Food Preparation

Aug 24th.




Been doing a bit of shopping.  A bunch of cans - mostly for lunches.  Dinners are dehydrated home brew concoctions.~


This is how our spaghetti bolognaise with mushrooms is born.


Spaghetti bolognaise sauce cooked as normal  (with fat removed)  and dehydrated




Add dehydrated cooked pasta.  Using small elbow noodles as they dont puncture the vacumme bags.




Add some dehydrated mushrooms for an added flavour



Put in the vacuum sealer




Finished product - Just add  hot water in a food flask for about 15 mins to rehydrate and enjoy.  Can add dried cheese flakes or whatever you like after.  Tested this recipe in August from our experiments made in February and it was delicious.  (and still alive)

I found that 100g of dehydrated food was enough for me (before hydration) as a dinner.  I am not small  but didnt need more.  It is a smallish meal but I always had some snacks with a sundowner in the evening.  

Snacks I had on the few days I sailed were salty crack biscuits with Marmite or tuna/sardine pate or peanuts with rasins.



This is how we buy our peanuts and raisins.  Peanuts come in 1 kilo bags which are very reasonable in price but will go stale if left open too long.

I mix 100g of peanuts with 30g sultanas and vacuum seal into bags that will keep me going for ages without them going stale.


10 bags of peanut and raisin snacks that will remain fresh tasting.


Doing your own dehydrated meals is probably one third of the cost of buying and much nicer as you can add lots of flavors

I will ask Mrs Nuts for her recipes in detail but she tends to make things up as she goes.

Got about 40 meals done already and aiming for about 70.

Only got a few more days before my adventure begins

 Food

Mrs Nuts has been cooking non stop preparing meals for dehydrating and our dehydrator has been going constantly with up to 10 trays at a time.  The chamber vacuum sealer has also been busy and have many meals prepared so far.

Ive got to take some pics of what is cooking and the recipes to share.  

My plan is to be all stocked up and ready to go by 30 th August.  Sister Nuts has a milestone birthday on the 30th which I cant miss and will leave the Azores for mainland Portugal  on the first weather window after.

Tropical storms getting more active at the moment so got to keep my eyes open.  I have BIG respect for those weather systems.  Bought that T shirt many years ago and dont want to buy another.

14th August

Sorry for late update but had some personal things to take care of.

After doing the 400nm sail in very mild and slow conditions I felt it was necessary to have a better test for Nuts and myself.

There was a big high pressure system over the Azores with light winds but there was a tropical depression (TS Dexter) passing to the north of the Azores with some wind and waves.  I decided to head to the North West towards Corvo to get some influence for a proper test.

Left Horta midday Wednesday 6th Aug. with a pizza and some sandwiches and enough food and water for maybe 3 weeks.  

Wind was 10 to 12kts from the North  so a beat up the channel to hang a left past  Riberinha.  Wind eased off once out the channel (acceleration zone between Pico and Faial) and slowly went towards the NW and wind dropped to  7 to 8kts.  Sea flat and clear sky with full moon and very happy windvane.  



Sailing past our house on the north of Faial with Pico on the horizon - note the bigger wind vane with sailcloth covered holes to make it lighter.  This is one of the mods from the last trip.



Beautiful evening with calm sailing  the whole night with lots of sleep but wind slowly going lighter.  By 1000h the next morning no wind and going in circles.  Battery was at 97% at sundown and 86% at dawn and back to 93% by 1130am with high thin cloud and some direct sun and 100% by 1330h.  Slow going the whole afternoon with thick grey clouds rolling in from the west.

2nd Night.
Complete cloud cover and no wind but rain squalls visible in the distance.  Had several squalls during the night with winds up to about 20kts with heavy rain and no wind in between.  No sleep during the night and passed a French yacht quite close on its way to Faial under motor.   Got a light breeze at sunrise and managed to sleep from 6am to 10am.  Nice long sleep!  At midday was heading in the correct direction for the first time in ages. 

5.30pm had vodka and orange juice  with snacks doing 4kts with eased sheets in calm seas but long swell starting to show up.  Life is good!

Friday Night to Saturday Night.

Pleasant sailing for most of the night but died in the morning.  Flores and Corvo clearly visible some miles to port.  The wind changed direction from SW to W and started picking up.  I kept beating NNW for a few hours towards Dexter with increasing wind and the seas started to build very quickly.  I eased sheets and went due north for 3 hours by which time I had gone from one reef to 2 reefs and it was getting a bit exciting.  By the time the sea was about 3m with breaking crests I decided I was close enough.  The wind went toward the NW as the front went through with lots of gusts and rain.  Still with 2 reefs and jib I turned back towards Faial in a ESE direction.  The windvane was still working very well with lots of action swinging the tiller from side to side as we surfed down steep waves many times.  

