Track though the Bay of Biscay

You can view the track in google maps here: http://goo.gl/maps/dRP1E

Debris everywhere...

As I am typing this, the nearest land is 94 Nautical miles away. But wait, what is this huge piece of fish net doing here floating arouind? And Hey, what is that plastic bag doing there floating around? And mhh, that definitely looks like a tube of toothpaste or the likes floating out there. It is unbeleable that we humans have such a big impact on the environment, even so far offshore. The dolpins give us a decent sent off, and what do we sent? Plastic waste, and lot's of it. Time to do some research on this... DNews has a good youtube video on this. Also Plasticbank.org has good information. Apparently plastic waste into oceans is a massive problem. How does it get there? Waste from passing ships (mainly big ones) and waste that enters from the land, either wind blown, or via sewages and overflows. A piece of plastic that enters the sea will float around for 1000 years, photo degrading in ever smaler particles. That is, if it is not snagging up a turtle, or get stuck in the stomach of some animal or such like. 

Most of the plastic ends up in large plastic “islands” called gyers.

 Because the ocean rotates around these points the plastic waste ends up floating around there. There are 5 such gyres around in the world. There is even a charity organization called “Five gyres” that raised awareness of the issue, conducts research to document the extend of the problem, and lobbies to get laws implemented to reduce plastic waste. What can I do you ask? Consider:

1. Minimize plastic consumption, and if you use it, ensure it is properly disposed off.
2. Donate to “Five Gyres”,
3. Pick up five pieces of plastic every time you are outside,
4. Make others aware of the issue
5. make sure that any sanity products you buy do not contain plastic micro beads, that are DESIGNED TO FLUSH INTO THE OCEAN! And in doing so, end up in fish, and back onto our dinner plates

Obrigado Viana do Castelo..…a perspective from the first mate

25-April-2014

It was one of those “what did I sign up for” moments at 3AM, the 24^th of April when we were beating against force 6 wind amid an army of fishing vessels who have no particular direction or trajectory accept to move about in Brownian motion trailing fishing nets too close to SaltyPaws.  Neither seen on AIS or the radar, they are only conspicuous by their original, non-standard light arrangement.  We were thankful to be only 36 nm away from the save haven of Viana do Castello, a beautiful town on the north Atlantic coast of Portugal.  We entered the port around 2PM after lunch when the sun was shining and a strong Atlantic swell was pushing us about 30 degrees off our compass bearing.  The entry into the harbor was, according to the skipper, one of the most difficult he had ever done, but pass through it we did.  Navigating currents, swells, and shallows we finally found the tiny entrance to the marina to find no available mooring places accept alongside another catamaran, a very cool Lagoon 400 who takes kite surfers on adventures.  We were of course very eager to speak to the skipper about the kiting experiences.  And so with the help of the friendly port captain, we found a safe spot to weather the storm. 

On our rainy and windy day off we made a tour through the town which also included a pilgrimage to the church on the hill which was our passage aid into the harbor (keep the church at 008 degrees on entry).  We strolled through the beautiful Portuguese town admiring the colorful façade of the buildings on our way up to the mountain top.  We weren’t sure exactly where we were going and found our way to a path to some beautiful and fragrant botanical gardens.  Roses, lemons, and other tropical flowers lured us to the estate of some beautiful cottages where you can (for probably 1000 euro per night) find rest.  They had an exotic collection of birds end even had some black swans of which I had never seen before.  Eventually we found the entrance to the tramway which takes us up the mountain to the church of St. Luiza.  It was well worth the hike as we were handsomely rewarded with a view of the open sea, the town, and a free tour of the church.  We lit a little candle and paid our respects to St. Luiza for our safe passage to the next port Cais Cais where we needed to have some repairs done on the boat.  We are now sailing without a spinlock for the topping lift, or a way to turn off the water maker without going to the front hatch and turning off the circuit breaker.  But thanks to our Portugese friend we now have the door repaired.

Tonight its early to bed.  Tomorrow we have an early start to sail 140 nm down the Portugese coast on our way to Cais Cais (near Lisbon).

Good omens

Normally I don't believe in omens. This off course is all different when it comes to dolphins. On my first night watch I came out to inspect the sails, and I saw some ghost like figures coming up next to the boat. I quickly grabbed the spotlight to illuminate the ghosts, and they turned out to be dolphins. I could 3, but there may have been more. What a beautiful send off from La Rochelle!

We did see dolphins on 2 more occasions, crossing the bay. They seem to be in the areas, more remote from the shore (>20 NM).

Out of the Clutches of La Rochelle.

Out of the Clutches of La Rochelle.

