ARRIVAL IN HORTA, AZORES
PINBALL WIZARD
Nigel North
Sat 28 Jun 2025 13:00
Arrived on Friday at the crowded sailing staging post of HORTA on the island of FAIAL, in the AZORES after an eventful crossing from Bermuda, relatively intact. Good ole Pinball has been going like a train almost downwind, with the following seas giving that little extra push to give 6.5kts this week. Horta had its blanket of cloud, seemingly a permanent feature, with PICO the next island beyond,with its 7000’ plus mountain cutting through the cloud layer, sunlit and impressive.
Unfortunately for those misguided creatures professing an interest in this trip, the ability to send and receive emails through the satphone has never worked, and the satphone itself, after giving good service through texts, has also given up the ghost, so I have been unable recently to update anyone on what, where and when, remaining a mystery! Which is a pity, as I would have liked to add to the online blog on Mailasail as I went along. Not to be.
Then the roller reefing on the foresail jammed, with full sail out. This is a problem. If the wind gets up, which it really likes doing in the Atlantic, you so dont want a full Genoa out front, things are going to break. So the only way to get rid of the sail is to take it off completely. Which was done, luckily when winds were fairly light. Without a foresail at the front, the boat is out of balance - too much power behind the mast, none in front. For this reason I had had a medium sized staysail made that is hanked onto an inner forestay (there are two), and now was its moment of glory. Half the size of the Genoa, nevertheless it would do a Stirling job balancing things a bit. The huge Genoa was then tied and secured along the lifeline aft.
Horta, it seems, is always crowded with boats nowadays, and has been expanded accordingly over the years, but not enough! Now I would have thought that people would come here in their boats for a week or so, get sorted out, then set off somewhere else. Not so. Clearly there are lots of yachties here who stay here; Berths are at a premium and often rafted up with three boats. Not sure I would like that much. 3am on a Saturday morning and the outer boat’s crew arrive back from the local festa de bebida, trampling over yours to get to theirs.
The very expensive book on Atlantic Islands I had been forced to buy as the only source of info, said the routine was to park up at the Reception quay and they will sort you out. Not any more they dont. As I slowly approached the morass of boats aiming at the only visible piece of quay in front of the Marina Office, I was waved off and gesticulated at by a guy in an agitated fashion, which I interpreted as bugger off and anchor out there. Which is all well and good, but the anchorage was full. An hour later I dropped anchor for the second time and this time it held. The anchorage here is renown for its snagging hazards and I really didn’t want to anchor at all. Tough.
But next day, having relaunched the dinghy, and got the outboard working again, I cleared in and it has to be said, the Marina manager, Immigration and Customs were all pleasant and friendly. This is most unusual. Next it was walk down to MAYS - Mid Atlantic Yacht Services - to join the queue to book a visit by their one and only rigger, who I hope can fix the roller reefing. Then find the Supermarket - Continentale - for some fresh food (it ran out yesterday) and back to the boat. Life afloat..