Year 3 -9th October 2026 – Depart Faial -Azores for Hamble UK – Day 2 – the Last Passage to Home

David and I were on at 2.00am and we were still motoring. It was a relatively clear night and the stars were out in force. It was calm and quiet. We saw little traffic and the moon did not seem to show. It was cool though and although I still wore shorts jumpers and coats were required. I wrote the blog and checked the weather. We were both glad to get to bed at 5.00am.

I woke about 8.00am to the smell of bacon sizzling. I thought it must be Whatty but no I found Dave making egg and bacon butties which was very welcome.

It was quite a cloudy morning but relatively warm and as the morning wore on it got warmer and the sun came out.

Whatty and the Commodore were on watch and they went through the daily checks and I got the courtesy flags down for the last time. I checked the weather again and we should have wind by about 8.00pm-10.00pm this evening and over the next few days the wind will increase to about 25-26 kts underlying but we could have gusts of up to 38kts and seas of up to 3.75m. The reason for this is that we will be on the bottom edge of a low passing through and we may encounter a couple of these on our return journey.

Mark made some houmous and some yes you guessed it -coleslaw. We have been having withdrawal symptoms! I had a shower and a shave and then chilled.

David and I took over at 12.00noon and it was warm and sunny and we looked out at a relatively flat ocean. There was the odd bird – probably a shearwater type and then we saw some white splashes ahead. We saw quite a lot of dolphins who seemed to be fishing and they took little interest in us. We began to pass but then two peeled away to come and see us and they were jumping out of the water and then they rode the bow wave for some time enjoying the pressure and having fun. We enjoyed watching them for a while. By 12.00noon we had made 127 nm since leaving Horta.

Lunch was set out and it was bread, egg mayonnaise, houmous, cheese, meats, salad and coleslaw. It looked quite a spread and why not.

We had the job on our watch of checking the fruit and vegetables on our watch and located two oranges on their way out. We also had to do the internal cleaning of the central part of the boat. I also found on deck a screw loose on one of the cars and tightened this up. If that had failed that would be an issue.

As the afternoon wore on the cloud cover increased and the barometer dropped a little and it had been 1030 since we left really which is high – appropriate for an Azores High. In addition we began to see a little more swell coming from different directions.

We had tea about 4.00pm and Dave got out some of his fruit cake which he had brought with him to Cape Town which was good.

David and I went for a rest.

I was up about 5.30pm and we were still motoring. The Commodore was preparing supper and we had Marlin with mashed potatoes with mustard and broccoli and very good it was too.

At about 7.00pm Mark put out the genoa as it looked like the wind was increasing and we sailed for a bit albeit 20 + degrees off course. However, within about 30 minutes the sail came in as it was not strong enough. I checked the weather again and really it does not fill in properly until midnight.

We settled down for the night and hopefully the wind will come in a forecast and we can sail toward blighty and I hope it is not as strong as the low we went through before we arrived in Horta.   

 The picture of the day is some dolphins playing in the bow wave on the bow of Stormbird.

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