Breakfast in Bermuda

Actually that was desert. Breakfast itself was on board Titti4 with Jan and Elli.

The last 12 hours or so of the passage over Friday night did indeed provide perfect sailing conditions. As evening fell on Friday the wind shifted further to the west requiring yet another sail change back to the slutter configuration for a beam/close reach. We probably had the fastest 12 hour period of the entire trip with Bonny cruising comfortably at 6 knots most of the time.

I adopted my, by now usual practice of 1 hour sleeps interspersed with waking to check the course, weather and watching out for other vessels.

Now I could really take notice of our ETA predicted by the chart plotter; 0600. 

At 0430 with the smallest hint of dawn approaching and about 10 miles to go, I got up and started preparing boat for our entry into St George's. That meant starting the engine which it reluctantly did, stowing the Spinnaker pole, handing the slutter jib and stowing the temporary forestay, preparing mooring lines and fenders and generally de-cluttering the decks as much as possible. 

At 0530 with the engine having run in neutral for an hour without misbehaving, I placed the obligatory call to "Bermuda Radio" to request permission to enter the harbour in about an hour's time. Permission granted.

30 minutes later the engine coughed and died. Oh F..k, it's never actually stopped before. "Now what the hell am I going to do?" Could we tack up the narrow "Town Cut?" It's about 50 metres wide and 500 in length, boarded by hard rock on either side. No nice forgiving soft mud here! The wind was blowing directly out of it!!

The Town Cut from inside St George's Harbour

More in hope than expectation therefore I kept my finger on the starting button. Relief, eventually it ran again. What to do? Abandon entry under our own steam and call for help. How much would that cost? No friendly RNLI here just itching to mix it with the cruel sea. A tow would come at a high price, but if the engine stopped in the middle of the Town Cut we were most probably toast and would need more than just a tow! The sensible thing to do was to back off and try and arrange a tow through 'The Cut' to the anchorage. 

I pressed on!

In the event we passed through the Town Cut unscathed at 0630. 

Once through I headed for the Customs Dock, passing Titt4 at anchor on the way. The dock was jammed with boats with others waiting so I went off to anchor behind Titti4. I passed our friend Rob on the way. He had left St Martin a few days before us bound for the Azores. Later when I stopped for a chat, I found out that he had lost his balance in a blow and cracked a rib and had therfore diverted to Bermuda.

With the anchor down I was faced with a choice. Get some kip and dinghy ashore later to check in, or the opposite. It's a real faff getting the dinghy inflated and launched on your own and I really could do with a sleep, but I gritted my teeth and got on with it. Good job I did because an hour later Elli emerged on Titt4 and shouted over the invitation to breakfast.

An hour after that I was sitting in their cockpit on a pleasantly warm - not hot - morning enjoying a lovely breakfast with my now, very dear friends. I know they had been worried about me and were clearly very relieved that I had made it without mishap.

After breakfast we all went ashore to check in, with Jan and Elli stopping off to chat with other friends on the way. After check-in I went for my desert - $7! Jan and Elli joined me as I was finishing my Guinness and we then went for lunch.

I stopped off to chat with Rob on the way back. He told me his story over a cup of tea and offered to help me fix the engine tomorrow; an offer I gratefully accepted. 

So not a quick passage. 10 days to cover the straight line distance of 867 miles (including two spells of motoring for about 6 hours each). That's an average of 87 miles a day at an average speed of 3.6 knots. 

No matter - the main thing is, the Tortoises arrived!