Were we ever at sea?

Sitting at my laptop, deep in the Finnish countryside. We finally arrived the day before yesterday and already, after having got the boat moored in, emptied and cleaned and slightly celebrated the achievement, it all feels somehow like a distant dream. We sat down last night to look at some of the photos and it felt like the first part of the trip that only started a little over two weeks ago, was ages ago.

But arrive we did on Saturday the 13th and with some style! The storm which was due on Sunday and was the cause of our slightly rushed schedule arrived a day early. So, all of a sudden the wind changed from NE to SW and after a foggy morning and some careful monitoring of the radar, the sky cleared and the wind picked up. We took in one reef and continued. After a while it became evident that the wind was getting stronger - at this point we did not yet know that the storm was early. Statistics of Finland's biggest and very popular annual off shore race, the Suursaari race tell the tale of what we got through - out of 113 boats that started only 18 finished. The conditions were the toughest ever for this race and fortunately there weren't any serious injuries, just torn sails and seasickness etc.

The main came down to the 2nd reef and I took out the no 3 jib altogether. Soon that proved to be a good call. We were travelling downwind at somewhere between 7-10 knots and the waves were as big as you'd probably ever see in the Baltic, about 6-7 metres. The sun came out and that lifted the spirits for the final challenge. Slender Delta showed what she was made of and carried us through the weather really well, and I guess we all felt that we'd be able to deal with anything now.

Against the howling wind, we moored into the friendly and safe harbour of the Finnish Yachting Club, Suomalainen Pursiseura in Sirpalesaari Island, right off the Southern coastline of the Finnish capital, just a stone's cast or a two minute ferry run from 'terra firma' proper. The Viking Quest of the Slender Delta and our little adventure was over...for now.

Ha-harr,

Ahab

Refuelling in Helsinki

Visby, Gotland

North Sea Sailing

North Sea views

North Sea Oil Rig

Through the Sealock to the North Sea

The Caledonian Canal

Scottish lakes

Scottish waters

In Bangor Marina

Masthead views

Boat interior

Launch, Killyleagh

Last leg under way!!

Arrived in Visby around 6 am. Not a soul in sight for a moment. Found the gest harbour without difficulty and moored in. The free watch, Fuss and Consultant carried on sleeping, Law, I and Chief Eng snapped a few photos and walked over to the passenger terminal of the Visby - Stockholm ferries for a cup of coffee and a sandwich. The café opened at 0630 as the ferry was preparing to leave around 7.05 and the terminal started getting busier.

The others woke up and Fuss added to our sandwiches with a fry, which upon our request was a little smaller than usual. Soon the services opened too and we rushed for the showers and refuelled 74.9 litres of diesel, confirming the consumption of our trusty Yanmar 3GM 30F at about 2 litres per hour, mostly driven at 2200 revs. Very reasonable against the winds and waves that we had pushed.

It would have been rude not to have a look around Visby, and the old part of it with medieval walls and beautiful churches and narrow alleys, so Fuss and Consultant went on a walkabout and Chief Eng and I hired bicycles for an hour, snapping photos as we went. Chief Eng then gave his bike to Law for half an hour to ride, so everybody got a feel of this place, well worth seeing.

Then we bought takeaway lunches and giving our chef a rest, enjoyed the lunches onboard. Law showed solidarity to Fuss and did the dishes and tidied up in the pentry too. Cast off was called at 1200 and without delay we set sail finding a North-Northwesterly beat at 340 degrees against a 30 degree NNE wind, which was blowing at 13.5 knots. After a couple of hours of fun sailing it became evident that until the NNE wind changed our progress would not meet the demands of the timetable. We tacked, started the engine and set a 53 degree course towards the Gulf of Finland.

Soon we will lose the mobile network coverage and will not be able to post updates until much closer to Helsinki, where we’d like to arrive on Saturday afternoon, the latest. It will be a tough ask with over 250 nautical miles to go, but we will give it a go. The wind direction should change by Saturday the latest, so we hope to finish the Viking Quest with our sails up, in a South-Southwesterly breeze.

There will probably be one final chapter in this blog in Helsinki and some photos posted a few days later. Life at sea isn’t too bad when you’ve got a great crew, good provisions and very importantly a great yacht, like Slender Delta. So the toughest task ahead will be settling back into reality and forgetting about Moby Dick for a while.

