Pius, my Ocean partner Preparation for South Atlantic passage to Patagonia onboard of an Hallberg-Rassy 53

Rio Paraìba (Brasil), our Leg 3 final stop

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

And as if by magic the bow of Pius sees the land...it is April 2nd.

But before talking about our arrival I want to tell you about this last leg from the island of Fernando da Noronha (Brazil).
We had a lot of hope in exploring this remote paradise in the Equatorial area of South Atlantic. Unfortunately, as there is no real port or even a protective breakwater, the anchoring is particularly wavy... the Atlantic wave torments Pius for 4 days and 3 nights. It's risky to leave the boat and set off to explore....I let Marco and Olivier go and stay on watch enjoying at least a nice swim in the ocean waters which are a nice 30° while outside it's 38° with 90% humidity !

Marcus, the Harbor Master, announces the peligro de Suelo for the next day and Sunday...what will it be, a tropical monster, a disturbance or an animist adversity that Brazilians believe in a lot?
Suelo derives from swell in English... therefore a long and powerful wave (we know it well) that turns from the NW and the closer you are to the coast protected by the islands the more it swells as it finds the shallow rocky seabed.

We would have to leave on Sunday morning but the 250nm that divide us from Brazil would make us arrive at night, something to always avoid and here even more so having to respect the shallow waters and low tides.
So the departure is scheduled for 5pm... we are shaken by the Suelo from Saturday afternoon until Sunday evening. And exactly on time, at 5pm a strong squall arrives with heavy rains and gusts of 30 knots. Marco and I take advantage of the opportunity for a healthy rain shower while Pius is jumping!

Very eventful departure as usual... but we take advantage of this unexpected wind to take a good pace and head to Brazil.
We are too fast, we need to reduce the sails to avoid arriving in the darkness of the very early morning... fortunately on the second day of sailing the wind drops and as expected we encounter the famous SE wind which from South Africa slams into the South American continent and blows from the NE .

The best gift, the arrival in Brazil, the finale of this calm upwind navigation at 6 knots speed in a gentle 8 knots breeze...not bad Pius after just 5000 nm of navigation.

Finally at dawn we were greeted by the scent of Brazil, for those who have already been there like me the smell of it is unmistakable; taste of forest, of warm sea, of hot air full of humidity.

I had been missing from Brazil since 1996. 30 years later, an avalanche of memories overwhelms me and everything seems so close, so familiar. 7 years of great adventures planning M'bike and 4X4 tours in Brasil, Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay through the cooperation of my ancient Tour Operator Exploring Adventure and the brasilian Terra.

Our first choice for landing in Brazil was Recife. But the fear of being traumatized by the skyscrapers of the metropolis of the Brazilian North-East that we can see so far made us change our choice: let's tack west of 50 degrees and go up the Paraìba river!

This big river gives its name to this state of Brazil, located on the easternmost tip of Brazil. Here too the capital Joao Pessoa is a swarm of skyscrapers but the vastness of the river and the several hundred hectares of mangroves are a true eco-environmental filter.

The Brazilian coast is famous for its shallow waters which descend from the enormous mouth of the Amazon River to Argentina.
3 miles from the entrance to the Paraìba river, the dredged channel is marked by buoys.

A peculiarity for navigation is that throughout the American continent, whether North or South, the green and red signals are reversed: Red on the right and green on the left and the cone and cylinder are also inverted and here they are green and red respectively.

From our Pilot book we find a Marina about 7 miles from the mouth of the Rio Paraìba. Marina Jacaré, in Portuguese caiman. Will it be populated by caimans or are the managers caimans? ;)
The river navigation seems well signposted and respectful of the bathymetrics of the cartography...but as soon as we reach Ilha da Restinga at 3 miles the red and green buoys disappear...all that remains is to rely on the cartography which fortunately shows a constant bottom of 4 metres, thanks to the high tide expertly respected by our navigation.

The Rio Paraìba still offers huge wild areas of mangroves with small and authentic villages, far from the skyscrapers of Joao Pessoa.

At 10am on Tuesday 2 April 2024 we dock in Brazil on the South American continent, after 5086 miles and 2 and a half months of navigation from Ravenna, visits and technical stops.
It's time to celebrate and Brazil with its proverbial Caipirinhas is the ideal place!

Fernando da Noronha (Brasil), our Leg 3 stop

Sun, 31 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Mindelo (Cabo Verde)- day1

After celebrating Father's Day on March 19th with Emma and Anna at Praia Sao Pedro on the south side of Sao Vicente, on Wednesday 20th at 10am we set off for the longest and perhaps the most difficult stage from Mindelo to Ilha Fernando da Noronha.
1300 miles, strong winds for the first 3 or 4 days, then the approach to the ITPCZ, the intertropical convergence zone, nicknamed Horse Latitude or Doldrums, the Equator crossing and Neptune's meeting!

