ARC Europe Leg 2 - Bermuda to Azores - 2
Gins.pt
Sun 30 May 2010 16:43
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We are at 100nm to Horta on the island
of Faial.We are starting our 12 th day of the voyage. We estimate to land
tomorrow morning.
Overall the voyage went fine. In the first days we
were struggling to find the wind and used the engine several time to cross the
lulls. On the 5th day we decided to "bite the bullet " and leave the comfortable
zone
between 33,5 to 35,5 degrees north and used
the E to NE wind to sail
straight to North. At 36.40 N we finally reached
the path of the series of lows (low pressure centers) which have been
moving east. Since then
we have winds veering W to
SW with regular force between 25 and
35 knots ( Bf 6-8) and gusts to 45 knots ( Bf 9 ) when the
fronts are passing by. We have sailed all nights with storm jib as the winds
were stronger during the night time.
We have registered the maximum boat
speed of 12,1knots The wind has built up quite heavy waves . At some
periods the waves were 5m high, When calmer they still were at 3m. As they have
come from the side, GIN'S went into a heavy rolling exceeding 30
degrees from the vertical. That made it imposible to run the generator and
charge the batteries so we have introduced total saving and stopped cooking hot
meals. From time to time we changed the direction and found a position that at
least the motor was running and charging batteries, not very efficient
way.
It is raining most of the time and everything
outside is wet, Also the humidity in the cabins is over 80 %. We use offshore
oilskins with warm layers under them and winter caps.
I used 2 weather services. One with the 2 day
forecast was provided by the ARC office and was delievered from Boston. The
other US one I ordered to have a second opinion and to get the 7 day
perspective. Both worked well and the forecasts were quite accurate. Both
usually stated the wind force values a bit too high.
We have frequesnt visitors. Dolphins came sometines
in groups of 3 to 10 , but several times we met a large group up to 60 -70
animals. We saw whales jumping out of the water with the whole body several
meters high, a lot of turtles, jelly fish with
big transparent baloons above the surface. It is amazing that everyday we saw
birds, flying around us, even 800nm from
the nearest land piece.
Everybody is healthy and in a good mood. Bodies are
tired due to constant stretching of all muscles to keep the balance, even during
the sleep. Since the level of experience with the boat grew, we have practised
one person watch, so we can have enough sleep.
We have not done any fishing as we had purchased
excellent meet and had it vacuum packed. Salad (romaine lettuce) was
keeping well in plastic bags and in fridge.
Today we have changed the time and went to local
time of the Azores, which is UTC ( currently 2
hours behind Vienna).Still have to change the maps on the plotter to get the
details of Azores.
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