sy Timoneer

Noon Position 11deg 26S 36deg  20W

Course – 039 Degrees   Speed –  11.4  Knots        Day’s Run – 165  Miles

Weather –   Partly cloudy with 3-6′ (1-2m) swell from E

Wind – 13 knots from ENE

Today’s News

We were all very glad to see the back of Salvador. On leaving we put the boat clocks forward 2 hours as we were all sick of the sun coming up at 5am and it setting by 1730.

We had a fairly comfortable night motor sailing with main and mizzen. This morning we got just enough wind angle to unfurl the staysail and are now making good progress. At the moment we are taking the most direct route to Dakar. This way it is about 3050 miles to Lanzarote, Canary Islands. If the weather forces us to stay further south then the distance increases and will add 1 to 2 days to the trip.

JC

We are just dropping our relief engineer ashore and then we will be off just before sunset.

Salvador has been very trying with it taking me 8 days to clear in to Brazil which then left me an afternoon to try and clear out. It happened with minutes to spare before the offices closed. I have never seen such inefficiency ever before.

Salvador was a very dangerous place outside of the marina. The old town is a UN Heritage site and has security guards on every corner to try and make it safe for tourist.

The crew are all very keen to head to sea and get to Europe. Please follow our progress on the website.

JC

Noon Position 12deg 58S 38deg  31W

Course –  Degrees   Speed –    Knots        Day’s Run – 182  Miles

Weather –   Hot and sticky

Wind – 7 knots from E

Today’s News

We arrived in Salvador at 7am after aiming for the glow of the city lights for 100 miles during the night. After a quick look at the marina we came in and docked. Salvador is a huge city and we are very close to the historic center of town. We will be here until the 7th April before leaving for Lanzarote, Canary Islands.

JC

Noon Position 15deg 56S 38deg  21W

Course – 358 Degrees   Speed –   9.5 Knots        Day’s Run –  230 Miles

Weather –  Blue sky with the odd rain cloud and flat blue seas

Wind – 5 knots from W

Today’s News

We saw our first flying fish yesterday afternoon and turtles today. We are definitely back in the tropics. This morning we saw something I have never seen before, small wooden fishing boats herding ships away from their nets. They stop in the path of the ship and force it to alter course and keep forcing it until the ship is past the nets. Some of these nets go on for miles. Another first for me is seeing a fisherman in a small rowing boat 40 miles offshore. These guys have the sense to get out of the way of us and the ships.

We still have an ETA in Salvador at 0700 tomorrow and with time to spare this morning I went on a 2 mile detour to a rain cloud to give themasts a good rinse but unfortunately on arrival at the cloud the torrential rain abruptly stopped and all we got was a beautiful rainbow. The masts will have to wait for a rinse.

JC

Noon Position 19deg 30S 38deg 53 W

Course -029  Degrees   Speed –  10  Knots        Day’s Run – 236  Miles

Weather –   Hot and sunny with slight seas

Wind – 5 knots from SE

Today’s News

The traffic and oil fields continued through the night keeping things interesting. Sunrise this morning brought a stunning day and blue water. A lot of our trip up from Patagonia has been in water less than 300′ (95m) deep. Last night we dropped off the edge of the continental shelf into deep water and they are still drilling for oil in 7000′ (2000m) of water. We have also hit the hot tropical current coming down the coast. So far we have only encountered 0.5 knots but at 80F (27C) we have certainly noticed a difference in temperature inside the yacht.

This morning we slowed down so as to arrive in Salvador in daylight. The reduced speed has proven to be great for fishing. Ten minutes after putting the lines out we hooked a big Mahi-mahi only to loose it near the boat. Two hours later Jordi managed to haul in a jumping, fighting 80 lb (35Kg) Mahi-mahi. We now have plenty of fish and should be able to make some friends in Salvador.

Our ETA is 0700 local time on the 30th.

JC

Noon Position 22deg 36S 41deg 21W

Course – 048 Degrees   Speed –  10.0  Knots        Day’s Run –  258 Miles

Weather –  Sunny with 6′ (2m) waves and hot

Wind – 20 Knots from NE

Today’s News

After lunch we caught another Mahi-mahi and then took the lines in as it was getting quite busy with traffic. In the evening, while passing 35 miles South of Rio, we had 67 ships on the AIS (Automated Identification System). There was never a dull moment dodging traffic all night. We also passed over the Tropic of Capricorn and are now officially back in the tropics and it feel likes it too.This morning we saw land for the 1st time in 3 days as we rounded Cabo Frio. Just after sunrise we spotted 2 whales which we think were Sei whales, we slowed and observed them for a while. Later we saw another whale blow but could not identify it.

JC

Noon Position 24deg 52S 45deg  12W

Course -37  Degrees   Speed – 11.2   Knots        Day’s Run – 268  Miles

Weather –   Blue skies and 10′ (3m) swell

Wind – 5 knots from NE

Today’s News

The wind picked up again in the afternoon and we furled out the genoa and pulled in the fishing lines. By sunset the wind died and we went back to engine only and the mizzen as a stabilizer. Last night we had to make a few detours to avoid ever expanding oil fields and all the traffic tendering to the drilling rigs.

The dawn brought a stunning day with light winds and blue seas. We have had the fishing lines out all morning and lost 2 fish. We are now waiting for 3rd time lucky.

We just caught a small Mahimahi, our first fish in a long time.Fresh fish for dinner tonight.

JC

Noon Position 28deg 19S 48deg  10W

Course – 035 Degrees   Speed –  11.4  Knots        Day’s Run –  266 Miles

Weather –   Rain squalls and 10′ (3m) confused swells

Wind – 7 knots from S

Today’s News

We had a great run yesterday afternoon and just before sunset the wind died and we took the main down, furled away the genoa and went through the night with staysail and mizzen. We are still staying fairly close to the coast to milk the last of the current pushing us North. We have now reached the big bight out of the coast of Brazil South of Rio. I will be checking the weather at midday to see if there is any advantage to us doing the extra miles by following the coast or going straight across the 500 mile wide bay. Check our position on the website later today.

We have slowed down enough now to put the fishing lines out. We only saw one wandering albatross yesterday so hopefully fresh fish will be on the menu very soon.

JC

Noon Position 32 deg 13S 51deg  16W

Course – 035 Degrees   Speed – 12.2   Knots        Day’s Run – 251  Miles in the 1st 21 hours

Weather –   Partly cloudy with 10′ (3m) swells from SE

Wind – 19 knots from SE

Today’s News

Yesterday afternoon was rainy and pretty bumpy. By the evening the wind had settled a bit and the rain squalls cleared. We managed to keep good speed though the night with the help of 0.5-1 knot of current with us. This morning the current has lessened to under 0.5 knots and we are expecting it to disappear completely within the next 24 hours and then we will be facing a 1 knot current from the north for the rest of our trip up the coast of Brazil.

The sun has come out this morning, the seas flattened a bit and we have just put up the main with 2 reefs in it  to go with the genoa and mizzen we have been using through the night. It is pretty comfortable now and we are knocking off the miles.

JC

Timoneer left the dock at 0915 this morning between rain squalls and then we had to wait until customs and immigration opened. We then had a problem with the tender and by the time we sorted it immigration had gone to lunch. Finally we got going at 230pm.

Other than dealing with the formalities, everyone enjoyed our stay in Uruguay and we gave Timoneer a much needed coat of varnish.

Next stop is Salvador, Brazil, 1700 miles North East which should take us around 7 days.

Please check out the website for photos and trip report for our 2nd guest trip in Patagonia.

JC