Seen from above

Mark, the skipper's father has followed us the whole way and made this. Thank you so much!

Chased by a whale

As promised, here is the video. Dalit was in charge of the editing but did not write the background song.
Click on this link to watch: http://youtu.be/823T03L3rxk

Words from the crew

We have all been contributing to this blog. Some of us more than others. However, to celebrate the conclusion of this adventure, the skipper suggested all of us write something.
Don't worry, this is not our last post. We promised a video showing a whale and we will deliver.
These are the messages from our crew:

The late Philip Larkin I believe said that one should try everything once–except incest and Morris Dancing and crossing the Atlantic with this team proved  him to be correct . We have had the most wonderful  adventure. We have been accompanied by lovely dolphins , appraised as food items by Orcas and persued by bonkers whales .

I would like to thank Michael for making it possible and Dalit and Noam for guiding us to safety . To Hans my thanks for good companionship .  (The Doctor)

Tears in our eyes! The end of dream that became true! Crossing the Atlantic on a sailing boat entitles all of us to wear “red trousers”… sadly: red trousers all along. Did they or did they not? Even the last night has been full of adventures:  passing Sagres, the most east point of Europe at about midnight, Noam and Hans enjoyed the company of dolphins: welcome Portugal, welcome waypoint! The skipper had the (good) idea that each of us should add some personal words to our final blog: following the doctor (to whom I am grateful ,not only for curing my cough, but also for entertaining lot of “wisdom time” during the passage) I too thank Michael for his generosity to have us with him – and the crew to deal with elderly men, thinking they are in their twenties. Good future to Yacht 42 Best, Hans

We sailed 3965 miles and are still talking to one another so that’s a first. We had beautiful sunsets, beautiful sunrises, a full Atlantic south westerly gale, dolphins, whales, gourmet food throughout [except when I tried cooking], fresh fish when we still owned a half mile fishing line – that reminds me, somehow in the excitement of it all we omitted to report on Dalit’s cure for her husband’s fishing obsession – I trust you will get a photo of our fishing reel and spot the deliberate mistake – there’s half a mile of fishing line gone missing – was it the biggest fish ever which took the lure? We’ll never know the answer but it’s awfully hard to fish with no fishing line. We’re now sitting in the sun in Portimao marina making up for lost time with cheese, red and white wine, [it’s already a two cigar day] Hans is struggling manfully to finish his half of the bottle of Aguardente Velha and Doc  has rushed off to catch the 8.30 EasyJet back home to the arms of his lovely Irene. 42 has already had a scrub – Noam- and a bath –moi -[she comes first of course] and our first Portuguese visitor, Julie, is aboard inspecting the Spartan living conditions aboard. Noam has even shaved, sort of, for the occasion, Hans is no longer coughing his guts out and I’ve removed my romper suit – fortunately not recorded on film. For those of you in England [and elsewhere] now abed – to misquote the great bard – that crossed with us in spirit via this blog, it was great fun and we’re ready to do it all over again. Thank you one and all for a wonderful trip and a great experience; having a big boy’s toy is really only fun when you can share the enjoyment. (Michael)

I have sailed almost 4000 miles and didn’t lose anyone. Woo hoo. Everyone is still in one piece. (minus one dislocated shoulder, a few scrapes and maybe some psychiatric help for some of our crew members)

I’m ready for another month. How I love being in the 24V world. No news, no TV, no rush, no rat race.  I dread coming in to the dock, also knowing that I have a work list 3 pages long that has to be done.

Good stuff. Good fun. Special thanks to Michael, our owner for giving me the opportunity to cross out a box on my checklist and also to my SISTA, who is responsible for posting all these wonderful words  you all were reading throughout this voyage. Thanks to the dolphins and whales that provided the live entertainment, and, of course (of coursica…) to my beautiful wife for filling our tummies with delicious food.

Portimao is surprisingly tranquil, that is, for a city marina. Very peaceful. I am ready for another 20 hour nap before I get started on that list.

And we’re off to the Med (in a couple weeks, that is). Next stop is Corsica, I’ve heard it is beautiful out there, although it’s going to take a lot to top the magic of the Azores.  Yours truly, SKIPPA.

