Oldies On Tour

Position @ 1200 UTC

37⁰ 41.09 N 23⁰ 58.14 W

Nautical Miles travelled since Sau Miguel 92

Woke up for shift change at 0600 to no noise, great, engine off and cruising along at 6 knots.Chris then went down and left me to gaze at nothing. what wind there was was behaving itself, the seas fairly settled and there was no other boats around.

Vince poked his head up around 0800hrs still feeling queesy, so he lay in the cockpit.

The only distraction we had, and that only lasted a couple of minutes was a whale that came across our stern, sussed us out and went again,just as quickly as he had arived.

By 0900 hrs we were cold and hungry so knocked up paddy and she came up with an excellent cooked breakfast which we all devoured as if we hadn’t seen food for a week! First class. Vince, still not feeling right then went down to his bunk for an hour or so before taking over the watch from me, “baptisim by fire” for him I am afraid.

At about 1400 hrs we had to start the engine again. Our delema is simple we need to pass 20 degrees Longitude to start and get into the low pressure area to get sailing. Where we are at the moment towards the edge of the high, with wind veering wanting to push us South. Having left early we are effectivly out of the ARC cruising competition, so have no reason to struggle on, hence more frequent use of the engine. Once we cross the 20 degree spot we shold get some northely or even north easterly to push us south and then east again around Cape St Vincent.

The afternoon was diffeent, instead of our usual “BBC” The american influence kicked in and today we had “BP”,yes “BP”no not petrol but “Bond & Popcorn” different but nice. “Licensed to Kill” was the Bond,the second and last Timothy Dalton made.

Dinner tonight againprepared by Paddy was Pork chops and fried rice with salad,wentdown well but notwith Vince, he had visions of seeingiyagain so declined,lets hope he is better tomorrow.

Night watches kicked in and again a very quiet night, nothing about and doing around 6 knots.

38⁰ 39.01 N 27⁰ 13.12 W

Angra do Heroismo Marina
Terceira, The Azores

Up and about fairly early as we had things to do like washing, e mails, prepping the boat etc., and decide whether to leave today or with the rest tomorrow. There are several deciding factors and we will not have all the answere ’till about miday.

As you may be aware, Chris has a flight to catch but unfortunatly when this flight was booked the only 2 available were 19th and 22June. The 22nd June being Chris’ birthday and the big one!! he has to be back! so that left the 19th, very tight to make as well!

So, 1st important piece of information was how to get from Lagos to Faro and how long it takes. The prefered mode of travel is for Chris to go by train then bus to airport. Bottom line Chris has to be away fom the boat by 0700hrs 19th June.

2nd vital piece of information we were waiting for is the weather forecast to see where the winds, if any that is are coming from,this arrived at midday. Not good reading, as we have to go East but keeping North of the Rhumline to compensate for the Portugal current between 1/2and 1 knots yet having East, North East wind for the first alf of the crossing then hopefull backing to a north west wind,neither forecast as being strong. So i,t looks like a slow crossing.

Decision made, we will do skippers briefing, have dinner and away around 1900hrs,and that’s what we did only we had a slight delay, just as were about to cast off, Chris asked me where my Computer was, ugh in the cabin, no; ugh in the saloon, ugh in the cockpit no; then it dawned on me, I had taken it ccthe skippers briefing and left it there, safe and locked up! Oh dear, both Lyall and Rob whoses office it was, had gone off to do the prize giving at the last reception for all the crews before leaving The Azores. So I asked Paddy (send in the charm!!!v) to go the the presentations and get the key to his offive and retrieve.

Back to the boat and slipped the berth by 2000hrs, hours, 1 hour later than we planned but we were away on a fairly clear but cold night with engine full chat, half a main and half a jib; nothing to report!

Position @ 1200 UTC

37⁰ 44.12 N 25⁰ 39.40 W

Ponta Delgada Marina
Sao Miguel

Woke up to nothing, wow! no rocking and rolling, no engine, no generator,just a few sea gulls sqwarking.

Today is the day we tour the Island of Sao Miguel; we have been told the coach leaves promptly at 1000hrs, so don’t be late! Anyway, all aboard and we were off. We stopped at several different photographing spots allvery green and pretty, also I didn’t realise how bigthis Island is and the interesting things they growsuch as pineapples and bananas amongst other things.

