Waiting for Wind to Go to Graciosa
Waiting in Horta
 |
| Meredith on the Kilroy Covered Wall at Horta, Pico in the Background |
 |
| Meredith amidst the Kilroys Holds Up Canada's End |
First is the absence of American boats. There is one. Two Hundred and some odd vessels here in Horta and one American. We have met twenty or more Canadian boats in our time here.
Second is the heavy duty construction of the boats moored here.
Europeans sailing to the Azores to enjoy a bit of vacation must traverse 1,000 miles of open ocean or more, far more for the Germans. Boats are ruggedly built and use no nonsense design. Totally absent are the the light weight conveniences so prevalent back home: furling mains, power winches, light weight davits. If davits cannot be welded to a steel hull they are not installed and even then the steel boats carry their dinghies on deck not on davits.
 |
| Ti Gitu is Junk Rigged, junk decked and all manual. Built and sailed by Paul and Mo a couple in their mid 60s whom we first met in Bermuda. |
 |
| Ti Gitu in Profile - Interesting Boat |
Sailing families, some with two or three children, carry everything with them and most decks are fully allocated and well used.
 |
| Laundry Day on Waterhobo |
 |
| Passat sailed from the Caribbean this year by Esmond and Joan, in their 70s |
We with our steel hulled Land Rover-like pilothouse will fit in well, particularly with those fisherman's orange "teardrop" fenders I favour.
ReplyDeleteI keep hearing North Americans insist that their beloved, bedavited, all mod cons Catalina 400 or Bendytoy or Tartan or Hunter is "strong enough" to cross oceans.
Maybe. Maybe not. All I know is that the boats I see coming FROM Europe look much as you've described and nothing at all like the dock queens I step aboard at the boat show, too many of which feature wimpy winches, un-backed deck gear, low lifelines and super wide, handhold-deficient saloons.
I haven't even got to the part where the crew is exhausted due to the pounding of the "go fast" flat hull sections.