Ahhhhhh Flores,,,,You will need wheels to get around it. I have been there twice. Good food, and all the eateries make their own chips,,,none of that frozen shit. Corvo is the next Island to Flores,,,Ye can eyeball it. During my visits 2002 /3 the weather prevented sailing there on a ferry. Its the only place in the Azores I have not had my feet on. Corvo recently got an airstrip, so I guess it can be reached from all the Islands. My trips there were with TAP Air and Sata Air. Really cool. The bad news, Cryinfekkinair are now doing San Miguel,,,I loathe O'Leary,,, I detest him with a passion,,he is now bringing ugly cheap people to flood the place with the Christy,,,yor dinners poured out brigade. Just a slight hint of panic in your voice during this much of your trip. Well done. I have retired from flying. I have just returned from Serbia,,,Kosovo,,,Nrt Macedonia,,,,,Montenegro and a bit of croatia,,,,dont go to Croatia,,,couldnt find a beer for less than 10 euro. Serbia,,,everyone will sell you a gun,,,Kosovo,,,everyone will clean it for you and make it ready fro when the Serbs with the help of Seeptic Discharge Putin invade.I did all these places in a previous life,,moved around on buses and trains,,,,flew back on Lingus from Dubrovnik,,,That was my last ever flight.I would not do what you do,,,nah,,,Ferries , trains and busses for the rest of my days. Godd to see you are still a bit deran ged,,,looking 4ward to next post. Whers the lad?
Hi Dee, excellent comment as always! I will definitely avoid Croatia, thanks for the tips. Didn't have wheels on Flores but got to anchor in Faja Grande for a few days to ride out a weather system and did a fair bit of walking from there.
Have been patiently waiting for your 'recovery'.in the Azores Passage so far looks absolutely wonderful. Your confidence in the boat and yourself have really stepped up over this trip. Well played sir well played. 🙂⛵
Great images of downwind sailing in heavy conditions, rather hypnotic. The nice thing about a full keel boat is they track so well in those sort of conditions.
Can you tell me about your cockpit winch setup? I havs a pair of older Lewmar self-tailing 35's as primaries and recently updated my small offbrand secondaries to older Barient 21's (non-self tailing). I thought maybe your setup might be similar. Are you happy with it? The new winch game is expensive. Great video, and as always, I learned from it.
Hi, yes I have a sort of similar setup. I don't fly a spinnaker or any third sail so I dont use the secondary winches at all. Happy with the old lewmar 34s for sure.
Thanks Don! I'm planning to make landfall in Cork and make my way around to Sligo (my home port) and take Sapphira out of the water for some winter work. Nothing too major just some cosmetic jobs that I've been putting off!
It's mostly a vmg decision, based on a pretty traditional hull shape and a lack of good downwind sail options. She deep broad reaches badly, so with the angles I'd need to sail I wouldn't make enough extra speed to justify the extra distance sailed. Like, not even close. So I put up with the discomfort in order to shave a few days off a long passage. When the vane is working well, she steers very well dead downwind, and in the trades and for most of my trip back so far, dead downwind has been the rhumb line
Great video! Complete servicing of your Aries is essential. It is a great unit, as you know, but all parts need service. Pat Lawless had to retire very early in the Golden Globe Race because he did not service/replace the bearings in his Aries. Such a shame. Two years of preparation thrown away. We can all learn for that.
Hey, great video ... good to find some new TH-cam sailors out there taking on new adventures. Subscribed and will be checking in.
Thanks very much, just catching up on messages here! Cheers for watching
Ahhhhhh Flores,,,,You will need wheels to get around it. I have been there twice. Good food, and all the eateries make their own chips,,,none of that frozen shit. Corvo is the next Island to Flores,,,Ye can eyeball it. During my visits 2002 /3 the weather prevented sailing there on a ferry. Its the only place in the Azores I have not had my feet on. Corvo recently got an airstrip, so I guess it can be reached from all the Islands. My trips there were with TAP Air and Sata Air. Really cool. The bad news, Cryinfekkinair are now doing San Miguel,,,I loathe O'Leary,,, I detest him with a passion,,he is now bringing ugly cheap people to flood the place with the Christy,,,yor dinners poured out brigade. Just a slight hint of panic in your voice during this much of your trip. Well done. I have retired from flying. I have just returned from Serbia,,,Kosovo,,,Nrt Macedonia,,,,,Montenegro and a bit of croatia,,,,dont go to Croatia,,,couldnt find a beer for less than 10 euro. Serbia,,,everyone will sell you a gun,,,Kosovo,,,everyone will clean it for you and make it ready fro when the Serbs with the help of Seeptic Discharge Putin invade.I did all these places in a previous life,,moved around on buses and trains,,,,flew back on Lingus from Dubrovnik,,,That was my last ever flight.I would not do what you do,,,nah,,,Ferries , trains and busses for the rest of my days. Godd to see you are still a bit deran ged,,,looking 4ward to next post. Whers the lad?
