First samples.

Some of you have complained about how long it took me to update the blog. Well, let's just say this past days haven't been easy! As you can see by the pictures on the alst post, the weather was not exactly pleasant in Porto, and it stayed like that for a while. We did go out, but mostly only to realize we couldn't do any work on those conditions. A few days after we arrived in Porto, Beata left and was replaced by 1st Mate. With a heavyweigth crew we could go out and sample in worst weather, but the dolphins were nowhere to be found. We eventually saw a small group, but the difficult conditions meant we got only 1 sample. Things weren't looking very good. Until finally...

Photo credit: Mikolaj Golachowski

Photo credit: Mikolaj Golachowski

We found a very big group of dolphins, and followed them almost until sunset. We got 9 samples, asn for at least one day we were excited about the outcome. We arrived at Porto during the night, which was quite busy trying to get everything ready for the next day. However, the excitemente was short lived, as the weather was definitely not favourable. The wind was creating small and short waves, the kind that make life on board very uncomfortable. We found dolphins, but getting a sample was extremely hard. We still managed to get one though!

We did had days of good weather, but dolphins failed to show up. In fact, we saw nothing until the day 1st Mate left, were we did see a small group at the end of the day, but it just aproached the boat, circled it once, and left. In the end, we did get as many samples as last year, but this concerns only one good day of sampling. As for now, we are staying here for a bit longer, but as soon as the weather is favourable, we will sail South to Figueira. Mário will be coming back to serve as crew, and we hope to get a few sample more from Porto before the end of the week.If not, we hope Figueira will be better!

Porto... finally!!!

Sailing North

A few days after trying out Clavadel, the first crew members arrived. Mikolaj Golachowski and Beata Kolakowska are a Polish couple who contacted me early on with an interest to participate. While Beata is a psychologist who had very little experience with boats, Mikolaj is a biologist who has worked the past 7 years in Antarctica. The day after they arrived, we started our trip North. We started with a short stretch from Portimão to Sagres to allow us to get used to the sailing routine. The wind was very weak, but as we have seen earlier, Clavadel is sailing like a dream, and we were able to do around 4 knots until we reached Mareta bay. Unfortunately, due to the southwest waves, this bay was very uncomfortable, and we moved back to Sagres, were conditions were much better.

The next day started early and we had a miserable weather. In the beginning of the crossing, there was still some wind, but it soon dropped and we had to go on engine. The visibility was crap, meaning that cape St. Vincent looked like this:

Photo Credit: Mikolaj Golachowski

The weather did get better with time, but the wind was hard to come by. We also saw the first common dolphins of the season that followed us for almost one hour. This definitely lightened us up and made us forget about the somewhat boring crossing we were having.

Photo Credit: Mikolaj Golachowski

After arriving in Sines we refueled, went for showers and registered with the local police, following the old saying that everyone has to report to someone, even the skipper of Clavadel!

Photo Credit: Mikolaj Golachowski

The stretch up toLisbon was no better. There was some wind, and we had sails up, but the engine had to be on the whole time. Luckily, this is a shorter stretch and had to bear with it for a shorter time.

Crossing the bay of Setúbal

Crossing Cape Espichel

Arriving at Lisbon. Photo Credit: Mikolaj Golachowski

The story up to Peniche was the same, with the difference that we got some heavy showers on the way. At this point, Mikolaj just kept reminding me of a sentence I wrote to him in an earlier e-mail: "Portugal is a very hot and sunny country."!!!

Crossing cape Roca with menacing clouds above

Next day we set sail out of Peniche to find the waves bigger and the wind stronger than forecasted. With this, I feared the weather might be getting worse, and that we would effectively be unable to enter the next Port (Figueira). In fact, in the present conditions (waves and wind from the West), Figueira is one of the first ports in the country to close. As such, I decided to head back and continue the following day. In fact, in these conditions, we would be unable to sample anyway, so it made little difference. The next day though, we had a perfect sailing day. Although we had to start on engine, soon the wind picked up and we were soon sailing amidst the waves at a comfortable speed of 7 knots. Once we reached Figueira, we realized that my fears of the previous days were warranted. Even in calmer conditions, the entrance had waves over 2 meters breaking along the way.Fortunately, Clavadel is a fine seaworthy boat, and together with the fine helmsman skills of your beloved skipper, the entrance wasn't that dramatic!!

