Torries

138

O

n a quiet street off the main drag

of Horta, a crossroads for cruis-

ing sailors on the Azorean island

of Faial, lies a lovely cut-stone storefront

with a sign in big block letters over the

front door: Mid-Atlantic Yacht Services.

But its proprietor, a bearded native of

New Hampshire with a twinkle in his eye,

has another name for the place. “This,”

says Duncan Sweet, a formerly peripatetic

cruiser who washed up here over a quarter-

century ago and has been running the

business with his wife, Ruth, ever since, “is

the biggest little chandlery in the world.”

It’s also for sale. Trust me, nobody is

ever going to mistake Mid-Atlantic for

a West Marine, though the chances of

fi nding whatever it is you’re looking for are

exceedingly high. But let’s not get ahead of

our little tale.

Sweet’s story is, well, pretty sweet. With

a sailor’s heart and a wandering soul, he left

the Granite State behind in 1979 for his

fi rst Atlantic crossing, to Greece, aboard

a CT 54 called Ereni. For the next decade

he ran boats professionally, before fi nd-

ing his way to one of his favorite ports, the

bustling town of Horta. “I was looking for

a project that wasn’t an old boat, so I bought an old house,” he

says. “At least I didn’t have to bail it.”

I met Sweet last fall during a bareboat charter in the Azores,

and immediately took a liking to him. He’s a sailor through and

through, and an opinionated one at that. Always a handyman

around yachts, he got his start in the business side of the sport by

walking into cruisers’ watering holes with “a conspicuously red

toolbox” and just waiting for the inevitable question that some

fl ustered skipper always asked: “Do you fi x boats?”

Oh yes.

In the Azores, one of the planet’s busiest ports of call for far-

fl ung voyagers — these days, some 1,200 yachts visit annually —

there was just one problem. Where do you fi nd parts? In Horta

in the early 1990s, you were totally out of luck if you needed a

winch handle, an impeller or God knows what else. “You couldn’t

even buy stainless-steel screws,” says Sweet.

Into this vacuum, in 1992, Sweet launched Mid-Atlantic. Ruth

is a staunch partner, as is the couple’s dog, Jack, whom they res-

cued after he was tossed out of a passing truck. (“He was a total

train wreck,” Sweet notes.) But the real boss may be Sweet’s

Azorean associate, Ilda, who guards Sweet

from people like me, with their endless

questions, from behind her desk just inside

the front door. A framed sign on that desk

pretty much says it all: “Do you want the

man in charge or the woman who knows

what’s going on?”

Ironically, for a guy who sells marine

gear for a living, Sweet believes too many

cruisers set sail with stuff they don’t really

require. From his vantage point in the

middle of the Atlantic, Sweet has a unique

perspective on what sailors want and need

— or don’t — when calling in from an

extended ocean passage. And he’s not shy

about sharing his thoughts.

“Modern cruisers want every bell and

whistle,” he says. “You don’t see as many

kids cruising with their parents anymore,

or Americans for that matter. I think peo-

ple are really hung up on the idea that you

need every piece of equipment. Then it

takes so much time getting everything

ready that they miss their weather win-

dow and can’t leave. The marine industry

has really built up this idea that you need

fancy deck gear, watermakers, furling sails.

What’s wrong with hanks? I wish people

would lose this idea that everything has to be complicated.

“Nobody needs a boatload of electronics,” he adds. “The big-

gest repairs we see are autopilots. If I was fi tting out a boat now,

the fi rst thing I’d get is a windvane. And after that, spares for

the windvane. And people are in such a hurry. They take three

months to cross the Atlantic and return on the Atlantic Rally for

Cruisers race. They should take three years!”

All that said, Sweet remains an unabashed fan of cruising sail-

ors. “The greatest thing about Horta is that there are no week-

enders here,” he says. “Everybody has passed the test and proven

they’re oceangoing people. I love that. It’s a very adept group.”

After 23 years of serving that constituency, however, Sweet is

ready for a break. “It’s time for new watchkeepers,” he says. “But

we’re not going anywhere. Ilda is staying, and we’d be available for

a two- or three-year turnover. All the major bases are covered.”

It’s a great opportunity for some ambitious sailor. As the sup-

posed man in charge will tell you, running your own show in

Horta can be one sweet ride.

Herb McCormick is CW’s executive editor.

The staff at Mid-Atlantic Yacht

Services in the Azores: Ruth, Duncan,

Ilda and Jack the pooch.

january/february 2017

cruisingworld.com

Sweet’s Tidings

HERB MCCORMICK

The marine industry has really built up this idea that you need fancy deck gear, watermakers,

furling sails. I wish people would lose the idea that everything needs to be complicated.

BY HERB McCORMICK

Off Watch

BY HERB McCORMICK

CRW0217_OFW.indd 138 11/22/16 5:01 PM