I don’t know if the salt air has affected my sanity but I did not feel ready to get back to land. In fact, I was kind of wishing to stay in the ocean for another 2 months or so… Waking up just as we were entering the marina and seeing the fat tall buildings of Praia da Rocha, was like garlic to a vampire.

I am very thankful for this trip. I feel lucky and privileged. I am very excited to continue sailing east, but not before I find a big supermarket and buy lots and lots more food J

Thanks to the Doctor for looking after us, to Hans for the witty humor, to Michael for being a great fellow sailor and exceptional boss. And of course to my captain, whom I love even more after this experience.

Until the next adventure – The Chef

          

A few more pictures from our voyage

The Project of re-furling the Code 0. 

Upon this sight, a woman and her little daughter approached us in the park and asked us what time the show was starting

I don't know anything about the context of this picture. I will leave that to your imagination.

A stowaway boarded us 80 miles from shore

Is this a sunrise or sunset? It is quite simple

Sailing through a shipping lane

Magical moonlight

Arrived safely. Yes, we are holding hard booze. Yes, it is 8am.  

Almost......

16 th May 16:45 38 degrees 19 mins N  014 degrees 06 mins W
We are making good progress with a steady Northerly wind. Yesterday was our best day of sailing since we left the Caribbean. We covered 237 miles surpassing the day of the storm, in which we covered 231 miles while trying to slow the boat down. Ironically enough, yesterday we reefed our jib just before dark in order to lose some speed and gain a sounder night.
We are now 280 miles from port hoping to arrive early on Sunday (although the crew has told the doctor not to book his flight just yet).
This is just as well as the crew’s sailmaker has run out of reading matter and will soon be reading pilotage of the Caribbean. More important still is finding out who will be the lucky winner of our arrival time bet. It seems that this time, it will be the optimistic who will be rewarded. [written by one of the optimists]
Last night during a full moon and a clear sky several dolphins entertained us with a spectacular show of leaping and diving, keeping up with our speed of 10 Knots we could hear them clearly breathing through their blow holes.
This afternoon we saw one perhaps two large whales following in our wake at times coming within 20 metres of our stern. They put on a magnificent show; it was a very special treat to be accompanied by a mammal about half the length of the boat jumping around playfully. Perhaps our hulls look like two slim whales swimming side by side?  A video was made but the sound will have to be edited after too many “that’s a f------ing big whale“  were heard  from certain crew members. Technological competence permitting, we hope to put the video on DropBox on arrival, suitably edited, camerawork by Noam. All assistance in identifying the species much welcomed.
I am glad to report that the chef continues to maintain ships morale with her excellent cooking. We can recommend the fresh Azorian pineapple although it’s one hell of a detour and the queijo da ilhas goes down a bomb with either the marmelada or the presunto added to ship’s supplies. Sadly as Henri has previously commented on the sacriledge of consuming camembert sans red wine, we have hidden the bottles of Alentejo wine to await arrival in Portimao.

