Big seas, big winds, big fun!
Leg 2, day 3, 1700 boat time, 1099nm to go, 9.0 knots, 099T
Writing the blog has been something of a challenge lately...before arriving
in Horta, we had some pretty rolly days, Horta was hectic and the last two days
have been, how shall we say...challenging!
As we’ve only managed one blog on leg 1 on day 3 (has got to be something
psychological about this day 3 thing), a quick update on what ended up being a
very slow Horta trip.
THE ENGINEER’S CORPS
We continued to have one more day of good winds and then it sort of died
down. Too little to sail by, but also too far from Horta to be able to motor at
our normal cruising speed and rpm’s. Good thing therefore that on our last
East-West crossing we managed to make 2 days of fuel last 5 days...by doing no
more than 1000rpm (compared to a normal 1700) and just going slow. We managed to
squeeze lots more hours and more importantly lots more miles out of the diesel
we had left. With this in mind, we turned on the engine and put her to work at
1000rpm...but were going really, really slow. Even though being at sea teaches
you some patience, having 1450nm to go and doing 5 knots made us all a touch
restless...and so the testing and calculations started: checking on the exact
litres the day tank could hold between full and the first looking glass, upping
the revs up to 1450rpm and calculating....would it work? It seemed that if we
had to do this the rest of the way, we might just make it!
To be on the safe side, another test was in order with the complete day
tank, confirming our calculations! Yay! Speedy Gonzales here we t come!
THE FISHERMEN
Yes, we hooked them! Twice!
The first one was on day 4: a nice, ‘two-meals-for-six’ size Mahi Mahi,
which was devoured the next day.
Then day 11 we hit the mother load! Just before dinner, the wheel clicked
away at great speed and it was clear this was going to be a big one.
Franky set out to wheel it in and we got all hands on deck...in a
bit...fish diving down...in a bit more....with 20 meters to go somebody yelled
‘It’s a shark!’ but it turned out to be a big swordfish!
It took Boogie and Leon on the hook to get it on board with Franky still
reeling it in.
After filleting and some ‘straight-of-the-fish-sashimi’ we had 6 massive
fillets left...delicious!
THE WELCOME COMMITTEE
In good old Acores style, we saw Pico, or rather it’s volcano, from 50nm
away...and not much later we had a proper welcome committee in the form of a big
pod of dolphins! Close to the boat, jumping and diving, they seemed to have as
much fun as us watching them.
Another welcome committee was on the dock when we arrived exactly 14 days
and 30 mins after going through the bridge in St Maarten, catching our lines and
assuring us we had made it in time to get a drink at Peter Sport Cafe, the world
famous sailor’s cafe in the middle of the Atlantic. Well deserved!
HORTA
3 nights and 2 days saw us going through the joblist quite quickly, with a
new painting next to our last one from 2 years ago, a diver checking out our
underwater issues, the black water tank opened and new provisioning brought on
board. Franky and Bart managed a quick tour of the island on their cool
scooters, marvelling at all the natural wonders Faial has to offer. The rest of
us vowed to come back and explore another time.
THE SAILORS AND THE SAILOR GIRL
Sunday morning early saw us getting our last things in order, garbage off,
water topped up, group photo with the new painting (will post when not on
satellite anymore!), last goodbyes to Duncan our trusty local hero.
All packed up in our gear, we left the dock under big rolly clouds and a
good 20+ knots of breeze, with the promise of more. Three reefs it was therefore
and we set course for the European mainland, while sightseeing the amazingly
beautiful islands from the water.
This time we had a double ‘goodbye committee’: not only were the dolphins
coming and going and darting around for hours, we got a visit of two majestic
whales in between the islands, spouting big plumes of water in the air and
elegantly diving up and down giving us a glimpse of their black shiny backs... a
fantastic goodbye to a short, but great stay in the Azores.
We’ve done some good sailing and have already seen 40 knots apparent (with
the wind coming from behind, so true wind a good deal more!) which we harnessed
under headsail only. Together with the big (3-5m, the big ones getting to 6m)
seas, it’s making for a bouncy and rolly ride at the moment. The waves are
magnificent though. Big rollers, one after the other, of deep deep blue walls of
water, breaking crests that explode in white water foam. When you’re lucky, you
can see the top of the wave going a transparent, almost translucent turquoise
blue, making these ‘Caribbean crests’ an amazing thing to look at that never
gets boring.
As I’m writing this, bracing myself in the chart table seat, we still have
no mainsail up and are under headsail only, as we’re expecting another front to
pass, hopefully just in front of, us tonight, which might bring some more 40+
knot winds. So everything is battened down for tonight and we’re continuing
eating up the miles going East...
More later!
The boat is a beehive of activity tonight as our last crew member, Doug, has just arrived from the States, and banter goes back and forth. We are now our full crew of seven and are on the dock in