Ain't that swell

Although we were fortunate in missing the high winds associated with Hurricane Katia, which passed about 600 miles to the north, we didn't escape the effects of the storm altogether. Sunday night, the peace of the Velas marina was shattered by the ingress of quite a phenomenal swell. It started quite suddenly at about 8 in the evening and by midnight it was really spectacular.

The basin where the fishing boats lie, just to the west, was even more exposed and they had it cleared out by 0200. Some of the boats moved into the yacht basin and the rest were lifted out by the crane, right then and there in the middle of the night. I saw the last one being lifted clear when I got up to add more warps and tighten the existing ones on Fettler.

Waves were sweeping right over the quayside and washing all the way around the marina, creating an astonishing surge. It looked like a river in spate. The pontoons were moving up and down by over a metre and every boat in there was jerking and straining first at their lines, then against the pontoon.

Now, the wind was out of the north and so were the seas so nobody expected that sort of action in the harbour. The waves must have been bouncing back off the neighbouring island of Pico, 12 miles to the south, and bending round Sao Jorge as well.

I was up a good part of the night, adjusting warps and chatting with other skippers in the same predicament. At 0330 an air raid siren sounded, which immediately had me wondering if it was a Tsunami warning or similar but we never found out what it was about - some land-based emergency presumably.

The swell continued through the night and most of the following day but Fettler came through unscathed. In all there seemed to be remarkably little damage done. The one other visiting boat, an American, suffered a broken fair lead.

The marina manager, Jose, had the goodness not to charge us for that night's accommodation!

The harbour of Velas - open only to the southeast.
These harbours give the illusion of safety, but they're
quite exposed really.

Looks like a sheltered spot, right? Fettler is the middle boat
on the left, between the two big boys.

All this took place after an excellent day of hitch-hiking. Plenty of hitching, plenty of hiking. We went right to the opposite end of the island and it took us 4 lifts to get there and 4 back. Oddly, the last lift was with the same car, both ways.

The great thing about this particular hike, besides being all off road, is that it starts at the top and runs down hill all the way.

Serra do Topo - the top

Our lunch spot, the water source for Faja Santo Christo

Faja dos Cubres

Floral displays for a church festival. Flower
petals and greenery are precisely laid out for
the procession to walk along.

Once the swell had finally diminished to the point where it was once more safe to manoeuvre in the marina we pulled out and headed for Horta. As it ever seems here, once the big winds pass through you don't get much fair wind before it dies altogether. Coupled with the weird effects of precipitous islands, it doesn't make for great sailing. The seas were still big and sloppy and the wind conked half way across, leaving us to motor along through the slop, with the thrice-damned current against us all the way.

Still, Horta is lovely and by all accounts the rest of the island of Faial is too. So far (third day) we haven't been out of town yet, but we have done our duty and painted our mark on the breakwater. Yachting superstition has it that any boat not leaving their mark when visiting Horta will never return.

Tranquil Porto Pim with Horta behind.

The finishing touches.

Another Aldi moment - a good test for Aldi's finest acrylic.

PS
This post comes to you from the salubrious surroundings of the famous Peter Cafe Sport.