38N 28W

IDEA Sailing
Idea Yacht Racing Ltd
Wed 19 Jun 2013 21:54
Hello hello everyone.

IDEA is now 12 miles out from the first stop in her transatlantic passage. It's been a relatively slow and uneventful crossing thus far. There has been very little to see out in the wide open ocean, and unlike trips past we weren't really visited very often by wildlife. ALthough that being said we've seen probably a hundred dolphin today. None have stayed and played with the boat for very long, but what awesome creatures to see in their natural environment.

The biggest sighting of the day though has to go to the island of Faial which is where we are going. Horta resides on the South East corner of the island. Finally sighting land after what. . . 12 days is always a big thing and brings immediate good cheer and excitment. Unfortunately it wears off after a while. This being a sailboat we don't travel very fast and we've now been looking at our destination for hours, slowly watching it grow in size and detail.

At 35 miles out it was just a dim dark shadow off on the horizon. So dim and nondescript that you wonder for a long time whether you are actually seeing it or just making yourselve believe you are seeing something.

At 20 miles you are convinced that it is in fact a hard spot off in the distance, but still it's only a pastel blue-grey shape in the distance.

At 15 miles you can start to see where there are collections of building and such but still no true detail other than the land has turned green rather than being a blue grey smudge.

And still the island grows. Very soon it'll be dark and all detail will be lost to the night. The island and our way in to the marina will be nothing but a collection of lights to follow. At least there is no thick fog. Last year, IDEA's first time here, the land and surrounding waters were covered in a thick fog reducing visibility to a small diameter of approximately 400 meters. So we are blessed with clear, if very cold, skies for our second entry to what ultimately is stunningly beautiful place.

I must apologize for not having updated you as often as promised and that will change in the very near future. There was an unfortunate medical issue which kept me from checking in with my intended regularity.

The next update will be sent from land and without promising too much there is a hope of some pictures to be shared.

Welcome to the Azores everyone.

TTFN - Ta Ta For Now
IDEA