After 2,300 nautical miles of sailing and two weeks to the day after leaving the Caribbean, we've arrived!

In a brisk 30 knot breeze, we saw the island of Faial with its towering volcano and were met by a media reception committee on a bouncing RIB as we dropped sails and motored in to the harbour at Horta. Our first task was to find the harbour master and get him to sign the second part of our declaration. The first had been signed just before departure in Guadeloupe and now our paperwork is officially stamped, we have become the first team in the Global Ocean Race to have completed the mandatory qualifying sail.

"This was my 11th trans-Atlantic crossing but the first time I've done it as a double hander" said Hannah. "It's a big tick in the box and provides us with valuable experience to build on. We took our time to get comfortable with the boat and each other and now that the qualifying is done, we can plan to push things harder from here on in".

For Anna-Maria, it was her first major ocean crossing and it was immediately clear for those watching the team arrive, that the challenge had not phased her. 

"It was all cool. I'm happy that we had arrived but a little sad that this part of our adventure was over" said the 30 year old German co-skipper. "And while the sailing was great, I'm much happier to know that we can work as a team - that was much more important for me. It shows that we can team up off-shore just as well as we can on-shore"

The team retired to the legendary Sports Bar, a home from home for all visiting sailors, for a long dreamt about rare steaks with a crisp salad, washed down with several beers. Then it's on to laundry, a deep clean of the boat, victualling and a chance to check out the delights of the island before pointing the bows towards the UK.

The team expect to depart on Friday with the aim of arriving back in the Solent on Saturday, April 8th.

So it’s British Summer Time back home and we hear that the sun is out and the Daffs and blossom are in bloom. Well its steely grey out here and a little chilly!

It’s getting pretty cold at night and damp as well and our calorie requirements have gone through the roof in the last couple of days. But we need to tread carefully because we are a little low on water and need H2o to cook our food, so the intake is reduced. At present, we have about 240 miles to go and are making 9-10 knots towards Horta so we should be there on Tuesday afternoon. More updates from there.
 
Han, Anna & a rather smelly 40 Degrees xx

Just like any ocean race, the finale is always difficult.  Having been promised 15 knots from the south west by the grib files we actually got 15-32 knots from pretty much any direction the wind fancied.  This resulted in some lively speeds (mostly in the right direction), a couple of broaches and a respectable gybe, even if the runner did suddenly go slack after it had been wound on causing minor heart failure as of course this coincided with a gust that saw us take off at 15 knots boat speed.  It had clearly got caught on something and just freed itself but we are very pleased to report we still have a rig and I hate to curse the situation but we have even had stable wind for an hour now.

Had it not been for the dry suit that is impossible to remove without assistance, I would have taken advantage of the torrential rain we had this morning and got a quick shower in.  Of course this is entirely Anna's doing as she had a word with the wind gods the other day and said she would accept all the rain in the world for a favourable wind direction.  Alas now everything we own is soaked so down below currently looks like a Chinese laundry with a washing line strung up around the engine box trying to absorb every bit of heat it produces.
 
We are now around 400 miles to go and on a northerly gybe for much of the day.  We did our final time zone change this morning before the Azores and had Sunday brunch consisting of Cous Cous and tuna for Anna and Thai infused smash for me (aka smash and cuppa soup - a winning combination).  The last packet of Jelly Babies are being saved for the final 100 miles, so we shall once again treat ourselves with a spoon of Nutella today.
 
In other news, we have both randomly developed salt sores in exactly the same place on our left hands, we have probably only got half a baby wipe each left, we are down to 6 litres of drinking water and about 5 of cooking water, we saw our first pod of dolphins yesterday and we have been quite amused by our multi functional bucket - no room for anyone squeamish about strict hygiene in here!
 
Despite the fact that we are both keen to get in to port, there is also that feeling that the first part of the adventure is now coming to a close and in some ways we don't want it to end.  Just three weeks ago we didn't have a boat, yet in that short space of time we have nearly finished our qualifier, right on target with what we proposed back in December.  Let’s hope that the next stage of the project is equally as thrilling - there is no turning back now!
 
POS @ 1252 UTC 35 11.2N 035 57.9W
 
Hannah & Anna

Wow what a night!

Speeds consistently in double figures, loads of sparkling phosphorescence in the water and a course direct to Horta.  We are now down to 580 miles to go and are keeping pace with a nice cheeky little band of pressure that is giving us 23-25 knots of wind from the south west.  We are hoping to stay in this band of breeze until tomorrow morning when the wind looks set to drop to 15 knots but still from a favourable angle. 

So being realistic, we should arrive in Horta Marina early on Tuesday morning - a little later than we had hoped but then we did spend a long time beating to windward, zig-zagging our way to the downwind fun bit and sailing a few extra miles in the process.  But it’s all good as our qualifier is meant to be a good test in a range of conditions. And as long as we can make the fresh water supply last, we will arrive in Horta most certainly having met all the requirements of a Global Ocean Race qualifying sail.
 
But what are two girls of the sea to do at the weekend.  Well last night being Friday we decided to let our hair down (not so easy when it is a matted mess) and crank up the tunes for a bit of a deck disco.  This morning Anna had a good lie in and then we decided to treat ourselves to a curry for lunch.  We have two sachets of curry on board with real bits of chicken in it as a treat and today we ate the first accompanied - of course - by cous cous!  As for tonight, well maybe a picnic under the stars...
 
It’s pretty cold at night now.  The boat gets full of condensation and we are living in a permanently damp state.  It’s not massively pleasant waking up warm but still soggy.  We are down to our last sets of thermals so there had better be a handy laundrette in Horta!  We will now leave you to enjoy your weekends, have a beer for us and we will continue pushing hard towards the Azores enjoying the fast and flat sailing :)
 
POS @ 1525 UTC 34 01.4N 039 14.0W
 
Hannah & Anna

As the Azores get gradually closer (I say gradually, as we are not blessed with awesome speeds at the moment), we have started to become a little more aware of our appearance.

The last thing we want is for the good folk of the Azores to refuse us entry as we look like a couple of salty Yetties, particularly not after dreaming about cold beers and steaks for so long.  On the one hand, it is most liberating being at sea and not really caring too much about how you look. On the other, when you finally DO look, it comes as a rather nasty shock! 

10 days of suntan lotion, salt water, basic and not particularly healthy diet equals crazy hair, suffering skin and no doubt struggling digestive systems.  This is all OK on a trip of this length but thinking ahead to the 5-6 week legs of the Global Ocean Race, it does make you think about the importance of getting nutrition right and maintaining some kind of basic routine to keep your body in good shape.

But for now, we are looking forward to the celebrations in Horta on completion of our qualifier.  We have decided to order an entire cow each, cooked rare with a side salad, just to have something to crunch and remind the teeth how to chew!  Our photographer Ditten and communications guru Ian will be arriving in Horta on the 28th and 29th respectively so we best put our foot down and get there ASAP.

We should be under 800 miles to go in the next few hours.
 
Hannah & Anna