Texas Takes Lagos (Volume 1)

Photo; Never too busy to create on two hobs

Photo; The poor old Hull of Anasu- Gimme Some Lovin'
Photo; Lots of Scraping Later............

Photo; THE BOYS; L-R Incidental German Bloke Holgar, Johannas The Large, Senor Dave and The Portugeezer Pete with Portugeezer Moustache.

The Lagos Days,
The Doc returned to Southampton for a fortnight, leaving Dave, Johannas and Myself to the rigors of Babylon, Full English Breakfasts, Happy Hour Pints of Portugese Lager and Girls Girls Girls.
No time for loving in the Algarve. 'ANASU' Daves beloved Old Wood Boat needed all the love we had to spare.
In the 35 degree heat ANASU was lifted out of the water and the removal of 40 years of anti-fouling on her hull commenced.
As a result of the heat, the timbers of Anasu were going to dry out FAST.
We had a selection of fine scrapers and an English Pub 'LAZY JACKS' to keep us powered up with real bacon and sausages and beans.
Lazy Jacks Bar also gave me the opportunity to play my dulcit tones for the Lagos Massif at open mic nite, leading to 'Joao and Malcolm' (artisan musicians from The School of Dramatic Artisan Bohemian Dramatic Musician Society Instituted Darlings) inviting me to play on their own night at the pub which lead to 'Kai' (University of I'll watch the tele whilst hacking out busking classics at maximum volume, the correct lyrics don't mean a damn if I'm still getting paid after all these years, I ROCK Society) inviting me to play my toons whilst he took a spliff break round the corner behind the bins. Sadly reminding me of me at my very worst!!!! Although my lack of an unfortunate lisp made me feel better about not being quite as bad as Kai at my Very worst,, and my interlude jokes are infinately funnier. Lisp or no.Photo; Joao, Malcolm and I, Kai in the background chin on hand (charismatic fellow!!)
So inbetween all this newfound local fame, Anasu needed stripping, filling, priming, repairing, painting, polishing and LOVING.
Johannas helped for a couple of days repairing the rudder but apart from that it was up to Mr David Coady (remember the fella who gave me a beer on arrival in La Coruna while I was containing my desire to inflict pain on my original skipper Paddy- Captain Cock) well thats Dave.
From now on He shall be referred to as Dave.
Cyberspace wants me to publish now, Volume 2 of Texas Takes Lagos following Dreckly.


Log on to see the NEW ANASU in glorious Technicolor

Photos, Videos and Stories.

Check out whose driving! This was in Cascais, The most expensive marina so far. The coastal resort for playboys and girls from Lisbon.
I met a cool Brazilian hippy couple who had been in Portugal for a fortnight with little handmade gems and a guitar, We hooked up, played some funky beach vibes and made €20, they were stoked having never made that kind of wedge since arriving. I have a video of William but unfortunately it's too many Megabytes to upload.

I have been meeting so many quality musicians on this trip that I have a dream of bringing them all to England for a tour, maybe one day.
Alrighty then, back to sailing.
The Voyage down as follows, Leiceos, Cascais, Peniche, Sines. It was in Sines that we caught up with an Irish lad 'Dave' who was the fella who gave me a cool beer when I was feeling like throttling my old skipper Paddy in La Coruna, He departed La Coruna a couple of days into my month of babysitting The Lady Fisher. It was cool to catch up with a familiar face, Ian and Myself had been together for a while by this time and another friend to converse with was much welcomed.
We stayed in Sines for about 12 days . The birthplace of Vasco De Gama (the Portugeezer who discovered India, if not for Vasco we Brits wouldnt have corner shops or curries, a VERY important sailor) Sines is a beautiful small town politically overrun with an oil refinery that was installed some time ago, so the authorities are trying very hard to install Culture and Arts and Music into the town to counterbalance the effect of the refinery and the Authorities are winning ! lots of vibrant concerts and exhibitions, theatres and museums it was a cool stopover but inevitably The Lady Fisher was chomping to sail, Onwards, around the Capo De San Vicente into The Algarve. Accompanied by Dave in his ship 'Anasu'

