Landfall!
PASSEPARTOUT
Christopher & Nirit Slaney
Mon 14 May 2012 09:38
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We tied up in Horta at 1901
UTC Sunday May 13th. The last day was a bit of a
blow and almost right on the nose. We burned diesel to motor-sail the last eight hours, otherwise it would have been a series of tacks to make Faial and we were more than ready to get there before dark; our gas (propane) solenoid failed on Saturday and although we could make a cup of coffee by running the genset we didn't feel like another 24 hrs of sandwiches and cookies. A school of dolphins accompanied us for the last couple of miles as we lined up on the harbor entrance. The first person we saw since leaving St Maarten was a fisherman standing on the end of the Horta breakwater. So, here we are! All of us on board have sent a big 'thank you' to weather guru Chris Parker for a very accurate service. The way he directed us south and east of the low pressure systems and along Lat 30 was a very elegant maneuver. Without his forecast and routing advice we would have interpreted the grib files in a way that would, I believe, have tempted us to jog northwards far to early and get hammered by a weather system that has now (Mon 14th) taken on some characteristics of a tropical storm. Apart from the faulty solenoid we have very little damage on board, perhaps less wear and tear on rigging than I expected. I haven't calculated our total distance run yet but I think our average speed was more than the predicted 5 knots. We also have about half our diesel remaining. A few highlights from the passage were having a moon to light our nights all the way, several absolutely sparkling days of sailing on a broad reach, a couple of Mahi-mahi and staying dry most of the time. Horta is cold and wet but we've already had the 'traditional' beers and sardines at Peter's Café Sport. Later today we'll get some photos and video uploaded.
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