LAST PASSAGE

Añadido: 2026-05-16

[00:00:15]And a warm welcome back to Adventures of an Old Sea Dog. I am on the island of Ha in the Azour. An incredibly beautiful place, but I didn't get to see much of it. You might have seen the last episode, in fact, when this happened to Shady. Uh, it was very scary. But now, as you can see, she's all settled down and things are safer. The next problem is that I'm sandwiched between these two large boats and I have to leave soon on what will be my last passage on my way home.

[00:00:44]>> Did some damage down there when the fenders popped out.

[00:00:49]>> Major boy crunching on me on the other side. These tires saved my life. But they leave a mess. They leave a bad bad stain on the side. But at least the boat's not damaged.

[00:01:01]>> But the good news is the beers arrived.

[00:01:04]>> I have to say I christen this place.

[00:01:06]Horrible Hotel. That's the name of the town here. But it's it's the island one of the Azors group.

[00:01:15]Uh and it's not hor. It's beautiful.

[00:01:17]It's lovely. You must come here. But it's been horrible.

[00:01:22]Now all is good with the world. But my god, I just I came here for a rest. Recharge my batteries for my next little bit of the journey, which of course is back to me. Poor old Shagy. She's been through it. But I love my boat. And now the weather had finally come down. I could leave the boat and go and explore this beautiful island. Just take a look at this place. Really is a piece of paradise out here in the Atlantic. As if it was put there deliberately for me, I came across this on the side of a wall.

[00:01:59]Shows exactly what I've been doing.

[00:02:01]>> That's North America, top of Africa, Spain. This is your Zors, UK there. I actually started off from there.

[00:02:11]So it came down this way and then across to the Caribbean, Panama, right across the world, around the other side, down to New Zealand, which is down there, and then up around Australia, and then followed that line, and then broke off. Oh, no, there you go.

[00:02:32]Straight down there. Yep. South of Madagascar, South Africa.

[00:02:41]uh St. Helena which is down here somewhere and little Spanish Portuguese island just off off here and then all the way to the Zors that's that took me to do 50 days and now I'm waiting to do the last bit.

[00:03:12]All very sweet and all very nice. But when I'm traveling, I like to go down some of the back streets and find out where the locals hang out. I put my name on the wall here to claim my spot.

[00:03:21]Nobody in the place except me and the barman. Uh so I availed myself of a beer. I chatted to him, but he didn't speak any English, but we became best friends. This guy, on the other hand, didn't smile at all. Uh he was playing accordion. Maybe that had something to do with it. I wouldn't smile if I played the accordion either. The town is dominated by the fort of Santa Cruz that overlooks the harbor. It was originally built back in the 1500s. It was built to protect the town from pirates and privateeers. A little bit more on that later on. Meantime, it was a beautiful evening and I was walking under these fantastic trees. I don't know what they are. I call them Wookie trees because it looked a bit like a Wookie to me. if you even see what I mean.

[00:04:10]I found this interesting. I've seen this sort of thing. I I think they call it gig racing uh all over the world. These guys didn't quite get the idea of how they had to do it. You know that everybody has to u at the same time and they were heading for that uh big rocky thing there. Oh, look at that view.

[00:04:25]Doesn't Isn't that just fantastic? There we go. They're going in reverse now. And they made it out to sea. Oh, look at that view. I don't know if they were ever seen again. Anyway, time for a stroll. A >> lot of whale watching stuff. You know, >> a lot of diving going on here in Hort whale watching. Oh, I do love the smell of neoprene in the morning. Not only is this area famous uh for its diving and it's whale watching. It's also famous for this. This is Cafe Sport. It's the go-to place for cruisers, for sailors all over the world. Come here for a beer. Normally, it's full of people, but during the day, it was empty. So, I took my chance to come in and sit down here.

[00:05:05]So, here's me in a bar drinking coffee.

[00:05:07]What? But it was fun just to sit there and look at all the artifacts strewn all over the walls and the ceiling. There was so much to see. I had to come back the next day also to see my friends Judy and Steve from Sailing Fair ale. We had some filming to do.

