Position:    38:31.79N   28:37.52W

Horta, The Azores

 

Safety arrived in The Azores in a good time – just under 14 days covering 2,300 miles.

(That time including a little detour of 120 miles to sail closer to a Bentateau 43, “Joyce” that had a problem with their rudder stock. If the rudder stock had finally broken then they would have sunk over 24 hours so we provided a little comfort that if the worst did happen then we would be there. This yet again proving the power of always having satellite communications on board during a trans ocean sail.)

  

Our maximum speed was apparently 12 knots and we were regularly exceeding 9 knots although we tried to keep to a maximum of 8.5 knots.

Very little motor sailing during this trip.

 

We had just a minor problem with the genoa fore sail (again!) which meant we were unable to use it for the last few days losing perhaps a knot by a large. The furling system drum housing rotated around midnight ensuring that the sail sheets became muddled and knotted – (the drum housing should be secured tight and fixed via screw that came loose. I fixed it yesterday and fingers and toes crossed we are ready to ‘rock and roll’ again!)

 

No fish were harmed during this sail!

(That’s not to say they are safe on the next leg!)

 

Horta harbour is very busy and we thought we might have to anchor out in the main harbour but luckily we did get directed to a very nice wall to which we were able to attach ‘side on’. Unfortunately an Oyster 53 rafted to our side spoiling our view of the town centre. Still, we will get our own back on them when we leave early Sunday and they have to get up to let us leave!

 

Bob, Les and I had a great drive around this wonderful lush island today. We came across a terrific restaurant half way around and I’ll make sure ‘Trip Advisor’ knows about them once we get to Gibraltar. We must come back here again and spend a lot more time – these 9 islands would be a great yacht charter vacation I’m sure.

 

So. Tomorrow morning, Sunday, we leave for Gibraltar. This is approximately a short 1,100 miles and the weather is looking pretty good for us apart from a little light wind a few days en-route.  I am expecting a 7 to 10 day sail and lots of tuna dinners!

Actually we are not ‘actually’ going to Gibraltar. We are going just across the (500 meters) border with Spain to a town called La Linea. La Linea in our opinion is far better than Gibraltar and you get a great view of the ‘rock’ rather than being so close that you can’t see past the building next to you.

 

..back to final inspections, a few tapas and a good nights sleep before we set off tomorrow morning.

 

(..again no blog during the sail as we are using all the data allocation for weather forecasts.)