Some sails are easy, and some sails are hard. The sail from Lajes, Flores to Horta, Faial was a hard �hold on� sail with lots of �rocking and rolling� due to sloppy seas caused from opposing wind and current. During this sail we had winds NNE to NE 15-20 knots, seas 4-6 feet, and a countercurrent of � to 1� knots. Sailing hard to windward, we took quite a bit of water over the boat at times. We had to tack several times around the southern end of Faial. Then, in the channel between the islands of Faial and Pico, we had to tack several more times before reaching the Horta harbor entrance due to a 2 knot countercurrent setting against us.
Once inside the Horta breakwaters, we were amazed to see all the boats in the marina (about 200) with so many different countries� flags flying. The sail from Lajes, Flores to Horta, Faial had taken us 27 hours. As the marina and immigration offices were closed until morning, we came alongside the main wharf for the night squeezing in-between two larger boats. With our arrival on Sunday, July 4, we immediately set our clocks ahead 3 hours to Azores Daylight Savings Time. Relaxing in the cockpit that evening, many different languages could be heard. As we were both very tired, we looked forward to our first �continuous� night�s sleep in 16 days. On Monday after checking-in, we moved the boat into the marina and rafted outside two other boats along the inner breakwater. |
