When you go To Horta on the island of Faial, Azores superstition has it that you must paint the name of your boat on the breakwater to keep your Karma in good shape. Boats have been lost that left no name on the breakwater. The protocol is you must find a space that you cannot read and then you can paint over it. There are no unpainted spaces. It was fun. I was given some paint by Micheal and Mattheus from a German boat Rosinante and then I went to the Chinese hardware store and bought more paint and some brushes and solvents. Ready to go I thought. First I painted the space white and let it dry. The next morning after coffee I came out with my paints and somebody was painting in my little white rectangle. I expressed my disapproval, the guy apologized and cleaned up his mess and I was ready to start.
This is definitely amateur and freehand but it shows the cutter rig, the double reefed main, the Monitor Windvane (Helmer) and the names of the crew. Notice the water bottles behind Ellie. When you are done painting for the day you put the bottles at the corners of your art and tape in between (blue tape of course) so that not too many people step on your art.
Ellie didn't get to paint but that was a good thing. The Chinese paint thinner mad my hands numb for a few months.
Check out the other boat names.
Serenity in Horta Chilling and getting ready to tour the Azores. One really fun thing happened as we were checking out with immagration. The official asked us if we knew anybody from the Azores. We explained that Ellie's Grandfather was from San Miguel Island and the guy just lit up and we went through the particulars.
Just to show that there are people with artistic talent that paint their boat names in Horta I have included some of the painting of some of our dockmates Rosinante and White Witch.
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