Back on the High Seas

Left Horta 2 p.m. on Wed, August 4 after errands and fueling up. What a nice place to visit! And to visit there during their annual Sea Week was a blast. Beers on the street were $1.25 and we ate outside almost every night at local restaurants which set up satellite kitchens and tables right out on the quay.


We motored for about seven hours to get clear of the channels and islands and into favorable winds, then set the sails and headed northeast. We expect to head more easterly after a day or so and then catch the Portuguese trade winds which blow from north to south from the Bay of Biscay down towards Morocco. These should carry us nicely to coastal Portugal. Our first choice as port of call is Nazare, a smaller fishing village north of Lisbon. We will stay there a few days and then move south.


We have a couple things to repair and replace on the boat, including the "zinc" that fits on to the motor and exists only to be eaten away by electrolysis - so other metal parts on the boat won't get eaten. On Pat's dive to clear the lines from the prop he noticed an alarming rate of zinc decay so it is time for a new one. We will have the boat lifted up on a sling so we can work on the underwater part of the motor. Don't worry, we'll post photos.

We just put our fishing pole out today and we'll see what, if anything, we catch. We have lots of other food just in case. We'll try to do another update in a few days. We are 740 nautical miles from Nazare as I write this so we are a good six days away, more if we don't have good winds. We all re-adapted to sea life easily and we can report no cases of first-day-out queasiness.


Speaking of repairs, ever wonder what happens when something breaks out on the ocean? Well, if you are on Remedios, you fix it! Sailboats are high stress environments, and we don't mean crew-wise. Sailboats are designed to withstand all reasonable events and stresses but two things can happen. Items can simply wear out or weaken and then they need to be replaced. The other is that items can be stressed beyond their design point and then they fail. Here is a visit to the Remedios Hardware Store where we keep our spares. Not shown are the other drill, the battery drill, the complete tool kit, the tape and adhesive kit, the electrical kit (which Rob says is better set up than the one in the printing plant where he works), the plumbing kit, and of course the ultimate tool kit - the Ditch Bag and life raft...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5ct1M96nHM

Posted by Peggy, on behalf of Pat, Rob and Tom, aboard Remedios, Atlantic Ocean