Bermuda to Horta, Faial Island, Azores, Portugal

Twister arrived Faial this morning, Monday July 8 after a 20-day passage from Bermuda. As expected it was a slow one. I sailed around 1850 miles and had several sub-100 mile days. Latest photos from North Atlantic here.

Thursday 20/06-2013

Departed St. George’s Harbor, Bermuda Tuesday 18/06, 1645 UTC ca ½ hour after Mark and Maria on Mare Liberum. We had decided to race to Horta, the loser(s) having to buy the

Mare Liberum on the way to Azores

winner(s) a beer. Mare Liberum is an Albin Vega 27 (27 feet) like Paul’s Rebellion, though a few years older. When we were a few miles out of the channel into St. George’s Harbor, Atlantic Explorer, the kickass, recently refurbished research vessel from Bermuda Biological Station, was coming back from its latest research cruise.

     In the ca 10 knot southerly breeze I decided to put up the asymmetrical spinnaker (A-sail) to close the gap (actually, the real reason I put it up was so I could close the gap and then have Mark or Maria take some photos of Twister sailing--something that's difficult to do sailing solo). Anyway, it did the trick and once Mark pointed out that I wouldn’t be able to pass them in their lee (because I kept ending up in their wind shadow and then lost speed) I left them in my wake (after we had snapped some photos). By sundown I had maybe a 2 mile lead. I dropped the A-sail (I rarely fly it at night because if the wind kicks up, getting it down can be like wrestling an angry Honey Badger). By morning, we were still about 2 miles apart. We stayed within eye shot the rest of day 2, but by the next morning, I couldn’t see them (though I did hear them on the VHF radio).

     So far, lovely sailing in light southerly breeze. Averaging just over 100 miles  per day. Hope this keeps up.

Saturday 22/06-2013

35° 26’.2 N 059° 16’.4 W (325 miles from Bermuda). Ghosting along at 1-2 knots. The ocean looks like a mill pond (but bigger and bluer). I was just contemplating a swim when I saw a pair of rather un-cetacean-like fins checking out my fishing lure and decided to wait (I think it was actually the dorsal and tail fin of one shark)

Tuesday 25/06-2013

Found The Gulf Stream again this AM. With a 2 knots boost, Twister is going 7.2 knots in a light NW breeze (though way off the desired course). Yesterday the wind came back after spending the previous two nights drifting (backwards due counter-current) with the sails down (no wind, so to minimize damage from flogging sails and to maximize my sanity as the sound of slatting sails drives me mad). The conventional wisdom on this passage is to head north from Bermuda until the latitude of Azores is reached, then turn right and follow the direct course. This is because the area between Bermuda and Azores is right where the North Atlantic High (pressure) likes to sit in the summer, and there’s usually no wind in the middle of a high. So that’s what I’m trying to do now (ie head north to where the wind is). I guess I got something big on the fishing line yesterday as the steel leader parted and whatever it was disappeared with my lure.

Wednesday 26/06-2013

Had a nice swim today. Twister gliding along at 2 knots. No problem keeping up (but I did have a line dragging behind the boat just in case). It seems we are no longer in the Sargasso Sea. I’ve only seen isolated clumps of Sargassum here and there, and the wind-vane autopilot has not been interfered with. However, I have seen more garbage on this passage than I have on any other (no big piles, just isolated bits—parts of Styrofoam cups, drinking straw, plastic wrappers, polyethylene bottles, fluorescent light tube, a flip-flop (sandal), various un-ID's bits,

North Atlantic garbage patch

and I’m pretty sure I saw a cigarette butt.). I guess that’s from being near the center of the North Atlantic Gyre where stuff floating on the surface accumulates. Also lots of Portuguese Men-Of-War.

Thursday 27/06-2013

Second dolphin visit of the passage today (first one was yesterday evening). Lying in my bunk, reading, ca 2 hours before sundown I heard the now familiar squeak-squeak which in dolphin means, “come out and play.” So I sat on the bow for a while as 10-15 Atlantic Spotted Dolphins (I think—they were spotted anyway) cavorted around Twister. By that time, some actual wind had arrived, and Twister was galloping along at 6.5 knots, so I couldn’t (safely) join them in the water. 

29/06-2013. 1030 UTC

Just over halfway. Lovely conditions. Now ca 10 knots of wind on the beam. Going 6+ knots on the right course. Just finished Bertrand Russell's History Of Western Philosophy. Came across a good quote from Jeremy Bentham: "Wars and storms are best to read of, but peace and calms are better to endure."

1530 UTC

Becalmed again. Saw 5 turtles today as well as 4-5 pods of dolphins, hundreds of jellyfish, petrels, and un-ID's shiny little things. Tried to go swimming with a turtle, but they are shy. Picked up a fishing-net float. It had quite an eco-system growing on it--crabs, barnacles, many things I couldn't ID--so I put it back.  

Sun 30/06-2013. 0900 UTC

Becalmed all night. Slept very well with the sails down. 

Wed 03/07-2013. 0900 UTC

I think I have conquered my fear of the A-sail. Yesterday ran all day with it (first with the mainsail, then just A-sail poled out as wind veered from SW to WSW) without problems (in the past, it has often ended with my swearing never to use that sail again). Horny the wind vane was able to steer. Averaged around 5 knots in the 8-10 knots breeze. Strangely enough, Radio Australia is the station coming in best on the SSB (shortwave). Almost exactly the opposite side of the earth. 

06/07-2013. 1834 UTC

Two days ago when it was blowing a solid 30 knots on the beam and pissing down rain (due to a small low and associated front) I had (again) abandoned all thoughts of taking Twister around Cape Horn (some day). This afternoon it's sunny with 15 knots on the quarter and I'm already having second thoughts about my second thoughts. 

Sun 07/07-2013. Ca 12 miles from Faial

A turtle, multiple dolphin pods, and a sperm whale (first one I've seen) were the welcoming committee to The Azores. Close-reached the last ~20 miles to Faial with my new friend the A-Sail then spent the night becalmed a couple of miles off the coast. 

Sperm Whale

Finished The Koran. Surprisingly, most of the stories are from The Torah (Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Josef, Egypt, Moses, and The Exodus) but in very abridged form and then repeated ad nauseum. Also a couple prophets and New Testament--Jonah (and the whale/fish), Jesus (virgin birth is corroborated, but Jesus is not divine). My favorite passage from the Koran:  
"We have enjoined on man kindness to his parents...At length, when he reaches the age of full strength and attains forty years..."  Chapter 46 (Al-ahqaf) verse 15.  

Tues 09/07-2013. Horta, Faial

The Azores are near or on the route for most eastbound trans-North-Atlantic crossings, so the majority of sailboats stop here (it was Joshua Slocum's first stop after departing North America. Have I mentioned that Joshua Slocum was a badass?). Horta in Faial is the best harbor in The Azores and most don't go anywhere else. I've read that somewhere around 1000 sailboats stop here every year (and most do so in the summer months). Of course not all have crossed the Atlantic. Many come from various places in Europe. It has long been a tradition for the crews to paint a mural/calling card to commemorate their stop in The Azores, so now almost every square foot of concrete around the marina is covered in these. Fortunately for me, a boat named Twister has already been here, saving me the work (by coincidence, that mural is very close to where Twister is tied up (rafted to a Hans Christian 43, a lovely double-ender with a big bowsprit).