Bermuda to The Azores
Day 1 Monday 24th May 2021
It was going to happen we had to leave when we did Craig had sat and listened to just about every yacht in the harbour call in to Bermuda radio asking for permission to leave, then watched them lift their anchor and sail past, 99.9% of them heading to Horta, The Azores.
Most of the yachts were with the World Cruising Club, ARC Europe Rally and so were travelling as a group, they pay to have access to the best weather information, which is basically the same as we have access to, they had also left Saint Martin the day before us.
“We are going to miss it”, “Why are we still here”, “There will be no wind for weeks now”, “We will be stuck here for months”, “We can’t afford to be stuck here”, “We have to go” on and on he went, “Oh no there goes another one”
So much for all our sightseeing plans, we had planned to hire motor scooters with Adam and Khiara for a day trip around the island, Khiara and I were going to have a day in town to try and source some warm clothes. It’s going to get chilly out at sea.
We are not very organised, our last sail from Saint Martin we had showers and were all fresh and ready, this time it was up, a quick facecloth wash, clean teeth and in the bus to the shops, dropping our almost empty gas cylinder at the petrol station on the way with a promise we could pick it up at 11am.
On the bus by 8.30am we picked up a few ready made meals, and a little fresh fruit and veggies, learning from our last passage that it’s not always practical to cook down below.
Shopping done we are back waiting at the bus stop by 9.30am.
Craig dropped me back on Adriana to put away the groceries while he checked out with customs and picked up the propane bottle.
We did it all by midday our planned departure time, but it took us until 1.15pm to be ready to lift the anchor.
Adam and Khiara were wonderful they came over and helped us lift the dingy and tie it on deck, something we have never had to do before.
When we called Bermuda Radio to get permission to leave we had to wait until after 1.30pm for a $200 million dollar mega yacht to head out first , it’s called Eos and is owned by Barry Diller an American billionaire who owns Fox Broadcasting.
On our way back to the dingy from the supermarket we had bumped into Trevor, he was on his way to get his day 4 PCR test, He will be in Bermuda for a few more weeks while he does his repairs, I gave him a big hug, he is such a likable chap and so brave, he is Australian, a real sailing living legend, we met him in the boatyard in Carriacou he has wintered in Antartica and even had a snow fox living on his deck when he was iced in, he has thousands of nautical miles under his belt.
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| Still in shorts & T-shirts leaving Bermuda |
With Bermuda fading from sight, we have the mainsail partly out in one direction and we have made a double sided sail by using the whisker pole to hold the foresail out on the other side, it’s called wing on wing.
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The foresail held out by the whisker pole and the mainsail
secured by a preventer allows us to sail wing on wing |
Craig set up the sails, “that should be us set for the night” he declared, it’s amazing how sometimes the wind just blows for days from the one direction, after a cup of tea and a snickers bar, we are feeling a bit revived.
I don’t know about Craig but I’m exhausted I was awake half the night downloading Netflix movies, then we were up quite early and have only now stopped running around.
It’s a bit chilly with the wind blowing right up our stern and into the cockpit, I wonder if we should have put our full enclosure up ?
We’ve had a taste of the temperature dropping - when we arrived in Bermuda I dug out our thermals and fleecy jumpers from under the bed and offloaded some things we wouldn’t be needing to Adam and Khiara, they were not pretty and stank a bit from being stored but I hope they make a difference.
We have a big rolling swell following us it’s a nice steady side to side movement with the occasional steep lurch just to stop us being too comfortable.
We flap around a bit sometimes only doing 2.8 to 3 knots.
But we are moving along quite nicely.
Day 2 Tuesday 25th May 2021
By next morning just as dawn was breaking the wind eased off to nothing but it was time to change direction and funnily enough our right turn suddenly changed everything, we had turned head on into a cold front.
We were now in huge seas and increasing winds, “this change was forecasted” “We just have to get through it” says Craig as we head straight into the weather we had been avoiding all night.
But what was showing on our windy weather app was nothing like what we were experiencing, a forecasted 20 knots became 30, and the 2 mt seas were peaking at 5 mt (it felt more like 10 mt)
It was a rough ride huge waves crashing over Adriana smashing through the cockpit, the first time we had to scramble and move iPads and phones away from the salt water, after that we just sat there with water washing around our feet, luckily the leeward side where we were sitting escaped most of the drenching.
At one stage water was pouring down the companionway and soaking the floor downstairs that has never happened before!!
We were riding up and over these huge waves stalling in the troughs then up over the top again, still being knocked sideways it was like riding a bucking bronco. The sea was like a huge washing machine with no wave pattern whatsoever.
More than once a huge wave would stop us in our tracks, being hit by such a volume of water with a huge bang, the whole boat shuddering feeling like she could disintegrate at any moment.
We could only just sit there taking it in turns to doze on and off all day sharing the dry seat between us.
Downstairs was carnage all the clothes in the main bedroom are either on the bed or on the floor, the bow of the boat is the wildest ride, the vanity drawer flew out scattering it’s contents.
We have developed a couple of leaks, nothing serious there is just so much water washing over the decks getting into places it doesn’t normally penetrate.
The oven door flew open and the racks and the trays inside all ended up flying across the floor, we stash everything away pretty well but this time was beyond anything we have experienced even the little round tops in the centre of the gas burners all flew off.
But worst of all the glass shower door came away from the wall, I’d had to go down twice to close the concertina door, when the magnet didn’t keep it in place but obviously there was more going on, we managed to save it before the glass actually smashed phew.
I think it’s meant to be locked shut while we are underway but the catch has never engaged.
I was laughing at Craig, when we were out shopping I’d been complaining at him, “why have you bought more tinned food” while looking at about 20 cans of spaghetti & meatballs, tinned ravioli, and chunky soups, he had replied “they were on special and if it’s horrible conditions I can just down a tin - cold”
I was laughing now because we couldn’t even get downstairs to grab a can of food, things were so rough.
