Maiden is a Global Ambassador for the Empowerment of Girls through Education
We have had a beautiful night in full moon light, it never got dark last night, it was lighter on deck than down below! It was amazing watching Mt Pico say goodbye in her full glory of saw standing so high above us. Warm and mostly dry!
Our new crew Jenna Reid from the UK and Bianca Da Rosa Silveira from Horta Azores had a great introduction to Maiden and her unique system way’s and procedures. We spent most of the night in 6 foot waves and 20 knots with one reef in the main and the JT up. A few stories of our final few days on the last leg were talked about.
We had the most delicious dinner made by our amazing B&B landlords Agostinha and John Pedro. Followed by an apple pie! Agostinha also shouted us all ice creams before we left! How amazing they are! We are currently 75nm away from Santa Maria we should get there around midnight UTC.
We have been busy teaching Jenna and Bianca, plus getting our sea legs back. It’s so good to be back on the water. We are looking forward to see another new place and meet more amazing Azorean people! On that note we really need to thank Duncan and the team at Mid Atlantic Yacht Services. If you go to Horta you need Duncan, incredible service, can organize anything and now a good Maiden friend.
A happy Maiden team well fed, not so much sleep but that comes with the territory!
We arrived in Santa Maria, Vila do Porto at midnight to a happy Greg on the dock! On the way in outside the harbour we calibrated our B&G instruments by Ami driving in a 390°circle at 2-3° turning with Hadley monitoring the turn and myself on communication relay. This hasn’t been done for awhile so good to get it done now.
Greg has been on a mission to pick up a PSS seal in France and bring it to us as there was none in the Azores. To replace the seal Maiden needs to be out of the water and at 08:30 she was lifted work has started to remove the prop shaft to allow us to replace the seal with our mates John and Joao from Mid Atlantic Yacht Services. Molly, myself and Ami are in the mix helping and learning. Our birthday girl Jenna is filming, getting great shots.
While this is happening Sarah, Lungi, Bianca, Hadley and Heather are on a provisioning mission for our next leg. All go in Sunny Santa Maria, we need to be back in the water by 5pm so it’s super busy!
