Transatlantic: First Week from Bermuda

We arrived at Bermuda with no wind and accustomed to merely floating along the surface of the ocean. Making ripples in the water was fast and a wake was just a figment of our imagination!

We arrived in Bermuda on July 4th, 2018 and celebrated independence day by sleeping at anchor without the need to keep watch. Continuous sleep was so longed for at that point!

We waited in Bermuda for the winds to change (Easterly winds had come over the area and we waited until they switched to Westerly again). When we left, we had strong westerly winds carrying us on a broad reach and on starboard tack the whole time!

We sailed fast and straight for days, never jibing, and never adjusting the sails. Everything was set and we were able to sail directly towards the Azores. Usually, when you leave the Azores, you rocket North until you reach 40-45N and then turn East. In our case, we simply sailed easterly straight out of the gate!

The winds were constant, steady, and wonderful. This first week was what we thought all cruising would be like: averaging 100 nautical miles per day, sailing in one direction, hardly doing any work to get the miles. We really thought we were doing something wrong and that was why we kept falling short of the 100 mile mark. Turns out, the winds are rarely in your favor and that is when most cruisers turn on their diesels to make up the missing miles and keep the pace.

With our electric motor, we don’t have that luxury, and we are forced to slowly float through the water as we wait for better winds. We used to just go and sail to the winds we had instead of waiting for better winds to come, but what a difference the right winds can make!

We originally were not going to pull into Bermuda, we were going to sail right on past it and head straight for the Azores. The only reason we stopped there was to jettison our crew member. It worked out really well because if we had continued on directly, we would have been beating into some strong winds for the next week, only to then have these beautiful sailing conditions show up. Instead, we dropped off a grouchy crew member and had a great time exploring this beautiful island!

When we finally got back out into the ocean, the winds were perfect and we logged some incredible miles under our keel!

Transatlantic: Day 13 [Day 34]

July 20, 2018. We are racing North even though our destination is East. Why? To stay with the winds!

A massive high pressure is east of us and we don’t want to enter it, so we are trying to sail around it, but this thing is huge and moving towards us?

Will we make it out of its path before it covers us? Only time will tell.

In the meantime, we are keeping our fishing gear inside and out of the water because Portuguese Man-O-War are everywhere out here.  

Their tentacles stretch out around 100 feet and if one gets snagged on our fishing line, I would be in a lot of pain when I reel in the line.  

Yes, even severed from the colony or animal (their exact classification is still being debated) the stingers will still sting and cause extreme pain! To avoid this displeasure, we simply resist the urge to fish.  

Transatlantic: Day 12 [Day 33]

We are approaching the Azores High and it would behoove us to head further north to keep with the winds.

We are moving a little slower but still moving right along. The weather around us is stable and we are making great progress, but we know that the large high is rising up from the south and will bring calm winds and seas. The further north we can get, the more chance of keeping up this pace we will have.

The view never changes, everywhere we look, all we see are clouds and waves. The waves tell us what the winds are like right now and the clouds tell us what the winds will be like in the next few days. We haven’t bothered to receive a Weather Fax in weeks since they are so inaccurate. Instead, we get our weather the old fashion way: by looking up at the sky!

Transatlantic: Day 11 [Day 32]

July 18, 2018. We are still in the middle. Far from land in any direction and yet nowhere at the same time.

We have been moving quickly for over a week and this now feels like our new normal.

The clouds around us are rising again and that means that our winds will not falter. We are moving with the weather so that we can continue to exist in these wonderful conditions of speed and sailing. Bubbles in our wake disappear into the distance before they can pop, we are moving and moving quickly.

The thought always looms in the back of our minds that should we fall over, we would be the bubble left far behind and out of sight in no time. For this reason, we are always clipped in to the boat.

Life on starboard tack now feels normal. For the past 11 days, we have been on this same tack, with the same sails set and at the same angle to the wind. Life out here is just a repeat of yesterday and a preview of tomorrow.

Transatlantic: Day 10 [Day 31]

The hurricane has passed, and the clouds are telling that light airs are coming. We did not have access to the pretty and colorful charts that our friends had, but we did have a few things on board.

First, they and friends on shore were telling us to go North to avoid the calm conditions that were coming in.

Second, the clouds were warning of the changing winds and we needed to turn North to stay in the wind as the high pressure system began coming in.

While we are no longer going straight towards our destination, we are keeping with the winds and maintaining our speed. Day after day, we are doing 100 nautical miles per day for the first time in our lives and we have been able to hold this pace for the entire way so far!