We only need to get to Porto to finish our journey North and start sampling. Margarida Ventura, who also came last year, will soon join us for a few days but it is still unclear exactly where. As I write this, the entrance to the Figueira port is effectively closed, and we cannot leave, even if we wanted to. The forecast is for the weather to improve tomorrow, but it is unclear exactly when the entrance will open. I went and check how it was for myself, and believe me, it was vicious! This weather pattern is very unusual in Portugal for this time of the year, but it is still better to sail up than the famous Nortada, so we need to take this chance to go up. As soon as we do, I will update.

Sailing the new rig

First preparations- part II

Sunday was the day to try the new rigging with light winds. Monday was the day to try the strong ones. The forecast was straightforward: starting at lunch time,the North wind would pick up and grow stronger during the afternoon. Obviously, I had to be there to check if it was true! And it was true indeed!

The wind was constantly around 22 knots, reaching 25 at times. It wasn't gale force, but it was already quite strong to give the rigging a rougher treatment, and see if the performance would live up to the expectations created on Sunday. Well, it did! Speed was faster, but that was not the only improvement to be noted. A very important one concern weather helm. Weather helm is the tendency for a sailboat to turn into the wind when sailing against it at close angles. The helmsmen of Clavadel know this quite well, as when sailing upwind with full sail on, weather helm quickly became very significant with stronger winds, making it hard to secure the helm, and obviously, to gain speed. Not anymore! There is still some weather helm, which is a good thing, but nothing compared with before. Now, it is actually possible to sail upwind in strong winds using the autopilot without draining the battery!

And speed was indeed fast. When sailing at a broad reach Clavadel was easily doing over 7 knots, reaching to 8 knots at times. In practical terms, this means we were keeping up with all the other boats that were on the sea, even if they were bigger, and theoretically faster. There are happy days on the life of a dolphin researcher after all!!!

I went out with my father and João Mendes, an old friend who has also helped in collecting samples in the past. Of course, while some people where hard at work...

... others were playing with a digital video camera!

Fair enough, they sometimes helped as well!

The video will soon follow...

First preparations

After several months stuck inside the lab, it's once again time for Clavadel to set sail along the coast of Portugal in search of dolphins. This will be (sadly) the final year of fieldwork so we have to give all we got to make sure this will be a successfull fieldseason. The stakes are pretty high given our record of 89 samples last year, so there is no time (or energy) to waste.

There are a number of important changes this year, the most relevant of all concerns Clavadel's registration. As many of you already know, Clavadel has been registered in the UK. In practical terms this means very little, but there is one important benefit which is that Clavadel's official navigation area is now the whole world. So, crewmembers beware, I might well decide to sail somewhere far away and force you to long periods of isolation in the deep blue ocean! The other, less relevant, detail is that the flag flewn at the stern will be British and not Portuguese.

There are also a number of goodies that Clavadel got fitted during the winter, such as a new genoa halyard and a new mainsail sheet or a new set of elastic straps to secure the mainsail, but one consists in a massive intervention: the standing rigging was completely replaced (only the backstay remained) by a brand new one! Needless to say, I was dying to take Clavadel out for a sail. Yesterday I came down to Portimão from Lisbon and today I took advantage of the forecast north wind to give her a go. The result was surprising to say the least. At around 10 knots apparent coming from the bow, the wind was hardly exciting to give the new rigging a try and I feared I might not try anything at all. However, soon after hoisting both sails, Clavadel was easily doing over 5 knots. For those of you who know Clavadel a bit better, you will be aware that doing over 5 knots in 10 knots winds was outright impossible in the previous years. If I tell you that, after a while, the wind increased to around 15 knots, and that Clavadel reacted to this by reaching 7 knots, you will probably think I'm pulling your legs! Well... I am not! The book says that it is essential to keep the standing rigging well maintained and fine tuned to maximize your performance under sail, and I had a first hand confirmation of this. So I tell you, come and experience this for yourselves, and be prepared to witness Clavadel reach performance peaks you never thought possible! Clavadel is now a proper boat, and I won't allow anyone to say otherwise!