[00:05:22]>> We'll meet your horse. You know, he's filming. I'm >> We just get everywhere. We're just getting because I never I didn't get a threesome yet.

[00:05:33]>> Yeah, inviting me back for a threesome.

[00:05:36]>> That's enough smut. Barry, I took the guys to the castle. Uh they hadn't seen it yet, so we took a tour around. Uh these the ramparts, no idea where this goes.

[00:05:49]Check this out.

[00:05:52]Did you know that in the olden days in Britain anyway, the staircases used to go that way around. So if you were defending, you'd have your sword your sword hand on the outside. Here it's the left side. Be okay for me cuz I'm left-handed. But uh yeah, this this staircase is the wrong way around.

[00:06:13]Okay.

[00:06:16]Being a fort, it had the normal fort things that you would expect to see in a fort. Sort of cannons and things like that and slits in the wall. But the new owners had added something. This fort had a swimming pool. Now, how's that for luxury? It was actually quite cold that day, so I didn't jump in. Instead, we went to a very nice restaurant where they grew their own yams.

[00:06:40]It was so nice to be able to sit down and chat away the evening with these two. Uh I was going to go on and have some more adventures with them in the future as uh my timeline is running different to theirs. They've already put it out. So check out their channel, Sailing Feral.

[00:06:56]Meanwhile, my single-handed sail around the world continues.

[00:07:04]All this big plastic and the little rusty steel boat.

[00:07:15]I'm sitting here on my boat in Hort in the Azours and this is actually the the last place I'm going to be on this adventure.

[00:07:30]I'm leaving tomorrow and my destination is somewhere I've been dreaming of for the last few years.

[00:07:41]It's Plymouth.

[00:07:43]My next port call will be home.

[00:07:47]And I have to say it's with mixed emotions.

[00:07:52]I've grown used to this life now over the last 9 years and it's uh it's going to be difficult.

[00:08:02]I've been beaten near death on this stone keyside for the last week. just been horrendous to a point I thought the boat was really going to get seriously damaged.

[00:08:15]Tomorrow the mighty Shadmeister will set sail from here to Plymouth.

[00:08:36]So, it's the last one.

[00:08:40]I'm so stressed this morning. Really stressed. Part of it is because I've got two very expensive catamarans either side of me and it's very, very tight squeeze to get out of here. And I'm just annoyed that they do that. They put these monster boats next to small boats like mine. Um, so I've got to get out of it. Lucky I've got Sailing Fair here in town and they're going to help me. So, um, it should be all right.

[00:09:11]Doesn't it doesn't help. I just I just want to get out of here. I've had a horrible time here. It's a nice place, but the weather has been appalling and I've had nothing but trouble for the week and a bit I've been here. It'll be a relief to get off this damn stone key sign.

[00:09:30]Stone keys and boats don't break, especially when the wind's blowing on them.

[00:09:37]This is not quite the finish that I was looking for. It's my last port. Next port is going to be Plymouth.

[00:09:46]It's about 3 weeks away. Let's get to it.

[00:09:58]ereto stick.

[00:10:00]>> Right. Okay. I'm going to You take both of you. Have >> a good trip.

[00:10:25]>> Yeah, it's so it's so good to have met you. Awesome.

[00:10:28]>> I can't believe I've been in there for a week. Right, I'm going to get into open water. I don't want to sort everything out. A >> last one.

[00:10:40]Last one.

[00:10:46]So long. Horrible ho.

[00:10:49]your fault. It's the weather.

[00:11:06]Coffee time. I've got a big problem this morning.

[00:11:13]Got another house guest.

[00:11:16]This fellow is big and he's massive.

[00:11:20]Hello, big bird. Hello. Hello. Yeah.

[00:11:24]Yeah. You need to really get up and go.

[00:11:27]I know.

[00:11:30]I give you a hand, mate, but you're such a big bird.

[00:11:34]Come on. Go on. Push.

[00:11:37]I can't care for you, mate. You're too big.

[00:11:40]Thank you.

[00:11:41]>> Hello, buddy.

[00:11:44]Hello.

[00:11:46]I'll let you be. I'm going to have my coffee and then we'll see what we can do with you. Okay.

