Johanem - Johanem log 7 june

Greetings loyal readers

We have been off the air for a few days following our triumphant (well, we came fourth on handicap which is our best ever result) arrival at Horta on the island of Faial in the Azores on Tuesday 28 May. After a few life threatening days and nights ashore the 3 G's departed back to Scotland for their "Welcome home to the heroes of the Atlantic" party and yet more booze. The Sassenachs booked into a health farm in England to start the long drying out process and i had a couple of (relatively) quiet days changing the name of the boat from McHanem back to Johanem. The other crews breathed a huge sigh of relief at the departure of the 3 G's and welcomed with open arms the new crew consisting of Boo, John Duggan, Michael and his daughter Helen Chapman.

We have spent nearly a week cruising the Azores in company with the rest of the ARC fleet visiting Terceira, Sao Miguel and lastly Santa Maria, the island closest to Europe that we depart from on Sunday morning for the final leg of ARC Europe back to Portugal. Its been a great week with mainly sunny days but not enough wind, amazing unspoilt scenery with a serious dairy business (2 cows per human) and very cheap prices after Bermuda. We went down the crater of an extinct (we hope) volcano, witnessed the crazy pastime of bull running where a pissed off bull is let out into a village street to be taunted by alcohol fuelled local youth with too much testosterone and zero common sense which sometimes ends with a trip to A&E or the mortuary. in these Health and Safety obsessed days its refreshing to see that something as risky as bull running contines for 90 consecutive evenings in this outpost of Europe. We also enjoyed more sedate tours round various towns and islands and generally relaxed. There's quite a lot to be said for day sails.......!

Helen goes home tomorrow to be replaced by Boo's cousin Charles for the next leg. We are promised good winds for the first couple of days but time will tell..

Fishing continues to be pretty hit and miss but another boat has landed (or should that be boated?0 a 40 pound tuna so there will be a big pontoon party this evening to eat it

Strange to think that I'm now two thirds of the way through my 3 months on the boat. Back to reality on 5 July

Hope this finds you all fit and well.. Looking forward to seeing our lovely kids in a month or so

Nick