Tuesday, November 23rd: Departure and weather planning. The forecast unexpectedly improved today. Weather in the Northern Atlantic can be broadly split into two categories: hurricane season, and winter. In the former, the weather systems travel Northwest across the Atlantic, slamming into the Caribbean and Eastern United States. But most boats like ours transit the AtlanticContinue reading “The Crossing”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Nazaré to Madeira
Captain Mike Monday, November 15: Relaxed morning getting everything setup before leaving. Fuel, food, coffee, projects. Big winds from the North, pushed us quickly South. Tuesday, November 16th – Thursday, November 18th: Still struggling with hydrogenerator. What a pain. Had to be careful about electricity consumption. Huge winds had us sailing storm headsail and triple reefedContinue reading “Nazaré to Madeira”
Touring the Nazaré Funicular
Sunday, November 14: Vicente from North sails drove 2 hours from Lisbon to see if he could repair the sail. Prognosis was cautious but optimistic. He took the sail with him with vaguely hopeful comments about being able to repair it, and not so vague curses about sailors with knives. Finally had time to relaxContinue reading “Touring the Nazaré Funicular”
Boat Maintenance in Nazaré
Captain’s Update Saturday, November 13: This was a long day of projects getting the boat into shape. We’ve had lots of trouble with the hydrogenerator: a device that generates electricity from our movement through the water (hear more about this in my last update). It’s an important piece of kit because everything on the boatContinue reading “Boat Maintenance in Nazaré”
Spinnaker Saga | Porto to Nazaré
Crew Update Captain Mike Friday, November 12: Overnight sail started on the 11th from Porto to Nazaré. Huge winds 25-35 kts. We tried flying the spinnaker, but the wind was too much and we made a mistake causing the sail to wrap around the forestays on the boat. Two hours of struggle resulted in the sail inContinue reading “Spinnaker Saga | Porto to Nazaré”
Captain Mike Update in Porto, Portugal
Crew Update I thought I would give you a full update upon arriving in our first port after setting sail from Sainte Marine, France. In this video, I break down our first three days of sailing, talk about my impression of the city of Porto, the hundreds-year-old fishing village Enduro we are docked in, andContinue reading “Captain Mike Update in Porto, Portugal”
Pulling into Porto, Portugal
Traveling from France to Portugal, we experienced high winds, causing the Pommes Frites to get up to 20 knots, a record for me personally. We connected over the radio with someone who found out about us on social media, and they invited us to a beer in Viana do Castelo. While we hoped to connectContinue reading “Pulling into Porto, Portugal”
Goodbye France
Launch Day Video Mike, Steve, Beck, and the rest of the crew aboard the Pommes Frites saw their goodbyes to Sainte Marine, France, where they spent 3 days prepping the new Pogo 50. They push off for the open water of the Atlantic and their first port in Portugal. Photos and Gallery While we wereContinue reading “Goodbye France”
Hours Before Launch + New Update
Where are we now? We have spent time on Portugal, both in Porto and Nazare and we have kicked off from Portugal making our way off the shores of Africa to start our trek across the Atlantic. I’ll have a separate update dedicated to our time in Portugal. It was crazy to leave the almostContinue reading “Hours Before Launch + New Update”
Brian’s Birthday in Porto
After arriving to Porto, Portugal, we celebrated one crew member’s birthday! Happy Birthday to the Master of the Foredeck Brian!