We were taken to where the steam, heat and solpha etc., is still coming out of the ground and where they cooke their local dishes.Holes dug into the ground, the stews made and placed into big metal pots and then below ground covered witth soil for approx 6 hours. Once cooked it goues back to the hotel for serving in their restaurants. Before we went back for this meal,we went to the solpha baths.A huge swimming pool full of this hot brown water. I had seen and done this before in St Lucia but most of our party hadn’t seen this before and were a little concerned about going in. All did though and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Now back to the hotel for this special, local, stew. It had all sorts of meet and sausage in as well as cabbage and carrots; it certainly filled us up. Soup to start with and pineappple to finish, all washed down with local “Azores” red wine (very nice) and coffee.

Back on the coach, most wanting a seista, but no there were other sites tosee,and the best to last, was th huge lake at the bottomf the original ain crater, spectacular!

The ride back to the Marina was unevetful and very quick so no time for a cat-nap there. Paddy and I dived into the local supermarket for some meat, back to the boat and cooked it together with a load of rice and back to the sailing club where there was a dinner with a difference.

Each prepared a dish on the boat and took it over; ours was a chili again, but unfortunatly it hadn’t had time to mature, however, it all got eaten, so it couldn’t have been that bad!!!

Bed by 13300 hrs as we were very tired, in fact Chris elected not tocome to the party

Last day in the Azores tomorow, skippers briefing around 1700hrs and away Saturday mid day on the last lkeg to Lagos,Portugal

Position @ 1200 UTC

37⁰ 44.12 N 25⁰ 39.40 W

Ponta Delgada Marina
Sao Miguel

I went to bed following my shift at midnight happy knowing we were charging along at 6 knots + and that we were all set up to jybe as the wind veered through 180 degrees; handed over to Jimbo and away. I was awaken by worrying noises around 0230hrs so shot up to see Chris had already arrived in the cockpit, I didn’t need to be there as the problem had been covered. What had happened was the wind had veered but Jimbo hadn’t jybed and baclked the sail. The winds change so quickly around here you have to be on your toes.

I was back at 0600hrs and all was well but poor Chris didn’t get his 6 hrs break between the watches so me turning up early was a god send. Anyway still 6 knots, overcast sky and high seas but space to let out the Jib a little more to increase the speed. As we sailed along the Island we had a few fishing boats to sail between and dolphins enjoyng their breakfast.

We arrived at the fuel dock where the marina offices are and where we cleared in just in time as they closed at 1200 hrs Time was also getting criticall as Jimbo hadf a flight to catch.

We then sailed around to the new marina where we were all berthed together and we all relaxed in our own ways. Chris decided to catch up with sleep, Paddy decided to go to town, I on the other hand had to connect up the power cable, unfortunatly there was no power. I contacted the marina office and they sent an electrician, only to be told it was my problem, not theirs! Help! Fair Encounter answered my VHF call, John came over and the fault turned out to be a disconnected wire in the plug in the ambilical cord, Thank you John (Fair Encounter) for your valued assistance.

Dinner tonight was a Chili cooked in the oven for several hours to tenderise the beef. Half way through we checked the cooking and tasted the gravy, wow! how much chili did we put in, so had to add tomatoes. Lyall and Rob (th ARC controllers) joined us for dinner as did David from another boat, Paddy’s friend. Great evening, we all had a great evening; went through several bottles of wine, excellent food and coffee and Malt Whisky to round off the evening. Vince, our new member of crew then arrived so we set about anoher bottle of wine!

Tomorrow we have a day tour of the island which includes swimming in volcanic pool and a local lunch cooked under ground, looking forward to it.

Position @ 1200 UTC

38⁰ 39.01 N 27⁰ 13.12 W

Angra do Heroismo Marina
Terceira, The Azores

Last day here today, we leave around 1700hrs to our final destination in the Azores, Ponta Delgada, on the Island of San Miguel, then we head for Portugal leaving on Saturday 12th June at mid day.

Back to today, we pluged in to shore power to get our batterys fully charged,filled our water tanks and get the boat ready for sailing. We then did our own thing such as aload of washing,showers and internet. Chris also wanted some quiet time to plot our route, straight over as far as I can see!

