Day 1 Gone (Everyone saw the movie Gone Girl, right?)
May 30, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2200 UT
20 40N / 61 28W

Greetings-

We've had a good first day of the voyage with approximately 180 miles since we started sailing yesterday. Four sail changes with primarily light to moderate winds interspersed with small squalls. It's raining steadily now (2200UT) come on, you all have Goggle!

After a big lunch today Lance said it best, "we're not likely to lose any weight on this trip".

Everyone is settling in well it's another 13 days to Azores. Forecast is more of the same for 4-5 more days with decreasing rain showers as we move northward.



Day 2 Gone
May 31, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2200 UT
22 21N / 59 48W

Greetings Everyone-

Better reset your calendars...we're going to be out here for awhile....re-set those float plans.

As darkness fell last night the seas got very rough...three of us were seasick. I tried to drink an espresso coffee while working on the computer...big mistake. Robbie was sick for the first time ever after doing multiple Pacific crossings and Debbie never actually made it to the loo but felt pretty bad after cooking dinner. Pablo and Lance were fine. The wind only got up to 30+ apparent probably never topping 25 true but the cross sea had a nasty bounce to it.

We changed to the Solent as the wind started to build eventually reefing the main. At 2200 we went to put another reef in the main and the main halyard winch started coming apart so rather than try to fix it in the dark and possibly lose some of the parts we dropped the main altogether which had the added effect of calming the bouncing boat down a little. Bad news is that left us traveling along at 3 knots and below...shades of my 19 day return Kaui to SF passage with Lance in 2009.

A funky night was had by all...did I mention it rained heavily? At first light at 0500 I forced myself out of the sac and went up to join Robbie on watch. We fixed the winch, a minor repair, and re-hoisted the main. Once the main was up in the still lumpy seas one of the main sheet blocks failed zinging up past Robbie's head! It looks like a case of metal fatigue...just a solid piece of stainless broke in two. Down with the main, we scavenged the third reef clew block to use for the mainsheet. Lance heard the ruckus and came up to help so the three of us wrestled the sheet blocks back together, raised the main, changed jibs to the big genoa and were off and sailing at 8+Kts in the new dawn.

About an hour later I trimmed the genoa in harder to help make some more easting toward the Azores. Going down to the chart table to check our course I was shocked to see a 4 foot tear in the genoa! We were able to get it rolled up before it blew out completely so we have a pretty good chance of getting it fixed in Azores. Unfortunately that will add a day or more to this leg of our passage.

Looking back, the team pulled together well in the face of adversity which is not always the case when people are seasick. No one's worried about a couple of extra days probably because there is nothing that can be done about it.

Kind of a bummer as I thought the genoa had many more years in it, it's the mainsail which is reaching the end of it's life that we are keeping an eye on. We still have a very light air genoa and our Solent jib is literally brand new. Plan B, we have enough fuel to motor to Bermuda. Nothing to worry about these minor difficulties are the norm on a long passage such as this...I just wish we hadn't lost the use of the genoa so early in the trip. Things are looking good at the moment with boat speeds above 7 kts and fresh halibut tacos on the grill.



Day 3 Gone
June 1, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2200 UT
23 58N / 57 53W

Greetings-

Uneventful third day. Mostly cloudy w. light wind. Revised daily runs down to 150 NM per day.

sv/Vera called us on the VHF asking for assistance repairing their generator. As we have no mechanics in our group and their charging problem was far from serious (Vera is a 60' steel Jongert ketch presumably built in Holland with an operating engine and plenty of fuel by their estimation) we told them there was nothing we could do to help them unless they were in trouble. Turns out the trouble was of the personal variety as the owner later called us to ask if we could take three of his four crew off the boat and take them to Azores! Not even thinkable that you would take all but one person who would then have to negotiate his way alone on a boat that size. Obviously the owner and his hired skipper were not getting along. They then said they would turn back to St. Martin.

Other than that the only news of note is that the two "newbies" to the game of Hearts, Pablo and Lance, kicked our ass in the first counting game of the crossing!

Aubergines on the table as I write this so everyone have a good day...



