Thursday 30th to Sunday May 3rd - Horta!
Lowena
Michael & Amanda Dyer
Sat 30 May 2009 17:46
It's getting light at 0230 now, sunset at 1700. I think it's time we
put the clocks forward but will wait until we arrive as I don't know
local time.
By 100 a good breeze from SW got up so sailing with full sails 5.2k.
Much nicer for us as Robin does the steering.
Azores time is UT-1 (just looked it up). The swell and cross seas were
getting quite uncomfortable as the wind declined. It left a short
see-saw from side to side at a wide angle. Just after dark the engine
palyed up. (We had put three cans of diesel in tank earlierin day.)
Mike was off watch and had just gone to sleep. He jumped up and managed
to nurse it back to life by clearing water from the bottom of the
filter. It continued to play up all night but was not water. He kept
releasing the screw and this seemed to clear an air block. Mike had
little sleep. Then the GPS went blank- oh no. It wouldn't pick up a
signal and in the end I switched it off and got out the handheld which
gave us a position at 0300.
Day 23
Neither of us got much sleep. The engine gradually ran for longer
without stopping and Mike thinks it is something to do with air in the
system. I tightened the connections at the back of the gps and it
worked again. I think all the rattling and shaking loosens everything.
Today we tried to catch up on our sleep which I did. Mike is still
very uptight. We had our meal at mid-day which was a good idea. The
wind sprang up from the south and we switched off engine for two hours
and Mike got some kip. We only did 2.8k but the peace was welcome.
Lots of dolphins jumping. Engine on again at 1600 and now motorsailing,
preparing for a stiff easterly. Not very welcome at this stage with
only 127Nm to go.
Day 24
Well what a difference a day makes. We managed to motorsail all night
averaging 4.7k- amazing. Mike slept soundly for 6 hrs. I had to
correct Robin as the wind backed. I changed the clock times at 0300.
At 0830 local time we had 70Nm to go. The wind continued to back until
it was an Easterly 10knots. We tried motoring with the main strapped in
and jib furled and managed 10 miles in 5 hours! So we are now sailing
040 degrees at 3 knots. So slow progress on our last leg. We saw
whales spouting and diving. We think they were pilot whales.
I was getting fed up looking for land and beginning to doubt our
position. We were still 50 miles from land. Mike said try the radio.
I put it on and a voice said 'Radio Pico' as 'Police' finished 'walking
on the moon'....
We realised we wouldn't get to Horta before dark so we will keep tacking
to windward.....
Day 25
Mike spent all night working on the engine to no avail. She kept
stalling and we wondered how we would get into Horta with the wind still
in the east and strengthening. We saw another yacht at dawn and I tried
to call them up. We had 20 miles to go. We hove to for a rest but went
2 miles backwards in half an hour. So Mike began on the engine again.
As dawn broke he was managing to keep it going by pumping pressure in
every ten minutes. As the sun rose over Faial we had 15 miles to go and
the engine stopped. Radically, Mike set up a gravity fed system
bypassing the filters and the lift pump. He concluded the lift pump has
had it. Miraculously, making 2-3 knots we made our way towards Horta.
We had a couple of worrying moments when the engine hicupped. Mike drew
more fuel out of another can and kept topping up the can feeding the
engine. As we rounded the last headland (Monte da Guia), the catabatic
winds hailed down on us. Fortunately, Mike had the good sense to remove
all the sail earlier. As we rounded Pta da Cabra the east wind and
swell became worse. As we rounded Pta de Greta we began to roll as we
turned north towards the marina. Mike was below nursing the set-up as
the can would have fallen over in the swell. We motored into the marina
safe at last. We moored alongside 'Darling', a 72ft Oyster. Simon the
skipper helped us and we were at last secure at 1145. We later cleared
customs and moved into the marina where the engine cut out as we went
astern. A french couple ran to help us fend off. The barometer since
has risen from 1020 to 1028 so we are more than pleased to be here.