{"id":8375,"date":"2025-04-17T11:18:17","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T10:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rubicon3adventure.com\/hummingbirds-atlantic-crossing-from-usa-to-scotland\/"},"modified":"2025-06-06T10:02:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T09:02:33","slug":"hummingbirds-atlantic-crossing-from-usa-to-scotland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rubicon3adventure.com\/fr\/hummingbirds-atlantic-crossing-from-usa-to-scotland\/","title":{"rendered":"Travers\u00e9e de l’Atlantique par un colibri, des \u00c9tats-Unis \u00e0 l’\u00c9cosse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May 10th<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

26 miles to the waypoint.<\/p>\n\n

7.1 knots boat speed.<\/p>\n\n

In three and a half hours (give or take depending on the ratio of helm focus to chatting and tea drinking) we’ll bear north, around the edge of Wexford and into the Irish Sea.<\/p>\n\n

Our new bearing will take us on the final spurt of our journey to Largs \u2013 only a couple of days later than anticipated. And with that, we’ll have left blue water sailing behind, having crossed an ocean. Like bankruptcy, or the eruption of an Azores volcano, the end of our journey will have come two ways: gradually and then suddenly.<\/p>\n\n

Crossing an ocean has meant different things to each of us on board: adventure, challenge, fun, learning new skills or applying lifetimes of experience to a singular goal. And we’ve had all of that in spades over the last month or so. We’ll all have our favourite moments when we look back on the trip. Admittedly, for many of us those moments will be more heavily weighted towards the early legs when the conditions were sometimes just right, occasionally a bit too much, but seldom not enough. Those legs fuelled themselves \u2013 the adrenaline hit of time spent sailing driving you from one watch into the next at pace.<\/p>\n\n

Since leaving the Azores though, we have at times resembled the painted ship upon the painted ocean. Motor on, the sails dropped down. In the absence of any albatross, the hellish crimes were more concerned with who had snuck a sneaky shower or finished the milk. The wind then developed a sense of humour, resolute in its determination to meet us head-on whichever way we pointed the ship. Motor purring, we were using more fuel than anticipated, necessitating a fuel stop before Largs.<\/p>\n\n

At times I think we’ve all slipped towards a completist mentality. We had all set ourselves a target that had roused quizzical eyebrows each time we told someone of our holiday plans. The mindset shifted towards getting the job done.<\/p>\n\n

But then, in piercing moments of clarity, the absurdity of that position becomes clear. Whether it’s steering the ship by the night sky and realising you recognise the tableau above you. Watching crewmates grow in confidence to take the lead as we make our sail changes. Feeling the gears of teamwork grind more efficiently when we get things right. Taking advantage of the flat seas to learn about celestial navigation or route planning. Taking instruction from the skipper or first mate and clocking that you don’t have as many questions as you did a couple of weeks ago. Applying the theory you learned a couple of days previously when you hear the vessel you’re monitoring is not under command. The laughter in the galley as we prepare the next meal. The conversations with new friends that take place in the quiet moments. The comfort with each other to sometimes let those quiet moments be quiet.<\/p>\n\n

I’m sure we’ll all weigh up what the journey means to us once we’ve gone our separate ways from Largs. But for now, we’ve got two more days to enjoy those moments.<\/p>\n\n

Today I helmed a ship as we closed in on the Irish coastline I spent my childhood summers on, giving a new perspective to land I know well. I sat with friends and watched dolphins dance alongside us, and seals pop their heads up to check us out. I exploded a bottle of pancake mix on the only clean trousers I have left and laughed about it. I finally got to enjoy ship’s puttanesca with the olives and the capers in place.<\/p>\n\n

Despite the impishness of the wind and the hum of the motor, it’s been a good day. Hopefully, once we reach our next waypoint and turn northwards, the final couple of days on board will unfold gradually.<\/p>\n\n

Revenge of the 6th! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

For all those following our adventure, all onboard are safe and well. We just seem to have been stifled by the wind (or lack thereof… or direction thereof, or both thereof). Unfortunately, it’s slow going occasionally and sometimes frustrating for those on the helm to maintain course with such fickle winds.<\/p>\n\n

Of course, this sometimes also leads to random conversations and conjecture about lots of different things like the weather, or politics (usually avoided if possible), and the like. It can get rather random, and recently conversation focused on the Generator space, a place where Thorben and I disappear from time to time to do boat stuff. To those in the Rubicon 3 know, this area is affectionately known as “Narnia”, and this is because you have to enter through a door that is behind the wet locker where we hang all our foulies. Generally, it is only the Skipper and Mate who go in, as it is a machinery space\u2014health & safety etc. etc. etc….<\/p>\n\n

This has led to the suspicion amongst the crew that:There is a lion in there;We have a rum store in there;We have a fully stocked bar with a barkeeper\/doorman called Ramon (who won\u2019t let you in if you\u2019re not on the list);We have a hot tub, sauna, and resident masseuse;<\/p>\n\n

And lastly but not least; it is an existential portal that links to Bluejay’s and Starling’s Narnias and all the Skippers and Mates meet up and have noisy parties! Apparently, we only run the generators and watermakers to drown out the sound of the pumping trance music being played!<\/p>\n\n

Paraphrasing another nautical saying, all I can say is: apparently the devil makes work for idle minds… or are they closer to the truth than you think?<\/p>\n\n

I leave this one with you all, but if you have any other ideas about what really goes on in Narnia, please let us know.<\/p>\n\n