Good bye, Sao Miguel, good bye Ponta Delgada

Wednesday, May 14 11.00 39’04N 23’08W Distance to Portimao 706 miles

Good bye, Sao Miguel, good bye Ponta Delgada. Tuesday May 13, at 10:35 42 left the marina for the remaining part of the passage: next and last waypoint to be Portimao at a distance of 792 miles.     
All of us enjoyed the island: very friendly cheese and delicious people smiling all the time. Even the police and customs officers were cheerful and welcoming, so very different from the authorities in the Caribbean.
Sao Miguel is much larger than Faial, has a population of more than 150.000 and offers a  great variety of both cultural and sporting activities. Other than Horta, being the entry port for sailing vessels from the West, Ponta Delgada attracts both cruise vessels and has direct flights to, for instance, Boston. (As a surprise one of our short term neighbours was “Norwegian Star” from NCL, the temporary home for 3.000/4.000 passengers). Leaving the city [no sign of mass tourism] there are volcano craters (famous Laguna Verde and Laguna Azul), fabulous mountain formations, lots of trees and flowers. Noam and Dalit explored the island on an overnight motorbike tour, found a beautiful hotel for the night, and did over 200 kms on everything from highways to vertiginous dirt roads round the craters. Michael, Alex and Hans rented a car, did some sightseeing including said dirt roads and craters – at one point the only way to get up was no passengers and the car roaring away in reverse - and visited Batalha Golf Club twice: Sunday afternoon for the driving range only, and Monday to play 18 holes (Course C and A). Michael invested in a pair of new shoes - while our Scotsman played in Clarks ...was it the shoes that carried Michael to victory?               
We left the port on engines as wind conditions were not the best: the expected easterly winds would require lot of tacking: not favourable for 42.  A lack of dolphins for our first day, forgot to tell them we were leaving, but a spectacular show of leaping dolphins greeted Dalit and Alex at first light. The skipper has a line out but since we’re making good progress, albeit not entirely in the optimum direction at around 10 – 11 knots, we’re not, Noam excepted, too optimistic on the fresh sashimi front. The speed made for a noisy night. Michael got up around 5.30 to see Dalit sailing at about 12 knots and found that, after 8 years, she was the first person to discover how to use the Tacktick close hauled indicator. It’s either obvious to a scientist, or to female intuition, or she read the instructions. So useful to have a multitasking chef aboard although a little galling for male amour propre. 

There is a new betting pool open for our arrival time to Portimao. it's anonymous this time. we all wrote it in notes and the captain stashed it in the safe.  you can try and guess when we arrive too, send your guesses to yachtfortytwo@gmail.com

Ate logo Azores!

After some rest, traveling, golf and reprovisioning we are ready to say goodbye to the island of Sao Miguel.
Tomorrow morning we will be leaving for our next destination, Portimao.
Stand by for upcoming blog entries from the middle of the ocean, and we promise to post more pictures once we reach the mainland.

Cruising between islands

 Saturday, May 10 noon – 37.51.202 N , 26.03.449 W

Back at sea. Yesterday afternoon at 16:10  42 left Horta (Faial Island) heading to Ponta Delgada (Sao Miguel Island) some 150 nm East. Tears in our eyes: according to Duncan, our local agent, one has to stay at least 3 weeks to enjoy Faial – if not 20 years as he does...We will be reminded not only for our visits  to legendary “Peter” Cafe Sport (Bar) but also for unfurling our code 0 sail in a public park.  A show  both for locals and tourists. Clouds covered Capelinhos, the volcano, constantly, keeping Michael, Alex and Hans from exploring the island by rent a car. That, and an excellent lunch of fish soup and amejoes Bulo Pato, washed down with something appropriately white and followed by something appropriately brown to fortify the Europeans [eg the oldies] for another 24 hours without high octane fuel. Noam and Dalit however zoomed through the sites of Faial on scooters- without checking out Capelinhos though.

The owner’s estimation of our ETA in Ponta Delgada, around 9 am this morning, turns out to have been too optimistic - but we see the island by now. Little wind, as you may have guessed, being the reason.

Passing Pico Island on our way we were eager to see some of the whales “gliding calmly though the waters that surround the island letting themselves be seen by visitors” as the guide book announces. Well: Dalit saw 3 blowholes, and Michael spotted a whale (?) some 400 m away. Plenty of dolphins – including a very sporty one - jumping some 3 to 4 meters out of the sea. Noam was happy to show us a sun fish (looking like a white UFO) - and unhappy not to be able to keep the very, very big fish on the line that was attracted by his lure.  

Things change quickly: virtually in the midst of writing this blog a whale passed in front of our boat - only about 200 m away. All of us followed the great mammal majestically moving slowly up and down the calm sea. Sadly for us, more down than up. Sadly also that the photographer’s camera let us down in these moments: on “recharge”. But, as proof, some pics were taken with an Iphone....The guide books are accurate in this region.

We expect to dock around 15.00 and explore the myriad delights of Ponta Delgada; any of those that are not illegal, immoral or fattening will not be featured in our next blog.                 

