Day 3

 April 22nd

Day 3

0915

Distance to Horta (direct): 2122

Distance sailed in 24 hours: 62 nm

Light breeze from ENE and calm sea.  Slipping along at 2.5 knots. Sunny and a few clouds.  Looks like another hot day ahead.

1300  Calm, slow, pleasant sailing.  Saw a dorado (mahi mahi) amongst the jacks following Nuts so got out the little fishing rod.  Difficult not to hook a jack but eventually managed to cast the lure right in front of the dorado and hooked up.  Had to quickly grab the gaff as I was using very light line.  All went well.  Fish now filleted and skinned, cockpit cleaned and me "showered" with shampoo and sea water.  Just a tiny bit of fresh to rinse the salt from my hair and face.  So fish for supper again tonight.

 Update from yesterday, received today.

13.40

Tacked.  Wind very light, maybe 6 knots. 32C inside, hot and sweaty.

Caught an almaco jack, also called long finned yellow tail, this afternoon.  Lots of them swimming around the sargassum.  Filleted and fried in olive oil for supper.  Delicious and no bones.

Slow sailing, even did a 360.

 Day 2

Tuesday 21st April

0915

Distance sailed in 24 hours: 81 nm

Uneventful night. Slept in 20 minute intervals using the cooking timer. Wind slowly eased off to 10 - 12 knots.  Sea still very choppy and lots of slamming.   This morning the sea was down a bit and took a reef out.  Doing 3.5 to 4 knots close hauled.  Lots of sargassum weed around and can't use the stabiliser fins. Have to clear weed off the rudder using the boat hook.  All is good on board but weather outlook not so good.  I'll stay south of 20 degrees till it improves.

I guess my planned omelet for supper will be saved for tomorrow. Now just got to work out what to put with it. Caught several in 5 mins and only kept the biggest. Saw some around the boat that were much bigger but had already filleted this one.

 Leaving the Carribean, heading for home.

Monday 20thApril

Departed Marigot Bay, Saint Martin, at 09.15

Sunny, Wind E 15 to 20 knots

Weighed anchor under sail as the outboard engine was already stowed away under the starboard quarter berth. I sailed under jib only to the western tip of Anguilla while I secured stuff in the lockers and shelves to stop them rattling around.  Chain and anchor ropes drying out before stowing under the starboard bunk. I have loaded the starboard side more as I will be on a starboard tack for some time.  Sailing between 3 and 4 knots.

11.30  Rounded Anguilla and heading for Prickly Pear Cays.  3 reefs and jib, close hauled, doing 3 knots.

Sailed through the gap between the cays and avoided the coral heads which are more or less the same as I remember from nearly 40 years ago.

Prickly Pear Cays

I wonder what the local charter fleet and restaurant goers thought of this little yacht sailing through the gap and reef then disappearing over the NE horizon where there is no land for thousands of miles. Very sporty on this beat with a lot of slamming,  Trying to keep speed about 3 knots.  If I go faster it's too uncomfortable.

15.10 Going to connect to wi-fi to check the weather.  Got to keep eyes open for fish traps, shallow for a few more miles.

20.00  Still beating but wind down a bit, maybe 12 to 14 knots.  Only doing 2.5 to 3 knots, still 3 reefs and jib.  Seas very confused over the Anguilla bank.  Depth between 50m and 3000m very close.  In a few hours I should be in deep water and hopefully seas sort themselves out.  Rum and pineapple juice for sundowner but got drenched with salt spray, still tasted okay though!  Still pounding even though sailing slowly.  Might have a hard time sleeping tonight.  Closest AIS signal is 17 miles away.  Suppertime - tamale mushroom pasta.

 19th April 2026

Hi from hot and sunny Saint Martin,

In the lagoon at Saint Martin

After an uneventful crossing of the Atlantic on the downhill route via Tenerife and Mindelo in the Cape Verde to Martinique it is time to head home to the Azores. I spent about 1 month in Martinique in various anchorages and did lots of swimming and canoeing - basically doing the tourist thing and visiting old stomping grounds.

16 November, 7 Setkas preparing to leave Portimao, Portugal

In Santa Cruz, Tenerife.  Most comfortable and coolest position on the boat, lying on the floor with feet out the hatch.

Between Tenerife and Cabo Verde

Arrival in Cape Verdes

400 miles SW of Cape Verdes

Martinique

Kayaking to the laundry

I had a pleasant sail to Saint Martin and settled into the waiting for spring game. Inside the lagoon for shopping and partying and on the North coast for snorkeling and chilling on anchor.

Port Royale, Saint Martin

Once upon a time, nearly 40 years ago, Lagoon Cruises was here.  Now just mangroves.

The time to leave has arrived and all stocked up with food and water for 45 days and some extra.

Hopefully if the starlink keeps working and I'm not too lazy there should be a daily update for those who are interested.

 The first leg is completed

3rd December

The first bunch of 4 young competitive sailors left Portimao on Sunday 16th November, Ian waited till Monday 17th and the last 3 left 24 hours after Ian.  They all took roughly a week to get to Tenerife but there was another huge storm system which stretched all the way from the African coast to Madeira.  For Ian it started on the Thursday evening, by morning he dropped all sails and trailed warps to steady the boat.  The wind was from behind so he was still drifting in the right direction.  Finally, on Saturday morning the wind dropped enough for him to start putting up a bit of sail.  It was still blowing hard and at one point he recorded a boat speed of 11 knots, which is ridiculously fast for a nutshell like that.  Then on Sunday afternoon he was becalmed.  He drifted over the line at 2am on Monday.  Not wanting to enter an unknown commercial harbour in the dark, he intended to drift around till daybreak but no sooner had he crossed the line than the wind came up and he roared up and down the coast much faster than he wanted, dodging ships.  Now he's in a marina with the other contestants, swapping stories.  Most of them sustained damage of one kind or another except Ian.  One of the guys had to fly back to work, another has gone home to see his family and one has had to fly home for medical treatment.  The next leg starts on 10th December.