Bermuda!
Yacht Ariel
Henry Adams
Fri 23 May 2008 00:32
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position: 32:17.5N, 64:47W
Oh, the joys of landlubbing, now that the land has
eventually decided to stop moving around (which took quite a while). Sorry
to have been slow with a blog entry after our arrival in Bermuda - we've been a
bit zombie-like.
Got into George Town early yesterday morning after
a night of variable winds, thunder clouds and lightning and occasional heavy
downpours. Having put off my morning tete a tete (or bum a rim) with
Bucket for as long as possible there was eventually no alternative to exposure
to the elements in the cockpit. Nudity seemed the best bet - but one does
feel rather vulnerable perched on a bucket, starkers, in a tippy cockpit in
torrential rain and a spot of lightning and nothing but sea all around ...
Poor Henry - he's now so relieved to have Ariel back to himself - no
self-respecting skipper should have to cope with naked mothers loose in their
boat.
We've arrived in heaven. Mark Twain, who used
to come to Bermuda by boat during the winter said that he would have to travel
through hell to arrive in paradise. We celebrated big time with a coffee
and bun ashore - well, it was breakfast time. And a tiny drambuie on
Ariel. Then continued blithely on our way through an inland waterway and
cut out into the sound inside the reefs to sail to Hamilton where we had a
comfortable berth waiting at the Royal Bermudan Yacht Club. Well, it was
windy, but good grief it wasn't far and we didn't even think to put on
waterproofs. BIG mistake. As we quickly realised once out into the
sound. It took several hours to beat across the sound into a force 6/7,
gusting 8 at least - harder than anything we'd done in the Atlantic on the way -
and we eventually arrived drenched and tired and cold. But worth it to get
here. Lovely Club and very friendly - and I've got a room - that means
huge bed which doesn't move anywhere, shower, bath and joy of joys a loo
- purely to give Henry a little extra space on Ariel you
understand. The weather has continued to be horrid with very high winds
and some rain, but due to improve from tomorrow. Not quite what I expected
in Paradise - but who's complaining?
The last couple of days at sea were fairly
uneventful (as days at sea tend on the whole to be). We did have a couple
of "close encounters". One too close for comfort as a container ship
passed a few hundred metres from us after we altered course to avoid it.
The other, we'll never know how close we were. I was sitting enjoying some
sunshine and calm seas in the cockpit with my nose in a book, when the skip came
up from the cabin and pointed out a strange structure behind us, vanishing into
the heat haze. As far as we could make out, it looked like an oil
rig. We had sailed right past it without me noticing. I can imagine
some oil workers looking in amazement as a little sailing boat ploughed past
beneath it mid-Atlantic with a middle-aged biddy with straw hat in the
cockpit enjoying a day out from Brighton.
Well, it's been a real adventure. I'm
thrilled to have done it, but very glad not to have to go on doing it.
Hats off to erstwhile crew Foshy and soon-to-arrive crew Jez for the next leg to
the Azores - both enjoying (?) longer stints than me. And I'm full of
admiration for my skipper, despite any indication to the contrary when taking
the p... He's injured his mobile by taking it under water and therefore no
photos, but he's going to trawl the internet for you to try and find an
appropriate photo of this place. Enough of me .....
found/made a few pics - bermuda from space (not
me), marina from air, and Gibbs Hill Lighthouse which we could see blinking away
from miles and niles away all night on approach.
H&M
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