We feel somewhat stuck here – in Ponta Delgada, Sao Miguel. Laurie’s efforts to learn the Portuguese language are proving successful – she’s making great progress – but her language test is not until the end of September and it’s in Ponta Delgada. We’re therefore here for the duration – and while we’re happy to spend a bunch of time in the Azores, we’re not really seeing the Azores from our slip in the large marina here. Indeed, I took a lovely two-week trip off the boat to visit my sister back in Yorkshire – it also allowed Laurie to get some initial Portuguese learning in without distraction from me.

So, let’s make best use of our time here – and our stable ‘transient’ address and get some needed items shipped to the boat:

• First on the list is to get a care package from home – it includes some boat bits but also has certified copies of Laurie and her mother’s birth certificates (a requirement for her citizenship application) along with the boat’s documentation – a piece of paper that we have to present at each new port we visit. Our current one expired yesterday. These were shipped “the most reliable way” by Laurie’s brother Neal’s shipping manager.
• Laurie needs some Portuguese language books – so with her teacher’s assistance, she ordered these and had them shipped ‘express’ from Lisbon.
• Dummy here left the charger for his Go-Pro at his sister’s house in Yorkshire which she very kindly dropped in the mail for me…

Laurie has been waiting patiently – and then not quite so patiently – for over 2 weeks for her books to arrive as they have some specific help for the test she has to do. They also come with a much anticipated audio CD, so that she can get the pronunciation right when studying without her teacher (who’s headed off on vacation for a month, starting the day after tomorrow!) Finally, her patience crumbled a couple of days ago and she ordered a duplicate set – again with express delivery – but this time, her teacher’s brother was to be involved to make sure everything went smoothly and expeditiously.

As of yesterday morning, 2 – 3 weeks since all these shipments were initiated, nothing had arrived… This is frustrating on so many levels, but particularly now because we no longer have valid boat documentation – which means we can’t leave this port until it arrives! So while we were hoping to take advantage of Laurie’s teacher going on hols for a month by going on our own hols to some different Azorean islands, instead we’re stuck here in a slip that’s too small for Toodle-oo!, rocking and rolling with strange currents that have decided to plague the whole harbour as of a couple of days ago!

The swim area…

Bingo!! We get word that a package has arrived at the Marina office! It’s a 10 minute walk there and as I trundle along, you might imagine I’m debating in my mind which of the packages has arrived. I bet it’s the GoPro charger (least important) – but I really, really hope it’s the documentation… It’s a long walk. The walk takes you through the swim area adjacent to the marina – which is crowded on this beautifully hot day that brings out all the skimpiest bathing suits adorning the biggest butts this side of the Atlantic! Not a pretty sight! I bet it’s the GoPro charger – but I really, really hope it’s the documentation…

You have a package for Toodle-oo! ??      Yessir, Toodley-oo, let me see… Toodleey-oooo… yes sir – there it is on the end of the shelf…

It’s too big to be the charger…

Bugger! It’s the Portuguese books – first express shipment has arrived (18 days from Lisbon, same country!)

I get the books back to Laurie (taking the long way around to avoid the bathing suits) thinking that at least she’ll be happy. No way! There’s no audio CD!

Icing on the cake? This morning I head up to the bathrooms – to find out that our security key card has now expired (yep we’ve been here too long) so not only can I not get into the bathrooms, I also can’t get back through the gate to the boat until someone else decides to enter the marina… Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait on express delivery for someone to arrive…

Updated wall art on Horta’s harbor wall – Pico’s Volcano in the background.

We finally left Horta and sailed overnight to Ponta Delgada on San Miguel. Not much wind so we motored through the night (thought we might end up motoring more in this 150 mile trip than we did in the 2700 mile trip from Antigua!

Arrived at the new marina in Ponta Delgada where we were assigned slip 45 – described as an easy slip. A friendly guy, hoped off his boat to locate the slip and then helped to tie us up – but the slip was far from easy – really narrow and shared with a big red French boat.

