Sail Pandora

One day into the run from Bermuda to Horta, things are going well.  

And, as the sun peaked over the horizon,  I was a bit surprised to see the sun coming up over our bow. 

For every other offshore trip, north and south, it has always been on the beam.  Now, heading generally east, it rose in front of us.  Obvious but I had not thought of that.

For those that follow this blog know that I am not a big fan of passage making and after a decade of heading south in the fall and back north at the end of season, the sameness,  after a decade, has gotten a bit old.  

On the run south to the Caribbean every fall, the passage is somewhat predictable.   The first third of the run is a mix of cold fronts that can make for challenging routing, with SW winds clocking as cold fronts crash off of the US east coast.  It is a constant battle to find decent winds.

The second third, the “Bermuda High” where there is very little wind.  This area, several hundred miles wide is the transition zone between the SW prevailing winds to the north and the easterly trades to the south.   Passing through this area can be very frustrating and often involves a lot of motoring and a fair number of squalls. 

Finally, the easterly trade winds, but that can also be frustrating as you never really know if they will be pushed south by a big low up north or allow for spirited sailing for upwards of a third of the 1,500-mile run from New England and Antigua.  While most of the time we end up with great sailing for this part of the run, I have had passages where the trades were suppressed until the last 200 miles.  And, to make matters worse, the winds are often south of east so it is not easy sailing and sometimes can be downright “salty.”

The unpredictability of the run is frustrating enough but add to that the fact that as we move farther south, it gets hotter, especially when I am motoring, to a point of where the cabin is over 90 degrees for much of the time, making it very difficult to get rest.

Now, I will say that I have no previous experience with a Trans-Atlantic run but so far it is going quite well. 

And, even when we enter windless areas, I will be able to motor some distance instead of waiting for wind.   However, it should stay cooler below as we are so much farther north.

Pandora has quite good motoring range as she carries 95 gallons of diesel in three tanks below deck as well as six 5-gallon jugs and a 50-gallon bladder, in vented lockers.  That gives me approximately 180 gallons of usable fuel, good for motoring more than 1,000 miles.

That means if we are becalmed for days, I can keep moving, if not particularly fast as motoring is about half as fast as sailing in good conditions.

Another issue that detracts from the fun of passage making has been chasing leaks and it seems that every time I fix one, another pops up. 

When we purchased Pandora 9 years ago, the owner proudly declared that there is only one place that leaked, the big salon plexiglass windows. He told me that when it got cold the panels shrank a bit and the ends started dripping. 

Well, I dealt with that by replacing them with PPG commercial building glass and by adding a center expansion joint so that any expansion or contraction was no longer an issue.  This glass, designed for office buildings, has a very low expansion coefficient, much like fiberglass and epoxy.   Years later, no leaks.

Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of leaks and as I used the boat offshore in rough conditions, leaks multiplied as I was putting the boat in much wetter conditions.   Alas, loads of leaks.

I also had issues with the three large hatches and while the gaskets were fine, for a few years anyway,  water was getting under the metal base and leaking down below.  I pulled the whole hatch off as well as most of the other deck fittings and re-sealed everything.

One way or the other, a boat that is used hard gets leaks and I hear from many other cruisers that their “no leak” boat ends up like a washing machine down below when they are in rough conditions offshore.

After 9 seasons of chasing leaks, I had finally narrowed it down to a single, impossible to fix leak, the mast boot.  And that was particularly frustrating as any salt water that got below ended up on our bunk. 

When I took Pandora back to Trinidad last month, I asked Amos to find the leak, not mater what, and it seems that he did.  He told me that they found a small hole in the rubber boot where water was getting in.

Well, so far, for this passage, no leaks so far which would make this the VERY FIRST PASSAGE, EVER.  Fingers crossed that I am no jinxing the deal by writing this.   Perhaps it has not been rough enough yet.  We will see.

While it has been plenty sporty, and there has been plenty of water on deck, no water down below. 

In our two pre-departure weather briefings Chris described conditions that were unusually good for this run and that we should be able to have good sailing for at least half of the trip with near perfect sailing with 15-20 kts on the beam before we encounter any light wind conditions. 

So far, so good and in our first 24 hours since leaving Bermuda yesterday morning at 06:30 we have clocked about 185 miles, an impressive feat for a boat like Pandora, and faster than most comparably sized cruising boats.  My best 24hr runs have been in the 195-mile range but it is a rare cruising boat that can go 200 miles in a day unless there is a favorable current. 