Variable winds and expectations

Variable winds and expectations

Wed 9 June. Went through the night again, as we would. The wind picked up towards the evening and kept going long into the night. Did some fabulous sailing, managing over 6 knots with only about 10 kts of wind - reasonable ratio. The Kevlar main that we put on in Helsingör is working really well with the no 2 genoa. Some fog during the night and the visibility severely affected as a consequence. Chief Eng and Law fortunate had the radar on to avoid a potential hazard in the form of an oncoming ship, which would more than likely have detected us but had we not seen it and pushed in its way, who knows what could have happened!. We decided the second hand instrument had proved its worth and paid for itself.

Arrived at the Southern tip of the Öland Island in the morning and enjoyed a lovely omelette with lumps of meat in it. A real protein pack for a rainy day, which this 9th of June unfortunately turned out to be. Well, some half-decent wind again and never mind the cloud cover and the wee drizzle. The Easterly breeze that was carrying us along the East coast of Öland would start to turn into a North-Easterly one, Mr Mountain phoned fresh info from Helsinki, so we decided to motor out to North-East to be able to sail a long leg North past the Northern tip of Öland with a wind that is getting stronger, just nicely. If the winds really turn against us, we will still have about 20hrs worth of fuel, which will easily get us to Visby for some more.

At 15.30 which is just about now, got reef no 1 in on the main as the wind is about 15 kts, more in gusts, and cruising along at 6 kts, Speed Over Ground. With a little bit of luck we’ll get past the tip of Öland on this bearing of 24 degrees and will not need to tack again.Our expectation is still to be in Visby by the morning.

Thanks to all mermaids for their encouragement. Seamonsters comments are welcome too

Time is of the essence

Tuesday 8 June. Out to Trelleborg before breakfast to find a cash machine - the Pro wouldn’t take cards. A friendly bus driver understood the situation and gave a free ride to town.When I got back to the boat the new part had already been fitted and everything was working like never before. Cast off at Gisloev Laeget at 11.30 and out to sea.

Made a phone call to the Swedish military info phone to hear that there was no shooting on the coastal range areas, which allowed a shorter course along the coast. The military didn’t seem particularly amused about a suggestion about them having run out of budget provision for ammo, but appreciated our joy about sailing through their area. Mr Mountain, our trusty weatherman and naval colleague in Finland had given us very accurate info about wind force and direction, so the sails were pulling nicely but not quite at the desired speed, so we decided to do motor assisted sailing.

Chief Eng and Law took the first 4-hour-watch and I plotted the route all the way to Oeland Island where we’ll reassess the course with the wind speed and direction in mind. Doing motor sailing, we’ll need to be conscious of the fuel situation and although we’d like to push on as fast as we can, we’ll probably need to refuel around Gotland, the latest. Fuss and others too wouldn’t mind seeing Visby, the main town of the beautiful Island in the middle of the Baltic, so we might well decide to pop in.for a couple of photos, souvenirs and some diesel. The weather is quite nice with the sun peeking through some high shreds of clouds. Things are looking up again!

The 13th of June will possibly be borderline stormy with 40 knots of wind on the Gulf of Finland, so we're now dreaming of arrival on the 12th some time. Will not bother to plot all the way through but ain't gonna be wasting time now.

Ahab

Change of plans - A Wet Welcome to the Baltic and a delay

The night time voyage was very smooth to begin with. Too smooth in fact with no wind. Well, we settled the duty roster and started again to motor on in shifts. Fuss, who was promoted First Officer upon the departure of Dynamo took on Consultant and Chief Engineer joined forces with Lawyer. A change of shifts happened nicely just as we passed under the fairly recent famous structure, the bridge from Sweden to Denmark, over the Flintrannan, so everybody got to see this monster of a construction and its huge, well lit pylons as they are at night.

By the morning the wind picked up. The Baltic was trying to match the North Sea with regard to wind speed. First 20 kts, then 25 and increasing. On top of that lashing rain was in our faces and the wind was dead agains us. We were struggling to keep Slender Delta on course and after a couple of hours of very little progress, increasing crashing into the waves and decresing speed, Fuss was suggesting plan B be put in place.