A rather wet Billy sorting out a cobweb – with little sympathy from Laurie!

Just to make matters more interesting, the wind was suddenly blowing a hoolie and we had to reverse in and tie to the windward side… All was going very well (on the second attempt) but when I went to pull hard on a spring line to keep the stern off the dock, it turned out to not be attached to the boat at either end – so I went flying into the drink! There’s a first! I had to get out quick as we had still not secured the boat.

In our haste, we ended up with a real cobweb of lines which took about 30 minutes to re-tie once things had settled down…

After a shower of the hot, intended variety, we were contemplating well earned cocktails when Phil on Minnie B unexpectedly showed up and invited us for drinks and to accompany them to dinner – who could refuse. We had a great evening with Phil, Norma, Des, Alma and Gary from another Irish boat in the marina!

That thing about making plans in the sand at low tide… well, here we go again… In the last few days we’ve found out that Laurie can apply for Portuguese citizenship because her grandmother was born in the Azores. So, we’ve spent the morning finding out what’s required – and the only catch appears to be that she needs to speak Portuguese… So… we might be staying around here while she takes lessons and immerses herself before taking some certification test. Scotland is looking a little doubtful… we’ll see…

Plans made in the sand at low tide have a tendency of not lasting! So it is that Toodle-oo!’s plans have again modified!

We were going to head over to Portugal and then start the race down the east cost of South America to Patagonia – planning to arrive around Christmas time. It was always a bit of a slog with lots of miles – but got us to where we really want to end up quickly – and in the southern summer…

Well, things started to go awry when I met with Andy O’Grady on the first evening event of the OCC pursuit rally. Andy has authored one of the Chilean cruising guides – which we own – and has sailed his beautiful boat Baelena there a couple of times… When I realized who I was talking with, I told him I’d read his pilot – to which he responded “well you didn’t read it carefully enough – you’re heading off at the wrong time of year!” Whether or not we decide to follow Andy’s advice (which is to sail down during the southern winter) we have decided to delay our trip south. Instead, we’re heading back to Scotland to gain a little more experience of remote sailing and self-reliance! Plan is to enjoy a week or so in San Miguel – island of Laurie’s heritage – and then head north to the Outer Hebrides – with any luck including a stop at the fabled Saint Kilda.

We’ve had a great time in Horta, meeting numerous crews from around the world at the OCC’s Pursuit Rally, which was packed with events and wonderful dinners and drinks parties. To add icing to the cake, the final dinner saw numerous prizes being awarded and we walked off with the longest distance covered (2,738NM) AND Fastest Boat in the Fleet of 50 with an average boat speed of 6.84 knots and just 20 hours of motoring during the 16.5-day voyage! Very Cool!

In between OCC events we managed some super walks – a great hike around Faial’s Caldera – stunning – and yesterday, at the culmination of the OCC event, we got to hike to the top of Pico’s impressive volcano – the highest point in Portugal.

(Unfortunately unable to load some panoramic shots onto the blog…)

Top of Pico!! Fantastic weather and superb views!

Pico’s summit with Faial in the background.

Antigua to Faial was the longest passage we’ve done – and it certainly had it’s challenges: general advise is to head north towards Bermuda using the easterly trades – which hopefully have a southerly component in them – up to about 36 – 40 degrees latitude and then hook around to the east towards the Azores.

Unfortunately, when we set out, the trades had a northerly component in them, so we were forced to head slightly west of north in strong winds (20 – 25) with large seas (10 – 12ft) making

Planned route (green circles). Actual route – blue line

for a very uncomfortable, very wet but very fast first 4 days. When we reached the northern boundary of the trades at about 28 degrees north, the wind started to veer to the south and we were able to make a gradual turn to the east, easing our point of sail and having a much more comfortable (and drier) time of it. We were receiving weather information from Chris Parker and also from GRIB files via the SSB radio. Our course kept us out of the strong winds to our north and the calms to our south – so when we made our turn east just 300 miles south of Bermuda, we were able to make close to a direct course towards Horta. As our track shows (blue line) we stayed well south of the ‘normal’ route (green circles).