Departure with a sandstorm arriving from West Africa.
Reduced visibility and wind gusts at 37 knots.
We enter the Channel between Sao Vicente and Santo Antao with a very strong wave and a constant wind of 28 knots.
The swell does not allow us to take our usual pace to sail at the same speed as ocean waves.

So we decide to mount the pole to have more stability and safety having reduced the mainsail to 30%. While maneuvering the downhaul, the pole, under pressure from a more violent gust than the others, breaks the attachment to the mast trolley and fortunately falls without touching either Marco or Olvier.
Serious damage, because in the enormous equatorial zone without wind it would have been very useful to us.

In reality the trade wind that crosses the Barlavento islands of Cabo Verde, Santo Antao and Sao Vicente is standard for this season, between 18 and 24 knots but in the channel between the two islands it accelerates furiously. As we move further away, sailing south on route 198, the trade wind weakens more and more until the morning when it regains strength but with a less powerful wave than the Lag2 from Lanzarote to Cabo Verde.

Days pass with daily rituals, wave and wind weather analysis, choice of the course and sails + adjustments, meal preparation, rest, readings and some Starlinkata... calls or messages with our small world of followers.

day2-21 March

@12h15 we decide to gybe following course 220° and We Set up of the FFR a special code zero that allows us to sail downwind up to 170° with a reasonable speed to overcome the atlantic swell.

We begin to encounter the famous Sargasso, first a few tufts of these algae that develop on the surface at these latitudes and in the direction of the current which will lead them to the Caribbean. Then there are real greens extending over 200m2.

They are the bête noire for hydrogenerators that we have to lift and clean almost every hour because otherwise the propeller doesn't turn and doesn't recharge anything.

Due to continuous interruptions in recharging the hydrogenerator, the voltage of the batteries drops below the limit we have set ourselves of 25.30V. We turn on the generator but after a while it turns off. I'll go and see what the patient has. In Mindelo we started it and it worked on trial for over 15min.
I try to bleed the diesel supply circuit but after a short while it turns off again.
Doing this work at night with a swell is not exactly simple, I'll leave it for tomorrow.

day3-22 March

Wind decreasing, there will be winds too.
FFR+Staysail for more thrust. Onda smoothes out a bit.
Before dark the rule is to lower the FFR and open the Genoa for greater safety in case of gusts of wind during the watch.
When it is time to start the rest shifts, as often happens, the wave returns from 140° with respect to the boat which causes the genoa to lose pressure and therefore little speed.
I'm in the cabin, I hope Olivier is active and weird but nothing.
At 2am after 6 hours of NOT sleeping, it's my turn and I gybe immediately. Now the wave is well parallel to the stern, pushing us and not making us roll!

day4-23 March

We woke up early at 8am to hoist our turtle with staysail together but the hoisting was only completed at 9.30am because Olivier wanted to change tack by hoisting it without physically moving it on deck from port to starboard. Marco had to endure the wave not because of him.
I decided not to gybe in the evening and continue on port tack for 195°; right choice because between sunset and night our friend Aliseo always rotated to the NNE allowing us a course of 182°. I therefore decided to leave the FFR and staysail hoisted but with the mate's watch available in case of emergency. I offer not to sleep in the cabin and stay in the cockpit all night to be ready for emergencies.
I adopt my rest system following REM sleep, 30min naps followed by 50min wakefulness. Better than in the cabin where on average the noise of the waves on the hull and hull reaches over 70dB.

Batteries don't hold much charge due to one of the two fridges having a thermostat that is acting up and always charging, freezing our vegetables as well.
I turn on the Generator for an hour, repaired it after having dismantled the pre-filter and bled the entire supply hose well. Batteries go up from 25.20V to 27.20V.

day5, 24 March

From dawn to 8.30am cleaned sargassum 10 times.
Batteries not fully charged, average 25.40.
Helmed from 8am to 10.45am, music played to cheer me up.
Sky clear for this Sunday. Powerful sun. Luckily the wind freshens. We are fast since yesterday 7->8kts.
In the last 60 miles the average has been 7.6=182nm/24h.
Activated WindVane mode on the Autopilot; Genial! It means that the Autopilot do not follow the course you decide to follow but the AWA, the apparent wind angle of the sails.
Closed FFR, only Genoa. Reinforcements expected at 20kts until Tuesday morning.
No dinner for everyone, too wavy!

day6, 25 March
2nd sleepless night.. one of the worst!
9pm We jibe on starboard tack but dance for 3 hours. Re-gybed at 00h00, much better now .
Course 195°, speed 5.6kts , Batteries @26V
Done 1k miles from Mindelo.
Still 704 miles to go = 5 days

We are entering into the ITCPZ Intertropical Convergence Zone better known as Horses latitudes. Very large area with little wind but possible frequent very powerful tropical storms. That zone during the rest of the year is very high, over 1000 miles and wide from West Africa to Brazil. But this season it seems thinner and less focused towards South America. However, be careful not to get caught with so much canvas and carefully analyze which route to take to enter where the band is thinnest and therefore has the least possible engine!