A fellow sailor we met in Saint Martin stocked up on 20 Big Macs - no lettuce - before he left to sail to Gibraltar, we laughed at the time, now it doesn’t seem like such a stupid idea.
We had a tiny bit of the mainsail out and a tiny bit of the staysail and were were flying along but not making good speed as there is a current pushing us sideways and all our momentum is used riding the huge waves.
We just sat there feeling slightly sick, I’d made a ham and fried egg roll about 10 minutes before we hit the front (at daybreak so around 5am) I was glad to have something solid in my stomach.
We survived the rest of the day on our usual go to peanut butter on rice cakes.
The conditions eased off slightly around 2pm with slightly fewer hull shuddering waves slamming into us, but it was still huge seas and strong winds, “it’ll be like this until sometime tomorrow” Craig tells me.
I lost it at one stage I went downstairs holding on for dear life so as I don’t get slammed into anything or fall over, I opened the port side cabin door to get the peanut butter and the door handle jams, it had been doing this for a few days, the little flick bit that engages the mechanism and keeps the door closed had jammed so I couldn’t let go of the door or it would swing wildly, slamming closed every few seconds.
Craig does something with a knife to release the bit, so I’m braced against the door jamb feet spread keeping me steady trying to work this thing loose, I can’t get it, I didn’t really want to disturb Craig he was having a nap but eventually I had to yell “help, I’m stuck” I’d started to overheat and was feeling more and more sick, I burst into tears when Craig came to rescue me, I think the stress of it all got to me, I was fine after a rice cake, then it was my turn to have a snooze.
2nd Night
Nightfall finds us fed on a pizza pocket heated in the microwave, it sits heavy in my stomach for a few hours.
The winds have backed off slightly but there seas are still big - just not so violent. Talking about it later we must have hit some remnant cells from Tropical Storm Ana.
Still with huge seas, cloudy but with a full moon the sky is so bright even at midnight. Only doing 4-5 knots feels like 8 it’s so rough.
Taking 2 hour shifts so we don’t get too cold during shifts, as yo make things worse it had rained earlier.
Incredible torrential rain that would have overwhelmed the dingy had it been on the back davits even, with the plug out it would have filled with water.
We are in head to toe thermals, track pants & fleecy, full wet weather gear, ugg boots w socks it’s so claustrophobic wearing all these layers especially with the life jacket on top of all that.
Bathing the ocean in a golden light the full moon occasionally peeps out from behind the clouds painting the surface of the water in iridescent gold leaf, the power of it all is overwhelming.
Things I wanted to google on passage
What is that cloud formation, it’s flat and corrugated like sand on the seabed.
Do Portuguese Man of War have a use ? Are they food for something?
These jellyfish are kinda cute as they sail along their blue tinged transparent balloon working like a sail allowing them to be pushed along by winds and their cluster of blue vermicelli tentacles catching the currents.
We had seen hundreds of them washed up on shore in Bermuda and now instead of flying fish we are watching these blue bottles sail past, that and the trails of sargassum seaweed are all we can see, one ship passed our stern when we first left Bermuda since then nothing no one, just us on this huge big blue ocean.
Slowly the seas calm and the wind drops and by the 3rd afternoon we are almost going backwards there is no wind not even enough to put up the spinnaker!!
Day 3 Wednesday 26th May 2021
The morning was still ugly until about 11am but slowly the wind eased and the seas calmed down by 1.30 pm it was calm enough to go below and heat some much needed homemade chicken soup, by 3.30pm we were becalmed the polar opposite of this time yesterday.
“We are pointing towards Iceland” Craig jokes, but once we reach our rumb line we will turn towards the Azores, it has been slow going we are still closer to Bermuda than anywhere else.
“You know that was a bit frightening yesterday” Craig admits, and I have to agree bloody terrifying, but at least it wasn’t raining the whole time.
It’s 3pm, “With 20 days to go I’d rather sit this out until the wind picks up, we can’t afford to be burning fuel just yet” says Craig, “I just can’t believe what we had last night and now this”.
He is fretting, for some reason our weather won’t download on the iridium go app.
By 4.15 pm we are motoring, obviously Craig has no patience, ah he concedes we don’t want to hang around up here in this part of the Atlantic, we are not that far from Nova Scotia and Iceland. Plus the side to side momentum is very uncomfortable and that very tall mast doesn’t look like it should be swaying like that.
The absolute calm gave us a chance to retie a few lines, replace a shackle and undo a twist in the main sheet, the weather eventually downloaded and if we head North West we should hit a bit of wind, it’s now a bit bumpy as we motor at 6knots into the swell.
While we were almost stationary our auto pilot stopped working and we spun around, just slowly the only way I could tell something was different was that the waves were no longer slapping at the rear of the boat, and were slapping on the starboard side, how bloody disconcerting there is no line of sight reference, no way of knowing which direction is the right one, it’s all the same. The sun was behind the clouds the whole sky was a milky grey colour, I don’t know how the sailors of old managed. We think we went over a magnetic abnormality, that’s what the chartplotter said.
Once we turned on the motor the auto pilot was fine and we got back on course, but yes quite frightening.
Oh and we are running a fishing line for the first time.
Craig has been talking to Adam back in Bermuda via iridium messenger and he reported all the ARC boats that left before us are scattered all over the place having the same problem as us, looking for the right weather.
It’s not very accurate for us this time this Windy app, Windy has been great so far, we have used it everywhere it’s usually very accurate, maybe just impossible to predict this far out to sea, according to the European model we should have 18knots not zero !!
Turning on the engine, we motored for about 4 hours, navigating our way to a point on the map where the wind showed as a shade of light green not the blue we had been sitting in, once we reached that waypoint up went the mainsail, the foresail and off went the engine and we were sailing again, if all goes well this should be a direct line to Horta.
