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| Sky after the storm |
It is 1800 nautical miles from Bermuda to Horta - which is on the Island of Faial in the Azores - as the crow flys. But longer if you happen to find yourself dodging weather. 1800 nm is a very long way - that far out in the ocean no-one can rescue you. Or at least no coast guard can reach you out there. Maybe a fellow sailor or a commercial ship. Which is the whole reason you cross an ocean with other boats traveling basically the same path at the same time - a Rally. We received our weather forecast from the fellow we use and it was not great. There is a very nasty low pressure system that will be a full out gale in the higher latitudes. So...he said we had two options. Option A: Go south and bob around in the ocean with no wind for a few days making no headway towards our destination while we wait for the low to pass (sounds awful)! Option B: Go northeast but we must reach 35 degrees N/47 degrees W in 6 days. Well that is a long, long way from our present position and we will still have no wind for the first few days. So that makes it even harder to reach that "safe spot". We took a vote and went with option B. Starting day for this passage was 5/15/19 - we were across the starting line at 1102 and found ourselves quickly motoring in lumpy seas. Light and variable wind, sails luffing and lots of swell. Trying to conserve fuel as there will be even less wind later in the passage. There is an area of high pressure (no wind area) which sits between Bermuda and the Azores - the trick is to be on the edge of it so you still have wind, but not too much wind.
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| Seas starting to subside |
On the 17th we got on Chris Parker's (weather guy) net and listened in. A boat near us was a subscriber so we listened in on the advise given to Fruit de Mer. There are actually 2 lows - one very nasty, large low forming off of Newfoundland and a second one that we hope we will miss. There will be gale force winds (possibly as high as 50 to 60 knots) with the big low we were dodging north of latitude 35 degrees. But there is also a cold front associated with that low that will push very far down - possibly as low as 31 degrees latitude. We were at 33 degrees latitude but after listening to the net we changed our course to head back down to 32 degrees. The plan was to just ride that latitude east until the front passed on the 23rd. There were two problems: fuel and weather. We were working to conserve fuel AND doing our best to stay out of 40 plus knot winds. For folks watching the tracker it must have been confusing with all the boats heading northeast and us heading east. There was a reason for our madness. Other than the concerns with the weather which was a daily discussion- life on the boat was good. We were eating well - Michael made great dinners night after night. I made brownies which the guys (Ben and Matt) loved. We were trying to get enough sleep but that was not always easy. By the 22nd the wind had shifted southwest. Southwest wind means an approaching cold front and sure enough that was what we expected. In the evening the wind was up to 20 knots consistently and the seas were starting to build. Good news was we were sailing fast! Seas were confused though - there was swell from the north and wind chop from the southwest. No sleep that night as there was too much uncomfortable motion on the boat. By Thursday the 23rd the seas had been building all night. Now we had some waves breaking in the cockpit. Waves were 12 feet with the occasional 15 foot wave. We were down to just the staysail and the wind was now 29 knots steady gusting up to 34 knots. We were being pushed every which way by the waves. No-one was able to eat dinner - we were all just exhausted. And then at 7:00 pm the wind veered west and then northwest as the front passed us and that was it. Immediately, the wind dropped to 14 to 16 knots! We breathed a sigh of relief, put the mainsail back up and started on a direct course to Horta.
This will be just a picture post. Some photos from our tour of the island. First, is Talaria in the "Convict Bay" anchorage. Not sure how the anchorage got its name.
This building is the St. Georges Dinghy and Sports Club. Operations headquarters for the ARC rally and where all the festivities take place.
More pretty pastel houses! Are they not beautiful? Love the purples, yellows and orange colors.
This is the Royal Navy Dockyard in Hamilton, Bermuda.
The Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity in Hamilton, Bermuda. Beautiful church.
Different perspective on the church.
Gombey dancers at Harbor Nights - a street festival in Hamilton, Bermuda. This form of dancing was not considered respectable by the "slave masters" so slaves were allowed to dance only once per year. They danced in masks to hide their identity for fear of retribution from the owners. All the costumes are handmade and intricate - no two alike. Very lively dance with amazing drummers keeping the beat.
And finally a testament to Bermuda's sailing tradition - a sailing ship wind vane on top of the clock tower. Very cool indeed.
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| St. Georges, Bermuda |
While we were out enjoying Bermuda the rest of the ARC fleet started trickling in. They had a rough go of it coming from the BVI as there was either no wind or a head wind! Neither scenario is good. St. Georges is the check in point for Bermuda and where the rally is headquartered so we will all be here. 28 boats in all. There were at least three boats that needed to be towed in for various reasons but all boats eventually made it to Bermuda.
