Thursday, May 18, 2023.
It is just past noon, completing our ninth day at sea since leaving Mindelo. Today is our best day so far with 114 nm to target, the worse, a couple of days ago, 102. So, all excellent noon-to-noon, 24-hour periods of sailing.
Right from the start winds came from the northeast and bent more and more to the east as time progressed. But not enough. All along, we sailed as close to the wind as possible, northwest from the start, and bending along with the wind to an almost due north course. Remember from a previous post, we can’t get closer to the wind than about 50 degrees.
But not enough. Our destination Horta on Ilha do Faial, is 350 nm away on a 32-degree bearing, roughly NNE. We are on a 350 bearing, best we can do, and on this bearing we will pass west of the island by about 200 nm. We will have to tack soon, or pass the island by a long shot and then tack back.
Once again, we’re watching the predictions, the forecasts, and the models. As it stands, we’ll probably tack Saturday, go as much east as possible, and unfortunately and unavoidably also a little south, before making our approach to Horta. Most likely not until Tuesday.
I have some mixed feelings about getting to the Azores, not that I don’t want to see the Azores, I do. Not that I don’t want to see Café Sport, probably the most famous sailors pub in the Atlantic, if not in the world, I do. Not that it is the last stop before the UK, and I have to make some decisions, I… actually, I don’t.
We’ll get to the UK probably sometime after the second week in June. I’ll look for a boat to take me to the States from the UK. But highly unlikely that’s going to happen. The most likely scenario, I fly out from London, or if any of my sisters are at home in the old country, I cross the North Sea by ferry or plane and fly out from Amsterdam. Either way, it is back to Canada.
Obviously, I can’t wait to see Sheena and MJ. However, that won’t happen as they travel, mostly around Europe, from the beginning of June until the beginning of August.
After having lived a blissful life for the last eight months, a life with little or no responsibilities, I now, so close to the end, start thinking, unconsciously and involuntarily, about more mundane things in this world. Tax returns, car insurance, home repairs, and last but not least, back to work. I know it’s still a month away, anything can happen. And I also know these ‘mundane things’ are sheer first-world luxuries to have in the first place.
The pigeon is doing well, drinking water, and eating raw rice and lentils. It is getting no exercise, sitting in a cat’s carrying case, but hopefully, that won’t impair it too much when the time comes to fly. Fingers still crossed.
Friday, May 19, 2023.
Once again, the generator won’t start. It’s maddening. A mechanic worked on it in St. Helena, and it worked once after we got back to sea. Same in Mindelo, mechanic worked on it, and it worked once back on the ocean.
It’s a simple one-cylinder engine. I should be able to figure out what’s wrong with it. But the only thing I can think of is that it is the damn injector again, which was serviced in Mindelo. Defeat all around, and it will be looked at a third time when we get to Horta. Sail, generator, and maybe a new dinghy if the price is right.
In these instances, it’s much better to be part of the crew, or in this case, ‘the crew,’ than the boat’s owner. None of these expenses I incur. I only pay for my share of food and marina costs. Anything else is on Ken.
It’s Friday evening, and we are about 250 nm from target. The winds aren’t quite behaving as expected, and these last 250 nm are going to be the most difficult of this Atlantic leg.
Yesterday’s prediction might be a little optimistic, arriving in Horta on Tuesday. We are really looking at Wednesday or even Thursday right now. But that’s okay, it’s not that we are in a hurry.
We motored a bit today. Not my favorite part of sailing. However, one unforeseen benefit of motoring is hot water. When the motor runs, water is heated, and since we have plenty of water, we had hot showers today.
Sunday, May 21, 2023.
This morning, at one o’clock, we turned due east. Our previous attempts at going east have failed miserably on account of the northeastern winds, but this time we’re looking really good. The wind blew steadily all day from the northeast. As a matter of fact, it blew steadily from the northeast, almost for the duration of this leg, and we now have come as far north as the 38th parallel. I’m looking right at it.
And then the wind died, and we turned east, a ninety-degree right-hand turn, using the engine, on a straight line to Horta. The estimated arrival time is back to late Tuesday or early Wednesday. The wind is predicted to come back sometime today but at a more favorable angle.
We saw some dolphins last night and some more this morning, but no more than a handful each time. And nothing like in the past, they would come up to us, entertain us for half an hour, and then move on. No, these have been one-minute encounters, our paths just happen to cross. Except for one dolphin, there has been no show jumping or any other kind of acrobatics. But that one jumped as if his life depended on it. Three jumps in a row, clearing the water by at least two meters each time. Impressive!
Show or no show, a pod or just some individuals, either way, it’s always wonderful to see these truly majestic animals.
