Day 24 Horta

Friday 26th June Oh, my god I’ve got to change the V belt on the generator! I was hoping the boat would be sold and gone before this devilish piece of contortion and knuckle scraping was required. Anyone who read my Marinating in Marin piece in January knows that even tightening the darned thing is nearly impossible without three hands and a dislocated shoulder. None the less with a 7am start I finished a full service and belt change by 3pm with only minor injuries and no-one actually harmed by the string of expletives emanating from somewhere behind the engine. Chris Tibbs’ forecast and the GRIB files shows we are OK to go today so Jim and Justin have refuelled and Louise has got us some last minute essentials (including 2kilos of caustic soda in case the holding tanks back up again). Jim and I are having a quick coke in Peters bar while I do this before we engage in trying to extricate the boat from the two people rafted outside us and the three each in front and behind. We are hoping to tow out the bow with the dinghy and then be on our way. Next blog underway tomorrow I hope. Last leg, 1016 miles with a mix of some high and some very light winds. We hope for 7 days but it could be 8. Wish us luck.