Who knows how things will go over the next week but we believe that we have several more days, at least with excellent sailing.

Perhaps I will beat Brenda’s arrival on the 15^th.   And, I left a day earlier than our June 1^st planned departure date.  That would be nice.

It is probably too early to speculate but I am hoping that I will complete the run in 12-13 days if I am lucky.  I actually have no idea… but hope….

And, as far as comfort is concerned, I am also sleeping a lot better as it is much cooler than the run to the Caribbean and will surely get cooler still as we make our way north.   

Due to the prevailing westerly winds, we will be heading somewhat north of the latitude of Horta to avoid the windless zone and perhaps as far north as the same latitude as Boston or Cape Cod. 

Finally, I interviewed quite a few crew for this run and after one day I am happy to report that I chose well.  Ted, who has a lot of offshore experience including time with high-latitude sailing in the southern and Indian oceans, has sailed in some of the most challenging conditions in the world and really knows his stuff.

And Jason, true to what I was told by his references, is eager to learn, and with his club racing experience, knows his way around a boat.

I am happy to have them both aboard and we are learning from each other.

Of course, it helps that we are making miles.  Ask me again if the wind poops out.  

Good wind or not, perhaps the one thing that is making this run more fun is that I am heading toward an adventure that I would never have imagined, even a few years ago.

To sail in the Mediterranean is so far from what seemed possible that I never even speculated that I would someday be heading “across the Pond”.   

So far, one day in, I am enjoying this passage. 

There, I said it.  Let’s hope that I have not jinxed it.

Every day, a bit closer…  I hope…

Editor: I expect to continue to post most days for our run to Horta, and a fair amount after that, so consider signing up to get a reminder when I publish.

You can also see where Pandora and the others in the fleet are 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.

This is it. Today we weigh anchor, head out from Bermuda, destination Horta in the Azores.

At the risk of being corny, this photo as the sun sets on our visit to Bermuda.

The only thing that is more amazing than the fact that I am heading out today to cross the Atlantic, is that I actually feel, mostly, ready for the run.

My crew, Jason and Ted, arrived a few days ago, provisioning is done so I do feel like we are ready to “take the plunge” and get going.

Yesterday was a whirlwind with a bus ride to the market, a massive haul of provisions and a cab back to the waterfront, securing the boat, clearing customs and hosting a weather briefing. I have to say that I have never purchased quite so many sandwich wraps, several dozen and exactly how many yogurts can three guys eat in two to three weeks? We’ll see but we have two dozen on top of loads of other food.

We really don’t know how long this 2,000 mile run will take but I have tried to have enough food to last three weeks, I think…

However, on the bright side, our latest briefing from Chris Parker, our weather router, suggests that we will have really great sailing for at least the first week which may very well take us a full 2/3rds of the way to Horta until we find ourselves in an area with very little wind.

Anyway, at least we have lots of food. And fuel, as we filled up the boat a few days ago and should have enough to motor perhaps as long as 1,000 miles, which should not be necessary based on the forecast so far. I calculate that if I go slow I burn about .7 to .8 gallons per hour and with 175 gallons of fuel available, that’s over 200 miles and perhaps 1,000 miles or more. If we have good winds, we should be able to sail much of the way. Fingers crossed.

It’s been a very pleasant, if busy, time here in Bermuda and I am very pleased to be heading out early, if only by a day.

It’s hard to say how long the run will take but with all of the favorable winds, for at least the next week, perhaps the run will take about two weeks.

From the beginning of planning, I have been focused on two weeks for the trip, suggesting that we will arrive in Horta around the 15th which is when Brenda arrives.

She has booked a hotel for a week so hopefully I will be able to stay there with her. That would be nice.

It’s been nearly a month since I headed to Trinidad and I am anxious to begin this next leg and be back together with Brenda.

For the last decade of moving Pandora around, Brenda and I have been apart for a month or more in both the spring and fall as I move the boat south or back home in the spring but this year will have been the longest, six weeks. That’s a long time to be apart.

Along the way I will miss our 48th anniversary, June 4th if you want to know, and my 70th birthday, June 8th, not to put too fine a point on it. Hard to believe that so much water has gone under Brenda’s and my keel’s, bridges, whatever…

We’ve been together for a long time and I am excited about getting underway and back together again.

If you are curious about where Pandora is or to follow the other boats that are participating in this rally, the first Salty Dawg Rally to the Azores, follow the links below.

Where in the world is Pandora? Or click on the link above.

The Salty Dawg Azores bound fleet.

