The Blog Entries Made While "Crossing"

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First, we want to apologize to all of you that switched over to our new blog while we were crossing the Atlantic. We are moving those entries to this blog site so we can have a complete journal of our travels when we are finished. Those of you that have read these before, hopefully you can enjoy some of the photos that we added. Unfortunately we are having major technical difficulties as we are not able to access the photos from our hard drive so until we can find someone to help with that we will not be able to put up photos from our crossing. Hopefully we will be able to do so at a later date. All new entries will be added to this site so you can continue to get email messages when we have put up a new entry. We are sorry for the delay in doing this, however, we took a few days to get back into a "normal rhythmn" resulting from the fact that we had not had a full night's sleep for 19 nights and we also are adjusting to a 4 hour time zone change. We will work hard at keeping our blog entries timely so you can find out what we are up to. We will probably be on the island of Flores at least for most of next week before moving to another island. We will rent a car to travel around this island next week so will post photos from that trip as well as various hikes that we take. What a great island to pick as our first landfall. Everyone has been very welcoming and the marina harbormaster is very helpful. It will be hard to leave here!



We Made It! June 25, 2012

Just a quick note to let you know that at 4:50PM EST we put our anchor down at 39.22.818N, 31.10.055W, otherwise known as the harbor at Lajes, Flores in the Azores. It was an amazing trip with lots of surprises, but we are safe and sound, though exhausted. We will provide details in the next entry. Our first order of business tomorrow will be to clean the boat, clean the clothes, clean us and hopefully we will have had a good full night's sleep tonight. All are safe and sound on Tsamaya!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Day 19 – Heading to Flores!
Yesterday wound up being a 137 mile day bringing our grand total of miles traveled to 2,327. It appears from everything we can see if everything goes as planned (ie – weather, etc) we should be safely in the marina at Flores by tomorrow afternoon. Time will tell. If we realize that we would be getting there after dark we will wait until the next morning as we will not enter at night.
Yesterday was not the most comfortable of days due to very large seas and high winds. We have resorted to having dinners out of a can as it makes it easy with very little clean up or effort as you have to strap yourself in to the galley so you don't get thrown around. It is an interesting way to cook! The funny thing is that we continue to see Sailor walking around seemingly without much effort going for water & food – she even comes by to remind us to pet her. She has gotten into the swing of the boat and as Bob says she is in a perfect position - very low to the floor with 2 extra feet to steady her.
Last night we got in to quite a squall. Previous to this we had 15 foot seas and winds generally at the 20-25 knot range. We knew that there were possibilities of some squalls so we were ready with severely reduced sail and our foul weather gear complete with sea boots on. It hit hard with lots of pounding rain and winds sustained at 30-35 with gust up into the low 40's. At this time our autopilot decided to blow a fuse so Janice held the wheel steady while Bob quickly went down to the nav station and replaced the fuse. Things were getting quite crazy so even decided to drop our mainsail. Only problem was that it wouldn't drop completely so we had to deal with it still being partial up, luckily it was de-powered. Once the squall was finishing we wanted to get the main sail back up so we could maintains stability and speed due to the high waves, but of course it wouldn't go up. Bob had to go forward (clipped on to the safety line of course) and found out that the line to the main sail was caught around 2 of the steps on the mast. We turned the boat into the wind, allowed the sail to straighten and pulled it back up. Turned around again, put out some of the genoa and got back on course. All of this took from about 10:15PM to midnight. Luckily we only had a few rain showers after that, but the night definitely took its toll. As Bob says, who needs an exercise program when you have these kinds of things happen where you are pulling in sails in heavy winds, manning the wheel without power all while trying to balance yourself in a heeling boat. The good thing was that we were able to handle it safely and everything is OK. This AM we have quite a bit of blue sky and at 5AM this morning we were able to change our heading from mainly north to a heading taking us directly to Flores in the Azores. The seas have reduced some but are still about 8-10 feet and we have winds of 20-22 knots giving us quite a pleasant sail. We keep wondering, why is it that it always seems that the squalls happen in the middle of very dark nights??
It is now 3PM EST and our position is 38.31N, 34.05W – we are moving along at about 7 knots with winds maintaining at 25-30 knots. At this rate it appears that we should make it to Flores about this same time tomorrow.
We figure it will take a couple of days just to clean the boat, inside and out and then of course it would be nice to have a full night of sleep for a change. Janice used to think she couldn't take naps – well, she has learned that you sleep when the schedule says you should as you never know if things will happen that you won't be able to get your next rest – always want to be prepared for the next wind gust, squall or just sitting on a pleasant evening of night duty. This trip has definitely covered the gammit from calm seas to raging ones. We just feel good about being able to handle them all and will be glad to have a few days in port before we move on again. Will be back in normal email contact when we reach the Azores so will also take some time to catch up on computer work as well as time to explore the island of Flores.

