Angra and the football. 38.39.15 N 27.13.07 W
Mandalay
Robin & Jenny Martin
Thu 21 Jun 2012 22:52
Horta is a great place to be especially when the European Cup is on. It's crammed full of yachts from around the globe and they have all travelled big distances and have stories to tell. The variety of boats is astounding, at one time we had the beautiful Endeavour, the newest J class on one side of our wall and rafted outside of us an ancient 34 foot Rival (bought for less than £3000) both had sailed up from the Caribbean- Endeavour from Antigua taking 10 days and Bird from Dominican Republic taking 30 days. The other big difference in the two was Endeavour had a uniformed crew of 10 and Bird was single handed.
The centre of all that's happening is in Pete's Sports bar, no TV for the football or reference to any other sport than sailing! Essentially it's a pub with a menu to satisfy the most hungry of sailors. The other Horta institution is painting your yachts name on the harbour wall, tradition has grown that it is unlucky to leave Horta without making your mark. We found a nice spot next to Topsham friends Dave and Hazel who were passing through in 2008.
It was a bit of a wrench to leave Horta and all the activity and conveniences after our long trip to get there but time marches on and we're keen to get on our way. It's a lovely idea to visit all nine of the islands but as they are so widely spaced we will limit it to St Jorge (producers of the most wonderful cheese) and Terceria where we hope to see the running of the bulls.
St Jorge was just over 20 miles away and we motor sailed through the fog which cleared after an hour leaving it clinging to Fiail. Sailing along the lee of Pico island was sheltered by the massive mountain (2351m), needless to say there was no chance to see the top today. St Jorge had a tiny marina and being the last boat in we rafted one out against a Dutch yacht the same size as us and then it was time to go ashore for the football. A small neat town with steep cobbled streets, cafe Azores had the TV on and we sat with some Dutch who witnessed their team beaten by the Danish- now they HAVE to beat the Germans - sounds familiar to England's type of game!
Well their can't be many nicer places to stay to wait for a weather window. The low depressions are coming through weekly and showing up in UK in about the same regularity. The isobars are quite close together so hence the strong winds.
The next big leg is just over a week depending on where we make our landfall so we might have to skirt around one of the lows.
We have moved on to the Island of Terceria and to the capital with the great name, Angra Heroismo. The Marina is really swelly making the finger berths very uncomfortable, the hawing on ropes making a terrible noise. The town is close by with some great architecture, nice streets with flags over the road and small shops, even an Arkwrights corner shop from the two Ronnies days. The streets and pavements are all cobbled but not very busy. The greatest thing is that it is so cheap, the vat is only 4% on some things so it is even cheaper than mainland Portugal. A coffee is less than a €, bread is 1/4 of the price it was in Bermuda, a half a pint is €1.25. Your money goes a lot further here and a pleasure to be in a place that is not ripping off the tourists. Apparently the annual charge for a boat left here is €600 if you can get temporary residency which is quite easy.
Sadly the weather is like Scotland but warmer - low cloud and drizzle at the moment. It's a real pity as the annual festival starts on Friday and more poor weather is forecast. Still we watch for a gap in the weather to head east, but at least we can enjoy Angra while we wait.
We had a day out in Prai Vitoria and checked on the Marina because it was even cheaper than Angra but not as nice. By coincidence the Jester Challenge boats were arriving from Cowes,under 30' and single handed following in the tradition set by Blondie Hasler. We met another ex RM taking part, Andy Lane keeping the traditions going.
Update Thursday 21st June. We've now been joined by Tony, Christine Diment and David on Pelagia and the weather is improving so it is looking likely that we will be off in company tomorrow. Probably for Brittany as the wind off northern Spain is not playing the game. We will keep in contact via SSB when out of VHF range, it's always a comfort to speak to other boats and compare conditions, another layer of safety net. This means we will be at sea for the next round of the football - so we rely on messages via the iridium to keep us informed and an update on the weather! We've missed the running of the bulls but got a video instead ( given to us by single hander Mike the German from Essex! ). It is quite amazing how people are not killed when the bull races down a street tethered by a long rope to 6 or7 minders who can't control it when the bull goes on a run. Blokes are tossed up into the air when they try and confront the bull and its great sport to see them, trying mostly unsuccessfully, to get out of the way. Maybe our health and safety guys in the UK should take note.
Photos
A masterpiece in the making.
Endeavour
Chaos of yachts in Horta
Robbie in a Angra hardware store
