Читать книгу Sailing In Newfoundland and to the Azores - Neil Hammond Bose - Страница 4

Newfoundland to the Azores

We rode the bus south from Lewisporte, Newfoundland, to St. John’s, the capital, in July 2006. I had six hours to think. We would be moving to Tasmania in 2007 and I didn’t want to sell Murphy’s Boat. I knew I would never be able to replace it at anything like the cost I would be able to sell it for and I knew it could make the trip – if given time. The bus stopped at Gander Airport for half an hour and we got something to eat. By the time dusk fell and we arrived in Mount Pearl on the outskirts of St. John’s, I had made up my mind to sail.

Synopsis: Lewisporte - Dog Island (Dildo Run) – Seldom (Fogo) - Horta, Faial, Azores. 14 1/2 days Seldom to Horta. Winds forward of the beam for most of the way so we were driven 60 miles north of Azores. 1 day calm, 1 day following wind/reach. Hove to for 8 hours in 35 knots plus. Sailed for extensive periods with reefed jib only or reefed jib and triple reefed main. Vane gear steered the whole way. Boat handled well, but I need to reduce persistent small deck leaks in strange places. Crew did very well.

So read my first report to those who had asked to be updated. But many asked for more and some said: what about those 8 hours hove to; there must be more to it than that?

The new boat

I first saw Murphy’s Boat, deep in a snow drift in February 2003. Yachts in Newfoundland don’t get launched until May at the earliest and even then there are often still snow drifts in the woods and ice on the ponds.

I had time to replace the engine mounts and get the gear together before launching on some brilliantly sunny days at the beginning of May. Rigging the boat was like opening presents. The gear was in good order and the boat had been rigged and fitted out for a long ocean trip. I went round checking everything, aligning the mast and seizing the rigging screws with wire. It was magic to be on the water again on a boat that was really capable of going to sea.

It is 10 miles from Manuels to Holyrood. I spent the night with my three children on board and we set off early the next morning. It was still very cold at night. We had to hand start the engine as we had learned the hard way that the cabin lights, though lovely and bright, were a heavy user of the limited energy stored in the batteries.

The wind, about 5 degrees Centigrade, was blowing out of the north. By the time we were entering Holyrood Bay we were romping along in 1 metre waves with a smattering of white caps, but these lessened as we got further in towards the head of the Bay. We tied up on the outside of one of the Tee piers in the marina. There was plenty of room as none of the Holyrood boats had been launched for the season yet. Soon after we arrived the rain came down heavily and it was even colder and wetter as we packed up the sails. The children had enjoyed it, had been exhilarated and anxious at times. They described the waves as enormous.