Arrival Flores

NORDLYS
David and Annette Ridout
Sat 16 May 2009 11:13
Arrival Flores
 
39:22N  31:10W
15th May 2009
 
At 0515hrs with a grey dawn just breaking we dropped our anchor in the small harbour of Lajes in Flores.  The only practical harbour on this island.  Timing had for once been perfect.  We sailed all night, keeping the wind which was forecast to die and arrived just after dawn with no slowing down or hanging around necessary.
 
1720NM logged in 10 days and six hours with just sixteen hours of engine time.  We may have has a hard work journey inm some ways but we felt ourselves lucky.  The worst thing we had to live with was knowing that way behind us there was a dismasted catamaran with a family of Mum, Dad and three children on board.  They were adrift in 50 knot winds that were blowing them back toward Bermuda.  Two German yachts were due to rendez-vous with them.  One ex Bermuda with 150 litres of fuel was itself battling a gale in which the gusts were reported to be hitting 85 knots  and the other would not be with them for at least four days as it was ex Antigua and had well over 500nm to go.  Nasty, we are keeping our fingers crossed.  Catamarans are not strong craft and the seas must be awful.
 
Anyway will stop the policeman is waving from the shore.  Check in then some sleep.
 
Happy times
David