Voyage East from Rhode Island

Tristan's blog log 6
Azores Islands

Since my last post we have arrived in the little town of Horta - very pretty. We're the largest boat in the marina, so we are getting a few looks!


We had some difficult sailing the last few days, with winds shifting on us a lot. They got up to 35 knots gusting, with rather big seas.

This yacht can fairly shift along - ten years ago it reached a speed of over 16 knots. Until yesterday, Eran had the speed record trip of 14.7 knots for this trip, which is pretty god damn fast. However, I managed to smash that with 15.1 knots, so I'm feeling rather proud of myself! 


We arrived into the port in mist and rain, which wasn't very pleasant.


Then we spent the morning cleaning the boat inside and out.

Eventually, the rain dried up around lunch time, and we hung out all our wet gear to dry. We sent all our laundry off for cleaning - quite a lot at this stage, and then we all had showers, and felt clean and fresh for the first time in a good while! 





We have today off, and have all gone our seperate ways. Having been cooped up for a fortnight, space from everyone else is much needed at this stage.

We'll be setting sail again tomorrow morning for Palma Mallorca. Even after such a trek across the ocean we are only half way through the journey as it another 2000 odd miles to go!! So, depending on the weather, it will be another 10/15 days at sea!

When we go on watch we have to fill out the log with our coordinates, details of the weather, and systems check on the boat. At night, the captain may leave watch orders, such as, if the wind gets above such and such - give him a call, or if the wind goes below or above whatever degree - give him a shout.

The other night I was on the helm, and Juan did the log. He then came up and sat beside me. It was a very dark night. You couldn't really see the sea, but it was very lumpy, and there was a good breeze howling through the rigging. Quite an eerie atmosphere. I asked Juan if there were there any orders. He said there were, and told me that we were to tell Eran if the angle of the wind were to go above 130, or if the boat speed were to drop below 5kts. Then, he said we were also instructed to notify the captain immediately if a 'Man Fish' were to come out of the water. I froze. I'd never even heard of this creature.

I had a second or two of utter terror with the childlike fear of the unknown monster appearing out of the black black sea and stepping unto the boat.

Juan's English is very good, but sometimes he mixes things up. Much to my immense relief it turned out he was talking about a Mermaid. I can't say my underwear were the better for that experience! 

I am off now to do some walking and exploring.

T on the sea