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The World Cruise of Veleda IV |
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Leaving the Azores - Horta to Falmouth We finally left Horta at 1510 (3:10p.m.) on Monday July 12, 1999 after sending off a final e-mail, doing some miscellaneous shopping, and clearing out (no problems). We had said our farewells to several of our friends, some of whom we expect to meet in Falmouth. Herb Hilgenberg says to go north into a north easterly to get above 41N and thus into westerlies. The day was overcast and a comfortable 10 knot NE wind. We motored out off Pico, then turned north, hoisted sail and were off. Auto is working well, and is not skipping as it did after the Benmar people fixed it. We are appreciative of Mid Atlantic Yacht Services for their work. However as we were heading into the wind again, I balanced the sails, turned auto off, locked the helm and Veleda sailed herself for the next five hours. We continued to sail northward until about 0830 the next morning, when the wind died, and we put the engine on and motored for the next12 hours to get north into the westerlies. However, we had to practice fuel economy and drifted for the evening of July 13. Murphy's Law again - just enough wind came up that we couldn't just drift, and shortly after midnight gave up drifting and went wing on wing for three hours. We then had to take down the whisker pole and gybe our sails to go on a slow broad reach. We have seen many sea turtles 'hobbling' on the surface, apparently unable to submerge, and they just lazily flopped to try to put distance between us. We thought they were diseased (all ten we sighted), but maybe it is exhaustion from a mating period, as they all seemed this way. July 14, Day 3, found us with very light winds (less than 5 knots variable). I saw a containership and called her on VHF to ask if we painted on her radar and if they had any recent weather forecasts. We were on the ship's radar at over 9 miles (good for a small boat, the operator said), but had no weather. However, about twenty minutes later he called us back with an updated weather forecast (large high with light winds from here to England). She was a large containership destined for Gibraltar and the Med. We continued to drift for another three hours, then tried our genoa at noon hour, then an hour later changed to our Big Blue spinnaker. It is up now in a light 4-5 knot wind moving us along between 3 to 4 knots. Oh well, it is better than drifting, and saves fuel. A nagging concern about drifting is that our estimated time for the passage may be off by a few days, and Judy's parents will start to worry if they have not heard from us after the projected ETA. We. of course. are fine. We have lots of food and water, and sufficient fuel to keep batteries charged, to motor when necessary, and to motor into ports. We could stay at sea for probably up to six weeks or more if necessary. We cannot afford to motor every time we hit a calm, but we do not want to be too far off our ETA; thus the concern about drifting. While drifting this morning, for the first time, maybe the second, I went overboard accidentally. I didn't really fall, I dove. We were driftingat about 1030 this morning and were dropping our main when the boat heaved in the swell. I lost my balance on the coach roof while bundling the sail, grabbed the sail which was not secured and went over backwards onto the side deck. I would have hit a stanchion, but instead dove off to save me some bruises and to not damage the stanchion or the lifelines. The water was lovely. Crystal clear, warm, and no current or waves. I noticed the grime at the water line and was going to ask Judy to give me a scrubber to clean it while I was down there. But she just lowered a ladder and I climbed back aboard. Then I realised I had lost my glasses in the dip. My watch is O.K. as it is water resistant. I have another pair of glasses on board, so there was no problem. Judy, not liking to dive in, went down the ladder for a quick dip. The first time I went in accidentally was about 20 years ago when we were down in the Florida Keys. We were slowly feeling our way into New Found Harbor on a Columbia 39 when we grounded on a sand bar. To heel the boat over, I got out on the boom and Judy swung it out to port and we tried to heel it over. My son, Aubrey, was at the helm. We came off O.K. However, I was still on the end of the boom, and the main was still partially up! We started to jibe! I could see myself, on the end of the boom as we went through an uncontrolled jibe, being flung off like a sling shot when the boom whipped over to starboard. I bailed out, and dropped off the boom into the water, before it started to swing. So these are the only times I have ever 'fallen' off a boat, both times necessary, but with a degree of volition and control. Do they count as 'falling' off a boat? Oh Well! The afternoon today is lovely; a light