410 miles north of Terceira and still going north!!!! What I would do to turn a little to the right! Fingers crossed we might be able to head a little NE tomorrow.
Did I mention we have been motoring all day too.
Will, Tam and Elmarleen
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Just a position update - we are sailing and or motoring towards Iceland at breakneck speed! There must be a world record in here somewhere - slowest passage home ever?
After a good night under spinnaker and averaging 6 knots, the wind died this morning, and we had thick fog. So we are now motoring, hoping to find 10 knots or so at around 6 pm this evening. The forecast keeps changing so we don't know where we're even heading for yet- we just have a wish list!We have yet to make any progress East as we play tag with the wind - We're it!
Apart form that, all's well. Will spend the day deciding how best to serve up my tinned duck legs ( what will they look like I wander!) so that we have something resembling food for supper!
Tam, Will and Elmarleen
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Well as expected the forecast is pretty rubbish. Very light winds and a big detour North to try and get on top of a high. We even talked about turning back to the Azores last night but both of us agreed we would rather a very slow trip back now than have to try again in a couple of weeks.
Even if we manage to get into the WesterlyÂ's they will be short lived before it moves right over the top of us. We plan to sail north north north as much as we can and then head towards Ireland. If anything changes we will then be in a position to make for Kinsale or Falmouth. ItÂ's not going to be the flying trip home both Tam and I were looking for. 1300 miles should easily be doÂ'able in nine days as I did last year but its looking more like two weeks and that might only get us to Kinsale or Falmouth.
At least we are managing to sail north and we are conserving our fuel. We did in fact buy two more jerry cans and have a further 40 ltrs of diesel onboard. ThatÂ's about another 27 hours motoring. I will however have to do a oil change at sea Â- that well be a messy first!
Tam and I are both very much looking forward to getting home now but it appears powers that be want to keep us out here as long as they can. My biggest issue is I have an interview on the 5th and GibboÂ's stag weekend on the 6th August. If we end up in Falmouth or Kinsale I might have to fly/train home for them.
Apart from that all is well on board apart from the uncertainty of when we will get in anywhere. We do have however the first season of 24 to watch which we might start after lunch.
Sorry for the not very exciting or interesting blog.
Will
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So the ourney ends - we are leaving now bound for Southampton, or possibly Kinsale if the high reaches even further north!
We are both ready to move out of our 33 ft home and enoy the benefits of hot water on tap, big fluffy ( non damp) duvets, wifi and TV and good food! The downside is we swop it all for our freedom - to wake up and travel wheresoever we like, whenever we like. Lets see how we get on! :-0
Tam, Will and Elmarleen
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So the ourney ends - we are leaving now bound for Southampton, or possibly Kinsale if the high reaches even further north!
We are both ready to move out of our 33 ft home and enoy the benefits of hot water on tap, big fluffy ( non damp) duvets, wifi and TV and good food! The downside is we swop it all for our freedom - to wake up and travel wheresoever we like, whenever we like. Lets see how we get on! :-0
Tam, Will and Elmarleen
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Just a quickie to let you all know that yes we have arrived in Horta. We arrived on Tuesday at 1am in morning local time meaning we crossed the Atlantic in just under 14 days.......again! Same time as last year.
Tam has flown back to the UK for a week so I am here alone. Not as lonely as you think as there are boats arriving everyday with people we know from the Caribbean and Bermuda. Dream has just arrived!
Off to Pico on the ferry tomorrow.
Will
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Yes still motoring. There will not be much left in the tank by the time we get tied up inside the breakwater. Only a few more miles to go and so will be there in a hour or two.
Looking forward to a good nights sleep.
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Have been motoring on and off for almost three days now. Saw Flores in the distance last night and it wont be long till Faial and Pico appear on the horizon. Greatly looking forward to shutting this bloody engine up! Thats if it doesnt do it on its own though lack of fuel. 60 miles to go!!!
Deaf Will, Tam and Elmarleen
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We are going slightly crazy out here. We have 180 miles to sail to Horta and 75 mile to sail to Flores. We are currently sailing a COG 39T at a speed of 3knots. I keep on recalculating and recalculating the fuel we think we have left in the tanks and I estimate we can motor for about 35 hours. ThatÂ's about 175 miles at five knots. Pretty close hey! What if I am wrong with my estimates? What if we canÂ't keep 5 knots due to any against current? The sensible thing to do would be to motor to Flores, refuel and motor to Horta. But quite frankly we donÂ't want to waist any time on Flores and we need to send Tam home on a plane asap. All we need is half a day of decent wind and we would be confident we could make it. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Going crazy! A week ago we thought we would be arriving in Horta today.
Saying all of that - today must be the nicest day out here sice leaving Bermuda. Sunny and warm, with dolphins too.
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Spent much of yesterday trying to sail as best as we could. We probably spent most of our time doing 3-4 knots under spinnaker. Eventually the wind totally dropped and we started the engine around 11pm. Its still running! The water is like a pond, barley a ripple to be seen. We are hoping it will be ideal whale watching weather.
If the forecast it correct we are looking like we will get around 5-10 knots from the east, which although not idea we will accept. The daily log has dropped from the 170 Â- 150 mile days we were having and the last two days were 110 and 106.
With trying to conserve fuel and the lack of wind I expect our ETA in Horta is most likely to be Tuesday now.
Will
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