Busy sailing with messy and often wicked waves.
Strong wind. Sargasso non-stop.
Cooked pasta with pumpkin and ricotta salata with great risk of spilling out boiling water.
Maintained 70% of main sail and all out Genoa.
At 5.30pm helmed for 1.30 with great fun surfing at 10 knots. But realizing that the sea was getting worse we reefed the main 50%
I willsShifts for last from 02h00 to 05h00.
Olivier first starts @ 8pm. Time to fall asleep and I understand that the sea and wind have gotten worse. Not even my legs can stay still on the mattress but they wag their tails.
I feel like getting up to to reef but I'm stoned...
Suddenly I feel like the motionless boat is no longer immersed in the water, the autopilot is stopped.
Half an instant later I am catapulted out of my bed...I understand that we are in full sail on the opposite edge due to....
It's only 9.30pm. I go to the dinette and meet Olivio who has left the cockpit to come and call me....Pius healed at 30 degrees with the mainsail and Genoa on his neck, fortunately we had the preventer on the boom and we saved him.
Olivio mutters agitatedly that we need to take control of the boat again... What a brilliant intuition!
I don't answer him and I immediately take the helm that he left with Autopilot engaged in those conditions! Another genius.
I just tell him that we have to start the engine... it's the only way.
He doesn't even have time to finish the sentence and he starts the engine but not hearing the engine turn he tries again but the engine is already running, risking stripping the starter motor!
We are sailing with AWA 50 degrees with the wind blowing at 28 knots with waves. Marco also arrives.
The superVolvo allows us to get back on starboard tack without having to do a 360° with the preventer to be recovered with the mainsheet collided outboard, close the Genoa to tack on the other tack, maneuvering for at least 10 minutes.
I reduce the sails and we resume the initial route...it seems that the wind hasn't changed...I ask to Olivier what happened.
He explains to us that the wind collapsed and turned but he didn't know by how many degrees and in what direction and the autopilot disengaged on its own (fortunately I think otherwise we WOULDN'T have him anymore either).
I return to the helm and make no further comments because I understand the subject and his poor predisposition to react to the effects of a change in conditions. Marco, on the other hand, doesn't give up and fills him with questions without too many answers.
I re-set the course and we check the sky and its cumulus clouds which in reality are blacker and more concentrated cumulus clouds isolated from the rest of the altostratus.
They are the ones who take away and put back energy.
The alarm seems to have disappeared but Marco and I remain alert. The sloth on the other hand, since it's 11pm, can't give up a few moments of his rest, so he says goodbye to us and goes to his cot.

day7, 26 March

Marco is on duty and I stay in the dinette looking for interrupted rest. I collapse until 03h00...my shift would start at 02h00 but Marco didn't feel like waking me up....;)

All's well that ends well but tomorrow WITH CALM ZEN mandatory de-briefing well done. At 05h00 Olivier returns on duty. I summarize the situation for him. And I stay in the dinette to rest but at 06:00 I hear the sails flap several times, Olivier doesn't worry too much....; for him sails and boats are optional and not the essence of our navigation. So I ask him what's happening that shakes everything. I don't waste a second and yell at him from below to luff and take the helm. He just luffs but without helming. I get up quickly and took the helm in my hands and look for speed and adjustments and first of all I open the mainsail and Genoa... have they been reduced to such an extent by not letting Pius advance?
After the episode, in the early morning with everyone awake, I dedicate a good quarter of an hour to what in modern times is called a DE-BRIEFING. I find calm and ways to talk especially to Olivier without addressing him directly. The day continued peacefully . Wind is calming down but less than expected which gave 10 knots in the evening instead of the real 15. We are preparing for the equatorial night with rain and lightning expected for tomorrow morning. Before my 1st shift I decide to jibe to sleep more peacefully with a more stern wave. Small cumulus clouds and some scattered showers begin to pass through.

day8, 27 March
Wind decreasing, apparent wind collapse. Sails flap.
At 02h00 I start the SuperVolvo at 1400rpm before Olivier takes over.
Rule for everyone, every 10/12 hours bring it to 2000 rpm to clean combustion residues in the turbo.
Quiet day with sea finally flattening out after 72 days of navigation!
Light drizzle at 7am and then almost all of the morning and afternoon. Humid heat.
Foot rash worsens. Towards the evening it was still raining, as it was heavier, Marco and I took advantage of it to take a rain shower... but as soon as we were soaped up, the sun appeared.
Marco and I prepare the Neptune sketch.
Equator cross expected at 10.30pm!
I'm increasingly feeling that I can no longer afford not to rest at night especially when Olivier is on duty.
It is from sailing between Puglia and Sicily that I understood that he does not have great sensitivity about how to preserve it and how to react in the event of meteorological changes. I don't think I can continue with just 2 as crew...
I'm very tired today, without making up for the sleep I lost during the night. I talk about it to Olivio who, surprised, tells me <> . I would like to tell him that he is my problem!
Dinner: boiled potatoes and Sant'Antao cheese.
10pm. The equator is approaching. Touching the plotter I don't realize that I have deactivated the autopilot and the boat heads east....I resume the route but lost the intersection with the Equator wp that I had saved.
10.20pm. I wake everyone up
10 minutes to do it.
10.30pm we are passing the Equator...let's asking Neptune to let us passing through!