So we headed for the Swedish South Coast and found a nice little marina called Gisloevs Laege. The place was neat and tidy with nobody in sight. We moored in and went on a reconnaissance walk. Found nobody around but showers etc. facilities available and open. There was also a pizza restaurant nearby, that was promising to open at 1100. We had a long nice pizza session, headed back for the boat and decided to carry on, weather permitting.

I got an excellent weather report from a Naval Officer colleague in Helsinki - the home port of the best pirates in the Baltic and it looked like we would be sailing into the night with good speed. The wind had turned into our favour over a long pizza session. Just needed to refuel and we'd be away.

Well, again we were unlucky but fortunate: the gear shif lever, that Consultant had in the heavy sea going accidentally rammed his body into, failed to operate. We decided it was time to call in the pro, whose number we got from the fuel guy who was only a phone call away. The Pro came, saw but did not conquer. He said we'd need a new part and it was too late today. We did not argue with him - without the engine we would really struggle to meet our deadline. The Pro said he'd get the part from Malmo and be back first thing in the morning. Lucky we had got into the harbour before the problem demonstrated itself.

So here we are, stranded in Southern Sweden, missing our loved ones in the miserable grey, rainy weather, with a broken gear shift lever. We need all the ingenuity of the multi-talented crew to pull us through. Consultant is already working on various options and Lawyer is considering their legal implications, that means they have found a carton of red wine. Fuss is cooking something special and somehow I think we will survive. Flaming Sambucas, survive we will! We owe it to all our loved ones, fans and supporters.

At the door of the Baltic Sea

Both good news and bad. Having rounded the nose of Denmark, Skagen, we sailed again overnight at good speed. Had to reef twice not to be over-powered by the howling wind which again blew at 25 knots. Well, that suited us as we wanted to be sure to be in Helsingoer early enough to get the Lawyer and the Consultant. The instruments showed again top speeds of 8.4 knots and the boat was very steady on the waves.

Kattegat, as expected had a lot of big ships that were passing us on both sides, coming and going. However, the visibility was good and even at night there was no need for the radar, which was on standby. Perhaps it was the radar, perhaps the fridge but we hadn't needed the engine at all as the wind was so good and so the battery no 2 had not been charged for a while and ran flat - how did we discover this? Well, at 0300 in the morning the gas alarm went off and as the bottle had been carefully closed, it did not take us long to figure out the gas alarm had to have a warning about losing the primary power source.

Well, we turned on the engine to charge up the battery but weren't as careful as with the gas bottle...forgetting to open the cooling water seacock. Got the engine overheat alarm tested too! We let the trusty Yanmar to cool down properly before restarting it. Saved! It worked as ever.

Going was good through the morning and so we arrived in Helsingoer slightly ahead of estimates, around 4 pm. Got together with our friends and started frantically to rearrange the space onboard. Decided to take the kevlar race main out put the trusty dacron main in storage as it required less space. At this point Dynamo, to our great regret decided to pull out and fly home from Copenhagen - he had always kept his options open and not bought a return flight. Our warmest thanks to him for a brilliant effort, invaluable input and good camaraderie. So, slightly sombre moods for losing one crew member but wishing him all the best and a well deserved good night's sleep, where-ever he puts his head down next. I think he'll sleep very well in deed.

We've eaten well, stocked up the provisions and will now head into the night for Bornholm on the Swedish South-East coast. The Viking Quest continues!

Land Ahoy!

The potentially challenging part of our passage, the North Sea crossing started well. At first there was the sailing along the Scottish coast from Inverness from early Monday evening through the night. So back to our 4 hour shift routine, but this time there would be no land in sight for days. The nights are quite pleasant actually. You start to lose the sense of time. Shifts follow one another and you plot your position on the chart, make wind strength and direction and other possible observations if there's anything to see, take turns at the wheel, change sails or just trim them. You fiddle with the radar and GPS plotter and of course log all of this in the logbook. Two men sleep heavily, sometimes snoring, as you work away in the eerie glow of the instruments. On deck, not many words are necessarily exchanged, but sometimes thoughts are shared and conversations had as well.

On Tuesday morning we finally started losing sight of land. The promised favourable wind was carrying us along nicely and we were looking forward to this experience.

