Another day, same ocean

First it was repairs that held us in the Azores, now it is weather. A violent storm coming from the South West is battering us right now with 36-knot winds and heavy rain. We are waiting for it to subside to start on our crossing to the Isles of Scilly.

The good ting is that in its wake we will get favorable winds. The drawback is the possibility of more depressions getting through because of the weakening of the Azores high. This should normally protect us from heavy conditions in June, but this seems not to be the case this year.

So we sit inside while the winds buffet the boat and the rain prevents us from wandering outside. We read, talk and use the internet for weather updates and blogging.

Yesterday was good, with some sun and the first warm weather in a while. We walked around the town, to Monte Brasil and the fortress. Later we went to the bull run in the streets of the old city. A lot of people, many tourists and four bulls made up for two hours of local folklore.



Today, however, the conditions are nasty for venturing outside, so we wait, sleep a bit and try not to get too bored. The temperature outside is only 18°C, the humidity 100%. I am waiting for a handyman to bring us a fabricated spare part for the autopilot, so even if I could, I wouldn't get out. We've got some laundry drying inside so humidity here is also helping get the experienced conditions feel worse than they are. We may have to switch on the heating later, which is the first time since we are in the Azores.

Later today we'll fill up with diesel and water and get some last minute shopping done, so that when the weather does improve, we're ready to go for the 1100 Miles back to Europe.

Boat and crew - and wind

Weather windows are a difficult subject among sailors. Do you need an entire period of safe sailing or are forecasts worthless after five days?



I've always tried to hang on to forecasts as long as possible. Even when the actual conditions weren't the way the forecast predicted, I've always used them to understand what was going on. It helps to study weather fenomena extensively, of course. I've been watching weather develop for ten years now, and I've got a decent idea where it's all coming from and what the effects are.

But the most difficult part of understanding weather is trying to get a grip on the medium term forecast three to five days on, and devising strategies to handle what it throws at you in the middle of the ocean.

Being without detailed forecasts for ten days in the middle of the Atlantic did my interpreting skills a lot of good. With just a general synopsis, limited to the hazards to shipping from Bermuda Navtex, I drew my own little maps and tried to devise what the wind would do next. The best I got from that were short term forecasts, and they couldn't account for everything we got in those days.

I realized the relativity of long term forecasts even better than I already had in the past. They depend heavily on up-to-date information, something we couldn't get without satellite phone. But at least it didn't get us into trouble, like when we evaded the Easterly gale with a three days out of date forecast.

So we come back to the weather window. Is it good up to three days into the future, or is only the next day forecast dependable? It of course depends on the area you are in. In the Western Europe waters, the weather is highly unpredictable. Today we're getting a forecast for a gale passing tomorrow, and its position has shifted by a couple hundred Miles in the past few days. When we leave tomorrow night, we'll get a second, smaller depression to provide us with good winds for the first three days. Or so the forecast says. But it could be more, less, or from a slightly different direction.

So does this help us make a good decision on when to leave - and where to?

Well it helps, but if it will turn out to be adequate for a good crossing, is something that remains to be seen. With good continuing weather updates, we will hopefully escape the worst and get the best wind for a fast crossing. But that gale that's still lurking on the East coast of the U.S., might get us in the end, just before we reach the Isles of Scilly. Because that is ten days on, and no forecast can predict the weather in a certain location that far into the future.

So for that gale we might come to depend on our fallback position, which is a very sturdy boat and a hardened crew.

Faial

After being in Horta for nine days, we managed to escape the repair cycle and actually visit something. We only had one day and the rental car was due in the next morning, so we made the most of it.

We started out early morning, and the roads were pretty quiet as it was a Sunday and most Portuguese don't do much before noon except go to church. So did we:



A very nice ruin in Ribeirinha, left from the last big earthquake in 1998.

The new peninsula in the West after the eruption of Capelinhos also merited a visit, so we walked around the old light house and read the signs depiction the cataclysmic events of 1958. Since the visitor center wasn't open until the afternoon, we walked around the area covered in volcanic ash for a while and then sought the trail to the cauldron from a previous eruption. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the end of the trail so we coudn't visit the cone.



The old light house, partially covered in ash.

While driving up the volcano, we did come across the Levada trail, whit its nice meandering water conduit in very good order. It reminded us of Madeira and the excellent trails we have taken whilst visiting that island.



Next up was the Northern coast, where we drove down to the ocean and visited the destroyed harbour of Porto da Eira. It's amazing how the fishermen could have used this port over hundreds of years, when it was always just a small indentation in the coast, without any protection from the ocean swell. It was destroyed by a winter storm and doesn't look like it will be used for anything else than bathing anytime soon.



Whilst driving back to Horta, we passed the Botanical Gardens, and even though the sign at the gate indicated they were open, there was nobody there. The gate itself wasn't shut though, so we could walk the gardens at leisure. We didn't however get to buy the T-shirt, because the souvenir shop was closed.



Back in Horta, a parade was underway for the ascension festivities, so we visited the Monte de Guia cauldron as we couldn't get through town. Next to it is a nice little museum in an old whaling factory. It has some interesting displays as well as documentaries about Faial's past as a whaling station.



As the big Continente supermarket was open until nine p.m. - and this on a Sunday! - we did our shopping for the crossing to the Isles of Scilly.

