Tuesday 7th July 2009
After waking up to the sight of thick fog rolling down off the surrounding hills we decided to wait a while for it to clear before making a move. Pre departure nerves also aided in stalling the leaving process. Kat had a shower while I readied the boat and then we joined Freya in the café for some breakfast. Finally the fog burnt off and we could see clear waters outside the harbour walls. Some last minute photos of the gang (Freya, Paula, Kat and myself) before we started the process of slipping our lines and escaping from the raft of boats that were now four deep. Doris was alongside our Russian friend who didn't speak a word of English and on the outside of Doris were two French boats, only one of which spoke any English. Despite the mixed methods of communication everything went smoothly (ish) and we motored clear out of Horta marina at 11:15utc.
Kat did her thing stowing the fenders and lines before we hoisted the mainsail (2 reefs) and sailed out into clear waters. Literally minutes later another bank of fog rolled in reducing visibility to about 500 yards. Just to make matters worse the Pico ferry appeared from a bank of white about 1/2nm away doing around 30kn with nothing showing on the AIS. Soon the fog passed over us and Horta vanished as we continued to sail up through the islands. The weather for most of the day consisted of low grey cloud, light winds (10-15kn) and calm seas. We were greeted by several pods of dolphins throughout the day.
Late afternoon bought a brief glimpse of sunshine and we took the opportunity for Kat to have a 'Man Overboard' lesson (slightly surreal for an Ocean crossing). With the wind out of the NE we decided to continue N straight out into the open ocean and passed Graciosa on our starboard side.
Kat had been feeling a bit queasy throughout the day and was still looking for her 'sea legs'. I cooked us some pasta for evening meal and I kept watch until we were a decent distance from land. Despite it being a full moon, we had total cloud cover and the boat got really damp.
Wednesday 8th July 2009
The same conditions followed throughout the day with variable winds
(10-15kn) from the E and the same monotone grey skies. We have been hearing ships on the main VHF radio but as yet nothing on the AIS, probably due to the limited range of the small aerial we are using.
Lunch (Kat's creation) consisted of corned beef & mayo in Pita bread and evening meal (my creation) was a curry soup & beef broth spiced up with mash potato and soya chunks. All in all not a good day in the culinary department. The dolphins are now absent indicating we are out into the 'Ocean proper'. We have been limping along at around 4kn in the dying winds
(~10kn) and calm seas. While slow, making a good introduction to life at sea and allowing us to find our sea legs before the heavy stuff rolls in.
Throughout the evening the wind has continued to veer and is now behind the beam as we sail a course of around 60T closing our rhumbline about 30nm off course. I have also noticed two small (1 inch) tears in the mainsail caused by the reefing block. Hopefully we will get some sunshine to dry out the sail and I can apply a patch.
By morning the wind had freed up allowing us to make NE. Our noon position was N40 06.39 W27 36.48 with 111nm covered.
Thursday 9th July 2009
Early morning visibility is once again reduced to about 500 yards and we are surrounded by evil monotone grey damp fog. Still nothing on the AIS, I hope it works as this will be the only warning we get with such reduced visibility. The alarm function worked within the confines of the harbour walls so I have faith in it (fingers X'ed).
Around midday we were once again visited by dolphins and a lone turtle lazily swimming in the opposite direction. Still nothing on the AIS but we occasionally hear voices on the VHF. Thick banks of fog continued to roll in regularly throughout the day.
Our noon position was N40 53.00 W25 39.27 with 105nm covered.
With 'nothing much' to look at among the shades of grey, Kat and I basically read, slept and ate away the hours. Kat reading 'Changing Course - A woman's guide to choosing the cruising life' and Naomi James - At One with the Sea (Alone Around the World). I have started reading A Voyage for Madman - Peter Nichols. These two titles pretty much sum the pair of us up!
Lunch was yesterdays curry soup / beef broth bulked up (even further) with rice to make 'Spicy Rissoto' (according to Kat) or PotRice (according to me).
Evening meal was an abortion of an omelette that made us both feel a bit queasy, and was therefore followed by more sleep.
Friday 10th July 2009
The highlight of the night came around 05:15utc where we finally spotted a ship. I gauged it to be around 4nm away and wasn't too surprised that the AIS could not 'see it' with its tiny aerial. From the AIS perspective the tanker was not visible, being below the water line, but after a particularly large wave passed under us the AIS finally got a 'glimpse' of it and displayed it on the screen (~7nm away). I think the current set up will only alert us of ships within about 4nm at best - not ideal.
The time is now 1200utc and the wind had been rising since this morning, going from one to two reefs and now the final third with the wind gusting to 25kn+ and a horrible swell building off the starboard quarter.
Our noon position is N41 53.28 W23 31.11 with 115nm covered.
