Madeira Again

Yes, we are back to Madeira and have just launched TANIWANI again. Wintering beneath the giant runway was good, with less than usual UV and no rain. Just a thin film of kerosine has covered mast and rig, almost as if you had sprayed it with WD-40. Certainly fine to prevent corrosion, but maybe not so nice for putting sails on. So, there was a bit of cleaning of the head foils necessary. The folks at Repmarine, the little yard under the runway, had done a nice job, applying fresh anti-fouling and polishing the whole boat.

Last Wednesday, May 8, TANIWANI was carefully maneuvered back into the water by the skilled travel-lift operator from Madeira's Sea Rescue. With just the main ready in case of an unlikely engine failure, we moved only some three miles to the nice marina Quinta do Lorde, where we worked a few days to get the boat entirely ready for some months of ocean cruising.

Now we are ready, to leave the marina and will probably first sail over to the neighbor island of Porto Santo for a few days at the lovely beach there. Later we hope to go on to the Azores, possibly via La Palma. And in August we are expected in Galicia. All else depends on the wind, so stay tuned to see where we may drift…

This time just one picture showing TANIWANI#s winter home, with TANIWANI just left of the big pillar in the middle.