Day 4 Gone
June 2, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2200 UT
25 31N / 55 31W

2200Z or 6:00 pm AST finds us about 620 NM NE of St Martin pretty much on the rhumb line to Azores.
We received a text by SatPhone from the Portuguese guys on Oceanus that we had over for dinner in St. Martin. They started about a day and a half ahead of us and are now 250 NM to the NE. They are traveling about the same speed as us. It would be nice to be in two way contact as they can tell us exactly what the weather is like ahead of us. Texting on the Sat Phone is new to me and I can't get a text or a call to go out. My phone gives me the message "the number you have dialled is not in service", but they just sent us a text from their phone. I should be able to text back. Any ideas are appreciated...for you Googlers we have an Iridium 9505 Sat Phone.

Our weather router tells us two more days of good wind which will get us close to 1000 nm down and about 1100 nm as the crow flies to Azores. We have fuel to motor 600 miles if necessary so we are hoping the high pressure will drift off to the east...otherwise it will be slow and challenging sailing.

Everyone's fine, Escapade is fine and we have started the Escapade Mid-Atlantic Hearts Championships. Lot's of competitive card players on board!


Day 5 Gone
June 3, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2200 UT
27 36N / 53 24W

We're making 7-8 knots at the moment in a NNE direction toward Flores (Azores). We had a major technological breakthrough today, we can now send as well as receive texts on our Iridium Sat Phone from other Iridium users. Presumably, also from the Iridium web site.

We are now in contact with our Portuguese friends on EcoOceanus, the Catana 44 which is about 250 miles ahead of us. This means we can know what the wind is like right in front of us. For now, our weather router tells us another day of this 12-17 knots followed by two days of under 8 as we enter the High Pressure. After that we should get a rousing S wind at 20+ knots which will allow us to sail directly toward Azores with our spinnaker up! Looking forward to clocking some expected 200+ mile days. Using only the small jib since our genoa blow out we have averaged 155 miles per day since leaving St. Martin. A little disappointing but ok.

Morale is good even though the motion has been a bit bumpy, we have a great group...Pablo put on an incredible slide show of his travels in Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. Very beautiful photos, especially those taken out in the jungle near the Ecuadorian border. They stayed with Shamans, walked over suspension bridges that looked pretty sketchy, etc. Quite an adventurous trip for a 20 year old guy with two years of college left. Fantastic pictures of "graffiti" in Bogota where it is legal (with the owner's permission) and decorates many, many buildings in the historic area often with incredibly life like images...

All the best from the Escapade!


Day 6 Gone
June 4, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2130 UT
29 53N / 52 08W

Sad but true, we're nearly out of the tropics for at least the next two years. The temperature has cooled a little and we had a variety of wind and non-wind today. A few hours of almost nothing, so we changed to the Code 0, then in the middle of the Hearts Tournament the wind picked up from the beam and we have been doing 7.5-10 kts. in only 8-12 knots of wind. The Code 0 is a very big sail designed specifically for close reaching to beam reaching and it is paying for itself today...it's not used often but in its range it's magic!

We have 2.5 days until we get through this light air area and back into some real breeze, that, according to our weather router, Bob Cook in Florida.

We saw sails on the horizon this afternoon but they didn't answer our hail on the radio...even tried the old trick of the woman's voice, but no answer. They probably didn't have their "ears" on. The Portuguese guys on EcoOceanus are still well out in front of us but a little to the east. Our router thinks they will run out of wind as they enter the SW quadrant of the high. The race isn't over! (and they started a day and a half ahead of us).

Hoping to be half way by tomorrow night but that is totally up to the wind gods.

All the best from the Escapade!


Day 7 Gone
June 5, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2100 UT
31 59N / 51 13W

Half way to Azores as the crow flies!
1,055 nm from St. Martin

A milestone day...

Just after my message last night, and just as we were enjoying our spaghetti and meatballs dinner (better than lobster ashore!) we were congratulating ourselves on getting the huge Code 0 sail up and finally finding some wind. The wind is now aft of the beam after 6 very bumpy days of pounding upwind...much, much more pleasant life on board. We were doing 8-9+kts. and I had just remarked to Debbie..."I can't remember what the top range of this sail is". No sooner said than bam! our halyard cover parted dropping the sail about 4 feet.

We all left our dinners on the table as it was all hands on deck. We had some extraordinary teamwork and managed to get the sail on deck without shredding it overboard. I did have to cut the $600 halyard in half to get the sail down.

