39:22.7N 031:10.2W

 

We made into Flores early this morning 30 June after a passage of 15 days and 20 hours from Bermuda. The weather conditions as we finished off the passage were overcast with variable wind but managed a final puff to see us doing over 5 kts in the final hour in the company of dolphins and shearwaters. We will see whether our diversion to Flores to avoid head winds will be vindicated in the next 24 hours or so. All I know at the moment is there is little or no wind. In the meantime we will enjoy Flores. We are along side in the harbour on pontoons. That saves on having to blow the duck up once again and watch it as it slowly deflates on us. Its a very beautiful and peaceful place surrounded by vegetated cliffs. There are a few other yachts here but the place is not full. Horta is a more frequented stop over and its gets very full at this time of year when all the Transatlantic traffic is passing through.

 

The last days sailing has been good. We had an amazing wind on our tail for about 12 hours.The sea was calm and there was only 10 kts of wind but we sailed along at between 4 and 5 kts as if we were on rails. Then the wind veered to come from the north and we had a port reach overnight.

 

The crossing time of under 16 days for 1700 nm is not bad for a notoriously flukey passage were many boats have their fuel tanks drained in the process. We ran the engine on three occasions in each case to reposition ourselves for better wind, so we thought. In total we motored about 50 nm (about 10 hours of running). This compares well with another skipper I have just spoken to who ran the engine 48 hours. The passage was relatively straight forward apart from the flat spots and there were no real dramas. Basically a crossing you could take your granny on or a couple of granddads for that matter. All we have left is the bit from here to Blighty another 1200 nm. A mere snip. Another unknown quantity but it is the best time of year to do this crossing so there you go.

 

I hope this evening we will be eating out. No more P&Os for a bit.

 

Fuelling up in Bermuda

 

Goose Winged Down Wind Sailing

 

Downwind Sailing

 

Monica’s counterweight and Squid Cosying up

 

The squid and Monica kept apart until the next tack of course

 

Arty Shot

 

Monica’s control line

 

Approach to Porto das Lajes

 

Vila das Lajes

 

Entering Porto das Lajes