Day 17 - 168 miles to go

June 20, 2008 Friday 1am - mid watch - 36d 55' North 33d 17 West
The last day has been an adventure! We spent part of it running under "bare poles" (no sails up), not because there was so much wind, but because we were going so fast that we were afraid we would get blown right past the Azores. Even with no sail up, we were doing 4 knots. At 5 PM we got the weather report from Herb and found that the low over the Azores is moving NE faster than anticipated and that we can now sail directly for the islands. We thought we might have to skip Flores and go on to Horta, just because the wind angles favored Horta. But, now we are on course for Flores, on a beam reach with just a reefed jib and going fast. A while ago I saw 30 knots, but now the wind is back to 20K - seems almost calm. Lots of water splashing aboard, but none down below. It now seems possible that we could arrive on Saturday AM. the solstice. That would be OK with us.
We had a great dinner. Andi made a thai shrimp dish (which we had to eat out of bowls because of the heel angle and motion). I'm typing this on an angle that Miss Jones, my 9th grade typing teacher, never anticipated. Stay dry!