A bit disappointed as my expectation was to have a pleasant sail through the night. Although clause hauled all the way, with winds around 13kn and a wave of 1.3m the lady is more than willing to ensure a smooth ride. The weather system we went into offered 20-25kn (still on) and a wave juggling the boat around. Menno, this is too much deviation. We add the 5kn from experience but the significant gap is not acceptable.

Under max reef again with a claused hauled setting, which is still allowing some minimum comfort, we are still bouncing into the waves now and then. It is a balance between comfort and not arriving in Santa Maria to far in the South In other words, you just postpone the pain. In sailor’s language: beating time! Sailing against the wind.

Nevertheless, my sailing limits are being pushed on this passage like never before. The same counts for my confidence and trust into our lady AND the pilot They negotiate the deal and after some fine tuning get you through the water with no complains.

Daybreak is arising and it still looks grey and miserable. Not sure we see the sun later the day. It is another 55nm to go until we arrive in Vila do Porto. The ETA will shift and best guess is later this evening and worst case scenario is tomorrow morning. The latter one is in case I will not make landfall in daylight. The harbour can be approached at any time of the day, but I prefer to wait until next morning.
 
And the saying goes: Jung, blief tuhüs.
 
Fair winds…
 
PS: I will talk to Jan from SY Sutje at 8 o’clock UTC on 2Mhz Marine Radio to update each other. Very much appreciated.