21 Days Antigua to the Azores

21 days at sea is a long time but with three of us in a good watch system, we got five hours sleep at least once in 24 hours and shorter naps the rest of the time.  Made the most of mealtimes and had sundowners each day;)  No SSB radio so the only contact with other yachts was via our Iridium Satellite phone and email through mailasail.  If you have time to contact us the email address is kinabalu@mailasail.com (no attachments).  When we're ashore, this email address comes into my mailbox with the other addresses.

Lots of varying weather conditions and a couple of days without much wind at all, so motor sailed and read in the cockpit.  We kept heading north to pick up the westerly wind that should have brought us to the Azores, but there were no westerlies and occasionally we even had south-easterlies.  As we approached the Azores we got some strong north-easterly winds because the Azores High was located well north of the Azores.  We were on the wind as we headed to the northern most island of Flores and then for the last 24 hours had a wonderful reach down to Horta in winds of 20+ knots, two reefs in the mainsail and 50% genoa, with speeds of over 7 knots.  The skies were very dark hiding a waning moon and the seas were confused, often hitting us side-on sending icy cold spray into the cockpit.  Needless to say we were in full oilskins, gloves and boots!!  Rather like sailing in Scotland ;)

Three nights in Horta were wonderful.....straight to the famous Cafe Sport (Peter's Bar)......beautiful town with historic buildings set in a backdrop of rolling hills, volcanos and craters.  Set off for Angra, Terceira but the NE winds and seas made slow going and so we headed into Velas, Sao Jorge which was a most pleasant surprise.  A tiny marina, adapted from the old fishing harbour, tucked in underneath a huge cliff.  Quaint little sleepy town waiting for the tourists to arrive (mostly Europeans coming for whale and dolphin watching and to explore the amazing scenic phenomena created by historic and recent volcanic activity.  Another 10 hours sail and we were in Angra, ready to do some of the historic attractions.  But it's raining and cold....can you believe it?

We've looked at Passage Weather and it seems that the wind will be more northerly and favourable for our next leg to Lagos in the Algarve, Portugal (900nm - 7/9 days depending on the wind).