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.