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Another Chapter closed. Close the book.

Skipper Ingo delivered a sail boat from Cardiz to La Coruña, Spain.
Originally it was planned to take her to Neustadt, Germany, but because of too many defects on the boat, the owner decided to take her out at Cádiz and ship her to Germany via truck.

Graffiti was found on a wall close to the port of  at La Coruña.

Still in Orcas dining room.

On orcas menu: rudders.
Hopefully not the one of the sailing vessel DEFIANT, which the crew and skipper are transferring from Cádiz to Neustadt.

This is the west coast of northern Portugal and Spain where Skipper Ingo and his three man crew are motoring along the coastline trying to stay in shallow waters to avoid encounters with the orcas. The red area on the map shows where orcas had been seen and where orcas had attacked boats.

Within the last two and a half years about 400 to 500 rudders have been destroyed by orcas along the southern west European coast. This data/statistic comes from “Iberian Orca”, an initiative of Scientists who collects and documents all events with the orcas.

So far, even three boats sank within the last 12 month. Obviously, this problem should not be ignored by skippers who sail in that area.

There is already an app (Orcinus) available that shows and collects reports about attacks and observations of orcas. This photo comes from their app. Skipper Ingo and crew hope not to have to make an entry in their map.

It’s a little bit annoying to sail that close to the coast, but according to the map that showed orca attacks and observations we should stick to the recommended strategy to stay within the 20 m depth along the coastline whenever it’s possible.  This won’t be possible though, once we cross the Bay of Biscaya.

Skipper Ingo is not on his own boat Faule Haut, but on a Moody 40, delivering her from Cádiz to Neustadt.

Innerhalb von zweieinhalb Jahre gingen zwischen 400 und 500 Ruderanlagen vor der Küste Westeuropas verlustig und zwei Yachten wurden versenkt. Das geht aus der Statistik von „Iberian Orca“ hervor, einer neu gegründeten Initiative Forschender, die die Ereignisse dokumentiert. Ignorieren lässt sich das Problem nicht mehr, ansonsten werden die betroffenen Segler, Fischer und Küstenbewohner die Dinge selbst in die Hand nehmen.

Faule Haut Skipper Ingo has flown to Cádiz, southern Spain to bring another sailing boat (Moody 40) from there to Neustadt, Baltic Sea, Germany.

This cruise will be easy, for he doesn’t have to do it singlehand, but has three man crew.
The only dangerous part will be the area along the southern Spanish and Portuguese coast which lately became famous because of the orca attacks on sailing boats. So far, there is no known recipe to avoid the orcas. The best seems to be to stay/sail within the 20 m depth along the cost line. But this won’t be possible everywhere because of existing fish farms and fishing nets in some areas. There you can’t sail in shallow waters because you have to go around those nets or farms. Crew and skipper hope not to have any encounter with these orcas.
Distance: 1.800 nm
ETT 24 days
ETA 04.10.2023
If you want to join their cruise virtually, just follow this link:
https://share.garmin.com/E8DGW

Faule Haut Skipper Ingo has flown to Cádiz, southern Spain, to do another yacht transfer.

He arrived in the middle of a “Tall Ship Festival”

He’s wishing to get beamed back 200 years – for some mast climbing.

After having sailed 2,577 nm singelhand from Sint Maarten, Skipper Ingo has delivered a boat and tied it up at the dock at the port of Vila do Porto on Santa Maria, the most southern island of the Azores. on June 15, 2023, 03:30.

The delivery cruise was full of problems on from the start: Motorproblem was the first. The boat had to get out of the water to fix it. Then Skipper Ingo left with one crew three days later. Crew turned out to not being fit for the cruise and after having sailed 15 nm Skipper Ingo sailed back and dropped him at Sint Maarten. He had to sail back anyway, because the car (an importent part of the in-mast-furling system for the main sail) on the traveller on the boom lost it’s bearings and was ripped of the boom. Two days later the skipper mounted the repaired car on the traveller and took off alone. Heading for Ponta Delgada on the island São Miguel, Azores.
Then the chartplotter broke down, and with it also the important AIS. Also on from the beginning, the first day, the Skipper noticed that the batteries were bad. They couldn’t hold the charge for long. Fridge had to be turned off in the afternoon already. Later it couldn’t be turned on at all. All battery power was used for the autopilot to steer the boat. One battery was completely flat after 2 weeks. Skipper disconnected it and had only one battery left which was bad as well. On the last day this one was totally flat also. This meant that the motor would have to run permanently to supply energy for the autopilot. The alternativ would have been to steer the boat manually 24/7. But that would have been tough for the singlehand skipper. Luckily he used his motor power/fuel wisely so that he could motor the last ten hours to his destination. Destination was changed to the island Santa Maria, because there was no space available at the port at Ponta Delgada, São Miguel.

Skipper Ingo is looking forward for a long night of sleep after 24 consecutive days on the ocean.

Skipper Ingo’s happy arrival at 03:30 at night.

Skipper Ingo was lucky and got the boom slider fixed, and he mounted it back on with new bearings.

Boat is ready now for an Atlantic crossing.
He is not as comfortable as he was on his own boat because this boat doesn’t have a backup in all its systems. There is no spare genoa on board, only a spare main sail. Also it doesn’t have a wind steering system (wind auto pilot).
And it doesn’t have a storm jib.
Worst case on this crossing is a failure of the autopilot. Being on the boat alone it would be a pain to steer the boat manually by one person for weeks, and it would take the skipper three times as long as planned to reach the Azores. So let’s hope that this worst case scenario is not gonna happen.
At 08:30 Tuesday morning, the bridge of Simpson Bay Lagoon will open for outbound traffic and the skipper starts his cruise.

See you at the Azores.
Skipper Ingo

https://share.garmin.com/E8DGW