The 2020 Trip: Lanzarote to Enkhuizen
The intention, prior to inspection of Shackleton, was to quickly bring her into a seaworthy condition, and sail her to the Netherlands. Assuming that this was an oceangoing yacht, lying on an island in the Atlantic ocean, this should be a matter of inspection, maintenance and perhaps some minor paperwork. And strictly speaking so it turned out to be, except that -in order to do things as well as I have become accustomed to during my several decades of ocean sailing and yacht care, things take longer than you think. The expectation was to depart the Canary Islands and also arrive in the Netherlands during September 2020. As so often with boat-determined schedules, this didn't quite happen! No big issues came to light, it was just that the "little issues" took longer to correct than the rather rose-tinted expectation. Some of these are described on "Recent Work" page on this site.
Trial Sail - Lanzarote to El Hierro
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Once the critical work was complete, hull and essential cabling, engine maintenance, preventive sealing of edges, creating workable rope lockers, equipment and materials strapped sea-fast, and all especially keen to, for the first time in 2 years, let Shackleton loose to the waves, we departed for the island of El Hierro. I had a few days' personal business there, having lived there, and we needed to pick up a substantial dinghy which was to be towed to the north. This was a 2-day trip, which we completed with the three of us: first mate Peter, with whom I had sailed an Atlantic circuit returning to Scotland via Canada in 2019, and a friend who would leave us again in El Hierro. Both had also helped out with the preparation and so Shackleton was no stranger to them anymore.
This was the first time the sails went up, as the wind in the harbour of Arrecife was typically too strong to test anything, and apart from a few flimsy repairs around the near-full-length battens which we resolved properly in El Hierro, the sails looked excellent! This was also my first experience with a "heavy boom", as the Shackleton hails from before the general acceptance of the kicker so that boom-weight determines sail twist. We also still needed to make the storm-boards for the windows on El Hierro. This was mostly a down-wind route, not on the way to northern Europe, but required for other reasons. |
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Departure Weather and Routing
Since our other potential crew members had all been hindered one way or another, we decided to set off with just the two of us, Peter and I. Both seasoned ocean sailors, and also having crossed the Atlantic twice together in 2019, this turned out to be perfectly adequate.
Our main intention was to head for the Azores in a big westerly curve, and to evaluate on the way whether we needed to wait ashore for a westerly weather window, or whether we could just bear away towards the channel. We took plenty of fuel to ensure we could motor towards the westerlies if the Azores high pressure was wide, calm and established.
For emergencies, on the upwind route we could either drop into Madeira, 3 days up, the Azores, 7 days up, or alternatively just turn back to one of the Canary islands or Portugal, depending on wind direction and circumstances.
While preparing the various last minute things, including final provisioning, we monitored the weather and indeed, a spurious disturbance near the African coast persuaded us to delay our departure by a few days: this not only improves the departure, but also greatly reduces the rushed stress of preparation!
We left on Otober 1st, almost a whole month after the rose-tinted intention, but without concern as we were now confident that Shackleton was up for the trip! With a designer like Laurent Giles, a builder like de Vries Lentsch, and the extensive preparation and knowledge of the two of us behind the journey we set off, close hauled towards La Palma to clear El Hierro, and then WNW.
xxx
Our main intention was to head for the Azores in a big westerly curve, and to evaluate on the way whether we needed to wait ashore for a westerly weather window, or whether we could just bear away towards the channel. We took plenty of fuel to ensure we could motor towards the westerlies if the Azores high pressure was wide, calm and established.
For emergencies, on the upwind route we could either drop into Madeira, 3 days up, the Azores, 7 days up, or alternatively just turn back to one of the Canary islands or Portugal, depending on wind direction and circumstances.
While preparing the various last minute things, including final provisioning, we monitored the weather and indeed, a spurious disturbance near the African coast persuaded us to delay our departure by a few days: this not only improves the departure, but also greatly reduces the rushed stress of preparation!
