Tuesday 11 August - 3

There is a store here called  Mid-Atlantic Yacht Service. I thought
that it was odd because I think of the term "Mid-Atlantic" as having to
do with the mid-Atlantic states, maybe Delaware. No. Here it means "in
the middle of the Atlantic". Almost any boat that sails from Europe to
America goes right by the Azores, and most stop. Almost the same is true
for sailing from America back to Europe. This is not so much a
destination as it is a stopping place. The book says that from 1986
(when Normandie and I started boating together) until 2009, the boats
stopping in Horta numbered 25,826. Over the years seawalls have been
built to protect the harbour from the ocean swells, and over the years
every one of those 25,826 boats painted their personal sign on that
breakwater. It is amazing what art can be displayed on a concrete
surface.

    We are tied up on the inside of that breakwater. Most of the boats
here tied against the wall have a second, sometimes a third boat rafted
alongside.  Please go to Google Earth, Lat 38*-32'N, Long 028*-37'W.
Zoom in and you can see the breakwater with boats tied alongside. Notice
two or sometimes three boats side-by-side. Then notice that there is one
boat with no other boat along side. That is exactly where we are . Now
please look at some of the pictures other people have posted on Google
Earth. Another thing to do is Google:  Horta images

    Ahead of us is a Swiss boat, beside him is a French boat. Behind us
is a French boat, beside him is a British boat. And after four days with
no one alongside us, now we have a French boat rafted beside us. Most of
the boats here are French, and we are the only US boat. This is a very
accomplished group of sailors. The thing to do here is to "dress ship"
with the courtesy flags from the countries you have visited. It is a way
to display where you have been. I think about half the boats have
Australia and South Africa flags. I am privileged to be able to
associate with these folks. Of course there are sundowners, and groups
going to town for dinner. But there are really not very many visiting
boats here, maybe 12 or 15. It is time to either be going north, or
south. Either way this part of the ocean gets stormy in September.
    Like today. We were planning to leave today, but the day dawned with
30-35 knot wind and spitting showers. I keep expecting it to calm down,
but it is 13:00 and right now 25 gusting to 35. Really impressive. It
only occationally goes higher than 35 knots, but I did see one gust
about five seconds long that was 48 knots. We have all doubled the
mooring lines and are secure, but it is nerve wracking to have the boat
straining and surging, and the wind howling in the rigging.
    But settle down it will, and we plan to sail tomorrow, Wednesday. We
will sail for one day and check the weather. If good we keep going. If
bad we will stop in San Miguel, the south-eastern most island in the
Azores. The next stop is Madeira, 500 nm from San Miguel. Three hundred
miles after Madeira is the Canaries. So when we depart Faial we may be
at sea one day, or as much as maybe ten days. But we have options along
the way to stop if we want to.
    This wind is really howling37 knots right now.  I hope we do not run
into a system like this on the open ocean. If we do we will have to
Reef Early
Bill Doar
s/v Advent II