And, you can sign up to get an email alert when I post, which if history is any guide, will be frequently as we move along our path to Horta. See the link at the top of this page.

I will be using Predict Wind for routing along with Chris Parker as a way to have a graphic representation of what Chris has in his forecast.

As of this morning, here’s what it looks like. We will be looking for medium red conditions with wind from the SW and green from the South so and you can see that there is plenty forecast along our route.

The various lines are based on a number of different weather scenarios and the track that we will take is likely to be somewhere between the upper and lower tracks.

The sections we want to avoid is dark red, very windy, or blue, way to light for sailing.

It’s all a bit complex but we will be focused on what you might call the “Goldilocks winds”, not too strong, and not too light and from the right direction.

And, with a little luck in about two weeks, Horta, our next stop.

Wish us luck.

Bermuda is really beautiful. The last time that I was here was when I helped take a friend’s boat home from the Bermuda Race. That was a very long time ago and perhaps I was in my 20s. This visit brings me full circle as I am now heading across the Atlantic. First time, my first offshore passage. Second visit, my first transatlantic. Get it?

Before I move on, I should note that my code zero sail is mort. I took it to the sail repair guy yesterday and he declared it “dumpster ready”. What a blow. However, after speaking with Chris Parker he said that the sail wouldn’t be of much use for a good amount of the trip as the wind will be too far aft for such a sail to be effective. I plan to put it back up and to use it until it blows out. Perhaps it will last till the end of the run. Doubtful but I will try.

When we finished up the trip yesterday around 09:00 it was blowing pretty hard out of the SW and we had pushed hard to get in before the forecasted wind shift to the north came through. Amazingly, within about 90 minutes of our arrival the wind shifted 180 degrees and piped up to 25-30 kts. The rapidity of the change was stunning and boats were dragging. It wasn’t pretty. However, today it’s lovely with a light north wind. Pandora at anchor.

Pandora is in good company. Here’s Ticonderoga, a beautiful yawl designed and built by Francis Herishoff and launched in 1936. I sailed for an afternoon on her years ago but she wasn’t in as amazing shape as she is now. I believe that she sailed in the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta recently and is heading back to Newport for the summer.

Anyway, it is looking like a departure for Horta over the weekend, on time.

My crew, Jason and Ted, arrived today and we have a weather briefing and cocktail reception this evening so that will give us a good feel for what to expect, at least for the early part of the trip.

This morning I went for a walk in Georgetown to enjoy the views. It is a beautiful place. Unfortunately, the prices of everything are sky high as there are very high tariffs on everything. We had a light lunch yesterday in a burger place and it was $120 for two. Stunning.

While the prices are stunning, the beauty is as well.

The first thing that you see when you leave the dock is the town hall, which sets the tone. What a beautiful building. And, everything is perfectly maintained.

It is a school day and I saw two different groups from a school out for a tour.

It reminded me of a similar moment in Cuba when Brenda and I visited that island in 2016. Follow this link to a view not very different from the image above, but in Cuba.

All of the buildings here have whitewashed roofs to catch the rain as natural waster is in short supply here.

Everything is brightly painted and all perfect.

Of course, what would a beautiful city be without carefully maintained ruins?

Or more of the shabby chic kind…

Or a park…

I love flowers and there are loads here. Morning glories?

And what says Bermuda more than bougainvillea?

Lots of churches. Pink.

And other colors.

I have to say that this place is one of the most beautiful places that I have visited. Seeing the sights like this makes me wonder if perhaps the Med will be even more amazing. I am counting on it as getting there is not simple.

Here’s to a promising weather window. Fingers crossed. Details to come.

I am loving Bermuda, expensive or not.

As I write this It is Monday afternoon and we hopeful that we are less than 24 hours from making landfall in Bermuda. 

There is a nice, if light, breeze on the beam but with only my small jib and main but we cannot risk going even a little bit slower so we must continue to run the engine.

After posting several sunrises, how about this sunset from last night?  The sun was setting under a huge thunderhead cloud.  To me it looks a bit like the goose that laid the golden egg. 

Later that evening, the cloud came over us and dropped some rain but fortunately, it was not particularly windy and no lightening.

And speaking of clouds that look like an animal.  I cannot quite decide what this one reminds me of.  Whatever it is, it looks happy.  Hmm…

I have not turned off the motor for several days now except to address a bit of an “issue” last evening around dusk, when the belts on the power take-off that run the large alternator to charge the battery along with enough electricity to run the forward AC, began to disintegrate.  