We left on Otober 1st, almost a whole month after the rose-tinted intention, but without concern as we were now confident that Shackleton was up for the trip! With a designer like Laurent Giles, a builder like de Vries Lentsch, and the extensive preparation and knowledge of the two of us behind the journey we set off, close hauled towards La Palma to clear El Hierro, and then WNW.
xxx
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Landfall in Falmouth (unintended)
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Our aim was the quickest (easy) route to Holland. When approaching the channel entrance, we were unsure we could beat the expected wind shift putting the wind right on the nose! Indeed the predicted shift arrived, 200 miles out, and so the choice became Brest (and risking getting stuck in Biscay for the winter) or Falmouth, from which any northerly, westerly or southerly wind is all fair game for departure. As the wind turned further we decided to improve our wind-angle by running the engine with genoa furled, something we wanted to try as "she's a motorsailer isn't she?" And the comfort of Shackleton in the substantial cross-angled swell was such that we kept the engine going for the duration. Two interesting events occurred. First, as we were following the apparent wind angle and the compass course but not the wind speed (no time to replace the indicator seized with sahara-dust), and the comfort of Shackleton's wheelhouse and her motion in the persistent swell was such that (in the dark) we could not tell whether the wind was 30 knots (as it was during the day) or ~12 as it was when we finally decided to tack... only to discover that we had slowly gotten the wind on the beam instead of just off the nose. Good we weren't racing! The other interesting event was that suddenly, during the calm morning, engine instruments and fuel gauge suddenly went blank. Good diesels run without electrics though they may not start, so we kept a close eye on fuel and temperature while investigating. We managed to reinstate the fuel gauge and fan with a (new) separate switch, so with less than 24 hours to go we skipped one routine oil-level check and proceeded to Falmouth to keep the engine running. We discovered a single pin in one of the recent (2016) Yanmar cable looms had sheared off: this was resolved and it all came to life again as before.
Having been at sea for 16 days, we were permitted to skip the quarantine period and went ashore for Cornish pasties, while waiting for the weather to make up its mind and the wind to turn. |
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Falmouth to Dover (a crew-drop-stop)
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A few days later the wind shifted, and we made the 24 hour hop to Dover to drop Peter off. There was quite some traffic on the way as you can see on the plotter, and then at 0200 the Border Force (the UK angry customs people) decided to board us. So much for coronavirus precautions: getting 5 extra guys on board with torn gloves, toy face masks, touching everything on board and talking loudly, blinding us with their searchlight while telling us we remained responsible for safe navigation!
This would leave me solo for the last sea-leg. but the idea of spending 10 days shielding on board for a 24 hour trip did not appeal. Interesting to see on arrival in Dover, the different views our electronic charts - CMAP on the plotter and Navionics on the laptop- had of the port entrance; our paper chartlets, and the harbour master on VHF, confirmed which was correct. |
Dover to IJmuiden (solo), to Enkhuizen
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Following the wind to Holland the route is narrower than you think and shipping denser. It was lovely until the darkness closed in by the Hinder sandbanks with strong winds (6-7Bf, forecast 9) with steep following seas lit up by the largest windfarm in the world. Once again Shackleton proved some great skills, first in heaving-to with amazing calm while I took down the sails, and then with her lovely powerful engine and great handling of the steep waves.
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Living Aboard
Living aboard first in the Canaries, then underway, and finally for another 5 weeks in Enkhuizen, I really got to appreciate a side of Shackleton I don't normally rate of great importance: how she is to live on. Having lived on other boats for many hundreds if not thousands of days altogether, the pleasure of the light and airy feel of Shackleton doesn't cease to impress. Working with books and laptop, eating, cooking, cleaning, DIY-ing, it is all so much more pleasant with the light and view and air! Considering most boats spend over 95% of their time at anchor or in harbour, this is rather important too! Seaworthiness is key of course, and that she's proven, but the comfort of living aboard made me want to spend the summer on Shackleton in the Stockholm Skaregard or the Scottish west coast already!
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Living on Shackleton has been a joy. She's light, airy and the many windows mean it's more like living in a cottage sometimes! The light and space are pleasant, and I love the aft cabin - it's a little oasis, and it's also extremely peaceful at sea. In fact, for the sailing I personally intend to do, more coastal and island hopping, she could well be a better fit for me than my Van De Stadt of 20 years!
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