Transatlantic: Azores to Portugal: Day 9 [Day 57]

54 nautical miles is not anything to brag about! The winds were not pleasant, and we honestly resembled a cork more so than a yacht.

The winds were variable but the seas were rather sloppy from all the wind that has been in the area. Light winds with large seas is not my favorite time to go forward on the deck to put up more sail. Instead, I much prefer to simply wait it out until one of two things will happen:

1. The winds will return and it’s a good thing that I didn’t put up more sail.

2. The seas will finally calm down and I can comfortably go forward to put up more sail.

Being how the sky was perpetually overcast, it was a safer bet to count on the prompt return of wind instead of the absolute lack thereof. While we didn’t move very much today, we thankfully did move in the right direction!

Transatlantic: Azores to Portugal: Day 8 [Day 56]

June 20, 2019 and we made 109 nautical miles made good!

The winds shifted to be blowing out of the South which let us finally return to our Northern course on a downwind sail. This meant fast and easy miles as we sliced through the waves.

Fast miles in stormy conditions does cut down on morale, but we made pizza! The gimballed oven we installed during the refit in the Azores worked wonderfully. We simply made the pizza dough out of flour, salt, sugar, and water, then added the toppings and put it in the oven. Shortly thereafter we had ourselves some oven-fresh pizza while hundreds of miles away from any pizzeria!

Instead of fighting for those Northern miles over the past few days, we simply sailed East for a while. Then the winds finally came around and we were once again able to head North in much more comfort and style (and with pizza)!

How to Inspect Your Own Rigging

Rigging inspections should be carried out often to catch potential problems before they turn into realized problems. Sadly, rigging is often ignored until something breaks and big problems come to be!

This video tells you the basics involved in inspecting your standing rigging. It will show you what to look for and where to find it, as well as the signs that the rigging is reaching the end of its life and is in need of being replaced.

Boat Dog Intelligence Test

If you have a boat and want to get a dog, or you want to get a boat and a dog, or you already have a dog and want to get a boat, then you are entering the wonderful world of having a Boat Dog!

In this video, we pit a Welsh Corgi up against a Samoyed to find out which is the smarter boat dog.

Transatlantic: Azores to Portugal: Day 7 [Day 55]

91 nautical miles made good!

The winds shifted again and started blowing out of the South, and we made some more miles Easterly.

In the morning, the winds were still out of the North, but as the day progressed, the winds clocked around and slowly made their way to the South.

The constant overcast sky and rough seas did wonders for lifting the morale on board as we sailed along towards Portugal. The entire journey could be summed up as this photo: Cold, drizzly, windy, and rough.