Day 18 – Bob Up the Mast, Computer Work and Calm Seas June 23
Yesterday late afternoon when Bob was checking things over on Tsamaya he noticed that the radar dome bracket on the mast seemed to be moving when it shouldn't be. As a result he had to go up the mast today (yes, that is right and even with the sail up) to secure it to the mast to prevent any future damage. First thing this AM the waves calmed down from yesterday so it was a good time to go up the mast. He was successful in securing it and found out that one of the 4 brackets broke which is causing one of the other rivets to loosen from the mast. He has it secured now and it is on the list of things to be repaired when we get to land again. We had heard that a crossing is hard on a boat –we are understanding how much so now. The next project of the day was working on the computer again. Bob had gotten some of it functional last night but then was stopped by the fact that when we went to put the software on the computer it stated he couldn't install it as it was already installed on a machine. Luckily the sat phone came in handy as he made the call and was successful again. We are back in business except for the email package. We have the software on a disc but it doesn't seem to load so we may just have to continue to use the sat phone instead. It is alittle more cumbersome and more expensive but we are glad that we have the backup in place.
One of the software that had to be reinstalled was our AIS (this is the system that transmits our location and details on our heading, speed etc to other boats in the area as well as we get the same information on their boat). We were transmitting fine last night, we just couldn't see their information last night, but Bob got it functional just as surprise, surprise a Dole container ship just happened to be coming by a 1 ½ miles from us. We gave them a call and confirmed that they could see our information which was a confirmation that it was working. Another success.
Today our winds have cut down to 6-8 knots and then for a while down to 2-3 so the engine went back on. It is now 4PM on Monday and the wind is filling in some up to 8-10 therefore we could slow the engine down some to still keep the same speed forward. We understand that we may have very light winds for a couple of days but hopefully will get into some wind in the future. It was actually quite nice today to have a quiet day as we were even able to put the table up in the cockpit to have lunch for a change. Only new wildlife we have seen was one lone Portuguese man of war (jellyfish) float by yesterday afternoon. The last 2 nights we have seen much more of the bioluminescene in the waves as we pass which are great to watch.
Hopefully this will get posted today as tried yesterday without any luck. If have problems again with posting this be sure to check us on shiptrak as I have been calling in our position to them so you can at least see our forward movements.
Our total for the day yesterday was 139 miles and our current position as of 4PM EST on 6/18 is 34.05N, 47.51W. The plan now is to move directly east for a while.
Day 17 - A Surfing Day!

Just a quick follow up as I have the computer connected to get some weather information. It has been a wild ride today still with 13-15 foot seas and 25-30 knot winds with some gusts up to 35. Luckily even though it appears as if a wall of water is coming at you from the stern, they break and roll under the boat or occasionally decide to break on the side of the boat which provides a little wash down in the cockpit. Luckily those don't happen too often. We kept expecting squalls today as well but we would get very dark clouds rolling in and then they would go by without any rain which was fine with us.

We have been very happy to have bought some smartwool body shirts and pants as they are keeping us warm on our night watches. We then wear our foul weather gear and gloves to stay dry which has worked out well. Bob had teased me that we wouldn't be cold on the crossing and wouldn't need them - he admits he is happy now!

At 3PM our position is 36.55N, 35.11 W and we are starting to angle toward the Azores. We are estimating that we should be there by Monday but we aren't holding to that - time will tell.

Successful Night - June 22nd into June 23rd

Just a quick update - the night went well considering that at times we felt like a bobbing cork, but only had a few squalls and they didn't materialize into much except some rain and winds up to 35K. Seas have been running 12-15 feet, but Tsamaya keeps rolling nicely with them. Our yesterday day total as of 6:30 AM this morning was 148 with our overall total being 2,190. Looks like Flores is about 280 miles ahead.

Our position as of 9AM is 36.26N, 35.33W. Winds are 22-25 k out of the south and hull speed is between 5-6 with only a reefed main out.

Not sure if I will be doing a longer report later but wanted to take the time this AM to let you know that last night is behind us and we are doing fine. Bob was the real gentlemen last night as he didn't want me to come out to get wet so had me sleep until it got light. I then took over the watch so Bob can get some much needed sleep. We usually keep to our watch schedule but last night was unusual in that regard. Luckily even with the bouncing I was able to get some sleep so will have a full day today as wind and seas will continue most of the day.


Day 17 - Friday, June 22,2012 - Notes from the High Seas

Greetings from the High Seas - and we do mean high!! A few days ago we were commenting on how flat the ocean can be. Well, now we have seen the other side as the seas have been about 13-15' high with winds of 25K and gust to 30K. Surprisingly Tsamaya is just rolling with the seas quite well. We have the sails reefed down and understand that this situation will continue for another 24 hours. We are heading northeast and will be turning NNE soon. We understand that there is a band of squalls ahead that we will have to go through but what we are doing will minimize the time that we will have to deal with them. Once we are through them in another day we will then be able to start turning slowly toward the Azores.