After waking up to the sight of thick fog rolling down off the surrounding hills we decided to wait a while for it to clear before making a move. Pre departure nerves also aided in stalling the leaving process. Kat had a shower while I readied the boat and then we joined Freya in the café for some breakfast. Finally the fog burnt off and we could see clear waters outside the harbour walls. Some last minute photos of the gang (Freya, Paula, Kat and myself) before we started the process of slipping our lines and escaping from the raft of boats that were now four deep. Doris was alongside our Russian friend who didn't speak a word of English and on the outside of Doris were two French boats, only one of which spoke any English. Despite the mixed methods of communication everything went smoothly (ish) and we motored clear out of Horta marina at 11:15utc.
Kat did her thing stowing the fenders and lines before we hoisted the mainsail (2 reefs) and sailed out into clear waters. Literally minutes later another bank of fog rolled in reducing visibility to about 500 yards. Just to make matters worse the Pico ferry appeared from a bank of white about 1/2nm away doing around 30kn with nothing showing on the AIS. Soon the fog passed over us and Horta vanished as we continued to sail up through the islands. The weather for most of the day consisted of low grey cloud, light winds (10-15kn) and calm seas. We were greeted by several pods of dolphins throughout the day.
Late afternoon bought a brief glimpse of sunshine and we took the opportunity for Kat to have a 'Man Overboard' lesson (slightly surreal for an Ocean crossing). With the wind out of the NE we decided to continue N straight out into the open ocean and passed Graciosa on our starboard side.
Kat had been feeling a bit queasy throughout the day and was still looking for her 'sea legs'. I cooked us some pasta for evening meal and I kept watch until we were a decent distance from land. Despite it being a full moon, we had total cloud cover and the boat got really damp.
Wednesday 8th July 2009
The same conditions followed throughout the day with variable winds
(10-15kn) from the E and the same monotone grey skies. We have been hearing ships on the main VHF radio but as yet nothing on the AIS, probably due to the limited range of the small aerial we are using.
Lunch (Kat's creation) consisted of corned beef & mayo in Pita bread and evening meal (my creation) was a curry soup & beef broth spiced up with mash potato and soya chunks. All in all not a good day in the culinary department. The dolphins are now absent indicating we are out into the 'Ocean proper'. We have been limping along at around 4kn in the dying winds
(~10kn) and calm seas. While slow, making a good introduction to life at sea and allowing us to find our sea legs before the heavy stuff rolls in.
Throughout the evening the wind has continued to veer and is now behind the beam as we sail a course of around 60T closing our rhumbline about 30nm off course. I have also noticed two small (1 inch) tears in the mainsail caused by the reefing block. Hopefully we will get some sunshine to dry out the sail and I can apply a patch.
By morning the wind had freed up allowing us to make NE. Our noon position was N40 06.39 W27 36.48 with 111nm covered.
Thursday 9th July 2009
Early morning visibility is once again reduced to about 500 yards and we are surrounded by evil monotone grey damp fog. Still nothing on the AIS, I hope it works as this will be the only warning we get with such reduced visibility. The alarm function worked within the confines of the harbour walls so I have faith in it (fingers X'ed).
Around midday we were once again visited by dolphins and a lone turtle lazily swimming in the opposite direction. Still nothing on the AIS but we occasionally hear voices on the VHF. Thick banks of fog continued to roll in regularly throughout the day.
Our noon position was N40 53.00 W25 39.27 with 105nm covered.
With 'nothing much' to look at among the shades of grey, Kat and I basically read, slept and ate away the hours. Kat reading 'Changing Course - A woman's guide to choosing the cruising life' and Naomi James - At One with the Sea (Alone Around the World). I have started reading A Voyage for Madman - Peter Nichols. These two titles pretty much sum the pair of us up!
Lunch was yesterdays curry soup / beef broth bulked up (even further) with rice to make 'Spicy Rissoto' (according to Kat) or PotRice (according to me).
Evening meal was an abortion of an omelette that made us both feel a bit queasy, and was therefore followed by more sleep.
Friday 10th July 2009
The highlight of the night came around 05:15utc where we finally spotted a ship. I gauged it to be around 4nm away and wasn't too surprised that the AIS could not 'see it' with its tiny aerial. From the AIS perspective the tanker was not visible, being below the water line, but after a particularly large wave passed under us the AIS finally got a 'glimpse' of it and displayed it on the screen (~7nm away). I think the current set up will only alert us of ships within about 4nm at best - not ideal.
The time is now 1200utc and the wind had been rising since this morning, going from one to two reefs and now the final third with the wind gusting to 25kn+ and a horrible swell building off the starboard quarter.
Our noon position is N41 53.28 W23 31.11 with 115nm covered.
