Bermuda-Azores May 2011

Before setting off from Bermuda, I decided to change the big genoa for the yankee as it's a bit of a handful in the best of conditions. Whilst I was hauling up the yankee the winch  came apart just as I was pulling very hard and flung me backwards so that my pelvis hit the corner of the fore hatch. I think I was extremely lucky not to break bones. After 3 days I felt I could manage to sail the boat albeit still with a fair bit of pain and some serious bruising which took 3 weeks to disappear.

Horta on the island of Faial in the Azores is around 1780 nm from Bermuda. Various factors such as wind direction and course changes to skirt round a storm add to the distance actually sailed. We had to sail 2200 nm which took 19 days.  The detour to avoid the strongest winds of the storm turned out to have been unnecessary and added nearly 2 days to the passage. In the event, we experienced gale force winds despite the detour.  The best 24 hour run was 157 nm and the least 93nm. A high percent of the sailing[perhaps 70%] was hard on the wind in big seas at times that batterd PS to a worrying extent. She came through the experience ok but the movement stired up contamination in the paraffin supply tank originating from fuel taken in Trinidad. This got unwittingly transfered to the pressure tank and then blocked the jets and pipes on the cooker. I had to dismantle the cooker at sea in very testing conditions and then filter clean fuel from the supply tank. It took a whole day to achieve. But this setback was nothing to the problems with Eva the Polish crew.

Before leaving Bermuda I had thought about asking her to leave given the difficulty in communicating with her which had nothing to do with language. She simply resisted any effort to be a sociable part of a team. Alarm bells rang when I lay injured on the deck and evenually dragged myself to the cabin to get pain killers and recover from shock after the incident with the winch-she sat impassively in the cockpit never offering to help or even to sympathise.But I suppose my mind was concentrating on the passage to the Azores and I let it pass. Once at sea, her unremitting sullen, unpleasant selfish behaviour was a source of constant stress and I noted in my journal on day 3 that I was seriously considering turning back. This drove me to speak to her in capital letters to make the point that we were 2 mature adults embarked on a serious passage and we had better make the best of it in a professional seaman like way. For the whole of the 19 days at sea she spoke only to ask for something or in response to my questioning. Attempts at normal conversation were simply ignored. With time to reflect I believe she was unable to accept she could ever be wrong or be criticised and took umbridge if she was. A few examples of her reaction to being asked to do something as I would like it done, rather than as she did it, illustrate the problem.

 Of her own volition she took to pumping the bilges but although asked several times to tell me the number of pumping strokes so I would know whats going on she simply refused to do it. Then the way watches worked out she was on when it was necessary to record the days run and I showed her what to record but she never did as I asked and then stopped doing it after I had asked many times for the details I needed to be recorded. I found she was snacking on bread we had carefully calculated to last the passage and was therefore having more than her share. She reacted badly to me asking her to stick to the rationing we had agreed. There were many other examples of this stubborn refusal to anything other than the way she decided. All this made for a very stressful passage relieved at times by the visits by dolphins and the wonderful flight of the Sheerwaters which were constant companions.

 

Its not easy to get a good picture of these masters of the art of gliding. They use the air compressed above a rising wave to give them lift. Somehow, they keep just a few centimeters above the water diving into the troughs between waves then soaring up on the front of a rising wave to perhaps 20 feet before diving down low again. They manage this flight pattern for hours on end without the need to beat their wings.







I believe that when they are really close to the water they sometimes pick up food from the surface but I have never seen that happen. They manage to keep this up after sundown in very poor light, in rain and high winds.

There is a drawback to this form of flying. When its calm with no swell they can't generate the free lift so they sit on the sea, usually in small groups and wait for the right conditions. When I've approached such a group motor sailing in the calm, the birds are very reluctant to take to the air waiting to the last possible moment before moving.






None of my reference books say what food they pick up in flight. I wondered if they might take the very small Portugese Man of War which sporn in great numbers in places in the open ocean.

The nightmare passage ended in  Horta a place I have visited twice before and like very much. Some friendly conversations over a glass or two of Super Bock in the famous Cafe Sport with fellow ocean sailors, many of whom had similar horror stories, soon began to restore sanity despite the Silent One rushing off without paying her contribution to food costs. I look forward to exploring these islands during the rest of the summer.

Bermuda

Some time ago I made contact with Sue Smith via a crewing agency when I was looking for crew for the passage to the Azores. The timings didn't suit her but she offered to show me around Bermuda where she lived when I arrived. I phoned her a couple of days after I arrived and true to her word she arranged to collect Eva and I and give us a guided tour of the island. She was very generous with her time and laid on a wonderful lunch on her yacht which she lives on moored at the old naval dockyard. We saw the whole island with a guide who I believe is 10th generation Bermudean. Thank you Sue you were very kind.

