El Hierro to La Gomera

We had made the decision to return back to La Gomera after a hard night sailing across to El Hierro, we were very disappointed with the description from our pilot guides and now have lost faith in them, we could have chanced going south to La Restinga, but did not want to risk another disappointment. At this stage we were roped to the concrete wall with all our fenders employed. We made a quick sandwich and a hot drink before we slipped the ropes and set off back.

You could see in the faces of Alex and Sean, who had just had a sailing experience they would choose to forget, let alone go back out and sail back. We all sat eating our sandwiches in total silence, whilst we was waiting for daylight outside La Estaca, the wind had died a little and also backed, thankfully!

We left the harbour and rounded the massive break water, instantly meeting a huge swell as soon as we turned the wall, this was soon passed as we entered deeper water and the swell reduced to the now common Atlantic roll, we motored out about 2 miles to get a clear direction of the wind, before deciding on our sail plan, the wind was on our port bow between 10 – 12 knots with very lumpy sea’s. We predicted that the wind speeds would probably increase further out, so we opted to start with the first reef in the main and the first reef in the genoa, which we know is very conservative we have always chosen to take it easy, after all we are not in a race, no need to put the boat and crew under any unwanted stress.

I entered the first notes into our logbook at 10.00, the sky was very cloudy with rain clouds in the distance, something we are currently not used to seeing, but small blue holes started to appear, which started to cheer up the crew. The log book was updated every hour and the GPS position transferred to the paper chart, plotting our progress. The boat was handling the swell well and everyone was settling in for the crossing.

As we predicted, after about an hours sailing we had covered 5.5 nautical miles, the wind started to increase, Jo was on the helm. Sean and Alex were sat in the cockpit reading books, the boat was handling the conditions exceptionally well giving everyone on board a comfortable ride, but you could sense that people had that impending doom feeling about them as we started to leave El Hierro behind and move further into the white tops.

Another hour passed and the log was updated again with a distance travelled of 7.5 nautical miles, not bad, I like to crack on when conditions permit, but being conservative with the sails, the boat seemed to be doing all the work and the crew were beginning to start to enjoy the sailing again. As we thought the wind increased to 22 – 24 knots, we already had the reef in the main so just put another reef in the genoa, I had previously shown Sean a video, which I had taken from the escape hatch in the heads window and without us knowing he had done the same, which we have now published and you can view. The video sort of tells some of the story with the bows riding over the now confused seas, the boat pressed on and seemed to be exacting its revenge over the previous nights sail. The crew were also rising to the challenge as the boat speed increased also did the interest in our progress.

The next log entry and chart update reviled a distance travelled of 9.0 nautical miles, fantastic, considering the wind and current was on the port bow, everyone including the boat was now enjoying a cracking sail, we had planned to head to Valle Gran Ray, being the first available port on La Gomera and the shortest distance to sail, but everyone was happy to continue back to San Sebastian.

Alex commented about our previous experience on monohulls and that by now we would be healing over with the toe rail in the water and everyone hanging on from grim death, but not today!

Another hour into our progress and we started to see the wind, start to back and reduce in strength as we started to enter the shadow of La Gomera. The wave heights also started to reduce, the reefs were taken out of the sails, but the wind now had almost dropped to nothing. We had experienced 24 knot wind speeds only 10 minutes ago and we were now down to 6 knots, we started the engines and motor sailed back to San Sebastian. Sean who was now at the helm and had been for some time was getting into the full swing and rhythm of steering the boat and was not about at any time about to give up that position, who needs an autopilot!


Sean at the Helm

We arrived back in to San Sebastian about three hours earlier than predicted and after cleaning the boat, with all hands vigorously helping out, following a 36 hour sailing experience on board Invincible.



San Sebastian

The evening was spent on the back of the boat discussing our experience, Alex was talking about the phosphorescence she could see out of the escape hatch on the port side forward berth as the boat went through the waves. Sean woke up through the evening thinking that the boat had turned upside down, but then realised he was sat up in bed, we all gained something form the last couple of days.