Las Palmas

The sail down from Madeira was another comfortable journey. Even if we were "spat" out of Funchal the wind gradually weakened. The last hours of our 2 days jouney, we motored into Las Palmas.

The marina is a busy sailing hub. The marina staff on their toes and stressed,- and  still it's 6 weeks to the ARC take place ! Anyway,- we were granted 4 nights in the marina. Very convenient with electricity, wifi and water,- all basic needs for the cruiser.  However, the place is really set up for all kinds of repair, services and broken equipment of all kind can be replaced. Tomorrow those 4 days are at its end and we probably move out on the anchorage after that.

Villvind will stay another week in Las Palmas. On wednesday the 30.sept Per Even and Eivind arrive and we shortly afterwards set sail for the Cap Verdes, some 900 nm south.

Stay tuned !

B and T / SV Villvind

Funchal on Madeira

4 days at sea between Lisboa to Porto Santo. Light winds and not a fast crossing. Very comfortable though. We spent two days on Porto Santo before we left for  Madeira,- 40 nm further SW. We will stay here in Funchal 4 to 5 days before continuing to Gran Canary and Las Palmas.
Untill then enjoy the pictures showing life on board!

Stay tuned !

Berit  & Terje

SV Villvind

Leaving for Madeira tomorrow

Monday 7.september. Tomorrow we leave for Porto Santo and Madeira. The crossing is approx 450 NM, and will take  3 to 4 days. The GRIB-files shows N to NW light winds between 10 and 15 knots. Today we have been tourists in Lisboa and registered that the Norwegian fullrigger "Sorlandet" was moored in the Alcantara Mar Dock. May be we will meet her later.

Villvind is well prepared and generously stocked up with, beer, wine and fresh food . The queen and I look forward to a comfortable sail to Madeira.

Stay tuned !

B & T

Still in Portogal - Figureira da Foz

Yesterday we had a comfortable 65 nm sail down from Porto to Figureira da Foz. We departed a couple of hours later than planned due to thick fog and was moored in Figureira  just as it turned dark. The vessel next to us is of norwegion origin and flying the norwegian flag. It is a Colin Archer-type vessel around 50 ft. Apart from those mentioned in Porto, it is very well kept and maintained. This vessel is a former post-boat delivering post to the islands and remote places around Bergen on the norwegian westcoast. The vessel is own by a norwegian living in Figureira da Foz.

We visited this harbour 9 years ago and it is interresting to see, that since then, the harbour is upgraded to a very high standard. Tomorrow we continue south to the small harbour of Nazare, 35 nm further south along the coast. Sailing along the coast of Portugal is like viewing a 800 km long sandy beach. Stay tune.

B & T  / SV Villvind

Those, who not cares !

Most boatowners take good care of their vessel. Occasionally you find some examples of the contrary !

A pitstop in Leixoes- Porto

Bayona in Spain. A small galician fortified town with its ancient streets, buildings and old fort is a very convenient and nice place to hide from the gale. Villvind has been underway for a month now. We have been lucky with the wind all the way, even if we have to stay here for a couple of days caused by gale force winds from SW to NW ( Baufort 8 and 9).

We crossed the English channel twice. This is a place for heavy traffic and high level of concentration among the crew,- certainly when it’s dark.  The crossing of the Bay of Biscay or Baie de Gascoinne as it is called by the French, from L’aber Wrach in Bretagne to La Curuna, turned out to become a real pleasant sail. More or less on a flat sea and  favourable winds all the way across. 

After a brief stop with refuelling in Curuna we continued around the Finisterre  down to Bayona from where we after 3 days got a "window" an made a jump of 60 nm down to Porto where we still are.

The forecast says that the wind will continue to blow out of south for another couple of days but turn back to normal during the weekend.   Normal is stedy winds out of north.  

I will stay here in Porto untill tuesday.  Harald leave for Norway tomorrow and Berit arrives on manday. By then the wind will  have calmed and we can have a pleasant sail down to Lisboa. The intension is to leave for Madeira around the 10.september. Stay tuned ! 

Everything is fine onbord.  No technical problems !

SV Villvind

Terje S
Senior cruiser 

ETD - (estimated time of departure) 25.juli 2015, 9 o´clock local time !

Hi again !

We are now back from the South Pacific. After a short week, occupied with some final preparations, -Villvind and its crew leave for the South Atlantic.tomorrow morning.  (ETD)  

On a very irregular basis l intend to post letters on this blog and give you some highlights from our journey as we move south.  If you want to follow our progress you can hit the "position"-tab  in the Links column.  We use an Iridium satelite tracker from Yellowbrick, and we will  once a day report our GPS-position.

Till the first letter is posted, have a nice summer and stay tuned !

T