Boating & Biking Adventures

Category: Bermuda Page 2 of 5

Bermuda to Azores – Logblog 5

While downloading the latest weather GRIB files I came across a German group talking on 14313kHz. I have made contact with this group before, some time back and reconnected to say hello.

Besides Gerhard/KR8R vom Eriesee/Ohio there were also Heinz/DL9DBC from Dortmund and Thomas/DL1MDS from Ammersee. Finally Susanne/N1QFE came in and said hello as well. Susanne is an extraordinary sailor of similar ranking like Kirstin Neuschäfer (GGR winner 2023) preparing for landfall in Horta shortly on her SY Nehaj. She is also a TransOcean e.V. member and enthusiastic HAM operator. After a very nice conversation we shall now meet in Horta to exchange some sailor’s yarn.
Susanne is almost there while we are running at 30kn TWS a heading close along the great circle with 1100nm to go.

It will get crowded soon in Peter Café Sport.

Fair winds…

Bermuda to Azores – Logblog 4

Our Etmal remains high over the last 4 days. It is close to 175nm. We will keep pushing and remain confident to win the Champagne Challenge 2023. Cross fingers.

Fair winds…

Bermuda to Azores – Logblog 3

There were some Breaking News coming in via Pactor Mail today from Uwe/DF5AM but read youself…

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….. Breaking News…..

Ein freundliches Halli Hallo an Alle!

Hier meldet sich der allseits bekannte “Flurfunkreporter” Uwe, der “Ahnungslose”! Und gleich zur Einordnung… der Knabe hat 2 Domiziele, eins in Lanzarote, das andere…man mag es gar nicht glauben, aber es ist in einer Gegend in Bayern, die eigentlich nicht dazu gehören möchte, glaubt man einigen “Sachverständigen”, es ist Franken, Lauf bei Nürnberg!

Schon mal was von Ocean Race, Minitransat, America’s Cup oder gar Vendée Globe gehört? Sicherlich, für eingefleischte Hochseeseglerenthusiasten keine Fremdwörter!

Aber, das ist alles “Nichts” gegen ein z.Zt. auf dem Atlantik ausgetragenen Rennen, der “Champagner Challange”. Man stelle sich vor, 2 Yachten, die wohl kaum unterschiedlicher sein können. Ein Katamaran der Marke Outremer 5x (Hexe), ausgerüstet mit allem “was des Segler’s Herz höher schlagen läßt”, einer gemischten Crew, Cornelia und Volker, gegen einen Einrumpfer, eine Hallberg-Rassy 43 MK I (Hullo Poro), ebenfalls gut für solche Races ausgerüstet, “bevölkert” mit einer Crew, bestehend aus 2 Männern, Bernd und Rainer.
Beide Crews mit Amateurfunkern, oh, korrekt wohl mehr 2 Amateurfunkern (Bernd, DL9BS, Rainer, DO6GO) und einer Amateurfunkerin Cornelia, DL3HEX kennen sich persönlich, die “Hexe” auf dem Weg aus der Karibik zu den Azoren, die “Hullo Poro” von Bermuda ebenfalls in Richtung Azoren unterwegs.

Begleitet werden diese herausragenden Segler (Cornelia, sorry, bin kein “Genderer”…) von einem “Hobbywetterexpertiesemeteorolügen” mit Namen Uwe, auch Amateurfunker, DD1HUR. Dieser, beheimatet in…. Bayern…! ergänzt die lokal von beiden Yachten eruierten Wetterprognosen mit denen von ihm Eruierten und in kompetent klingende Worte gefassten Prognosen :-).

Soweit, so gut! Wohl dank der Kommunikationsmöglichkeit des Amateurfunks wird nun dieses bedeutende, ja sicherlich in diesem Jahrzehnt ev. einmalige Race vereinbart! Wer als erster in Horta auf den Azoren ankommt, hat gewonnen und der Verlierer muss den Champager bezahlen, der dann gemeinsam genossen wird! Man kann sich als Nichtsegler kaum vorstellen, welch eine Schmach dies sein kann 🙂

Aber, wie ist der Stand des Rennens? Nun, der geneigte Beobachter “Uwe, der Ahnungslose” kann nur im Moment berichten, es sind noch einige Seemeilen zu segeln, das Wetter scheint sich täglich zu ändern, gereicht ev. mehr der einen oder anderen Yacht zum Vorteil, somit ist und bleibt es hochspannend!

Wird der Wettergott gnädig sein und beiden Yachten passendes Segelwetter bescheren? Nutzten die Crews alle Tricks und Kniffe, denen sie habhaft werden können, um das Ziel so schnell als möglich zu erreichen? -> Man darf annehmen…JA! Werden die täglichen Berichte, die ausgetauscht werden, immer der “Wahrheit” entsprechen? -> Ein entschiedenes JA!!

So vielleicht zum Schluß dieser “Breaking News” eine Eigenerfahrung von “Uwe, dem Ahnungslosen”… Der Segler ansich…ist fair!
Wir bleiben dran und berichten weiter, wenn von den Crews gewünscht!!

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Uwe is a long time supporter and friend within the Intermar e.V. & HAM community.

Indeed, SY Hexe and SY Hullu Poro, both members of the TransOcean e.V. and Intermar e.V. associations ended up in an ongoing friendly race towards Horta/Azores.

Skipper Volker on SY Hexe and Sailmaster Rainer on SY Hullu Poro are both ambitious regatta sailors. The race is ongoing and I am sure we will get the chance to agree on the regulatory aspects in this David versus Goliath set-up at Peter’s Cafe in Horta, the unmatched sailor’s melting point in the world. Good fun.