Position:
0°00`,001S
030°45`,518W

day9, 28March
@ 5.00 am I resume my shift, here the sunrise is exactly at 6am and the sunset is at 6pm
at seven, only after 1 hour the sun is already more than a foot above the horizon. The heat is felt but this morning a nice SE breeze confirms that we are in the southern hemisphere with the first SE trade winds coming from the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.
Mainsail and engine at 1500rpm.
After an afternoon of reading and studying papers I realize that Recife is not a good place to stop. Marco finds Joao Pessoa the Capital of the State of Paraìba. There's a small marina called Jacaré Marina (Crocodile Marina) run by Nicolas a frenchman. Let's contact him.

In the late afternoon engine again, GV and mainsail off, wind down again. Until dawn.
At night 3 South American crows came on board for 8 hours and broke our SL antenna! GRRRRR.

day 10, 29 March
Approach to Ilha Fernando da Noronha at dawn. And a nice tuna fish get caught finally by Olivier after 4900 miles!

Tot tracks 4850nm from Ravenna, in 73 days

11.30 am anchoring at FdN. 70m. chain on 15m depth.

At the Harbor Master cabane to do Police and Marinha do Brasil control

Mindelo (Cabo Verde), our Leg2 stop.

Sun, 10 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The weather forecast south of the Canary Islands is quite stable, with trade winds blowing from NNW to NE all year round. Only when the Azores anticyclone moves north do the tropical lows coming from the Gulf of Mexico wedge themselves into the center of the North Atlantic and break the spell of the trade winds.
None of this for us for next week and our next leg2: Lanzarote (Canary Islands)/Mindelo (Sao Vicente - Cabo Verde), 1000 miles with winds between 20 and 30 knots.
Departure Saturday 2 March. Normally the departure time is programmed based on the total distance of the stage at the theoretical average speed of the boat to avoid landing in a port or anchorage in the dark. But in a stage of this length it is not only possible to have a certain estimate of the arrival time (ETA) but also of the day. Therefore we leave easily at 9h00 after a last complete sleep in port.

Route strategies
I have read dozen of books about ocean navigations including those in the Atlantic and I have never noticed a mention of a detail that I find fundamental to being able to navigate fast and sufficiently comfortably; the study of the direction of the wave relative to the stern of the boat.
If you want a boat that is as stable as possible it is necessary to set the course not only in consideration of the direction of the wind but above all that the stern is parallel to the prevailing waves.

Of course, all these considerations are intended above all for cruise boats that have a heavy displacement and less stable shape. Pius displaces almost 29 tons and its hull between the maximum beam and the stern is rather narrow and round.
Modern boats with extra-wide and light sterns suffer much less and plan easily with the same period* as the waves themselves.
The question always remains whether modern boats can withstand long and demanding navigations which do not only involve downwind speeds but all types of wind speed and wave motion which is often highly stressful for the structure of the boat itself.
*minimum time interval after which the wave repeats.

Long navigations are necessarily marked by a daily routine which must be as regular as possible.
- Punctual and precise watches in command; in 3 with 3 hour shifts (9pm/00:00 - 00:00/03:00 - 03:00:06:00) and recovery during the day.
- Lunch and dinner preparations.
- Analysis of forecasts after each update; in the case of PredictWind forecasts at approx. 08:40 and 19:40.
- Traffic control
- Compilation of the Log-Book with ship position, compass degrees, atmospheric pressure, sea state, strength (real) and direction (apparent) of the wind, boat speed and any notes.
- Sail adjustment
- Boat controls.

The more frequent these checks are, the more relaxed the crew feels. The most important controls are:
1.State of the bilges and operation of the relative pumps Bilge system on board;
2. Noise and helm/rudder linkages (exclusively cardan type in all Hallberg-Rassy models);
3. Status of the 12V (min >13.5V) and 24V (min >25.80) batteries and relative operation of the renewable energy generators (hydrogenerator and solar panels),
4. Deck equipment, blocks, stoppers, sheets, halyards, retaining rings (boom and pole)
5. Rigging, boom, vang, pole, mast, rigging, furlers
6. Sails, signs of any tears or failures.

These checks during this navigation discovered (thanks to Marco) that the upper attachment of the vang on the boom was not integral with the boom itself but was moving due to 3 loose bolts. Later the hydrogenerator which was no longer loading and a small play on the rudder shaft.
The latter was the source of a timely discussion both with the De Cesari shipyard where we did all the work but also with Hallberg-Rassy to understand the cause and whether to deepen the control with possible hauling of Pius.

