Five weeks ago, I left home, and Brenda, to join Pandora in Trinidad where I had left her earlier in the spring to have some additional work done to complete the refit that began last summer.
Along the way north I stopped in various islands in the eastern Caribbean. Hung out with friends and said my goodbyes knowing that I would not be back for at least a few years.
As of today, my journey north, and for the most recent leg, from Bermuda to Horta is nearly complete.
We are finally within 200nm of our destination, Horta, in the Azores, a journey that had its’ beginnings more than a year ago when Brenda declared that nine seasons in the Caribbean was just about enough.
She did not say where we were going to head next except it became clear that unless I could find something compelling to do next that I would find myself sailing a 14’ Beetle Cat back and forth on the CT River in front of the Essex Yacht Club, while Brenda waved (Queen style, of course) to me from the deck.
Having sailed with Brenda much of the US East coast from Eastern Maine all the way to Key West, the Bahamas, much of Cuba and just about all the islands from The US Virgins and south to Trinidad since we began seasonal cruising back in 2012, I had run out of cruising grounds to explore on this side of the Atlantic.
After more than a decade I was out of ideas so it seemed that the only real option was to investigate “crossing the pond” and see what we might do there.
Yikes, I knew nothing about that except that my Dad, now gone for over 10 years, once said (and you have heard this before), “Bob, wouldn’t it be great to take Pandora through the Straights of Gibraltar?”
So, I got on the phone and found folks to talk to that had done all that to get their thoughts.
After a few Zoom meetings with fellow cruisers and a number of YouTube travel videos of the Med, Brenda was convinced enough to give a “guarded OK” so that became the plan.
I was president of The Salty Dawg Sailing Association at that time and asked the board if there was interest in doing a rally to the Azores. Much to my surprise, they liked the idea, very much and several fellow board members even raised their hands, offering to do much of the planning.
So, fast forward a year plus and here I am, about to make landfall after nearly two weeks at sea from Bermuda, in the company of ten boats participating in the first Salty Dawg Rally to the Azores.
I will admit that it is surreal to be doing this and I do wish that Dad was around so I could share the experience. Even being in Bermuda, where we departed on this leg, was a landmark for me as that was where I departed decades ago, on my first offshore passage, helping a friend bring his boat back from the Bermuda Race.
We have been blessed with a swift passage of under two weeks, never seeing winds more than 20-25kts, and usually much less. To do this trip in under two weeks is unusual, I am told, and Chris Parker, our weather router, had warned us months ago to expect to spend perhaps as long as 2½ weeks and to encounter perhaps two gales along the way.
My crew Jason and Ted have been wonderful and their easygoing nature and competence has given me comfort, knowing that Pandora was in good hands while I was down below getting plenty of rest. Of course, the benign conditions, “champagne sailing” as Ted has described it, helped too.
As I write this we are moving along at about 6-7kts with 22-15kts on the beam, healing about 3-5 degrees. It does not get any better than this and a fitting way to end the longest passage I have taken despite sailing more than 25,000 blue water miles over the years.
With such mild conditions, meals have been easy to prepare and with much cooler temperatures, think 70s at night, than the Caribbean, I have even baked muffins and biscuits 4 times.
Here are todays’ biscuits, my third batch, in addition to some muffins, on this trip. No complaints from the crew.
Brenda does not arrive until next Monday and by that time I will have been away from her for six weeks, the longest that we have been separated since we became inseparable in Highschool 53 years ago.
Brenda has booked a hotel for a week when she arrives in downtown Horta and it will be fun to kick back and enjoy the scenery.
Our plan is to hang out in the Azores for a month, perhaps cruising to some of the other islands before I welcome crew in mid-July when we will head east to Gibraltar and onto Almeria, Spain where Pandora will be hauled for the season.
And, for the next several seasons, Brenda and I will spend two months in the spring and two in the fall, cruising the Med.
I really do not know what to expect but based on the many cruisers that we have talked to about these cruising grounds, we should be for quite a treat.
Now, if I can only get past the Orcas as I approach the coast of Portugal. You know, the orcas that bite off the bottoms of boats rudders…
I won’t think about that today, I will think about that WHEN I HAVE TO, and that will not be until sometime in late July when we get close to their “chomping grounds”.
Until then, a bit more champagne sailing and sometime tomorrow we will be in Horta.
This lovely tern landed aboard Pandora earlier today. Perhaps he is here to welcome us to Horta.
And, of course, what is a post without a picture of beautiful clouds?
And next Monday, after six weeks away and over 3,000 miles of sailing, I will be back with Brenda.
I am getting excited!
Editor: As part of the first ever Salty Dawg Rally to the Azores, you can see where Pandora and the other boats are located in real time at the Salty Dawg Azores Rally Map.
If you want to see where Pandora is alone, check out “where in the world is Pandora” at the top of the page or click on this link.
And, as always, you can register to receive a notice when I post, Which I do regularly, at the top of this page.
And, if you want to learn more about Salty Dawg and the rallies and educational programs that we sponsor, and you should, check out www.saltydawgsailing.org. It is a really great group.