Bermuda Azores Passage
A few days ago we completed our passage from Bermuda to the Azores. We departed from Saint George the afternoon of July 1st and arrived at Lajes on Ilha das Flores 10 days later. To be more precise it took us 9 days and 18 hours to cover 1,690 NM for an average speed of 7.2 knots. This was made possible by superb conditions. We sailed mostly on a starboard tack with wind speeds in the 10-20 knot range. The wind came down significantly only on two days during which we motored or motor-sailed.
(Departing Saint George, Bermuda)
We had many wonderful and also fun moments along the way. Gorgeous sunsets and sunrises almost every day. Three nights with no/a new moon letting the stars really shine with a clearly visible milky way. An exquisite experience during those days was looking down at the water rushing by the boat and seeing a photoluminescent plankton rush by like stars below and then gazing up at the stars above. The one time we were becalmed we took a moment out to go swimming in the ocean before going back to motoring. It allowed us to cool off and also inspect the bottom of the boat. And it was a heck of a lot of fun!
Thanks to Peter's cooking we got to enjoy some delicious food along the way. Breakfast highlights include pancakes and French toast. Lunch and dinner big hits were pasta Bolognese, ravioli, steak fajitas, and fried dumplings. We were fortunate to have both a working fridge and a freezer on board. We even wound up eating ice cream sandwiches for dessert!
Somewhat surprisingly we saw fairly little marine life. We saw a fair number of flying fish and had two brief dolphin visits. What we saw most were Portuguese Man of War (look them up they are fascinating). We did have lines out and at one point hooked a massive Marlin who jumped out of the water twice before quickly breaking our line.
Frolic was wonderfully behaved. We sailed with many different sail configurations, ranging from jib/main only to bringing out the A2 spinnaker. The beauty of a J44 is that it can go fast in relatively light air and still be easy to handle in 20 knots sustained with rougher seas.
(Flying our smaller spinnaker, drone shot by HL)
A big thanks to all the supporters back home who helped make this passage possible, including Cathy DeVore and Susan "Gigi" Danziger. Thanks also to the many people who helped get Frolic ready, including Kurt Weisenfluh, Bam Miller, and the team at McMichael.
