All in Blue Clipper

At sea - Week 2

At sea - Week 2

Gerald FitzGerald
Atlantic crossing, Blue Clipper, Photography, Portugal, Sailing, Travel

Week 2 was considerably easier than week 1. During the first week we had reduced sail as the winds increased, removing the top sails, taking down the outer jib which was putting an immense strain on the masts and rigging and reefing the main and fore sails. Even so we were sometimes making 8-9 knots and in the first 4 days we covered 650 nautical miles. Had the winds continued and had they been pushing us in the right direction we could have made the crossing in 12 days instead of the 18 days that it eventually took.

After our first week of sailing the winds dropped significantly over the course of one night…

At sea - Week 1

At sea - Week 1

Gerald FitzGerald
Atlantic crossing, Blue Clipper, Sailing, Travel

When last heard from, we were just on the point of leaving Bermuda’s St George’s Harbour at 15:30 on Tuesday April 16, with pilot aboard and followed by the pilot boat. Pilot escorted us from our dockside mooring to the opening of the narrow passage that opens out to the Atlantic and then having hopped aboard the pilot boat that had pulled up alongside, left us to the open sea.

Every scrap of sail that she could carry was then raised….

Last day in port!

Last day in port!

Gerald FitzGerald
Atlantic crossing, Blue Clipper, Photography, Sailing, Travel

This is perforce a brief post, as we will be leaving the dock shortly. Water pump has not yet arrived but seemingly it’s on the island, and as I understand it, we will leave as soon as it’s delivered and make the repairs while underway. At the moment the fuel tanker is alongside and filling the bunkers so within the next couple of hours we will be off.

Yesterday was a make and mend day, cleaning up and making ready for sea. I posted the blog, wandered into town for lunch, and took it relatively easy. Not much to report, everyone is impatient to be off and we still have about 2,000 nautical miles to cover to get to the Azores so every day in port is cutting into our scheduled arrival date, but with favourable winds we should be ok….

In Bermuda

In Bermuda

Gerald FitzGerald
Atlantic crossing, Blue Clipper, Sailing, Travel

Joined the ship yesterday. I knew I was in for trouble at the airport in Toronto when, after I had cleared security and was going to call V, I realized I couldn’t find my phone. Mad scramble through carryons before I hit the Pause button and tried to remember where I had seen it last, hoping that it was at security screening where I might still have a chance of recovering it. Unfortunately couldn’t remember having seen it since checking emails in the back of the airport limo. Fired up my iPad and checked Find my Phone and I could see that it was located at an address about 10k away from the airport so clearly still in the backseat of the limo.

Sad really since I had planned to use my iphone to video the interesting moments of the trip with my phone…