Position 29.482,-13.69 at 08:49 BST. Wind NNE 5. 3m swell from North. ETA La Graciosa is 13:00 today Saturday. Plan the night at this island just to the north of Lanzarote and then on to a suitable spot to meet with Ewan and Jane on Monday. Looking forward to a night with less movement in […]

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Position 30.89,-15.46 at 10:43 BST. Northerly force 5 with a 3 meter swell. We have a rule about making ground coffee when the boat is moving around a lot. We have kept to it so far this trip but with double normal supervision managed a pot for breakfast. I still keep to my GI diet […]

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Left Funchal, Madeira at 12:00. ETA Lanzarote is Saturday evening 25th October. We are heading for the north end at present. Position at 18:24 (BST) Thursday is 32.27,-16.40 some 10 miles south of the off lying Ilhas Desertas. Wind has done most things since we left which is about the height of Madeira and the […]

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Arrived at Madeira. Took the bus and just about got away from the tourists. We must outnumber the locals horribly. Impressive denists. Mary had her filling replaced less than 12 hours after loosing one! Off to Canaries tomorrow. Ewan and Jane will be with us on Lanzarote next week and Sheana and Tom the week […]

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Leixoes and a couple of days on Giselle, getting ready for the next bit. Chatted to a couple of guys from France on their way to Cape Verde islands and to the African mainland, in a 26 foot boat! If you want to practise your French then look at www.uneiledeuxportraits.over-blog.com which is their website. We […]

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Reporting safe arrival at Porto Santo. Pouring rain to put down the anchor at 03:00 but still warm at 20’C. 480mile trip took 3.5 days thats 5.65 knot average with only motor for electricity generation. At anchor at 33.0585,-16.3215. At few days now on Madeira and then we start for the Canaries on Thursday ready […]

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No sun today yet. Can see rain on the radar. It is 26’C below, 23’C on deck. Feels like the start of the adventure with lots of things very different to the UK sailing. Sea is an inky blue and very clear. No wildlife, No fishing boats. (Well nearly none, did see a 2 mile […]

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Outside all countries 200 mile zone of territorial waters, but will soon be within 200 miles of Madeira. Current position 35.723,-13.524 with N force 3. We haven’t seen any fishing boats which is excellent but there is a surprising amount of cargo vessels. The AIS gives you their destination and I don’t think we have […]

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Got the engine on to charge the batteries so a chance to send an e-mail. Expect to have done about 144 miles in the first 24 hours at 14:00 Wed 15th (37.31,-11.80) and now NNW of the Gorringe ridge so making straight for Porto Santo which is 336 miles away. We had a large group […]

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We have started our first ocean passage together. Cascais (just west of Lisbon) to Porto Santo, Madeira. Just the one waypoint to avoid the Gorringe Bank at 36.527,-11.566 (you can enter this format of lat and long straight into google maps “-” equals west). Porto Santo is at 33.063,-16.317. Windpilot is steering us silently at […]

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