november, 2003

hello folks --

this is the last sailing installment for a few months as the boat is
hauled out in spain awaiting our return in march, when hopefully the
worst of the winter storms will be over and we can continue into the
mediterranian.  i have my permanent crew now - nieces libby and susha.

in october my son laszlo and his wife mikii and daughter zokni joined
us for 2+ weeks.  i was very aprehensive about the visit because the
only other time mikii was on the boat (at the dock in a quiet canal
in ft. lauderdale, fla) she said she was seasick about 20 seconds after
coming on board.  she doesnt swim and so i chalked part of the claimed
seasickness to fear, but was still worried.  i was also concerned about
food, since portugal is not a great place for a vegetarian who doesnt
eat fish.  all items on most menus are either in the fish pile or the
meat pile, the only exception being cheese toasties (like a grilled
cheese sandwich) and mixed salads that sometimes contain tuna or other
fishyness.  mikii and zok must have gotten pretty tired of grilled
cheese sandwiches, but were good sports about it.  their first night
on the boat (at the marina in lagos) was fine, so the instant seasickness
was cured.  the first sail was also fine, although laszlo who doesnt get
seasick was queasy and zok was unnaturally sleepy.  the seas were flat
calm and we motored most of the way.  the second sail was with more wind
and 2-4 ft. waves.  mikii was totally not seasick, laszlo who had taken
a seasick pill was ok, but zok was definitely seasick and threw up
on libby and all over the cockpit.  i used the airline trick of putting
coffee on the throwup to kill the smell, works fine but makes a bit of
a mess.  after that, mikii and zok took the bus or train to our next
port and the rest of us sailed, and of course the ocean and wind were
very well behaved but thats hard to predict from inside the harbors.

we cruised along the algarve coast of portugal that has been transformed
from cute little fishing villages to row upon row of condos mostly owned
by british and germans as vacation homes.  lagos is a big boating center
with nice beaches and interesting grottos to explore from the sea side.
next was portimao that has a wonderful anchorage in the harbor as well
as a marina.  we stayed in the marina but used the dinghy to go across
the river to a little fishing village with neat old crooked streets,
restaurants grilling fish on the wharf, and a pretty castle that has
been bought by an individual and is now off limits to the public.  then
we went to albufera (totally touristy) and olhao (not touristy at all)
and finally ayamonte on the river guardiana that divides portugal from
spain.

a 40 ft. boat is a small space when filled with 6 people and all their
stuff.  thank goodness we didnt have a week of rain.  but we did brush
up on our 4-year-old games, playing "mother may i", red-light green-light,
and go-fish, more in that 2 weeks than ever before.  the boat seemed empty
and very quiet after they left and we found ourselves continuing to
occasionally say "mother may i" long after the 4 year old excuse was
gone.

by the beginning of november we were headed up the river guardiana to
visit the countryside inland.  the river is navigable for about 30
miles; we went up about 20 miles to the twin towns of alcoutin portugal
and sanlucar spain.  as we left to go up the river (at low tide because
of a fixed bridge that we had to fit under and for which we couldnt get
a straight answer as to the height) the wind went from 10 knots in the
marina to 25-30 out on the open river.  the wind was against the tide
and made things a bit rough.  we had waited till afternoon to head up
so that we could fit under the bridge at low tide and then ride the tide
up the river.  by about 4:30 we saw a dock with a small catamarin on it
and a nice big empty space just waiting for us.  we did a drive by to 
figure out if it was deep enough and which way to come in to it.  one
way was against the wind (good) and clear access (also good) but with
the current (bad).  the other way was hairyier, but we could do it
slowly and didnt have to stop ourselves against 2-3 knots of current.
managed to park ok, although i made a big mistake after we were along
side the dock.  we had two lines tied off and i got off the boat with
the stern line, so now all 3 of us were off the boat.  the wind was
blowing us off the dock and the nose of the boat was quite a ways out.
but the current was so strong we couldnt pull it in.  i pictured us
3 girls (120 lb weaklings) unable to get our boat into the dock till
the wind stopped or the tide changed.  but fortunately 3x120 lb weaklings
makes one strong enough person and we got the boat pulled in and properly
tied up.  went for a walk and met some locals who gave us pomegranites.
they are yummy, especially on morning cereal and we noticed we were
docked right next to 4 loaded trees.  we harvested a bunch.  also found
a tree full of yellow fruit that we didnt recognize but later found out
is quince.  the next morning we were having lunch and discussing the hike
we had planned for that afternoon when we heard a boat horn.  then two
toots of the horn.  turned out to be a tourist excursion boat whose spot
at the dock we were parked in.  oops.  we started the engine and cast off 
lickety split.  so much for that hike, we headed up river to alcoutin.

