The last two days we have been visited by Dolphins 3 times, we have disturbed a few Sea Turtles basking in the sun and were passed by a pod of Pilot Whales. Tefo has had fishing lines in the water for most daylight hours but we've had no bites.
The water tanks are topped off, we've manage to conserve enough fuel for a possible 4 more days of motoring and the crew is in good spirits. We are hoping to see Horta by Friday. For now we are happy to be sailing again.
Now I'm no weather man, but I'm learning. "Highs" are an area basically with no wind while around the high the winds go in a clockwise fashion. So the winds we want are up North of the "high". So we are motoring, north.
We still have approximately 900 nm to our destination. We have approximately 500 nm of fuel onboard. We've got to find wind somewhere!
Once we get to the north side of the high the winds should be very consistent. Until then the crew is in good spirits, the sky's are sunny and blue and the seas are flat. It was one members laundry day.
We haven't updated much because there is no news. We plod along out here today with blue skies and the blue ocean.
Our thoughts are with our friends at lake Texoma. The flooding there is destructive and disruptive. Thank you to all who are looking out for me in my absence. Denise, Derek, Heather, Bill, Ellen, Mark and Nick. Thinking of you all and praying for some relief!
Pixie Dust is a heavy boat. She needs at least 10 knots of wind to move her forward. Last night around 8 pm we had 4 maybe 5 knots of wind pushing us South. Not enough and in the wrong direction. We started the engine. At mid night the wind reappeared and we had a beautiful night of sailing.
Then there is now, 4 knots of wind in the wrong direction. Once again we have started the engine and we are headed North to find the wind. It's out there somewhere. We have a sort of wind map I download daily to help guide us. It is called a grib file. So that sudden left turn you saw us make? We are in search of wind.
This morning just before sunrise, while I was on watch, the Dolphins came to play with our bow. I was treated to 30 minutes of watching Dolphins swim next to and under the boat. They appear to be such happy creatures! The show was a great way to start the day.
We've settled into a nice routine. Eat, sleep, stand watch, repeat. Only 1290 miles to go!
The winds are lite today and we have been "wing on wing" since noon yesterday.
Note this is not Pixie Dust in the picture.
The rally restarted at noon today. We are on our way to Faial, Azores. I wish I had a picture, the start was beautiful. Several boats had their Spinnakers out. Those colors plus a bright sunshiny day and the crystal blue waters made for quite the sight. My sister Gayle says there are pictures in the ARC rally site.
I've figured out that if you comment on the blog site we will get an email. If you comment on fb we won't know till we land on the other side. We love email at sea! Hint, hint!
Winds are light, but we have following seas, so right now we are gently being pushed across the big Atlantic Ocean.
our destination.
St Georges is quaint and Hamilton is a city. Both beautiful in their own right. Public transportation is plentiful but wifi a tad scarce. Maybe the wifi is just overloaded with 200+ sailors trying to log on for free.
This is really a test for the blog and fb as our arrival post did not go through to fb. We start our long leg to the Azores on Wednesday, all crew is aboard and ready to go!
The last 18 hours were the longest. We were against both the wind and the high sea. Sleep was hard to come by as the boat lurched with every wave. But that's over now, we are safely moored up to the city dock.
A few days here for discovering Bermuda, some fix it jobs on the boat and to switch out some crew. Wednesday starts leg number 2, it is on to the Azores.
We learned several things in the last six days. I bought too much food, our watch schedule rocks (plenty of rest for everyone) , good crew makes everything easier and our cockpit flooring makes a whole bunch of noise when the seas come from a certain direction. Creak, creak, creak. When you are down below this sounds like the boat is shaking apart. Now we all know Pixie Dust is s good sturdy boat, but it took me 2 days (or nights) to figure out where the noise was coming from, and by that time I was ready to throw them overboard. Wood on fiberglass, creak...
One other thing we learned the Iridium GO has made our communication from sea infinitely easier.
There is a soft slight swell but the seas are calm. Joe worked all day on little projects, Mike and Patricia read, it was my turn to stand watch for most of the daylight hours. We saw one boat all day!
We were rewarded at the end with a delightful sunset. The winds are not scheduled to change until Friday early morning...just about the time we get to the Spit Buoy which marks the end of this leg and the entrance to the harbor where we will check into Bermuda.
What we have been told is this is the area where ships would reach and because there was no wind they would start throwing the horses overboard. Sounds horrible. Makes me happy I'm not a horse. Makes me even happier to know we have an engine.
Yes, after 500 miles of good sailing conditions we have turned on the engine. Pixie Dust barely moves with only 5 knots of wind. The swells are high and the wind is lite. That makes for a very uncomfortable ride. The engine makes it better.
Maybe tomorrow the wind will come back. 335 miles to the Bermuda entrance.
We've known Patricia for awhile now and are excited she is on this leg of our Journey. She unable to participate in the entire crossing and will depart the boat in Bermuda.
Mike is with us all the way to Portugal and will be joined in Bermuda by another crew member Tevik.
We feel fortunate to have these experienced sailors aboard!
So far our fix it at sea list is short. We lost one batten from the mainsail at the start of the rally. We (Joe) needed to install a cleat for the mainsail furling line in the cockpit yesterday. Then today just as Joe was attempting to make his second cup of coffee the propane solenoid failed. In true Joe fashion he fixed it quickly and the coffee was only delayed by an hour.
The crew is well rested and well fed. Dawn is feeling better! There was no hurling in the last 24 hours. Lol.
The seas are 5-7 foot swells on the beam. The boat looks and feels like a rubber duck in a bathtub. Back and forth, up and down, side to side. Lots of sea spray. Most of the crew is handling it well, only Dawn has hurled. Lol. These conditions appear to persist for the next 48 hours.
We are making good time averaging 6.5 knots. We'll be in Bermuda in no time!