Adriana is sitting very level in the water no huge lean to contend with, after a dinner of defrosted spaghetti bol, we settled in for the night, taking our three hour watches we are travelling along at a nice steady 5-6 knots with not much seastate, it’s very cloudy and the waning full moon rises huge and pink but reverts to it’s normal translucent white and size as it rises, only occasionally peering out from behind the clouds.
Day 4 Thursday 27th May 2021
Morning finds us flapping around looking for wind again, we stick it out and sure enough it’s not long until we are moving along quite nicely, we have to change direction slightly and that finds us heading into rain, rain and more rain, luckily not squally there is no wind with the rain but a constant heavy downpour, it’s not such a bad thing, I can now see out of the dodger windows again as the rain washes all the salt water off everything.
What little wind there is, is now totally behind us, this is causing the main to lurch from side to side, with a jarring thud so Craig has to go out in the rain and set up a line that will prevent the boom from being pushed around and hold it in place, the deck is slippery and he comes back drenched.
Slowly the wind increases again but it’s not too violent and I’m able to pour out some cereal and then later on throw together some wraps for lunch, really we needn’t have bothered buying fresh food, prepared ready to heat and eat frozen meals is much easier.
I don’t know what we were thinking buying pork chops for the bbq.
If there is no wind then the seas are rolly, if there is wind the boat is heeled over.
I managed to prepare the wraps with only one knife going flying.
By 1.30pm we are hitting 9 knots it’s getting a bit wild so we reef in the main and partially furl in the foresail.
We are going through our downloaded Netflix movies far too quickly and it’s only day 4.
It’s a constant job, we are going too fast, reef in the main, furl in the headsail, a couple of hours later we have slowed right down, let them out to full size again.
Craig has to go out to the mast and flick the main - from pull in to let out, Adriana is great in that just about everything is completed in the cockpit but there have been a number of times over the last few days where he’s had to venture out on the deck, apart from when we were becalmed it’s all been done in huge big rolling seas.
Wing on wing requires the whisker pole to be attached to the foresail, that’s a tricky one, not very safe in bad conditions and if we have it out we need to watch we don’t get overpowered and can’t get back out there to lower the whisker pole down and into its clips on deck.
There is a line used as a preventer this stops the boom from slamming this line can be run on either side so has to be rerun around the bow if we change tack.
Once the sails have been let out or reefed in then they require the slight adjustments (trimming) to maximise the harnessing of the wind.
A constant watch is kept on the chart plotter and the horizon in front and behind, we are up to our second ship appearing on the chart plotter, but we haven’t actually seen any vessels at all.
By the end of day 4 I think any queasy stomachs or caffeine withdrawals have abated and we are quite used to the rolling, it’s been damp and chilly all day with the wind coming into the cockpit from behind, when that happens there is no wind protection.
Night saw us floundering around with no wind whatsoever, and it’s so uncomfortable the swell is hitting us side on and we are rolling from side to side, occasionally an extra large wave will lurch us off the seats if we are not braced with our feet against the base of the cockpit centre console.
Craig is a bit obsessed with downloading the weather looking to see which direction we should try to aim for.
On went the engine for a few hours we just needed to get further North, turning the engine off every hour or so to see if the wind has increased.
Craig had walked out on the deck and set up the foresail with the whisker pole so we were ready for it, we had furled in the big mainsail as the rocking from side to side with the sail flapping was giving the mast a bit of movement it shouldn’t have.
Eventually (hours later) we came upon wind coming directly from behind but enough to push us along 3-4 knots, allowing us the relief of not using up our diesel and a quietness that encourages a better sleep.
We both watched (at different times) the movie Penguin Bloom, a beautiful Australian movie, listening to the magpies made us miss home.
Our dear friend Leela quite often sends us recordings of the birds in her garden.
Now that there were less clouds the moon has been shining down on us all night lighting up the sky.
Daybreak, then the sunrise brings sunshine and a reasonably clear day, we were still rolling from side to side and the wind was the same as it had been all night.
Cereal, a cup of tea and a quiet read, we are still wrapped in the old sleeping bag that has its zips removed that we inherited with the boat, it’s the best warmest outside friendly blanket ever, it must have been a top of the range sleeping bag in its day.
Day 5 develops into a very beautiful sunny day still a bit of a chilly wind as it’s still coming from behind we have not touched the sails or adjusted anything since the wind picked up last night, we go as low as 4 knots and I saw it reach 7 at one stage, we have a steady roll from side to side with more than the occasional violent hit from the side making us grab whatever piece of the boat we can to help us stay upright, even sitting we get thrown around, it’s so much better than the second day but still not very comfortable.
Evening draws in, there isn’t a discernible sunset just a darkening of the sky, I’m sure the moon is up there just hidden behind the clouds, it’s almost foggy but I think it’s just low hanging dampness, everything has a layer of dew by 10pm.
Night 5
We have had a good day the wind didn’t falter once we were on the right path, not easing up until just a half hour after Craig had gone downstairs for some shut eye, the wing on wing set up we had going was now just banging and flogging as we rolled from side to side the banging and crashing bringing Craig back up into the cockpit, looks like we’ll need to motor for a bit, looking at the windy app we can see we have sailed right into a blue patch, no wind.
Craig decided to stay up top, settling in to sleep in the cockpit, he must have been in a deep sleep when bang he has rolled onto the floor, hitting the deck with a thud and a yell, this happened not once but twice, ouch.
We hit the 500 nautical miles mark today.
Day 6 Saturday 29th May 2021
By mid morning we hit the 600 miles, we are heading pretty high more towards Nova Scotia & Greenland trying to get into the right position to head East, normally there is a weather pattern called the Azores High a constant long loop of wind that you pick up and if you want to go faster you go higher into it and if you want to go slower you drop below it, this year it has big holes in it and so we are having to look for the wind.