Time flies when you’re having fun. The dreaded North Sea, knowing what it can be like was very kind to us for a day. Then we started losing wind, which was totally contrary to all the horror stories of this area but naturally happens here too. So, the crossing was going to be sailing, motoring and motor sailing, depending on the wind conditions.

The first oil field wasn't too far off the coast, in fact the shore was probably just about still in sight when we spotted the structure. Imagine what we build in search of the black sludge that is now destroying marine life on the coasts of Florida. I would ban oil drilling tomorrow, but I guess it would mean giving up some nice cars, and it is kind of reassuring to have the diesel engine onboard this vessel too.
The VHF radio fell silent and Dynamo was concerned that it had failed us. I suggested that it was the fact that simply wasn't anybody within tens of miles using it. We had had our electrical gremlins before, though, so I was looking for an Albatross flying overhead but saw just Kittywakes.

Kittywakes follow trawlers, so on Thursday we saw some fishing vessels. Thursday morning the wind wasn't again giving us the set minimum speed of 5 knots, so we had to motorsail to get the desired speed. Gradually the wind started to pick up. For a spell we had the spinnaker up but started sensing stronger winds were coming. We changed first to no 1 genoa and then a good call, said Fuss, to a smaller no 3.. We also reefed the main and surely enough soon there was 15to 20 kts wind speed and the swell was growing. It would have been a lot harder work to change the sails any later. Not so much for the wind but the big waves. But this was more like the North Sea - fun and sport, the stuff that the stories are made of, something to brag about. The wind grew stronger and by the night we had taken the main down to reef no 2 and still had the no 3 jib. The night was fairly hard work as we and the boat were slightly tested. Chief Engineer and Dynamo's shift got the most of the winds gusting over 30 knots and they were clearly wet and tired coming off - a couple of big waves had broken over the cockpit with a big splash but hadn't broken their spirits!

Not a soul in sight for a day and a half, other than oil fields that we passed during the day and night time, when they looked like xmas decorations in the horizon. We didn't pass any closer than about 7nm. And then, not even the oil fields. The rumour about mobile phones working in the proximity of the oil rigs was proved wrong, other than on one occasion near a Norwegian rig the mobile phone rang all of a sudden and I got to reply to a question of removing a satellite aerial on top of our office building, as it was in the way of some work. A phone call from another world - a strange feeling.

Having lost the sight of land on Tuesday morning we knew, plotting on, that by Friday night we'd have Denmark in our sights. Increasing number of big ships and cumulus clouds in the horizon were the first visual give-aways. The wind died down again and the engine neutral button got stuck. Chief Eng pushed the gear in place from inside the hull so we could motor on but as the weather was sunny and calm I called a halt to see if we could repair it properly - after all we would soon need both the gears and neutral, if we were going to moor in in a strange harbour - the fuel had run low and the men needed a good night's sleep so the decision was made to overnight in Hirtshals on the Danish west coast near the tip of Jutland.

Moored in in the darkness and got a nice welcome from the Harbour Office by VHF. Onto Sydkajen and soon we were asleep. No wake up call, just got up when we felt like it, around 9 o'clock. Then Fuss's excellent fry, some provisions and a 100 litres of diesel. The harbour master, Jens, brought it by car in cans as they had no pump for visiting boats. There were some friendly Norwegians moored in in a new Bavaria 44 and maybe about 10 other boats but that was all there was room for. Jens said the place was getting more popular as a stop-over and new berths for visitors would be in the cards for the autumn.

We got a nice new set of cutlery from Hirtshals, as Fuss, doing the dishes asked me to empty the used water overboard, without telling me the cutlery was in the bottom of the bucket. Well, I have to give it to him, he did not ask me to throw the cutlery out, just the water. Harr, harr, so no keel-hauling for him just yet...

The good weather continues. We left Hirtshals today, well rested, showered etc. at around 14.30 to head downwind towards Skagen, the northernmost point of Denmark (obviously not taking Greenland into account), which we just passed, turning on a great reach, steady 7.5 knots, towards Helsingoer, where we should pick up Lawyer and Consultant sometime tomorrow evening. Looking forward to getting them on and figuring out where we'll put them with all the sails and other stuff now occupying the fore cabin...Well, if we continue to work shifts, that is the answer, I guess.

So, thanks to this great crew, the North Sea crossed, into the Kattegat now and onto the Baltic. A bearded greeting for all our readers.