The hydrogenerator was blocked due to a fishing net while the play of the rudder shaft appears to be the same play of the SKF bearing installed new in January '24 on the shipyard. At the moment we are still waiting for data on this matter from the manufacturer SKF.

The daily rhythm can also be interrupted by external events such as some flying fish jumping on deck

or the visit of 3 fearless and tenacious pigeons who came from nowhere to rest for 12 hours on Pius. From the point where we welcomed them, the nearest land was at least 250km away and considering that they are not seabirds that can perch on water, we can say that they are real "travellers".

With 390 miles to go, We have to decide if and when to jibe.
The wind appears to rotate in 10 hours from NNE to ENE with strengthening up to 30 knots.
Instead of waiting for night, we decide to jibe before sunset to simplify the maneuvers.
Over long distances it is always difficult to decide when to change course. We're not racing but getting the strategy wrong can mean extending the stage by even a day.

The following day we understand that we have got the timing right for the jibe and we sail quickly and directly towards Sao Vicente in a single tack. Estimated arrival Friday 8th late morning. Marco takes the helm and with his broken toe he steers like a 'truck driver', controlling the main waves as if they were overtaking cars!
In reality our speed and route are much better than expected and the landing seems to be in the morning at dawn. At 00:00 it's my watches and I immediately notice that the boat should have slowed down much earlier to avoid a night landing. I close the mainsail and reduce the genoa to the top. The speed drops from 8.2 to 6.8 kts, still too much to avoid premature arrival.

At 06:00 I also have Olivier wake up to prepare for the landing and therefore the maneuver of removing the pole to reduce the genoa in time. Today the sun doesn't seem to want to wake up and Olivier and I find ourselves at the bow for a good quarter of an hour with the pole that seems stuck in the sheet protections more than two meters high above us.
We don't speak to each other but we both think the same thing, never again be forced to maneuver on the bow at night with this wave!

At 7:00 we enter the strait between the island of Sao Vicente on the left and the island of Santo Antao on the starboard. The wind continues to increase and it seems that Santo Antao offers more protection from the wind and waves.
Olivier also advises us not to enter Mindelo bay in the dark due to the presence of numerous wrecks and abandoned ships without lights.
We therefore decide to land in Porto Novo on Anto Antao where a dam that extends towards the SE should protect us from this powerful wave that accelerates here in the strait.

The sun doesn't rise yet and inside the breakwater exactly where we would like to give more we find 2 fishing boats in the darkness. We continue just behind them on 8 meters with 40 meters of chain trusting in a drop in the wind with the sunrise.
At 7.30 we turn off the engine and everyone rests for a few hours before crossing the strait and reaching Mindelo. It's time to fall asleep and I'm woken up by a fishing boat that forces us to move because a fishing boat has to arrive and give us more where we are. Meanwhile the wind reaches 33 knots and I refuse to give up again. The punt returns after a quarter of an hour with a Policeman. We re-drop the anchor again but much further south and not very protected by the breakwater, we thread all 70 meters of chain and finally go back to rest. The wind and wave increase giving us a good jolt all day and night.

At dawn on Saturday the wind seems to have disappeared, it's time to take advantage of it to cross the strait. We start the engine, weigh anchor and enter the strait. Instantly the wind rose at 20 knots and after 15 minutes went to 35 knots. The wave consequently returns powerful, fast and very high. Our Volvo Penta TAMD41 HB gives its best and pushes Pius at 8.2 knots out of the waves that fill the cockpit in bucketfuls despite the windshield and spray-hood.

At 9h30 we enter in Mandelo Bay a real cemetery of sunken ships.

Mindelo Marina is a crossroad of real sailors, from super equipped boats to this 9 meters small sailing boat of a french young guy ready to cross towards Guyane .

to the extreme of a solo rowing man arrived here from Spain with this 'boat'.

And the fauna of sailors in the Marina's floating bar deserves a prolonged stop

Lanzarote, our Leg1 stop.

AL — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Normally when planning a stage departure from a port or anchorage we proceed very methodically.

1. The synoptic chart of the current day and the evolution for the following 3 days are studied, checking the position of the Low and High pressures and their movement on a large scale (100km resolution);

2. Two meteorological models are analyzed and compared. We compare the European ECMWF model with the European one modified by PredictWind called PWE.

3. We check that the boat is ready and in order, making clear all the manoeuvres, engine levels and status of the 24V service batteries and 12V engine starter and generator, fuel, water and galley.

At the end of all this, the stage is planned by calculating the distance to travel, the best route based on the trend of the direction and strength of the wind and checking what the routing programs recommend using 3 or 4 meteorological models. At which point you decide the time you will set sail and therefore the alarm clock.

