St Georges, Bermuda to Horta, Azores
On May 11th we set sail for the Azores with light south southeast winds and
easy seas. It was a sweet beginning to a challenging and lengthy sail across the
North Atlantic. At about 15 nautical
miles into our journey we lost sight of Bermuda and would not make landfall
again for another 23 days. Overnight the seas started to build and by Tuesday
we were into a strong low pressure system that nailed us with 35 - 40 knots
winds from the south. With the small
stay sail alone we were traveling at 7 knots which is close to top speed for
our 42ft sailboat.
The screaming winds
and big seas continued to slam us for 3 more days. The breakers that hit us broadside sounded
like a speeding freight train striking the hull. The one blessing was that we could easily
travel north east with this system so the trick was to just stay the course and
ride it out. By Thursday afternoon the
system had passed us and left us with very confused and lumpy seas and almost
no wind. For the next 2 days we went from light winds to no wind and spent a
couple of nights "becalmed" with no progress forward.
"Becalmed" sounds like a blessing but in fact it is a condition
that is exceedingly rocky and rolly with a lot of sail handling up and down as
the winds arrive and then evaporate. On
day ten we were overtaken by another system that delivered heavy rain and
strong winds so it was a fast sail thru the night with howling winds and grey
foaming seas.
Out in the ocean you live the weather fully.
Halfway to our destination of the Azores at about 900 NM, we were once
again 'becalmed". This situation lasted off and on for the next week which
very much limited any significant progress forward. When we did have wind it was
"on the nose" meaning that it was coming from the direction we wanted
to travel so our "point of sail" was close hauled with a heal of up
to 35 degrees. To get an idea of what
that would be like think about standing in your kitchen with it tilted 35
degrees to the side. To walk anywhere
inside the cabin you are hanging onto ceiling handholds almost
"Tarzan" fashion. Fortunately our stove is gimbled so at least that
remains with a normal horizon...once you strap yourself in cooking is manageable. One pot dinners certainly becomes
a favorite.
Aside from the weather challenges we had many wonderful encounters with
pods of bottlenose dolphins sometimes numbering up to 50 individuals zooming
around our bow and circling our boat. As
we neared the Azores we passed within 30 feet of a resting Sperm Whale who dove
deep within moments of us passing him.
If you were to see it from above it would look like he was giving us
right of way.
On day 23 at about 9am we sighted the island of Fajal in the Azore
archipelago. By early afternoon we we
settled in the marina in the town of Horta and were enjoying our first walk on
land for many weeks. Horta is an ancient
port town on Fajal which is famous for its murals. All along the harbor and around the marina
there are hand painted murals from a history of vessels that have passed through
here. Layer upon layer of art some very basic and some with incredible
detail...all very very fun and vibrant.
Our slideshow of murals only scratches the surface of the volume of art
that is here.
The Island of Fajal is volcanic in origin offering a dramatic coastline of
shear rock walls that plunge for thousands of fathoms into the ocean. The last
volcanic eruption took out a small whaling town on the west side of the island
in 1957. It is now mainly an
agricultural island with a darker whaling history which ended sometime in the
1970's. The people of the Azores are
incredibly welcoming and genuine. It is
truly a delight to spend time in a place that offers such a great variety of
fresh and inexpensive food as well as an easy going European flavor lifestyle. It would be very easy to stay longer.
From the moment of our arrival we have been checking out the weather
between us and Vigo Spain to plan the best time for our final leg of our
journey to mainland Europe. The free
program we access is called ``Passage Weather`` and is an incredible resource
for wind wave and weather systems around the globe. Here is a link in case you are interested in
taking a peek http://www.passageweather.com/. FYI Our current position is 38 degrees north
latitude and 28 degrees west longitude and we are traveling to Vigo Spain which
is 42 degrees north latitude and 8 degrees west longitude.
We plan to leave tomorrow in the AM with predicted SW winds at our back for
the next week. We look forward to some
downwind sailing and to reconnect with you once we make landfall in Spain in a
few weeks.
With kindest regards,
Paul and Barbara Ann
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