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