Azores Passage to Madeira | Distant Shores Sailing Newsletters

Azores Passage to Madeira



The passage to Madeira was quite a mix of light winds, close hauled, calms and then force 6-7 gusting 8!!
Here are a few pix!

We start off with dolphins visiting as we leave Santa Maria and a wonderful time in the Azores! We will be back!!!
dolphin-santa-maria
The first day is fairly calm and we have a lovely sunset!! Santa Maria is still visible upper right…
sailing-sunset-first-night
Sheryl in the galley making a delicious soup! Thick chicken lentil stew/soup … hmmm
sheryl-in-galley
Another one of MANY dolphin visits on this passage. They always look so great as they charge up to see us…
5-dolphins-jumping
2-dolphins-jumping
The wind builds half way through the passage… waves are over 2 meters.
big-waves
Wind was forecast to get up to 20 knots or so for the last 200 miles to Madeira. This would be ENE so close-reaching…
Keeping watch Paul gets a wave in the face :-)
wave-in-face
It built more as we got closer to the island! We saw Force 6 (21-27) then with 50 miles to go we saw steady force 7 (27-33 knots) with gusts of force 8. We dropped the already double-reefed main and reefed our tough little 100% jib. Still making 7 knots to windward!
spray-window-rough-sailing
Finally we get into the wind shadow of Madeira. Suddenly its calm (with 2-3 meter seas) and we approach this tall dramatic island.
madeira-approach
We get a slip right in Funchal’s marina - normally crowded later in the season when boats are heading south we tie up and have a quiet night with no Nightwatches!
ps-madeira-waterfront
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