Atlantic Passage Bermuda to Plymouth – Week 1

So it’s bye bye Bermuda. We are setting off in a beautiful sunshine; the weather forecast is set to be favourable for the first 2 days, with wind on the beam at a reasonable speed. The wind will be dropping at the weekend though, so flapping sails are expected.

But before we go we need to pick up the meat which has been frozen for us at the shop, check out and fill up the fuel tanks. The customs are busy this morning; the boats doing the ARC back to Europe are arriving thick and fast.  We take a last look at the island in the sun, the last time we will see land in 3 weeks if everything goes to plan. A little oversight, the rudder for the wind steering has not been fitted in our eagerness to depart, so we have some acrobatics at the back to put it in place.

We soon settle down to our little routine. We are doing watches of 3 hours, I am doubling up with Lynn... should ensure that the boredom does not set in. The first 2 days are filled with a lot of sleep, at odd hours, until we find our rhythm. The nights are really dark, no moon but plenty of stars to see. On our first night, we are followed by a sailing vessel which is not on the AIS. His course is a bit close to ours, and as he is going much faster than us, we decide to change our course to give him a wide berth, as he is not responding to our VHF call. Of course the wind plays up and the rain starts at the crucial moment so it’s all hands on deck until Skip decide that we’ll just motor out of the way. We carry on under engine for the rest of the night, the wind has truly died. It does come back with a vengeance and for 24 hours it is a bit bumpy. Lynn is holding up very well considering she is not feeling so well. Still we are eating well, much to the delight of the boys.

The seas are being very kind and we are making good progress, with relatively little wind. Once we have the wings up, poled out (a bit of a faff to set up!), we are really flying with peaks up to 8 and 9 knots. Off course as soon as the sun rises, the pretty sail comes out. Ian is at the front for the first few times we have it up and then I get to have a go with Skip. Brilliant, it feels really good to be at the front again. The days are soon filling up, the genoa needs repair, fruits and vegs needs to be checked, yogurt and meals need to be prepared, sails need to be put up, put down, changed. We still find the time to have showers, hot ones for the lucky, books are read, crosswords and suduko puzzles are pondered over. The temperature is going down fast and by the 2^nd night, boots and oily bottoms are out. In my spare time, I count Portugues Man of War, they are everywhere, drifting all around us. Love watching them fall off the waves, their pink trimmed sail like body wobbling back upright!

The other highlight is watching the dolphins; we had 3 sighting in the first week. No matter how many times you see them it is always a pleasure! They came and played in our bow waves yesterday, I was out at the front like a shot. What a delight!