Ahab

North Sea here we come!

'Flaming Sambucas', says Captain Ahab,'We're at Sea again!'

A cloudy morning in Fort Augustus after a beautiful day and a nice quiet night on the canal mooring. Good showers and facilities on this canal. We got up again at sevenish, only to learn that the lock wouldn't open until 9. Well, on a boat there's always something to do, organising and of course checking weather forecasts and planning ahead.

The first leg was pure joy. We descended onto the famous Loch Ness and after a short while realised that there was quite a good wind directly from behind. That meant of course spinnaker practise. The purple and white chute shot up really fast and before long we were cruising down the loch at little over 8 knots at the best of times. Just as if to celebrate our lone passage through the lake with no monsters but the bearded crew of our boat, a couple of RAF Tornados flew over really low and a bit over 8 knots, we estimated. Quite a sight.

After the loch we started motoring down the remaining locks and the weather picked up and hey, presto! Another beautiful, warm day! Some of us had to do a bit of writing, though and remain inside. A few locks down, arriving in Inverness we decided that the toilet seat needed repaired before the North Sea passage and additional crew from Denmark. I got off at the lock and took a taxi to the nearest Chandlery, called 'Gael Force', pun intended, surely.

Found new hinges for the seat and of course some other odds and sods, bits and bobs, like a sea anchor or drogue to slow down in case of severe downwind surfing. And duct tape, of course! How could have we got so far without it? Meanwhile Fuss stocked up the provisions at Lidls and ChiefEng and Dynamo fuelled up the diesel and filled up the drinking water. The diesel consumption of the Yanmar 27hp was a bit of a shock! A positive one! Instead of the estimated 2.5litres per hour it would seem that the solid diesel only burns about 1.5 per hour! Incredible! Total engine hours in Inverness about 31. There's a few hours of idling too to keep the batteries charged and fridge ticking etc. and of course the laptops charged for writing blogs and some other important scripts.

It took surprisingly long, however, to clear the passage to Inverness partly due to oncoming traffic and partly the traffic across the swing bridges and at the last two locks a train that was quite a bit late and certainly frustrated your humble narrator, who was particularly anxious to get out to sea and on the way with the ebb. High tide was at 16.30 and the locks closed at 1800. On this occasion they decided to do a bit of overtime to get us out (it must have been because I was staring at them through the hole of my Lucky Irish Connemara stone, that turns enemies into friends, and we finally, snapping photos, pushed down into the sea at 1830. All were in good spirits and to dot the i and cross the t Fuss cooked a lovely pasta with succulent pork in a tomato-onion sauce.

The last lock gave us a really good forecast for the North Sea, so my estimate for a time of Arrival in Helsingor, Denmark would now be on Saturday 5th some time. It is now 22.50. Dynamo and ChiefEng will do the first watch until 0100. Fuss is already asleep and I should rest too, before we come on. Soon we will lose the coverage of the UK mobile network, unless some of the North Sea oil rigs have aerials. Pity also, that I haven't managed to post any pictures into the blog, partly just being too busy and to a large part, the slow connections that do not support uploading big photos - servers time out, you see.

Harr, harr, harr

Ahab

The Caledonian Canal

Arrived in Corpach, by Fortwilliam late in the evening and moored in one the side of another yacht preparing to go in through the locks in the morning. Already by the jetty we could see that the climb through the locks onto the lochs would be considerable. Alec at the sealock office was great and gave us sound advice for the passing.

After a much appreciated good night's sleep we headed into the canal. Massive gates opening, sliding in, waiting for them to close and then the water rushing in, causing quite a bit of restless movement of the hull of the yacht next to the Victorian stone walls of the basin. The fenders needed to be in the right place and still we had to push the boat off the wall at times. The sun was shining and we pulled out all of the stuff from the forecabin to dry on deck - a failure to lock the hatch from inside had probably caused an accidental opening of it during the previous night (doesn't take a lot to have your foot swipe a lever open unless it is locked from inside). Something that was already rectified then by closing it properly, but drying of the cargo and cushions had had to wait.

