Category Archives: Sailing

Just arrived in Figueira da Foz. Seems a nice little town – and of course it has a pretty beach we gonna explore tomorrow. We had a really pleasent and sunny ride towards here. More info, pics, stories tomorrow. Promised.

So yesterday right after breakfast we’ve decided to leave paradise and sail towards Porto, where my brother and his girlfriend are already awaiting us. The decicion was made easier by clouds covering the Islas Cies. – So we’ve said goodbye to our friends and set sail. Actually not. – Because the first 1.5 hours we were running under engine until right out of the Ria de Vigo, where the wind set in from NW.

The afternoon was beautiful sailing with hot sunshine and nice wind from the perfect direction. From 5pm on the wind (and waves) increased and we were running towards Porto with  a speed constantly above 7kn. Top-Speed: 8.8kn (!!) Around 7pm fog began to darken the sky and soon after we were enclosed in a big white, fluffy something. We could not see a thing but could hear the waves around us – with the wind still at a constant 5 Bft.

We’ve met with a freighter and one fishermen. – The freighter passed about 0.3nm from us (as I could verify via Radar and AIS) but we could not see a single light. – The only evidence of it being there was the humming of it’s diesel engine. – Spooky !

Around midnight we were searching for the entrance to the Porto do Leixões but could find it only thanks to our GPS. – The light on pier that is supposed to be seen 9 miles out on sea, we could only see when we were already entering the harbour and about 200 meters away.

The ‘marina’ itself is quite nasty – good that we couldn’g see it in the fog or we would’ve passed on to the next town. ;-) But good to be here as we’ve our friends from the SY Chiloe as neighbours who waked us with fresh bread in the morning. As the fog is now dissipating, we can see many of the ships we’ve been following for the last weeks, there are the yachts of: Thor, Hitch Hike Heidi and  Roede Orm on the opposite side. Time to take a shower and say hello.

That – you’ll never hear on board of the Rancho Relaxo. We stay true to the name and sleep until the sun already is waaaay up and our solar panels are on 100% output. But shouldn’t we be on the Islas Cies ? I look outside, and I see plenty of other ships and a little town in the back… Hmm.

Ah, yeah. It went like this: The LosLocos were preparing to leave the harbour when we received an SMS from the SY Chiloe if we’d like to meet in a nice little bay not far… As the outlook for the night was not too favourable (wind gusts up to 7Bft) we decided to go for that bay and leave for the Islas tomorrow. Well, we had a little trouble to find our friends and when we finally arrived it was already too late to water the dinghy and row for the beach.
The weather report said something of NNW to W – winds. We actually got ENE wind and had to leave our little bay. – So we dropped the anchor in Caramiñal not far from where we spent the last days. The good thing about that: WLAN connection. Hehehe.

But now as the breakfast is over we’ll definately give it another try, sail back to that little bay and go for a swim (for me that would be the FIRST time during our journey). In the afternoon we’ll try to leave for the Islas Cies then. Maybe this time we’ll make it.

Bad weather outside – which means more time in front of the computer. And this time it’ll bring to you all the pictures of the last six weeks. Including a few more pics of

the North sea

the English coast and the Solent

our crossing of the Bay of Biskay

and the Costa de la Muerte. Have fun !

Tonight we parked close to SY Chiloe in between the beach and some rocks not far from the Marina de Santa Uxia de Riviera. Shortly before midnight we threw the dinghy in the water to row over to our friends for a short visit – because the guest of the Chiloe – Antonia had her 18th birthday.

During the night the wind shifted (expectedly) to the South and we were woken early by the Rancho Relaxo bouncing in the waves. So we lifted the anchor at six in the morning and left to the next marina to the north that is Caramiñal. And here we are – having breakfast with Croissants and INTERNET. Hehehehe. We started about two hours ago and I’m still here typing and sipping cold coffee. In the meantime the harbourmaster arrived to greet us (and tell us we have to move to a different box). Erich who is an Austrian sailor now living here in Caramiãl came by to say hello and tell us a little of their own trip to the Carribean, Pacific and back via Cape Horn. His daughter is right now sailing the North-West passage together with her two kids (!)

We’ll stick around in this area for a few days – at least until the southerly wind will dissipate and we have our new main sail. There’s not too much to tell about the last passage we had pleasent weather but no wind. Ah, and som fishermen confused us by having a ‘meeting’ right in front of the entrance to the Ria. We tried to find out what’s that about but as usual none of them would answer the VHF calls…. Ah, and we saw loooooooots of Dolphins – pics in another post.

Our first ‘bluewater’ trip is now history and as we’ve arrived in Spain, we’re now in the midst of a completely different (sailing-) world. Suddenly there are nearly no charter yachts but plenty of quite individualistic cruising yachts. We’re surrounded with ship’s with flags from England, Ireland, France, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Germany and lots more. But actually I wanted to write about our trip through the Bay of Biscay. Well, I’ll start with a few numbers. So we sailed 525 nm in total from Brixham to La Coruña. Our daily runs were 139, 111, 120, 101 and 54 nautical miles. That gives an average speed of 4,81 knots. Yeah, we had a relaxed trip so to say. Hehe.

Under the coast of England, we crossed the field of the Fastnet Race and saw plenty of nice racing yachts. Of which most of them were underway with 3 or 4 times our speed. For the first two and a half days we had the wind from ENE and sailed butterfly (how’s that called in english ?!?) most of the time, which makes for quite a shakey cruise. The capitana was a little green around the nose and also the skipper was not always amused with the -15/+15 degrees rolling of the Rancho Relaxo. The second day our friends from the SY Tamora appear in our wake and bring with them a big group of Dolphins that stay with us for about an hour.

Having arrived in a high pressure area, at night we have a clear sky with stars all around and in a multitude I’ve never before seen. For hours I lie in the cockpit, staring around using our binoculars. But of course as it happens with high pressure – the wind vanishes and leaves us with a flat sea and a long, westerly swell that probably was sent to us by some icelandic low, faaar away. Lying at night in the bunk, it feels as if the ocean is breathing, lifting the boat up and down in an 30 second rythm.

On the third day, we get a visit from a whale about the size of our ship and shortly after from a group of Dolphins. Right after the wind is back and we sail through incredibly busy shiptraffic towards Spain, where the wind again disappears. With 1-2 Beaufort and riding along with 1.5-2 knots one is tempted to start the engine – but NO. We’ve got plenty of time and the wind will eventually come back.

In the morning a slight breeze pushes us more towards the coast where we see land at 0915 in the morning. Funny enough what we see is called ‘Cabo Prior’ – and only shortly after we find the famous Torre de Hercules on our starboard side. We’ve arrived in Spain !

After we’ve had a three-hour shower we take our folding bikes and pedal through the city in search for something nice to eat. And we find the perfect place in form of the ‘El Rey del Jamón’ where we have ‘Boccadillos de Jamón Ibérico de bellota’, queso manchego y pan con tomate y aceite and more. Gui has two ice cold beers and I two glasses of red wine. Wow, we’re really having a good time !! We meet a lovely venezuelian/english family, have an endless chat, another ice cream and finally leave for the playground. At 21hrs we fall into our bunks and are sleeping like stones. Yeah, with the sleep that’s still an issue on longer cruises. Because of the watches we only have four hours of sleep during the night and to make up for that loss during the daytime is not always easy with the kids also requireing attention. But we’re working on that. Right now we look forward to a couple of nice weeks in spanish and portugese bays, a visit from Austria and nice, warm weather !