It was very exciting but on the edge of something going very wrong.  Was going between 6 and 8kts with surfs in between.  Had big vibrations from the keel on several occasions (vortex from trailing edge?). I was inside hanging on with big eyes looking outside so I decided to drop the main.  Easier said than done in the dark but once all squared away and under jib alone it was like xmas.  5kts all nice and stable with relaxed windvane with tiller in gentle swinging mode. Chicken with mushrooms and cheese sauce and pasta for dinner - homemade experimental dehydrated meal from February- delicious! (Mrs Nuts special)

The wind slowly decreased overnight but everything was going so well that I didnt bother to raise more sail.  Got lots of sleep and finished my second book of the voyage.


Repaired and modified windvane in operation in brisk downwind conditions.  I now have ropes to stop the tiller going too far over and a bungee to loop over the tiller to hold it in position when doing maneuvers.  

The sail home was uneventful on Sunday with the wind aft and going lighter.  There was still a swell running but not steep enough to surf.  Of course at 1am just before arriving at home there was a big rain squall which soaked me without foul weather clothing on and the wind dropped to almost zero 1 mile from the marina. Took me 2 hours to get there and was finally in my marina slip at 330am.

Discoveries from this last adventure.

I still love sailing!!  Dont store your sugar bowl where you have to reach over your boiling kettle to reach when making coffee.  Some kind of cover over the companionway is very useful to keep things dry inside.  When the wind and sea get rough it is very challenging to not get bashed about inside.  Lots of small beanbag cushions are very useful to wedge yourself in when sleeping on the floor between the bunks (or even to help keep you from rolling around on a side bunk)   A small fan to help keeping cool down below is very welcome.  I have 2 small deck hatches which have been open for a lot of my adventure time and make a huge difference to the comfort inside.  Olive oil stops squeaks on delrin washers on rudder pintles.

What went wrong...

My AIS transponder and plotter which worked perfectly for my first adventure started to miss behave.  There where big gaps when I was not transmitting.  I could always receive  and was not aware of the transmission failure.  It was only through texts on the Garmin Inreach from family that I knew there was an issue.  After extensive tests and communication with the agent it is decided there is a failure of the equipment and must send it back for replacement.  Time running out but have a simple AIS transponder as a spare to help out in the meantime for passage to Lisbon.


Mrs Nuts has been in cooking mode and busy preparing meals for dehydrating. We have 7 recipes that work well (for me) and can easily make 10 of each so should have plenty of food.

Cant wait to go sailing again!!

Just some info for other Setka sailors - If you have a washer on the pin of the bottom rudder pintle above a split pin - put a rubber washer or something to stop the washer vibrating - it makes an annoying noise.  Took me a long time to find where it was coming from.






Garmin Inreach track of  last adventure.

 4th August

Just a quickie.  Been watching the weather for the next adventure.  Done all the repairs and mods and ready for the next test.  I want to test Nuts in a bit more wind than the last sail.  There has been a big high pressure system over the Azores for several days with light winds. 

 Tropical storm Dexter is going to pass to the North of Faial in a few days so I am planning to head North West for a few days to get some influence and a bit of wind to see if all is well.  

Planning to leave Wednesday midday to be at sea for 5ish days.  Will take provisions for 20 days just in case.  (which means 30 days)

Will update blog tomorrow with pics of repairs and modifications.  

Got to find some good books to read!


 25 th July

Some news at last.


I decided to set off on a 400nm sail the same as all entrants in the SAC within the rules of the adventure.  I have purchased a Starlink Mini which I would like to use for weather and Orca tracking for the trip to mainland Portugal so I can not use that voyage as a qualifying sail.  Also I thought it was a good idea to spend some time at sea to learn the boat and what modifications I would like to make before leaving home base. (and my workshop).

Another thing I wanted to test was myself.  I did many transatlantic voyages of which some were single handed but that was many many years ago and I wanted to find out if I still had what it takes in the mental and physical field and did I really want to go ahead with this adventure.  Better to find out sooner than later.  There is no maybe - it is yes or no.

I decided that the sooner the better.  After an afternoon maiden sail with a reasonable breeze so I could check the reefing system, the home brew selfsteering vane, and a few beats and runs I decided the best thing was to go for it.  I knew the boat is built like a tank and was sure it could not sink or fall to pieces.

I stocked up with 40l of water and enough food for 3 weeks and plenty of tools and spare bits.

 Day 1

Departed Horta Marina midday on Thursday 17th July.  The weather forecast was for NW becoming N then going NE winds 10 to 12 kts. My planned route was to leave Sao Jorge, Terceira and Sao Miguel to starboard and return to Horta Faial.  Doing a route on Navionics made it 401nm in nice straight lines.  

