We left Bermuda on Monday night, May 21. It took four weeks to arrive in Horta, Faial. More than I had expected. The weather window turned out to be much less than perfect but in retrospect there weren’t (and aren’t at the moment) any good weather windows so I don’t regret having left when we did.
We had total calms for 6 1/2 days in which we just lowered the sails and waited for wind. With 60l of Diesel we had no other choice. We drifted backwards towards Bermuda. Later we had to tack into the wind and waves for over 24h only to find ourselves at the same spot where we had started tacking a day earlier.
We encountered two storms one of which wasn’t all that bad but we hove to for 12h anyway to avoid the banging against the waves. The second storm was much more aggressive and we drifted hove to for 48h.
So all in all we weren’t really all that slow considering the amount of time adrift and even drifting away from our destination. I got very frustrated sometimes but the good thing is that you forget the bad situations very quickly and keep enjoying the others.
We arrived in Horta on June 15 at night and got a berth in the marina. It is beautiful here.
I am sorry that all my talking in the film is in German and I still haven’t found out how to make subtitles. I hope it will somehow work by just watching it and letting the pictures speak for themselves.
Lieber Kai,
ein gurtes Gefühl, Dich immer näherkommend zu wissen. Habe schon Paula befragt, wo Du nach Bermuda abgeblieben bist, denn es war länger nichts zu lesen. Hab noch eine Gute Zeit, ereignisreich ist diese bis zur Rückkehr sicher.
Liebe Dollygrüße in Dein ” Segelreich”
Liebe Dolly!
Danke Dir. Bin immer noch auf Faial. In ein paar Stunden lege ich ab und möchte noch für ein paar Tage nach Terceira. Wenn das Wetter so bleibt wie im Moment vorhergesagt, werde ich wahrscheinlich in der zweiten nächsten Wochenhälfte von dort nach England aufbrechen.
Mal sehen…
Viele Grüße
Kai
Ohje, was ist das für eine Texteinstellung in meinem Kommentar?
Hi Kai
We have never met but I had the pleasure of hearing you perform with Jerry Granelli many years ago while I was studying jazz guitar at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. You and Christian Kogel both made a big impression on me at the time, as did Jerry. Tonight, for some random reason, I found myself searching for recent recordings by you and came upon your website. The reason I am taking the time to write here is because of the remarkable coincidence of having also taken up sailing. While I have not ventured offshore yet I cruise my Catalina 27 in Long Island Sound. Your cruising adventures sound fascinating and inspire me to set my sights on far flung destinations too. I wish you fair winds and calm seas. Be well and be safe and if you pass through the NYC area sailing or performing I hope to cross paths.
Sincerely
Justin O’Brien
Hi Justin!
Wow.. thanks so much for getting in touch. What an amazing coincidence. I would love to hang out and talk. I’m not sure when I will come to New York. I would have liked to travel up the coast with the boat and return home from Nova Scotia but there just wasn’t enough time and my 90 days visa for the US would have long expired.
My email address is kai.brueckner@web.de if you want to keep in touch. Now I have yours, too. If you ever come to Berlin please let me know.
I’m very happy if my blog can inspire you to undertake some longer passages. I don’t know the Catalina 27 but I found the saying “small boats, small problems” to be very true especially on this long trip.
I hope to meet you sometime and maybe we can keep in touch via email.
All the best
Kai