Bermuda is a neat somewhat overcrowded well to do island with some spectacular views. It has no underground water supplies to speak of so by law every building must have a water catchment set up. Most of its economy is geared to banking and reinsurance with tourism an also ran despite the frequent visits by cruise ships.

The island was strategically of great importance to the Royal Navy and they built a fine dockyard to support the fleet. This now hosts the cruise ships with buildings restored and offering every kind of wallet emptying opportunity for the passengers.

The very small section in the center lifte to allow a mast to pass!

Perhaps I should send this picture to our Met Office-it might improve the accuracy of their forecasting.

A day or two before Sue's guided tour I hired a scooter and with hide sight this picture below has some significance as will become clear in the account of the passage to the Azores.

Antigua-Bermuda 30 April to 8 May

 After a few days for Eva the new crew to settle in, we had good weather to set off for Bermuda. Final preparations produced some unsettling incidents. I had changed oil and fuel filters and the engine had run well afterwards for a short test but when we went into the harbour from the anchorage to take on fuel the engine stalled a couple of lengths from the pontoon, restarted and died alongside. When I opened the engine compartment I found to my horror that all the engine oil had leaked out. After a lot of searching it transpired that the oil filter "O" ring hadn't seated and this allowed the oil under the pressure of 2000rpm to spray out.

Filling up with water at the same pontoon produced another heart stopper when I discovered the bilges were full-PS bilge will hold upwards of 50 gallons. The natural asumption was that a tank was leaking. To invesigate I had to remove the saloon table and starboard settee bunk to get at the tank under suspicion. I discovered in the end it was a simple error of leaving open a gate valve that had allowed the tank to syphon its contents through a breather pipe into the bilge.

The third event happened the next morning atemping to start the engine. After many attemps the starter motor refused to deliver. By chance a Canadian electrician was able to come straight out to PS at the anchorage. Repeated attempts to start had made the solonoid hot and it stuck-solution was to bypass it and all was fine except my wallet was $50 lighter. Some lessons were learned.

We had a cracking start to the passage with a beam wind of around 15 to 18 kts which enabled PS to cover 163 miles in the first 24 hrs, a record for her. The next day was similar and we clocked up 153 nm. The winds became lighter and I changed to the big 135% genoa. This is not undertaken lightly as it involves a lot of effort and even more should it become necessary to take it down in stronger winds.
We were still able to make around 115 miles a day but not until the final 2 days were we able to make the course to Bermuda. On the last but one day we had a storm with up to 34 kts fortunately well abaft the beam. I was caught with the full main up and for a while attempted to steer PS by hand  but it was lock to lock stuff with big breaking waves looking like they would dearly like to jump into the cockpit. In the middle of the night I finally screwed up courage to reef the main. I whipped PS into wind and locked the wheel hard over. To my relief she just sat calmly at 60 degrees apparent wind whilst I put in a double reef. I flopped back in the cockpit and took 10 minutes blissful rest with PS laying calmly in the teeth of a near gale. Back on course she handled easily and the Monitor self steering took over.

The storm produced some amazing lightening bolts fortunately none of them too close. We arrived off Bermuda in the dark and hove too until dawn before entering St George's harbour completing a passage of  a little over a 1000nm.

Antigua

After a few days sorting some minor snags I made the passage from Guadeloupe to Antigua. The first stage involved negotiating the river Salee which splits the island into two halves. At the southern end the bridge opens at 5am so I moved up to the area and anchored for the night. The drawback to this was I was first under the bridge and had to lead 5 others through to the northern bridge about 5 miles up river. Although well buoyed, it was easy to stray out of the channel on the long bends. I had read in the guide that the area is full of ferocious mosquitoes so I was pleased I had remembered even at 5 am to pile on repellent.

After the northern bridge there was a 6 mile passage through coral strewn waters before reaching the open sea. I dawdled to let others show the way and was pleased I did as a French yacht charged off and got himself into serious difficulties. A German yacht then took charge and we all exited safely the very difficult to follow channel. The passage north to Antigua was mostly motor sailing in light winds but during the later stages I was able to sail. I elected to anchor in Falmouth bay since it was the end of the Antigua Classic Week and English Harbour would be very busy. It's only a short walk from Falmouth to the customs office in English Harbour located in the restored 18th century naval port facilities. Just as I was attending to sail covers Valsheda [J class yacht]departed looking absolutely fantastic and I failed to get a picture. There were many other lesser classics about.

Here are a few examples.

Mary had posted a small package of parts for the outboard to an agent. I discovered that this might well take upwards of 6 weeks to be cleared at cost of around $80 a little over twice it's value. We should value our own Post Office more!

I moved round to Jolly Harbour which had the best supermarket for provisioning and is also a shorter distance from the airport and thus more convenient for Eva to join ship.

