St Pierre to Azores Passage Summary

Hi everyone,

Here is the summary of our passage from St Pierre in St Pierre & Miquelon to Flores in the Azores.  It was a passage of three phases - Grand Banks; Gulf Stream & Azores High - respectively delivering fog; squalls & champagne sailing.

Sailing into the sunrise

First some plots…

Track

Graphs

Wind

Speed

Temperatures

Here are the vital stats for the passage…

• Distances/Speeds

• Route Distance = 1180 nm

• Logged Distance = 1205 nm

• Track Distance = 1264 nm

• Duration = 10 days

• Average boat speed = 5.0 kt

• Average VMG = 4.9 kt

• Average day's run = 120 nm

• Best day's run = 124 nm

• Minimum boat speed = 4 kt

• Maximum boat speed = 6.8 kt

• Weather

• Minimum wind speed = 2 kt

• Average wind speed = 15 knots

• Maximum wind gust = 35 kt

• Apparent wind angle range = 60 to 150

• Seas up to 2m

• Swell up to 2.5m

• Foggy, then overcast, then broken cloud then clear skies

• Engine

• Total = 37 hours

• Driving = 37 hours (15%)

• Charging = 0 hours

• Consumption

• Water = 70 litres (7 litres / day)

• Fuel = 50 litres

• Failures

• Autopilot ram/actuator

• Water ingress into forepeak (perhaps via loose inspection hatch)

• Stars

• The boat!

• WindPilot vane gear (steered 60% of passage)

• Tides Marine SailTrack (made reefing sooooo much easier)

  * Rolly Tasker mainsail

  * SailnSea hydrogenerator

  * Starlink (despite 15-30 minute initial connection times)

The first phase of the passage took us across the Grand Banks.  It was foggy with SW winds giving us a close then beam reach.  Wind strengths varied from 7G10 to 18G27.  It was a cold, wet ride in 200m visability.  We used AIS and radar but encountered little traffic once clear of St Pierre.  No photos in the fog sadly.

We used the Grand Banks period to 'stress test' our new Pelagic Autopilot.  Regardless of the gain setting the pilot seemed to be moving the ram/actuator much more than our previous pilot.  The ram died after only 2200nm (from Virginia, USA), about half the lifetime of identical rams with our previous pilot.  We contacted Pelagic and they are providing a replacement and support to extend the life of each ram.  Like Raymarine rams theirs use plastic gears which are 'consumable'.  The Pelagic rams are less than half the price of the Raymarine equivalent.

Zen Again at the (temporary?) floating dock in St Pierre
on a rare fog-free day

Fog breaking up

Departing the Grand Banks

The second phase was in the Gulf Stream.  Here the weather was more variable.  Winds varied from SW to NW to NE, mostly 10G15 with squalls of 20G30.  We were between deep Lows passing to the N and the Bermuda/Azores High to the S, with troughs, ridges and small lows forming around and passing us.

We used the WindPilot for most of this phase.  So nice to have the boat steered silently!  We had three periods of very light winds when we motored and used a spare Pelagic ram.  During stronger winds we set the staysail / storm jib which worked very well.  It gets the power down much lower than the triple-furled yankee.  At such times we had the main double-reefed to trisail size.  The Tides Marine SailTrack made reefing much easier than our old 'slugs in mast slot' setup.

Kazi (the WindPilot) in control

Gulf Stream squally weather (with staysail)

Beautiful sunrises

Emailing via Starlink

Hitchhiker

The third phase was in the Azores High.  We were lucky that the High was pushed S by a large Low to the N.  This gave us 10G15 WSW winds all the way to Flores.  The wind only died as we approached the island and have been dead since arriving.

This phase was champagne sailing - nice breeze, sunny skies and lowish swell.  Great sailing!

Champagne sailing around the Azores High

Ready for arrival

Flores!

The approach and entry into Lajes Das Flores Marina is simple but only fully updated charts show the port modifications following recent hurricanes.  Inside the harbour visiting vessels may either anchor or lie alongside the older jetties, rafting if necessary.  There were 7 yachts lying alongside during our stay, with 3 rafting up.  There is currently no charge for anchoring or lying alongside.

Flores south coast

Approaching the hurricane-damaged outer breakwater

Around the new inner jetty

Approaching the inner harbour

Rafted alongside in the inner harbour

Starlink worked well for us throughout the passage.  Immediately prior to departure we transferred the unit from US-based to Europe-based since the Australian credit card we'd used originally was no longer accepted for a US-based unit.  Happily we have a UK credit card and we'll be in Europe (Azores & Canaries) for the rest of this year.  We also opted-in to Mobile Priority data to have access at sea.  The unit took much longer to connect at sea - 15 to 30 minutes - but once connected worked perfectly.  Here are our Mobile Priority usage & costs during the passage and for a couple of day after arrival, when we'd turned off Mobile Priority data.  At sea we used Starlink only for GRIB downloads, email and limited browsing with portable devices in Low Data mode.

Starlink Data & Cost

During phases 1 and 2 we used Starlink morning and evening for only 30 minutes to save power.  We used our SailnSea hydrogenerator - great kit!  During phase 3 we left Starlink on all afternoon since solar charging covered the additional power.  We departed St Pierre with 40% battery level and arrived with 100%.

We've spent our first three days here cleaning, tidying and reorganising stowage on Zen Again.  The latter is due to our moving between cold and warm climates, so major swapping out of clothing etc.  We've visited the friendly Club Navale in the port and walked up to the town.  The marina has good showers and laundry.

Looking forward to exploring the island.