Departing Horta -Thursday 14th May
Lowena
Michael & Amanda Dyer
Tue 2 Jun 2009 06:44
lovely time there. The people are so friendly and helpful.
We checked the weather for the last time and I spoke to Adam who said he
thought it was a good time to leave with such a seven day forecast.
Saturday looks as if it will be very windy (6-7) but going off by
evening. It took three hours to leave! John and Margaret on 'Reiver'
were heading for Terceira and lots of other people thought it a good day
to depart with southerly winds. The fuel dock was jam packed and we had
to wait until 1030 to go alongside. We had cleared outand paid our
marina fees- very reasonable.
The wind, a SW 3-4 gave us a pleasant first day sailing up through the
islands and left Graciosa astern to starboard by midnight.
Day 2 Friday 15th May
The seas became choppy and the wind veered to the north west by 1300 and
so we made little progress north, only east. The forecast for later
today and tomorrow north of here is for a gale 8. Our thought are with
Ed who is three days ahead of us. Mike started the engine in the night
and we motored slowly north.
Day 3 Saturday 16th May
The navtex is giving severe gale 9's for Fastnet and Irish Sea. The
wind picked up quickly from the west and increased to a full gale by
mid-morning. We had to ease sheets to cope. We had three reefs in main
and just a small piece of jib out. The seas were spitting fury and were
up to 20ft high-quite scary for eight hours. I had just cut some oranges
when I lost concentration and flew across the galley and hit the back of
my head against the side of the navigation area. I was a bit shocked
but ok. Port tack is harder than starboard for keeping balance.
By 1900 the wind veered and went down a little, followed by squalls and
rain. The seas also began to disipate. By 0200 we were motoring
northward again.
Day 4 Sunday 17th May
Very little wind from NW. We motored until 0715 then switched off, let
out yankee and were making 2 knots east. We had some sleep. t 1015 as
we were about to motor the wind picked up but was short lived in the way
of a squall and now we are motoring north again at 3.2 knots.
Made potato chilli early as we were hungry. We hadn't eaten much the
previous day. It is very difficult on port tack preparing food in the
galley and now the other gimble has broken.
The wind filled in from the west and picked up to 4-5. We now have 2
reefs in main. Very squally all night with wind increasing til dawn.
Day 5 Monday 18th May
We had our best 24 hour run so far. 125Nm from 1600 to 1600. The wind
increased to 30 knots in squalls. The seas built up to pitch at
mid-day. Lowena seemed ok with 2 reefs in main and jib. We averaged 6
knots. By 1600 the wind began to decline. At the height of it, I
looked out the starboard window and a huge tanker was about 1-2 miles
off heading SW. I think he came close to see if we were ok.
The wind managed to keep Lowena sailing all night until 0326. We
drifted until 0645 when we stared the engine. The wind is veering north
nd going down so we are steering 070 degrees- a good thing we have made
as much north as possible so far. It is recommended in the pilot books
to get to 47 degrees north before heading east, I can see why.