[00:11:50]>> Just reset hydro.

[00:11:54]Lots of flippy floppiness going on.

[00:11:59]And it's a bit early to tell what the day will bring. I haven't got a weather forecast yet, but it is a spectacular morning. And I have seen whale. I just seen a couple more jumping over in the distance here.

[00:12:13]So, we're kind of on a whale hunt. Uh, I've turned a boat. Uh, they're on the course I need to be on. So, maybe we'll uh get lucky.

[00:12:23]But these clouds are certainly telling me something.

[00:12:28]Telling me that it's a good day to be alive, baby. Cuz they are beautiful.

[00:12:33]And then something really magical happened.

[00:12:40]It's a whale. or maybe it was a dolphin.

[00:12:42]In the 1960s, I used to sail on this boat. This is my grandfather's boat, Sparrow. He had a boat horn, which of course you could blow if you needed to uh get somebody's attention, or you could use it as a fog horn. Over 60 years later, I still have that horn on board Shady.

[00:12:59]>> That's the actual whistly bit, the reed if you will, in uh made of brass. Trying to get as much as this shiny as I can without ruining the finish. We're getting there.

[00:13:14]>> Okay. I think you've had long enough of me, old mate.

[00:13:18]>> So, that's what she looks like when she's all put back together again. Not a perfect uh restoration, but it'll do for now. And I had to use tape to hold uh the mouthpiece on. The thread's all gone.

[00:13:32]I suppose we should give it a go.

[00:13:39]It was quite emotional.

[00:13:44]It's >> like hearing my grandfather's voice again for the first time in 60 years.

[00:13:59]>> Sheer water. Sheer water. Sheer water.

[00:14:01]This is a s vessel. White shadow >> boat called Sheer Water. I've just been talking to them. They're just there.

[00:14:08]That's a sailing boat called Sheer Water. And they're just so close. The alarm went off. And it's not often that I see other boats here. So, I had to give them a call. I just said hi.

[00:14:19]They're like, "Uh, hello." I'm like, "I'm just over there." And they're like, "Oh, yeah. We didn't see you." It's great. First people I've talked to for like a week or something. They're somewhere over there now hauling ass in front of me. Of course, everybody does. I got pretty much full sail up and we're going really in the wrong direction.

[00:14:42]Haven't really been filming much on this part of the trip because nothing really has been happening, which is good cuz there's no drama. Nothing's gone wrong as yet. Um I just been a bit stressed about the whole thing last last trip and all that.

[00:14:59]So, uh, I just keep myself to myself really.

[00:15:04]And of course, my friend John is long gone. He's he's he's in England now. So, nice to talk to those guys over there.

[00:15:12]But, I I haven't really been filming anything. It's been just Groundhog Day, really. Same, same, sameo, which is nice. Nice routine going cooking some food. I've had a bad stomach for the most part of this trip. I think it might have been the local water that I brought with me. So, I'm back on store still bought bottle water at the moment. Uh, it seems to be helping, but yeah, it's just uh yeah, so and there's some rough weather coming up, so I'm just um preparing myself for that as always.

[00:15:48]That's normal.

[00:15:53]Heat.

[00:16:11]Heat.

[00:16:29]Towards the end of the day, I like to bring in stuff I don't want to get wet.

[00:16:34]And it does actually look a bit like it's going to rain tonight. I'll zip that up in a minute. Looking decidedly bleak all around us.

[00:16:50]It's that time of day that I start to close the boat down ready for the evening. Make sure all the port holes are closed. Take in some sail if I think it needs it. That's what I'm doing at the moment. I'm I'm standing here trying to work out what the weather's doing.

[00:17:07]It's supposed to drop overnight, trying to get north a little bit like that other boat we saw earlier on. I was talking to the skipper and uh he he's heading up north to try and get some of the wind. Um so I'm kind of following what he's doing. Not in such aggressive way cuz there's also some bad wind up there. Some some nasty weather up further north. So trying to whoops make my mind what to do. Take a bit of sail in or not? But we're going so slow and it seems to be quite breezy but I just can't get the boat to move.