We are doing well, just not doing gourmet meals right now although I did just make some muffins so we have some for breakfast. It is good to have "pick up" food for days like this. Tonight's gourmet dinner will definitely be a 1 pot meal - as Bob says, it doesn't have to be fancy, just warm and nutritious.

Well, I need to relieve Bob on watch soon - just finished talking to one of the other boats out here with us and both of us still have to get a "nap" in before our full night watch cycle begins.

By the way, hurricane Chris has been downgraded to a tropical storm and then will be changed to a low. We are definitely out of the way so no worries, just a few squalls that are a spin off. Every day we are more and more pleased with how Tsamaya is handling the seas which makes the trip much more comfortable.

Our current position as of 5PM is 35.15N, 36.37W. Our daily total as of this AM was 154 and our overall total is 2,052. Hard to believe!

Day 16- Continuing the Trek East – June 21, 2012

Yesterday afternoon the wind stayed with us and through the night. Winds were out of the SW ranging between 12 -20 knots giving us an average hull speed of 7 knots. We had been informed that we might see some rain and possible thunderstorms but figured they would be south & east of us. Luckily that was the case. We saw some sheet lightening both to the north and south of us, but nothing over us at all. It made for a pretty easy night passage as we had prepared with having reduced sail in preparation of stronger winds in the overnight hours. This wind made for a great day total of 154 nautical miles bringing our total miles traveled so far to 1,898 as of 6:30AM this morning. Bob figured that it appears that we are approximately 540 miles to Flores in the Azores when he worked the numbers at 10AM. This can definitely change as anyone that sails knows you definitely do not go in a straight line from point to point. We heard from the weather router this afternoon that we probably should still continue to travel eastward and hopefully sometime tomorrow afternoon be able to start heading north toward the Azores. It is definitely getting closer! As a result this afternoon both of us were practicing some common Portuguese words so at least we have a few to use when we arrive. I'm sure Bob's will come back to him more as he hears it even though continental Portuguese is quite different from Brazilian Portuguese.
We have had seas of about 8-10' and Tsamaya has been surfing them quite well. In looking out at them today I thought about how far I (Janice) have come from the days when we first had our Tartan 30 on Cayuga Lake when I wasn't sure I wanted to go out on the lake if there were any whitecaps. Thankfully Bob was a patient teacher with me, otherwise we never would have been able to do this crossing.
Take care & as always will keep the blog updated daily for you.
Our position as of 2:30PM EST is 33.56N, 39.30W with a current hull speed of 6.5-7 and 90 degree heading.

Day 15 - Another Day Closer

Day 15 – June 20, 2012 – No Worries
Day 14 was a good day mileage wise as we covered 148 miles bringing our total up to 1,744 as of 6:30 this AM. Our estimated balance as of 3:30PM today is 631 miles but of course this can change based on the route that we wind up sailing. We are still heading east along 34.00 latitude with our current position at 34.01N, 42.37W.
We know that some of you may have been hearing news about tropical storm Chris and want to let everyone know that it is north of us and is not going to be a concern for us so no worries on that count!
Last night was a dark, moonless one, but the wind stayed with us at 12-16k providing us a nice push from the SW for a hull speed of 6.5-7 knots. This AM we were greeted with 95%!c(MISSING)loud cover and prediction for rain. About 9AM the sky opened up and we got our fresh water rinse. Fortunately it was only a rainstorm, not a squall so no crazy winds with it. We did see 20-21 knots but that just kept us going in the right direction. We had a couple small rain showers and then the wind died for a couple of hours at lunch time, then filled in again to between 12-15 knots. We currently have about 16 knots with a mix of blue sky and clouds.
Yesterday afternoon we heard a voice on the VHF (used for closer range communication) so we responded and found out that SV Nemir is very close by therefore will stay in touch with them as well. They are a 50' boat headed to the Azores as well with a husband and wife on board. It was fun touching base with someone else out here. We continue to stay in contact with SV Drum and our good friends on Saralane twice a day on the SSB which is always enjoyable.
We continue moving forward and will report our daily positions to you through this blog – it really is amazing how you get into a routine and how quickly the 24 hours go by. This blog has definitely helped us keep track of what day it is!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Day 14 - June 19, 2012 - Is it Galley or Workshop?