We then met up for a menu del dia. I then had to collect my washing Chris and Jimbo went back to the boat and had naps and Paddy went back to the internet. We were all back on board for 1600 hrs ready to slip the lines around 1700 hrs. Lyall and Rob (the ARC people) helped us, one by one, as getting off the pontoons with a nasty wind pushing us back on was tricky. Any way we wer 4th off at 1655hrs.

Out of the main harbour and in the lee of the big hill, we set up the main, fully, but with the reefing lock on ready. How this works is simple, pull the main right out, move the locking pini nto place on the mast and each time you furl in some of the main sail, it cannot come back out. The down side, and there always is, you need to go back up to the mast and remove the pin if you want to release more sail!

Once away from the Island of Terrceira, flying full main and full jib, we started to get caught in a sort of vortex, probably something to do with too much wind trying to get past the Islands, I was up at the mast furling in the main, Chris was on th helm and Jimbo was furling in the jib when wew were hit with a gust of 35 knots, The boomwhich was still held out on its preventer, dug well into he water, I was hanging onto the mast, Chris was fighting the helm and for a few moments it seemed anything could have happened, but no, Anam Cara did her stuff with pride.

With night fall coming on we decided to keep the reefs in, but after an hour of discomfort, wallowing frim side to side and not being able to stay on the bed, let alone sleep! I went up and we brought in the main and let out the jib, the result, more comfort for those trying to sleep . We have also rigged the preventer on the Starboard side as at some point in the night we will have to Jibe. still thats for the next watch, I hope!

I am off ’till 0600 hrs

Position @ 1200 UTC

38⁰ 39.01 N 27⁰ 13.12 W

Angra do Heroismo Marina
Terceira, The Azores

I had a lie in this morning, but apparantly Paddy woke early and left the boat around 0730 hrs, but not seen or heard by anybody! Chris and Jimbo were away around 0930 hrs and I woke up about the same time, got dressed, had some cerial and went off to the showers, way laid along the hard by a telephone conversation with Christine and bumping into other ARC sailors. The place seemed fairly deserted, I can’t think what Paddy did for those few early morning hours, come to think of it no one heard her retun last night!!!!!

Back to the boat I made myself an omelete with coffee then off to the meeting point for the walking tour of this beautifull city. It is easy to know why it is classified as a UNESCO world heritage site. A most facinating tour and being interested in History, was gob smacked about how little I really know. There is so much outside British History yet it passes us by but actually these Islands, though not mentioned in British History, have contributed if not directly,indirectly with our wealth in the 15th 16th and 17th centuries;not tomention we had an air base here during the war to help us overcome the U boat threat!

One interesting snippet is their emblemhas 2 bulls on it. Apparently back in the 16th Century these Islands and Portugal all belonged to Spain; but this Island held out, and tried to remain Portuguise. So, the Spanish sent an army over to quash the rebellion and the loicals not being an army used another weapon. This island supported many wild bulls over the years and they were large in numbersso the morning the Spanish were landing, the locals drove these bulls straightr into the Spanish army. Well chaos reinged and apparently 500 Spaniards were killed and the army turned back! Hence the bulls on their emblem and they have bull fiestas

Nexton the agenda, we made our way accross town to watch the traditional bull running fiesta in the streets. The locals all turn out to see the specticle, the youngsters are ready with red capes and brollies hoping they are the ones to be chasedand as soon a the first bull appears most people jumpon walls and imnto gardens. All along the street low walls are uilt up and wodden structures appeared to protect people,it was a great eveningf. There were thecustomary “buirger” type vans and several ones selling Beer and Wine.

4 bulls were sent into he street, one at a time. The first was a bit of a whimp, not too interested and wanted to go home, but they got worse. No 3 was so strong and quick he actuall jumped/charged the wooden fence and ended up in someone’s garden, very exciting.Oh yes,”Health and Safety” Joke, Joke! But,none the less it was a great specticle and worth going.

It was at the bull running that I first met upwith Chris and Jimbo. They had spent their day in one bar or another, feeding themselves when appropriate. Shame as they only stayed for the first 2 bulls, the last 2 were the best!

Lyall is kipping down on our boat for the night butnor expected back too early.Chris and Jimbo in bed for 2230,I amoff now but Paddy is still out partyinmg, willshe be back tonight?