Last Stanchions in Ponta Delgarda
andromeda of plymouth
Susan and Andrew Wilson
Sun 5 Sep 2010 12:49
Delgada; the arrival and departure of the inter-island ferries, the
container ships, the bulk carriers, the fuel tankers, the fishing boats,
other yachts, the Antonio Enes (F471), the glass bottomed boat, the pilots
and the very large cruise liner, the Oriana. We’ve become very used to all
this while waiting for spare parts and the repairs that it’s very easy to
get a sense of being part of the fabric of the island. However, after 35
days here, all the repairs are now completed - only the replacement wind
generator to be installed when delivered – and we can once again make
plans to move on. The insurance company will contribute quite a bit to the
cost of the repairs which is great news and a big relief for us. Thomas
and Annie have done a great job on the sail repair, the stanchions, the
wind generator mast and the new forestay and furler. Huge thanks to them.
We plan to head south-east toward Santa Maria on a 60 mile trip to check
out the new forestay and furler mechanism, then head down to Madiera, a
four or five day trip, for the festival in Quinto do Lorde, if the weather
permits. It will be really nice to be sailing again. Yesterday we filled
the spare fuel containers and moved Andromeda so we can get away without
causing mayhem in the marina by trying to go in reverse. The marina is
emptying now and it’s officially the “winter” season, with very few staff
left. There won’t be too many more yachts coming through.
When we returned to the marina there was a large yacht which had also lost
a furler here (Lifesong) and an American yacht which had lost it’s entire
rig – Louis is still in discussion with his insurance company and will
probably have to leave his yacht here over the winter. We helped with the
installation of the huge new furler and forestay on Lifesong and
Jean-Claude responded in kind by helping us and Thomas install our new
one. Everyone helps everyone else which is brilliant when you need an
extra pair of hands or three. An Australian yacht has just arrived from
Bermuda with a cutlass bearing problem which means he will need to hauled
out next week – it’s all fun and games this sailing lark! At least Andy
and Lesley on Kodiak got away and all seems well with their engine as they
are now in Madeira.
We had a taste of some of the weather the Azores experiences in the winter
with the passage of a tropical storm to the north of the islands. We had
winds up to 40 knots for three to four days and a large uncomfortable
swell in the marina and quite a bit of rain. The marina staff encouraged
single yachts to occupy double berths and lay additional lines to stop the
yachts moving too much. We had 9 lines out and while we felt secure, well
we were actually quite nervous as we still didn’t have the forestay in
place and were relying on three halliards to support the mast at the bow,
we did still move quite a bit. It was about a week before we saw the sun
again.
We’ve got through quite a few of the jobs and Susan has cleaned all the
cupboards and re-stowed and inventoried everything over the past few weeks
so we are pretty well organised for the next few trips. She had also made
new curtains for Andromeda – no prizes for those of you who guess the
colour correctly. I’ve re-seated the stanchions that weren’t replaced and
laid the cabling for the wind generator and several other maintenance
jobs, through there a still a few to do over the next month or so.
We have also been busy getting ready for our additional crew and Susan
thinks she may even be able to give them a locker each to put stuff in
(don’t get too excited there is still time for her to fill them back up
again) and we have worked out how to get two of the bunks free for the
days in port when there will be 6 of us on board though it may come to
hammocks hung on deck – we shall no doubt let you know how it goes in due
course.
We had hoped to do a bit more sight-seeing but what with getting the
repairs organised and helping Kodiak get on her way the time has just gone
so we are leaving things to come back and do. So unless we go out on the
glass bottom boat this afternoon, that will have to wait too.
Meanwhile it’s time to hit the open sea again and fill the sails with some
wind and maybe finally have the chance to play with our new
sail........getting exciting again.
In the meantime we wish Jenny a very happy 21st birthday next Tuesday,
have a great day.
More in due course,
Susan and Andrew
s/v Andromeda