breeze, spinnaker up, doing 3 to 4 knots, no waves or swell, sunny, some sea songs on our stereo - all is well with the universe. Day 4 was even more leisurely. We started off motoring to charge batteries and there was no wind. At 1000 we tried the spinnaker for an hour of light breezes, and sailed a whole nautical mile! We gave up and motored for a couple more hours to stabilize the boat and prepare lunch. At noon hour we were visited by a large school of about 20 dolphins who played around Veleda for a half hour circling and jumping. I got some more good pictures of two of them jumping at the same time. We continued to drift and wallow for the afternoon, and in frustration I turned on the engine and motored for another three hours before drifting for the night. Day 5 continued the minimal wind. Our 24 hour run, including the several hours of motoring, was a disappointing 85 Nautical miles. However, in the afternoon a bit of wind came up, and grew to 25 knots in a few minutes, before we had time to get he spinnaker down. In taking it down in the heavy wind, the tack tore out. We may be able to repair it under way, but we will see. We double-reefed the main, and when we came to unfurl the genoa, it was jammed. We suspect the jury rigged spinnaker halyard somehow put extra strain on the thrust bearing on the top of the furling gear causing it to break as it did last summer. Judy was not feeling well with the increased wind and sea, but I was frustrated at not having a headsail. I got out our working jib, selected a couple of mooring lines for sheets, and we hoisted it loose-luffed up on the spinnaker halyard. It worked well until the snap shackle released and the sail and whisker pole went over board at 0300. We retrieved them and went the rest of the morning under main only. Day 6 I was frustrated again as only having one sail up in a good wind, and so I went aloft up the mast steps to retrieve the halyard. I became stiff and bruised from hanging on so tight at the top of the mast in 10 knot winds and fairly heavy seas. By 1500 we were ready to hoist the working jib again, but could not get it up high enough with the heavy 20 knot winds. There was no winch or pulleys to use, and we could not get enough leverage from the base of the mast. Oh, I was frustrated and angry at wimping along at 3.5 knots in 20 knots of wind! Finally, we decided to try the boom winch which was used for the reefing lines. We were double reefed and were able to remove the lines from it. To bring the spinnaker halyard over to the boom winch we put a block at the base of the mast and led the halyard down through it then up to the boom winch. It worked! Now we were going along a ta respectable 5.5 knots. Day 7 saw us flying along at over 6 knots all day! We went wing on wing at 0840 and stayed that way for the next 34 hours! Our noon run was a good 128 Nautical miles over the last 24 hours. The whisker pole bounced off once but was easily replaced and lengthened a bit for better extension of the jib. Day 7 and today we were still flying and, as mentioned at the beginning, we did 142 Nautical Miles over a 24 hour period. That is an average of over 6 knots for 24 hours. It was fun watching the GPS as we surfed down waves at 10 and 11 knots! Considering we have only a working jib, loose luffed and a double reefed main, we are doing quite well. A fun sail for my birthday today. , July 19, Day 8, position 46 46.8 N, 016 03.5 W Wow! Are we ever moving! The days run up to noon hour today was 142 nautical miles for an average speed of six knots (keeping in mind our hull speed is rated at only 6.2 knots). Right now at19:30 we are still moving along at 5.5 knots. We had been on a dead run, wing on wing for 34 hours with 20 to 30 knot winds, and just a couple of hours ago the wind shifted from west to north west putting us on our present fast broad reach. I am glad our autopilot is working well. It has held us nicely on course, other than a few hours this afternoon when we were going through 12 foot following seas and 30 knot winds. The repairs that Mid Atlantic Yacht Services did in Horta were better than those done by the factory technicians when we sent the whole system to Cetek in California when we were in Nassau. Then, it still skipped under stress until it stripped its gears two weeks before we got to the Azores. However, now there is no skipping whatever. However, it is a very bouncy sail, not as bad as pounding into it as we did in getting to the Azores, but bad enough that Judy still needs to be horizontal in order not to be sick. It makes meal preparation tricky. July 23, 1999 Falmouth, England [Click on the chart to enlarge]  We're here! We completed our Atlantic crossing to England on July 23. It took 11 days for the crossing from the Azores. Judy was horizontal for most of the past week. After we lost our jib halyard again on July 21 and had only our main, we motored the last two and a half days to get in at a reasonable time. Had we just sailed under main only, it would have taken an extra two or three days to complete the trip. As it was we had sufficient fuel to motor for over 48 hours. It was frustrating, as we had good winds for a broad reach or a run, but the main only would have been too slow (2.5 knots as opposed to 5.5 knots
