The last leg to Portugal

Friday June 14, 2024 12:00pm

This is it! The final leg of our 2024 ARC Rally Europe. All of the boats are patiently waiting with sails up, ready for the horn to blow so they can once again cross that starting line. Today is different though. Today we actually have wind. Once again, New L’Attitude is one of the last boats across the starting line. I don’t think we will make it anywhere close to the front of the pack this time. In the words of the great Ricky Bobby, “if you ain’t first, you’re last”. We placed third the first leg, second the second leg and with an Outremer in the race, there’s no way we will come close to being first,so we might as well be last, and let some of the other boats get awards. Like last time, we will head north in search of sustained wind to get us the rest of the way across the Atlantic.

The winds around the island were fairly brisk, but died down once we were several miles off. We decided to put out the gennaker, since it is designed for light winds. It gave us a bit more speed, but not for very long. We would have to motorsail for a bit. It didn’t take long to once again find some wind for sailing. In fact the wind got pretty gusty. Unfortunately, our gennaker wasn’t furled up very tight and caught some of that wind and began unraveling from the top. This was a disaster. We had to get it down and quickly. We tried to find the best wind direction to put the boat in to take some of the wind out of the gennaker so we could get it down in one piece. After wrestling with it for what felt like an hour, we got it onto the deck. Unfortunately, in the process, we put a rip in it. Fortunately I had some sail repair tape and was able to patch it so we could continue using it for the rest of the trip. We lost valuable time and distance, which put us farther away from the group. In the afternoon, we had a hard time finding wind that would allow us to catch back up with everyone else. That didn’t matter, we weren’t trying to win any awards this time. We just wanted to sail for comfort, so that’s what we did.

Saturday was much the same. Light variable winds. We either sailed at around 4-5 knots or we motorsailed, hanging out at the back of the pack. The winds were supposed to start picking up during the night. With the gennaker patched and ready to go, we hoisted it back up and slowly sailed much of the day and throughout the night. When I came on watch at 0300, we were motoring. About an hour into my shift the winds began to pick up a bit. Enough that I could put the gennaker back out. It was a very nice smooth sail. Well, until Mother Nature decided to have her fun with me. Over several hours, the winds slowly picked up. The gennaker shouldn’t be used in winds above around 15 knots apparent. Soon I started seeing 15, then 16 and 17. I furled in the gennaker, hoisted the mainsail and genoa. It’s quite a bit of work for one person. When I got finished, the winds were…..under 10 😟

So I played around for probably an hour or so with different sail configurations, trying to find what would work with the wind direction and speed. Nothing was working. Every time I got them configured one way, the wind would change.😩

I tried a few more things, tried just waiting for the wind to change again. SHE was out get me. Whatever I tried, SHE foiled 🤬

I had enough. I put the head sails away and started the engine. I gave up on trying to sail. SHE won!

I licked my wounds, went inside and had another cup of coffee. I could do no more at that moment.

Maybe SHE felt sorry for me, or was just done messing with me, because, about an hour later the winds settled into a nice broad reach/run with good wind. I was able to set the mainsail and put the genoa out and shut off the engine. We were finally sailing very comfortably again. We sailed like this the rest of the day. Into the afternoon, the winds began to steadily increase in speed.

At this point, we were seeing sustained winds in the mid 20’s and gusts around 30 knots. Mike wanted to reef the main before I went to sleep. It was quite a difficult task with the winds so brisk and seas so big. I has become apparent that this trip is wearing on both of us. It was the first time we have yelled at each other, I mean really yelled at each other. It wasn’t pretty. I was definitely ready for this day to be over. In fact, I was ready for this trip to be done. I’m tired!

Monday came with renewed hope. The winds remained steady and I was able to take one of the reefs out of the main. Weather forecasts were still saying we would see winds above 20 knots so I still didn’t want the main to have too much power. In the afternoon we were greeted by a pod of dolphins who were having the best time surfing the waves next to and in front of the boat. They stayed with us for almost an hour. It was amazing watching them play. They would catch a big wave and when it crested the would all jump out of the water. I think they were putting on a show for us. We would catch them turning sideways as if looking to see if we were still there, watching. When we finally got too cold, we went back inside. They left shortly after. It was an indescribable, amazing experience.

As we make our way to Portugal, we are still in last place. I keep telling myself, “it doesn’t matter”. But if I’m being really honest, it does matter. I’m a very competitive person and I hate being in last place. The super fast catamaran that has been with us since Bermuda is an Outremer. I have been looking at them online and seeing just how fast they go and I was telling Mike about it. He said to me, “do you want to get an Outremer?” I told him no, of course not. In my mind, I was thinking, of course I want one, I want to go faster and be in front of the pack. But I’m trying very hard to embrace our boats name and have a new (l)attitude. This has definitely been a lesson in patience, and I’m having a hard time with it. I have had to try to put my type A, neurotic personality traits aside and allow myself to be more relaxed. It’s not easy, and, for the most part, Mike has been very patient with me. But I still have a long way to go to reach my zen.

It’s now Wednesday morning and the winds have dropped below 20 knots and the seas have calmed considerably. It seems, however, that my threshold for big seas has drastically changed since the beginning of, not only this trip, but our entire journey on New L’attitude. What once terrified me, now exhilarates me. It’s normal to be scared of things you’re unfamiliar with. Now that big seas, high winds and days and days of unrelenting beating are familiar to me, they no longer frighten me, at least not to the extent they once did. I do still have a healthy fear of the sea, and I am by no means cavalier.

By all accounts, with only 140 nm to go, we will be in Portugal tomorrow morning. I am so ready for this crossing to be behind us. Since May 11, we will have spent 24 days on the open water, and the days spent in port have been anything but relaxing. It’s been a very long journey, physically and mentally. While it’s taken it’s toll on us, it has been worth it. We have met some incredible people along the way, we’ve visited some of the most incredible places on earth, and we have grown considerably as sailors. Now the only thing we really have to worry about is the Orcas. There have been several attacks on boats over the last few days off of the southwest corner of Portugal. They are, however, moving north right now, so hopefully we will not encounter any as we approach Lagos. We may actually have to slow down so we can make our approach during the day tomorrow.

As this journey comes to an end, I have mixed feelings. I am so glad it’s almost over, but I’m also sad at the same time. I will have to say goodbye to my new friends. I do hope we will meet up again one day, and I hope we stay in touch. I have cherished the times we spent together and the memories we have made.

I will also miss the incredible sunrises on the ocean every morning. They have been some of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.