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Azores - Ireland

 

S/Y Emma has arrived safely in Dublin, Ireland, after ten and a half days at sea.

 

We departed Horta on the isle of Faial in a nice breeze from NE. Since that also was the direction we were headed, we were blown a bit off course in the beginning. As we entered a high pressure system north of Azores, we had to motor for two days to get through it. When we came out on the other side, the wind was NW. For about a week, we had the wind directly in on our port side. Combined with 2-3 meters waves, the boat heeled over and was rocking constantly. Doing anything constructive on board was impossible. We mostly slept, read books and played games on the tablet. Just doing simple tasks like going to the toilet or making dinner was a challenge. Fortunately, we had vacuum-packed a lot of pre-cooked meals before we left Horta.

 

A couple of days before we reached Ireland, the wind died again. We had stocked up with plenty of diesel before departure, so we motored the last couple of days in to Dublin. The positive side was that the sky finally cleared up and the boat didn't heel over any longer. We could just sit back and enjoy the rest of the trip.

 

The crossing from Azores was pretty uneventful. We sailed with a reefed main sail all the way, and adjusted the speed by furling/unfurling the genoa. The wind direction was stable, but the wind speed was very variable, constantly shifting between 6 and 12 m/s. We often had to get up several times at night to adjust the sails. Since it was just us two on board, we mostly left the watch-keeping to our sturdy autopilot, the AIS and the radar. If something came within three nautical miles range from Emma, an alarm would sound. This system worked surprisingly well. Other than that, we just poked our heads out through the companionway from time to time to check that everything was OK outside.

 

We saw a couple of cargo ships every day. Most of them were far away in the horizon, but one ship passed really close to us. Perhaps the captain was curious about the small sailboat in the middle of the North Atlantic ocean.

 

We downloaded Grib weather forecast files every day using our Iridium satellite phone. A system that also worked satisfying. This way we could plan ahead, and didn't get any surprises weatherwise. The forecast is very accurate in a 1-3 day time range. We also regulary received news from home by e-mail. It's amazing that just a couple of decades ago, long distance sailors had to pick up poste restante mail from home at post offices around the world. Today, we can download e-mails instantly or call home from the middle of the ocean.

 

We are now moored in Dun Laoghaire marina in the outskirts of Dublin. After restocking our fridge and doing some laundry, we're off to explore the city and have a couple of pints of Guinness! It will be nice to relax for a couple of days. We have been at sea for almost thirty days and covered about 3700 nm (6800 km) since the end of May.

Saturday, we'll continue to Belfast, which is just an overnighter from Dublin. After that, we'll go directly to Shetland, with maybe a short stop on the spectacular Fair Isle.

 

Then our final destination is Norway, which marks the end of our two year journey.