Atlantic Crossing Part 3: Azores to Lisbon
After six days at sea, I’m happy to report that captain and crew have completed the crossing and arrived safe and sound in Portugal!! Prior to leaving Ponta Delgada, Pallavi Sekhri departed which let me with a crew of four (Angelika, Peter, Sarah and Evelina) for the final 895 mile passage to Cascais, a beautiful little coastal town outside Lisbon. I’d like to say it was an uneventful passage, but it turned out to be quite challenging. If I’ve learned one thing during my previous sailing adventures, it’s to remain focused on the end goal of reaching our destinatio safely. To maximize the probability of a successful outcome, it’s important to antcipate what could possibly go wrong and then respond quickly, if and when it does happen.
As we left Ponta Delgada, we had a nice 15 knot wind at our back and decided to pole out the jib. After a few hours of a blissful following sea, the whisker pole (over Sarah’s head - see below) bent in two like it was made of rubber. While inconvenient, it certainly wasn’t anything serious. Fortunately, we had steady winds for the next few days and, as the wind dialed to the north, it turned out that we didn’t even need the whisker pole. After two days of good sailing conditions, we were becalmed and had to motor for the next two days.
On day five, and with mainland Portugal within 100 miles, the spirit on the boat began to rise along with a northerly wind which piped up to 20 knots and put us on a beautiful beam reach for our final sleigh ride into Lisbon….but that’s not what happened! First, Peter, announced in a matter-of-fact way that we might have a problem – the upper shroud that is attached below the top spreader gave way and was flopping around. The shrouds are the wires that hold the mast up and this was potentially a very serious problem. Thankfully, the crew acted quickly and we were able to secure the mast with additional lines and backstays. Once we got beyond this heart-racing excitement, we resigned ourselves to motor the final 50 miles. However, in the middle of the night, air got into the fuel which stopped the engine cold. I awoke Peter and, after changing a filter and bleeding the engine, she sparked back to life and we were off. Not surprisingly, Peter was back fast asleep within 5 minutes of this engine repair, as if nothing happened!
As dawn approached on our final day just outside of Lisbon, Evelina and I were on watch as we crossed the international shipping lane. This is a task that requires some attention, but is usually not too difficult. However, in the span of about two hours, we had over 15 freighters/tankers cross our bow and stern. Thankfully our AIS system which calculates speed, direction, etc. worked flawlessly as we weaved our way around these behemoths.
I’ve decided to keep Midnight Voyageur in Cascais, Portugal (10 miles from Lisbon) until next spring when we will set sail for Ireland. Thanks to all of my amazing crew (Megan Monroe, MaQ Christopherson, Pallavi Sekhri, Sarah Miller, and Evelina Smirnitskaya); I could not have done this without you!! A very special thank you to Peter Morin, my steady first mate, who was immensely helpful throughout the many highs and lows that we experienced as we journeyed 3000 miles across the AtlanPc. Most of all, a huge thank you to my very understanding and loving wife, Angelika. Cheers to all and thanks again for all the good wishes!
Until next spring,
Mike