After thousands of miles aboard Pandora, I can immediately tell if something is not quite right and when I heard a rumbling and a different vibration I took a look.  Seeing one of the tandem belts shredding itself, tossing pieces everywhere confirmed that I had to shut the engine down.

As with just about every critical component, I have spares and in this case, enough belts to replace both twice more.  Getting them off and replacing them with new ones was not easy but as I had done the job in the past and was able to complete the job in about a half hour.  Having said that, working on a hot engine while the boat was rolling in windless conditions was not fun but with Dave holding a light so I could see what I was doing, mission accomplished and we were soon underway.

By the time I had the job completed, I was dripping with sweat.

One of the frustrating things about passage making is that the wind, while often consistent for days on end, can often be very uncooperative and last night as a particular low point.

For much of yesterday we had a decent breeze that allowed us to motor sail but as the sun went down the breeze shifted to our stern and dropped to less than 5kts.  As we motored forward at about the same speed, that meant that we had a slight headwind, slowing us further.   It was excruciating.

I took in the jib but left the main up with the hope of getting a bit of a lift from the sail.  However, that was not to be and for much of the night the sail just flapped slowly, and we crawled along at less than 5kts. 

Fortunately, later in the morning a 10kt breeze came up on our beam and we are now motor-sailing along at a good clip.  There is almost enough wind to sail but not quite without the big code zero.   The lack of a proper light air sail has made it necessary to run the engine for an additional 24 hour or more.

And, speaking of that sail, when we arrive in Bermuda, I will deliver it to a sailmaker with the hope of getting it repaired.  However, as I expect that it will be windy when we arrive, we decided to take it down this morning when the wind was light. 

Given the sun damage to the aft end of the sail, I was very concerned that it might catch on something as we dropped it on deck and receive even more damage.

After about a half hour of strategizing on how to get it down and folded up, we decided to slowly motor slightly off the wind and to drop it onto the leeward deck.  George tended the aft end of the sail and Dave clawed the sail onto the deck as I lowered it. 

This is a big sail, about 60’ tall and about 35’ on the foot.  A lot of fabric to muscle onto the deck without it ending up in the water.  When pulling down a big sail, if a gust of wind catches it and you hold on too tight, it can jerk you right off the deck. 

Well, we got it done, stuffed it into a sail bag and stowed it in the forward head, where it will live until we take it to the sailmaker tomorrow afternoon.

So, that is done and there is one less thing to worry about.

Getting that sail fixed is critical as without it we will have to motor a lot more or go unreasonably slowly on the run to the Azores when the wind is light, perhaps adding days to a trip that is likely to take more than two weeks, even with good conditions. 

The difference in an average speed of six knots vs four can make a big difference.

2,000 miles at an average speed of 6kts is 14 days.   The same distance at 5kts is three days longer.

As it is, we are estimating that the trip will take between 13-17 days and to not have a sail that can handle light wind would put us at a major disadvantage.

To that point, I estimated that the lack of the code zero sail on this run has cost us upwards of an extra half day or more.

That might not sound like a lot but there are often deadlines where you “have to get there” to avoid bad weather and the difference of a knot or even a half knot, can mean the difference of hitting bad weather or not.

This passage is a case in point, as if we do not get to Bermuda by mid-morning on Tuesday, we may be hit by strong headwinds that could cost us another day at sea.

Some say that watching a boat sail is like watching grass grow but having good sails and wind is like a lawn with no rain verses rain and lots of fertilizer.  You cannot see it grow but it gets tall fast.

So, here we are at noon on Monday and we positively must get to Bermuda by mid-morning tomorrow, so we motor.

I think that we can make it based on the wind that we have now, but after last night, inching along with no wind, who knows.

As we approach Bermuda it has turned into a race to the finish if for now other reason than to avoid running into major headwinds. 

I suppose that is a metaphor for life, avoiding headwinds.

After a few days in Bermuda, off again for the Azores, that destination is 2.5x farther than this leg, nearly 2,000 miles.

Let us hope we have good wind and no major broken stuff.

But first I need to get to Bermuda, soon…

It is Sunday morning and the wind is directly behind us and too light to sail.   The engine is droning on and on, nearly 40 hours so far, with no end in sight.

It is incredibly calm with only gentle rollers and wind of less than 10kts directly behind us.  We are far from anything, 260 miles from Bermuda and nearly 1,000 miles from the US east coast.

During my watch this morning, as the horizon began to brighten, I was treated to a lovely view of a crescent moon, setting to the east.

Later, a magnificent sunrise.  It is not hard to imagine early cultures, believing that the sun was something to worship.     

