Castillo

Ahoy,

as promised some pictures of my dear friends in Castillo, together with some very wise words.

Dreams are dreams only if you sleep

Now a new sun is coming

A sun that you have never seen

Open your eyes,

stand up and look around.

Now you know.

Be calm, think and learn,

and most important,

enjoy.

Always remember:

you can do it.

Good luck my friend.

Capt. Andres

Stay Positive

Ahoy,



a break from the Blog seems over. It is true the Ol' Girl and I have not known what to say for some time now. Some of the time no WiFi caused this, however,most of the time I had no idea what to say.

We are meeting and having to say farewell to so many like minded and kind people that this is something I would have tried to mentally prepare for before leaving the UK. I have realised that it is a part of sailing life, and it is more difficult than we ever imagined it could or, would be.

Add to this some concerns about the single handed crossing and a personnel financial crisis just before leaving, not to mention not doing as well as I had hoped in the fund raising department, all this combined left me feeling I did not have much to say.

As I have said before in the absence of light only darkness remains, if I had not had the help from the people I have met along the way as well as some family and friends from my past this adventure would have been left in the dark long ago, despite what I have accomplished on my own, without the better people of the world I think I would have failed already.

These two weeks before the crossing will be a most challenging time, I have to fill the Ol' Girl with, food, water and more water, sort out some spares and stay positive, not to mention try and raise more awareness as far as the fund raising is concerned.

High Pitched after Castillation

Ahoy,

firstly I am very sorry for having not updated this for a little while and for not supplying the pictures as promised.

To say I miss everyone at Castillo is an understatement, they treated me like I was one of the family, they made sure I went for nothing. Alas I am no longer in their most excellent company, possibly feeling that the best of the best are to my rudder. I wish to return one day, should I make it in one piece on the next part of the adventure.

At the moment I am in Gran Canaria and we have had mixed receptions. How long we stay is quite debatable, we should continue West.(of course I am a little soft after the comfort of Castillo)

Unfortunately this must be brief as battery low, I will update with some beautiful pictures of my friends in Castillo the first chance I get.

Between a Rock and a Nice Place

Ahoy,

so the Ol' Girl and me headed off to find an anchorage for the night before trying to find a place at another Marina. Just off the point of Papagayo in Lanzarote we found a sheltered bay with a few other boats and dropped anchor. During the day for a break I have enjoyed being at anchor, this was the first true test of the anchor alarm at night and I decided just to take brief naps, rather than risk slipping anchor and waking up on the rocks.

Morning arrived slowly and all was well until I had to weigh the anchor, the chain had become rather attracted to a rock, so, swimming gear on and a quick dip was the order of the day.

That issue dealt with I headed off to Fuerteventura( thanks for the chart John) the Ol' Girl and myself had a small amount of hope regarding Puerto Castillo( despite me making a balls up of trying to speak Spanish to the Senior Hugo, the Director) the delightful Nicky was being extremely helpful on the phone and it sounded like we may be welcome for a little while. I would also like to thank Julie, Cori and Carlos .

Wow, what a difference, the Ol' Girl and myself had been delivered from hell to heaven in the few ours it took us to motor sail here.

Everyone I met it seemed was out to show that the Canaries was not famed for the treatment we had received in Lanzarote.

The Ol' Girl is as happy as I am to be here, for the contact with real people again and for me to give her a little TLC.

Since arriving I have been invited to a eye opening submarine tour, cheers Captain Andres, an entertaining (& educational) sea life afternoon at Oceanarium Explorer, had fresh fish delivered to the Ol' Girl by fishermen Gilberto and Miguel, which was cooked by the Camarote Restaurant for me, thank you Nestor, Mercedes and Maria, it tasted soo good.( your Mojo Rojo is the best I have ever had and as for the Honey Rum, big smiles) and thanks also to Elliot for the news on Arsenal.

I even had a kiss from a beautiful girl!(see picture)

Yet to come is a hair cropping from Captain Andres's wife Amelia, pictures will be taken!(I'm thinking of a cut suitable for a monkey that's to be shot into space)

Essentially my faith in human kind is restored and maybe, just maybe everything will be OK between now and when we need to leave for the Atlantic crossing in late November. As I say this I realise I have still not managed to speak to the Director here in person, as we have arrived during a Fiesta and a public Holiday, everybody cross your fingers or have a beer for me, whichever feels most appropriate.

Starting Line

Ahoy,

well the Ol' Girl has reached the starting line, with a little help from me.

It took six and a half days, in that time we were becalmed for a little over a day, we passed electrical storms and Dave the Auto pilot snapped. These minor issues aside all went well, one night I thought I heard children playing, which was unlikely as I was one hundred and thirty miles off the coast of North Africa and four hundred miles from Lanzarote, of all the things to imagine.

Back in Vilamoura, my friend Graham gave me some Expedition Foods, freeze dried foods in a bag, just add water, they are amazing. No artificial anything, thanks Graham.

Another great help on the crossing was weather information from the Royal Marine Commando's, thank you Sandy, it was all spot on.

In fact I met some very cool boaties in Vilamoura and will miss them chatting about life on the sea whilst I take notes. Thanks for the beans Mike.

So now the Ol' Girl and me are in Lanzarote, alas in our first Marina in the Islands, we are not welcome, or at least feel less welcome than anywhere else to date and have to leave tomorrow, they did allow a few nights on the reception pontoon(without electric or water) so I should count my blessings. (One of the members of staff was cool, you know who you are, thank you) It has shaken my confidence a little, still everyone else on the adventure so far has helped so much, I am probably due such treatment just to bring me back down to earth.

So tomorrow it's off to Marina Rubicon, maybe, just maybe, our luck will improve. I hope so, as we need to be here on the Island's for over a month, leave too soon and there is the chance of Hurricanes.

As a friend says, do you want to be a Grizzly or a Koala (perhaps this only works with the hand gestures)

Happy, happy, happy

Ahoy,

the Ol' Girl and myself are guest's of the beautiful Vilamoura Marina, many thanks to the Director and all the staff.

Now all we have to do is get ready for the next part of the voyage.

VillaMoreA?

Ahoy,

after the shortest and quietest passage to date, the Ol' Girl and me arrive in Vilamoura.

It is a very expensive place, with many tourists and many people that specialize in parting fools from their money, please do not misunderstand me, I too am a fool, it's just that I am lucky enough to have no money.

This money thing or rather lack of it will come to a fore this morning, in about thirty minutes, as I am about to go and see the Director, I hope she is as accommodating as everyone else I have met along the way.

So back to my arrival, I had only just finished securing the Ol' Girls lines when a dingy drew up along side with Graham and his two children, Elliott and Isabela, for those that are new to these rantings, Graham and Printerland supplied the air time for the SatCom phone for the crossing of Biscay, which certainly made a huge difference in my perception of security.

How amazing is this, not only had we arrived on Graham's Birthday, I had an invitation to the Chinese Restaurant with the rest of his family and friends. Now on these travels I have had some regularly occurring dreams, one is having a relaxing bath and another popular one is eating Chinese food. So in this time of preparation I get to wish a friend and sympathiser many happy returns and eat an excellent Chinese meal, no kidding it really was top notch.
We then went to a Japanese style bar with an empty orchestra, I might tell you about it one day.....

Now it's time to go and see this Director, wish me luck.