Halfway Across the Atlantic Ocean

In route to the Azores

Last night we crossed the mid point in our passage from the US East Coast to Europe. We were roughly 2,000 miles from both. Fortunately, our next stop, a small group of Portuguese islands called the Azores, is less than 750 miles away.

While the first few days of the passage brought great weather, the situation changed and we found ourselves in calms with wind on the nose for the next few days. Our distances went from almost 200 NM per day to 55 NM. During this time, we saw a lot of sea life with pods of dolphin swimming along with us every day and an occasional visit by whales. We had a pod of three whales approach Berkeley East and surface less than 50 feet from us and another whale that was longer than we are surfaced nearby. There have also been sightings of turtles, but unfortunately no fish.

Riding out the Storms

We have positioned Berkeley East between the Atlantic high, an area of calm weather to our south, and a series of low pressure systems, storms to our north. We chose a position slightly north, closer to the stronger winds to move Berkeley East’s heavy displacement along at a reasonable speed.

The first low pressure system passed north of us overnight and in the past 24 hours we have seen sustained winds of 30 – 50 mph (25 – 40 knots) with gust over 55 mph (46 knots). The seas have increased from almost flat to more than 14 feet. We have shortened sail substantially and are sailing conservatively trying to avoid breaking the boat. Our current course is due east, surfing down the back of the waves. With just a scrap of sail out, we are averaging 8 knots and saw over 16 knots last night, an all time record for Berkeley East.

It appears that we will not have a break between storms, as the next low pressure is already influencing our weather. This system is followed by a third system that should arrive Saturday, so it looks like strong winds for the next few days.

Despite the weather, Berkeley East and crew are doing great. Only one notable breakage, a pulley inside the whisker pole that took the team over five hours to fix. Everyone is in good spirits and enjoying the passage.

We are now hearing people say things like:

“45 knot gusts don’t even worry me anymore”

“Let’s put more sail out the wind is under 30 knots”

Clearly we are all a little loopy and are looking forward to our arrival in Horta, hopefully on Sunday.

Previous Comment

28 May 2010 – Leonard

No fish my ass. A whale is a fish. Catch one and eat hearty my friends.