The trials and tribulations of the offshore sailor: part umpteen. We have wind, it is a nice wind, about 8-18 knots, and is quite warm for the first time for a few days. It is not from the right direction.

We have been on a close reach, or beating as it is sometimes more appropriately called, for almost all the time we have been out here. We had a couple of days with the wind behind us when we had to motor in the first week. Apart from that, we have been trying to sail pretty well directly upwind to Horta, and it is becoming a real pain. We have been on port tack since yesterday, waiting on the wind to back northwards and let us shape a course to Faial, but it just isn’t coming. For every mile we sail, we only gain about half a mile to our destination. GRRRRRR!           

Still, it is pre prandial time, and we are preparing dinner: Jim on the stove, Ali pulling the strings, Lorraine supping cider and me on the juke box (and the blog). Thus tonight’s entertainment includes: Michael Chapman (Jim likes guitar music), Joe Cocker, Stereophonics, Tom Petty, KT Tunstall and a bit of Dylan to send them all to sleep before another night hard on the wind.

Sing Along With Us….

Watergaw