[00:17:43]with just that wind speed one or two knots smaller than what I need to get 13 tons to move through the water.

[00:17:52]And I'm not going to put more sail up now. The last thing I want to do is be fighting with the sails in the middle of the night. And it does look like rain.

[00:18:11]We have one of those collision situations going on. That's the collision alarm. We're very, very close.

[00:18:20]I've tried calling them repeatedly and they don't answer. They're right on me.

[00:18:26]What am I supposed to do? Bural. Burial.

[00:18:29]Bural. This is selling boat shadow. Want to make it known that I've tried to contact the French boat uh bereal several times about five times now.

[00:18:41]They're right on me. Collision course.

[00:18:43]They're not answering. Uh they're they're not responding. Okay. He's still close. He's come around my stern and he's right on me, but he's not going to hit me. But that was just bad bad seammanship. Really bad. They should contact me, tell me what they want to do. I tell them what I'm going to do. We miss, but they're not doing that.

[00:19:15]Lucky, lucky.

[00:19:22]And then we're gone.

[00:19:29]Well, it's looking decidedly northern Atlantic today. Gray and not so happy looking, is it really?

[00:19:39]We're actually headed in the wrong direction. Uh, we should be going up there, but the wind is coming from there, so we can't. And we're going to have to wait until it changes, which is a bit of a pain, but nothing I can do.

[00:19:53]But a nice show by the dolphin, so that was okay.

[00:19:59]We're looking a bit rag taggy boat here.

[00:20:02]Uh even got the car tire from uh the the stone keyside when we got smashed a bit nearly. He's he's ended up on board.

[00:20:12]Getting towards the end of the day.

[00:20:14]Still desperately trying to point the boat into wind. Got both head sails up and the main sail, but it's still not working. It's a brave sight. I love it.

[00:20:24]These two sails together like this. The idea is you make like a jet engine effect between the two and it pulls the uh the bow round into wind. The wind is coming from the northeast and that's exactly where I want to go.

[00:20:38]So we're just we're just not managing to get up there. Tomorrow we're forecast no wind.

[00:20:45]Uh so that's going to make about 3 days for me pretty much sat in the same place. It's beginning to get a bit tiresome. I'm getting so fed up.

[00:21:01]There's a big old blow coming in and we're round about here. Uh we're going to miss it, but in the middle of the night we might get the front end of it coming through. So I've decided to drop some head sail, which is a bit dodgy.

[00:21:17]It's at night. It's late. I got to do it.

[00:21:21]I actually ended up having to pull some of the main sail down with a reef and that I felt a bit safer for the night if it blew up.

[00:21:35]>> So, got it done.

[00:21:38]>> Safe and sound under the biminy. I don't like going on deck in the middle of the night. But yeah, um I'd heard that there was a a cyclone because it's cyclone season in the Caribbean and one of them has decided it wants to come across the Atlantic, hasn't it? Of course. Exactly where I am. Uh yeah. So, there's a cyclone headed uh behind me. So, I it's catching up tonight.

[00:22:07]So, I'm uh a little bit concerned, but I think it's going to kind of peter out, if you will, before it gets to me.

[00:22:16]Nevertheless, I've reduced the sail.

[00:22:18]I've altered course a little bit to help put the speed on to try and beat this thing. Although, of course, you can't outrun a cyclone, but it's way behind me, but it's due to catch up in the early hours of tomorrow morning. So rather than risk anything, I've I've reduced all the sale like after days and days and days of nothingness, now this it's it's typical.

[00:22:45]It's like black and white, uh sea water, uh high low, ying and yang. It's just I don't know how you describe it. It's just like it's from one thing to another thing. There's no in between and it kind of wears you out.

[00:23:05]As I've said before, I just want this to be over. I've had enough of this game for the moment, you know, this game that the the gods play with me or whatever. I don't know what another way to put it, but it's just I'm tired of this. I'll win, but I'm tired of it, you know.

[00:23:38]A big big thank you to my patrons for their amazing support on this channel.

[00:23:43]Thank you so very very much. If you're interested in my music, Barry Cog parents is my other YouTube channel. My media is here. I'll see you next time.

[00:23:53]Take care.