Hummingbird out.<\/p>\n\n

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May the 4th be with you, Hummingbird!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

‘Feel the Force, Luke’ \u2013 who can forget those immortal lines spoken by Sir Alec Guinness, one of the greats of British theatre and the silver screen? I use them here mainly because yesterday was the 4th of May, and the aural juxtaposition seems to amuse people. The allusion is, however, apposite, in that for the last 24 hours, it seems that about the only thing that would get us moving faster than a slow walk on a Sunday afternoon would indeed be the intervention of the elusive Force used to such effect by Luke Skywalker in his struggles against the evil Empire.<\/p>\n\n

But, sadly, the only force we had available was the Perkins engine inserted into the belly of the Hummingbird. However, this was not always so. Having achieved the considerable feat of crossing an ocean, we arrived in the port of Horta in the Azores, with the intention there to briefly re-provision and be on our way on the final leg of our passage to Largs, in that fabled land of porridge where Haggis roam free in the hills of their birth before joining neeps and tatties, as is their ancestral fate. However, the vicissitudes of Mother Nature meant that plans to leave after one night were dashed. We had an inkling that this might be the case when we relaxed in ‘Pete’s Bar’, an iconic hostelry on the edge of the port, frequented for over a hundred years by sailors passing through, as evidenced by the plethora of sailing memorabilia attached to the walls, some from notable sailing royalty such as Eric Tabarly and Tracey Edwards. When speaking to other yacht crews, mentioning that we were leaving on the morrow, they responded with incredulity, showing us images of terrifying winds forecast on their wind apps. Thus it was that we were unsurprised when our skipper, the fearless Thorben, informed us that we would be waiting until the front moved through \u2013 I for one was fine with that. If it was too blowy for Thorben, it was far too windy for me!<\/p>\n\n

In the event, we waited in Horta for three nights, allowing us to find out that although quaint and smart, with welcoming people, the island had limited tourist facilities, particularly when it was windy and raining. The indefatigable Marcus, with true Swiss resolve, hired a minibus and a few of us went on a trip across the island, only to find that it was closed on Tuesdays, apart from the volcano visitor centre on the site of an eruption in 1957 that extended Portugal’s empire by about two miles. We also learned that we were in fact standing at the most westerly point on the European tectonic plate; therefore, we were at the most westerly point of Europe, geologically if not politically, since there are more westerly islands in the Azores archipelago, seized during Portugal’s colonialist surge, but they are on the North American plate \u2013 funny the things you find interesting when it’s raining!<\/p>\n\n

Anyway, given that the Azores are closed on a Tuesday, we found ourselves back at Pete’s Bar, meeting again with our comrades from the night before who were relieved that we were still on dry land. Whilst many of us rearranged hotels and flights (given that our delay on the Azores meant that our arrival in Largs was likely to be delayed), others sampled the fine ‘Gin Do Mar’ produced by Pete.<\/p>\n\n

A useful aphorism in life I find is the saying by Thomas Aquinas (though don’t quote me on that because I don’t have access to Google) ‘…this too will pass’. So the worst of the storm front passed and we prepared to leave Horta. We were still expecting high winds up to 35\u201340 kts, which was serious stuff, so the storm tri-sail and storm jib were rigged, and we sailed out of Horta with rather fetching orange sails, which I thought looked lovely in the morning light. Before long, we were relieved that we had gone to the effort of putting up those pretty sails, as we embarked upon a high-octane white-knuckle sleigh ride, holding on to the wheel as Hummingbird surged on, solid and reliable, if noisy when she hit walls of water some over 5 metres high. Great fun, if a little hair-raising, and not a little frustrating when trying to dress on a floor at an almost vertical angle.<\/p>\n\n

But soon, this too passed. The winds have dropped, and what winds there are, are in the wrong direction\u2014from the north, which is where we want to go. And anyone who knows anything about this sailing malarkey knows that doesn’t work. So, as I write, with the First Mate, Alex, desperately trying to kick me out of the chart room so that he and Thorben can do some navigation nonsense or something, we are motor sailing in the general direction of Ireland, hoping for a wind shift so that we can get sailing properly again. Maybe we should be using the Force\u2014May the 4th be with us, given that most of us have no idea what day it is anyway!<\/p>\n\n

SW<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

May 3rd<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

A BRAW BRIGHT MOONLIGHT NIGHT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

I joined Hummingbird<\/em> and her motley crew midway through her Atlantic Transit from Key West to Largs, Scotland.<\/p>\n\n

Although I regularly check up on the R3 – FB page, the offer of this passage popped up at a fortuitous time for me.<\/p>\n\n

Upon flying to Horta, on the island of Faial in the Azores, I was introduced to the existing crew, Skip & Mate.<\/p>\n\n

With a few Andys, a couple of Erics, a few Swiss, a Swede, an American, a Canadian, an Englishman and an Irishman living in Wales, it was all a bit overwhelming for me, who is at the best of times hopeless with remembering names, especially after 24 hrs of non-stop sleepless travel!<\/p>\n\n

With some pretty fierce winds just north of the Azores, the weather gods gave me some grace, with an extra day or two in port to get familiar with my crewmates. A wee adventure to the volcano and a few meals out helped integrate me to the crew before setting off.<\/p>\n\n

Some of the Q’s asked of me were – Why (part of) this leg, why another ocean passage, and why back towards home in Bonnie Scotland?<\/p>\n\n

Well, there are a number of reasons:<\/p>\n\n

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