This morning arrived with lighter wind and nothing but the small heavy air jib. We thought of ways to replace the cut halyard but our suitable extra lines were too short. We finally decided to drop the useless genoa that had ripped on day 2 and scavenge that halyard to replace our Code 0 / spinnaker halyard. Easier said than done when it requires going up the mast 70' to re-run the halyard. But up stepped Robbie who was THE MAN today as he not only made the trip up the mast as the waves battered him against the rigging, but fished the tail out of the mast on the way back down! We should have a very necessary halyard for the expected light air days ahead.

We are going to motor overnight as there is almost no wind, giving our batteries a much needed full charge. We'll deal with getting the code 0 back up tomorrow if the wind is up. 200 miles to our next important waypoint where our weather router anticipates a strong westerly wind which should push us due east to the Azores. Fish tacos on the grill and a good night's sleep for all...like I mentioned, the motion is much better now.

Hope everyone is well and living life to the fullest!

BTW The Code 0 is an enormous light air sail used for close reaching. It's of particular importance since the genoa the next biggest sail ripped on day 2 leaving us with only our small heavy air jib.


Day 8
June 6, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2130 UT
34 37N / 50 04W

Good day,

Motored overnight for 24 hours, until 1630 this afternoon when we put up the main and spinnaker. Very light going to the north in new SW wind. Forecast wind to go to S and increase overnight but we need to conserve our fuel and will try to be patient in this excruciatingly light going.

Hoping to turn E toward Azores soon.

Morale good...just need wind...



Day 9 Gone
June 7, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2100 UT
35 14N / 47 05W

(btw San Francisco is 38N / 122W)

Greetings everyone,

A pleasant day here on the Escapade. Moderate wind from the S and heading more or less directly to Azores with 800nm to go. Actually we are sailing a course a little to the S of Azores as once the low giving us this pleasant wind moves to the E in another 48 hours the wind will be on the nose...which is a bad thing. Therefore as we head S of the islands now, we can tack and hopefully be able sail to Flores rather than motor. Either way we're home clear as we WILL have enough fuel to get to Azores when the wind goes against us. This realization is a welcome relief...haven't seen a gas station since we left St. Martin.

We overtook another sailboat this morning, a French sloop also coming from St. Martin. Also lots of commercial traffic now that we are on a West-East course. At one point we had three freighters/tankers within a 25 mile radius...after not seeing anyone nearby for days. We must now be on a major Europe-US trading route.

A large pod of dolphins swam with us in our bow wake last night. Also, you can imagine how the stars and the big moon appear to pop out of the sky with no ambient light...the other night we saw a night rainbow...didn't know there was such a thing. It looked just like a rainbow without the color...it was shades of grey. I guess the moonlight picked up the water crystals in the air.

Two more days of this..then we get pounded on the last two days into Azores...anyway that is the forecast and we all know the weather can change.

Morale is good, lasagne for dinner and I won the last two games of Hearts...

As Debbie said today, we are very fortunate to have the time to be out here to read and reflect on life in general without a lot of distractions. We have both actually started reading War and Peace (1500 pages)...may not finish it until we sail back across the Atlantic in a couple of years!

Best wishes from the Escapade!



Day 10 Gone
June 8, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2000UT
36 01N / 44 37W

Attention all well-meaning people:

Stop praying for us to be safe! We desperately need more wind, not less...

Today we ran into a high pressure ridge extending from N to S directly in front of our course to the Azores. Coupled with the N Atlantic High which is now in its normal position directly over the islands this means the only wind in our immediate future is in front or to the west of the high. Accordingly we have taken a 90 degree detour to the N until we reach the same latitude as Flores approx 24 hours away. At that point we will turn 90 degrees E and start motoring toward Flores. Next we will see light wind from the E which means when we get low on fuel we will have to sail upwind in very light air with our heavy air jib. Shaping up to be an excruciating finish...

Our Portuguese friends on Oceanus are withing 200 nm of Flores and nearly out of fuel...they asked if we had any extra...sadly no. They will have to be patient and sail on whatever zephyrs are available. At least they have a very light boat and a genoa...they will make it sooner than we will.

Nonetheless, this still beats working!


11 Days Gone
June 9, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2145 UT
37 44N / 42 50W
559nm from Flores, Azores

Greetings to all,

A grey rainy day here in mid-Atlantic, but the great news is that the wind is holding and we are forecast for wind tomorrow. That would put us nearly close enough to motor thru the North Atlantic High to Azores. We'll see. The forecast has been constantly changing due to this big N/S high pressure ridge between us and the islands.

