02/06/2014
38’ 18 20N 36’28 39W
There is a very large high pressure area sat west of the Azores and to enter this would mean no wind so we skirt round this heading north to keep with the wind. A French ketch is visible and calls us by VHF, we chat and I give them the weather we both decide to keep north and head for Flores which is the North Western most island in the Azores. We sail with our cruising chute up for about 3 days I downloaded another grib and there was some nasty wind due to pass over Flores in the next few days. I tried to contact the ketch but could not as they must have been out of range however, yacht Chaos heard our transmission and called us up. They were five miles away having come from Bermuda talk about a coincidence!
It was decided to burn down to our emergency reserve of fuel and we motored north for 6 hours hoping to find the wind. We caught the wind and made good time to Flores just before the front hit the last 20 or so miles fast in 25 knots of wind. Dolphins welcomed us as we passed the south of Flores and turned to the anchorage. The anchor was in and we slept with the wind howling, safe and warm in our bunks. We did the 2363 miles on the log in 18 days 2 hours and 35 minutes, not bad for a boat over 40 years old with a waterline of 26 feet.