       

A few words from Faial

We have now been tied up to land for 36 hours. During that time:

-The European portion of the crew has made up for the 2 week alcohol withdrawal. [gross exaggeration here; modest consumption by the standards of an Oxford or TCD undergraduate]

-Hans experienced the friendliness of the local islanders when offered a [h]fair discount on a haircut (since only half his scalp has hair on it)

-We made dinner reservations for a lovely restaurant which we missed when the crew took a 14 hour power nap.

Other than that, it is all about getting ready for the second part of the journey. Preparations include cleaning, laundry, mechanics, fixing the sails, re-provisioning and of course, no boat maintenance routine would be complete without a lift to the top of the mast – this time the mission was to fix the wind gauge. This event always offers nice photo opportunities. We are working on posting a raft of photos in the next blog. Plan is to leave Faial tomorrow and cruise overnight to Sao Miguel for a little more R & R and a possible game of golf.

We are missing the open ocean already. Especially the lonely dolphin that stuck with us through a good part of the way, including nights, entertaining us with a bioluminescence show. In a way, we like to think he misses us too…

The "during" pictures

The Doctor, operating on our injured Spinnaker

Hans' clothes are no indicators of the outside temperature. He was wearing shorts the whole way

Even when the rest of us we wearing sweaters

or heavy weather gear

After our first fight with the Code 0

Which resulted in a dislocated shoulder

The unlucky but delicious Wahoo

Cruising speed

Underway repairs

The day before the arrival. Calm, sunny, beautiful!

The "before" pictures

Alright, as promised... It's picture time!

The captain, getting ready to climb the mast to diagnose the damage done by the flying radar.

We all said goodbye to the land differently. The Europeans found a distillery for a last drink

while the Israelis wanted a last chance to wear a bathing suit.

Just as we are leaving Tortola. We are all happy and we smell good.

Last Blog from the Ocean

As you may know, we are already in the Azores. This entry was written during our last hours at sea.

Blog No 6 38’14 N 29’32W at 21.00GMT

Yesterday’s wake - up call from skipper and wife: “Orca’s”! Two pods of the big

toothed whales had no interest in Yacht 42 at all (maybe good for us) they were

probably on a hunting mission some 100 - 200 meters away. Little did they know

about our sweepstake and our desire to reach Horta in daylight on Tuesday! The

favourable wind conditions changed and, even if Michael tried hard to make it by

supporting the spinnaker with the starboard engine, mission impossible.

Calculations this morning resulted in an ETA of around 3 am on Wednesday morning

- destroying the dreams of a decent pint of lager later this evening. The winner

of our bets will certainly be Dalit and she already made some investment by

supporting Noam’s backgammon games with Michael (in fact no support needed at

all as it turned out).

The log after two full weeks “on tour” shows a mileage of 2656 i.e. an average of

189, 7 miles per day....with approx. 80 miles to go. The “direct” line between BVI

and the Azores is 2200 miles – so we did quite well!

Alex and Hans were allowed to practice their helming skills – with not much risk for

the experts even if the spi was set: with a stable wind of about 14, worst would be

arriving in Morocco (where most of us have not been before). “Lady M” passed us

not far away - a private motor yacht of about 200 feet, probably only with crew

and without the single widow owner (dream on Hans). We might meet her again in

Horta (“Lady M” not the owner). Also dolphins were part of this sunny leisure day

– we are getting used to them. Another delicious dinner awaits before we get to

the delights of Horta; looks like we’ll be exchanging the pints of lager for bloody

Marys to breakfast in style and to celebrate the crossing. You will, dear reader, be

receiving this news after the event as we hope to have ‘proper’ internet from about

6am tomorrow. We will also be posting the photos missing from the previous blogs

for your delight and delectation. You may also appreciate that this blog has had 4

authors to date; some more cryptic than others.