Day 14 – Bob opened up his workshop today - June 19, 2012
First, I heard from my good friend Kay this AM that the blog entry posted – that was a relief from our end as we didn't want anyone to be concerned about not hearing regularly from us as we are doing fine, it is just my email package that I had been using is no longer functional now. Will have to get it working again once we get to the Azores an d have internet access.
Bob had been saying that he was concerned that he might get bored sailing for this many days – well, that is definitely not the case as he has been having plenty of projects to work on. Today for about 3 hours he got close and personal with the prop shaft and the "butt" end of the transmission trying to fix something that he thought was already fixed. He made some shim for the key way and did quite a few other "modifications" and he is hoping that does it until we get to Portugal where he can order what he needs. He has been thanking his Dad regularly for teaching him all of the skills that he has been using since owning sailboats (and old houses for that matter too) When Bob's workshop opens up Janices' galley closes as they are one in the same location. Glad it is now back to a galley so we can have dinner tonight.
My two week at sea treat today was calling Mom on the satellite phone – wanted to be sure she knew we were OK without having heard from us for a few days. It was great to talk to her, she sounded like she was right next door. Isn't technology great!?!
Last night we had to motor on as we had flat seas and 1-2 knots of speed if that. At 4AM the wind started to fill in slightly so we are now a sailboat again. We have been fortunate to have SSW winds of about 10-15 knots so our hull speed has increased dramatically to 6-6.5 knots with us moving in an eastern direction. We have clear blue skies overhead and ahead of us with a few clouds behind us. A pleasant sailing day.
Our total mileage for day 13 was 111 miles bringing our overall total to 1,596. Our current position on June 19th at 4PM EST is 34.07N, 45.24W.
Just a note anyone that has been sending us emails or comments on the blog – we will pick them up when we arrive in Flores in the Azores. A friend of ours that already arrived there has already given us recommendations of places to eat and things to do so looking forward to taking some time to explore before we move on to another island.

Sorry about the delay in postings - everything OK!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Day 14 – Today will be the end of 2 weeks at sail - June 19
I am not putting in anything about today yet as still early in the AM. Have been working on getting this posted – sorry it has been a few days since you have heard. Just want everyone to know we are doing fine – just our email system isn't working and we have been needing to try another system which is taking some time to do.

June 17 & 18, 2012 – Sunday and Monday

Day 12 & Day 13 - Sunny, Blue Skies & A Wild Ride
First, our apologies for not getting this posted yesterday, but…

Day 12 – Sunny & Blue Skies - June 17
We had a great night sail last night with winds between 12-16 knots doing a broad reach with an average hull speed of 6 – we are making progress! We woke up this AM to clear blue skies and the winds are still with us. We are moving continually east with alittle north direction ever closer to the Azores. I downloaded my weather file this AM, talked to the other boats on the SSB and then got a message on our SSB that we needed to read an email from him on a storm update. We went back to the computer to get the email and nothing! Not sure what happened but we now know that we have lost everything on that machine so working on rebuilding it from our backups which will take some time as we need to also try to get the software working for the email package to work with the SSB. Luckily we were able to contact the weather router and found out that the message he sent about the storm was "no big deal" as it wasn't going to affect us. Just got our hearts racing some without being able to touch base with him , but sounds like things are fine in our area. Now we are wanting to make sure that our backup system will work to get the blog entries up to stay in touch as we don't want anyone to worry if they don't hear from us.
The sailing was so good yesterday that our total for the day was 145 miles which is outstanding. One reason for this was that we found out that we had a 1+ knot current with us helping us out. Our current position as of 12 noon on June 17th is 33.00N, 50.10W. Will keep these short as will be sending these via satellite phone for now until (hopefully) we get the other system functioning again.
To all those father's out there - Happy Father's Day!
Saturday, June 16, 2012

Day 11 - Quite the Ride Today

The winds were good for a nice sail through the evening last night as well as into this AM. We had been informed by the weather router that we may be running into some squalls with winds from 20-35 and to prepare for them as it was moving in our direction in a few hours. At the time we got the message we couldn't see anything coming, but we heeded his warning. About 11:45AM the sky started getting darker and we reefed the main and changed our genoa out for our staysail. We made sure everything was battened down, got our foul weather gear handy and waited, and waited... We got an increase in wind and wind driven swells, but we were on a beam reach which was quite comfortable. About 12:30PM we got a few sprinkles, but it didn't mount to much. On and off the rain would start but it really wasn't enough to consider being a good soaking - just a short, mild rain. We weren't complaining as we were sailing at 6-7 knots at a comfortable position. The sky was dark all around us and it was interesting to watch it come, but it never really was over us and Tsamaya rode the swells quite well. We were even able to sit in the cockpit and read while we waited to see if there was more to come. Finally about 4PM we could see some blue sky among the dark clouds and we were able to increase our sail size some. The winds were mainly between 14-18 knots with the highest gust being 22 knots. Fortunately tonight we still have 17-18 knot winds and as a result are able to make a few miles closer to the Azores with a hull speed of 6 knots.

Our total mileage for day 10 this AM was 123 miles bringing our total to 1,201 miles. Not too bad for 10 days overall.

