Hi John,
Sounds like the boat will be pretty heavy!
Are you sailing singlehand?
I set sail with my Vega from nearby Amsterdam on 12 May, with 2 friends, and lots of stuff (food,water,spares,etc). The boatwas in the water up to the level of the antifouling edge. Made 1 leg to Falmouth and a second to Cascais-Portugal, and caught 2 gales in the Atlantic. I think I left the boat overcanvassed with such a heavy load and had light damage to the mast support and water tank bulkhead, all thing I could manage myself, but in the future would reduce the sail surface more than what suggested in the Vega owner's manual.
The leg frm Falmouth to Cascais was almost 1'000 NM as we lead 250 degrees till log 10 west, to avoid Biscay and go out of the continental platform. Because of this long leg, 4 10L extra diesel proved useful as we had 2 days of no wind and at times wind on the nose.
In Portugal, Cascais is quite expensive, 32 euros for the Vega, while other marina's around Lisbon ask about 24.
I have now reached, singlehand, Cadiz. Here, in Port America Marina, the Vega fee is 9.3 euros!! Waiting for the right wind to cross Gibraltar strait and enter the Med.
I have been using the navionics maps on ipad and iphone: very useful and handy. The Reeds Almanac proved invaluable, more updated and precise than the navionivc charts.
I don't see a fishig line in your list, maybe you could enjoy fishing along the way. I did, and so far the only thing I fished was the Vega's prop...
A pressure pot is also useful.
If you sail singlehand, consider using a bit longer mooring lines, at least for the ones for the boat front, so that you can jump down from the cockpit with the front and rear mooering lines in your hand.
What I missed was a way to get the Weather forecast. I counted on a short wave radio, expecting to get BBC Europe, not knowing that the service is not available anymore. So consider a device the get the meteo.
Fair winds under blue skies!
Marco Baldan
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sounds like the boat will be pretty heavy!
Are you sailing singlehand?
I set sail with my Vega from nearby Amsterdam on 12 May, with 2 friends, and lots of stuff (food,water,spares,etc). The boatwas in the water up to the level of the antifouling edge. Made 1 leg to Falmouth and a second to Cascais-Portugal, and caught 2 gales in the Atlantic. I think I left the boat overcanvassed with such a heavy load and had light damage to the mast support and water tank bulkhead, all thing I could manage myself, but in the future would reduce the sail surface more than what suggested in the Vega owner's manual.
The leg frm Falmouth to Cascais was almost 1'000 NM as we lead 250 degrees till log 10 west, to avoid Biscay and go out of the continental platform. Because of this long leg, 4 10L extra diesel proved useful as we had 2 days of no wind and at times wind on the nose.
In Portugal, Cascais is quite expensive, 32 euros for the Vega, while other marina's around Lisbon ask about 24.
I have now reached, singlehand, Cadiz. Here, in Port America Marina, the Vega fee is 9.3 euros!! Waiting for the right wind to cross Gibraltar strait and enter the Med.
I have been using the navionics maps on ipad and iphone: very useful and handy. The Reeds Almanac proved invaluable, more updated and precise than the navionivc charts.
I don't see a fishig line in your list, maybe you could enjoy fishing along the way. I did, and so far the only thing I fished was the Vega's prop...
A pressure pot is also useful.
If you sail singlehand, consider using a bit longer mooring lines, at least for the ones for the boat front, so that you can jump down from the cockpit with the front and rear mooering lines in your hand.
What I missed was a way to get the Weather forecast. I counted on a short wave radio, expecting to get BBC Europe, not knowing that the service is not available anymore. So consider a device the get the meteo.
Fair winds under blue skies!
Marco Baldan
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
John Kinsella