Tuesday 11 August - 2

    I think the most vivid impression of New Bedford was the whaleboats
that people row around the harbor.  These are authentic rowing boats
from which the whales were harpooned. Each boat has a steersman and five
oarsmen. Five because the front oarsman is the harpooner, leaving a
balance of two oarsmen on each side while fighting the whale. (Sure
seems like there would be an easier way to make a living). Apparently
clubs own, and row the boats as a sport. I found them captivating and
beautiful.    When John and I were there we got to know a woman who was
on the crew of one of the whaleboats.  (And another thing I find
interesting is the number of boats that have all women crews.) She also
rowed on a gig, that has three oarsmen on each side, and rowed
competitive crew. She said that she goes to the whaleboat competition in
Horta.

    Back in the whaling days the center of US whaling was New Bedford.
The center for whaling in the Atlantic was the Azores, and the center
there was Horta. There is a photograph of more than 400 whaling ships in
the Horta harbour in 1876. There was a community of whaling that
consisted of all the whaling ships around the world, Horta, and New
Bedford. The two communities were almost  sisters. This association was
so strong that more than 100,000 Azorians moved to the US in the first
half of the 20th century, and another 15,000 moved from Faial to the US
in 1958 when a volcano destroyed part of the island. As a result of this
immigration there is quite a large Azorian community in the US. When Jay
and Judy were taking care of me before Adnaan joined me, Judy suggested
contacting the Azorian community in Boston to see if someone wanted to
go back for a visit. If the Frenchman rafted next to us asks where we
sailed from I say Boston. But if a local person asks I say New Bedford.

    One of the events of the Horta Sea Festival is the whaleboat races.
The woman in New Bedford said that the US whalers rowed out to the
whale, but the Azorian whalers sailed to the whale. So the competition
here has two catagories, sailing and rowing. I have tried to post
pictures of the whaleboats sailing, and some of them rowing.  We are
tied up to the breakwater, and during the races people were running past
us, keeping up with the boats and cheering on their favorite. We could
hear the cheering coming from the boats. The New Bedford woman said that
the US whalers rowed for long distances, still do, while the Azorians
sailed then sprinted a short distance. So for a long race the Americans
usually won but for a short race the Azorians usually won..
Break, mort to follow