Well in Arab countries this is NOT permissible or rather it is NOT possible to decide to leave the port at a time determined by the skipper.
The morning you decide to leave you must notify the Police and Customs. From that moment the wait begins which can last even some hours.
The wait ends when a staff of at least 2 customs officers and 2 or 3 policemen show up and start rummaging in all the lockers outside and inside, opening the floors, entering the engine room. All without respecting the sacred etiquette of those who come aboard on a sailing boat, that is, taking off your shoes before getting on... never!
This time, however, in Tangier I covered the deck and the interior with dozens of rags to clean the floors and it worked... everyone understood and at least cleaned their soles thoroughly on the first rags as soon as they got on board.
After the ritual questions about whether we have weapons and drones, everything finally ends and we can leave Tangier at 11h30 instead of 7h30 !

The north side of Morocco immediately appears to have little wind, especially along the coast, which forces us to start our Volvo Penta 145CV and move away from the coast for 10 hours of sailing.
At sunset the North West finally arrives that we were expecting but after a few hours with the darkness of the night arriving the wind force is well above the forecast with an average of 22 knots and gusts of up to 30 knots.

The dancing begins and will last about 48 hours!

Since We are only 2 of us, me and Olivier, we have to opt for 4 hour shifts, a little long in winter with low temperatures but necessary to be able to cover the night which is very long in winter...
So 1st shift after dinner from 20h00 to 24h00, the 2nd until 04h00, the 3rd until 08h00 when dawn returns and the 2nd skipper can opt to rest in the cockpit or go down to the cabin for the 4th shift of rest .
Night is the most delicate moment because maneuvering a jibe or a tack only with the benefit of a front light to illuminate the cockpit and adjusting the sails becomes a demanding operation. The other fundamental aspect is that whoever is on rest MUST rest, it is an obligation of whoever is on duty to think about the rest of the other. Sometimes, indeed often, this is not the case, because the sea conditions, the wind force and direction change and therefore you have to decide what to do and how to do it.

Another aspect that I immediately understood is that here in the ocean the direction of the wave must be carefully evaluated to allow the boat to suffer as little as possible as well as the crew, especially for those who have to rest. In the first 48 and always in the middle of the night the wind started to rotate towards the NE from around 35° which with our route means having it from 145 to 165°, therefore almost astern. While the sea continued to descend from the NNW with ever greater force and grandeur.
The result was that Pius struggled to maintain a good speed due to sailing too far downwind with a powerful and very fast wave (about 10 knots) which moved the stern up to 10 or 15 metres, thus taking pressure off the sails.
3 times in the first 60 hours and always at night it was necessary, not without difficulty, to jibe on port tack, bringing Pius more to the wind, therefore with the sails benefiting from more pressure and therefore speed on the water and with the wave of full stern which allows the boat to roll less, remaining flatter and faster thanks to the push of the waves themselves.

In the middle of the crossing a small bird landed on Pius, perhaps looking for a bit of rest considering that the first reachable land was over 200 km away!

After 82 hours and 580 miles, at 04h00 on February 21st we entered the Port of Arrecife on the island of Lanzarote, Canary Islands.

In the morning we hug the new arrival, Marco nicknamed the Perugino with the long tongue. ;) Young skipper willing to approach long ocean voyages.
The language on board becomes English to the detriment of French.
The desire to walk is strong after almost 4 days of navigation and not far from Pius I see the future... the largest sailboat ever built to sail on foils.

BALTIC 111 RAVEN

Having practically not slept for 2 days I thought I would wake up after 12 hours but at 10 we were already at the table to plan the necessary repair and maintenance work before leaving for the 2nd leg: Canary Islands/Mindelo in Cape Verde.

We thought we would stay for half a week but the maintenance and repair work took particularly long:
- replacement of the 3rd mainsheet block due to fracture of the original Lewmar block;

- Spinlock stopper cam replacement

dismantling of the old support and foothaul block for installation of a new Iroko support with 2.5mm stainless steel plate base and 2.5mm stainless steel plates between the deck and self-locking nuts. This took us a whole day as we didn't have a workshop with appropriate tools to drill the steel plates and drill the deckhouse perpendicularly to the (inclined) floor.

Forced to shelter from gusts >35kts!

- checking sails and patches for small tears at the base of the mainsail;

- checking sheets and halyards and sewing protections and inserting a protection disc on each genoa sheets to avoid wear of the pole;

- check backstay and vang hydraulic oil levels and furling mainsail and genoa;
- rigging control up to the top of the mast;
- disassembly of hydrogenerator propeller for checking and greasing;

- checking steering and cardans and greasing oil seals;

- change oil and engine oil filter, change diesel pre-filter and primary filter and sea pump impeller;
- check propeller and anode status;

At last we discovered some cracks on the toggle of the backstay. Once removed from the backstay we verified that they were scratches and not through cracks.

The time needed to finish everything (6 days) was the duration of a strong storm surge from NE F8 !

Luckily we had great musical accompaniment!

