It looks like our decision to sit tight while these three massive storms pass through the North Atlantic was a good one. Today we received an email and a blog post from two friends who attached a BBC News article on how severe the second of the two storms was and how a group of sailboats, sailing from England to Rhode Island, were hit and damaged, with two boats lost. Fortunately, the crew of both boats were rescued: one by the Canadian Coast Guard and the other from the QM2. The low that they sailed through had hit hurricane force winds of 90 MPH. To see the article, go to: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-40234274

We also received an email from our friends, Ally and Wayne, of S/V Blue Heeler. They have just arrived in the Azores safe and sound after a three week passage. The last few days of their passage they were nailed from the extreme lower arm of this storm. They had sustained winds in the 25 to 35 knots range with gusts about 40 knots. Seas were in the 12 to 15 feet range. The conditions were such that, for the very first time during their circumnavigation efforts, they felt it was best to set their drogue. We are so happy that they made it safely. Our other friend, Brian and his crew on S/V Coruisk are still a few days from reaching the Azores but it sounds like they are fine.

We are still puzzled but the extremely complex weather patterns that are currently in the North Atlantic and are predicted to stay that way. The huge high pressure cell that I previously wrote about and posted a picture from the Windy.com site is still there using the ECMWF European model. I have posted a picture of what it predicts from noon of June 19 to this blog. However, when I use the Windy.com site to analyze the NOAA CMF model, I get a totally difference picture of the weather. This model result is posted above this this blog. You can see that it shows a nasty low sitting to the east of the high and west of the Azores. It has a profound impact on the wind patterns, making the passage to the Azores very difficult. Plus, it does not show the extent of the front hanging off the low with all of the very nasty storms trailing along this long front. Sigh! Which model will end up being correct, if either of them are, is a question that we will be trying to answer in the next week.