We hope to arrive in Bermuda mid-morning on Tuesday but that is a guess as we cannot be certain as our speed varies from under 5kts to over 6.5 for brief periods as the light wind pushes us forward to help the engine, or not.

To give that some context, if we were sailing with good wind, we would be running between 7-8.5kts and a difference of only one knot would mean arriving 12 hours sooner.  Two knots and that is a full 24 hours, a big difference.

With 260 miles standing between us and Bermuda, and no meaningful wind in the forecast, our current speed suggests that we will be motoring for another 48 hours, for a total of about 85 hours.

To give that some context, for the run to the Caribbean, which is about 1,600 miles, nearly twice this distance, I generally run the engine for upwards of 100 hours and on one trip 130 hours.  This means that this run, relative to the length, is nearly twice the motoring time.

They say that the most dangerous piece of equipment on a sailboat is a calendar and when you try to follow a schedule you can get into trouble.

To that point, when we were preparing to leave St Maarten, Chris Parker, our weather router, told us that we would likely be motoring half or more of the distance.  However, if we could wait a week, it was likely that we would be able to sail nearly the entire way.  And, this run, if we were sailing more, would likely take a full day less.

However, with my “calendar” requiring that I had to get to Bermuda in time to have George and David fly out and Ted and Jason, my crew to the Azores, fly in, I had to go.

So we motor…

The good news is that even if we must motor upwards of 80+ hours, we will still have more than half of our fuel when we arrive.

Conserving fuel is key as the difference of only 100 RPM can mean a fuel consumption rate of 20% more and yet not a lot more speed.

One of the boats in the rally to Bermuda is at risk of running out of fuel and there is just no way to get more except perhaps from passing boat and let me tell you, there are not many passing boats out here.

It is not all that uncommon for those new to long distance sailing to underestimate their fuel consumption and to find that they do not have enough to go the full distance, forcing them to wait, and wait, for the wind to fill in.  And, eventually it does…

One year, a boat in the fall Caribbean rally to Antigua had problems with their starter motor so they could not start their engine as they approached Barbuda, about 30 miles from Antigua and just drifted for a few days until we could find someone to run a new starter motor out to them.

So, here we are, motoring along and I am more than a little relieved that I had taken the time to be sure that the injectors were properly installed and all the fuel leaks addressed.

As frustrating as that was, not to talk about my pesky root canal, making sure that the engine was in near perfect condition, was time and money well spent.  For the record, my tooth does not hurt.  That is good.

And speaking of clouds, which I was not, those of you that have been following my blog for a while  know that I am a member of the Cloud Appreciation Society, a group with tens of thousands of members, that celebrate clouds.

Every day the society sends out a photo of a cloud that was submitted by a member and when I looked at this cloud today, I found myself wondering if I should submit this photo.   For the record, I have had 4-5 of my photos chosen, which seems like a lot.  Perhaps one more?

This cloud reminds me of a baker, complete with chef hat, riding on a cart.  What do you see?

Oh well, perhaps I have been listening to the drone of the motor for too long and am beginning to see things.

I do love clouds, and sunrise, and sunsets… 

But you already know that.

And yes, this endless motoring is indeed getting annoying but at least we are moving in the right direction. 

And, there are clouds…

Of course, if you are curious about where we are, take a look at “where in the world is Pandora”. Better yet, sign up to get a ping when I post. Don’t worry, I won’t share your email with some nasty Korean hackers.

What a difference a day makes.  Being less than half way there was not my favorite but now that we have passed the point where we are closer to Bermuda than St Maarten, I am happy now.  

Happy to see a lovely sunrise this morning.

Even better up close.

I am still not happy about the code zero needing work as we have had to resort to motor sailing in conditions when a larger headsail would have allowed us to sail.   However, diesel is cheaper than a blown out, unrepairable, sail and if that were to happen, I doubt that it would be practical to repair. 

Better safe than sorry so engine on.

While having the engine is under the sink in the galley and in the middle of the boat makes for great weight distribution and good sailing, it also makes things HOT down below.

As the wind has become lighter, we finally resorted to turning the engine on and have been motoring for 12 hours now, since last evening at 7:00.  Chris Parker had said from the beginning that we would likely be motoring about half of the distance and while I expect that we will be able to sail some during the last day of the run, it seems to be working out about as he predicted.

