This morning we woke up on anchor just off the beach and cliffs in Sagres, usually the crew struggle to get a good night sleep the first night, new noises, a bit or nerves and new crew mates. Second night though, most crew sleep like a rock. Yesterday was the first morning for the crew onboard. Bob has sailed with us earlier this year, and James have already signed up for a trans-Atlantic with us in 2024…

Well, hope to sail anyway. Lagos is sitting smack in the middle of the end of a long axis of high-pressure, so there’s not much air moving around in the marina anyway. The ‘Azores' High’ is stretched out and has reached the coast here. Typically you see the high centered further west, and along the coast of Portugal tend to get northerlies, the ‘Portuguese Tradewinds’. Unlucky for us, we’re not in a typical pattern right now.

It’s hard to describe in words what this passage experience has been. Starting out in Horta, it was a whirlwind prepping the boat, having our safety brief, and prepping physically and mentally for ~1 week offshore. This being my first real ocean passage, I was not sure what I should expect, or how to feel as we finally cut the lines in Horta harbor and set out on port tack past Faial Island. It didn’t take long for the sea-state to make that decision for me, and myself and most of the crew succumbed to various intensities of motion sickness. I’ll spare the details here, but even through the dramamine induced haze of the first 12 hours, it was clear that we were sailing through one the most beautiful scenes I have witnessed.