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Dala - Last message before Horta



Hi All,



Yes, this is probably my last message before Horta: We are now breaking the last 100 Nautical Miles mark. So I estimate that, if nothing goes wrong, we could be there by today Sunday, May 31st at about 8 PM local time, which is also the Universal Time (UTC).

Nearing the end of this leg of the crossing raises all kind of thoughts, fighting between them to catch my attention. I wrote a few days ago that I was thrilled to cross the Atlantic for the first time. Approaching Horta, I feel I'm also paying my respects to those huge navigators, explorers and sailors, among them Joshua Slocum, who sailed there under extremely less comfortable conditions than what we are enjoying. They paved the way for our own adventure. Thank you very much indeed, Gentlemen!



But the end is never the end. It is the beginning of something else. In the near term, it will be the discovery of the Azores Islands and the next and last leg to Portugal. Then, we'll go back to the so called "normal life", but enriched by the crossing experience. I had many and various problems during this leg as you know being a reader of this blog. I lived them as a learning process. As of today, I may not be a good sailor yet but I discovered the huge knowledge and know-how I still have to master. That is, I suppose, the first chapter of "Sailing for Dummies"!

Spending the coming days in Faial after having reached this island by myself on my own boat is also going to be the nicest birthday gift I've ever had: The day after tomorrow, June 2nd, I'll be exactly 63 years old!!!

Another gift is that Joelle feels definitely better at sea: After having endured serious seasickness during the first three days of the first leg from Tortola to Bermuda, she felt progressively better. And during this leg, it was close to zero seasickness. At the beginning she took three anti-seasickness pills a day then reduced that to two, then to one and yesterday no pills at all!

Looks like we can start planning our circumnavigation project, OK cherie???



Bye for now,



Albert

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