We had a conversation with Trevor on the dock just before we left Bermuda “if the wind drops out it’s time to go below put the kettle on and read a book” and “ wait for the wind” said both Trevor and Craig well sorry not out here in the North Atlantic the swell is too much there won’t be much bobbing going on more like slamming toe rail to toe rail.
As we are heading North the conversation turns to icebergs (seriously) there is a line on the paper map APPROXIMATE ICEBERG LIMIT JUNE/JULY and looking at the map we are not that far from it, see the 29//0900 scribbled in pencil that’s us.
But the scale on the map is huge each line is approximately 100 miles apart, the whole of Bermuda was only a dot. (We did cross the line)
Things I’d google on passage, “where was the Titanic when it was hit by an iceberg ?”
From where we are it’s only 423 nautical miles to Nova Scotia compared to the 1400nm to The Azores If it wasn’t for Covid maybe we would have been tempted to keep going straight up, going back to Iles de la Madeleine to visit Alexis and Pierette, tie up at Havre Aubert for the Summer and catch up with Bruno and Chislam and all the lovely people we met there.
Im sure our Canadian friends Jack & Kyra, Eduardo & Margot would come for a visit, even Pat & Celia from Shelbourne might make the trip.
I’m guessing Todd & Heather and Bill & Sue would wait until we are somewhere more exotic.
But we can’t Canada’s borders are still closed and we have relatives in Scotland waiting to see us.
Maybe we should just head straight for the UK.
People do, we met 5 German guys leaving Bermuda they were on a boat smaller than Adriana and they were heading straight to Germany, non stop.
Today is Grey, everything is just different shades of grey, we ended up motoring through the night, hauling up the sails at first light, we still had the whisker pole hitched and the main tied down with the preventer so these lines had to be dismantled before we could pull out the sails again.
Taking his life in his hands Craig had to go out on deck clipping himself in along the way.
Once the main was out and the foresail unfurled we were off, just before lunch the wind increased and we had to reef in the main- twice.
“It shouldn’t be long before we start heading East” says Craig.
Another ship crossed behind us only visible on the chart plotter.
Just like yesterday the wind dropped out late in the day and after a dinner of pre prepared stew and prepared earlier in the day mash we had to turn on the engine, as much as we don’t want to, the swell rocking us is too uncomfortable and a forward movement through it minimises it’s effect.
It’s been a cold grey day, the sun never actually appeared, it rained a couple of times, there was no sunset, just a dark damp day.
The dew overnight made us even colder. After my turn sleeping it was a real effort to leave the nice warm cabin and get out there and swap places with Craig, so he could have a sleep and get warmed up too.
Around 1am as we are changing shifts we manage to put up the sails in fact the wind increases and we are flying along, hitting 7 knots but averaging around 6.
It’s scary hurtling through the water almost blindly, in the dark, you just don’t think too much about all the things that could go wrong...
Day 7 Sunday 30th May 2021
By dawn there was a nice breeze and we are finally heading East, the wind is right behind us and we have a 3 knot current pushing us along, finally we are experiencing the perfect conditions we have read about. And the sun is shining.
We did have to change the sail set up as the wind came even more from behind and dropped but there was still enough to keep us going forward and we didn’t have to turn on the engine
I had a shower yay and washed my hair, absolute luxury, it’s been a while !!!
After yesterday’s greyness today’s sunshine is even more beautiful, it’s mild and we have a steady breeze pushing us in the following current.
The internal shower pump played up just before we departed so I didn’t want to take a shower inside plus after not even brushing my hair for days there was going to be a lot of loose hair and that’s not good for pumps so it had to be a cockpit shower, normally I sit on the back step and wash my hair but there was no way I could sit there while we are moving.
Luckily we had bought an extra long hose for the outdoor shower perfect for times such as this.
I could squash in the corner behind the steering wheel, kneeling down to get out of the cool breeze, it worked ok but washing your hair with one hand as you hold on to a lurching boat is not much fun.
It was definitely worth the effort though.
As we had quite steady conditions Craig managed to cook up a really nice steak and veggie stir fry followed by scones jam and cream, finished off a lovely day.
Day 8 Monday 31st May 2021.
The sound of the engine starting and the winch winding in the mainsail wakes me up from a deep slumber. All through the night we had managed to float along on a strong current probably a remnant from the Gulf Stream.
There had been very little wind so we had been literally bobbing along at between 3-4 knots being moved by the current, hey we were still moving in the right direction and we hadn’t had to put the engine on until now.
it’s 3 am time for me to go upstairs, brrr it’s not cold cold but really damp.
“There is a huge ship to our starboard about 7 nautical miles away” Craig mumbles as he lays his head down and really snuggles in under the sleeping bag, I reckon he had been dozing on and off doing that horrible jerk awake as you fall into sleep thing that happens when your fighting sleep, just managing to keep your eyes open for just a few minutes before you slip back down into a half sleep.
The breaking dawn and the rising sun revealed a spectacularly calm North Atlantic. Wow just Wow the colours are stunning, a rising golden orange sun, reflecting on the calm waters, pinks and pale blue clouds dotting the horizon, the water like liquid steel, not a ripple, nothing breaking the surface just the many Portuguese man of war jellyfish navigating their way to where they are going.
Their pink tinged, clear blue bodies acting like sails allowing them to sail past with the current, now the water is so calm we can see there are many small baby ones floating by as well.
There is nothing breaking the surface of the water I tried my inner Maori and sang my version of a waiata whale song (Craig is asleep at this point) but I couldn’t conjure up a visit from any sea creatures.
Studying the water I did notice a very slight occasional break on the surface and I could just see small, say baby potato sized brown little jellyfish just under the surface and at one point I could see bigger whitish traditional shaped jellyfish below in the clear water, I shudder thinking about them, we definitely won’t be stopping for a mid passage swim with these creatures around.
