Crossing Back to Europe

"Fire on board is one of the biggest catastrophes you can have on a boat while far out at sea..." 

We saw some beautiful skies out at sea

Our West-East Atlantic crossing began on Tuesday 22nd July from the lovely little enclosed Pig anchorage in Nova Scotia. That first day the conditions were good, if light with winds 7-15 knots. Even as the wind dropped even further in the early morning, they remained steadily behind us, so we managed to keep moving without the sails flapping. 

That first night reminded us of how special it is to do an ocean crossing. The sky was crystal clear and with the necessity of doing nightwatches, you have time to observe the night sky with the complete absence of light pollution. Satellites drifted by and a shooting star even fizzled ephemerally. As the boat ploughed through the dark water, bioluminescence glowed with life.

After a couple of days we realised we had hit the Gulf Stream. From the cool Canadian climate, the waters warmed the hull right through. Even overnight, we were sweating so much it was hard to sleep.

A few days into the crossing, I woke up to the sound of the engine being started. The wind had dropped. But there was a much bigger problem. 

There was a strong smell of burning. Luciano shut down the engine and we soon discovered smoke inside the engine compartment. Fire on board is one of the biggest catastrophes you can have on a boat while far out at sea.

We spoke to Jeff on board SV Wave by Wave, which was also making the passage across at the same time as us. He is a mechanic and spent lots of time talking us through how to investigate the problem. We found a burnt cable and rubber cap but were unable to identify what it was using the manual or the internet. Jeff didn’t know what it could be either. All we knew was that it was related to the starter motor, which had turned completely black. 

The blackened starter motor

We were too scared to try and start the engine in case of starting a fire and also the risk of destroying our batteries.

We were much closer to Canada and so after a whole day of fast sailing in 20 knot winds and the gulf stream behind us towards the Azores, we decided to try and head back to Canada. We spent a day battling the headwinds and the gulf stream and then decided it was useless. Then followed another day and night of no wind at all.

We had wasted the good progress we had made towards the Azores by trying to go back to Canada. Now the weather forecast was showing mostly very large patches of no wind. Without an engine it would take a long time to get there. Our more than ample stocks of food and water suddenly seemed meagre as we drifted in the windless conditions.

On Monday morning when their offices opened, we contacted our engine manufacturer, Beta Marine - the USA office. They were absolutely amazing. We immediately got through to a mechanic, who identified what he believed to be the burnt part and the problem. He gave us some electrical tests to carry out and instructed us to clean all the cables related to the keyswitch panel and once completed, we were ready to start the engine.

We were sceptical about whether it would work, but amazingly, it did. The burnt cable and cap were just a vent. He believed that most likely the key switch had got stuck in the start position and overheated the starter motor. We greased up the panel in every position and it started. We were overrun with relief.

We kept the engine on for as long as there was no wind to make the most of it and because we weren’t sure if it would turn on again and our luck turned as the wind picked up and we were followed by a huge pod of pilot whales.

A friendly pilot whale

We then oddly had a period of light wind and dense fog all day and night, which we thought we’d left behind in Canada. Though less troublesome out at sea than by the coast, the fog is still tiring to sail through as you have to be so alert all the time.

As we drew closer to the Azores the sun came out again and we took the opportunity to have a bath in rainwater we had collected. I had a bucket wash while Luciano had the luxury sit down experience in the dinghy on the deck.

Luciano in his dinghy bath

We saw lots of dolphins and a strange jelly like creature with a mohawk, which the internet told us was called a velella. It’s a type of jellyfish that uses its mohawk-like appendage as a sail. But the light wind and calm blue waters was set to change as we saw the low that was approaching us.

A blue velella. We also saw pink ones.

We’ve never used heaving to as a tactic but we decided it would be a good option in this scenario. The low was due to hit us at night and so by the afternoon, we were practising heaving to, first with the headsail and then with the storm jib. Our headsail is quite old and has been much repaired so we had more confidence in the storm jib which had also never been used. By early evening we were set with the helm locked and the boat log showing 0.0 knots.

Preventing the storm jib line from chafing on the shrouds

The wind picked up overnight but did not go above 28 knots. More of a concern was the waves which were extremely frequent and we had swell from two different directions as two lows had converged right where we were - one from the west and one from the south. 

The sea was very confused and by the morning I was finally starting to feel seasick. As the winds had subsided, we decided to get moving. We kept the storm jib up as the waves were still quite big but they were more regular and behind us and gradually reduced in size.

Unfortunately the passing of the lows meant we now had a headwind to navigate so we slowly tacked while the rain bucketed down.

Eventually the winds changed again to a more favourable direction and we saw a whale spouting for quite some time near the back of the boat. It had an oblong shape, so may have been a sperm whale.

When we were 60 nautical miles from the Azores we stopped the boat. There was no wind and the sun was blazing and the water was a dark pure blue and we hadn’t been swimming once this season. We trailed out some lines and the dinghy behind the boat and dove in. It was blissful. This is what it’s all about!

As we approached the islands themselves we saw the most impressive dolphin acrobatic display we have ever seen with full on somersaults. We arrived at 4am and the full moon gave us enough light to anchor directly in the harbour at Horta on the island of Faial. 

The dolphins showing off

We had made it safely across the Atlantic to land and we couldn’t wait to explore these beautiful islands

One of many lovely sunsets

Click the link below for the video

Video1 EP 086 - Second Atlantic Crossing

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