It is Friday morning and we have gone about 300 of the 850 miles to Bermuda and by sometime tomorrow we will have made it half way.
We continue to sail along in light to moderate winds, generally on the beam and are making fairly good time.
From the beginning of the trip, we have estimated that we will arrive in Bermuda some time on Tuesday and I guess that is still the case.
Yesterday, shortly after discovering that the code zero sail was not in great shape, I was able to contact a sailmaker in Bermuda and have arranged to have it inspected and hopefully repaired in time to make the run to the Azores.
I was surprised to see the condition, the wear just adjacent to the sun cover panel on the aft part and foot of the sail, as it had been inspected and cleaned just last fall.
It appears that the sun cover panel was just not quite wide enough to completely protect the sail from sun damage. I fear that the sailmaker will say that it is not worth fixing and there is not time to secure a replacement.
It does look pretty nasty with worn areas much of the way up the aft part, or leach of the sail. This photo shows one example of the wear. Not great
It is an old sail that came with the boat and over the years I have hardly used as it is quite large and only useful in a narrow range of wind. However, for the run to the Azores, I expect that it will, or should I say would if it’s fixed, get a fair amount of use.
In the Caribbean the winds are generally too strong for such a large sail but the Mediterranean is known for light winds so I expect that it will come in handy. Additionally, for the run to the Azores, the wind is likely to be behind us which is a good direction for the sail.
Anyway, we will see what he says and while he will likely say that it is not worth fixing, there is no way to get something better in time so fixing it, if that’s practical, is really the only option.
Getting near the half way point of a passage is a frustrating time for me as to be less than half way there can feel fairly defeating given the fact that we still have more miles ahead of us than behind.
I do know that there are many who really enjoy passage making and prefer it to the sort of island-to-island cruising that we prefer. However, I suppose that if Brenda was on board with me perhaps I would feel differently.
But, to add the time away from her and the uncertainty of when we will arrive in Bermuda passage making is just not my favorite.
All and all, the passage has been uneventful and to be able to talk briefly with Brenda every day via Starlink is a real treat and something to look forward to.
The last time I took a long passage was a few years ago when Starlink was very new and once we were at sea getting a signal was difficult and sometimes impossible. On this run it is taking upwards of 15 minutes to get the unit connected to satellites but it always connects.
The plan that I have allows me, in addition to the $165/month fee, to toggle a $2/GB plan when more than 15 miles from land and it seems that our limited usage, checking email, downloading weather and brief calls home adds up to 1-2GB of usage per day which is very reasonable. However, I expect that it will add up to more than that but in the grand scheme of things, a few dollars a day in extra charges is a very good deal compared to the “olden days”.
For me to discover a sail problem, go on line and speak directly to a sailmaker was a first for me and gives me the confidence that with a few days’ notice, I may be able to get the sail repaired. Well, I hope so.
Well, with about 550 miles to go, that is still a long way off but at least we are moving in the right direction.
Fingers crossed that the wind keeps up for at least half of the time remaining as forecast.
Well, with new injectors and plenty of fuel, that is good so at least I can take comfort knowing that we will be half way through our journey by sometime tomorrow.
Editor: as always, you can follow Pandora’s track by clicking on the “where in the world is Pandora” button and you can follow the Azores fleet, all heading to Bermuda on this link as well.