Travelling in tandem with Dave has been awesome, MANY beers and laughs, Dave, Ian and Myself have been like a trio of adolescents. anchored by the beach in Sagres, jumping off the boats into warm sea water, life at anchor is so much more rewarding than staying in marinas, the heightened sense of freedom leads to a healthier soul, even if sleeping patterns are upset through mild paranoia of The Lady Fisher slipping her anchor and smashing us to certain death on the rocks that loom menacingly. Also because of the lack of light pollution, the stars are magnificant, reminding me of how I fell for sleeping under the night sky all those years ago. If only I could understand Sir Patrick Moore.
Whilst at anchor in Sagres, during the night sky performing for the boys, another ship came an anchored close by.
The following day Ian, Dave and I were having a healthy day,trying desperately to reverse the aging process of 3 middle aged men. NO BOOZING, lots of swimming, diving, salads and copious amounts of water (35 degrees hot).
There was no sign of movement onboard our new neighbour flying a German flag.
We wanted healthy,
We really did
At around 4 pm the Deutshlander emerged, a brute of a man rowing a tiny dinghy waving a fourpack of booze 'Hello! I am Johannas. You must take a beer with me!' He cried as he rowed his oversized frame towards us.
How could we refuse, Now we were four, an awesome fortnight with Johannas was to follow-
He liked us.
What a Dude, He had just sailed from Germany solo handed, on the first stage of his two year round the world voyage, to take on the two Capes, Good Hope and Good Horn, many sailors circumnavigate, avoiding the Capes, prefering the gentler routes , taking the canals of Panama and Suez, this is why they were built, to make circumnavigation easier.
That evening we decided to dine ashore, we showered, shaved and donned our finest clobber to woo and wow the local beach bar Hunnies!
A swell was building in the bay as we prepared the dinghies for departure, getting to the beach was going to be tricky as the waves dumped upon the shore.
Dave, Ian, Myself in a larger dinghy with motor, Johannas in his tiny dinghy rowing- rowing almost as fast as we motored!!!!
We reached the shore just before Johannas, judging the swell correctly and beaching ourselves without too many problems.
As we turned to see how Johannas was fairing, a wave picked him up and upturned the tiny dinghy, all we saw was this huge German in His tiny dinghy being launched onto the shore backwards. In his black jeans and black t-shirt , Dumped and turned and dumped again, All because the lady loves milk tray was all I could think of as I rescued his phone, camera and cigars from the sand.
He took it well, undressing, wringing out his clothes, redressing and on to the restaurant. CLASSIC.!
On returning to the anchored yachts we lost Ian to the waves. Negotiating surf in dingies and anchoring in general is alot more fun than marina life.


One more night at anchor and then onto Lagos,

And that will be my next publication

THE NAUTICAL ADVENTURES OF TEXAS PETE IN LAGOS

Bonne Matin mes petit pois,
The Right Honorable Lady Fisher, The Doc and I have reached The Algarve.
Internet access has been limited along the Portugese coast so I will attempt to chronical chronologically.
I became an Honorary Portugeezer in the small town of Leixoes, on the night Senors Christiano Ronaldo, Deco, Pepe, Ricardo and the rest of the Portugese football team overcame the mighty Turks 2-0. We watched the match in the distinguished company of the 1977/78 Portugese champions of Leca De Palmeira pictured above.
Checkout Carlos Alberto, 4th from left on back row, pure quality.
At the end of the victorious match arrived the team bus to cruise around town waving flags and scarves, beating drums. The international language of football continued to open doors for us all the way down the Portugese coast.
Ok. The chronological diary isnt going to work, my brain cant cope with the organisation of so many memories so I will try another tack,
A few photos and Videos with descriptions thereafter.
As an honorary Portugeezer I grew a Moustache for the boys.
When Portugal played Germany I was accused too frequently of being German that It only lasted a fortnight.
That reason and the fact that no girls were paying me any attention.
It had to go.

PORTUGAL 2 - TURKEY 0

Just a kwikie,

These are the boys I watched the Euro 2008 footy with,

STAND UP BLOGSTERS!!!!!!

those moustaches belong to the 1977 Portugese Champions,

Long story,, the bar is kickin me out, gotta go.

I've grown a moustache as a homage to my new friends.

Photos later.

PORTUGAL, PORTUGAL, PORTUGAL!!!!

IT ROCKS.

