We left the Azores in sunshine just after midday. This was it 1200miles to Cornwall, England. I was very excited and looking forward to finally arriving at our summer destination.

We put the sails up before we cleared the harbour wall and we were then flying along as we hit the acceleration zones as we headed out between the islands. We had our first whale breaching at about 4pm that afternoon and we then had an almost nonstop display for the next 3 days.

Position 4313.47N 020 12.32W
Boat Time 4.00pm
Wind Speed 16.9knots Direction 210
Boat Speed 8.0knots Heading 070
Sails; Full Mainsail and No.2 jib
Weather Sunny
Miles to go 728.2nm

Well we've been out here for 3 days already, its actually taken longer than I thought to get back into the watch system, I seemed to be permanently tired for the first 2 days.

So, how are we? We're all just fine. Nick didn't disappoint us and was sick 6 hours out of Horta. Waldek let him sleep in yesterday and he is now just fine and eating again.

We've had two nights in complete darkness as the sky is covered in clouds and there is no glimpse of the moon, this has however given us great phosphoresce at night and when the dolphin fly past they look like missiles! Our whale count was at 6 yesterday lunchtime with two more spouts spotted at tea time yesterday. We have also seen another yacht today!

Time for my watch. Fray Bentos pies tonight, yummy!

Position 44 45.69N 016 59.29W
Boat Time 13.40pm
Wind Speed 14.7knots Direction 225
Boat Speed 6.7knots Heading 070
Sails; Full Mainsail and No.2 jib
Weather Sunny
Miles to go 571.7nm


We've had a fine 24 hours here and have seen quite a lot of sunshine. We are still getting regular visits from dolphins but the whales have gone into hiding.

We're now over half way, which is just amazing, not long until we're home now. We're looking forward to those cream teas and Cornish pasties.

As its Sunday today we're having roast pork for dinner and if they're lucky we might even have custard for dessert.

I'm also on cleaning duty today so have plenty to keep me busy and out of my bunk!

Nick got a little too much sun on his legs yesterday, when the wind is so cold the sun really doesn't feel that warm. And to those of us who are used to much warmer climates, its positively freezing most of the time!

Almost time for afternoon tea, my favourite time of day!

I only wrote 2 logs over the 7 days, we spent more time motoring and beating upwind again, the weather seemed to get colder each night and those off watch would eat below decks rather than getting all wrapped up to eat on deck.

Our final night, we went north of the Scilly Isles and tacked back through them early morning. It was shortly after we'd passed Lands End that Matt & Waldek where on deck and I heard them talking about a Custom's boat. By the time I looked out, there was a rib alongside us and they were asking to come aboard. Four of them jumped on and the rib pulled away. We were all very excited and had plenty of questions for them, eventually they managed to ask theirs and went and took swabs all over the boat and then took them back to their support boat to carry out tests. When we were given the all clear, the rib came back over and picked them all up. Which meant we could finally get the sails down and put the motor on to get us into Falmouth for dinner.

Our arrival in Pendennis Marina was something we all longed for and the steak we ate that night along with the red wine helped us sleep through the night.