When it is calm and we are motor sailing, it is very comfortable below as I can run the forward AC off the engine alternator.   A few years ago, I installed a vent into the main cabin from the forward AC unit and it does a passable job at keeping things cool in the main cabin despite the hot engine.   The AC unit in the main cabin is much larger and I am not comfortable putting that big of a load on the alternator for hours on end.

Overnight it was very calm with a few scattered squalls but they were mild and I slept through the only one that came over us while Dave was on watch.    Fortunately, this run has been relatively squall free.  I recall a passage a few years ago when we had upwards of two dozen squalls which was very stressful. 

After a small squall passed us just after dawn, a sliver of a rainbow.

The clouds out in the ocean are endlessly fascinating.     A 360 horizon, and a particularly dramatic view in or wake.

As of now it looks like we will make our way into Bermuda in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and likely in the dark.   I will admit that I am a bit anxious about entering the harbor in the dark as the channel is only about 200’ wide and there are a lot of shallow reefs on either side.  However, it is well marked and between the plotter, iPad charts and radar, we should be able to pick our way through it

George has been through the cut and feels that it will be fine so that is good.  Once we are inside the harbor it is very protected and we will drop the anchor and wait till dawn.

With regards to the code zero, we plan on waiting until the wind gets very light, probably later today, and will pull it down so that we will be ready to take it ashore as soon as we clear in, hopefully on Tuesday morning.

So, there you have it, more than half way there, it is calm and we are making progress.

Still over 400 miles to go so perhaps it is a bit premature to say “yahoo!”

Fingers crossed…

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.

It’s Thursday afternoon on day two of our 5-6 day passage to Bermuda, about 180 miles under our keel and another 670 to go. 

I always enjoy sunrise at sea.  Today at dawn, very peaceful sailing on nearly flat seas.   Somehow, I can never seem to get the horizon level.

The seas have been remarkably calm and we are moving along about 6kts in 10kts of breeze on the beam.  As the run progresses, we expect that the winds will back and get lighter so we will end up motoring, perhaps for two days or so as we get closer to Bermuda. 

However, for now, we are moving along nicely with the big code zero and have not used the engine since shortly after we left the harbor yesterday morning.

I expect that good sailing conditions will continue through perhaps Friday afternoon.   Having said that, it is hard to say what will happen with the wind as the two weather models that we use, the Euro and GFS are not in agreement for the last 200 miles into Bermuda so we may find that we have a bit more wind.   Hard to say.

With some luck, we will arrive sometime late on Monday or Tuesday morning.  We will see.

For now, I am happy to be sailing. 

One issue with motoring is that the engine is under the galley sink and when it heats up, the cabin becomes unbearably hot, upwards of 95 degrees.   Once the batteries are charged, and there is less load on the engine, I can run smaller forward AC off of the main engine inverter and that helps keep things a bit cooler.  It is possible that I could run the main AC unit but am a bit afraid of putting too much strain on the alternator as if it failed from being overworked, that would be a pain.

Last night, as the engine cooled down from our departure, I had a lot of trouble sleeping down below but around 23:00 it was finally cool enough to sleep.  I was out until my alarm went off at 03:50 when I had to get ready for my 03:00 to 07:00 watch. 

It is rare to have “just enough” wind to use the code zero, a large headsail that only works in a fairly narrow range of wind, say 6-14kts.  But it does make a lot of difference when the wind is light, like now.  We deployed it soon after departure yesterday and this is the first time that I have ever used the sail at night.

We will see how long the wind holds but for now we are having a wonderful sail and the crew seems to have settled in nicely.

Oh yeah, under the “it’s always something” category, I just discovered that my code zero sail needs some love and there is a lot of sun damage near the sun cover on the leech, near the back of the sail.   Not sure how that happened and it just looks like the sun cover fabric was not quite wide enough to protect the sail.  Oh well, I guess I will have that fixed in Bermuda.  I sure hope that they can fix it in time.  Worse, I hope that they do not tell me that it is too far gone.  Fingers crossed.

The fleet heading to Bermuda and then to the Azores is about a dozen boats and you can follow them on this link.  https://sdsatracking.com/azores2025/

Of course, Pandora’s track alone can be accessed on the “where in the world is Pandora” button up on the top of this page.

I’ll surely post again soon but for now I am happy to say that the crew is settling in nicely.  I, for one, will be happy when half of the run is behind us.

It’s Wednesday morning and we are underway, and bound for Bermuda, 850 miles to the north, the first big leg of my run to Horta in the Azores. 

The seas are very calm and the breeze light enough to use our big headsail, the Code 0.    According to the latest forecast, we should arrive in Bermuda sometime on Monday.

