Taka Trois, back on the hard, but this time under an airport runway!
In between gallivanting around Madeira, we also ministered to Taka Trois’ recent injuries with the help of some kind local experts. Pé, the sailmaker fixed our lazy jack (the bag that holds the main sail) and helped us to install our side-panels (which finally caught up with us from our errant canvas maker in La Rochelle). Salma, a truly heaven-sent repairman and engine expert, found and repaired the problem with our engine--an installation error in the size of one of the fuel hoses (!).
The bow thruster fully repaired with its new flap.
He also tackled our bow thruster (a transversal propulsion device built into the bow, to make the boat more maneuverable) which was not working well when we left Cascais and we feared that the fishing buoy we snagged there caused some damage. Salma fiddled with its electrical wires from above and Patrice put his wetsuit on and dove below to have a look. He saw that the trap door which protects the bow thruster when it is lifted up and not in use had been ripped off and needed to be replaced. Only one solution: Take the boat out of the water to fix it. Urgghh! Just to clarify, this is a big deal involving considerable expense, manpower and complex maneuvers, especially here in Madeira where the lifting area is an exceptionally narrow and difficult place to maneuver and the boatyard is under the airport runway!
I must pause in this narrative to say that before we even began to think about this journey, Patrice had marveled at the new airport runway being built in Madeira in 2000. For years the runway was too short for the major carriers, so visitors had to land on Porto Santo and be ferried across by hydrofoil. In 2000, it was rebuilt over the ocean on a series of 180 columns, each pillar about 70 meters tall. Underneath, the reclaimed land, there is a park and a boat yard. Although we had no desire to be lifted out, the fact that we could witness this incredible feat of engineering from this perspective was very very cool!
Early Monday morning we left Quinta do Lorde thankful to have our friend Luc aboard to lend a hand with the maneuver and traveled the 3 miles to the airport boatyard. Patrice took Taka Trois into the lifting area bow first only to be told that he had to turn her around and back in. “Captain K-Turn” lived up to his reputation (the title having been given to him by my sister-in-law during a similarly difficult 180° turn many years ago in a marina in Guadaloupe) and completed the turn expertly. I won’t go into the heart-stopping details of the effort that went into lifting our fat-bottomed girl with her deep keel out of the water, the photos below tell part of the story, but let’s just say that all went well in the end.
By mid-day we were free to leave her in Salma’s capable hands while we went off to complete the last item on our list of things to do in Madeira: Hike a levada. "A levada is an irrigation channel, designed to take water from places where it is plentiful to those where it is not. Water is abundant in the mountains to the north of the island, but scarce in the fertile and sunny south, where most crops are grown. Looking for a way to store water and carry it to their cultivation terraces and fields, the island’s early settlers began to build the irrigation channels that form the basis of today’s network. A typical levada is 0.5 meters wide and 0.8 meters deep and there are now 2,200 km of levadas on Madeira!”* The bonus of this system is that the maintenance paths make perfect footpaths.
We chose to hike the Levada dos Tornos because it was perched in the hills high above Funchal and because we read that it had an interesting tea house along the way. We were not disappointed with our choice. We walked for more than an hour through fragrant eucalyptus and pine trees with occasional glimpses of the city below and the blue Atlantic beyond and stopped for lunch at the enchanting Hortensia tea house and gardens. We felt a little like guests at the Mad Hatter’s tea party having tea, sandwiches and a slice of a delectable honey cake in a whimsical garden.
As the boatyard does not allow you to stay on your boat while it is ‘on the hard,’ we checked into a hotel. It was no hardship to enjoy the facilities of a hotel including a long soak in a hot bath--such joy! We treated ourselves to an excellent meal at a nearby restaurant and had to revise our opinion of Madeira wine. The sommelier insisted that we try a 10-year vintage with our appetizers and we immediately recognized the problem--up until then we had only tried the 3-year cheap stuff and as it turns out, we have expensive taste in Madeira wine!
The next morning it was go, go, go as we stocked up on provisions, paid bills, sent a few last e-mails, posted a blog entry and said good-bye to everyone in the marina including our now dear friends, Luc and Anne and their three adorable children. We’re hoping to see them in the Canaries, but they may have a long wait for engine parts.
Going back in the water was just as harrowing as coming out, but by 4:00 all was complete and we bid farewell to Madeira, unanimously voted as our favorite stop thus far, and set a course for the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
The next morning it was go, go, go as we stocked up on provisions, paid bills, sent a few last e-mails, posted a blog entry and said good-bye to everyone in the marina including our now dear friends, Luc and Anne and their three adorable children. We’re hoping to see them in the Canaries, but they may have a long wait for engine parts.
Going back in the water was just as harrowing as coming out, but by 4:00 all was complete and we bid farewell to Madeira, unanimously voted as our favorite stop thus far, and set a course for the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
A happy skipper with his beloved boat back in the water taking off for the Canaries!
* Description taken from the “DK Guide: Top 10 Madeira”
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