Finally! I cannot actually believe this is happening. There are currently 5 people working on our boat to get everything finished. The solar panels where glued on this morning, and now the electrical wiring is being finalized. The NMEA link to the fusion radio is being installed, and the water maker is being primed. Some fuses are re-wired in the last minute. But law and behold, everything is finished. We utilized the 2 hours French lunch break, to collapse the bikes, and to fuel up. We even managed to sneak in a visit to admire the the amazingly light and streamlined Catana 42 “Mandarina” that is moored next to us. What can possibly hold us back? Wait... Where is Luna? With all the activity of the day, someone opened a hatch, and Luna quickly seized the opportunity to hide. Not as a stowaway (because she is quite legal) but to hide.... 45 minutes later we are on our way.

For some pictures, see this post: http://svsaltypaws.blogspot.com.es/2014/04/ready-set-saila-perspective-from-first.html

The second time I got to sail a Helia

The second time I got to sail a Helia¹

Lunch time in La Rochelle... Stuffed peppers and a glass of Cabernet Blanc. Our boat is safely tied up on the dock, and not at all stuck on the hard. By the way, there are two ways that being stuck on the hard can go wrong. Not being able to become unstuck (see this post) or coming unstuck without anyone expecting it will. Back to the peppers... just waiting for the ding of the oven. HOLY TUXY and LUNY what is that! A Helia 44 just became unstuck from the ramp and is is drifting to a hole row of moored boats. There are no engines running, there is no one on board? What happened? Did the centuries of tidal observation in La Rochelle not lead to a reasonable predictable tide model with an uncertainty band of less than 30 cm on around 6 meters, mainly correlated to weather effects? Is the catamaran equipped with an auto mooring package, or a remote control package? NO something is wrong. Quick quick, man the little SaltyPaws, row those ores. With a big crash, the Helia plowed its bow into an Aluminum Ovni, instantly proving the point of metal boats. Some desperate boat owners are pushing the 14 tonne vessel unsuccessfully, against the wind. I am pulling the ores of little SaltyPaws as hard as I can. After tying up of the dinghy to the starboard platform, I hurry to start the engines. Elizabeth quickly grabs some fenders (which as per Murphy's Law where all set up on the wrong side), so I can use the engines, to pivot off the unfortunate downwind ships, without causing additional damage. After a few nerve wracking moments, and there may have been some shouts, the boat is free, and I can keep it idling in the harbor, to make a plan for mooring it. I am very glad, that I could say to everyone with nasty stares: “It is not my boat”, and I could even say this in French².

By this time, the harbor master arrives in a dinghy, to sort out the situation, and by doing so confirming the universal law, also in this this case the cavalry was suitably late. My first proposal is to go to the boats original location on the pontoon, which would involve, going around a floating pier. But, no, the harbor master decided that I needed to take a different spot, and uses his dingy to relocate a motor trawler to make space. Docking the Helia was easy, but I stepped back on the jetty, with adrenaline still pumping in even the smallest veins. By this time, the unsuspecting owner walks onto the jetty, unbeknownst to him, (the installation company was in charge) the boat is now moored on the jetty, with a big hole in one of the bows. This is new boat, that wasn't even handed over to him. With an amazing bit of stoic character, the owner takes stock of the situation, and I row him with the little SaltyPaws, to inspect the damage of the Helia, and the other vessels. I have never seen an installation company see that a boat was fixed this quickly. Within 3 days, it was as if the hole was never there. The good thing is that fiberglass is easy to fix. Or, in case of the aluminium Ovni, it is hard to fix, but did not need any fixing due to its metallic nature. So also this Helia had a tricky bit of sailing, in it, not for its owners but for me.

1The third time was a quite unremarkable sail to the fuel pontoon and back (what was remarkable for this trip was the quantity of euro's required to fill the tanks)

2 If it was my boat, I would either 1) be in all states that someone let my boat drift on a row of other boats or 2) in addition, if I was in charge Terribly ashamed that I was not in command of my vessel.

Stuck on the hard or the first time I sailed SaltyPaws

Wouldn't it be a good idea to take your new boat out for a spin, the first time in the middle of a sunny day, with little wind? Right.... My experience is that new boats always let you sail for the first time in less benign conditions. Little else could be expected from SaltyPaws.

