Horta to Brixham…..5 arrived
|
Horta to Brixham…..5 arrived 50:23.911N 3:30.556W 8th July 2015 (ETA Martha +4) 12,497 Miles Since leaving Ramsgate by log.
RESULTS OF THE DAILY RUN CHOCOLATE BAR COMPETITION
Day Actual mileage Nearest Guess and name
Day 1 96 miles 15 hours all sailing 88 miles Norma Day 2 137 miles All sailing 139/135 miles Paul/Norma Day 3 139 miles All sailing 141 miles Paul Day 4 150 miles All sailing 140/160 Adamant/Paul Day 5 162 miles All sailing 158 Norma Day 6 139 miles All sailing 140 Adamant Day 7 139 miles All sailing 140 Steve Day 8 138 miles All sailing 140 Adamant Day 9 159 miles All sailing 160 Paul Day 10 130 miles All sailing no competition
The arrival in Brixham lottery stands at:
Paul 9th AM (favourite) Norma 9th PM Steve 10th AM Jen 11th AM Adamant 11th PM
Arrived Brixham 0503hrs 9/7/15
The wind will just not let up on this trip, last night was another steady force 7 with very lumpy seas so much so that we had our biggest roll ever. Jen was on watch alone in the cockpit (strapped in of course) when a series of waves combined to roll Spectra right onto her beam ends. Below decks I was in bed reading when I felt the roll and heard Jen squeal from outside. My feet rose higher and higher until I did a complete backwards roll in bed ending up wedged in the corner with my bottom on the roof. It was in this position that Norma found me when she crawled through the galley to state the bleeding obvious, “Hi love, I think your needed on deck”. Norma and Steve had been sitting in the saloon watching films on their laptops when the wave hit, they both hung onto the electrical equipment and the saloon table and just went with the roll. This proves that the old adage from Nelsons Navy of, “one hand for the ship and one for your laptop or tablet depending on your preference”, still holds as true today as it did at Trafalgar. Adam was just coming out of the forward heads and ended up laying almost flat on the wet locker door as it rapidly changed its angle to become the floor. Spectra, much to Jen delight as she was watching solid water pour into the cockpit, shook the wave off like a shaggy dog and got back on with sailing a straight line. All of our electrics had now gone out so Steve dashed up to the cockpit to help Jen get the boat on course and start hand steering while I took stock. Jen was in James Bond parlance shaken but not stirred and once her eyes had gone from dinner plate size back to a more normal circumference she told Steve all about the ‘AMAZING’ wave at great length and even greater speed. Now the real tragedy of the story, I found the source of the electrical failure. When we cook our evening meal we leave a portion minus the meat, out for Adamant for him to eat after dark (Ramadan etc as mentioned before). His meal and a bottle of coke were sitting on a slip proof mat on the galley top, it had stayed in this position every night for the last month including a force 9 encounter without a hint of movement. The big wave launched his meal across the boat liberally scattering the entire chart table and surrounding area with yellow rice. Adamants face was a picture, I honestly believe he was about to do a New Delhi beggar impersonation and dive onto the floor stuffing rice into his mouth by the handful but he managed to restrain himself as it was soon all scooped up back into the bowl and put safely out of his sight. So electricity or lack of it, the coke bottle had with the accuracy of an Exocet missile shot the full width of the boat and hit the domestic power switch neatly isolating the batteries and switching off all of our power. Easy fix and soon we were glowing in the dark again. We have been out of contact for a few days as the satellite phone is down so we are all worried about those at home and in particular we are worried about them worrying about us. This constant contact malarkey is a bit of a double edged sword to be honest, “your damned if you do and damned if you don’t”. Hopefully at some point early this evening we should get into mobile coverage range and the; “We are all safe messages”, can be sent out. Likewise, this blog will not go out until we have wifi, and so that will be late this evening (the 8th), or early tomorrow morning. As it isn’t going by Sat phone I will include all of the Horta to Brixham pictures below for you edification.
Last note: We arrived very tired and we then received the sad news that our brother in law Jim had sadly passed away yesterday after a long fight against illness. He will be missed by all who knew him, loved him and came to respect him over the years. Goodbye Jim love Norma and Paul
Dog rock on Pico, looks more like a llama to me
Statue commemorating the whalers who stopped commercial whaling in the Azores as late as 1984.
Another yachting Mecca visited, Peters Sports bar in Horta.
When a bag of potatoes split open in the battery locker Jen was sent in to find them in the bilges.
Adamant joined us for lunch and as he wasn’t allowed to eat I wrapped a piece of cheese up for him for later.. How’s that for a happy face?
Boat soup near Brest
Steve on his way up the mast. He’s like a little minkey.
At the top and he still can’t see England from there
My turn to climb the mast to untangle halyards, ten seconds later I was clinging on for dear life as Spectra rolled in the swell
Adjusting the forestay at sea, Steve sees his chance and offers me some support. I didn’t know what to say it was all so sudden! |