Stay tuned.

Fair winds…

Bermuda to Azores – Logblog 2

Time is getting deluted on these passages and after some 48 hours I do not even know how many days/nights we are out on the ocean. Funny, but what does it matter?!? The routine takes over quickly including some hours with headache and getting used to the boat’s movements again. Once the cooking picks up independent from the sea state, you are there! Body and mind have fully integrated into the chosen environment and have become part of the moving system. You don’t consider the three dimensions of physical movement as something unnormal anymore. You are part of it. The up and down, forward and backward or left and right shifts – in general it is a combination – has just become the new normal and you live with it and in it.

Our routing strategy so far worked fine but we also learned, that weather charts in this part of the world have a meteorological half-life period of 12 hours. The dynamics of the low pressure systems being produced off the American costline is incredible. Their movements are fast, much faster than our lady, which makes it mandatory to check regularly. These systems also decide arbitrarily where to go next, NE, E or SE, the latter one being our biggest threat. If they move too far SE, we are in trouble.

Glad we have our weather team from Intermar e.V. around the two Uwes, callsign DD1HUR & DF5AM sitting in Germany and Lanzarote and Sutje Jan, callsign DFPX2, keeping an eye on the situation currently anchored in Tabago Cays/Antilles. It feels good big brothers watching and advising you to ensure we are not getting into a fight with one of the depressions.

Besides the weather subject we became part of a regatta, the Champagne Challenge, which was not planned but announced by Cornelia from SY Hexe. A complex subject, which will be addressed in a separate logblog entry shortly.

Today’s full moon night is fantastic and I am gratefull that the gusts expected for tonight have not turned up yet giving the moon precedence and us another great scenery at sea, Nevertheless, I am sure the depression is laying its cards and will entertain us sooner or later with some positive natural spectacle. We are prepared.

Fair winds…

Bermuda to Azores – Logblog 1

We left one hour early after check out at the Immigration & Customs Office in St. George.

Before we passed through the Town Cut to get back on to the ocean, we paid a visit to superyacht Visione, which has anchored in the bay and which we saw earlier in Hamilton, a remarkable yacht under German flag. Very impressive to look at, whatever the running cost might be.

Sails got lifted, a final glimpse back West before our attention turned completely East.

Around six o’clock I started to prepare dinner. Eight o’clock I did talk to Cornelia and Jan on the Marine Radio and shortly after that I felt asleep. As per our routine, Rainer took the watch until midnight and claimed to be fit. What a luxury!

We are now sailing through the first night with good visibility under clear skies and strong moon.

All good, we are back into our routine.

Fair winds…

☝️…proposed routing…⛵️

Our final sunrise at St. George has come and departure planning is in its final stage. We are planning to cast the lines at 3pm ADT this afternoon. Although I could easily stay another month here in Bermuda but the time is due for another serious and hopefully pleasant ocean crosssing  heading ”home”.

We will run a short detour (lower line above) rather than going on the rhumb line (upper line above) shortest distance to Azores. This shall ensure smooth sailing and keeping the low pressure systems at a safe distance.

Nevertheless we will need to keep the low pressure systems under constant observations as some of them might turn to far SE resulting literally in turbolences and getting too close to our pathway.

I am now looking forward to another enjoyable passage.

Fair winds…

…waiting position…

Today we are getting one of the typical low pressure system’s weather disturbances, which will keep us on our toes going forward, or better while heading back to higher latitudes soon.

Rainy, miserable, gusty, choppy. After 9 hours it will be over. Tomorrow the sun will be back until the next low pressures system gets thrown off the US coast and fights its way through towards NE, E or SE against any high pressure system under development further South. The changes are fast and the winner of the two systems not always clear for quite some time. 

No yacht left today and we are all in waiting position. A good day to relax, get some bread and cake baking done. Next to us is gaff cutter “Aurora von Altona”, build in 1934, homeport Museumshafen Flensburg. Small world!

Fair winds…

🚴‍♂️…Hamilton again…

My probably 🚴‍♂️ final ride on this fantastic island took me again to Hamilton today. There were three items on the list, from Bike Shop via outstanding fridge bill-payment to Bermuda shorts. No way I could leave Bermuda without getting the #1 garment known all over the world.

After a short video consultation with Susan, I bought two Bermuda shorts and proudly but slightly irritated left T△BS with another hole burned into my wallet. These shorts need to last for the rest of my life!

Back in the saddle for the return to St. George, I enjoyed more miles on the road going through some posh areas with impressive properties always close to the sea.

Although there are limited miles to clock on the bike here in Bermuda, the owner of the bike-shop put it right: In Bermuda, we can bike 12 month in pleasant climate!

Fair winds…

…Superyachts & Boatwork…

SY Aquarius from Georgetown arrived and Rainer becomes tiny in relation to the size of this superyacht. Amazing toy in perfect conditions, simply an eye candy to look at the overall lines and the attention to detail. Fine craftwork!

We got two Caribbean Reef Squids hanging around at our boat recently. They come close to the dinghy at our stern looking at us with their large dark eyes.

It fits with the name of the superyacht Aquarius. They are 20 to 30cm long. Great to look at their movement. There are also some fish, who did bite us today during our underwater works, cleaning the propeller and replacing the anodes on the bow thruster. Two more boxes ticked.

Grocery shopping is a hard one but we make small progress.

Fair winds…

🚴‍♂️…St. George’s vicinity…

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