I believe we left off we were running scared, yes that�s it running scared. Our forecast was for the low pressure system to arrive at our anticipated location about 6 hours before we reached port. We felt that 6 hours of bad weather would be manageable in order to be in port for the really bad part of the storm rather than running south for 150 miles and risking having a long beat back up to our destination (more on this in another post).

We calculated our available fuel and decided to put the hammer down and make way for nearest port. The next morning the weather report came in and the system had accelerated. It was now too late to head south as the forecasted southerlies had already arrived and the storm was coming upon us. We readied for battle...

We wrestled with the mainsail to get it down. We have been having trouble furling it in the big seas but after 20 minutes or so were able to get it down. We set the storm jib on the inner forestay and motorsailed along with the genoa and storm jib only making 9kts toward port. 300 miles to go, and the barometer began to drop� As a point of reference in the last low pressure system the barometer dropped 15 bars over a 3 days and then rose immediately after it�s passing. This storm the barometer dropped 17 bars in 10 hours and remained there for 3 days � layman�s translation: this second storm was setting up to make the last one look like a picnic in the park.

We were making way on our easterly course and the south winds gradually gave way to more southwest winds and began to increase. By dusk the wind had built to a steady 30kts and the seas had built to 10-12 feet. We had gradually rolled up the genoa and by nightfall we were flying along at 8kts under storm jib only. The wind increased again to a steady 35kts with gusts to 50, the seas continued to build. By midnight we were in a steady 40kts apparent and the seas were 15-18 feet with the odd 20+ footer.

We sailed through the night racing along surfing down massive waves with just the storm jib up. At the peak of the storm we were in steady 40kts with gusts to 50 and seas up to 20 feet in the pitch black with squalls and rain and the full force of nature upon us. By morning we were seeing steady 35kts and the seas remained around 15-20feet. We made our way along at and average of 8-10kts while the massive waves rolled underneath us. 120 miles to go. The final day was spent in these same conditions pushing us toward our safe harbor in the port of Lejes on the island of Flores in the Azores. We came to rest at anchor at 1930hrs on Saturday 29 May, 2009. And all slept REALLY well!

More on this story to come...