Nick W.

Wind WSW 12 knots so set full main and jib after leaving the pontoon. We had a very pleasant sail around the south and east sides of Santa Maria Island. On the south coast there were old abandoned terraces and farmstead - it looked isolated and barely viable. Ponta do Castelo lighthouse and Maia village were spectacular. By mid afternoon the weather was closing in with low cloud and reduced visibility, it started to drizzle at 1900 and the wind turned to S 6 knots. We stowed sail and motored the remaining 1.5 hours to Vila Franca islet. The weather improved as we neared the coast. We anchored in 6 m about 250m N of the entrance to the caldera. There were two other monohulls between us and the island.

We set out for Terceira but after a call with a boatyard at Vila do Porto changed course to see if we could get some damaged rigging repaired. Wind was NW 10 knots but around 11:00 we had calm so stopped and tried to fix an issue with the black water tank (with partial success ☹️. The wind picked up from WNW 10 knots so set the spinnaker and headed for Vila do Porto. At 0130 the wind had dropped so dowsed spinnaker and drifted waiting for wind for 3 hours. Wind was E 6 knots so motored to Vila do Porto arriving 08:20.

Head winds until we got to the Windward passage on day 5. Wind speed everything from 3 - 20+ knots. Heading N to NNE across the trades after passing between Cuba and Haiti was pleasant though we had little wind at times. As we approached Bermuda the weather deteriorated and we had head winds up to 18 knots. The last few hours were exhilarating sailing close hauled in 18 knots.