At a place called Cascais at the mo,,, gotta go!

Mr Chris Rolfe.

Adios Espana

Hi Everyone and Mr Chris Rolfe.

Mr. Chris Rolfe is 30 years old now and gets upset when I don't personally involve him in the goings on whilst of course I haven't got better things to be doing with my time than fumbling around the keyboard typing Mr. Chris Rolfe.
So Mr. Chris Rolfe are you satisfied now, you old moaning bearded git. You can tell your fiancee, Miss Claire Hill to stop E-Mailing me your moans and gripes whilst I'm fumbling around the keyboard looking for the Mr. Chris Rolfe button.
As for the rest of my blogfans, please be upstanding for Mr. Chris Rolfe and Miss Claire Hill who will be, as of the 6th August 2008, Mr and Mrs Chris Rolfe.

If all goes as planned!

ME ME ME ME ME, THIS BLOG IS ABOUT MEEEEEEEEEEEE, piss off Chris.
If you decide to chicken out, then Claire knows where to find ME.

Thanks to ALL ABOARD: The Nautical Adventures of MultiMedia Texas Pete, Claire will of course be able to Hop aboard 'The Lady Fisher', plenty more in the sea Chris, whip on son. The Doc won't mind, He's got the Marineros Horn at the moment. I'm not thinking about it which is kinda difficult when The Doc keeps going on about His. He's The Captain, He's The Boss (sorry Mr. Springsteen), He's The Skipper. I Have to say 'Yes' Captain, 'Yes Boss, 'Aye' Skipper, 'Me too!' but I haven't really, I is too busy typing Mr. Chris Rolfe to have the Marineros Horn.
Too damn busy writing my blog to be thinking of Miss Claire Hill, Too Flaming busy cleaning The Lady Fisher to be Fishing for clean Ladies. 'Cause I'm justa sittin on the dock of the bay, wasting.

By this time tomorrow I wont' be thinking of Mr. Chris Rolfe or Miss Claire Hill whilst I'm sitting on the dock of the bay wasting in Spain,
Nope ,
I won't be thinking Of Miss Chris Hill or Mr Claire Rolfe whilst I'm sitting on the dock of the bay wasting in PORTUGAL.
Triffic!!! Like Spain but poorer and I don't speak the language. just great. Might be able to gain access to some fresh milk though! I know the Spaniards put asparagus in bags of frozen mixed veg but U.H.T. sucks now, I went to a supermarket recently and was told next Thursday for fresh milk. Dickheads.

Does anyone know Portugese for fresh milk!

It's gonna be the longest sail since crossing the Biscay but we've had enough of U.H.T and the Portugese coast is about as interesting as Mr. Chris Rolfe and Miss Claire Hill so it's gonna be longer sails from now on until such time as there is some more interesting coastline to explore.

Please understand that if I had a surfboard, the Portugese coast would be interesting with it's swells and sandbanks and surf, however, I have only a 34 foot, 4 tonne yacht and of course The Doc. Therefore, In the sake of safety for The Doc, The Lady Fisher, Multimedic Texans, Claire and Chris, we are gonna fly by The Portugese Coast.

Incidentally, the Portugese fishermen drop lobster pots and nets as far as 10 miles offshore, marked only by black (visible) flags, empty plastic tubs or best of all TWIGS!!!!!
We Brits follow European mandates far too closely to the written word.
Here. on the Iberian Peninsula, they don't give a ffffffuck about the suits in Brussels.
This time tomorrow hopefully we will be just north of Porto.

Sorry for the terrible layout of this blog, as videos/photos upload at such a slow rate, I have to just keep on writing as the megakilobyte action ocurs which gives me no control over where the text will be when the uploaded efforts of my day appear.
You do realise that half my spare time on land is spent looking for blog photo/video opportunities and the other half is sat in a shitty bar writing to you and sighing deeply when the upload crashes
and the other half is spent sleeping so I can do all 3 halves again tomorrow.
The Video... Climbing the interior of the Statue of the Virgin Mary , The only Virgin I've ever been in or indeed up.
The Photos...... 1... Nice Lady I Met On The Virgins Right Hand
2... The PINTA. replica of Chris 'Rolfe' Columbuses ship
3... Baiona Castle and Statue to Horny Marineros
4... The Virgin Statue at the top of a mountain which I climbed up inside for you , and to meet the nice lady (pic 1)
5... Aerial View of 'The Lady Fisher', She's the little one right of centre with the blue canopy. Double click the photo and Zzzzooom in.