The sun stays out and it’s lovely and warm we are motoring at 6 knots cutting through the still waters, I’m reading on my iPad when I look up and it’s foggy !!
Warm water + cold air = fog it’s a misty cloudy fog, we can see far enough in front of us but it’s eerie.
It’s almost midday and we are still motoring, a very slight breeze ruffles the water but not enough to even put our big red kite up.
We have the hand-line out and the fishing rod, the hand-line has the fluffy pink “Mahi Mahi guaranteed” lure and the rod a cedar plug (a Chrissy present from Scott and Sam xx)
It looks like hot dogs for lunch.
We motored on, it may be beautiful but heck we can’t afford to use all our fuel this isn’t so good. Craig pulls out the sails and turns off the engine numerous times but still nothing.
7.00 pm and there is a bit of breeze a few knots plus the current sees us engine free but it doesn’t last long, soon we are banging and clanging rolling from side to side, sails flogging from the lack of wind to fill them.
Craig is stressing at this rate we won’t have enough fuel if we have to keep running the engine, we have just passed the halfway mark.
10.30pm and all 3 sails are out we are creeping along so far so good as long as we are moving and not swaying violently from side to side.
A bird is sitting on our solar panels we can hear it chirping away to itself. During the day we have seen them, big ocean going, gulls, they live out here floating on the water to rest, how do they survive we wonder, picturing them flying along with their beaks open catching rain water or maybe they can survive without fresh water. I’ll have to google that later.
I saw whales, far off on the horizon, behind us, it must have been whales they were too big to have been dolphins if I could see them from such a distance.
Things I’d google on passage
Do all whales breathe through blow holes ?
1032 nm over halfway woo hoo, only another 8 - 9 more days to go !!
That’s better I’ve just cleaned my teeth, washed my face, removed my wet weather gear, ugg boots and one fleecey layer it’s 9.30am and time for a little cat nap downstairs.
Last night was a hard one, It was my turn for a 3 hour sleep, halfway through I was awoken by loud banging and Craig turning on the engine, we had run out of wind again.
We are so high North, the current is helping us but we have just encountered wind against current and luckily the conditions have been calm cause its still pretty big and choppy I’d really hate to see it in a storm. I must be getting used to big seas, the violent motion didn’t scare me too much.
It’s time to turn towards Azores hopefully now we will have a direct run, hopefully now that we have wind and it’s on the beam.
Day 9 Tuesday 1st June 2021
Craig tells me we are now racing against a cold front, we have to reach Horta before it does.
We have been motoring all through the night but daylight brings a good strong 12-15 knots and once we turn to our rum line it’s coming in on our starboard side, perfect.
The last few hours the winds have been what we wanted.
We had the usual peanut butter on rice cakes at around 5am when it was still pretty rough.
Craigs had a good sleep and just had a few of the puffy dogs he whipped up last night, pre made frozen pastry wrapped around a hot dog, baked in the oven and cut small like party sausage rolls, a bit of a treat.
Finally what we have been looking for-
Non stop wind all day on day 9 all that night and all day on day 10 we have been powering along, occasionally reefing in the sails (making them smaller) or letting them out again as the strength of the wind changes but we haven’t had less than 4 knots, I’d say an average of 6 knots, the sails are balanced so only slightly heeled over, constant movement but only the occasional unexpected lurch.
Night 9 was a bit of a blur, we are tired, it’s chilly no sun today, so we sit wrapped in blankets and watch movies even having microwave popcorn just for fun.
Via Iridium messenger we have been chatting to my brother, our son Mitch, and a couple of other friends. Craig chatted to a friend at home getting Motogp results and we receive the occasional message from Millennial Falcon, who left Bermuda about 6 days after us.
We also chatted via Iridium email to Earl and Diane, the Aussies about to head home via the Panama Canal, he told us that Scott and Debbie on Expedition have just left Saint Martin heading to The Azores, that’s great news we will meet up with them in Horta.
Earl will be leaving by the end of this week.
Day 10 dawns chilly and gray but we still have that consistent wind pushing us along.
We were chatting last night about how we should be sitting in the saloon utilising the warmth instead of freezing up in the cockpit the main reason we are up top is to have a visual eye on the horizon but really we are so far away from everything there will be no one out here without AIS and no local fishing boats, that’s for sure. It’s funny though we still don’t feel comfortable with both of us downstairs.
So this morning I’ve had breakfast and my cup of tea downstairs, it’s so nice being out of the wind. We must be in a shipping channel we have had many huge cargo ships go past, mostly way out of sight their presence only being shown on the chartplotter.
I’d like another shower, but it’s a bit chilly up top so wet wipes will have to suffice.
Checking our freezer we still have plenty food, Craig took out 2 crumbed chicken fillets and the last pack of pre cooked spaghetti bolonaise, we’ll have chicken burgers for lunch and pasta for dinner.
It’s lovely inside, the sun is shining warming up the cabin it’s about 18c, outside I’d say about 14c not counting the wind chill factor. I can see the huge grey waves breaking alongside the lower window and glimpses of cloudy blue skies out of the second level window.
It’s been a big powerful day, huge waves throwing Adriana around, cobalt blue sea and a nice bit of sunshine, no fishing today, can’t risk the drama of trying to reel in a fish while holding on to a swaying bucking boat. I don’t know how we managed to cook our copy cat take away chicken burger but we did and it was delicious, after lunch we virtually sat holding on bracing our feet on the centre console for balance, a leisurely afternoon of solitaire on the devices passed the time away, what did we do before iPads and mobile phones.
That was pretty frightening Craig pipes up, talking about our second day out here, I had said I thought today was almost as big and wild but we agreed the other day was bigger and more frightening.
Not worth looking out for whales today they would be invisible, lost among the breaking white caps and the huge swell.
