Nov 27, 2014 | Cruiser Post |
28.11.2014 – 16:10 “Here everything is ok after we hit a peak of 70.2 kn of wind last night. It was impressive and also a bit scary in the middle of night. Right now we have a bit of sunshine are listening to Pink Floyd and are watching 7-8 m waves. There will be two other peaks at 1500 and 0300 but not to be expected as last night. After this wind will slow down gradually to 20 kn. As you can see on the tracking we are approx. 230 miles away from Las Palmas, gives an ETA on Saturday.”
26.11.2014 – 18:56 “Also wir sind hier in schwerem Wetter und kommen nicht wie gewuenscht vorwärts. Die Wetterfront ist so gross, dass wir nicht ausweichen können wir versuchen den Weg mit dem besten Windwinkel und stärke zu finden. Die GRIBS bekommen wir zum Glück und die Modelle scheinen verlässlich zu sein. Es ist für die nächsten Tage keine Besserung in Sicht. Im Gegenteil es sin wieder Windstärken von 40 kn zu erwarten. Uns geht es aber gut und das Boot sucht sich seinen Weg in Richtung Las Palmas. Es liegt gut im Wasser und macht einen sehr stabilen Eindruck.”
Nov 23, 2014 | Food |
Quarterback finally set off 2 days later on 21st November.
Turns out one reason for ‘le délai’ was a garage full of inventory to be loaded onto a Mahe 37 destined for the Antilles. We’d been hearing about this mysterious garage since we arrived, all talk increasingly accompanied by pensive silence and a look of despair. Remember, we’re supposed to leave in a day so we’re still imagining a few remaining boxes, bits and bobs.
Mr SlowTourist, ever the ex-Grenadier, commanded all for a 0900 start the next day. Meeting point: the garage. Our Audi Q5 seats down, ready to be loaded.
The garage was crammed full! Understandably really, there’s only so much you can fit into an Peugeot 108. After a whole day of multiple runs transporting and loading heavy boxes, bales of rope, refrigerators, outboard engines, batteries etc, and lugging the stuff from car park down to the boat, the garage was almost empty. And yayy- the spinnaker finally arrived!
For dinner it had to be – what else – a rewarding Bifstek. We were sent to Baitona, a simple Basque influenced restaurant on Rue Saint-Jean du Pérot, relaxed atmosphere and really excellent food. And not just any steak. THE BEST Cote de Boeuf in La Rochelle! Possibly best ever. And those bronze pommes frites you see? Fried in duck fat.
A truly bon appetit after a successful day.
Nov 22, 2014 | Gadgets |
Earth Nullschool. This is THE most fascinating visualisation of wind and weather conditions.
Even if you’re not a sailor or pilot or into weather charts, do take a look. Its simply amazing to see the earth from an entirely ‘other’ perspective. Wind and currents are displayed in motion beautifully and you get a real sense of direction and energy. It’s also totally pared down to give you the best visual without distracting text or annoying buttons. By clicking on “earth” you can adjust various selections to show wind at different altitudes . Addictive. Team SlowTourismo can idle away hours playing around with this!
At the moment “Quarterback” and crew are “slow travelling”, stuck in patch of no wind halfway across the Bay of Biscay (the green ring in shot above). For end of November that’s pretty unusual. No worries, looks like they’ll make up for it once they reach the tip of NW Spain to catch a 25 knot northerly for a speedy sail all the way down to Madeira!
Earth Nullschool. Clear selection of settings to play around with.
Nov 20, 2014 | Cruising, Gallery |
Impressions from a wander around the boatyards and harbours of La Rochelle.
Nov 19, 2014 | Multihull |
The call came announcing a good window of weather on the 19th for the passage to Madeira – a day earlier than expected! After weeks of waiting it all went fast and we quickly prepard to leave the next day. After a smooth 900 km and 7 hour drive across France, we arrived in La Rochelle just after sunset. Hotel check-in would have to wait, first stop down to the port to find the Neel and say hello to vessel and our partner for the many days of hopefully safe sailing ahead. Following that, we popped over to briefly meet the rest of the crew with little gifts of Swiss chocolate and for the skipper, a Victorinox Swisstool which he was thrilled about!
Everyone is very relaxed, almost too relaxed considering all that still needs to be done. Spinnaker is stuck somewhere in Paris and can’t be located, the water-maker needs to be installed, life-line fixed along the boat, materials are still being loaded and there’s provisioning to be done. All in 2 days!
Morning in La Rochelle
Day 1. Gorgeous sunny morning in La Rochelle. After checking the menu and everyone’s food preferences, we set off to Carrefour armed with an iPad and the provisioning list (we’d luckily carefully prepared in advance) to stock all the non-perishables. Everything went amazingly smoothly and we’re totally compatible food-wise. No-one drinks milk, not fans of sugar or sweet stuff, for breakfast we’re all müesli-eaters, like spicy food, and all looking forward to sashimi with the fish we’re going to catch en route! (Wasabi and soy sauce? Have.)
Install watermaker. Check.
Day 2. By midday, water-maker is half-installed, gas bottles bought, stove tested, cabins assigned and food stowed. Still no spinnaker in sight, tanks not filled and decision is made to set off a day later – so as originally planned on 20th November. A pity as would have had perfect wind to follow a direct route, catching a north wind after La Coruna to sail us down south nicely.
We’ll work on getting everything done tomorrow and finally be able to set off.
28.11.2014 – 16:10 “Here everything is ok after we hit a peak of 70.2 kn of wind last night. It was impressive and also a bit scary in the middle of night. Right now we have a bit of sunshine are listening to Pink Floyd and are watching 7-8 m waves. There will be two other peaks at 1500 and 0300 but not to be expected as last night. After this wind will slow down gradually to 20 kn. As you can see on the tracking we are approx. 230 miles away from Las Palmas, gives an ETA on Saturday.”
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