Now Pius and We are ready for the Canary/Cape Verde crossing (Mindelo)!

Tangier, the gateway to Africa...

AL — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

It wasn't part of my sailing plan to stop in Tangier, Marocco.
But the opportunity was too tempting... Africa, my "love" from the late '80s to the early 2000s, I really wanted to see it again even though I knew that it had made progress in terms of economic development.

35 miles of navigation from Gibraltar to Tangier finally downwind with easterly 20 knots wind dodging Orcas and Cargo traffic at an average of 8,5knots.

Mooring at Tanja Marina. Extremely well organized mooring, floating docks in excellent condition and everything very clean... I had not even gone ashore before I immediately understood where Morocco had arrived after 20 years of absence!

But 2 days of Tanger exploring in the Medina and at fishermen harbor made me feel that the real Morocco is still there...

A brief obligatory reminder of my past in honor of the many adventures I have experienced.

Some dates:
1980, just 18 years old with 3 friends and a very poorly prepared diesel Ranegade: Milan/Marrakech and back;
1984, Tunis/Dakar with the very first BMW R80 G/S;
1986, Tunis/Douala with one of the first Yamaha TT600s prepared by the legendary Bergamo mechanic Besenzoni
1987, Algiers/Tamanrasset/Djanet/Tunis;
From 1998 to 2006, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Libya.

And in 1997 I managed to take on my trip to Morocco, my brother Max as on a motorbike, my mother Polette and my father Jean driving a super fast Pajero!

This memory will last forever!

Orcas in GBZ strait

AL — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

In planning the navigation towards the West of the Strait of Gibikterra there are not only counter currents to consider, respect for the cargo traffic corridors and the wind which does what it wants here but also the encounter with the Orcas.
For at least 5 or 6 years, multiple encounters have been taking place, a large part of which have disastrous consequences for the rudders of sailing boats.
I've already passed twice, in 2021 and 2022 and in both directions and no meeting.

My theory is to follow the route of the cargoes and oil tankers up to more than 20 miles from the strait and then take your own direction, be it towards Spain and Portugal or Morocco and the Canary Islands.

In case of an encounter my strategy is to remove the sails and at the same time turn on the engine and go in reverse.
In this way the orcas usually attracted by the rudder which is identified as a tuna fin and then followed from behind find the keel.
In fact, orcas only attack from behind.

The Cruising Association has published this reporting portal and safety guidance:

Orca Encounters - Reporting Portal and Safety Guidance

Even in this passage, both arriving in Gibraltar and leaving for Morocco we had no encounter.
The sea conditions were long and powerful waves (period of 12/15 seconds), height 2.5/3 meters with east wind of 20 to 30 knots.
Maybe they don't like to attack in rough seas?

Strait of GBZ

AL — Sat, 10 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

After an in-depth study of the current tables of the French SHOM and the evolution of the weather forecast, we decide to leave early at 08:00 February the 10th with the current still unfavorable in order to arrive in 5 hours with the full tide towards the west and therefore favorable to us in the Strait of Gibraltar .
Bad and steep waves made navigation not easy but 30 miles from the strait we achieved unexpected speeds of up to 10 knots thanks to the favorable current.

At GBZ Anna and Emma are waiting for us to say hello for a few days before entering the Atlantic.

Our restart is with the arrival of the new east wind on Wednesday 14th.
So until Tuesday "my women" can stay with us and enjoy the English drizzle of the Rock.
But on Tuesday the bus booked for Seville is canceled and therefore it is difficult for Anna and Emma to return to Portugal. So a nice rent a car resolves the impasse and in the morning we leave for Seville convinced of peacefully extending our mini-vacation together.
Unfortunately, the strike fever of the French farmers, after having also influenced the Italian farmers, today also hit Spain with a huge motorway blockade. Result...missed the bus to Seville but took the second one arriving late in Faro.
My return to GBZ was again blocked with a late night arrival.

At GBZ Anna and Emma are waiting for us to say hello for a few days before entering the Atlantic.

The next day we set sail from the port of Alcaidesa to the refuel de-taxed station.

850 liters in the boat tank + 220 liters in jerrycans stocked in the aft lockers and some outside! With that we can have authonomy for 1200 nautical miles...just to survive the ITCZ Intertropical Convergence Zone where the total absence of wind could be very extensive.
Curiosity. At the time of the first Portuguese, Spanish, English and French nautical explorations, galleons carried not only food and water but also horses and mules for transport once on land.
Often, sailing in these very hot equatorial areas, they were forced to throw the heaviest animals (horses) overboard in order to be lighter and get out of these vast areas more quickly, which in many cases risked deaths due to dehydration. From that time this area is called "Horse latitudes".

Then we headed to Tanger, the gateway to Africa!