After only a few hours underway, the crew is settling into “passage mode” lounging around and enjoying the gentle roll of the swells.

George manning the helm.

Dave chilling…

And down below, Pandora in cruising mode with all the cushions covered with canvas.

When I think back to the last year and all that has gone into making plans and getting Pandora ready for the run, it amazes me that we are on our way.  Sailing north to Bermuda at 7kts in 9-12kts, just forward of the beam.   A beautiful start to a passage that is expected to be light wind sailing much of the way.

Between the trials of the last few weeks beginning with the last items to get Pandora ready to head north along with the ridiculous chain of events including engine issues and, who would have guessed it, an emergency root canal in St Martin, I can hardly believe that we are finally on our way to Bermuda.

Just deciding where Pandora will spend next winter, once I get to the Mediterranean, was hard enough.  I contacted perhaps two dozen marinas to find a place that I felt comfortable with and was at least sort of reasonably priced. 

Lining up nearly a dozen crew for the various legs, back and forth to Trinidad, twice, and from there north to St Maarten, onto Bermuda, Horta and finally Almeria Spain was a big deal.

And, I won’t even talk about the fear of my rudder being bitten off by an orca as we make our way from the Azores to Gibraltar.   I have no idea what the odds are of that happening but running into a guy on the beach in Falmouth Antigua, who had been attacked just a few months earlier, certainly made it seem plenty “real”. 

I cannot begin to describe the number of items that I had to purchase, from extra water pumps, spare autopilot driver, a remarkably complete medical kit and an alarming number of prescription drugs, mostly antibiotics, just in case.  They say that on a cruising boat everything is broken, you just don’t know it yet. 

And, on top of all of the medical supplies, as scary as all this sounds, how about a mechanical skin stapler.  Oh boy, I hope that never comes out of the bag.

The number of nights that I woke up thinking of “what have I missed” are too many to count and as recently as a few days ago I thought that I would have to bag the entire trip and head back to Trinidad when I was warned that the engine repairs might take weeks to sort out which would put me beyond a reasonable window to cross to the Azores.

Oh, that was fun to think about as hurricane season is coming up very soon and it was only about a year ago when the massive hurricane Beryl trashed the SE Caribbean.  If I was not going to Europe, I would be heading south to Trinidad yet again or perhaps home to New England.   If I could not go this year, who knows if there would be another chance.

And, all of this is just the planning for Pandora, and does not include all the details of being away from home until mid-August when Brenda and I return from Europe.  The last time I did not cut my own lawn was when Rob and Chris were kids. 

Oh yeah, and being away from Brenda for six weeks, including our 58^th anniversary, my 70^th birthday and, worse of all, MOTHER’S DAY, to top off the list has made this tough.

Brenda has said for years that our lives, are “way too crazy”.   And, while I generally resist that label, over the last few weeks it does seem that way.

However, I always fall back on the idea that we, in the words of our financial advisor, are in our “go-go years” that will in time be replaced by the “slow go years” and ultimately the dreaded “NO-GO years” all in due course.  With all that, and the craziness all of this seems to ladle on our lives, it is clear to me that we need to go-go while we can.  As near as I can figure, there are no “do-overs”. 

We were supposed to depart for Bermuda on the 18^th and with little wind in the forecast, we waited and waited for what seemed like a long time but finally, complete with forecasted wind for much of the trip, we have departed, three days late.

As crazy as this has been, I keep reminding myself that it was just a little more than a year ago when I contacted the Salty Dawg board of directors to see if there might be interest in running a new rally to the Azores as I wanted to go and would love to lead the fleet. 

Much to my surprise, they embraced the idea and more than a few jumped on board to do the planning.

A “bucket list” had never been something that I have focused on but I can still remember when Brenda and I were on vacation in Maine many years ago and visited briefly with a couple that lived on their boat for several months every summer, a lifestyle that seemed unattainable to me as I held down a very demanding full time job.

However, a few short years later retirement seemed within reach and suddenly I just had to have a boat that could “cross oceans”.  Of course, Brenda was not particularly amused but went along as we made plans to head to the Bahamas, then Cuba, the Caribbean and now…

Crossing the pond…

As I have mentioned a number of times recently, my dad, gone over ten years now, once remarked, “Bob, wouldn’t it be amazing to take Pandora through the straights of Gibraltar”.

Well, here I am, on my way and setting aside the 4,000 ocean miles and a menacing pod or pods of orcas between here and there, I might just do that.

Only 850 miles to Bermuda and one step at a time.  I cannot believe all of this is happening.