The wind was at least 12kts and decided to put a reef in the main.  The wind vane is happier when sailing more upright and balanced.  There were gusts going over 15kts to start.  I could lay the west point of Sao Jorge with a bit to spare for most of the beat there but when I got within maybe 4 miles from the point the wind headed me and I had to tack upwind.  What was interesting is there was another yacht -Belgian flag running downwind close towards  me.  After passing me they dropped their running pole and beat after me to ask what kind of boat Nuts was.  They had heard of the 5.8 and thought I was one.  I educated them as to the roots.  I got around Sao Jorge as the sun was setting but could not free off the sheets as the wind kept heading me.  I could lay Terceira though.


Rounding Sao Jorge and sunset a little later.


Had very smooth and relaxing sail towards Terceira Island with wind vane working very well.  Still beating but wind slowly dropped and had full mainsail.  I kept heading as high as I could to give lots of searoom to the island.  Got lots of sleep and read my book.

Day 2

Wind had eased off and speed dropped but spent the day creeping up to the north of Terceira Island and after a nice evening rounding with a cocktail and peanuts watching the world go by I was blasted by a big sperm whale spouting maybe 50m away.  It did big breaths for a bit then arched its back and put its tail up and disappeared.  The wind picked up overnight and finally aft of the beam.

Day 3

Got some trade wind type weather with wind and waves behind on the way to the east end of Sao Miguel.



Fast fun sailing.  The wind picked up  to about 12kts apparent.  I put a reef in to help the wind vane.  Later I put a second reef in for the same reason as the wind picked up a bit more but was going between 5 and 6kts with  a surf every now and then.  The wind vane was working like a champion.  I experimented with the transom tabs and it was much more stable with both tabs down.  Very relaxed - was a big mistake.  I was down below and a wave slapped the side aft and filled the cockpit and sent some buckets of water inside. It took ages to clean out all the water and dry things.  There was not a lot but it got into the lockers under the bunk on the port side as well as my food lockers above the bunk.  Just enough to make things wet.  Big lesson learned.  When wind and waves aft of the beam keep the lower washboard (at least) in position even if things seem fine.

As I approached the turning point on the east of Sao Miguel the water depth went from over 1000m to 70m deep in a very short distance as well as the wind acceleration around the point made the waves very steep with lots more wind. I had 2 reefs in the main and was surfing every second wave without touching the tiller.  The wind vane was working overtime and it was a good test for my heart (and the vane).  After I spun out for the second time I dropped the mainsail and everything went calm and was still doing over 6kts.  Another lesson learned.  Dont be a hero.  Just reduce sail and chill.  

Once around the corner and in the lee I got some good sleep in calm water and fading wind.

Day 4

Spent the whole day trying to move in no wind.  I had phone signal so could check Windy Weather.  There was a high pressure that had moved directly over me but other than that it was useless.  It was hot and sunny and was getting sunburned.  I spent as much time inside as possible to escape the sun but with the non existent wind we were moving too slowly for the trimtab to be effective.  I was resting inside when there was a bang and went out to discover that the windvane had been damaged.  The rudder had been pushed over to 90 degrees and that pulled on the connecting rod to the vane and broke the mounting off.



Had to scratch through what I had on board and this is what I came up with-


Gave it overnight for the sikaflex to cure and it worked like new the next day.  (1 more thing on the job list).  I didnt loose any distance as was not moving anyway.

Day 5

Spent the previous night and today tying to get into little ruffles on the mirror sea to move westwards -ish.  One thing about the Setka design is that if you have 1knot of wind it will start to move.  I finally managed to wiggle my way to Ponta Delgada where there is a gap in the mountains and got moving again.  Close reaching at 4kts in flat calm seas was a pleasure.  It went calm for a while at sundowner time as there is another high patch of land just before the west end of Sao Miguel Island.  Managed to get through the calm area and  into  maybe 8kts of north wind for the night.  Nice sleep with happy windvane.

Day 6

In open sea again away from islands and wind slowly fading away.  Had plenty water so had good wash.  First salt water using Johnsons Baby Shampoo as that lathers in salt water for hair and body and then a salt water rinse off and finally a fresh water rinse off to get rid of the salt.  If careful can get away with only 500ml of fresh water.  It makes you feel really good for at least a few hours before you start sweating all over again.

Saw lots of dolphins on the way to Pico.

Had a dolphin very interested in the rudder tab combination and followed 1m behind Nuts for a long time just looking. Unfortunately no camera handy.

