Hello Again,
By request, here’s some photos of the return trip Bermuda to the Azores to the UK, enjoy! I think this will be my last post, so thanks for looking, it’s been fun to write. And, to quote myself a year ago:
By request, here’s some photos of the return trip Bermuda to the Azores to the UK, enjoy! I think this will be my last post, so thanks for looking, it’s been fun to write. And, to quote myself a year ago:
“THANK YOU to absolutely everyone (in the whole wide world, so it feels) for encouraging me, supporting me, letting me sleep on your couches/beds/beaches/bunks/boats, feeding me, giving me boat rides, car rides, piggy backs, bike rides, kayak rides, for arguing with me, for teaching me songs, knitting, weaving, sailing, new languages, for sailing, hiking, chatting with me, for drumming, singing, dancing, playing, reciting poetry, cooking, eating and washing up with me, for sitting in rivers with me, de-niting me, snorkelling with me, digging, weeding, planting, painting with me, and sending me nice emails. I definately could not have made it here, by sail, without you.“
Charlotaknots Over and Out xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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- Granny clambered aboard, with the agility of a 20 yr old, to say goodbye & give the boat a once over with her discerning eye.
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- 18th May – the morning we finally set off, i went for a final sunrise swim in Bermuda waters and took this photo on the way back – you can see Knightime, just, if you look just to the right of the centre – there’s two sterns of boats tucked into the harbour- she’s on the left. Couldn’t have asked for a prettier port to set off from!
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- The Knightriders posing
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- Motoring out of the harbour
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- Motoring through ‘The Cut’, where i had entered Bermuda one year ago
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- It’s a beautiful moment, every time, when the sails are billowing, the rumbling engine goes off, the sound is tranquil, the waves slosh past and you realise your whizzing along by the power of the wind!
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- Bermuda disappears below the horizon after just a few hours sailing
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- After a few days Mogul trys out the Mid-Atlantic bucket shower
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- And so did i… but little did i know this would be my last.
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- Something was up with the little string that tensions the leech (edge of the sail), Martin and Quentin to the rescue.
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- We all loved our cute little visitor, who flew down in to the saloon, and stayed the night. Perhaps a swallow blown off course from Africa to Europe?
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- Port tack (boat stays tipped over to the right) was my favourite when at the helm as you could snuggle down on to the big yellow cushion (otherwise known as a life ring).
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- Ship ahoy! Ahoy! Oh the excitement. This Trans-At route was positively busy compared to the East-West journey, we saw ships every few days, sometimes beauties like this.
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- Mogul chuckles as he blogs the excitements of the day (eg.what we had for dinner) were sent via the satellite phone to our website, once a day.
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- Starboard tack, not so comfy, you keep sliding, or hurtling, down to the otherside of the boat. (In case the Skipper’s reading – i’m just PRETENDING to steer, Knightime’s of course in the more trusted hands of the Autopilot.)
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- Beer & Martin enjoy night watch. It can be glorious – full moon, shooting stars, glowing phosphoresence. Or it can be utter misery – sitting sopping wet, freezing cold, bored stiff for 4 hours.
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- I slept on the right, on starboard tack wedged against the wall, port tack snuggled in the lee cloth like a hammock.
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- ‘Attack of the Giant Squid’ as composed by Beer. This poor squid found itself thrown on deck by a wave.
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- Dinner time – time to catch a glimpse of the elusive skipper, Hoff!
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- Highlight of this nightwatch: One wave came crashing over Beer at such a force that his life jacket inflated itself!
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- Before the Azores we saw these cute baby Portuguese Man-o-War’s bobbing passed us regularly. Wierd animals:
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- Me busy passing the time of day.
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- Plotting our coordinates on the chart every day, watching ourselves cross the ocean.
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- Employing my rope coiling skills, under Martin’s watch.
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- I love it when we goose wing it (or wing on wing) – sails out either side, the wind blowing us from behind, though tis a bit rocky.
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- We were all pretty damn happy to reach the Azores – after a week of wet, wet and more wet. Every item of clothing i had was wet through, plus my body and soul.
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- Arriving at 6am, it was misty and quiet, other boats were following us in, all of us a bit ravaged by the same stormy seas. We discovered one of them had sunk that night, but the crew rescued. Terrifying!! And had to say goodbye to these 2 lovely watchmates, they flew home.
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- Uncharacteristically, i headed straight for the ‘lavandaria’ and showers. It was really fun! Full of sodden sailors telling their tales of the Atlantic whilst waiting for washing, in 10 different languages.
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- The cool view from the laundrette. The tradition in Horta is for every boat that passes through to paint something on the pontoons, multi-national messages, flags, pictures…
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- The churches have really elaborate facades – but a sneaky view from behind reveals it’s all just a facade, ha ha!
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- Every pavement in the town has a different pretty pattern. Just like i saw in Lisbon on my way East-West. (Plus a bike, yey!)
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- These great little Horta boys sold me a shot of mysterious home made liqueur, made from an ‘indígena’ plant… Que é delicioso!
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- Yum yum again – local fava beans and holy day special – sweet bread.
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- It’s was more dark, dramatic and stormy than this, but you can still picture us here sailing in from the great ocean to the safety of Horta port.
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- Horta is a traditional and popular stop off point for Trans-Atlantic sailors, and everyone stops by this friendly bar leaving a flag or a message for a long lost sailor friend, on the walls.
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- Traditional Azorean, wooden sailing boats
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- Folding away our Portuguese courtesy flag – yachty etiquette is to fly the flag of the host country when you enter.
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- Pretty Horta
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- The peak of the island of Pico, opposite Faial, appears out of the clouds after a few days, like a floating island. (We left the Azores munching on some tasty, smokey flat bread from there too!)
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- WoooooW Woweee! As the Azores faded away, a pod of beautiful, sleek, grey whales followed us for a few breathtaking minutes! (Over the month we also saw some pilot whales, dolphins, turtles bobbing by and loads of humbacks breaching in the distance!!!)
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- Then it all got a bit miserable and wet again – we headed straight into the waves, the autopiolt couldn’t hold, so Hoff & the guys helmed 24 hrs a day, and i became ship’s cook.
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- Cookers on kimbles are brilliant – you can make pancakes even at 45 degree angle!
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- This about sums up the misery of a 4 hour shift in the cold and wet.
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- Snuggling down below inbetween wet shifts.
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- I’ll restrict myself to ONE sunset photo. The sun orientates your world at sea (well, perhaps the compass does too!).
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- The kimble in action! So clever!
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- My final sunrise at sea – i excitedly stayed up all night – we could see the South coast lights, NEARLY THERE!!!
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- Ships everywhere! Navigating the busy English channel is a bit nerveracking after a month of very sparse ocean traffic.
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- Mobile signal! oooo text messages!
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- And then the wind stopped.
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- Gliding past us…
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- The lush green fields of England!!Everything looks so vividly green when you’ve seen nothing but grey for weeks.
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- Hauling in the mainsail for the last time, ahh.
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- We enter pretty, pretty Dartmouth Harbour. I’m home, yeeeeeaaaahhhh!!
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Beverley and Bruce 'on the Greet hill' said,
August 19, 2010 @ 5:18 pm
Wonderful photo’s Charlotte and so glad you are home safe and sound. Enjoyed ‘sharing’ this voyage with you!
Bev & Bruce
Designer Bagman said,
December 18, 2011 @ 6:31 pm
Sounds like that was an amazing trip. I loved the pictures of the whales. The thought of cooking the pancakes on 45degree angle must make for a challenging cook. Sound like one of my Harley trips except overseas. I am envious. I have sailing on my bucket list and my wife loves the sailcoth handbags.