STRESS RELIEF Leaving Rhode Island and crossing the Atlantic to the Azores June 14 to July 9, 2000 On June 14, 2000 we finally severed our ties to the dock at Pleasure Marina in Warwick! What an incredible sad day that was; I cried all the way to Quonset Point, before I was able to calm down. We sailed to Dutch Harbor, where we spent a couple of days calibrating our new instruments, before we sailed around Beaver Tail and ended up smack in the middle of the beginning of Newport to Bermuda race. What confusion! We needed to fuel up in Newport, and when it was time for the main sail to be lowered, it already hung limp. Dan thought that I had loosened the line. Our first problem encountered on our trip! The top of the main halyard had sheared off; how, we don't know, and of course we couldn't continue until it was fixed. We anchored north of Goat Island, so Dan could go ashore to either buy a new halyard or at least new stainless steel eye and crimp-on. No halyards were to be found on a Saturday, so he ended up getting new eyes, one for the main and one for the genoa. A calm spot was found way up in Brenton Cove, where Dan climbed the mast (the mast steps already came in handy) and pulled down the rest of the broken halyard. The main halyard was fixed and even the genoa halyard sawed off and new eye crimped on, and Dan felt they both were as good as new. Saturday night we spent anchored off Goat Island again, but Sunday morning, June 18, we pulled anchor and motored out into the open ocean. We had set a course for a racon bouy south of Nantucket, but when we listened to the offshore weather on our VHF radio and heard nothing but bad weather coming our way, we decided to turn around and sail to Block Island instead. There we waited for suitable weather! We connected with Southbound II on our SSB radio and Herb was very helpful in providing us with a window of when to leave. We left Block Island exactly 13 months and one day after the original departure date, and in this case it was June 20, 2000. The day begun with west/southwesterly winds, so it looked like a good day to start our long journey. It didn't take long for the winds to die down, but since we were ready to continue, at least Dan, he started the motor and we motor-sailed until the winds returned. In the evening we checked in with Southbound II and got updated weather information, and it looked good for southwesterly winds into Saturday. At 2100 it was time for me to go to sleep while Dan sat watch, but at 0400 he was sleepy and needed a rest. Time to roll out of bed, which was just as well, becuase I don't sleep very good while on the way. Every sound under, on the sides and above the boat seems to magnify and manage to wake me up with a start. If I then can't see Dan, the panic button is pushed and up out of bed I rush. We promised not to leave the cockpit during the night while the other was sleeping, but even so I got scared when I couldn't see Dan anywhere. First day and night passed pretty easy, and the morning of the second day I enjoyed watching dolphins feeding by the boat. Of course when the boat went straight over a big fin in the water, I was worried, but it seemed the shark dove before we hit him. Besides dolphins and sharks, we also saw whales blowing far off, but one came so close to the boat, I thought we were going to ram it. As we went by, it looked like the whale turned his head to the side to take a look at us, before he disappeared into the depths. Seabirds followed us all the way to the Azores, fish swam next to the boat on many occasions, and big sea turtles bopped here and there on the water. It's not as lonely out on the ocean as I thought! While we still were fairly close to the mainland, we saw a Carnival Cruiseship pass us by, and numerous freighters, but the farther out we went, less and less ships came by. When we did see one, it was our excitement for the day! By Thursday morning the winds picked up more and more, and soon we were surfing down the huge waves. Both Dan and I had put Transderm patches on to combat seasickness, but evidently they didn't help Dan. All day he was sick, and I can't say that I felt good, but by sitting outdoors and looking at the horizon, I could keep my food down. Once during the day when Dan staggered out into the cockpit, I asked him if we couldn't put out our seadrough to slow us down. When that was done, our boat slowed somewhat, but even so we surfed along on the huge waves. Even the genoa was reefed to help slow us down, as the wind continued to blow up to 30 knots. Would this be our Bermuda trip all over? By evening Dan decided to throw out our sea anchor, becuase he was in no condition to sit watch, and I was exhausted! As soon as the sea anchor was deployed, I saw the floatation ball bopping along by the boat and off it went. The knot in the polypropolene line had let go! That night we drifted with the sea anchor, and the following morning we had a heck of a time pulling it in. Our anchor windlass groaned and overheated, but eventually it pulled the sea anchor up from the depths. With 300 feet of line and a big parachute full of water, it did very good! When the float had let go, the sea anchor sank straight down, instead of floating close to the surface. The seadrough was also pulled in and soon we were on the way again. When we got closer to the Azores, I saw a floatation ball just like ours blowing along on the waves, so I wonder if it made it to the islands before we did? Pretty soon the days and nights seemed to go by one like the other without any major problems. Sometimes the ocean was totally calm and those times the fog wanted to close in around us. Most of the way we enjoyed wonderful sailing weather for us; southwesterly winds up to 15 knots with following seas, so for weeks Dan hardly had to adjust the sails at all. Of course that couldn't last forever, and about 150 miles out from Flores, the western most island in the Azores, the winds changed. Guess from where? That's right, northeast straight from the island! For two days we sailed first in one direction then in another, but seemed not to get any closer to the island. On the third day, when Dan finally spotted a huge dark mass off towards the east, we took the sails down, turned on the motor and powered our way into the wind and waves. Thirtytwo miles to go to Flores! Before nightfall we finally made it into the harbor at Lajes on the southeastern corner of the island, and we had arrived in the Azores after 20 days on the Atlantic ocean. |