06/27/2007, 278 Miles SW of Flores
Hello All: It was a good day today, we finally had a little wind and it blew 12-20 knots frm the SW. Traveling in the high was a nice break but motoring is not as productive as sailing. The sailing today helped our fuel usage calc even more. We now have 125 hours of fuel left and only 44 hours to go. We received another update from Commander's Weather this evening, warning of us of a frontal passage through the Azores region tomorrow night and Friday. Winds will be 22-35 knots from the SW with gusts to 45 knots. Even though we are all now accustomed to these potential conditions you could still tell everyone was concerned and wondering what our strategy should be. We will try to land in Horta Friday before dark which means we will still catch the weather but we will not have to lie off and await dawn to arrive. We also have to be a little more careful as we do not have a traveler and our sheet is now attached to the boat with Dyneema rope instead of a shackle. It is very comforting to know that Commander's is watching out for us and feeding us information without being asked. Everything else seems to be working fine. It also appears Wally fixed the leak after all in the salt water pump in the galley as the water on the floor is now gone. The water color these last couple of days is not something you see in Nova Scotia. It is the most beautiful shade of deep blue something like a navy color brightened up with Royal blue...... I must get back to my watch
All the best from Aisling I
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| Transatlantic part 1-Halifax to Azores |
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06/26/2007, 300 Miles from Flores
Hello All:
Yesterday was a great day. Bonnie baked bread (thanks Leslie). It was delicious. Thelma we will try your biscuits next. We also caught a Dorado (Mahi Mahi) this afternoon and had it for supper. We are living very well out here. For supper it was fresh(?) green beans and carrots in butter, garlic mashed potatoes with too much butter and cream and fresh (!!!) Mahi Mahi fried in olive oil, garlic and a few spices. Bonnie also made a special onion and red pepper cream sauce. You would have liked it, it was spectacular..... oh yes and we also had a glass of chardonay and an almost full moon! I would say that meal rivaled anything you might have at Bish or Onyx! The miles are clicking by. 410 miles to go. Small problem today in that the salt water foot pump in the galley started leaking. Wally attempted repair today but was unable to stop the leak. It was too hot to continue so we will replace it tomorrow. That pump has saved us a lot of fresh water. As of today we have only used 1/4 of one tank out of the two we have, and we have even all had showers. We still have about 140 gallons of water left. All is well.... we are hoping for some wind tomorrow. All the best from Aisling I
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| Transatlantic part 1-Halifax to Azores |
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06/25/2007, Getting Closer
Hello All: The moon is out and glistening on a calm sea. It's a magic time, especially these night watches. I heard an unusual noise and looked over the boat side and there were 2 porpoises swimming along side of us, just dropping by for a night visit. Here where we are it is very lonely with other boats spotted perhaps once per day.
We have traveled 1280 miles and have 542 to go. All of us feel like we are almost there, even though it looks like we won't actually arrive until the morning of the 29th. It will be a quick trip if the ETA stands. The Estimated time for the passage that was used way back a year ago appears to be accurate, so far. looks like it will be around 12 days.
Tonight we could be motor sailing in St Margaret's Bay. The sea is almost perfectly flat and the wind is 7 knots out of the SW and the temp is 84 degrees. Hard to believe only a couple of days ago it was blowing a sustained 32-36 knots with gusts in the 40's for 24 hours straight and we were bundled in winter woolies.
Today at dusk we had our delayed mid way party with wine , appetizers and a wonderful meal of fresh veggies and turkey and mushrooms in cream sauce by chef Wally on the after deck. It was great. It was also a day to get caught up on small jobs, reading , emails etc. A well deserved break.
It is calm enough that we can see bits of flotsam and over the last couple of days we saw a couple of buoy's in 6000' of water, a bucket without a handle, a 45 gal drum, and some other unknown orange bits. That's about it from here.
All the best from Aisling I
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06/25/2007, 650 nm west of Horta
Hello All:
We are again gliding along under sail over smooth seas. The dawn was very beautiful today. We have now been at sea for over a week and the days and miles are slipping by quickly. Yesterday brought the much-anticipated day of calm seas:after croque-monsieurs for breakfast (our chef is amazing!) we cleaned the boat and even had showers (although we hesitate to tell the skipper...) If there are any mahi mahi out here they were too smart for us, but the leftovers we had for supper were nearly as delicious.
We experienced our first equipment failure yesterday, when a traveller fitting gave way. Fortunately Wally discovered it on a routine check- we were thankful that it had not given way during the gales. The guys managed to make a temporary fix with spectra, and hopefully we will get it properly repaired in Horta.
Rick is fishing again, maybe today...
All the best from Aisling I
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| Transatlantic part 1-Halifax to Azores |
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