My friend Olivier has the look of a pirate, but when he said he would cross the ocean with an engineless sailing vessel, I was both doubtful and intrigued. He told me they would stop in my beloved Azores, about halfway, for supplies. I had already dreamed of going back to explore more of those beautiful islands in the middle of the Atlantic (we visited Flores and Corvo last year), and this seemed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. My travel buddy and brother Bart and I asked Olivier’s wife Natalie to join us on our holiday. Tres Turistas up for an encounter with the Tres Hombres in the middle of the ocean. You never know with an engineless sailing ship, so we booked two weeks around the exepected departure date. Exciting idea, but also a strange feeling… hoping for the best, not counting on anything.

Only a few days before our departure, we got a message from Ivo. He is a professional large vessel captain with decades of experience, and a former trainee of the Tres Hombres, willing to share information with Natalie on weather, location and arrival forecasts on a regular basis. The
Tres Hombres tracking team. He tells her that the coordinates of the Tres Hombres in combination with favourable winds, made a mid-ocean rendezvous highly likely. We arrived on the island of Faial on March 27th. I had booked a flat through Airbnb, and our host Paula awaited us in the harbour town of Horta. Only when we entered the premises, we realised we had hit the jackpot. It was hard to focus on what Paula was saying, as we were absolutely stunned by the large window directly facing the harbour entrance against a background of Mount Pico. Little did we know that having such clear view on the highest peak of Portugal (2351 metres) is a gift on its own. For the first hour or so, we were just standing on the terrace staring out. No better place on the island to watch the Tres Hombres sailing in. We went to bed thinking tomorrow might be the day.

March 28th. Around noon we get information that the Tres Hombres is close to the Azores, butstuck near the island of Flores, as there is no wind. Meanwhile we see large sailing boats come and go. Amongst them the beautiful Thor Heyerdahl and the amazing Thalassa. We get another update. Either the crew is drinking their own rum, or they strongly disagree on where to go. All jokes aside, the Tres Hombres is sailing all over, but not really moving towards us, due to a lack of wind. Maybe tomorrow.

March 29th. Another update from Ivo. With about one hundred sea miles and the wind slowly picking up, the Tres Hombres’ arrival is foreseen to be earliest tomorrow. We decide to go hiking, though whenever we get a glimpse of the ocean, we cannot help scanning the horizon expectantly. Our heads and hearts are out at sea. Will tomorrow be the day?

March 30th. I wake up early to watch the sun rise against a cloudy mount Pico. I notice the window – though bright and clean when we arrived – is not as spotless anymore. It is not so easily reachable, so I throw some glasses of water to it from the terrace. In the end, I ask our host Paula for assistance. In the middle of the night, Natalie had gotten the news that in a straight line the Tres Hombres would take another sixteen hours. That would be this afternoon! And when the sailing vessel Anna Christina – yesterday near the Tres Hombres – enters the harbour, we get all the more excited. Today we roam around the harbour, not risking to miss a thing. When we are in the shop of the Clube Naval da Horta, a man inquires the staff about the position of the Tres Hombres. We have a little chat, he just loves the ship and tells us it is the most beautiful boat he has ever come across. As we headed back to our crow’s nest – as we now call our holiday home – Natalie’s phone rings. OLIVIER!!! The connection is not great, but she is over the moon with this first contact in weeks. Olivier informs us that the arrival will be at night, and that it is unlikely they will be allowed to enter the harbour before dawn. Meanwhile, we see a registration of the position of the Tres Hombres on vesselfinder, most likely due to a sighting by a Belgian cargo ship passing by. The Tres Hombres is near Faial. With all that information, we decide to travel to the western tip of the island to watch the sunset. We opt for the coastal road along the south side of the island, you never know… Suddenly, from the back of the car, Natalie shouts. She has seen something. We stop by the barbecue area at kilometre marker fifteen. We stand in a meadow, binoculars towards the enormous body of water… Yessss!!! There is a dot. Wait, it IS a large sailing vessel. This can only be the Tres Hombres. We take pictures, and try to enlarge the dot. We are confident. What we see is Olivier and the Tres Hombres. We later find out that we spotted them exactly when they were closest to the island. Time for us to give an update to our faithful Ivo. The sunset has lost its charm, so we go home and play some cards, but always with one eye on vesselfinder. We can now follow every single move.

March 31st. Whenever I wake up that night, I check the position of the Tres Hombres. At four in the morning, I wake Natalie up. The vessel is approaching the harbour near Monte da Guia. We rush outside, walk as far as we can uphill. All we see is black. Binoculars aimed in the direction vesselfinder tells us. And then we spot the three lights, one green and two white. It is them! They are so close now. This will be the day! We decide the best view we can possibly have is from our crow’s nest, so we go back. Paula provided us with the right equipment yesterday, so I start cleaning the windows. Never done that before at five in the morning, let alone on holiday. When I thank Paula for helping us create the best view for the arrival of the Tres Hombres, she answers that she has been waiting for them too. No other boat is interesting, she has a longstanding special connection with the Tres Hombres. What a coincidence! We position ourselves on the couch facing the window, cup of coffee and binoculars at hand, vesselfinder open. We are ready. As if they know that we are, the Tres Hombres starts approaching Horta. And the sun starts rising. Vesselfinder is no longer of any use, as we can now see the Tres Hombres. At a certain point the sun shimmers on the bow of the ship. What a beauty! At around eight, they make a clear attempt to sail into the harbour. We face the big bright umbrella on our terrace, in the hope Olivier will spot it. The tugboat that will guide the Tres Hombres safely into the harbour puts us to the test. We wait. What a feeling. Looking through the binoculars, trying to spot Olivier. Waving in the idle hope someone spots us. When finally, the tugboat leads the beautiful brigantine into the harbour, we put the right music on: Conquest of Paradise by Vangelis.

What a joy!

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