39:21.849N 31:08.566W
SV Eleonora
Michael A. Andronov
Sun 17 Jun 2018 06:15
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UTC
0155
2195.4 nm behind,.. heaving in front
of the destination port, waiting for the light. .
It is dark now. A new born Moon gone... Stars... But
in a couple of hours -- the sky should start to lighten... To my favourite
blue... And that what I really would like to see... NOW!
On my port side -- the lights of
Flores... Well... I make my judgement based on the charts... But
there is no LightHouses on the charts... And I can obviously see a
few on the shore... Columbus also has been sure he arrived to
India... So, I better check the first thing tomorrow morning where I am,
actually...
On my starboard side, nearly dead ahead of me
-- anothe yacht. Just 1.3 miles ahead... They are from Spain, and they are
returning to Spain... We got acquinted a few hours before the Sun
set...
How do we met ?
I was checking the boat, looked around... nobody...
clean ocean... Mistake I did -- I did not check carefully the area at the
stern...
Time to take a shower...
You cannot imagine my surprise after I washed the hair and
removed the soap -- I see a big sailing yacht overtaking us... Yes,
they do the crossing, and seeing another boat, moving to the same destination --
a huge event on a 'boring, routiene crossing'...
Conversation over VHF, etc, etc... and
they passed us, moving ahead...
Until I met them -- I did not bother about the speed I've
been approaching the land. Arriving at 3 at night or at 6 in the morning?
Who cares...
But the speed they overtook us... I see Claude
Vandais -- my old friend, 'sailing teacher and mentor' for a long
time... -- starts to laugh at that point... He knows what is going to
happen...
' So, they have a havier boat... May be a bit bigger...
With huge main, and even much bigger full genoa... But we are on
Swan... With a small front sail... But still... No... we are
not in a race bussiness... No, we are not going to race with them... But...
remember that Chris was not sure about the wind during all evening and night on
Saturday? ... Are they really faster, if I put a big genoa... ? I do
not have big genoa... but I have gennaker... Instead of 4.3 knots...
I could do 6-7... Enough, actually, to overtake them... Are you sure,
Cap?.... The only way to know... ' -- all above thoughts were
boiling in the head for a while... .And it does not take long, the command
appeared --
All hands on deck!!! Yankey down,
gennaker up!!! Move it, move it !!!
'All hands' -- me again, but as a crew -- rushed to
execute the order... The training SHOULD make it perfect... Tata,
lala, dada... The gennaker is up, and ready to be filled with the
wind... The proud captain -- me again, but as a captain, we do
not have a skipper yet... - turned the wheel, the wind rushed into
the gennaker, the gennaker pulled the boat...
I do not how it happened... Everything
has been perfect with raising gennaker this time... Except... Probably, it
was the moment, when I, as a crew , was 'switching' into myself, as a
captain... and I forgot to lock the gennaker halyard with a line lock...
just left it locked on the winch...
Being filled with the wind, the gennaker pulled the
boat... But in the next moment -- both the captain and the crew, sharing the
same pair of eyes were staring at the whole beautiful sail laying on the surface
of the ocean... slowly submerging... Fasinating, so beatiful
picture!!! But slightly different from what was expected...
' -- You better pick it up quickly... before it
twisted by waves around the bottom, keel, and prop...
-- How to do it?
-- I do not know, it's a crew job...
But remember the most important thing... Those people on another boat were
watching us in binoculars..They would ask tomorrow what
had happened... So, it was TRAINING! We were using a light air
condition to practice to recover the sail...
-- Cap, what if...
-- No if, no time for that... We have a
boat to catch ... they are a mile ahead us already... .The sail to pick
up, Move it...
'
To make the story short...
Withing 10 minutes I re-hoisted the
gennaker... Trainning or not training... but
retrospectively, I'm glad it happened -- it has been a
good excercise, and a good practice... and better it happened in
light air like today...
We got our 7.5 kts, and we were gaining on our new
friends... They are really good... but we were gaining...
Some time later... Close to local midnight...
Dark sky, full of stars.. black water
around... On starboard side, just nearly dead ahead of us
-- the small mast light indicates the position of the boat... 1.2
miles ahead...
On port side -- the lights of land. 12 miles on
port, a bit ahead... and we are closing...
According to all charts and calculations --
that should be Flores...
The wind died... Completely... none,
nada... So, the captain was right... It is better we rushed and
presently are only 5-6 miles from the destination port... then to be
still in the Ocean... and motoring all the way through...
The phone got the signal! Beautiful, back to
civilization...
Nearly 0600 UTC ( 2 a.m. Caribbean / Canadian
time... ). But we are in different zone, and the sky is changing colour
already. We are heaving in front of the harbour... I'm
typing this message, and we are waiting for the dawn... And then we
will enter the harbour, drop the anchor, and the leg will be over...
We are on Azores ( assuming the charts are right ) .
Talk to you soon,
M.
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