Knot Normal - The Adventure

Spent two days in the port of Santa Cruz, Island of La Palma.  We provisioned the boat, fueled, and rested for the big leap:  the Atlantic crossing.  All is well on board except the loss of one of the antennas.  We should be in Grenada in about 20 days if all goes well.   We will be fishing two lines in hope of fresh tuna and dolphin. La Palma, cliffs and buganvilla Port of Santa Cruz, La Palma

We visited Lisbon while waiting for our parts to clear Portuguese Customs.  If all goes well we leave Cascais Monday Jan 20th.

Moorish Castle from foot path Robin and Michael Castle tower Palace Left - Moorish Castle Right

Atlantic rollers are smashing into the 20 foot protective wall that separates  Knot Normal from the sea.  The resulting splash reaches 50 feet.

Portugal - After a long, wet, cold and rough couple of days the sun came out and the wind died.  We motored the last two days and become low on fuel short of our planned stop in Cascais.  We stopped in a small fishing village called Peniche.  The port smelled of fish and the fish in the seaside restaurant was excellent.  It was a very quaint place but nice. The next morning we set off to Cascais under motor again.  Cascais is at the mouth of the river leading to Lisbon.  It is very upscale and has a touristy element in its downtown seaside area.  We are still awaiting our package from North Sail to clear Customs and then we will be on our way to the Canaries, about a 5 or 6 day run. The Canaries are off the coast of Morocco.  While in port we installed fans in each room and added outlets where needed and had the diesel engines and generator serviced.  We also stocked up on food and fuel for the next leg.  The architecture here is a co...

Leaving Gijon this morning.  It is such a lovely town.  They pay homage to cider.  The video of the bartender pouring cider from as high as he can reach to a glass as low as he can reach helps make the carbonation bubble.  You are suppose to drink it quick and toss the remaining foam in a stainless steel gutter at the base of the bar. A monument to Spanish cider make of cider bottles Gijon - Church on the bay Gijon - The beach in the morning

We crossed the nasty Biscay Bay and entered the port of Gijon in Northern Spain as the sun was setting.  We got a glimpse of the snow covered Pyrenees mountains before the sun went down.  On the way we got our prop wrapped in a floating polypropylene line and it shut down the port engine which made our progress slow and our docking difficult.  We are now waiting out another gale but hope to get underway in two days.  Customs rejected our "running papers" and insisted on US Documentation papers and told us to buy a Spanish curtesy flag (see pic of scary custom officials).  We finally got that straight.  It has been a rough start.  4,500nautical miles to Grenada, 255 miles completed. Spanish Customs officials scare me. Port of Gijon as we entered

I have been in France for over a month and living on the boat since December 21st.  Finally we are to depart from La Rochelle tonight. Michelle, the forth member of the crew, arrived today. His picture below. He is getting a tour of the boat. Then we are off to dinner and then we set sail with the tide.  We are targeting Gijon on the north coast of Spain.  It will take two days.  We are expecting another front otherwise we would try to round the headland toward Portugal.  We will most likely hold up in Gijon until the front passes.  At least it will be a change of scenery.  You can follow along by opening Course and Location and clicking the URL.

Been in France for more than a month now.  The crossing from the Canaries to Grenada will take less time.  The good news is that we are locked and loaded.  Sunday, Michelle, the French crew member arrives and Rocky departs. We may set sail Sunday night or Monday morning.  Wave hight is good but still windy - 25 knots.  We are anxious to get going.  We tested our new gennaker just to have a look see.  It is very pretty, however some the gear to use it properly was not here and is being shipped to a southern Portugal marina for pickup on the way down.

Wind speed is a steady 40 knots with gusts over 51 knots in the marina (force 10).  It is worse in the open Biscay Bay.  No suitable weather window for days at best.  Had a fun night for New Years Eve.  We drank in the boat then went into the old city where the locals were celebrating as well. It was quite lively. We hit several bars, made it to mid night and stumbled back to the marina which is several kilometers away. Rocky, my nephew continue to drink whiskey with Peter (crew member from Estonia) and puked a bit before retiring.  I had the good sense for once to alternate between shot of rum and water.