Day 1 - Noon June 10^th to Noon June 11^th

Portuguese airlines finally got their act together and after waiting 6 days the new autopilot control unit arrived in Horta. Within hours of fitting the unit we had provisioned the boat, filled up with diesel and water and cleared customs and immigration. We were on our way again.

But the fleet had moved on as we were making repairs. To catch them up we had to miss out the second and third islands in the Azores. We are now going straight from Horta to Portugal where we should be reunited with the other boats at the end of the Atlantic crossing. A great pity to miss the island stopovers but we had to get Nick back to Portugal by 23^rd June to catch his flight home.

The weather forecast for the next few days looks promising – too little wind if anything with friendly looking seas. So this is it - the last leg in the Atlantic circuit before heading back into the Mediterranean. Let’s hope it’s a good one. It started off well. At 16.05 on June 10^th some 10 months after leaving Corfu the skipper passed his 10,000 nautical miles milestone on this trip. What a gap year he’s having!

Paul - Peejay