One of the problems of delays, is that everything goes wrong.... Due to the late delivery of our Helia, the depth gauge and the sea-cocks for the water maker were not installed while the boat was still on the dry. For a catamaran, the solution is simple: sail onto a ramp during low tide, fix the underwater connections while the sea is in retreat, and simply sail the boat away, once the tide is up again. The parking the boat, drying out, and getting the underwater work finished was no problem, the re-floating on the other hand... Mind you, this was not the first time I have dried out with a boat. This honor goes to the 25 feet Spurt, “Tjyrp”, which we dried out many times. The trick is: always make sure your margins are in order. This time on the other hand, I did NOT do the calculations myself, and that was a mistake I ended up paying for... What this meant is that with the freshly installed depth gauge and water maker connections, we where ready to re-float our boat. What was not a problem, is that the first time I got to sail and moor the boat was in the middle of the night, in a fresh breeze. What was a problem on the other hand, was that the boat was parked quite high, in relation to the tide, and that the next tide was lower. (Not according to the tables, but mother nature cannot always be exactly predicted in a table). In addition, the fresh wind was driving us onshore.

Running both engines full in reverse, all 110 horses could not pull the boat of the hard. So we where stuck... To make matters worse the next tide was even lower. Even with our 50 m spare anchor rode set out behind us (not sure if this was even allowed in the port, as this line prevented some boats from going out) on our genacker winch could not get us off. Off course, the first time I sailed SaltyPaws had to be in the middle of the night, 4 Bf of wind, trying to re-float the boat. And third time lucky held through... After cranking up both engines to full reverse, and putting a healthy tension on the anchor rode the boat almost came off... but it didn't. And the water was at it's apex, it was not going to go any higher. Right... Preparing for one more night on the hard. And just as I though the boat would not go anywhere, the port side slid of the ramp. Starboard hull was still stuck. But nothing that 110 horses, and a mighty winch could not fix. Third time lucky came through after all, but not after keeping us in the mandatory suspense state until we be-leaved it wouldn't happen anymore.

Now all we needed to do was retrieve the anchor rode, without it getting stuck in the propeller, removing it from the jetty, sail the boat to the other side of the largest marina in Western Europe in the middle of the night and dock the boat. And scrub the deck.

I am sure many times we will take the boat out in more benign conditions. However, this episode proves my motto again... If you are not prepared to take your boat out for a spin in the middle of the night, trying to re-float from a ramp in a healthy onshore wind.... You should not be sailing AT ALL, even in the most benign conditions, because you never know what might happen.

Where is Luna?

Where is Luna?

We turned our backs for only seconds and she was gone.  Our cute little furry ships kitty who traveled the world from Texas, to Michigan, to Norway, and now to our yacht Salty Paws ran away…or so we thought.  After having our morning coffee on the boat we suddenly didn’t see Luna anymore.  Did she not like her food?  Were the pillows not fluffy enough?  Did Tux annoy her to her breaking point?  We tried to think of everything why she would want to run away and where she would go and hide.  At first, we thought she was just hiding somewhere in the boat.  A closet?  In a backpack?  But after turning the boat inside out we could not detect a trace.  Then it was off on the bicyicles.  If she wasn’t on the boat or on the pontoon she must have jumped on to shore and ran away.  For hours we roamed the port looking under bushes, cars and boats.  We searched trees and in open shop doors but Luna was not there.  I mean why would she be?  She is very shy and timid.  She never wandered more than a few meters from our house so why would she all of a sudden change tack and run away.  It turns out that the boat has a few more hiding places than we had thought.  Between the wires and the duct work was our little darling unscathed wondering what all the fuss was about.  I have to say I was very proud of myself, it was our first crisis or potential crisis I remained perfectly calm…for my standards anyway.  We were just happy to have our little darling back.

Vegetarian Stuffed Bell Peppers – A successful gastronomical experiment

Vegetarian Stuffed Bell Peppers – A successful gastronomical experiment

Its recipes like these which make me satisfied to be a vegetarian.  Its easy and simple enough to make on the high seas. I highly recommend it. 

Vegetarian Stuffed Bell Peppers

1/2 Teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoon oil

1 Tablespoon pesto sauce

1 1/2 Cup uncooked rice

3 Cup vegetable stock

4 large bell peppers

1/2 onion

1 stick celery

1 carrot

1 zucchini

12 Ounce chopped tomatoes

4 Cup pasta sauce

1/4 Cup ketchup

2 garlic cloves

1 Teaspoon dry basil

1 Teaspoon dry oregano

1 Teaspoon dried bay leaf

1/2 Teaspoon pepper

2 Cup asiago cheese

Cook rice in vegetable stock.  Place all other ingredients accept for the bell peppers, rice, and cheese in a food processor and chop.  Mix with rice.  Stuff in 4-5 large bell peppers depending on the size.  Cook until peppers are soft, sprinkle top with asiago cheese.  Enjoy!

Note to all vegetarians, if you don't have a food processor, get one.  I don't know how I survived this long without one.  Chopping all your favorite veggies, garlic, spices, etc.. in small pieces one at a time makes a 15 min recipe turn into hours of chopping, so invest in a food processor.