We are still holding course and flying along, according to our weather app we should only have 8-10 knots not 18-20, I’m a bit worried what we will get when they forecast 18-20 knots !!
It’s nice to be on the arriving side of the passage. If we need to motor now we would have enough fuel to limp in to port.
Day 11 Thursday 3rd June 2021
Well that was a shit night, so much went haywire, the seas were huge and we were crashing along at 7-8 knots, we had forgotten to put a couple of beers in the fridge so Craig decided to have a JD and coke, that he promptly spilt all through the cockpit, bourbon stinks and it’s so sticky yuk, I later spilt the excess liquid from my can of soda after using what I needed for my vodka soda, that was later and downstairs.
The pot of spaghetti bol on the stove slid forward it didn’t fall but the sauce slopped over the side, going all over the galley floor, that mixed in with the water seeping out of the fridge, I think the fridge must have gone into a defrost cycle, the water would usually just fall into the bilge but due to the heavy lean was now spreading over the floor, I’m running out of dish towels to mop up these spills.
We had eaten and had our drinks, tying to be very organised tonight we decide I will rest 7-10pm then Craig will do 10 -1am etc
Off I go downstairs and actually fall asleep for about an hour, the waves flowing past the hull and the howling winds woke me up, pulling on my big jacket I head up, don’t you think we should reef in the sails a bit it’s getting pretty wild, nah it all good says Craig.
Five minutes later he concedes yeah ok let’s do it, then fifteen minutes later we furl them in again, so now we only have a very small triangle of the main sail out and we are still beating along at 7-8 knots, winds gusting to 20 knots.
We sit with our headphones on watching Netflix trying to ignore the uncomfortable conditions, when it suddenly starts to rain it’s around midnight by this time, we grab all the electronics, sleeping bag, pillows etc that we have spread around to make ourselves comfy.
It’s chaos the wind is howling, Craig brings in the last of the sail we are now bare poles, he turns on the engine the forward momentum helping to cut through the side to side roll, we are both looking at each other, like what now !!
Hunkering downstairs we run the engine and shelter from the rain, the roof has a new leak, the water from that mixing with the water from the fridge, my soda was on the bench one minute next it had tipped adding to the mess. I think the dingy on the deck is trapping water and causing strange leaks.
Craig slept for an hour or so as we motored along, I sat downstairs with the chartplotter mirrored on the phone watching a huge big storm cloud pass close by. When Craig went back out the wind had swung 180degrees and was now coming from the North the totally opposite direction.
Rugged up, even with gloves on now Craig settled into the cockpit and I retreated back downstairs to sleep. Awake at first light, Craig said he was snug and warm and to stay downstairs. I later find out he had gotten wet and was actually chilled to the bone most of the night. That was the worst night so far.
Charting our progress on the paper chart Craig says “No wonder we are cold we have been in the iceberg zone for quite a while now”
The sun edges it’s way out from behind the clouds for a short spell allowing us to tidy and clean up last night’s disasters, it’s a nice balanced swell today and a steady wind giving us a nice 4-6 knots. We are achieving great times and we have caught up with the tail end of the ARC, although they are about 100 nm below us in latitude.
We are starting to wonder if our AIS has stopped working, it’s been days since we have seen any other marine traffic on it.
Making everything alright the late afternoon sun warmed up the cockpit and bathed us in its warm golden glow, not a cloud in the sky fingers crossed we have a better night than last night.
No wonder the day goes so quickly when you spend a couple of hours cleaning up after the night before, prep eat and clean up breakfast lunch and dinner.
Oh and Craig made cinnamon buns today oh my goodness big balls of fluffy deliciousness he used cinnamon we bought from a farmers market in Grenada, I’m so full.
I saw the green flash tonight, Craig has seen two shooting stars, not tonight but another night early on.
He has seen two dolphins, both solitary little ones I have seen none yet !
The forecast is for the wind to drop out around 8pm but until then we are slowly drifting along between 4-5 knots, calm seas and it’s so very gentle and pretty.
Eventually the sails start flapping, slightly at first but soon there is no wind to fill them. On goes the engine, just as I go downstairs and Craig stays up for his watch.
Three hours later we swap positions and all is well until 10 minutes before the end of my watch.
An odd clunking sound has appeared, it seems to be something below maybe to do with the prop.
Slowing Adriana down Craig went below and sure enough the seal on the propeller shaft has disintegrated again.
We replaced it in Saint Martin not long before we left and before that in Nassau, Bahamas.
So something is not quite right that we are going through these seals so quickly.
We can keep going/motoring any water that enters via the broken seal will be automatically pumped out of the bilge.
We have been motoring since 8pm yesterday and it’s now 4pm the next day argh it’s so noisy and smelly and costing us money.
Around 9am we had tried putting up the big red kite, all that work but there was not enough breeze to fill it so down it came about 15 minutes later.
Wow oh Wow we caught a fish, well we hooked it but ended up not pulling it into the boat- thank goodness- it was huge - a beautiful - 5ft Swordfish.
I was napping downstairs lazily watching Below Deck on Netflix when I hear the engine being slowed, “Do we have wind” I yelled jumping up and heading upstairs “No we have a fish” exclaims Craig while he is frantically reeling in what appears to be a rather large fish.
The rod is doubled over and a Craig is holding on to it for dear life, the fish pulls away again flashing on the surface for a second, omg he is beautiful I think it’s a marlin, his striped iridescent colours clearly visible as well as his long sword like nose.
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| I thought a Blue Striped Marlin |
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| Craig thought a Swordfish we have since googled and we both think Swordfish |
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| The rod was bent over double at one stage of the fight |
Now as you know I hate the thought of killing fish but being the supportive wife I am I pull out the timber chopping board a pair of rubber gloves the gaff hook and an old rag ready for the slaughter. The sharp knife is in easy reach always gaffer taped to the railing.