Blog #6

Sunday  4th May 35’ 50N – 37’29W at 15.15 BST Miles left to Horta 447
Despite a steady wind and reasonable seas, the watch on duty failed to fly the spinnaker at first light. It is suspected that the wager concerning time of arrival is involved; either that or Noam was trying to land another monster fish.
Again we were escorted some miles this morning by a pod of friendly dolphins; they left us after complaining about the erratic course being steered by Michael in search of a speed record [merely hit 20.2 knots]
Hans and Alex have agreed that on arrival in the Azores they will first seek a laundry and some cold beer as well as getting back in touch with home via email and phone. Clearly lonely, thirsty and ....oh never mind.
It’s been a ship free, gale free, rain free few days. Yesterday the spinnaker went up and down like a tart’s knickers as we gybed it back and forward and finally set it ‘for the night’ until the wiser counsel of the first mate prevailed and down it came after 19 knots decided us that we would prefer to have a quiet, safe night. Looks like we’ll be doing the same tonight, probably reaching North under jib and reefed main. We congratulate one of our loyal readers who, using the co-ordinates provided, had us somewhere North-East of Israel [celebrating Independence Day – thank you Debbie – on Tuesday]. Let’s hope we’re celebrating Arrival Day.

blog #5

Good morning, boker tov, bonjour, guten morgen, bom dia, buenos dias, god morn. Apologies one and all from your busy blogist for the lack of quotidian goings-on; we’ve had a bumpy old few days with a swell left from the gales crossing with a new wind driven on at 30’ difference; when the two coincided with the port bow, we soaked the boat and Michael’s bunk as well, reducing him to snuggling into the corner usually occupied by Debbie [when she condescends to sleep aft]. After too much wind and trying to slow ourselves down with just a tripled reefed jib up for two days, and then having no wind and motoring all night, boring and slow, the wind at 5am this morning of May 3rd was a steady 13 knots from the South West, so after admiring a beautiful sunrise, we set the spinnaker and are now cruising along a 8 to 9 knots accompanied for half an hour by a pod of maybe 30 Atlantic Spotted Dolphins playing in our bow wave.
In fact this is the third large pod we have had come and play with us [or maybe the same one returning for more fun] so will be able to post a photo or two when we dock in Horta, now 659 miles away as of 11.36 UK time. The ships library offers answers to the most important questions like: “Do dolphins ever sleep” – the answer is “yes” -off course-... about 8 hours a day with one eye opened and the other eye closed. Try it – it’s fun..... About sleep: we are kind of used to divide the night into sections 19/23, 23/03 and 03/07 or, if you prefer, 21/01, 01/05/, 05/09 –sadly for the rest of the world, once on shore, this habit will keep on for minimum one year...
More about habits: it is a pure joy to see three elderly men and a youngster couple filling up their water bottles with water (not surprising) and a shot of juice (yes Michael we will just use a tiny bit of juice...). Guess if this may change once arriving at the Azores??
You question is what we do all day? Well, Alex plows through his books in a speed better than the boats engines can perform, Michael checks the sails every minute (even if there is nothing to check) only disrupted by his cigar and espresso (sans a little glass of something), Hans tries to get some sleep (outdoors if possible) but is instantly awake when Noam fries bacon, Dalit wants to be everywhere – just to realize that making her delicious meals is difficult when helming at the same time....And the skipper: always “en route” in repair or cleaning missions: yes Noam we shall do our upmost to keep the deck in order!
We currently have a €10 on-board sweepstake as to our arrival time; Noam says 14.00 Tuesday, Hans 16.00, Alex 17.00, Michael 18.30 and Dalit 07.00 on Wednesday. You now know our speed, course is straight down the run-line of 65’ and we won’t dock in the hours of darkness [you can Google sunrise and sunset for Horta]. Please email your answers to us at yachtfortytwo@gmail.com and all will be revealed when we get real internet.

1st mid-ocean blog (#2 a little bit late.. sorry)

1st mid-Ocean blog


It’s been an interesting [in the Chinese idiom] couple of days since the ship and five crew left Road Town at 13.45 on the 22nd. With fair wind, smooth seas, good food, what could go wrong one might well ask? Please don’t. Attached is a picture of the ship’s chief medical officer operating on his first patient; our brand new, fresh out of the box, 3 hour old spinnaker, hoist at 19.00 and ripped at 21.45. The culprit a tiny bit of wire poking through the protective taping on the pulpit. On to plan B, sailing under Code 0 and a relatively poor day’s run of 161 miles, a few meteors during the night watch, a delicious seafood pasta to follow the traditional departing meal of chicken rotis. Fastest time of the Day 13.8 by Dalit; the ruggedly handsome skipper is determinedly optimistic and has left an, admittedly small, space on the first page of the log titled ‘space reserved for future fish’. We live in hope.

