Hejira - A change of plan

I now know that it is not only the English that have a pre-occupation with the weather as it has been the primary subject under discussion among the whole ARC fleet, irrespective of nationality.We have been told that the Horta departure is delayed by 24 hours because of another gale and the rally will now miss out Terceira and head straight for Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel. This is not only because the itinerary has events which cannot be moved but also because the storm has damaged some of the pontoons in Angra do Heroismo and they cannot now accommodate the whole fleet. Unfortunately this decision means that our ways will now part.As we are heading back to the UK, our destination lies to the north and attractive though the other islands might be, we see little merit in tracking south to. read more...

Hejira - Rafting

Being rafted three out has its drawbacks especially when you have used a dozen lines to secure the yacht in the big winds. So we really didn’t want to hear that the Finnish yacht inside of us wanted to leave. In the event, slipping and ‘standing off’ while the Fins extricated themselves was fairly painless and so we are now only the second yacht from the dock with a Dutch yacht outside of us.We busied ourselves with jobs while Ollie went off to buy some paint and he has now laid the foundation for our artistic contribution which will modestly nestle between two recent additions on the main wall. The ARC organised social function last night enabled us to catch up with the crew from ‘Slipper 1’ who arrived about 30 hours after us and caught the full brunt of the storm while still well. read more...

Hejira - Something for the Weekend Sir?

My mission was to visit the chandlers, get a haircut and a loaf of bread. In the event, people were queuing out of the door of the chandlers so it was off to find a barber. Obtaining a haircut while cruising has been a mixed bag of experiences. At the zenith of these experiences was a haircut in the Railway Station concourse in Inverness where the hairdresser was very attractive, exceedingly and revealingly well-endowed and seem to delight in thrusting her assets into me while ministering to my hair. The experience here in Horta was the opposite end of the spectrum with an exceedingly portly hairdresser who had to lean over her ‘portliness’ to reach my head and what was in between made unwelcome contact with me. Having said that it was a very good haircut and the cut, beard removal and. read more...

Hejira - Hot Rocks

Our first glimpses of Faial were through a heavy mist and it was remarkable in its greenness. The islands are undoubtedly volcanic and the isthmus we had to round before heading up to Horta was clearly originally the rim of a volcano. The small fields were bordered by hedges and the whole impression was one of ‘time gone by’. Our timing into the harbour was inspired as the customs/fuel dock was clear and we moored alongside to do the necessary formalities – or rather we tried to do them. Our arrival at 11.45 was unfortunately just as the port office, customs and immigration offices closed for lunch but this gave us time to take on fuel and water. We have almost come to expect a lack of ‘joined up thinking’ when encountering bureaucracy and perversely, although the port office and. read more...

Hejira - Cetaceans

As we close in on the Azores, yachts crossing the Atlantic funnel towards the island of Faial and the harbour at Horta. It has become one of the four busiest yacht transit harbours in the world. Zooming out on the plotter I can see 13 vessels within AIS range homing in on the refuge and clearing in and berthing promises to be a challenge. Hopefully the ARC organisation will help smooth the process.The warnings of a storm seem to have moderated to advice about a gale but we still press on to achieve a midday arrival, hopefully after the backlog of overnight arrivals have been processed. AWOL continues in our wake, keen to steer to our lights as their auto pilot is on the blink again. We have replenished their diesel stock by a further 60 litres, floated down to them in three cans and they. read more...