The Azores First Few Days 1
Ellatrout3
Wed 13 Jun 2012 14:27
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I am sorry for not writing earlier but once you
land time is not your own. Perhaps I should start with a couple of stories
on my run into Terciera.
Boots and
Sandals
!0 days out from Plymouth and we got one of those
rare quite spells on this trip. There were two priorities; clean the loo
and change my socks. The problem with the toilet, normally very good, was
on port tack the inlet to the toilet was frequently out of the water so I was
unable to flush it. I could pump it out but not flush it through with sea
water so after a couple of days the smell became overpowering. The
quieter spell allowed me to carry buckets of sea water below and pour them
into the toilet. Only the day before I had been carrying buckets out of
the cabin during bailing; why didn't I think of it then. Consider though
the carrying a heavy buckets of water up or down steps at a funny angle
heaving and jerking all the time. I became quite skilled, had very
little spillage but a few dodgy moments.
That done - the socks. I had had the my socks
and boots on since leaving Plymouth, just like the song I jumped into bed with
my navy (sailing) boots on. Conditions had been such that changing clothes was
not an option but now the weather had eased and turned warm it was boots and
trousers off and shorts and sandals on. All day I had a strong smell rising from
below but was kept continually busy. Midnight came and went without any
rest, as did 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock and 4 o'clock and I reached the stage where I
really had to have rest. I prepared to lay down but then I thought "I cannot go
to bed with these feet. (not my feet, these feet!)
Can you imagine sitting on a step ladder, the
companionway steps, at an angle of about 20 degrees with a bowl of water smaller
in diameter than the length of your foot, dipping toe or heel in and trying to
scrub your feet with a nail brush, hanging on with one hand , scrubbing with the
other at 5 o'clock in the morning? Well I can tell you scrubbing the foot
on the up slope side is manageable, but I went through many contortions trying
to scrub the foot I was standing on. Twisting to get the other foot on the
floor meant I kept getting thrown off the steps. Twice I had to mop up when the
bowl of water went flying but I was determined to get rid of that smell before I
went to sleep.
The Finish
The weather continued to behave strangely right to
the finish. Day 12 I had been shortening sail, ie reefing, and letting it
out again almost on an hourly basis, sometimes even quicker. At this rate I
thought I'll be there soon after one o'clock the following morning.
But when one o'clock came I was becalmed and only 12 miles from Praia
da Vittoria. I could see all the orange lights and the Island positively
glowed. At two o'clock the Island disappeared and the wind suddenly
filled and I had to take a reef immediately, and then another, and then
another. Within an hour I was hard pressed fully battened down beating the
last miles to the finish. Beating straight towards the land I daren't risk
any sleep; I only had to hang on until 5 o'clock when I should be over the
line. Would believe it a quarter of a mile from the finish the wind just
switched off and there was I with a tiny bit of sail and a whisper of wind. I
thought I'll not shake all the sail out again I'll just creep over the line with
what I've got. What I did not know was the tide was going out and twice I
got to the harbour entrance and twice I was swept out again. I got over in the
third attempt so instead of spending 10 minutes shaking out the reefs when I
would have got in straight away I spent 40 minutes in a frustrating
struggle with insufficient sail. Hey ho we do these things!
Got to stop now but more to tell you about the
first few days; when I get a chance.
Roger/Dad/Poppa
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