It was the forecast that decided us. If we left L’Aberwrach at tea time , we could take a gradually veering SW until just past Portland bill, drop the hook somewhere off the Purbeck coast and take the next days sea breeze all the way home in time to see Bryony before she [...]

Festinas progress home is somewhat erratic . Our sunny idyll in the Morbihan was eventually disturbed by rain ( a completely alien concept!) so we sailed 40 miles North to the lovely sandy archipelago of Glenans which nestles under the overhanging Penmarch peninsula. It is another wonderful sailing area with [...]

From last morbihan

For the last week or more the Azores high has sat serenely over NW France giving rise to the sort of summer weather we can normally only dream about – calm nights , warm mornings and delicious sea breezes in the afternoon and evening. If there is a nicer place to take advantage [...]

It is now a week since we arrived in France from the Azores. Bryony has gone home and the weather is much nicer down here in South Brittany than it appears to be back in the Channel. There is no reason to rush home so we decided to take our time and enjoy [...]

Meteorology is an inexact science with an almost infinite number of variables contributing to the final outcome. The classic apocryphal tale to illustrate this is a butterfly sneezing somewhere in central America , which subtly changes its micro-environment . This change gradually feeds into the mystery that is local , [...]

Technical difficulties are preventing the regular updates from the good ship Festina.
Normal service will (hopefully) be restored tomorrow.
All are well at a position approx 100 miles west of Belle Isle, at 1700 UT today.

Close , but no cigar
Yesterdays challenge was to cross a ridge of high pressure into the Northerly winds on the other side that would take us reaching in to South Brittany. With this in mind we were much quicker than usual to pile on sail after the previous nights blow [...]

We had a long debate last night whether we should change down to the trysail. The wind was only 22 knots and we were sailing along in splendid comfort with the 3rd reef down , and the latest grib didn’t show the increase we had previously been warned of. Eventually caution overcame valour and [...]

Festina continues to make good progress home with a gradually increasing SW wind ( currently averaging 22 knots) under her belt. There is a fair old NW swell giving a considerable cross sea , so we have definitely left our calm conditions behind us. Actually a “cross” sea is a very [...]

Yesterdays pessimisms has so far proven to be unfounded. We did have the occasional shower but they were so light it was scarcely worth putting oilies on – all we had to do was go below for a cup of tea and it was dry again! The wind has behaved impeccably , gradually [...]

Yesterdays wind arrived right on time, at noon , and we have been pottering downwind under kite ever since . The wind was initially WNW which gave us a tight angle and good speed , but it has gradually backed so that we have to sail high of the course to keep the [...]

Our delicious breeze ran out at 1500 yesterday , and we have been chugging over glassy seas all night. The indications are that we have crossed the centre of the ridge as the pressure has dropped by 1 mm and there is now a faint breath of wind from the W. We tried [...]

On our return to Angra do Heroismo after Bryonys graduation we found that the crowds had dispersed and it was back to its slightly sleepy, attractive old self. The sun was shining and it would have been very easy to stay for weeks , chatting to the fellow sailors that were lapping [...]

From Angra do Heroisma

It is now a week since we arrived in this Renaissance city in the middle of the Atlantic. Terceira ( literally “third” in Portuguese ) may have been the 3rd Azorean island to be discovered , but rapidly became the most important due to the excellent shelter provided by the little volcanic [...]

From Back across the atlantic

Our last day at sea was remarkably pleasant , going to windward in 10 to 12 knots on a lovely sunny day. With 30 miles to go the wind dropped and once more blew directly from Horta so we reached for the ignition switch and motored in.
Horta is heaving. Last [...]