Laurie fixing the engine

We had one afternoon with very light wind, necessitating a 10 hour engine run – which in the early hours of the following morning I discovered was trying to sink the boat! A hose clamp having given up the ghost was spewing water into the bilge, filling it nearly to the floorboards! (Earlier, the electric bilge pump switch had decided to stay in the ON position – so we had been forced to operate the switch manually… Toodle-oo! has a very dry bilge, so we were not as diligent as perhaps we should have been in monitoring the water level there!!!). Having located the source of the leak I turned off the engine and pumped the bilge. In the morning we replaced the hose clamp…

Poled out Genoa, ‘Boomed Out’ Code Zero

As the wind moved further south and west, we played with all sorts of sail combinations going deep (and sometimes dead-) downwind and used all sails in our inventory – including the storm jib in an attempt to stop the infernal rolling as we made our way, but we managed good progress even in relatively light wind conditions, happy to make 3 and 4 knots, provided that the sails didn’t flog.

At the end of our 2^nd week, the electronics started acting up – AIS quit, various screens quit, the autopilot gave up the ghost (fortunately we were relying on Gail, our mechanical Monitor wind vane). The problems appeared to be intermittent – things would come and go, but every time they went, the event was accompanied by an annoying beeping alarm – so in the end we turned most of the electronics off. Fortunately, the chart plotter never failed.

Arriving in Horta

The last couple of days the wind returned again and we had full on sailing all the way in to Horta, where we raised the OCC Rally flag and sailed into the harbor just before 6:00am local time (16 days, 14 hours and 56 minutes!) and anchored. After a couple hours of blissful sleep, we moved into the inner harbor and rafted up on the wall – third boat out. Wonderful to not be rocking and rolling anymore! We took a stroll ashore – making it as far as Peter ‘Café Sport’ (sponsor of the OCC’s Azores Pursuit Rally) and enjoyed a few beers before returning to Toodle-oo! for a well-earned full night’s sleep.

Arrival Cocktails – 3:00am!

Toodle-oo! crosses the finish line!

Not good!

It’s taken quite a while to recover from the trip so we’ve stayed close to home and made various repairs: The electronics problem turned out to be a burned out connector on the rear bulkhead located right beside a wire run that went through the bulkhead to the radar pole – the hole was not sealed, so the connector took a seawater bath every time a big wave hit us on the stern!! I cleared out the bilge – which as a consequence of being so full, had brought all manner of flotsam down – including what appeared to be original manufacturing stuff – teak shavings, etc.

The OCC Pursuit rally is now underway and boats will begin arriving soon, so we’re expecting some lively parties and gatherings – in the meantime, we’ve had a couple of very enjoyable evenings with Phil and Norma and crew Des from Minnie B and Norman and Sara from Norsa – both boats having completed their circumnavigations.

We made it!!

Crossed Horta Harbor threshold at 2:56:30am

Time of voyage: 16 days 14 Hours 56 minutes
Rhumb line distance: 2,170NM
Distance travelled: 2,738 NM
Average speed: 6.93Knots/Hour
Speed made good:5.43 Knots/Hr
Engine hours:20.4 Hours
Engine Percent: 5.1%
Fish caught: 0

Tired! Off to bed!

We’re just 25 miles away now – with landfall expected at about 1:00am. Planning to slow the boat a little before we arrive so that it’s light outside – happens about 2:30am (Eastern).

Wind dropped to manageable levels today and we made gentle progress towards our goal. Just lately it’s increased to 18 – 20 again, resulting in the need to slow down.

Electronics continue to plague us – now the wind and speed sensors are acting fluky. It’ll be a bugger trying to sort this one out when we get there…

Both of us looking forward to arriving – it’s been a very long trip!

I’ll send a follow-up email with stats when we arrive.