Hope you all had a nice Saturday and will check back in again tomorrow.

PS - Sailor continues to surprise us - even with the movements of the boat today she has been walking around, eating and of course sleeping well.
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Our position as of 8:00 PM on June 16 is 32.27N, 51.56W



Friday, June 15, 2012

Day 10 - A Great Sailing Day

We are continuing to head almost directly north and today was a great day for it. The night watch was another great one. Never knew how light the horizon would be even before the moon comes up. We have gotten into a routine of 4 hour watches, Bob takes 8-midnight, Janice midnight to 4, Bob takes over at 4am so Janice can get 2 hours of sleep before starting her "communication officer" duties. During the day we both work hard at getting 2 naps - 1 in the AM and another in the afternoon before the cycle continues. I have really enjoyed the midnight to 4AM shift - the moon rose about 2AM this AM shining its light over the surface of the water while having plenty of stars to gaze at as well as watch the shooting star show. Of course there are the "duties" of making entries in our log book, adjust the sails (yes, Janice is doing this on her own), and watch out for other boats. We had one 12 miles ahead of us last night. NPR podcast are fabulous as well as listening to music to sing along with (luckily Bob is deaf enough not to hear!) The daylight today brought us steady winds so we were able to have "Monty", our wind monitor take over the helm and the winds have been holding steady at about 10-13 knots out of the WNW giving us a steady 5-5.5 knot hull speed.

Our position as of 5PM EST on June 15th is 30.24.61N, 52.53.86W. We are now official that as of 6:30AM this AM we have now covered 1078 nautical miles.

Hope you all have a nice weekend coming up - thankfully with doing this blog it helps us realize what day of the week it is as we keep the calendar handy to mark off the days. We have definitely been enjoying the trip (except for squalls of course), but as Bob said he things this has convinced him he wouldn't want to do the Pacific - this will be a long enough trip.

Sailor keeps getting braver & braver. She gets to the point that she climbs the stairs, goes out into the cockpit, looks around at the water, shakes her head and goes back down. We think she is just checking to see when the trip will be over - she has been a real trooper living up to her name!

At 6/15/2012 9:57 AM (utc) our position was 29°34.00'N 053°05.00'W

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Day 9 - A no engine day!

We have had nice weather today with clear blue skies, light winds but for the most part "sailable" and the seas have been mild. We are still moving in a NNE direction, just slower than we would like but it has been beautiful and we are enjoying the ride! Today Bob decided to continue working on the on-going issue with the prop shaft. We seal. We had some problems with it in the past and we discovered that routine maintenance seems to be sufficient, however, when we pull the boat again we will have to address this. Today our flag halyard dropped to the deck which was a surprise as Bob had recently replaced it. People had warned us about chafe and how it can damage items on the boat, but until you experience it, you are surprised at how quickly it can happen. Bob had put a new halyard up when we were in Antigua, but it chafed through in this short time. The last one lasted us 3 years.

Last night was a dark night until the moon decided to show itself around 2AM - when it came up on the horizon it was a small red dot and at first I thought it was a red navigation light of another boat until it came up more and shone beautifully on the water. Night watches are a very peaceful time (as long as the seas and winds are reasonable) and we had a great night for star gazing.

Day 8 total (as of 6AM this morning) was 110 nautical miles bringing our overall total to 964. We broke 1000 miles today! You might notice that we watch the mileage, but don't worry it is just a way of checking our progress - we are still enjoying each day as it comes.

Tonight is the last of our fresh lettuce on board so having a nice fresh salad with our chili. It is funny how you celebrate little things with food - this will be our special treat for breaking the 1,000 mile mark!

Our position as of 6:00PM (EST) is 28.36.056N, 53.06.942W
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At 6/13/2012 12:24 PM (utc) our position was 26°11.78'N 053°44.72'W

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Day 8 - A nice clear day of sailing!

About 1AM in the night before we rain into some more rain with winds of 20-25 knots. It was a very dark night so hard to see the clouds, therefore we got wet before we had a chance to get our foul weather gear on. Once we got through it and the wind calmed down, got dried off & put the "foulies" on which was great for keeping us warm as well as dry. The wind shifted after the rain to the west, then northwest with winds of 12-13 knots so able to continue sailing without the motor.

We woke up today, June 13th to a beautiful sunrise, but not much wind, 8-10 knots so had slowed down quite a bit. There were quite a few clouds all around us, but by 10AM it cleared off to be a beautiful day. We kept working at trimming our sails to get as much speed as possible and are heading in a more northernly direction. We heard from our weather forecaster and he was advising that we should try to get north as quickly as possible and that may be we should have the engine on if we get below 4.5knots. We had the engine on for a few hours today as a result, but then the wind picked up, Bob "tweaked" the sails more and we were able to turn off the engine and have a great sail north. We now have been averaging 5.5 knots which has been great.