As I got closer to Pico the wind disappeared completely.  Jib down, tiller lashed and main sheeted tight and a good sleep.  Ais on watch!!  Did have a ship pass close.  My alarm went balistic till I switched it off.  A tanker with 60m beam - that is 12 Setkas bow to stern sideways on that ship!!! 340m length.  What was interesting though is I was monitoring them from 20nm away and was thinking about calling them on VHF to alert them that I could not move but noticed the COG (course over ground) was changing and they had altered course to pass 2 miles behind me.  As soon as they were past they resumed their original course.  Good seamanship.

Very nice sunset

There was a green flash but difficult to capture.

Day 7

This day was a struggle.  Sea like a mirror with tiny patches of ripples which indicated some slight windy patches. I spent lots of time trying to tack or gybe to aim for a patch of breeze.  Was kept company by dolphins from time to time but could not persuade them to push me in the right direction.  I eventually wiggled my way to the west of Pico where the forecast NE winds showed up and suddenly Nuts came alive.  Well NE winds ended up more N to NNW which was where I wanted to go so a brisk beat with a couple of tacks to get up the channel to Horta


The last tack into home port at 9pm 24th July.


This is a screen shot from my Garmin Inreach Explorer App


Did 789km (426nm)

So what did I learn.............

My body is not as young as it used to be.  Nuts is a very lively box of tricks.  It does not sit still.  Moving about inside when moving fast in waves needs to be planned. You need to be able to do squats from very low down.  Pouring boiling water into a coffee mug or your dehydrated meal has to be planned and done carefully to avoid burns.  The best place to sleep is on the floor.  When calm you can sleep on the leeward side to help the set of the sails.  Forget sleeping to windward when there is a lot of wind.  Have lots of hand holds inside and near the companionway.  Always clip on your harness when the wind is above 5kts.  Keep a lower wash board in the companionway at all times when wind and waves aft of the beam even if it seems dry. A Windex always points to where you want to go.

Other things I discovered.

I still love sailing.  50w of solar is plenty for a Setka.  AIS is a marvel. Navigation on a tablet is so easy it is cheating.  Garmin Inreach Mini 2 is a must and works very well.  Our homemade dehydrated meals are just fine (tested meals made in February)


Job list before next excursion.

Fix wind vane and strengthen.  Now I know it works - make a spares package and a single lead weight.

Fit hand holds on each side of companionway inside.

Look at putting flaps on cockpit drains as got water entering cockpit from breaking waves hitting transom

Fit tiller extension.

Some kind of towel holders near galley.

Fit catches on bunk locker lids to keep them closed when upside down

Connect second VHF antennae 


Cant wait for heading off again.  I have rediscovered my love of sailing. ( even though my body is getting a bit bashed up)


 23rd July

Ian has still not made it back yet.  The wind has been very light to non-existent.  We have been out of contact , apart from Garmin messages, for 2 days but this morning he was close enough to Pico to get a mobile phone signal.  

Pico on the horizon early this morning

Over the course of the day he has done about 12 nautical miles, and what wind there is, is coming from the west so he can't even steer a direct route for home.  He says it's been extremely hot.  But he is eating well, and getting enough sleep although in these very light winds the wind vane does not work well and he has had to do a lot of hand steering to try to reach the small patches of ripples where there is a little more breeze.  When he's had enough of sitting at the tiller in the sun he lashes the helm amidships and goes for a snooze.  

Yesterday a huge tanker passed quite close to Nuts.  He saw it heading his way, was wondering if he should call on the VHF to inform that he was becalmed, when he noticed the tanker changing course to pass about 2 miles astern of him,  He has also seen a lot more dolphins and a hammerhead shark.

The weather forecast is for the wind to pick up a little early tomorrow so hopefully he will get back tomorrow.

 20th July

It has been cooler yesterday and today with quite a bit of cloud cover.  He saw a whale surface 3 times, and a pod of dolphins cavorted around him while he was having breakfast. Yesterday the wind picked up and he made good time, reaching 6 to 7 knots.  The downside is that the sea also picked up and one wave slapped against the side of the hull, dumped into the cockpit and down the hatch so he had some bailing out to do.  

But he had tough night.  He was close to the coast, the wind died and he had lots of ships all around him.  And something on his self steering broke so he had to helm all the time unless he could get the boat balanced to sail unaided.  He didn't get any sleep last night.  At about 7.00 in the morning he furled the sails and went to sleep.  He drifted south a bit, east a lot, north and then south again for an hour an and a half before he woke.

Today he is going along the south coast of Sao Miguel, there is a bit more wind and lots of sport fishing boats and whale/dolphin watching tourism boats.  At one stage a lot of dolphin watchers were heading in his direction and the dolphins were too.  They surfaced all around him and he was surrounded by the whale watchers.

He has manufactured a "jury rig" for this self steering and pumped it full sika flex which he hopes will hold till he gets home.

The break

The fix

But the wind is really light, to non existent.  Tonight he is going around in circles waiting for the wind to fill in