Year 3 -26th September 2026 - Sao Vicente, Cape Verde to Faial -Azores – Day 7
I had the 11.00pm to 2.00am watch and we were motoring as there was not enough wind and what there was -was on the nose. It was a quiet watch and so I looked at the weather and wrote the blog. I also had the last piece of Lemon Drizzle Cake to keep me going.
There was no real change in the weather and we are motoring to Waypoint 2245 when we should pick up some wind later tomorrow evening and the low will come through after that. I have a big family gathering in London on the 24 October 2026 which I will go too assuming I am back. I have been asked to give a short talk (5-7 minutes) about my trip. I gave this some thought as what can you say about a three and a quarter year circumnavigation trip in 5-7 minutes?
I handed over to Mark and Dave and went to bed and slept well.
I was on again at 8.00am and took over from Paul and John. I checked the weather again and we had a bit of a choice really. The wind in the low as it goes through veers from Southwest to Northwest which means it will end up on the nose which will make it difficult for us to sail. The choice therefore either to get there whilst it is Southwest and to sail with it round to the Northwest which will push us into the lee (shelter) of Pico Island which is Southeast of Faial. Pico Island has a volcanic cone called Pico Alto which is 2.351m and so provides a wind and therefore wave shadow behind it. This choice will mean sailing in 25-34kt winds and 3m swells. Alternatively we delay and wait for the winds to blow through and then we have to motor into the remaining wind and swell for a day or so to get there. The less comfortable option believe it or not is to sail and after discussing it with everyone this is what we agreed. Once we are in the lee of Pico Island then we will have some shelter from the wind and waves. We can then motor the last bit across to Faial and its harbour of Horta on its Southeast point. If we get there before light on the 29th then we can moor on the reception pontoon or anchor in the harbour. We made our decision and we will continue to monitor the situation.
We therefore adjusted our engine revs to get us to WP 2245 at about 3.00pm tomorrow.
The first thing I noticed as well when I came on watch was the swell. We were now beginning to get 2m swells from the Northwest which were about 12-15 seconds apart and we rode up and over them in a gentle motion. There was a lovely even pattern to it. There was also still the Northeast swell which over time gradually began to reduce. It was another lovely sunny day with blue high-pressure clouds and some mackrell shaped clouds which often indicates a change in weather. We know what is coming so this confirmed it. I went about the daily checks and began to make a list of things we need to do to prepare for the heavy weather. I pumped fuel from the Port tank to Starboard and checked our water situation as I cannot really make water with the engine on.
I handed over to Mark and Dave and our 24-hour run to 12.00noon was 157nm – a bit more than we needed but we have already adjusted our speed. Mark made some more houmous and we had already boiled some eggs so we had houmous, egg mayonnaise, meats, cheeses and of course coleslaw for lunch.
The afternoon continued to be sunny and warm and we rode over the swell which gave us a little bit more motion now from side to side. We discussed the list of things to do to prepare for the weather and I allocated tasks. I put back the generator housing sides which I had removed to check the oil and a potential coolant leak.
Mark made another Lemon Drizzle Cake to keep us going over the next few days. We read, chatted and slept.
As the day began to close we saw some rain clouds with rain pouring down in the distance. We monitored them and checked them on the radar and they passed us by. The sun went down and there was a lovely sunset. I am not sure we will see much moon tonight as it is so cloudy. It is after all a full moon today.
John made another delicious chicken cacciatore which I had with couscous.
We settled down to another night having had a quiet day. We know tomorrow night and the next two nights will be different but we need to go through them to get to our objective Faial. Thank goodness we were not still in Cape Verde which was being hit by Tropical Storm Gonzalo.
The picture of the day is of the Motley Crew relaxing in the cockpit.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
I am now on the way to Cape Verde, Azores and back to the UK. At present I am full and there will be a change of 3 crew in the Azores for the final passage back to the UK.
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