Just a short time ago we were visited by a pod of dolphin, but they didn't hang around for long. Bob said he probably scared them away as he was showering out back at the time!!

Bob is making pizza for dinner tonight which sounds good - as everyone said, food will be important on the trip and we confirm that fact.

We are enjoying staying in touch with Saralane (our friends that are currently in BVI) as well as Drum (the other boat crossing to the Azores) twice a day. It really is amazing how little boat traffic we have seen - only 2 boats so far.

Our daily mileage for day 7 was 122 miles giving us a total of 854 since leaving St. Martin. A friend of ours just arrived in the Azores (Flores) and it took him 21 days - we will see how long it takes us!

We are taking photos along the way and will be posting them when we get to the Azores. Take care & will touch base again tomorrow.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Day 7 - Our First Squall & Our First Week

Well, last night, June 11th we could see some storms off in the distance, but nothing too close - we were able to have the engine off since 3AM as the wind had filled in to about 11-14 knots and had clocked around from the north to the east all the way through to the southwest. Had a pleasant night sail keeping it about 5 knots of hull speed. As of 6:30AM we ended day 6 with a total of 113 nautical miles. Not too bad for having quite light winds early in the day yesterday.

Today, Tuesday we had winds of about 11-12 knots from the southwest giving us a good sail. We woke up to seeing quite a bit of cloud cover all around us and figured we may just get that fresh water bath today. We did just that about 11:15AM today, but it was alittle more wind than we would have liked. We could see one squall ahead of us that passed from south of us in front of us, but the next one was at our stern and caught up to us. Unfortunately it was just at the time Bob was starting to look at something in the engine compartment. We were served up quite a bit of rain and winds of 30-35 knots and gusts to 40. Luckily Tsamaya handled it beautifully, but we now have a few things to fix - nothing critical, but a few chafed lines and other "odds and ends". The "interesting" thing was at the time of the squall hitting us the autopilot fuse decided to "go" so we started to go around in circles, but we were able to manually handle the wheel and keep her into the wind. Quickly we got the autopilot back operational. If you ever wondered about what we do for exercise, handling the wheel in heavy winds & seas give you a good upper body workout.

After the storm passed we had winds from the stern at 10-12 knots with some high waves making it quite "rolly". About 4PM tonight we started heading a little southeast to have a more comfortable and faster sail. We know that we need to head northeast, but will turn in a more northerly direction alittle farther east. Sailing is definitely not a straight line path to your destination!

The sky seems to be clear now and hopefully will be uneventful tonight. We did find that the squall really tested our stowing of gear and we did quite well - only a few small things in our head decided to rearrange themselves on to the galley floor so we have adjusted them to new locations. We felt pretty good about that.

The sun has come out, we have had our naps and will get ready again for another night of sailing. It looks from the sky that it should be a dry night which is fine with us. Tsamaya got her bath today and we don't need another one right away!

Sailor has adjusted well - she gets up eats, drinks, uses her litter box. We haven't seen much difference in her sleep pattern -she still sleeps about 22 hours a day!! We get a laugh watching her walk around as she has gotten her sea legs by adapting a wide stance. She seems to get around better than we do but she has 4 legs to do it with!

Our position at 5:30PM on June 12 is 25.37.95N, 54.30.11W with hull speed of 4.5-5 knots. Our total mileage right now is 798 nautical miles.

Take care & will keep you posted!! Tsamaya and crew are doing well!!
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Monday, June 11, 2012

Day 6 - June 11th - still moving in the right direction!

Well, day 5 ended as a short distance day as the wind was very light and variable most of the day. Our daily total in mileage was only 93, but at least we moved in the right direction forward. It has been a slow day today as well going between having the engine on and off as we wanted to at least stay with a minimum of 4 knots, but fortunately the times when the wind was around to help we got up to 5 and 6 knots. We will see tomorrow AM what our total is.

It is 6:30PM and we have finished dinner and getting ready for the night sail. We have the navigation lights turned on and doing another check around the deck for any possible chafe on the lines and clearing off any flying fish we have caught today on deck.

The wind is starting to pick up which seems to be more the rule we are finding which has been nice. The wind just shifted to the north and is between 11-12 knots so the motor is off again and the sails are working.

There is a cold front just north of us and we are preparing for any increase of wind as well as rain that comes with it. Tsamaya could use a fresh water bath as well.

Got to close to help Bob with the last check of things before it is completely dark again. With quite a few clouds tonight we may not get as much light from the moon tonight, but hopefully we will as it makes the evenings very pleasant. It is always enjoyable to see the bio-luminescence in the water as we sail in the evenings and the moonlight on the water. I have tried taking a few photos and hopefully they will be good enough to share when we get to the Azores and back on our other blog.

