A bump in the night
Blanshard
Sat 12 Jun 2010 15:09
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Position 39 31.55N 31 00.19W Log reading
14527 distance covered 109 miles
Slow progress alternating between sails and engine
but working our way upwind (if it is enough to be called wind). Last
night landfall at about 10pm with the gloom of the lighthouse on Flores about 50
miles away. Progress towards it has been slow but we have now just passed
through the channel between Flores and Corvo, the two westernmost islands of the
Azores. Amazingly both have small villages/towns of white houses, red
roofs on a backdrop of green hills rising up to the steep volcanic
peaks. Lots of fishermen between the islands escaping Saturday morning
family duties - like us!
A strange experience last night - we were motoring
slowly at about 4 knots when the boat bumped into something soft and
slowed, emerging behind was some thrashing of the water and a squeal
- sadly, I think there is a whale with a sore head somewhere,sorry!
At least we were going slowly enough to not inflict serious damage to either him
or us. Just now we have passed withing 10 yards of another whale ambling
slowly by between the islands.
So, another 120 miles to go to Horta with a gentle
wind just enough to keep us going and should be there sometime tomorrow for a
brief stop. Alastair is on navigation duties without the GPS so we could
always miss .....
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