Year 3 -12th October 2026 – Faial -Azores for Hamble UK – Day 4– the Last Passage to Home

David and I were on at 2.00am until 5.00pm and the waves and winds were about the same. This was strange and none of the forecasted increase in winds had occurred up to the 36-37 forecast. The highest we saw on our watch was 32kts. This was kind and we had a quietish watch as much as you can when the wind is a good Force 6/7 and the waves were quite sizeable.

I got up about 8.00am and the other watches had been the same. They had a similar wind and wave strength which was good. It had not been as bad as I thought. However, there were models showing gusts of up to 42 kts by about 11.00am.

Dave made bacon and egg for those that wanted and Mark tried a mango which was bad. The morning continued with similar strengths and I wondered whether it was going to get worse and perhaps it had blown itself out.

We decided to now go on to UK time which meant going forward an hour so Watty & the Commodore did 30 minutes less and David and I had the benefit of the other 30 minutes. We changed the ships clocks accordingly. The answer in relation to the weather was that it had not blown itself out and from about 11.30am the wind increased and we began to see mid 30’s then late 30’s in terms of wind strengths and the sea state increased and we had 4m plus waves from time to time. We were surfing down some waves and others skewed us around and the occasional hit us on the side and splashed a bit of water into the cockpit.

The 23-hour run to the new 12.00noon was 158nm     and had it been 24 hours it would have been 166nm.

Mark began to prepare a beer dombura dish which was difficult in the conditions. We had lunches which was our usual bread and meats, cheeses etc.    

David and I had taken over and the wind continued to howl and we saw up to 44 kt gusts with big seas. It was somewhat unpleasant and made doing anything difficult.

The conditions did not want to seem to end but eventually at about 15.28 the wind eased slightly and we had a little drizzle and the wind veered round to the West in minutes and so David and I gybed and we were back on course again. The front had just passed through and we were through it.

Whilst the wind eased it took about an hour for it to settle down in the mid 20 kt area. The sea state takes longer to calm down but it did gradually do so. We were now in between fronts. The one that had passed on our right and the big nasty one some many miles to our left and the plan was to sail in a curve round to the Scillies and Lands’ End over the next 3 days or so.

We set a course for an inside curve so that we did not have the strongest winds.

Mark and Dave took over about 4.20pm as I gave the some of our gained minutes. Initially we stayed on the staysail and then this was changed to a reefed genoa and then we got out the main with 3 reefs in. Mark put away the running backstay on the starboard side and we started to sail with genoa and main again after days of just staysail. The sea state began to calm and. The course meant the waves were on the side more so there was less skewing. We had over 530 nm to the Scillies.

Mark abandoned his planned dish and said he will do it tomorrow so I decided to do something easy -yes pasta pesto with broccoli although David did not have the pesto. This was warm and filling.

It felt like we were in a different phase now and I hoped the worse was behind us. We began to sail well and 7-8kt plus speeds as it will be good to get a bit more into the shelter of the Channel.

Watty and the Commodore took over at 8.00pm and we were still sailing well. Mark prepared a loaf of bread and the Commodore then dealt with the subsequent proving and putting it into the oven.

I was checking the weather carefully which changes each time I look virtually. I tried to get some rest but the wind reduced and so we then needed to out the preventer on the main and to throw out a couple of reefs which I helped them with.

David and I took over at 11.00pm and we had to deal with a foreign – probably Korean-fishing boat which had a net with 4 AIS markers which we had to skirt round. I had to take the bread out of the oven when done.

We were now settled into a night which was calmer and at a different sailing angle so we ought to be able to catch up on some needed sleep. We also need to make some good miles toward the Scillies as the nasty front will mostly go North but the cold front of it will came across Lands’ End in the early hours of the 16th and it will bring a large band of rain and the wind will veer again. The picture of the day is a picture looking back with a wave approaching our stern and which surfed us forward.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com