Looking forward to sunshine tomorrow as we're having a party! It's Pablo's 21st birthday, we're planning a mid-Atlantic swim as something to remember the day by and Debbie will be cooking a leg of lamb...cause to celebrate. The Captain may even waive the non-drinking while at sea rule and make up some Dark & Stormy rum drinks as we have a supply of the necessary Gosling Rum and ginger beer. Robbie is a non-drinker so he can keep the Escapade on the straight and narrow.

Other than Napoleon has just routed the Russian army in "War and Peace" there hasn't been much excitement onboard. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

BTW Estimated arrival is Flores on Saturday. If the wind dictates we are still open to arriving in Horta a day or so later...it's good not to be too set in your ways when traveling by boat.

Best wishes from the crew of the Escapade!


Day 12 Gone
June 10, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2230 UT
38 36N / 40 00W

Good Evening-

There are two types of difficult voyages: those with too much wind, and those with not enough. We are getting into the latter category as
we now have a circular problem: a finite amount of diesel to use to charge batteries and for propulsion. The longer we are at sea the more battery charging we have to do and the less range we end up with to motor the last bit to the islands.

Nothing to really worry about...it's just a matter of time. I calculate that we have 360 miles motoring capability if we don't use more than a couple more gallons for the generator. We now have 415 miles to Flores and we are not sailing in a straight line. Sooo we will sail thru the night in very light breezes looking to pick up another 50 nm before turning on the motor. There is always a chance that there will be wind near the island, but that chance is very slim as the N Atlantic High continues to sit directly on the Azores. Shaping up for an interesting night...

Pablo's birthday dinner could not have been better. Debbie has been doing a stellar job feeding us but tonight she completely outdid herself with a perfectly prepared leg of lamb and a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Gosling rum Dark and Stormys rounded out the soiree. Pablo is well liked by everyone onboard and received a heartfelt birthday card and a couple of T shirts (clean, new actually!) as gifts. I think he is enjoying the geezers that make up the crew of the Escapade.

We have now had contact with three other sailing vessels. The first one as you remember wanted us to take on the captain and two other crew leaving only the owner to sail his 20m boat back to St. Martin. Not a good idea. This morning we were hailed by a 10m French sloop we were passing. We exchanged pleasantries and I asked how they were doing and if they had enough fuel to get to Azores. They replied that they were ok but they were out of cigarettes and did we have any (cigarettes)... Our Portuguese friends on Catana No. 1 who are about 250 nm ahead of us reported that they have lost a rudder, but are ok and sailing N on what little wind they have. We know they are also short on fuel. We plan to alter our course once we start the engine to intersect with their course in case they have any serious difficulty.

With the three Portuguese guys we are all looking forward to some good Azorean red wine...

Trivia note: the sea is 16,404 feet deep here according to our chart.


Day 13
June 11, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2130 UT
39 05N / 37 12W

Lucky day because we unexpectedly were able to sail almost all day, only turning the engine on for good at 1630 Escapade Time (Z-1).
We are now less than 300nm of Flores with enough fuel to motor all the way in under the high pressure (no wind). Our friend Silvana writes from Italy telling us the Europeans look to the Azores High to see what kind of summer weather they will have. If the high is centered over the Azores it will be a nice summer. Cheers to that we say, we're happy to motor for two days to have nice weather in the Mediterranean this summer!

Everyone was pretty mellow on the boat up thru yesterday, but today as we get within reach of the islands we're all a little antsy to get there. For most of us the best thing will be to stretch our legs and get some exercise. A little internet fix and a glass of wine sound pretty good too.

Once we arrive Saturday afternoon, please do not use this email until further notice. We will be using our normal Escapade@Escapade.us.com email for about a week.

Cheers-


Day 14 Gone
June 12, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2000 UT
39 12N / 33 50E

Tomorrow we will arrive in or near Flores. In the harbor if we have just enough fuel or very close to it if we don't. You can water ski today in the North Atlantic Ocean so we have been motoring since yesterday afternoon and will continue through the night and well into tomorrow. We rotate the engines, eight hours on and eight hours off. That gives us a chance to check the engine fluids and the engine bilge after every 8 hours of use. Hopefully the engines will be happy with that. It never ceases to amaze me how the big diesels can just run and run and run pushing this heavy boat thru the water...don't quit now!