After a settling in period for her to familiarise herself with the boat and surroundings, we set off for Bermuda on 30 April with a good beam wind. The first 24 hour run was the best I have managed with Plane Song covering 163 nm and this was followed on the second day with a run of 153 miles and all on the course for Bermuda. Gradually the wind shifted and reduced in strength and we were pushed west of the course. With the wind down to 8-10 kts we changed to the big 135% genoa which helped to keep us moving. Two days out from Bermuda we ran into a fairly vigorous low and found ourselves making rapid progress with a F7 behind us gusting to gale force but at least we were able to make the course. The low included the biggest electrical storm I have experienced. As we arrived off the island in the dark I elected to wait until daylight before entering the harbour at St Georges. We had sailed 1010 nm in 8 and half days.

Guadeloupe April 2011

Mary and I set sail for Iles des Saintes on 6 April. The islands are at the southern tip of Guadeloupe and only 20 mile s from Dominica. The anchorage is delightful and well protected from winds in almost any direction. It boasted the best baguette this side of Paris.

A small island known as the sugar loaf had an interesting rock formation which I assume was cooled to form a crystalline structure. The rock formed the end of a very nice little sandy beach where we snorkeled.
For some exercise we walked up a steep hill to a fort overlooking the anchorage. This formidable structure was built in the 1890s and houses a fine museum. One exhibit had model ships displaying the dispositions of the English fleet under Admiral Rodney and the French fleet which was roundly defeated. It must have been quite a set too.

The view of Dominica from the fort was spectacular.




From Iles des Saintes it was a 20nm sail north to St Pierre the main port for Guadeloupe. Here our holiday ended and Mary caught a fast ferry back to Martinique and a flight to London via Paris.

Martinique and Dominica March-April

I set off for Martinique on 1st March in good time for the Carnival and Mary's arrival on 16th. It took me 6 hours to sail the 37 miles to Fort de France. The anchorage is in the lee of Fort Louis but suffers a little from the constant movement of fast ferries plying the various small communities around the bay. Checking in is very simple and is done on a customs computer, in this case located in a chandlery.

The town is one of contrasts with renovated 19th century municipal buildings and some pretty rundown areas as well as some impressive new buildings. The island is a department of France and you can see the obvious advantages of the arrangement. There is a cruise ship dock which is visited frequently by ships from a variety of lines. The town copes with the influx of a couple of thousand visitors without too much trouble.

I made a separate entry for the Carnival. Mary's arrival was delayed a day due to fog and unserviceable aircraft. Air France looked after her well and paid a fair compensation for the inconvenience. We moved the next day to Les Trois Ilets which was a quite anchorage on the south side of the bay. We were the only cruising yacht there. The Empress Josephine was born in the nearby small village. A few days later we moved north with the intention of anchoring at Case Pilotes, a small fishing village halfway to St Pierre but there was too little space for PS so we enjoyed a fine broad reach up to St Pierre.

The town was obliterated in 1902 when the nearby volcano exploded killing 30,000 people. Two souls escaped, one of whom was a prisoner in a dungeon who was found 4 days later badly burned. We hired a car and drove near to the summit of the volcano and from this lofty perch it was possible to see both the Atlantic and the Caribbean with only a slight turn of the head. The island has excellent roads and is well cultivated with large plantations of bananas and sugar cane. Significant areas of rain forest remain. On this trip we managed to take in a banana museum, a rum distillery and a 15 kilometer drive along a track through the rain forest.

The crossing to Dominica was typical for the island chain with impressive seas and accelerated winds off the headlands. We picked up a buoy off Roseau and checked in. Not a great deal to say about the place except that it boasts a fine botanical garden and the most rolly anchorage I have experienced. A couple of days later we headed for Portsmouth which nestles in Prince Rupert Bay some 20 miles north of Roseau.

Just had to include this sign high up on a remote track.

Taking the advice of a local sage we engaged the services of a registered guide who goes by the name of Fire to take us up the Indian River. He was excellent giving us "extras" such as a walk through forest and small farms where avocardo, cinamon, grapefruit and other exotic trees were identified. A lot of Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed up the river. His home, which we were invited to, is in the village where the oldest person in the world lived to be 128 years. On the walk we met an Amerindian who were the very first people to settle the island. He kindly allowed me to photograph him and the difference between him and the rest of the population is very obvious. The government allows them to have land free on the basis they were there first!

The crab rests his claw close to or in the water waiting for the unwary to pass by. If this fellow gets a grip of you, you are in deep trouble.

Only about 80,000 people live on Dominica and it is covered in pristine rain forest. We took a taxi to the Syndicate Estate high up in the hills and walked a mile or so through the rain forest to Milton falls. It was a wonderful experience.

Some of my favourite fruit in production.

Most of the ships beached in Prince Rupert Bay are of Venezualian origin and the government promises to come and remove the ships which were blown ashore by hurricanes. They don't seem to be in a hurry to complete the task.

We greatly enjoyed our stay on this beautiful island whose people were friendly and generous.