Friday - 37.30N 32.58W

Island Wanderer
Peter and Avril Brookes
Fri 8 Jun 2012 17:42
As I write this we are speeding along at 8.3 knots under gennaker in a favourable wind – for Horta. As the wind is currently ideal to head for Horta we think we may miss out Flores. We should reach Horta tomorrow everning or Sunday if the wind stays consistent. If it doesn’t, we may end up elsewhere!
 
Last night the wind fell and we were surrounded by dense fog that saturated everything. The wind came and went so we had to resort to the engine a few times. We set AIS and Radar alarms so were alerted when any other vessel approached closer than 6 miles.
 
The sun has broken out this afternoon, but we are surrounded by haze, so suspect the fog will be back tonight.
 
Peter noticed something wrapped around the Duogen yesterday evening, and started to unravel it, before screaming out. It proved to be a tentacle of a Portuguese-Man-of-War that stung with a real punch and immediately resulted in huge swelling. There was not a great deal of sympathy from Avril or Helen, but treating for an hour in very hot water made the sting a little more bearable, and there are no ill effects now.
 
(Helen and Avril would like to point out that Pete only survived the ordeal as a result of their prompt and efficient attention and treatment. Any hilarity was purely to boost patient morale. They would also like to point out that “huge” is a relative term)
 
Distance to Horta : 215.1 miles
Distance to Flores : 141.3 miles
Distance to Ponta Del Garda : 348.6 miles