Editor:  I posted this while at sea and will continue to do so regularly so if you are interested in following along, and I hope you are, sign up on the upper right hand of this page and you’ll get an email when I put up another post.

Well, so much for departing for Bermuda on Monday.

Chris Parker, our weather router, has been tracking a particularly recalcitrant high pressure zone, (no wind) between us and Bermuda and it just won’t go away. As a result of this the question is just how much do we want to motor for the next 850 miles.

The answer is “no more than I have to and not more than I have fuel for” but that’s a relative term as the high is really large and isn’t going away any time soon. This means that we either wait a week more before departing our there will be plenty of motoring. However, we are time constrained so the plan is to take the best of the worse options.

As I have crew coming in next week and we have to be in Bermuda to begin the run to Horta, I will have to pick the “lesser evil” and leave when we at least have a hope of sailing perhaps more than half of the way.

Unfortunately, even the best option isn’t all that great but the “best of the worst” seems to be a Wednesday evening departure, three days later than hoped.

The big issue for me is that when I motor, I really only go about 5kts verses 7.5-9kts when sailing. That means that for every hour I motor, vs sailing, I am only making about half the mileage. Put another way, to leave a day later and sail means that I am only actually going to get there about 12 hours later. Sure, that’s a crude comparison but with a limited amount of fuel and the fact that I have a SAILBOAT, I prefer to sail.

So, here we sit, waiting for good news, or at least somewhat good news from Chris on when to depart.

Sadly, if we were to wait a whole week we could probably sail the entire distance but that isn’t realistic for us given a schedule that we ultimately need to keep. Delayed or not, at least there is a few days delay built into the schedule but I have crew flying out and others flying in, so I really have to be in Bermuda by next Wednesday.

The latest runs on Predict Wind suggest that if we leave on Wednesday evening we will arrive in Bermuda sometime late on Monday or in the wee hours of Tuesday. Let’s hope that’s right.

So, here we sit, cooling our jets, in Anguilla. It’s an island adjacent to St Martin, the French side, and is not quite as bustling as St Maarten. Besides, we wanted to get out of the marina and I didn’t mind avoiding the $100 daily dockage fee.

There’s not a lot to look at here but we are surrounded by about a half dozen Dawg boats, also waiting for the wind. A number of their crew went diving today. Our dink is on deck so we have opted to just hang out aboard till we depart. Perhaps a happy hour aboard Pandora with others? We will see.

The view to shore isn’t much with a few beach bars and not a lot else.

Benign as the weather is this time of year, it is hard to imagine the immense power of a major hurricane if and when it hits the island. There is a wrecked fishing boat on the beach nearby as a testament to the power of waves.

Even more impressive is that this is just the stern, with the bow on the beach hundreds of yards away.

The bay where we are anchored is wide open to the ocean and the ruggedness of the commercial docks suggests that it does indeed get “sporty” from time to time.

And some of the homes built on the beach are equally robust like this “bunker” home.

Those who follow my blog know that I am always curious about particularly nice looking or unusual boats. I was struck by this yacht nearby. Pretty neat looking. Her name is Prometej, 157′ long built in 1957. She looks lovely and clearly is well maintained .

She is a true ocean voyager, capable of traveling 6,000 miles at 12kts. Interesting, she carries over 20,000 gallons to go that distance, what appears to be an hourly consumption rate of 1,000 gallons every 24 hours. How much does it cost to run a yacht like that “If you have to ask, you can’t afford it”…

Anyway, she’s a looker.

It seems that she was once an icebreaker converted to a yacht. This sales video suggests that she was recently purchased based on the slightly different paint job. What a beautiful yacht.

Can’t swing 1,000 gallons of fuel a day and your own mega yacht? Not to worry, for those of us that are more “fiscally constrained” there are always the smaller cruise ships like the lovely Vela anchored nearby.

Want to see more? Check out this short clip.

Still too expensive for your budget? There’s always this local boat, “Damit Janet V”. I wonder what happened to the first four? See, there’s something for everyone, even in this harbor.

So, here we are in the classic “hurry up and wait” but after the crazy few weeks I have had between dental and engine issues, I guess I needed a bit of time to decompress before the big run to Bermuda.

At this point, I am hoping for an easy run and that I get there in time to change crew in a non-stressful way.

And, that long six week separation from Brenda that I have groused about, well it’s down to less than a month. Let’s hope that her arrival in Horta on the 15th isn’t too long in advance of my arrival.

I miss her terribly…