It's been a languid day with everyone laying about reading, listening to music, playing cards and drinking lots and lots of espresso coffee. It has been a pleasant trip after the first six days but going into our 15th day at sea I'm ready to stretch my legs and I imagine everyone feels the same way. Once we visit Azores and take care of some of our most pressing boat repairs we will depart Punta del Gado, at the eastern end of the chain for the Portuguese Algarve or direct to Cadiz, Spain. Pablo's grandparents live in Cadiz and after showing us around for a day or two he will leave us there for a visit with his grandparents before continuing on to home in Valencia.

Please use our regular email addresses for any correspondence after tomorrow noon and for the next week. Thanks for keeping an eye on our progress and watching out for us in case of emergency...this time it has been a very mellow trip.

All the best from the crew of the Escapade...


Day 15
July 13, 2015

Arrived Flores, Azores!


Day 16
June 14, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2030 UT
38 48N /29 35W

Greetings,

Escapade made landfall in Flores mid day Saturday where we were promptly welcomed into the anchorage by a horn salute from our friends on Eco-Oceanis, the Portuguese Catana that we had met in St. Martin. I had good intentions of writing you from my shore based email, but by the time we went to the store, dropped off our garbage and had that first cold beer in the cafe we had been invited to join a Ductch couple and an English couple to join their table... what can I say? After sharing stories of their crossings both from St Martin, 24 and 28 days compared to our 15, we were already late to pick up Debbie and Robbie who were out on the boat in the anchorage.

Returning ashore the choices for dinner was slim pickins' for the first dinner off the boat in two weeks. Lajes, Flores is a very small town with a very small marina...Escapade couldn't even fit into the marina. This is a real cruiser place...smaller boats...smaller budgets and longer crossings from everywhere. Very cool with most boats having much of their gear on deck drying in the sun and joining together for a beach bbq that evening. We were looking for a dinner where chef Debbie could sit down and be served and the cafe was it - literally. The Portuguese caught up with us and it turned into a riotous evening. One of their crew, Joao is very handsome and some sort of a television personality in Portugal although you would never know it by how casual these three sailors are. By the end of dinner he somehow got the idea that he really needs to meet Debbie's daughter, Kellan. (Sorry Stewart, I think it's just a passing fancy!). By the end of dinner, which involved the Ukrainian owner driving me to an ATM to change dollars to Euros, Joao, Daniel and Pablo were heading off for a party and some late-night clubs further up the island, as was the Ukrainian who rented them a car and was doing a separate drunk driving exhibition to the same clubs. Alberto, the father, and the three senior cruisers on Escapade stumbled down the hill to our dinghy and were fast asleep by ten o'clock.

Flores is fabulously green and beautiful yet not that warm (think San Francisco) and definitely short of off the boat diversions. By unanimous vote we departed this morning at 10:30 local time (which happens to be 1030 UT) and sailed off for Horta some 130 miles to the SE. The wind has been significantly more than forecast so we will arrive in the dark...maybe 0300. We will assess the situation when we get there and either wait for daylight to enter the harbor or work our way in slowly in the dark. The guidebook and the charts make the entrance look pretty wide open. Plans are to get the sail repaired, do a one day tour of the neighboring island of Pico and keep moving on to the warmer waters of the Mediterranean.

Cheers
-gd


Days 17, 18 & 19
June 15-17

Horta, Azores

Days and evenings ashore cleaning and repairing the boat with most evenings spent at the wonderful sailor's bar the Café Sport.

Day 20
June 18, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2100 UT
38 32N / 28 05W

Greetings-

The Escapade departed Horta harbor at 1730 local time (which happens to be Universal Time or Zulu as it is most often called.)
We headed east over the north coast of the Island of Pico a beautifully green island topped by a perfect volcanic cone. Very verdant. Reminiscent of Hawaii but with recent weather more reminiscent of a summer in San Francisco!

Our soft destination is Portomao on the south coast of Portugal some 920 nm due east as the Albatross flies. Soft because if the wind doesn't make it easy we will change our minds...we are allowed to do that because there are so many beautiful places often one as interesting as the other.

Forecast calls for clearing weather as we move E starting out with NE winds 12-15 which will put us hard on the wind with a bumpy ride for the first 2-3 days. After that the wind moves to the N, W and then to the NW making the second half of the trip a sleigh ride. We are all happy to be back at sea and into our normal routines after a fun few days in Horta...much of it spent in the Cafe Sport, one of the world's great sailor's bars and restaurants. We were able to get our genoa repaired and we jury rigged a halyard to replace the one that was lost. A few more issues were taken care of and Escapade was cleaned, provisioned and made ready to go.