Passage over Alboran sea with West F7

AL — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Today 9 February, confident in our weather forecast, we set sail from Fuengirola at 6.30 am headed for Gibraltar.
Forecast of the European ECMWF model at 06h30: 16 knots, direction. 218°.
In reality out of the Fuengirola antiport we encountered a wave >3 meters from SW, period of 6 seconds, a 35kts wind and powerful countercurrents which at 1500rpm did not allow us to exceed 2.5kts!

Tomorrow Saturday 10th we'll try again after having carefully studied the tide charts on Gibraltar (GBZ).

The tables predict favorable currents from approx. 5 hours before the highest tide which will be in GBZ at 3.36pm. An hour after the maximum the current returns against for those of us who sail from East to West.
Taking advantage of the fact that tomorrow the wind should be more West-North West, we therefore prefer to leave at 7.30am with an hour of contrary current in order to arrive at GBZ by 3.30pm where the intensity of the currents increases considerably.
That's 45nm in total and in 8 hours we should make it to an average of 5.6kts.

These the forecast for tomorrow Feb the 10th at 7h00

at 11h00

at 14h00 in GBZ....hopefully!

Navigation project summary

AL — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 16:25:18 +0000

It's not always possible to stick to plans, but despite my atavistic Latin fatalism, up to now I've really done the best I could; now I can only expect help from the Gods. ;)

@1500 nm traveled a brief summary of the navigation plan.

Start Legs

Having sailed the entire cold and foggy Adriatic (480nm), we entered the Ionian, warmer but still difficult. The north winds are always particularly violent with very steep and fast seas. The 260nm traveled are worth double. Average wind F6.

The sweetness of Sicily and its climate refreshed us for the second leg, from Siracusa to Carloforte (Sardinia) via Trapani.

In Carloforte technical stop waiting for the Mistral arriving between Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd February.
We decide to leave on Friday morning hoping to catch the tail of the wind and stay in the flow until the Balearic Islands.
But as almost always happens, the wind goes and the wave stays. Result: max wind 12kts but ocean model wave: period over 15 seconds and average height 3.5m. Never seen in Med.
Not very comfortable navigation for 3 nights and 3 days up to 30 miles from Ibiza where everything calms down and you can rest.

Time to wake up the petrol station attendant on Sunday morning to get some diesel and set off again towards Almerimar where I would like to have our rigging checked after over 1500 miles travelled.

We will then continue to Gibraltar where I find my women; Anna and Emma who will come to greet us before entering the Atlantic.

Main Legs
Then the Canary Islands with landing in Lanzarote where we will stop for a few days to repair the support of the flat block of the base on the deckhouse. Then Capo Verde to the islands of Sao Pedro and Santo Antao for a healthy visit before jumping towards the South Atlantic Ocean on the remote Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha and then Recife in Brazil.
We will continue along the Brazilian coast to discover (by the sea) Salvador, Porto Seguro, Cabo Frio, Rio de Janeiro, Angra dos Reis.
Then the southern Brazilian states up to Punta de l'Este in Uruguay where Pius will remain to rest until the Austral summer (November 2024).

Final Legs (from November 2024)
Uruguay, Argentina (Ushuaia), ascent to the Cape de Espiritu Santo in Chile to enter the mythical Strait that Fernão de Magalhães discovered in 1520.

Then the Pacific Ocean...

Thanks to the skills of the Romagna suppliers...

AL — Sat, 03 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I would like to dedicate a big thanks to those who collaborated with me for the preparation of Pius:

DE CESARI shipyard, one of the last shipyards capable of designing and building offshore boats completely in wood.
In particular in the person of Paolo De Cesari, a person always available to give valuable advice and help and Alberto Zanuccoli, my right-hand man for the 3 months of work.

Celebrations for the end of the works and the launch of Pius

Davide Patuelli, Jack Bolina's rigger. Always extremely concentrated and precise in his work. Nothing is left to chance.

Lucio ZOFFOLI, the best nautical electromechanical he has ever had. The 24V power alternator cable bed was rewired and the Mastervolt Alpha PRO regulator reprogrammed, the bilge pump system was redesigned with dedicated alarms.

Roberto Zanzani, with his South Sail in which the great and friendly Australian Allen Hood works, has strengthened the mainsail and genoa and designed a jib/staysail that already after the first 10 days. navigation proved to be fundamental in giving a few more CVs to Pius, both at downwind speeds with Asymmetric and beam, wide-hauled and close-hauled coupled with the Genoa.

Sergio Mosconi with his Super company Sermar and his always kind and collaborative daughters.

Matteo Rusticali, a Mini-Transat 650coach with his RST Covers, was able to satisfy the request of an age-old opponent of biminis by creating what I had designed and defined as "Bimini Tropic".
A bimini that had the function of protecting at least the helmsman from the equatorial sun, the binnacle from tropical squalls without preventing the ability to control the opening and adjustment of the sails at any time during navigation.
Thanks to his 3D scanner equipment, in just one week he packaged everything together with a new Hallberg-Rassy style spray-hood but more protective and easier to disassemble and clean.