Fuss expertly cooked a fry as we made steady progress through the Neptunes staircase and some more locks and swing bridges. We put on our Slender Delta Viking Quest 2010 T-shirts and smiled and sang for the tourists watching the canal operation, wondering why it was that we had had to pay 178 pounds for the passage and not the other way round. Fuss in particular stood out with his Welsh baritone. Dynamo and Chief Eng. kindly stayed quiet and concentrated holding the boat steady with the warps that we sometimes attached ourselves and at other times were thrown down for us by the canal staff.

It was easy going and lovely on the lochs Lochy and Oich. We made steady progress, arriving in Fort Augustus in the evening. A nice curry in the comfort of the cockpit of the boat and some friendly conversation about various aspects of the life of man and the appreciation of the opposite sex that makes all this possible was just what we needed.

Just a little drop through a couple of locks first thing in the morning and we'll be in Loch Ness. The total passage time without any pressure and going by the 5 knot speed limit will have taken about a day and a half as estimated.

A Good Day's Sailing

The words of warning of a fellow yachtsman have become a source of amusement onboard: "You should stay in Ballycastle (Northern Ireland) overnight". Well, I wonder where we would be if we had done that and not looked at the weather forecast and pushed into the night...

The night time sailing past Ballycastle through the North Channel and around the Mull of Kintyre on the Scottish side went extremely well. First motoring with the main up and then, after the wind picked up to between 15-20 kts the engine could be turned off and sails alone took us on at between 5 to 7 kts. It was a beautiful, clear night with stars etc. We split the crew into 2 watches and worked ourselves in 4 hour shifts through the night into a beautiful, sunny morning with nice wind between force 3 to 5. Dynamo, the 1st officer started his early morning shift by expertly hoisting the jib in fairly brisk wind and bumpy sea. Very energetic!

Rugged charm of the Scottish Isles and coastline. Lots of other boats out too. Passing through the Sound of Jura we saw the famous paddle steamer Waverley, full of tourists, going South as we were pushing North. Fuss the stand-in chef spoiled us with the cornucopia of provisions that had initially caused mild amusement. Well, nobody was complaining there was too much food now...well perhaps there is too much food, as Dynamo managed to break the toilet seat, talking some jibberish about things not having been made to be used at so and so many degrees of an angle. Well, the bowl is very much usable still.

Passing through the Sound of Luing and seeing the tidal swirl and experiencing the speed that it adds to the boats passage - when it is in your favour - was fascinating. The Baltic Boys don't really want the tide for their home waters but it is always an interesting experience.

We've done well but due to the lost time we will not go through the sea lock of the Caledonian Canal today. We'll arrive late at night and will pass as they open for business at 0800 tomorrow. We've been in touch with them and will call them on channel 74 as we approach.

Chief Engineer, alias Steven Spielberg, has had the video camera out and we others have taken a few still photos of each other and the scenery basking in sunlight. It is a hard life at sea. It is a beautiful sunny evening now and the wind has just dropped to the degree that we've had to turn on the Yanmar 27 that has been going really well so far. We even had a virtual toast for the 1500 ours of engine operation - a milestone that was passed today.

Navigating in Scottish waters is very straight forward and compared to the rocky Gulf of Finland there is a lot of space and depth. So far we've had winds to use jibs 2 and 3 but neither the spinnaker nor the storm jib - the latter we don't necessarily want to use either...

Gremlins and frustrations

One could easily write a very, very long report on the events of a single day. The day felt particularly long too. The day of departure turned into a day of disaster at around 23.00 on Friday as, just about to cast off, we turned on the GPS only to realize that both our GPS devices and the VHF wouldn't power on or faded just as a blink of light could be seen to indicate some life. The departure had to be postponed. Indescribable frustration after weeks of careful preparation and particular attention to electrics. But that's all part and parcel of buying a second hand boat I've been told...The only useful thing to do before retiring to our bunks was to fuel up.

Contacts to find electricians started at 0700 in the morning and everybody was doing what they could to improve the situation. Some excellent breakfast was cooked to lift the mood and compass light and the navigation light for motoring were fixed. Chief Engineer also started work to expose the wiring behind the main instrument panel above the navigating table. Everybody agreed, as disappointed we were, that it was best we had this problem in home port rather than in the middle of the North Sea.

