In La Coruña, Spain after boring incident

Yes, we are safe, but our forestay snapped with a scary sound halfway to Falmouth and we chose to go to Spain to do the repairs. It was 200 nm shorter and, wind was more favourable and we had a weatherforecast for the entire period it would take. We decided that we could sail in light winds if we had the wind from behind. The first day we sailed to come within engine range of La Coruna. The last 4 days we have been hand steering while motoring. Because of only light winds, we avoided big motions in the boat and we don´t thing further damage is done to the rig. Now we will stay here until the repairs are done, probably also changing the backstay, and than set out for the crossing of Biscay.





We have been here in La Coruña before, the 21th of August 2005 we arrived here from Falmouth. So that means that Bonanza has crossed it´s wake for the first time on this journey!

Leaving without satelitte phone

Yes, it is Friday, and the SIM card is not here. The post office know nothing and the courier DHL says it is probably on its way to Funchal on Madeira and will be there the 21st of June! And as you know, Madeira is not the Azores, but another group of islands in the Atlantic. We don´t have time to wait for something that we don´t know when will show up, so we have decided to leave without. There will therefor be NO iridium messages on this site and no messages whatever before we arrive Falmouth, England, hopefully the 27th or 28th of June.

We are leaving on a good weather forecast with no heavy winds in sight for the next week, with a stable high pressure over the Azores. We are expecting light winds and will probably use the engine to make as fast as possible passage. We will not receive eatherforecast on our satelitte phone, but are able to download weatherfax on our PC and listen to weatherforecast from England when we approach.

Still here

The SIM card did not show up yesterday, and today it is a public holiday, but we hope we can leave tomorrow Friday!

Leaving the Azores

We have been her one week now and time has passed very quickly. We will probably leave for Falmouth, UK, tomorrow, if we get the new Iridium SIM card in the mail. Happily, the phone is okay, but the SIM card was not working, so our service provider has shipped us a new one from UK.



We rented a car on Sunday and drove around the island twice, it is not very big. At the western tip is was a volcanic eruption in the 1950´s that created a new peninsula and made the lighthouse there useless. It didn´t show from the sea anymore! We also drove to the top of the island, the about 1000 meters high crater that formed the island many years ago. The crater is 2000 meters wide and 400 meters deep, and an impressing view. We also stopped to look at the container ship that drifted ashore in December 2005 because of engine problems. They have tried everything to get it afloat, but useless. It will soon be parted up and sunk in the ocean.



Most of the norwegian boats we met when we arrived, have left. But Sunday, Agape surprisingly showed up, after 30 days sailing from Florida! We have had a great time, and yesterday, they joined us to celebrate Arild´s and Hans Olav´s birthdays with cake and candles in Bonanza. Arild is now(15th) 29 years, and Hans Olav(11th) 27, but we still feel young. David took a flight to England to visit his sister Saturday. He will join Bonanza again when we arrive Falmouth.



The weather was bad when we came here, and many boats waiting to leave occupied the marina places. But after a couple of days at anchor, we got ourselves a place at a pier. We have now packed the dinghy for probably the last time on our journey. The weather is better now, but we will probably face light head winds, but no heavy winds, at least the first week. We plan to use about 10 days to Falmouth.



We have painted our names and the boats name on a pier in the marina. Everybody do because if you don´t, that means bad luck. Now we feel that we can safely leave for England.

Bonanza has crossed the Atlantic again!

We arrived at Horta on Faial, one of the Azores islands, yesterday morning, after 15 1/2 days at sea. The morning before, we cheched out the harbour in Flores, but the conditions were really bad, so we decided to continue to Faial. Everything has gone well, no serious problems at all.



Horta is nice, and we have met some of the norwegian boats that are here, some of them we haven´t seen for a long while. The norwegian boats that are here are Fatuhiva, Apricus, Vanvara, Felizie and Aurora. We have also met the french boat "Voile Magazine" that we first met in Brazil, and then in Trinidad.



Something is wrong with our satelitte phone, we don´t know what yet. We will sure try to sort it out before the next leg to Falmouth. This is the longest crossing any of us have made, but the time passed fast, with the help of DVD´s and books. The weather was variable, with winds from 5 to 40 knots, but most of the time from a favourable direction. The last weekend a low pressure developed over the Azores, and we expected a lot of wind. Together with Harald, our weatherman in Norway, we decided to sail more north to avoid the heaviest winds. That was a smart move, after we arrived we talked to other boats that had experienced 40 to 50 knots of wind, in norwegian "liten storm", the last day of the crossing.



Yesterday a friend of us, Ragnhild arrived, and she will sail with us the rest of the way to Norway. Nice with new crew. We plan to stay on the Azores until about the 15th before heading for UK.

Iridium messages Bermuda-Azorene

(6.03.2006) Fikk melding av arild idag, fra mobiltelefon. Alt er ok. Dei er på 3922N 3110W. Regner med at dei er framme på Faial i morgon.

(6.02.2006) 3909N 3401W 117nm last 24h, siste dager blir pT kryssen, nok om d! bonanza ruler... je je je

(6.01.2006) 3858N 3634W 129nm last 24h, 374 left. Wind 23kt fra NW. This night motoring because no wind. Still plenty of diesel left.

(5.31.2006) 3914N 3918W 139nm last 24h, 503nm igjen! knuser pT i en knop medstrVm og vind aktenfor tvers. nydelig dag pT dammen!

(5.30.2006) 3849N 4216W 118NM LAST 24H. 642NM TO GO.HEADING MORE NORTH BECAUSE OF A STUPID LOW PRESSURE WICH IS OFF ITS NORMAL TRACK ACROSS THE ATLANTIC.

(5.29.2006) 3728N 4437W.91NM LAST 24H.760NM TO GO.GIGANT WHALE CLOSE TO THE BOAT TODAY! JACK BAUER PULLED IT OFF IN THE LAST MINUTE!

(5.28.2006) Arild ringte og sa at det var noe trøbbel med sattelitt-telfonen, så de kunne ikke sende melding. posisjon: 3706N 4627W. 102NM last 24h

(5.27.2006) 3640N 4831W 116 NM LAST 24H. GOOD BREEZE FROM THE NORTH, FAIR WEATHER, COLD AT NIGHT. JACK BAUER CICKS ASS!!

(5.26.2006) 3616N 5052W 108nm last 24h, the front has past and the weather is clear again. Jack Baur running good against terrorism and we run the sea.

(5.25.2006) 3546N 5259W 103nm last 24h, 1177nm left. 4h motoring today, now sailing again. Wind SE 7kt. Only 20.7 degrees in the water now!

(5.24.2006) 3505N 5457W 119nm last 24h, 1280nm left. Less wind, about W15. A lot more comfortable now. Thunder and frightening lightening tonight also.

(5.23.2006) 3433N 5716W 134nm last 24h, 1399nm left. Had thunder and lightening tonight, still 25kt wind. Jack Bauer is doing well, will he find the bomb?

(5.22.2006) 3359N 5953W 140nm last 24h, 1533nm left to Horta. Very nice speed, but 24kt wind and 2.2m waves. Sun now but a front is aproaching.

(5.21.2006) 3315N 6232W 121nm last 20h, 1673nm left. A really burnout start, steady 15-20kt wind from W-SW. Passed 10000nm total sailed distance this night!