Fight did this fish fight, Craig almost had the rod and reel pulled out of his hands more than once and was almost pulled overboard standing on our tiny swim platform.
We didn’t know what to do he was so big !!
After about an hour of fighting he was getting tired (so was Craig) and he was resting just below the surface.
We can’t pull him in he’s too big, imagine that thing thrashing around inside our cockpit while you attack it with a knife, in saying that Craig was loathe to just let him go. I think he was hoping the fish would tire himself out and just drown.
But really we just wanted our cedar plug back and to release it back into the ocean. It was so beautiful.
He was smart, the monster eventually swam under the boat and the taught line was severed by the spinning propeller, off he went cedar plug, hook and line, we feel so bad he has fishing tackle attached, we could see the cedar plug clearly which means the hook was caught just inside his cheek, I think we would have been able to manoeuvre it out and release him if we had gotten close enough, really we are not very good at this fishing caper.
We recovered with an early beer.
It’s very tedious motoring for hours.
This is day 12 it’s sunny and mild blue skies with puffy clouds, we still have lone Portuguese Man of war jellyfish sailing past on their way to who knows where. I saw some dolphins but way out on the horizon, just cutting through the sea doing their own thing.
Day 13 Saturday 5th June 2021
Awaking from a heavy sleep feeling like I’ve been drugged, we are heeled over and I can feel from the boats movements and sounds we are flying along, the overnight events are all a bit blurry, that’s a good thing it means there were no dramas.
Retiring downstairs after dinner (sausage, mash and mixed frozen veg)
Id tried to get a nap in but sleep eluded me it was still nice just to rest and read a book in the warmish cabin.
We swapped positions at 10pm and Craig slept until 1am, I watched a couple of passing cargo ships on the chartplotter screen, only one came close enough that I could just see it’s lights just visible on the horizon, I kept an eye on the darkness in front of us and watched Below Decks on Netflix.
We are motoring along, at this stage there is no wind and the seas are lovely and calm with only an occasional big wave coming from behind us to knock us kinda sideways.
By the time Craig is awake and alert for his next shift the forecasted wind has arrived. So out he goes on the deck, strapping himself in along the way.
We pull out the main sail, not knowing how strong or light the wind is going to be he spends some time out there running a line from the end of the boom to use as a preventer. Once he is safely back inside the cockpit the foresail is unfurled and once Craig has trimmed the two sails it’s my turn to go down for a sleep, we are now heeled over and there is a lot of movement to contend with as I fall onto the sofa.
Oops it’s 6am I’ve kinda overslept.
Going upstairs Craig is sound asleep I tried to pretend I’d been there for hours and it was my turn to go back downstairs again but he didn’t fall for it.
We are flying along around 8 knots with a wind speed of 15-18, Adriana is heeled over and ploughing through the swell, it’s not too bad after having a couple of calm days.
Funny the sky was light at about 3am and it wasn’t until later we realised we are headed into a new time zone with a 3 hour time difference.
Yesterday evening there were lots of dolphins, only one pod swam alongside us most of them were off in the distance doing their own thing.
We both agree we can’t wait for a full nights sleep being able to stretch out in a big bed with a nice doona to snuggle under, there have been too many nights fully dressed including full wet weather gear clinging to the cockpit sides trying not to be thrown on the floor. The thickness of the life vest cuts into your neck cutting off your circulation when you sleep with it on.
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| Sleeping upright through sheer exhaustion |
A bit of a wild ride today, heeled over and bouncing around but we are flying along doing 8 knots in up to 20knot winds, it gets a bit much and we feel the need to reef in the main but with all the pressure of the wind holding out the main sail winding it in was rather hard work, when bang suddenly the line reeling in the main sail broke !! We can get away with manually winding in the mainsail but it requires Craig to get out to the mast and stand there and turn the winch, no mean feat in the lurching rolling seas.
Heading into nighttime the main stays double reefed all night and the foresail is only a handkerchief size we are still barrelling along, its damp and chilly, we are slowly dropping out of the high latitudes, out of the iceberg line.
Day 14
1 day, 21 hours 47 minutes and 23 seconds to go.
That’s 248.9 nautical miles still to go.
And we are certainly counting down the miles.
A beautiful cooked Sunday morning breakfast makes up for the rubbish ready made frozen meal we had last night. Honestly who makes those things and who decides oh this tastes nice let’s sell them.
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| I really am well looked after !! |
After a cup of coffee/tea I retire downstairs to do the dishes and tidy up discarding my layers of clothing as I warm up, it’s so good to be out of that chilly wind, I don’t really want to go back up, the sun is out now so it might warm up.Craig is talking to his sister Nicole via the Iridium go and they have the maps out and are googling Azores, “oh there are over 20 species of whales in the waters around there” she says, I’m like “oh yes whale spotting time” Craigs like “oh no that means we have more chance of bumping in to one” apparently whales sleep just below the surface of the ocean !!
Things I would google on passage
What month did Sailing La Vagabond cross the Atlantic -
Chesapeake, USA to Horta, The Azores with Greta Thurnberg and her Dad onboard?
Because we have just about completed the same passage, in fact ours has been a much longer passage starting all the way down in Saint Martin.
Speaking of Social Media, we will have so much to catch up on when we reach land after 16 days at sea.
A pretty cold and overcast afternoon, we are getting bored and can’t wait to be in a new country. More dolphins around us now. There is a steady wind pushing us along we haven’t had to touch the sail set up since early this morning which is nice.
That’s it we are never fishing off the boat again !!!
Late in the afternoon Craig has tied the pink fluffy lure onto the fishing rod and it is trawling out the back of the boat. We kinda forgot about it until after dinner, so Craig is reeling it in, oh ho he says we have a fish, we furl in the headsail to slow us down a bit and he keeps reeling in the line.