Hi Dee, excellent comment as always! I will definitely avoid Croatia, thanks for the tips. Didn't have wheels on Flores but got to anchor in Faja Grande for a few days to ride out a weather system and did a fair bit of walking from there.
@@SoloSailingSapphira I agree with your strategy,,,,,avoid ugly weather. Comfort, safety red wine and Bushmills ,,keep the priorities in focus.
Have been patiently waiting for your 'recovery'.in the Azores Passage so far looks absolutely wonderful. Your confidence in the boat and yourself have really stepped up over this trip. Well played sir well played. 🙂⛵
Ah thanks Eric! Where are you currently?
@@SoloSailingSapphira Sitting in Sunny Turkey hunting for the next paying job. My summer gig got cancelled at the last minute which was a ball buster.
When running I run a port and starboard preventer as it makes gybing easier. Haul in the sheet, swap lines, ease off the sheet and away you go.
I do this occasionally, can't remember why I didn't do it here! Thanks for the comment
Nice footage. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for watching!
Good to see you back. Looking forward to part two. 👍
Good stuff. Appreciate your honest videos. Not many of those around. Best regards from Jarle
Thanks very much Jarle!
"Its me thats close to the edge" Nothing a wee glass of Jamesons coudnt sort out.
Great images of downwind sailing in heavy conditions, rather hypnotic. The nice thing about a full keel boat is they track so well in those sort of conditions.
Yep they're really in their element in these conditions. Thanks for watching
Great stuff - thanks for sharing.
Can you tell me about your cockpit winch setup? I havs a pair of older Lewmar self-tailing 35's as primaries and recently updated my small offbrand secondaries to older Barient 21's (non-self tailing). I thought maybe your setup might be similar. Are you happy with it? The new winch game is expensive. Great video, and as always, I learned from it.
Hi, yes I have a sort of similar setup. I don't fly a spinnaker or any third sail so I dont use the secondary winches at all. Happy with the old lewmar 34s for sure.
There he is! I said the triangle didn't get you 😂 ✊🏻🏴 el nina year nothing but weird weather man, good luck and fair winds 🤞🏻
Thanks! yeah the weather has been strange everywhere I've been. Hopefully get a good window back to Ireland.
@@SoloSailingSapphira your coming back!? Most of us are trying to escape 😂
@@ScotChef 🤣 yeah unfortunately not escaped this time, just a test run.
You might not be nervous, but I’m scared to death for you. I admire your abilities and your nerve. Safe travels to you.
Thanks Susan! I arrived safely back in Ireland thankfully!
Love your sailing adventures. What the plan after you return home to Ireland? Where to next?
Thanks Don! I'm planning to make landfall in Cork and make my way around to Sligo (my home port) and take Sapphira out of the water for some winter work. Nothing too major just some cosmetic jobs that I've been putting off!
Thank you for your fantastic videos ☮
Very welcome thanks for watching!
I'm curious why you always sail wing on wing, it's a rolly way to sail.
It's mostly a vmg decision, based on a pretty traditional hull shape and a lack of good downwind sail options. She deep broad reaches badly, so with the angles I'd need to sail I wouldn't make enough extra speed to justify the extra distance sailed. Like, not even close. So I put up with the discomfort in order to shave a few days off a long passage. When the vane is working well, she steers very well dead downwind, and in the trades and for most of my trip back so far, dead downwind has been the rhumb line
@@SoloSailingSapphira Excellent explanation and makes sense to me, I just feel bad seeing you roll about. Love your videos, keep em coming!!
Great video! Complete servicing of your Aries is essential. It is a great unit, as you know, but all parts need service. Pat Lawless had to retire very early in the Golden Globe Race because he did not service/replace the bearings in his Aries. Such a shame. Two years of preparation thrown away. We can all learn for that.
Yes absolutely. I took the Aries apart in Horta and gave it a good clean, seems to be performing much better since then.
Nicely done! You seem very happy and in your stride, as does the boat. Looks like a good if challenging passage. Enjoy Flores!
Thanks Simon!
8:50 "irish summer weather"
Great videos, I love getting the notifications of new videos.
Delighted you're enjoying them Padraig!
Excellent video again. Thanks
Thanks Joel!
Well done. Great video
Thanks Conor!