41:45.119 N  066:16.294 W

18/06/10

17:00

By the time we finished last minute provisioning and fuelling up (125 gallons) it was 2pm when we cleared the harbour breakwater.  It’s a glorious sunny day with light wind.  We sailed gently for the first couple of hours and then started motoring.  There is wind out there but it is some distance away.  Every one’s put 10 euros in the pot along with their sealed guess as to when we’ll tie up in Horta.

22:00

Still motoring. We dined well on boef bourguignon courtesy of Delia and Steve.

I hate the motoring but it is taking us closer to the wind.  I’m sure by tomorrow we’ll be sailing.

19/06/10

04:30

Still motoring. Quiet clear night.  The Rosy Fingered dawn, well more of a Rosy Smudge, began around 4AM. Midsummer’s night can’t be far away. The wind has been dead behind us since leaving.  It should go more South later and we should be able to start sailing again.

Even though we’re over a hundred miles from Nantucket we are still passing over shoal water (Cultivator and Georges Shoals), and have another hundred or so until we get to proper ocean depths.

There appears to be a strange anomaly between the Computer Charts (C-Map) and the Raymarine Chart Plotter (Navionics).  On one, we are a mile or so above our intended track and on the other a mile or so below.   The lat/long of the actual boat is the same in both systems which of course is taken from the GPS.  Maybe one or both of the charts are a bit out in this area, as the shoals appear to be in  slightly different positions.  We will definitely be vigilant when approaching Horta.

05:30

Georges Shoal had a very pronounced tidal rip.

11:00

Still motoring, or rather motor sailing.  We’ve put up all the sail in the hope of an extra fraction of a knot.  The wind has gone SSW but there is only about 8 knots of it so far. This morning we were buzzed by a US Coast Guard Jet which shot by very low very close, and very fast.

14:00

There’s a Canadian warship seven miles North of us practicing with pyrotechnics whatever that means.  The sea remains flat and the wind light. 

We’ve seen a few dolphins in the distance but they haven’t come to play.

Our first 24 hours logged 180 miles almost all of it under engine alas.

I attach a few snap of our departure.  The white light house is on the tip of Nantucket and the last piece of land we’ll see for some time.