We felt so fortunate to have had a week exploring as some of the boats got in and had at most two days. Not much time to see the island. But now the rally fun has started beginning with a Pirate Party. Followed by rum tasting sponsored by Goslings (of course they gave you rum free first, and then offered it for sale). Folks were free with there checkbook after all the "tasting".
And then there was the fish fry and prize giving for the "race". I am sad to report that even though we were the only boat that left Portsmouth and arrived a week ahead of everyone else we did not receive a prize. Guess you can't race against yourself!
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| Fish Fry - Prize Giving |
After just a couple of days we were off again - this time for the big passage. We are all fueled up, topped off the water and bought more food. Ready to go!
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| The start of the race |
For the start they had a starting line and a precise starting time. Official. It was actually alot of fun seeing all the boats start out. The rally officials were standing on a rock at the harbor entrance waving goodbye. Only 1800 miles to the Azores!
May 4th - the actual starting day for the Rally and we were seeing Bermuda. It was around 2200 on the 3rd when we starting seeing the lights from Bermuda so we slowed down in order to time our entrance to St. Georges Harbor at daybreak. We ended up getting into the Harbour at 0745 and then waited our turn to go to the customs dock. The decision was made to drop our anchor over closer to the dinghy club as that is where the rally events will be. Anchor down, boat secure - time to head to town!
Since we have been on a boat for the last week we were in need of a nice walk. We set off and before long we had walked most of the town! Very quaint - narrow cobblestone roads. Pastel houses and the most beautiful water you can imagine. A breathtaking teal blue - so clean and clear.
The only drawback to Bermuda is the expense. Prices for most common items is about double what you will pay in the US. Fortunately, we were prepared for that so we provisioned heavily before we left. The wind is forecast to blow hard tonight - we had arrived in port just in time. So after stretching our legs we headed to the grocery and then back to the boat for a good meal. Since we are so far ahead of the rest of the rally boats we will have plenty of time to explore Bermuda - no downside there!!
By Wednesday we were all starting to adjust to life at sea. Still really tired but starting to feel a bit better. As expected a high pressure system settled in and the wind died off to nothing. At about 0330 Matt and Michael started the engine as our speed had really dropped off. In the end we took down the genoa and staysail but left the mainsail up for some stability. It is a beautiful sunny day. Since the seas are so calm the guys decided to jump off for a little swim. I stayed on board and kept an eye out for sharks. Sharks can hear you in the water when they are over 2 football fields away. Fortunately we saw no sharks. The guys did not tempt the sharks too much by swimming around the boat - just a quick dip- in and out.
What we are seeing is alot of Portuguese Man of War. At first we thought they were plastic bottles but Matt finally had enough sense to look with the binoculars. There is a fair amount of sargasso weed and the Portuguese Man of War seem to be floating on top of the grass. Ben also took advantage of the calm day and flew his drone for a bit. He got some really good shots of the boat. Even though everyone pretty much got caught up on sleep today we decided to change up the watch schedule to 6 hour/ 2 person staggered watches. We will see how everyone likes the new schedule. We have been doing 4 hour/2 person staggered watches which is okay but still not enough sleep. Another perfect day!
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| Sargasso Grass | | |
For all landlubbers, a little information regarding the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream is essentially a large river that runs in the Ocean. It is a constant current that runs north and then east. And it is large - about 50 miles wide typically. The current is swift running as much as 4 knots or more in places. So... if your direction is east the Gulf Stream will push you north. It is considered a treacherous spot because in addition to the swift current the Gulf Stream is said to "make its own weather". If there is a storm at sea it will be considerably worse in the Gulf Stream. So the goal is always to cross the Gulf Stream as quickly as possible. By Tuesday the wind did shift as predicted and after about 12 hours of light wind the night before the Gulf Stream had calmed down. We had a steady W/WSW wind that was blowing at 16 to 18 knots. By 0730 Ben and I had put up the mainsail and the staysail. About 20 something miles before reaching the Gulf Stream we set out the fishing gear. We are using a Cuban YoYo rather than a fishing rod and reel. Within about 15 minutes we caught a tuna! Today is Ben's birthday and he caught the fish - so that was a nice little gift. At 1000 we entered the Gulf Stream. It is thousands of feet deep and the most beautiful sapphire blue color. At 1030 the other guys were up and we put up the genoa. We were flying along under full sail at about 7 knots. Occasionally we were seeing over 8 knots. Our degree of heel was about 10 to 15% (that is how much the boat is tipped to the side). It was a perfect warm sunny day. In the evening we had a birthday dinner for Ben. I had made a peanut butter pie the day before when he wasn't looking. So we put a candle on the pie and had a celebration. By nightfall we were out of the stream and everyone breathed a little easier. That was the nicest Gulf Stream crossing you could possibly ask for!