Peter Sport

Sailing to Faial was as hard as sailing across. We needed wind as we didn't have the engine to help us along. We got 20 knots and after 24 hours we were close to Faial but 20 Miles to the South of our destination due to a stubborn East-North Easterly wind that went up to 25 knots as we approached Horta.

Finally on the second night, as we were tacking to the island, the wind started turning North East. This allowed us to get closer in on each tack.

Near the morning of our third day out, we got close enough to sail into the channel between Faial and Pico. A short hop into the harbour and we anchored close to the marina entrance. A bit too close to a superyacht also anchored there, which proved our rescue later.

As it was now Saturday, we couldn't get a tow into the marina. But the agent of the superyacht complained and an hour later, we got a tow in from a quickly roused marina employee.

Later we did what every sailor does after arriving in Horta, so we visited Peter Sport Cafe, comitted to sailors since early last century.

Flores

The first island we made landfall on after our ocean crossing, proved to be the right choice. Flores is beautiful, has only kind people and the pleasantest tiny marina.



We had a few days to relax after we settled down a bit, so we rented a car and drove around the island. Visiting lovely towns, crater lakes and taking walks on the hillsides proved the perfect antidote for ocean tiredness.



There are a lot of people doing handicrafts and we got some nice souvenirs from them that I'm sure the people who receive them will be thrilled with. Lace, paintings, crafted objects and shells make very good gifts after long travels.



We met tons of kind people, from the couple looking for the wedding party they flew in to attend to the numerous sailors getting into the marina to Paula who catered for our every need, from cars to excellent birthday cake.

Flores has a limited surface, but it goes very deep indeed.

The log entries

So, what happened?

Well, we set out all very happy and content, with a good weather forecast and in high spirits. The first few days were nice and quiet, a bit light on the wind side but making quite good progress otherwise.

From the log:

Saturday May 23 - We covered 111 Miles in the past 24 hours. Still 1790 to go. We got the tail of an active thunderstorm over us last night, without any serious consequence. The wind is now South East 8 to 10 knots.

Then a high established itself on our path, giving strong Easterlies. The log gives an impression:

Monday April 25 - We have had to sail North West yesterday in strong winds up to 30 knots - a tough nut to crack! We covered 140 Miles in 24 hours but only gained 7 Miles Eastward. Still 1731 Miles to go.

After the high passed, we got light winds once more, but from the South East, so we got some Easting done.

But then our luck ran out. From the log:

Friday April 29 - Where to start? We can't use the engine because the gearbox has jammed. We were lucky to replace the shroud chainplate connector after we found out it almost broke in half, but we've had to jury rig the baby stay as already 7 wires had parted. A couple of awkward moments passed while the mast was swaying around only supported with the top shroud whilst getting the baby stay connector in place of the broken one.
1460 Miles remain to be covered under jury rig.

We were still making relatively good progress, until a forecast depression forced us South:

Saturday April 30 - We have advanced beyond expectation - 101 Miles in the last 24 hours. Unfortunately a depression is going to pass us down to 34° North and in order to avoid strong Easterlies we will have to head South East again by at least 60 to a hundred Miles.

A few days later, our satellite contract got reset due to a miscommunication between the phone and the provider. We still had Navtex-forecasts from Bermuda, but we very much missed the detailed forecasts.

The next week, we got mainly light Easterly to South Easterly winds. Crackers were rationed on May 1st.

It took us until May 8th to get going in the right direction again:

Monday May 9 - First day of week 4, 899 Miles to go. We covered 93 Miles in the right direction yesterday. The bad news is that the barometer is rising, 1013 mb right now and the wind is already in the North East. If we don't get any closer in the next two days, I'll call a MAYDAY to get 2 crew off and new food supplies.

The high pressure blocked our way, we were becalmed for two days. Food and water were running low for 5 crew, we would run out of breakfast and lunch in 10 days.

The log account of May 10:

21:30 Eastern US Time (23:30 local). Mayday transmitted when a ship came into view to the South of us. GMC Fort St. George replied. Transfer succeeded of 2 crew at 1 a.m. Food supplies were received but we made contact a couple of times due to no propulsion available to us. Luckily we managed to fend off and no obvious damage to us or the freighter.

The day after, the wind picked up at 2 p.m. and we sailed straight for the Azores the next 6 days.

Then the high North of us started moving toward us and the wind went East again.

The log turns dramatic:

Wednesday May 18 - At 14:00hrs we were 222 Miles from Faial. We won't make it. We will try to get to Flores, at 132 Miles distance tonight at 18:00hrs.

We ran out of wind 5 Miles West of Flores harbour. After a panpan message Flores port authority organized a tow and at 21:10 local time we were secured in the new marina of Porto das Lajes.

Despair and Joy

33 days, 3089 Miles, 1 Mayday, 1 Panpan.

We got towed into Flores just after 21h10 today after 33 days at sea, with 3 of our initial 5 crew. We are all sound and healthy, and soon will be fast asleep after over a month at sea.

I decided to call a Panpan to get us towed in when the wind died less than 5 Miles from Flores, and current sweeping us past the island. The tow went perfect and now we're in the new marina waiting for wind to set sail for Faial and repairs to rig, engine and genoa.

Thanks to all who contributed to our succesfull crossing, you are the best!