anchored in alcoutin in about 20 ft. of water near the portugese side
of the river.  within hours we had snagged a huge tree branch on our
anchor chain, part of which reached all the way back to the cockpit,
probably 30 ft away from the anchor.  it was huge and made scratching
sounds on the hull all night long.  i hoped that as the tide turned
we would be loose of it, but as the boat turned around, so did the branch.
finally in the second turn of the tide we lost it.  this should have
taught me another anchoring fact, but i was a bit dense and it didnt
sink in till a couple of days later when coming back from the grocery
store i noticed that our boat wasnt where we left it, in fact it was
way upstream from where we had originally anchored.  yikes.  fortunately
it hadnt hit anything or run aground.  we chased it with the dinghy, got
aboard, tried to catch the anchor by letting out more chain, tried again,
finally gave up and pulled it in, motored back to the spanish side and
re-anchored in 12 ft. of water.  let out lots of chain and backed down
hard to test the new anchoring.  then i finally understood -- not that
anchoring on the spanish side is better than the portugese side, but
that because you go around bends on the outside to have deep water
(where the main channel is), you should anchor on the inside of bends
because thats where the main channel isnt.  its shallower and also less
current and less debris floating down.  the bottom of the main channel
area gets scoured and so doesnt hold as well.  and i thought i had learned
to anchor right.  geez.

thought about leaving the boat up the river for the winter, there were
lots of folks who could look after it for me, but they were all single
hander british sailors who would have to look after their own boats first,
so i decided to go to a marina in spain called isla canela.  also decided
(thanks andy) to haul the boat out instead of leaving it in the water.
the cost was about the same, but i was worried about electrolysis and
my batteries and bilge pump, so hauled out even though i dont need to
paint the bottom yet.  our haulout was scheduled for 4pm so about 3:30
we fired up the engine and headed over to the holding pontoon.  no 
incidents in the unparking or reparking - sush and libby are becoming
very proficient in jumping between boat and dock and throwing lines.
then the haulout guy appears and rattles off some spanish that i dont
understand but seems to have something to do with my forestay.  then
he gets his friend who knows a bit of english and they make me understand
that i have to take the forestay off for them to haul me out because of
the wind generator getting in the way if they do it backwards.  yikes.
the forestay has all the roller furling stuff on it and while i have seen
it taken apart i dont really know how.  but the whole thing is hooked on
with a pin and cotter pin, so if we can create slack maybe we can take
it off that way.  loosened the back stay, took off the inner forestay,
put the jib halyard on the eye where the inner forestay was and cranked
on the winch to hopefully take the pressure off and not hurt anything.
seemed to work and we got it off.  then drove the boat into the slot
(narrow, high, rough walls) where it would be lifted out.  went ok, 
didnt hit anything, they got the straps under at the right places, got
the boat straight, and lifted it up.  drove forward with it half up so
we could get off and then on up out of the water.  we were just looking 
over the bottom (not dirty, no barnacles, fishing net on the prop, etc.)
when an old timer in the yard said that the engine was still running.
and it was, stupid me.  i tried to climb onto the top of the ways to
jump to the boat, but it was too far.  someone from the yard ran for
a ladder and i climbed up and quickly turned off the engine.  it was
at about 200 degrees, not yet at alarm stage so i dont think i hurt
anything.  stupid, stupid, stupid.  geez, and i thought i was getting
the hang of being captain.

busses in spain seem to run about half the time that the schedule says
they will.  we keep getting caught by this just when we cant wait for
the next one and so need to take a taxi instead.  our taxi ride to the
train station for coming home was interesting.  first we went over the
big bridge that i had sailed under so cautiously, and then we ran into
a marathon in progress.  we had to pull off the road while the main
batch of runners passed by.  it was a desolate swampy salt flats area
with no spectators, so when we got out of the cab and cheered everyone
smiled and waved.  the taxi driver caught our bravo spirit and yelled
out to the stragglers at the end of the pack offering "taxi libre" which
got quite a few laughs.

this is getting way too long.  its the last sailing installment till about
march next year when we go back to the boat and continue our sailing 
adventure.  plan to work in san diego and ski a bit this winter.

hugs.

-evi