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We spent much of the summer sailing from Rockland,
Maine in USA to Scotland, and also a few weeks cruising around the Firth of
Clyde in Scotland. |
At the time of writing, 23rd
December 2008, we are back
home enjoying the snow, having sailed from Rockport, Maine, to Bermuda (stayed a week) the
Azores (stayed 5 weeks) then to Ireland, on to Scotland and left Milvina
in Ardrossan in the Clyde for the winter. |
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We started our cruise by eating lobster,
including this giant, while working on Milvina in Rockland, Maine,
where we had left her for the winter. All went well till we launched,
when we found that the motor overheated seriously within about 2 minutes of
opening the throttle. After 3 days, with Volvo mechanic help, we were
becoming desperate. Then Andre Poirier, back home in Quebec, found the
solution on a web site. Problem was some poor Volvo engineering that let a
plastic orifice in a copper pipe loose the first time we stored the boat in
cold weather. We fixed it in 5 minutes, once diagnosed.
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(Double click any picture to see full size, then use the back
button on your browser to return here) |
We chose to sail via Bermuda and the Azores because the
islands
are beautiful, it is warmer that way, with much lower frequency of gales.
The whole crossing is about 4,200 nautical miles (7600 km) Details on each
sector are at:
Bermuda
Crossing to Azores
Flores
Faial (Horta)
Pico
Terceira
Sao Jorge
San Miguel
Passage to Ireland
Scotland
At sea we spoke with
Herb Hilgenberg
every day He is an experienced sailor and self-taught meteorologist
who has provided weather routing to small boat sailors all across the North
Atlantic for about 15 years. His work is entirely voluntary, and much
appreciated by many sailors. |
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The shortest way to Scotland from
Maine would pass Nova Scotia and Newfoundland very closely, thece about 1900
miles to Ireland. However, this runs through icebergs, cold weather,
lots of rain, and fog.
To miss the ice, it is recommended to pass South of 40 deg N, 40 deg W, which
is nearly half way from Rockland to Bermuda.
This first photo after setting sail was on a cold night,
but after a couple of days things warmed up as we reached the Gulf Stream.
Unfortunately the Gulf Stream was its usual unfriendly self,
and was quite rough for 30 hours or so. We ended up being
close-hauled for 5 of the 6 days to Bermuda, some of which was pretty bouncy. |
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