Day 2 started well with the INSEAD MBA’s on watch but once the RHO skip was in charge, the lashing holding the foot of the Cody to the furler parted, all hands on deck to retrieve the unfurleable blue beast. The owner, worried he was about to lose his small but feisty mate overboard [don’t worry José, we’re taking good care of her] threw himself on the flogging canvas with the result of bang – out popped the right shoulder – followed by a quiet ‘oh bother’ and – bang, in it went again. Dr Alex back on call with anti-inflams, painkillers and ice and an objet trouvé an old shoulder support doing the trick. Code fixed, long manoeuvre to rehoist involving hoisting main, jib, Cody, dropping all 3 and then rehoisting Cody finished at 9.45 when the owner disappeared to his bunk. The CMO’s skilful handiwork on the spinny was finally put to the test at 17.30 and, as these words are being written, so far, so good. Minor details of the day’s activities are: day’s run was a respectable [in the circumstances] 187 miles, FTD was 15.8 by Dalit again, dinner was yummy kosher spare ribs and ‘twas another fishless day, despite the attractions of Norwegian smoked salmon skin being added to the hook.

blog #4

‘Twas a dark and stormy night’; but this is not the start of a Victorian melodrama but the way the good ship 42 and her brave crew tackled the night of Lilybella Ullmann’s 5th birthday [which is why her Opa failed to ring and wish her Happy Birthday], April 29th.  Around 32 25 North and 52 36 West we were hit by an Atlantic gale. That’s wind speeds of 40 knots, force 8, and above. In fact the highest speed on Noam’s watch reached 50 knots which is force 9. Sail was reduced to a triple reefed headsail and we ran before the storm with Michael and Noam helming alternately all night. Michael clocked an involuntary 20.6 knots on a ride down one particularly big wave but the biggest one of all broke over the bimini roof, soaking both Hans and Dalit, which must have been between 4 and 5 metres high; all very character building, just like cold showers at school. The excellent news is that nothing broke and the wind has dropped to a mild force 5-6 of 25 knots and that both Hans and Alex are improving their helming skills rapidly as we like to give Gareth a break in rough weather. The waves are also flattening off a bit, although the odd one is still coming aboard and freshening us up. Yesterday’s 24 hour run, when we were trying to slow down, was our best yet with an average speed of 10 knots, 235 in 24 hours. We have also crossed 52.5 West, which as all you nautical types will know means what?

The ever optimistic fisherman has packed away his lures for quieter times; we can however highly recommend Wahoo sashimi, Wahoo fresh from the barbecue and Wahoo ceviche. The dingy is down with the drop in temperature, the water has dropped from 25 to 17 degrees, summer sea temperature in Norway according to Hans who continues to sport shorts when Michael is wearing foulies; note to self – don’t ever swim in the sea in Norway. According to our log we have covered 1506 miles in 8 days, a shade under 200 miles/day, eaten like kings and not drunk many bottles of beer, wine and whiskey. The chief medical officer describes the enforced alcoholic abstinence as ‘interesting’, a word which fails to convey the intense longing for a wee dram as one recovers from some of life’s pleasures or vicissitudes.

We had a hour long fight with the code 0 as a failed attempt to gybe the beast turned into a bare knuckle fight to drop the half unfurled sail. Eventually the crew won, brains over brawn, but not before the furler thrashed around the foredeck like a dying giant anaconda trying for one last fatal bite. It’s now sleeping peacefully in it’s bag in the cockpit awaiting a large space in which to be untangled [it’s about 1½ x the length of the boat].

Our position on 1.5.14 @13:00 UTC
33.25.150N
047.07.106W
Love to all.
DAMNH.