Should be a relatively quick 6 day passage but you never know. Bob Cook, our Florida based weather router, said in his last email that he had never seen a passage from the Caribbean to Azores that had as many calm days as ours...

Best wishes to all from the crew of the Escapade. (have to run to get some photos of the volcanic cone on Pico in the sunset...


Day 21
June 19, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 2000 UT
38 24N / 24 46W

Bumpy evening...Debbie struggled to fix chile rellenos for dinner as the wind is up a little more and the waves seem a little bigger and closer together than earlier today. We motored from 17:30 yesterday until 13:30 this afternoon to get our from under the Azores high pressure. Looks like we will be able to sail the entire way from here. The forecast calls for the skies to clear more and more as we sail east.

As always, we remain flexible with our plans to minimize possible disappointment, but our thoughts are to stop if only for an afternoon at Sagres, Portugal. This beautiful anchorage has a nice sand beach ringed by the sandstone cliffs typical of the Algarve. It was also home to Henry the Navigator and many of the notable voyages of exploration of the new world started from here...seems like a good idea to pay homage to some of the early explorers. It's also only a couple of nautical miles east of the very southwest tip of Portugal at Cabo de Sao Vincente the first we will see of mainland Europe.

Anyone that would like to be spared one more email in their inbox just let me know...



Day 22
June 20, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 1800Z
37 52N / 21 40W

Not much to report on this grey dismal day in the N Atlantic. We are being conservative with our repaired genoa and using only the small Solent jib at night. This is seriously cutting into our mileage, but I think it is the best thing to do under the circumstances, i.e. the repaired genoa and the de-laminating mainsail. We were hoping our old mainsail would hold up for this long, arduous trip so we didn't have to shorten the life of a brand new sail at it's inception. So far, so good. but with the cloth literally falling off both sides of the sail we look like the Grapes of Wrath pulling into a new port.

Winds have been moderate and shifty, we basically change course at least once an hour and have to keep a close eye on the ever changing windspeed so we don't overstress the genoa. We have changed sails at least four times today and we put the daggerboards up whenever the boat speed exceeds 8.5 knots. The factory claims that 8.5 knots is the top speed they are built for and in any event they are not needed once the boat is going fast. So far the whole trip has been on the wind and fairly-to-very bumpy. We're waiting for the fun half...

Meanwhile Tolstoy's Russians and Napolean have destroyed half of each other's armies as both Debbie and I pass the 1,000 page mark in War and Peace. If the trip lasts long enough I just might finish the next 500 pages! Can you imagine having the time to read a 1,500 page novel?! Lance and Robbie are busy battling it out in 500 Rummy and Pablo has just about seen all 50 movies we have on the boat...he seems a little lost in thought today...he will soon be back to reality after his one year hiatus. I know he is looking forward to seeing his family and friends so these last 4 or 5 days will probably be long for him.

So long from the grey zone...

Day 23
June 21, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report
37 28N / 18 30W

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers in the US!

We need a water ski boat! The ocean is like glass...looks like we are going to burn thru another 200 gallons of diesel not wanting to make a 10 day trip out of what normally would be a 5 day trip. We plan to motor until we get some decent wind to sail, even if it takes motoring to the Portuguese coast. This morning we were sailing at 3-4 knots then the wind shifted and our course was taking us to South Africa so we gave it up and turned on the engine. Shortly thereafter it died completely and actually became glassy without a ripple in the water.

Everybody have a great evening and we will talk to you tomorrow.



Day 24
June 22, 2015

s/v Escapade Position Report 1800 UT
37 23N / 15 01 W

1800 local time finds us motoring directly to Cabo Sao Vicente arriving late evening on the 24th. I'll probably wait to write after we arrive, probably during the day of the 25th as there is not much going on out here. It was a nice sunny day today and this evening we have some clouds. We heard from our French friends on Ouf who are cruising in Formentara (adjacent to Ibizia) who report that there is no wind there either, but that the summer crowds have already arrived. We are looking forward to arriving in the Algarve and seeing a little bit of Portugal...also looking forward to some much needed exercise after three weeks on the boat with only a couple of days on land in Azores.

Best wishes from the Escapade!


Day 25
June 23

Arrive Portimao / Farragundo ;-)