Very spaced out here on land, and swinging a bit when walking... we got here to Horta last night at 0300, this morning, drank some champagne and tidied up a bit and fell into deep slumbers till this morning’s formalities (something we forget exists living in a Europe where we circulate freely once inside). The last few miles were rough and we had to tack our way south in strong winds. We finally dropped the sails and motored the last 2 hours back into civilization. We crossed in 18.5 days, did 2661 miles, which gives an average mile/day of 144 miles, which gives an average speed for the whole trip of 6 kts. This is fast, very fast if you talk to other sailors in Horta, most of which could count their days with wind on one hand, the guys next to us spent 30 days getting here. We did all but a couple of hours on the starboard tack (the couple of hours on port tack felt very strange (like sleeping on the other side of the bed). We used about 200 liters of water and charged the batteries using the engine 27 hours using about 70 liters of fuel (we haven’t touched the jerry cans in the fore and aft lockers). we still have about half our total food, but no fresh stuff at all. Naomi handled extremely well. We felt safe and powerful in the shittiest situations, permitting us to continue sailing our course in a storm that gave us our best day of 178 M/D. We mainly used the 135% and the Genniker, changing back and forth many times in a day depending on our AWA. For the most part we sailed at around 90° to the wind. We didn’t break anything, this is exceptional. We have problems with water leaking in various places, mostly in the fore cabin - i think from poorly sealed through deck fittings. We have problems with the toilet which never stays empty of water - I will re build the thing tomorrow. The engine gave us endless problems, none of them drastic. As I mentioned in one of my last messages, I have worn the same shorts, t-shirt and cap for the whole trip, adding leggings and my foil weather gear for the storms which amounted to about 3 days. I finally opened my locker a few minutes ago - everything in plastic bags is fresh and ready, everything left out covered with mold. The guys are off doing the laundry and taking a shower - i was so thrilled with our last bucket of sea water over the head yesterday, and with my first underpants and a change in t-shirt in 3 weeks that i have decided to stay in this state for another day - one shouldn’t shock the body (or the soul). The other big question is the beard... see what happens. Stay tuned for our video clip which will top the MTV ratings for this classic documentary of off shore sailing - the only problem is that it is so heavy we can’t find a way to get it off the virtual boat.
