(Beter laat =
dan nooit)
Some
of you I already sent an email some days ago, wishing for a good Chris=
tmas.
I hope the others had a good Christmas and that everybody will have=
a
marvellous 2008. Hope to see most of you in the coming month(s?).
It’s
Christmas
at the moment and almost the end of the year. For most people the time to t=
hink
about stopping smoking, drinking, eating to much, etc, beginning next month.
For me it is the time to try to give you some information about what happen=
ed
with me the last 7 months. So, if you are not intereste=
d in
that subject, stop reading and go to do something useful.
My
last mail I sent from Santa Cruz on=
Tenerife around the 8th of june this year. Eduard and
I stayed there a week, repairing some things and replacing the in Cape Verde newly ins=
talled
stay for the yankee =
by a new
one made in Santa Cruz<=
/st1:City>.
During the trip I saw that the the stay and the
halyard of the jib were too close to each other and sometimes even touched.
Besides the forces were too strong for the winch, that come lose off the de=
ck.
That one was also welded anew on Tenerife. And
of course many more minor reparations and maintenance. But on the 12th=
of june we left Tene=
rife in
the afternoon direction Madeira. Maybe t=
here
they could repair the main wooden mast as madeira means wood. We start=
ed
with windforce 6 but unfortunately that was anly the first 4 hours. Then the wind decreased and o=
n friday the 15th=
even no
wind at all during 8 hours. Because the current is coming from the north, we
came again nearer Tenerife instead of nearer Madeira=
.
But that’s also included with sailing. Until tuesday the 19th there was almost no=
wind,
at most windforce 3. That’s not what the =
Hestia likes, she only sta=
rts to
smile at 5 or more. We even had to use the engine some times. And we used s=
ome
of our bread and water to feed the pigeons that came to visit us. But from =
the
20th on the wind gave what Hestia wa=
nted,
continuously 5 or 6. But for the rather old jib it was a little too much. T=
he
jib began tearing on the low side. Luckily on this jib there is a possibili=
ty
for a reef by tieing up somewhat more than a me=
ter. Madeira came within view and on saturday 23th of june we landed in Funch=
al.
There the marine policeman I knew from some months ago told me that it was =
the
worst day to arrive in <=
st1:place
w:st=3D"on">Madeira beca=
use
there were coming some more warships and there was no place for the Hestia in Funchal. But
after some conversation we decided to anchor, that was allowed, but not the
best way to stay there. When you have to repair some things it’s easi=
er
to be directly at the quay. Now we had to bring the jib in the dinghy there=
for
repairing. But we were already glad that we found someone who was able to m=
ake
the jib. It was agreed that the jib should be ready on thursday at 16.00 o’clock. To aour surprise at around 10.30 in the morning we heard
someone knocking on the boat. It was the sailmaker
who was happy to deliver personally the jib on the boat, very good service.=
In Madeira I tried to play bridg=
e, but
someone must have known that I was coming, because the whole building of th=
e bridgeclub was away, burnt. I met there a dutch man that I saw befor=
e in Lisbon. He lived =
some
20 years in Funchal and knew almost everybody,
including the authority on repairing boat with wooden masts. He telephoned =
this
man and got the advice that for suvh a long mas=
t it
was better to go to Lisbon.
After doing some shopping and making a tour over the isle, we set sail on <=
span
class=3DSpellE>saturday 30th o=
f june, heading for Lisbon 524 naytical miles away. For you on the land that is arou=
nd 970
kilometers. We used the jib and yankee had a rather good speed. But after somew=
hat
more than one day I saw that from the new stay made in Tenerife
some threads were broken. From then on we used only the small yankee and the jib for saf=
ety
reasons. But that meant also less speed and a longer stay at sea then planned.And with again the current from the wrong
direction, it meant that Lisbon
did not come quickly. Eduard and I used the sch=
eme of
changing guard every 4 hours with one time a day a guarding time of 5 hours
when we took dinner. On saturday
the 14 of july the ocean was overcrowded, we sa=
w 5
ships at the same time! Compared with sometimes 1 or no ship a day it must =
have
been rush hour then. Only very slowly we came nearer Lisbon. We escape=
d from
a fisherboat that was only a few meters away. A
pulley of about 20 kilo’s came tumbling fr=
om the
mizzen mast one meter left from me. So we were lucky sometimes and arrived =
in Lisbon on 23th of july=
at 15.30 o’clock. It took Eduard and me 11
weeks to go from Cape Verde
to Lisbon, including 3 weeks in <=
span
class=3DSpellE>Mindelo, Tenerife and M=
adeira.
From Lisbon to Cape
Verde in apr=
il
of this same year it was 4 weeks, including 1 week at Madeira.
As
soon as we were in doca de Alcantara,
we sent a sms to Eduard=
217;s
son in England
that we arrived. And within 2 hours we got a sms back
that Tjitske, Eduard’s wife had =
booked a
flight and was to arrive in Lisbon
the next day in the afternoon. Eduard and Tjitske stayed aboard until 31th=
of july. That tuesday they left for a fo=
rtnight
in the Algarve<=
/span>
with their son, his wife and chilren. I had pla=
nned
to make a serious back-up of my laptop and had rearranged all my files duri=
ng monday the 30th=
. But
during the night from monday
tom tuesday I heard a bird at around 4.00
o’clock in the morning. When I came in the room at around 8.00
o’clock I made the conclusion that it had been a very strange bird,
because my laptop was not there anymore. I not only lost my laptop, but also
many notes and photographs I had made during the last few months. So to for=
get
about my laptop I went on wednesda=
y
to the fado pub in Bair=
ro Alto. And there my bike was stolen, The policeman, whose car was stolen, later told me that
there were more thiefs during the summer than in
winter.
At
the moment I am still in Portugal=
.
I found a shipyard where they can repair my boat. It only takes more time t=
han
expected and at the moment I don’t know when the Hestia
will be reaydy for sailing again. There are some
people here telling that it is my destiny to stay in Portugal and
I must not fight. I will think about it, surely as long as the Hestia is in the shipyard. And I wish you all find yo=
ur
destiny next year. Many greetings from me,
Theo
Jongsma
Portugal, 25th of decemb=
er
2007=
<=
o:p>