Did you know that you can click my Images and zoom in! (copyright 1972 multimedia Texas Pete)

That was Baiona,

This was Me, saying so long to Mr. Chris Rolfe and Miss Claire Hill.

Chao. x

The Camera Never Lies. (unless you can use photoshop)

MULLETS and BUOYS

......I am, one of these days, gonna go around one of our many ports of call with my camera and snap some Spanish Boys Mullets, the hairdo, not the fish. They are quite incredible. In the meantime, here are some Spanish Mullets, the fish, not the Spanish Boys hairdos. And also a piccy for you of a Spanish Buoy! A Spanish Western Cardinal Buoy, This one is telling The Doc and I to stay West of the rocks in the Bay of Baiona (Bayona). It's beautiful here, Islands offshore are home to bird sanctuaries and deserted beaches. After the saga in Portosin we are a tad fed up with marinas so we're gonna anchor off some of these beaches once we have aquired the necessary licences required to visit the nature reserves. There is so much to checkout in this town before departing. It is a pity I am in a shabby 'Irish Bar' (why? why? why? does a Guinness tap change a bars Nationality?????) Blogging.

Christopher Columbus was docked here in His faithful boat 'THE PINTO' there is a replica of it moored up a couple of hundred yards from where we are - photos to follow. Also the original castle ramparts still dominate the towns headland. Baiona dates way back, a historic nautical town indeed, local sailors took a measly 3 years to circumnavigate the globe from here in 1519, a far cry from the luxurious conditions that I find myself in, Skirvy? No Thanx.

Luxury indeed, Just before the departure from Portosin, The Doc had a couple of friends over from Southampton so we had a leisurely day sail around the bay, Dolphins galore! Blue skies, Bright sunshine, I couldn't resist the impulsion to dive in the deep blue sea to swim with Our flippered friends, I dived in, they fucked off! Next time maybe. still a first in my book, The first time that I nearly swam with Dolphins. It was still an adrenaline rush of trepidation as to whether or not those fins I could see just over there would be just over here in a moment. Still it was so nice just to have a swim in the sea, with a pod of dolphins to my right and a yacht to my left. In the famed words of Mr Paul Daniels, Now That's Magic! not that Mr Paul Daniels IS Magic, It's an illusion, sleight of hand see, sorry but I had to point that out.



Onwards! After the pleasures of sunshine on our backs we set sail for the next leg south, on to Portonova. A truly wonderful sail, 8 knots from 'The Lady Fisher'. The Doc is teaching Multimedia Texas Nautical Pete , 'WE' are sailing 'The Lady Fisher' well!!!
Sunday arrival, PortoNova was shut. Fiesta on Monday, PortoNova was shut! not much to write home about really, long sandy beaches, crystal clear waters, boring! town was shit, sorry, shut. Time to carry on south.

Another fine sailing day, a lesser wind than the previous day but obtaining 5 knots from 9 knots of wind is pretty good going. We are gaining more confidence to sail narrower passages, more skillful pilotage.
There are of course always incidents, Tourist Ferries deciding to head straight for us for the passengers to shout and wave 'coooweee'!!!!!! whilst The Doc and I stick our fingers up and shout at the ferry captain to get the fuck off our course. I won't go into what sailing rules the ferry captain was breaking, sufficient to say 'lots of them' ,,,,, Tosser.
After the Customs ramming episode and the Captain Tossers 'flyby' I am convinced that this coastline is not called 'The Coast of Death' because of it's rocky nature but because Spanish Marineros are utter dicks.

I have just worked out that I can 'cut and paste' my journals from notepad, meaning I can write on the boat without an internet connection and insert them to this very blog when I am lucky enough to be sat in a shit 'Irish Bar' blaring out crap Europop.
This meaning of course, my future memoirs will be fresher, funnier, fruitier, faster and far more factual than this regurgatated rubbish that you, my loyal beneficiaries have been subjected to so far.

Until next time, Take it easy on yourselves.

Yours forever,

Multimedia Texas Nautical Pete. x