and poled out the genny on the opposite side from the main, wing and wing. She rolled a bit when some bigger seas came through but not bad at all. I've read some horror stories about bad rolling going downwind across the Atlantic but if this is as bad as it gets then I'll be a happy bunny. Wednesday morning saw the wind slowly die more and about luchtime we played around with the spinniker - first time that sail's been out of its bag! Got it up but wind was so light that all it did was slat about so unfortuanately it was time to put the engine. No wind meant no aries so now there was always one of us chained to the tiller. Oh well, never mind, at least it was sunny. Always sunny here. Log entry shows sea temp of 20.1 deg and air at 25 deg.Quite pleasant for mid November really. This carried on through until friday morning at 6am when there was finally enough wind to sail faster than a slow crawling pace again. More dolphins on friday, always a joy. Playing round the boat, they really do seem to enjoy it, and the crew certainly enjoy their visits. I'd been playing around with the sextant for a few days and today the cover went on the gps. Lets see how we do with traditional navigation. I was getting between 3 and 10 miles error so far, not exact by any means but enough to find a big island if uncle George dubya ever decides to turn off gps for a few days while he invades somewhere. Now each day and night just rolled into the next one, watch the sea, have a snooze, cook, read, play around with the sextant. Completely isolated from the outside world, the only things that exist are the boat and about a 3 mile radius of blue ocean between you and the horizon. Saturday afternoon saw the wind die away to almost nothing again (actually a few knots from the northeast but with the boat sailing southwest the apparent wind was pretty much zero). So engine back on. And so it was until 11.30am next morning we dropped the anchor in the harbour of Puerto De Naos in Lanzarote. All in all a great 5 days.
Video here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bip6eDVyESU
And some piccys here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24132&l=4aa58&id=689829947
And here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=24134&l=5ceab&id=689829947

So right now using free broadband in marina. Marina's a bit posh and heading towards 'full english breakfast/sky sports' but nice enough.
Shall prob stay here 'til after xmas then maybe round to Gran Canaria for new year, then, who can tell!

Dec. 28, 2007 - Happy Xmas!
Merry Xmas to everyone! Gee it's great to be back home! Had a lovely week in Scotland visiting family for Xmas and great day sailing on Fleur, brother-in-laws Vega 27. What a great sailing ground it is up there, north of Glasgow. Sea lochs and mountains galore. Bit chilly though, nice to be back to tee shirt and shorts. So still in Peurto Calero, nice enough and has free wifi but time to move on I feel. Battled again today with roller reefing. Most definately on it's last legs but hopefully should hold together until Las Palmas where money will need to be spent on a new one, amongst other upgrades. But today this is where I live:

Had a beer with Henry earlier, he is off for a little sail tomorrow, 2904 miles to St Lucia. Henry's on nice island packet 35, singlehanded and at 74 is slowly finishing off a circumnavigation. Hope for us all yet.

Henry leaving to cross the Atlantic to St Lucia. Fair winds, Henry!

So I might move me ass tomorrow, tempted to spend new year in La Graciosa. It's a little island just north of Lanzarote, no paved roads, just sand and sounds lovely. WInd might be a bit on the nose though, one doesn't like to sail upwind so we'll see what the gods of wind are up to in the morning. Then I shall head over to Las Palmas on Gran Canaria for a while, get stuck into boatwork. New rigging to fit, new battaries to buy and fit and pages of other bits. Then where????? Oh so can't decide but Atlantic is winning at the moment. Caribbean, trade winds and snorkling.

Sounds great. But why not visit Cape Verdes and west Africa before heading over, Oh I don't know! Shall sort boat first and wait for path to reveal itself. Added advantage is Las Palmas has about 3 weeks of carnival in Jan/Feb. Bring it on!!! Happy New Year to everyone!!!