Our position at 6:30 PM (2200 UTC) on June 11th is 24.55.56N, 56.06.18W and our heading is 100 degrees magnetic.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Day 5 - A Slow Day - June 10th

Well, after our last blog entry yesterday we continued having the engine on to keep us going in the right direction as the winds were quite low. The one plus is that without heeling much we were able to fix a nice "sit down" meal again. We are taking advantage of doing that while we can. We have gotten into a pretty good routine that works for us. In the evenings we take 4 hour watches, Bob from 8PM to midnight, Janice from midnight to 4AM with a return to Bob on watch while Janice gets 2 hours of sleep before starting communication duties of downloading weather files of talking to our friends, Saralane as well as the other boat out here crossing with us, SV Drum. During the day our duty schedule is not as fixed, but we each get naps during the morning & afternoon so we have enough rest for the night time. We have even noticed that our bodies have been getting used to it as many times we wake just before the alarm goes off.

Last night when Janice came on duty the wind picked up enough to turn off the engine finally! We got up to 16 knots of wind but it averages between 13-14, therefore our hull speed got up to 7 knots during this time which helped make up for earlier in the day. When Bob came back on duty in the AM the wind started to die again. Bob's suggestion of course was that I need to stay on duty longer in order to keep the wind. Luckily I know he is kidding!

Today has been slow again with a combination of having the engine on and off to keep to a minimum of 4-5 knots of hull speed. This afternoon we could see quite a large squall just north of us but it was moving southeast and it wound up going in front of us so we missed it. In a way we were looking forward to a fresh water rinse of the boat and some wind, but it didn't happen.

About 3PM this afternoon we had to tack for the first time since we had changed to an eastern direction on day 2. The wind changed from southwest to northwest, picked up for a short time and then has quieted down again leaving us to put the motor back on.

The total miles for day 4 was 125 miles which wasn't bad, will be interesting to see how we end up as a total for day 5 at 6:30AM tomorrow. Our total distance since leaving St. Martin is 574 miles. We are still heading northeast and will continue to keep you updated through this blog.

Just a note for those that are following along - you are welcome to send us comments, but please note that we will not be able to see any of them until we reach the Azores so don't be surprised if you don't get a response.

The only wildlife we have seen today are the terns that seem to keep circling the boat quite often. Always nice to see them flying around.

Best wishes to you all - by the way the nights are cooling down - we will need to change into long pants & long sleeves again for the night watches, but fortunately the days still are warm. Will "talk" to you tomorrow!

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Day 4 - Slow Moving toward the Azores

Well, we are writing from the "high-seas" however, currently they have been quite flat as we haven't had wind for quite some time. We had to turn the engine on yesterday (Friday) and have only been able to turn it off for about an hour as the wind hasn't filled in yet. The highlight today was that a pod of dolphin came to play in our bow wave, but figured we were going too slow so they didn't stay very long. It was still a great sighting and was the highlight today.

The day 3 mileage total was 125 nautical miles which still wasn't too bad. We are glad we carry lots of diesel on board so not a problem having the engine on, just wish we could turn it off soon as would like to be sailing instead!

Sailor got brave last night and came out on deck which was a real surprise. We were rocking & rolling a bit at the time. She tried to walk forward on the deck, but once she saw the water she decided to back up and come back in the cockpit which was smart for her and for us as we didn't have to worry about her going overboard.

Last night on watch the temperature had cooled enough that we put on long pants and long sleeve shirts for the first time, but this AM it warmed up again (at 7AM it was 78, now at 3PM it is 95) and we are back in our normal attire of shorts & short-sleeve shirts. Being cooler did make it nicer for sleeping when we were off duty last night.

We have been pleased with our ability to talk to others on our SSB radio. We have been staying in touch daily with a few cruising friends as well as the other boat that is crossing with us. The range has been great - we have talked to a boat that is only 3 days away from the Azores as well as the maritime net where the person that responded last night was in Syracuse NY! It is great to have this tool on board.

Bob started last night to listen to his Portuguese language tape some, but will have to crack down more if we are going to depend on him for getting around Portugal and the Azores!! We have been doing lots of reading as well. Fortunately for me Bob hasn't gotten out the harmonica that he wants to learn how to play (ha)- may be I'll even "find" it for him as we feel that we need lots of things to do to fill in the time. Friends keep telling us to get our our fishing pole, but honestly don't think that will happen. Even though Bob was a Biology teacher, he keeps saying he doesn't feel that he would be able to kill it and as we aren't desperate for the fish to eat, guess we will have to save having fresh fish for when we can get it from the local fishermen!

We are hoping for more wind, but as we say, we have to be careful what we wish for - we want it at the correct speed and direction (we don't want much!)

