Transatlantic: Azores to Portugal: Day 10 [Day 58]

You know that feeling you get when you are out in the middle of nowhere?

At this moment, we were equidistant to NOTHING! Everything was far away and the only thing we have seen for over a week are waves. Sunrise, sunset, and cloudy skies block out the sun. The only difference from day to night is the color of the sky, grey by day, black by night.

We left the Azores about 11 days ago and are now roughly as far from them as we are close to our destination in Mainland Portugal. The funny part is we are actually closer to Ireland right now than we are to any Portuguese territory!

Day in and day out, we have not really enjoyed this voyage as much as our sail to the Azores. That passage was full of warm days and beautiful skies. We spent most of that passage out in the cockpit relaxing, eating, and playing games. This passage has been cold, rainy, and rough. Watch is performed by poking your head out the companionway every so often to confirm that you are still alone out in the middle of the ocean with no one and nothing around you.

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.