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Webster - Hi Hooo, Azores here we come!



Wednesday 14th May 2014 Noon position just off Bermuda

Water topped up, provisions on board, goodbye's and good lucks said, it was time to leave Bermuda come 1000 hours. We could have done with a bit more time here to be honest as it is a beautiful island and we didn't see much of it. Indeed I hardly saw anything of it at all as Monday was to be our touring day but because we had problems with the chart plotter I needed to stay with the boat to await the electronics engineer, the only one on the island. He eventually got to me late morning took the machine out and cut all the wires to it which was a bit alarming to say the least. He eventually found power but disconnected the compass light in the process, then went for lunch! Returning mid afternoon he put it all back together, turned it on, or rather failed to turn it on, and proclaimed that its broken and needs to go back to the factory....... so all we had achieved was another bill, a compass without a night light, no chart plotter, and no site seeing! No plotter means no AIS, no radar, no electronic chart navigation so out with the paper charts. Give me a sextant and call me Nelson.

In some ways I shall be glad to leave if only to save further battering of the liver. How Igor has managed to get this far without serious damage I just don't know. He capped it all yesterday whilst helping Dave down onto the pontoon with a trolley full of provisions. Trying to prevent the wheels running down the hill he put himself in front facing backwards as a brake and, despite warnings to the contrary stepped right off the pontoon wall falling some seven feet into two feet of water. Anyone else would have had serious damage, Igor a graze and lost glasses, later retrieved. His enthusiasm runs before his thought process so need to ensure he is strapped in for this leg. At least he managed to come second in the rum party dancing competition. He is our superhero.

One of the fleet left early yesterday as his crew have early flights back from the Azores and being next to us on the quay he tried to tow us with him by hooking our anchor and tangling with our bow line on the way out. Hopefully not a pre-cursor for things to come.

So 1110 saw our starting signal in the bay of St Georges. First over the line but with no speed allowed Sparta to come past but we held second out of the narrow Town Cut out to sea where everyone dissipated to follow whatever their guess as to which way the wind was going to go. The weather briefing was interesting; the normal trade route north to 40 degrees and turn right with following winds was not an option with a massive low pressure region dominating the mid Atlantic with 50 knot winds. The alternative is to head east then north around the bottom of the low but without the favorable tides further north. The wind was due to be west becoming north west at first then north /north east both of which would allow an easterly course. But no, naturally the wind swung due east an hour or two out so now we are way off the rhumb line going south east adding miles before we are able to make any north at all. If its upwind all the way to the Azores we will be out here til Christmas! The forecast is for NE/E through Friday at least so this is going to be very challenging. Oh well......

We had bangers and mash for dinner so that was good and it was light until gone 8pm. We may have to alter our local time on board so we make the most of the daylight hours - its fun deciding what time you would like it to be but the timing of the change is crucial. Just at the end of Dave and Neal's watch sounds right. Hope they don't notice!

Time to get back into the swing of life on board, watch patterns etc. But at least the moon is out and its not too cold, we've solved the compass light problem with the simple expediency of a head torch and tape and the wind is up even if from the wrong direction.

On a serious note, Dave has some form of throat infection for which I have some antibiotics on board. We shall have to watch this as he is getting worse not better at present. One Treacle Miner down.


Charlie

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