Tuesday 22nd June
Vaquero
Tue 22 Jun 2010 12:31
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My position Tuesday 22nd June at 1200UTC is 40
10.6N 32 03.2W
Sailing in the Azores high is slow work when much
patience is needed. I forget who it was who said that 'patience is a
virtue much fatigued by exercise', probably Dr Johnson, but the light winds and
ever present swell make the sailing slow and noisy, with much clattering of
sails and gear accompanied by a constant and
uncomfortable rolling. The motion is much easier than bashing to windward
in 35 knots, so I have no complaints. Horta is 185 miles distant and
Flores only 50 miles over the horizon, so land should be sighted sooner rather
than later. A slightly more favourable breeze has sprung up from the SW
and this promises to strengthen later this afternoon. Meanwhile it is warm
and sunny, blue skies, lots of fish and birds, dolphins and little purple
jellyfish sailing by, so the only thing to do is relax and enjoy the
holiday. At least the boat's not running with water inside and I have
finally climbed out of my thermals and oilies - another few days and
they'd have needed to be surgically removed. My laundry bag is a fairly
toxic no-go zone emitting an unsavoury miasma, hidden safely away in a cockpit
locker - I was going to do some laundry, it being a perfect drying
day, but the Persil has taken fright and hidden away somewhere, so it will have
to wait for a couple of days.
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