Oh no it’s not a fish it’s a bird, and oh no the line is wrapped around her wing, she’s dangling and flapping in mid air and getting dunked in the water as she tries to escape.
Luckily the lure was not involved she was just tangled, we pulled her into the boat, I’m saying she because she was so gentle and soft, she didn’t struggle or try to bite us.
I grabbed an old tea towel and covered her wings and held her still, we worked as quickly as we could cutting the excess line away and eventually Craig was able to just pull out the line that was wrapped through her wing feathers.
Poor wee thing she was so ruffled none of her feathers were sitting right so we placed her on the floor behind the steering wheel to let her rest and get over the shock.
I did lift her on the the back seats so she could see the water and she wasn’t that keen to get away so we thought we would just let her rest.
At daybreak the next morning, around 4am Craig could hear her moving around so he opened the gates to our swim platform, she scuttled through and landed in the water, getting her bearings for a few seconds she then flapped her wings and took off and would you believe she had a partner waiting for her, another bird joined her in flight, they did a huge circle of the boat then headed into the wind, we believe he must have followed us all night waiting for his partner.
So stoked she wasn’t injured. Cleaning up her poo later we wondered what she must eat to have such bright orange poo !!
I must admit we did talk about how far we were taking her off her flight path and how much she would be lost and disoriented in the morning so we were happy she had a friend.
Night 14
We’d had an easy very steady night flying along, we are now in Azores waters picking up crackly distant voices on the vhf radio we assume they are speaking Portuguese.
We pass the island of Flores on our starboard side, too far off in the distance to be seen. Unfortunately we can’t check in there we have to go all the way to Horta.
Day 15 Monday 7th June 2021
It’s 2 pm here, local time in Horta is 3 hours ahead and we have 80 nautical miles to go that’s about 16 hours, at this rate we will get there at midnight so we have halved our sail capacity and slowed right down, it’s a juggling act, we don’t want to slow down too much too early as the wind is predicted to decrease, we can’t be left going too slow too far out.
"How lucky are you" says Craig "being able to come with me while I fulfill my lifelong dream of crossing an ocean" "yes" I replied "I am very lucky"
For the last 4 days we have had perfect sailing conditions , one straight line, only slight sail adjustments required, we haven’t been heeled over and it’s been a pleasant sea state, sunny days, dolphins, great food, no major dramas, only about 14 hours to go.
We have kept up our tradition of sundown beers, only not partaking on a few really rough nights, it’s like a reward at the end of the day, we only ever have one. I’ve been drinking cans of soda water w a splash of flavour, I like the fizz without any sweetness and it’s a nice change from plain old water.
An early dinner (chicken Kiev roast potatoes and steamed mixed frozen vegetables) sees me retreating downstairs and Craig watching the dregs of his Netflix upstairs.
We are tired and are really looking forward to reaching land we should be able to see the islands by daybreak.
Side note: who would have thought Craig would embrace frozen veg.
The lights of Faial are visible on the horizon, “Land Ahoy” I say to myself, Craig is sound asleep next to me, we were too excited to retreat downstairs in case we missed anything but 14 hours is a long time to stay awake.
As dawn breaks the lights on shore fade and the outline of huge craggy cliffs come into focus, there are no white sandy beaches here just straight up and down cliffs with what we assume are volcanic peaks but there is very low, grey cloud cover hiding anything above the cliffs.
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| It was soooo good to see land again |
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| Rounding the coast of Faial |
Our approach from the most northerly route across the Atlantic brings us to the bottom of the island and we have to turn on the engine for a short burst to bring us up past the bottom half then we hike up the sails ready to sail into Horta.
Lots of gulls closer to land, and I’m on the lookout for whales.
I've since had a look and we are seeing “great black backed gulls”
As much as we have heard or seen no one else out here with us, all of a sudden there are about 6 boats all heading into Horta. They will have started their journey from one of the many other Caribbean Islands.
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| The approach to Horta, woo hoo nearly there |
We have not had to register or advise anyone of our arrival, we just have to radio the Horta Marina as we are about to enter the harbour.
I was thinking it might be quiet due to Covid but no it’s chaos there are hundreds of boats here, the marina is advising yachts if the harbour is full and you can’t find a spot to anchor, you will need to anchor outside of the break wall.
We motor in to have a look, it’s pretty tight and there is the possibility the wind can swing 360 degrees, being used to putting out plenty of chain and having lots of space around us makes it difficult to choose a spot, after a couple of circles of the harbour we drop the anchor then decide we are too close to the shipping channel, huge container ships come in here too.
We end up anchoring right at the back of the pack, it’s fine we have a really pretty view and on an incoming tide we will be able to make water from the fresh water flow.
We started to half heartedly tidy up but couldn’t quite get into it opting instead to have leftover spaghetti bolognaise for whatever meal it was.
I think it was 8am Bermuda time and 12 midday local time but we were tired and hungry so who cares.
We put on a movie and had a little kip. Not a good choice I must say, that one with Tom Hanks about the Somalian pirates that boarded his cargo ship.
Awaking and going up to the cockpit I said to Craig "I wouldn’t be surprised if they come and pick us up to go and get tested, we should be ready" Craig literally put on some shorts when the port authority rib came past “ how many people on board ?” “ two” I say, “ jump in says the officer”
We grab our passports and shoes and jump in, whoosh of we go to get our PCR tests.
Woo Hoo for us, we had been listening to the radio and all these boats were calling in asking when it would be their turn, we felt like we somehow skipped the queue.
We have done it, we have sailed across an ocean the anchor is the traditional sailors tattoo for that achievement.
Our 11th country so far and this one is looking very interesting we just have to receive our negative results and check in hopefully sometime tomorrow.
Canada, USA, Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Grenada, Dutch Sint Marten, French Saint Martin, Bermuda and now The Azores.
