Alone? Whatever gave you that idea!

I know it’s time to update this blog again when friends start messaging me to ask how things are going. So here’s a little update. Sailing-wise not much has happened: I’m still in Ponta Delgada, and I’ll be staying here for a few more weeks.

Gerard ended up leaving the boat fairly soon after all, because the forecast was really unfavourable for sailing to Terceira or Horta. Besides, by all accounts both were pretty full, so it wasn’t exactly tempting either.

Gerard left, but fellow Kustzeilers club members on Miesje arrived. I knew Joep a little from a club event. Paulien and Joep came in from the Caribbean with their crew Bernhard; they’d spent a year doing an Atlantic circuit. I got to know them well here! Convivial drinks and dinners out, but also a lovely meal aboard Miesje. As ocean sailors you always have something to talk about: going over the weather together, or gear, other people’s boats and of course your own boats. With Joep and Paulien we had the club to talk about as well.

Meanwhile I also got to know Kevin on Distant Horizon, moored behind me. An American of the quiet type: friendly, thoughtful and very modest. He sails a boat that’s more or less the opposite of Merrimac: 35 feet, an enormous bowsprit, a long keel and 15 tonnes. He’s sailing solo, and has had a broken prop shaft since Bermuda. He left Bermuda without an engine because it couldn’t be fixed there. Fortunately it could be here, so last week he was hauled out to have a small local firm make him a completely new prop shaft.

Miesje had barely left when Inspirit arrived with Klaas Jan Kroon and his crew Oscar. KJ’s girlfriend Jeanine and her friend Marike flew in a day later. This too got more and more sociable, ending up with coffee on Inspirit every single day. Because Inspirit was taking part in the AZores And Back (AZAB) race, the marina got packed, which was great fun, and there were all sorts of events where I, as an OCC member and honorary hanger-on of Inspirit’s crew, was welcome too.

And I almost forgot Jean and Fabienne of Colibri, whom I got to know better after a passing storm in which my shore power cable had pulled their power strip into the water. After a little lesson in electrical theory from Jean (he used to be a teacher) I figured I’d better bring them a bottle of wine. Once I got aboard it turned out I’d left the bottle of wine behind in the wine and cheese shop, so they got a nice Azorean cheese instead. The warmest people, and Jean came round quickly when he learned that I knew a thing or two about marine computer networks and was one of the founders of Signal K. Jean spoke very good English, but with Fabienne I really had to dust off my school French. Other than that I didn’t see much of them, because they were out almost every day by bus and e-bike. That resulted in a beautiful little film about São Miguel, see below.

https://youtu.be/AtW31ZLoLs8 (I’m not allowed to embed the video here on the site, you’ll have to go to YT.)

On Saturday I joined a few AZABbers, including Oscar, on a whale-watching trip. Out to sea in a RIB. We saw two fin whales. They’re a bit boring, since they don’t breach, but they do come up for air every 30-40 s, so they’re easy to follow. My photos and videos were only mediocre, so here’s one just for form’s sake. In real life it really was something special to see such a huge animal: one was 18 and the other about 20 metres, according to our guide.

Since we didn’t see any other animals, they fished a Portuguese man o’ war out of the water. It isn’t a jellyfish but a kind of symbiosis of four types of polyps, hundreds in total. Each type has its own function; one of them forms a sail that resembles the helmet of a Portuguese marine of old, hence the name.

Yesterday the whole AZAB fleet left, bar one. There turned out to be pent-up demand for berths, because today the marina is almost full again! That suited me fine, because after all the hustle and bustle I could do with a bit of peace and quiet. Besides, I still have some work to do on a new little job and on the open source projects. So a bit less socialising for now; only Kevin is left. His prop shaft has been fixed and the engine is running again, so he’s over the moon. We’re going out for dinner tomorrow, as a thank-you because I helped him with his forestay, his diesel engine and berthing.

I’ve also had loads of other people aboard, including Peter from the sailing yacht Henry. Peter and Wendy are very friendly too. Their Van de Stadt 47 is the same design as Oester 1. Nicely built, and with many of the same choices we made. Peter just popped by again to show Wendy the boat. Side boarding gate, Hoyt boom, lifeline rail, interior: all approved. Earlier this week I also had Jacco and Jannie of Maaike S. aboard; they’ve been travelling in their home/boat for well over a decade. I won’t go on about both their stories of the trouble they had having their aluminium yachts built. Let’s just say I’m glad that everything went without a hitch for us. I also regularly chat with Marcel, another Dutchman, who has even settled here. Everyone who drops by is amazed when I tell them we’ve been sailing around in this boat for 13 years; it all still looks very good. Next week I’ll have a go at fixing the little dent in the heads door!

There’s also a list of smaller jobs, like fitting a new reefing line, but given the schedule I’m in no hurry. Lovely. I am still fed up with the Kabola, though; even help from the engineer over the phone didn’t do the trick. It still won’t work. I’ll have another look; maybe we’re overlooking something obvious. This winter I’ll have to think about an alternative and/or backup solution. The Starlink is still working fine, although the speed has been poor these last few days, so I’ll see if I can work out what’s causing that… Of the people coming over from the Caribbean, at least half have one; it’s definitely catching on.

This week something remarkable happened too: a boat arrived being pushed to its berth by a harbour authority RIB. We pitched in to help, because aboard were four young men who didn’t have the faintest idea what they were doing. They really didn’t seem to understand anything at all. We all thought it was rather odd. Two days later I heard what the story was: the boat had been found adrift at sea, without any crew, by a research vessel a few miles off the coast. They had taken the boat in tow and brought it into the marina. That’s why they couldn’t sail: they were scientists. It turned out the boat had broken loose from her mooring in the Canary Islands three months ago, 800 miles from here. The owner was overjoyed when the harbourmaster here called to tell him that his boat was lying safely in the marina with hardly any damage!

Arnold arrives on 12 July, and then we’ll see where we go. The vague plan is to sail together to Ireland, England or France. The ladies can’t make it until August, you see, and then we’ll only have a few weeks. It’s funny: just a few years ago that would have taken up our entire holiday. Now I think it’s almost irresponsibly rushed!