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Unconditional - Azorean high



Tuesday, June 16, 2015 ½-Way to Portugal – well, almost!

My unofficial Sunday weather outlook continues to come to fruition in spite of the optimistic WRI-generated weather reports of 12-17 knots NNE. We are encountering winds of what Walt describes as ‘light & variable.’ This morning, Evan & I tried to sail in 6-8 knots of wind, but it was on the nose with VMG of less than the penalized motoring time, so after 3+ hours, we turned on the engine again like most everyone else.

For those following us on the WCC or Yellowbrick website, WCC combined Class 1B & 1C into one class for award purposes. Yes, we are indeed leading the entire pack, but it is the SAILING lead that counts, not engine lead, and the challenge will be the potential high winds and current 300-miles off Portugal – no squalls predicted though. It is difficult to say how far it is to the marina, because we are hoping that the ~0.5knt Portuguese south-flowing current, combined with a NE wind will give us a ‘free ride’ down the coast to Cabo de Sao Vicente so that we can duck the last 25-nm into Lagos on Portugal’s south shore.

In a non-challenging evening, our single-person 3-hour nighttime watches worked well last night. It is encouraging that we appear to be tracking 10-miles or so north of commercial shipping headed into the Mediterranean. We can see them, but we do not need to talk with them – sorry, Ed. While we can no longer visually spot other ARC boats, Walt is religiously ‘up’ on Unconditional’s SSB at the Rally’s 10.00Z and 19.30Z check-in slots talking w/ARC boats. Portugal is 4-hrs ahead of Eastern time.

Sara is still cleaning Unconditional after 6-males (me included) made the 1,800nm major crossing. Nearing our WCC Leg #3 50% mark, we are in good shape on water, diesel, propane and food supplies. The boat now looks & feels clean – I am happy.

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