with a headsail). However, it was a bumpy sail and Judy was still marginal, and horizontal most of the time. I was hoping the wind and waves would subside for a bit so I could go up the mast again to replace the jib halyard. However, the wind stayed up, and I did not want to risk climbing the mast in 10 to 12 foot seas.Before the halyard broke again, it tore the winch off the boom. Another repair to be done when we reached England. I saw the winch partially torn and holding by only one bolt. I put a line around it so that if and when it did tear off, the winch itself would not be flung overboard. It worked, and when it finally gave way there was a loud thump, but nothing was damaged and we still had the winch. We re-reeved the halyard again, this time leading the line aft to a cockpit winch. This worked even better as we could hoist the jib up tighter. However, the head of the jib was rubbing against the roller furled genoa, and in another 12 hours the halyard broke again. So, we were not able to hoist a headsail for the last three days of the trip, and we motor sailed with the double reefed main on a broad reach, making good time and clocking 130 nautical miles for each of the last three days. Judy was happy to make such good time. We started seeing more shipping the last two days, including deep sea trawlers. We also heard two sets of sonic booms as jets broke the sound barrier. Perhaps they were the Concordes, as they are not allowed to break the barrier over land, and reach their supersonic speed over the ocean. The total distance for this leg was 1255 nautical miles. This time we did have westerlies most of the way and did not have to tack off course, heading into a north easterly, as we did en route to the Azores. We basically followed a rhumb line course straight to the Lizard just southeast of Land's End. As we approached the coast I felt the history of the area, the ships, the fleets, the battles, the convoys - the whole romantic, historical aspect of arriving in England by sea, in our own boat, over such historical waters. The very place names of England conjure up the sense of history, and link many place names in Canada and the U.S. to their English origin. As I look over a map of England, I see many names used in 'The New World' or names of ancient and medieval battles and significance: Oxford, London, Boston, Grimsby, Penzance (as in 'Pirates Of...') Portsmouth, Plymouth, Truro, Halifax, Hastings, Dover, Swansea, Newmarket, Peterborough, Liskeard, Stratford, Chelmsford, Leamington, Nottingham, York, Rochester, Norwich, Kingston, Sudbury, Dartmouth, and dozens, if not hundreds more. Incidentally the cities ending in 'mouth' indicate they are at the mouth of the named river: eg. Falmouth at the mouth of the Fal River, Dartmouth at the mouth of the Dart River, and so on. As we entered the Falmouth estuary we saw the headland dominated by Pendennis Castle, with a super tanker anchored off it. We came in to what we thought was the Visitor's Yacht Haven, only to find out it was the Port Pendennis Marina, a more expensive marina, part of a condominium complex. At 17 pounds sterling per night, we stayed only one night there, then went out to anchor for the next two nights. Today (July 26) we moved to a mooring buoy in front of the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club at a more reasonable 7 pounds per night. It is nice having a temporary R.C.Y.C. membership. The club is comfortable and the people friendly. It will be our base of operations for the next week until we take off, possibly back west to Penzance or eastwards towards Plymouth. The rest of the summer will be spent doing the south coast, and we may possibly winter on the east coast. We will be in the path of totality for the upcoming solar eclipse, either here in Falmouth or out in the middle of the English Channel, on August 11. We want to be in London for August 16 to meet with Judy's parents and her sister Jacqui and new son Peter. He was born on July 19, my birthday. After that we are not sure where we will go. So far we are thinking of hunkering down for the winter in early October, as we have been told that gales are more frequent by that time. It will be quite an experience living on board for six cold damp months at a mooring, anchorage or dock somewhere. We will put the wood stove we have on board to good use I am sure. Next Log |
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Links:
Royal Cornwall Yacht Club, Falmouth UK Cornish Light (Travel site) Azores and Back Race '99 - log of Falmouth to Azores race - Little Ship Club, London UK |
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