By 1230 we had an electrician at work. He could not find the reason for the problem but found a cure by drawing new power cables for the dysfunctional instruments. Meanwhile wind had got quite mild and after a departure with the sails up at around 1830, we soon found ourselves motoring up along the Antrim coast. Some delicious chilli was cooked and warm thoughts went towards all those people who had in various ways supported our voyage.

It is now 22.40 and we have good internet connection. Just checked windfinder and xcweather who were agreeable that we should probably push on into the night to recover some lost time. About 15 knots wind from the NE through the night and in the morning and the slightly less. Still slowed down by the tide a bit but about 4.9 kts ground speed nevertheless. And at 15 minutes past midnight the tide will start to turn into our favour. So we have decided to push on.

Some hot chocolate is being prepared, waypoints marked on the chart and blog written. Oh yes, and there is a helmsman steering as well. Location 54N 54 and 5W 48.9

The mood is good now. The men are at work.

Day of Departure

Sunny morning. Windguru says that the first leg towards the North Channel from Bangor will go with mostly Easterly winds, speed between 11-15 knots. The Scottish East Coast on Saturday isn't looking bad either - mild Southerly winds! Well, what can we say about that...but that we'll remain sceptical and gladly take what's on offer if it really is to be!

For provisions we have a good measure of survival food. The Chef cannot unfortunately join us, so we will be four, but he has kindly provided the sea menu for the 1st leg, including some of his famous chilli, a huge lump of fresh roast beef and a horseradish sauce and a bottle of Tawny Port. We shall be grateful!

SATURDAY
Breakfast: Muesli, Milk, Coffee, Tea, Eggs, bread
Lunch: Tinned Soup and Sandwiches x 4 x 3days = 12 tins (tomato, chicken, lentil), Sandwiches with beef and the sauce (we've also cheese, chorizo, tuna for the sandwiches)
Coffee/tea break: biscuits, apples, bananas
Dinner: Chilli beef & basmati rice (chilli provided by the Chef)

SUNDAY
Breakfast: as before
Lunch: as before but flavour changes for the soup
Coffee/tea break, as before
Dinner: Pie

MONDAY
Breakfast, lunch and break as before
Dinner: Chicken curry.

We shall not starve. Meet at the boat between 20.20 - 21.00

Slender Delta in Bangor

Just a short late night note to confirm that Slender Delta has in deed moved more or less according to plan from Killyleagh to Bangor during the course of Wed 26 May. We started in great spirits at 1105 and motored on towards Portaferry and the Lough narrows. A jolly seal greeted us on the way down, just a few yards from the boat. The sun was shining.

The dreaded narrows was passed at exactly high water and we were looking forward to hoisting the sails. That wasn't to be however. The wind was against us, expected perhaps, but sometimes it changes in your favour. Well, this time it did not. Also coming out of the Lough the sea was pretty choppy with big waves and to dampen our sailing expectations the wind picked up to about 30 kts mean speed, more in gusts. Certainly quite a bit more than in the forecast. Musto's and Prorainer's gear was put to a good test and they passed with flying colours - a definite off shore gear weather. Waves estimated about 4-5 metres at the highest.

Needless to say, after helping the engine with jib n:o 3 we accepted that whereas speed was a lot greater, between 6-7 kts, we couldn't go a straight line. Chef, whose lovely sandwiches went down well couldn't eat himself and admitted his sea legs had been left home.

We hauled ourselves a bit closer to the shore, which in turn required more careful navigation. It helped weatherwise, though. The weather was beautiful throughout but due to the aforementioned circumstances we decided we'd do a lot of sailing later, not today. The heater and the fridge were tested properly and found working very well. The Ebersprächer diesel heater is hard to beat!

All sort of useful observations were made and in all chief engineer and I thought this was a great exercise, although it took the whole of 10 hrs before we were safely moored into the impressive safety of the Bangor marina, who charged us 45 pounds for two nights. As sometimes happens when sailing, everything worked!

Friday night...cannot wait

Good Bye EDYC

Preparation continues. Doing the dishes yesterday, flushing the water tank again. Now finally full of potable water, approx. 70 litres and a few purification tablets. One 12V 'cigarette lighter' type outled added - no point charging the mobile phone through the inverter, wasting precious energy, when it can be done with a car charger from a 12V outlet that runs directly from the leisure battery.

