We arrived in Horta on the 18th of June after a two week passage from Bermuda. We had a grim first week, running into two gales and having strong winds in our teeth for several days. The first two days were spent motor-sailing North in calm winds to try to find the wind and then, when we found it, it drove us South, losing all the Northing we had gained. One day we had 40 knot winds and we ended up sailing with just a bit of the jib out and still managing to surf down the waves at 14 knots. We had huge waves, the rain was lashing down and the Seatalk network that controls the autopilot decided to fail just at that moment. Phil and I were left to take it in turns hand steering in the pouring rain while Chris tried to fix the problem. Luckily water had only got into the connections which were soon fixed by drying them out and spraying on some good old WD40.
After our second storm the wind started to head us for a couple of days, which was very frustrating. We had a night of thunder and lightening, this of course is not good at sea when your boat happens to be the tallest object for hundreds of miles. I spent my watch, looking out as it circled around us for two hours watching flashes of lighting zigzag down into the sea.
We had our most damage to date on this passage, the jib ripped again, lower down this time, just under the new repair we had done in St Martin. The third reefing point failed and the second reefing point ripped off the main sail. The spinnaker halyard snapped nearly dumping the Gennaker over the side and sprang off two of the lifelines as it went, the lazy bag ripped and two lazy jacks broke. We ran out of gas for the first time on passage (not that this really matters as we cook by electric as well).
Octopus performed well in the strong winds and big seas. The children, oblivious of the bad weather, sat watching DVDs and had to be persuaded to look out at the storm. Their response was “Oh, yes” and then went back to their film.
The second week we had good winds and fine weather, but still didn’t see much of the sun.
Horta is a great place for repairs and we are all set to go again. In fact, Horta is just a great place, everyone here is so friendly and the whole place is organised around the yachtsperson. We have been lucky enough to meet up again with lots of sailing friends here apart from Norn who very sadly left the morning we arrived. The whole of the marina, dock side and breakwater is covered in pictures painted by passing crews. It is considered unlucky to pass here without making your mark. I spent a couple of days painting our daub for Octopus, I ready enjoyed doing it, partly because I have been waiting and hoping to come here and paint my picture for nearly twenty years!
Alan, Gaynor and Andrew arrive here this morning as our new crew. We plan to do a few last minute jobs, a walk about Horta so they can look at all the paintings and then enjoy a meal at the ‘Peter’ this evening before making an early start tomorrow on our passage back home to Arran. The Peter, also known as Café Sport, is a very well known pub in the yachting world.
After our second storm the wind started to head us for a couple of days, which was very frustrating. We had a night of thunder and lightening, this of course is not good at sea when your boat happens to be the tallest object for hundreds of miles. I spent my watch, looking out as it circled around us for two hours watching flashes of lighting zigzag down into the sea.
We had our most damage to date on this passage, the jib ripped again, lower down this time, just under the new repair we had done in St Martin. The third reefing point failed and the second reefing point ripped off the main sail. The spinnaker halyard snapped nearly dumping the Gennaker over the side and sprang off two of the lifelines as it went, the lazy bag ripped and two lazy jacks broke. We ran out of gas for the first time on passage (not that this really matters as we cook by electric as well).
Octopus performed well in the strong winds and big seas. The children, oblivious of the bad weather, sat watching DVDs and had to be persuaded to look out at the storm. Their response was “Oh, yes” and then went back to their film.
The second week we had good winds and fine weather, but still didn’t see much of the sun.
Horta is a great place for repairs and we are all set to go again. In fact, Horta is just a great place, everyone here is so friendly and the whole place is organised around the yachtsperson. We have been lucky enough to meet up again with lots of sailing friends here apart from Norn who very sadly left the morning we arrived. The whole of the marina, dock side and breakwater is covered in pictures painted by passing crews. It is considered unlucky to pass here without making your mark. I spent a couple of days painting our daub for Octopus, I ready enjoyed doing it, partly because I have been waiting and hoping to come here and paint my picture for nearly twenty years!
Alan, Gaynor and Andrew arrive here this morning as our new crew. We plan to do a few last minute jobs, a walk about Horta so they can look at all the paintings and then enjoy a meal at the ‘Peter’ this evening before making an early start tomorrow on our passage back home to Arran. The Peter, also known as Café Sport, is a very well known pub in the yachting world.
