Another month has passed since our last update – time is flying by too fast. We look back at a few great weeks in Bermuda and yet another Atlantic crossing to the Azores.
We greatly enjoyed the easy days in Bermuda and fell in love with this isolated piece of land. The island is one of the few places around the Caribbean that did not have an indigenous population, as Europeans settled it in the 1600s. Bermuda has belonged to the British crown ever since and now has the status of a British overseas territory with its own rule for internal matters, while responsibility for defense, foreign policy, and similar matters remains with the UK. From what we could see, it must have worked out quite well, as the island seems very wealthy and the people are warm and friendly.
The anchorage outside the town of St George, where we came to stay throughout our time, proved to be a social hub where sailors came and went on their passages to Europe or North America. We soon became acquainted with the neighbors and met several Swedish boats for the first time in months. We filled the days with boat work, school, and exploring the island. It took a few days to get Frenesi in shape for the next crossing as we worked through the to-do list with many smaller projects, general service, and inspections. During our rig inspection, we discovered that the cotter pin that secures the bolt that holds the forestay to the top of the mast had almost sheared off completely. We will luckily never know how close we had been to losing the mast.
On the many small tours around the Island and St George’s, we played football, had ice creams, went to far too expensive restaurants, and explored the city of Hamilton.
It took almost two weeks before our buddy boats started to drop in from the Bahamas and the Caribbean. Dagmar, Ocean Crosser, La Luna, Christina, Carisma, LinneaX, and Greta were all great reunions after months on different paths. Our new crew member, Stein, who would join us for our crossing to the Azores, also flew in to join us onboard. We didn’t know Stein, who is a friend of a friend, and although we had a good feeling about his positive attitude, high energy, and humble approach, it is still a somewhat nervy social experiment. Will it work out? Can we trust each other to the extent needed? We had decided to take this passage on with only three adults onboard, which means that there is little room for a lack of trust or poor performance. During the coming weeks, however, it would be clear that Stein was the best possible contribution to our small team that exceeded our expectations in every aspect. We were amazed by how well he integrated, how he built relationships with the kids, and lit up his surroundings with his positive attitude. Stein will be dearly missed, and we look forward to meeting up in the future.
Initially, we planned to leave Bermuda on May 5, but we decided to wait for LinneaX as they needed more time to sort out an engine problem. We had commitments to both Ocean Crosser and LinneaX and were torn between the different agendas. This is a recurring challenge that can be stressful at times. We spent the extra days on Bermuda hanging out with friends, snorkeling, and playing more football – now with many more players. After a few days, a new weather window approached, and we decided to once again set out on the Atlantic Ocean, towards the Azores on Saturday, May 10. Once again, this happened to be a birthday onboard. Ida celebrated her 11th on the Bay of Biscay, Martin on the Atlantic towards Bermuda, and now Felix had to celebrate his 10th on the Atlantic on the way to the Azores. This was, of course, unacceptable, and we just pretended that May 8 was May 10 and celebrated Felix with cake, football, and a restaurant visit. Now we were ready for the crossing…
Kära hela familjen,
Tack för den fina skildringen av alla upplevelser längs östkusten och den påföljande överfarten. En imponerande prestation och skicklig vädertaktik. Att ni kollade förstagsinfätningen i toppen är vi oändligt tacksamma för.
Även om det återstår ännu en lång etapp, så känns det gott att ha er på portugisisk grund. Vi tänker på er varje dag och varje stund, och räknar ner dagarna tills den dag då vi får krama om er på riktigt.
Med kramar från Ugglarp / Farmor och Farfar
Tack Farmor och Farfar! Azorerna har varit en höjdare – ni kommer gilla det när ni kommer dit. Det blir härligt att ses om några veckor. Kramar från oss