Welcome to the Maunie of Ardwall blog

This is the blog of Maunie of Ardwall. After a six-year adventure sailing from Dartmouth to Australia, we are now back in Britain.

Monday 8 October 2012

Back in Nazare

We're back aboard Maunie after a wonderful 3 days in Lisbon. The Maritime Museum and the Oceanaria aquarium were fantastic and we really enjoyed the city. We'll upload some photos tomorrow.

We are now back aboard Maunie and still waiting for the weather. The normally reliable 'Portuguese Trade Winds' (northerlies) have buggered off and we are left with light winds from the south west. The strong winds out in the mid Atlantic have left a 2-3m swell here, so the combination of that plus motoring without wind assistance would make for very uncomfortable passage-making just at the moment.We definitely made the right call last week, though. As predicted by the long-range weather charts, Madeira took a battering at the weekend.

So, whilst we a feeling a little bit trapped, the forecast for the end of this week looks a little more promising so we are using the time productively. Dianne has produced a master spreadsheet showing where everything is stored aboard the boat (with options to search by locker or alphabetically) and Graham has removed and re-sealed the forward hatch in the pilot house which had an annoying drip in driving rain and re-sealed the remaining windows for good measure. They weren't leaking but the sealant was beginning to break down in UV light so this was a 'stitch in time' job.  There are plenty more things on the to-do list so, whilst it won't make thrilling reading on the blog, it should mean we get to the Canaries (eventually!) without having too many last-minute tasks.

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