Day 22 — 400 miles to Terceira

Well, we are *almost* in the Açores weather zone. Another 1/2 degree to the east and we'll be there. Everything takes longer than you expect at sea. Mainly because it's difficult to keep sailing at maximum speed all day long.

For example, I just spent an hour making under 4 knots because I was hard on the wind, and not able to lay the course I wanted. Big mystery! I expected to have the wind on the beam. Why were we headed so far into the wind?

Duh, because I had switched to the Angra waypoint, just to see how far we had to go to our first stop. Then I forgot to switch back to the next waypoint on our planned route, which had been generated by my weather routing software. When I finally realized my error, we were soon back on the right course and doing 7 knots again.

So, yeah, stuff happens and you lose time. And that lost time adds up after awhile!

The weather hasn't been great the last couple of days, so I guess the Azores aren't in a magic bubble of perfect weather. Oh well, I'm disappointed 😢

But not as disappointed as poor Helena who is dying for a squall to hit us and wash the salt off the deck and everything we need to touch out there. We've been surrounded by squalls for the last two days, but none has come close enough to drop any rain on us.

Honestly, I'm okay with that! Better salt than squalls, but we all have our own priorities!

Why are we headed to Angra on the island of Terceira, instead of Horta where everyone else is going? Because every one else is going to Horta, and it's supposed to be jam-packed full. Anchorage and marina. Angra is also a port of entry, and not nearly as popular, for some reason, so we will head there with Kalyra, and then go back to Horta once the mob moves on, assuming it does move on eventually.

Angra has fuel and water, both of which we need, and it seems like a good place to do laundry, fix a number of things that need fixing before we move on, and and of course do some sightseeing on an island apparently a lot of people pass by.

Meanwhile, we are making steady progress and are now liking at a Thursday or Friday arrival, depending on how much time we lose, minute by minute, over the next few days.

Looking forward to seeing those first islands appear on the horizon! Land ho!