we're in!!!!!
Tripled
Sun 29 May 2011 11:50
Our last day began quite stressfully with the engine problems, but mum and I changed the fuel filter and bled the system... while we were doing this a large bang came from the cockpit and we looked up to find that our liferaft had got fed up and was trying to make a break for it! The welding had broken(?!) and it had fallen off the back of the boat. Thank god we had tied our dinghy on the back as it was wedged just out of the sea by the dinghy! Otherwise we would have been towing a full-inflated liferaft behind us.... we might have been getting cabin fever but it wasn't that bad! We pulled it into the cockpit and tied it up.
Without the engine our speed was just over 3 knots, at this rate it would be well into Sunday, if not Monday, by the time we came to Horta. But engineer mum managed to fix it and we got the engine going again - now the problem was that we had barely any fuel so we all had our fingers crossed that it would last until Horta!
Around 1500, the wind veered to the north and we were able to bear away slightly and actually turn the engine off, allowing us to sail at around 6 knots into Horta. Our first sight of land was almost fully obscured by clouds and squalls... the Azores seemed grey, drizzly and cold. We all sat there wishing we were heading in the other direction!!!
However, after a good night's sleep, the view from our anchorage is very pretty. There is blue sky, although clouds surrounding the summit of Pico, and Horta is green rolling hills and pretty houses with red-tiled roofs. The marina is extremely busy but we are going to try and see if we can get a berth, we need electricity as we probably have about two days of washing to do!!
So our position for now is 38:32N 28:37.5W
Two Atlantic crossings done - we made it!!!!!! (and now to go ashore for an unmoving shower and a Sunday brunch!)