Cockpit railing needed epoxy and a bigger stainless steel screw to replace a loose one. Got it done. Also changed the mast foot block for the main halyard - boy was that worn. Should be easier to hoist the main! The Tuff Luff for the forestay hasn't arrived but should hopefully come in today...and the last chance saloon for it is actually Friday, as we won't sail until late in the evening. Spray dodgers ordered at the last minute too. Good for keeping the wind at bay, too. Got a gas bottle refill and bought an extra bottle - our Michelin star chef needs his cooking gas! The camping gas 907 is not very large. Probably about 2.5 to 3 kg.

The chief engineer arrived from Finland on Tuesday. He is particularly well kitted and carries medicine for the Ulster Hospital!Hope we won't need any of it. Today Chief Eng, chef and I will sail the boat to a pole position in Bangor. There should be good wind and quite a bit of sunshine, according to the BBC coastal forecast and Windguru.com.

Good by EDYC, you've been great! First time through the Strangford Lough narrows! Exciting. Lots of good advice received.

Preparation

1988 Dehler 34 Top Nova, the Slender Delta was bought in Northern Ireland during the winter 2009-2010. Thanks to the helpfulness and camaraderie of previous owner, she lies at Killyleagh, East Down Yacht Club, and is being prepared for a Viking Quest sailing trip from Northern Ireland through the Caledonian Canal to Inverness and on across the North Sea, through the Skagerrak & Kattegat to the Baltic and her daughter, Helsinki, and on further East along the Gulf of Finland, eventually to Pernaja, Backstenstrand. The people at E.D.Y.C have been great - extremely friendly and helpful. I will not name anyone here for privacy reasons but the ones deserving a particular mention will know who they are.

During the winter she was given a new royal blue faux suede interior to freshen up the dull greyish interior that no doubt was very fashionable when the boat was launched in 1988. The curtains, at least, could be dyed. She is the Top Nova -version with a white, rather than traditional mahogany bulkheads and surfaces. That means a more light interior for this relatively small space that even a traditionalist can learn to appreciate, especially with the royal blue cushions!

Just before the tidal launch, which was a new experience for a Baltic Boy, she got a royal blue anti-fouling on the hull, which according to the previous owner who was, again very helpfully, in charge at the launch, looked better than he had expected. Well, the fish will either agree or disagree - we won't be seeing much of it during the trip, hopefully.

Interior lights got some new energy-saving LED-bulbs and some wiring was re-done to replace less reliable cables and contacts. The ever-so-crucial navigating lights got a new connection too, to rectify an on-off situation that puzzled us for a while. A radar was fitted too, the radome of which on a pole at the stern, supported by two stays and a rigid bar on the stern railing. The second hand radar monitor unfortunately eats up quite a lot of space on the navigating table, but for that bulky object, that was deemed the only possible location. All essential instruments were already there and working, including a fresh Garmin plotter. On the less important entertainment side, there's now also a new Fusion ipod-gobbling radio/music player that replaced a trusty and rusty old panasonic that had clearly been there since 1988.

Frantic preparation is at an advanced stage but one can seemingly never do enough and get everything done. A solid boat that has mostly been club-raced rather than cruised, for a voyage like ours, needs a careful, closer look: worn gooseneck pinion hole, damaged Tuff Luff groove - one groove will not be enough on a long trip because there needs to be at least 2 options of everything that is crucial, sealing of instruments coming off, allowing moisture to get in, a loose screw here and there and some requiring a bigger screw, floating MOB lights requiring work on contacts and obviously fresh batteries. Speaking of batteries, two new ones - a 105Ah deep cycle Leisure battery for the instruments and another biggish starter battery for cranking the 27 hp diesel, which 'purrs real harasho', were fitted and the old ones given maintenance (distilled water, Granville BatAid tablets and a slow charge) and taken along for backup.

What sort of provisions, how much and where they'll fit could easily be a chapter of its own. The water tank obviously needed chlorinating, but still, all drinking water will be boiled - we cannot afford to be unwell, or the watch roster will be torn to shreds. We'll have a jolly crew of maybe 5 to Inverness, 4 across the North Sea and 6 from Denmark on. The minds are already focused to the tidal streams, tides and timing of arrival at the mouth of the Caledonian Canal in Corpach, some time during the coming Sunday, we hope. But preparation is not advanced by writing blogs, so...