The evening before -sun down and drinks down.
Milanto has turned into a National Express. Docked this am and already leaving again on June 2nd having collected two guests today!
Thursday, May 29th
With the weather this vile what is there to say? It's cold and drizzling so we are all locked downstairs and really keen to get there ASAP! At least the wind means we are moving well towards our goal of Gibraltar ETA May 31st at dawn..............
Position at 10.45 UTC 36 19 N 11 53 W apporx 300 Kn.miles to go
The Rock looking East -
Blue arrow marking Milanto's position at 10:45 so by tomorrow will be in the shipping lanes
10-15 knots of wind at her present position
Tuesday , May 27th
I have learnt that setting off again is really tough like on a hard day at work, when you are really tired and somwone asks you to do something.You know you have to, there is no choice but it is the last thing on earth you want to do! The sea has changed and the temperature is getting back to that of late Spring in Europe. Rows of clouds all the way to the horizon. The weather however is not our friend as you can see from the photo. Strong gusts are sending us flying towards Gibraltar on a metal coloured sea. Looking forward to the smell of the Mediterranean !
Position 36 36 N 18 31 W // Detox 65% // -610 MN.Miles
May 20th
For the last two days the dreadful news of the possible sighting of Cheeky Rafiki , the 40' Beneteau upside down in the rough seas. Andrew and the others had been in Antigua, he'd left a day or two after Milanto I think . Cheeki Rafiki crew onboard was Andrew Bridge ( captain) , James Male, Steve Warren and Paul Goslin and are hopefully in their life raft waiting to be found. We have received message from both the organisers of the ARC rally -World Cruising and one of their daughters. Unfortunately we are miles away from where the yacht was last sighted. We are devastated and our thoughts go out to all their family and friends.
Valerio
Detox now at 50% The sea was totally flat,looks like metal, there is a low fog and giant Portugese men of war (jelly fish) are everywhere around us. It feels like we are in a primeval swamp and we are using the motor to try and escape as going nowhere is what tries one's nerves more than anything in the middle of the ocean. Now we have 20 kn of wind, no sleep all night trimming the sails and drying out the inside of Milanto so my only moment off was to write this blog. Of course moral is really low due to the news of Valerio's friends. We still do not have the co-ordinates but think that they were going further north than us when the storm hit last Thursday. it of course makes you very aware that there is only 13 metres of yacht between us and the sea. So we are all sending our best for their safe return.
Lorenzo
Thanks for the great comments so far...................
We have decided to alter our direction .Basially the wind decided for us so instead of going to Horta in the Azores which is close (144 miles) we have changed and going to Ponta Delgada (250 miles)- It is located on São Miguel Island, the largest and most populous of the Azores
Volcanic beauty
Position at 16 30 UTC 36 58 N 30 57 W. course 80