We arrived at the yacht in Quinta Do Lorde on Thursday the 8th of October and having met with the marina receptionist who was very helpful we found our way to the yacht and started to look around and work on how the systems operated and where everything was. Once all was located aboard, we did our provisioning trip, finding that there was a large supermarket in the nearby town. The following day we rigged the genoa and the marina helped us with the clearing process, we then took on fuel and at 1330 we departed Madeira sailing east first and seeing how the reefing processed and getting the hang of the running rigging.
We continued east until we were able to turn onto a course of 350 or as close to north as was possible given the wind direction. The Yacht sailed well under 2 reefs in the main and a reefed genoa making 5-6 knots and handily was well balanced so we were able to simple lock the wheel and allow her to sail herself. The plan was to sail north for 3 days until the wind was due to back round to the North West when we should be able to point towards Vigo.
On Tuesday we were able to tack and head on a course of about 050 which in the next day changed to 030 so we were able to point directly towards Vigo.
The next few days were pretty wet as a succession of troughs and a cold front passed over us, though the wind remained favourable ranging from 10kts to 30kts. In the small hours of Thursday morning the wind died completely and we had to start the engine with some careful planning I was able to decide that we would have enough fuel to reach Vigo during the day we put 2 out of the 3 20lts fuel cans in the tank to keep her going, during the day we had a nice encounter with some dolphins and at approximately 1700 we arrived at RCN Vigo, after a trouble free trip of 920nm.
We then set about cleaning the yacht and airing out the cushions and cabins, and packing things up in preparation for our departure on the Saturday.
A big thank you to Zac Colchester and Paul Jeffery for being my crew and of course to the Yacht ‘Lady B’!
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Just to let Giles and crew on the sailing team and Matthew on the contact and coordination team know that we are very pleased with the entire process of having our boat delivered by Thumbs Up Sailing Yacht Delivery. When I contacted Matthew a couple of weeks ago about this passage he quickly responded positively about availability. He provided appropriate documentation for the crew and a comprehensive and well thought checklist that we needed to fill for the boat. He also provided a clear and concise contract, with the opportunity to make any amendments we considered necessary. We had dealt with another delivery company before, so we could really see the contrast with our previous experience. The professionalism in the response to our request gave us confidence and trust in that this was a serious company that did things properly. And the way the delivery went totally confirmed this. Giles called us on Skype upon arrival in Madeira. We went through several bits and pieces of the boat together with him. They set sail on the Thursday, and a week later they were in Vigo! We were then provided with a full snag list and final report of the trip. In all, an excellent yacht delivery service that surpassed all our expectations. Absolutely recommended!!