43 45.742n 27 15.918w
Fettler's AZAB
Jez Rowles
Tue 1 Aug 2023 16:53
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Speed: 5 kts
Course: 030
Distance From Terceira port entrance at 5pm BST:
305 miles
Sailing
Yesterday's 2 reefs in the main stayed in and was just enough. We had
a bit of a wild night with the wind and waves rising and the boat crashing about
all over the place. I furled the genoa completely and was on the verge of
reefing the main once more all night but never quite got to the point where it
was necessary. The boat went faster than i'd planned and I could see that
we were going to end up in the 25 kt westerleys showing in my forecast so I had
taken us a little west of the course I wanted through the night and when we hit
the nasty stuff this morning, I headed NE to take the sting out of
it. The decks were awash and the odd wave gets in to the cockpit so the
boards have been in and the hatch shut.
My chimney sealing has worked and my bunk has stayed dry but I now have a
new leak where the vhf aerial comes through the cabin top to sort when thing
quieten down. The drip goes straight to the bilge so not critical for
now.
In the last hour the wind has dropped and is starting to veer to the NW so I expect to be beating with all sail up later this evening and through the night. Looks like NE-ish will be the best course that I can manage until the waves settle. On the plus side, the sun is coming out and I should be back outside soon. 1 ship overnight at about 11pm which was a very large tanker. He was
set to come within 0.1 mile so we spoke on the vhf but he had seen me and
altered course to pass at about a mile. It was pretty breezy and wet in
the cockpit by then so I was glad that he did the course change rather than
me.
Nature
The only new thing I've seen is a spider setting a web in the
cockpit. That's a bit optimistic and I hope he can hold out for another 10
or 11 days which is the earliest that I can see him being in range of
flies.
General.
Too wet outside and too much movement to be out unless a job needs
doing. That really means going out in the cockpit every 2 or 3 hours
to tweak the sails and windvane to stay on the best course. I
resorted to a cold can of ravioli at lunchtime for the same reason but normal
service will be resumed this evening - I have steak in the fridge from
Terceira.
I think it went fine but I have a text from Dave Smart saying there was no blog on Sunday. Here is the news worth repeating and the text responses that should have gone then (with a special note of congratulation for my friend Jetty who has just sailed her own boat single handed from Cherbourg to Gibraltar and managed to avoid the Orca menace in the process. .. Note from Sunday blog ...I went over the side in the Marina at Praia da
Vitoria with a mask and snorkel to check the hull for fouling. Not
something I'd usually want to do in a marina but this one is right on the beach
and the folks on the Dutch yacht next door (Skellig) were swimming so there was
nothing nasty in the water. Anyway, my self eroding anti-fouling has "self
eroded" and there isnt much of it left. But there was very little fouling
either and the little bit of slime and weed came off easily with a brush.
The water was beautifully clear and pretty warm at 21.5 degrees C. My speed and depth system also reports sea temperature (I dont know why or to what purpose) and it was 15.5 degrees in Falmouth so I chose not to bother checking there. Clear water is un-nerving for an East coast sailor but more so were the fish queueing up to help me pick the hull clean. 6 inches to over a foot long they were getting right up to my hands and the brush to polish off what morsels they could get to. I can also report that my keel has stlll got a light coating of Tollesbury mud after 1500 miles or so. It scrapes off with the brush but there was nothing growing on it so I left it in place. Texts from Sunday blog
...
Mum - good to see that you can continue to feed your TV
habits. Pub lunch, tea and cake sounds good but I've torn myself away from
all that for a couple of weeks. Glad you are keeping busy.
Uncle Mike - Glad to have you listening in and hoping here for an
uneventful trip home.
Richard - Yes, lots of folk from the US base in town in Plaia de
Vitoria. They seemed pretty well integrated with the locals and
plenty of US mixed in with the with Portuguese tourists too.
Em - Well, Joe's been partying with Harry. He'll need a rest.
Harvey on a chairlift sounds unlikely, wonder if it was peer pressure or drink
?
Jetty - Glad you are back home but since it's clearly to risky to sail in
Gibraltar then I suggest you take it back to the Netherlands where it was nice
and safe. Confession of Suske & Wiske front, I cant find book and
suspect it is in a pile of stuff that I forgot to bring on the boat. Have
old stuff on phone to re-do and have my grammar notes so will do some of
that. Not that I've started yet. Texts for today.
Tim - Thanks for weather and the sport / news updates, very
welcome. I will keep with the plan and stay as close to a northerly
course as a can until 47 North . Your weather may be rubbish but
as soon as I close on Falmouth then you are likely to get a high and solid
Easterlies down the channel
Mum / Nick - now you have 2 of us to keep up with. Hope all's well
with Will in Buenos Aires and that he gets the student visa sorted.
Dave S - thanks for heads up on blog failure. On Corys
Shearwaters, I think every bird in the Azores colony was piling in when the
whales were hunting the other day.
Em - Mmmmm. Steak and chips! Glad you have some sun at
last.
Someone else - I had a message but it was an "incompatible message format". Hope your weather is getting better.
Jez
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