Our current position at 3:30 PM on Saturday, June 9th is 23.57 N, 60.12 W while continuing to head NE at a speed of 5 knots with the assistance of the engine.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Day 3 - Sailing to the Azores

Well, today has been a very calm one. We had a lovely moon-lite night last night and it went by quickly. We mentioned this AM that we are surprised it is already the start of the 3rd day. We had a nice steady wind all through the night and didn't have to adjust the sails which was nice. We had the wind monitor working so not using any energy for the autopilot which was nice. About 2PM today the wind died down and we finally had to break down and turn the engine on. We are trying to get ourselves positioned to pick up some wind northeast of us so need to keep moving. The sea has been very flat - it is almost hard to believe how calm it is out here. Quite a change from our start out of St. Martin.

So, what do you do to keep yourself busy? With it being so calm we were able to clean the salt crystals off the stainless, clean the windows of our dodger from the salt spray, clean dead flying fish off the deck, keep track of our position, wind, speed and other details for our log book, download our weather files and that was all by 9:30 AM!! We have had a chance to read, Bob made some adjustments to the chartplotter that he wanted to do and of course the normal tasks of cooking, sleeping and taking showers. It was so calm tonight we even set the table up and ate our meal rather than balance it on our lap. We have enjoyed the break, but hope we get some wind soon so we can turn off the engine and start sailing again.

Day 2 total miles was 131 nautical miles - don't think we will get close to that for our day 3 today (our "day" goes from 6:15AM to 6:15AM). Will give you an update tomorrow.

Our current position is 23.03.83N, 61.35.98 W, heading 87 degrees magnetic, speed is currently 5 knots with the motor.

Just saw a great sunset and looking forward to another moon lite night - just would be nice if it would be a quiet sail rather than listening to the engine - hopefully it will change soon!

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Day 2 - sailing to the Azores

Greetings!
It is now 7:30PM local time and we are doing well. The winds have been good most of the day so we have been able to move well, but about an hour ago the winds got lighter so slowed down some. Today we started to turn north east after discussion with our weather router. As a result about noon today we made the course correction and are now headed toward the Azores!

At 6:20AM this morning (our first 24 hour period) we figured we had sailed a total of 145 miles which was good. With the sail alittle calmer now we actually had more of a "regular" meal tonight starting with an appetizer, then a salad and main course which was enjoyable. Our first dinner last night was opening a can of legumes that we put over couscous - not bad and it was the easiest to do with the heel that we had. Tonight is alittle slower going, but comfortable. We are trying to hit a few waypoints northeast of us to get positioned correctly for some east-southeast winds.

About 2 hours ago was the first time we actually saw any boat traffic, a container ship heading west. A few of the terns have been quite interested in our tow generator and aren't sure what to make of it and we have caught a few fish - only thing is they are flying fish that fly too high and get caught on the deck of the boat. It is amazing how high they can fly. Luckily Sailor hasn't gotten to notice them yet before we throw them back in the sea.

Sailor isn't the happiest, but she does move around some so figured it isn't too bad.

Tonight we have set up to talk to a couple of other boats (friends that we have met while cruising) as well as the other boat that we are traveling with. It is surprising how busy it keeps you with doing watch, checking our course information, making meals, keeping in touch and checking on the weather. We are also enjoying reading and listening to podcast. All in all day 2 has been a very pleasant one.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Day 1 - we left St. Martin

We left the anchorage at St. Martin at 6:20AM this morning (June 6th)and are on our way! The first couple of hours were slow going as we had some high waves and winds 18-22K but on the nose. Once we got to the east end of Anguilla we were able to turn north and we picked up speed and the ride has been more comfortable. We now are averaging about 6.5 knots of speed and are north of Puerto Rico. The weather is good, winds are 17-19knots with waves only about 4 feet. All in all a good start to our trip.

In the 11 hours we have been traveling we have covered 65 nautical miles. Our plan is to continue heading north (heading 00 degrees) for the next day or two before we can veer east. All on board are doing well - even Sailor got up and moved to our bed from the floor which is her normal "safe" spot.

Current position at 5:15PM local time: 19.07.56 N, 63.11.52 W


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Photos

The marina in Lajes
We are currently in the marina in Lajes on the island of Flores in the Azores. A very welcoming place for our first landfall.

The village of Lajes
The village of Lajes is on the hills behind the port marina giving us a great climb every day.

The island of Flores
This shows the outline of the island of Flores with Lajes indicated at the bottom right.

The Lajes lighthouse
The lighthouse was an excellent landmark for us when approaching Flores.

Flores and its flowers
Flores is known for its flowers which are everywhere - what a beautiful addition to any scene

One of many flowers of Flores
Peg- this one is for you!! Many calla lillies are growing in the river valleys here in Lajes.

Stone buildings
One of many of the typical stone buildings you see here on Flores.

One of the repairs done
The mainsail cover got a beating so Bob did some major repairs to it - one project off the list of things to do!