Day 11

As we threaded our way through the Faroe Islands in twilight with huge imposing cliffs towering over us on all sides, it was hard to escape the sense of drama and grandeur, and easy to imagine the early settlers heading out in search of plunder. Our final glimpse of mist shrouded cliffs was somewhat broken by the increasingly big swell rapidly building around us – The next 24hrs would be all about fighting our way between two angry red weather systems - Nature was playing games with us with a big system developing of the west coast of the islands and another pushing down from Iceland to the North. In simple terms we needed to make as much ground to the North as possible to get around the first system before hanging a left turn and cutting ahead of the second one. Timing was going to be critical. There was no doubt it was going to be rough but with a bit of judgement / luck we could thread our way between the systems without too much drama.

As soon as we left the lee of the land the seas built quickly and the wind rose steadily through the twenties. We were making great progress but would we get far enough north to by-pass the gale force winds at the centre of the system? Around 4 in the morning the wind passed through 28 Kts and with three reefs in the main sail and just the stay sail up at the bow, we were considering our options.

Big winds, big seas and over 400 miles still to go across the N Atlantic, it was starting to be a familiar pattern. This time however the team were in the groove, we had our sea legs and had built that understanding that we can manage the boat in big seas, that it will get better and that however intimidating the open ocean is, we can cope. The growth in confidence that both Kris and Charlie demonstrated was palpable. Despite being novices at the start of the trip they both now looked at home on the helm or trimming sails in big seas. A level of self-belief that rolls forward into all aspects of career and life.

After about 8 hours of bashing NNW the winds peaked and began to drop again – we were past the first weather system and heading into gentler seas, time to ‘hang a left’ and make course for Reykjavik. We still had to cut across the path of that other system heading down the east coast of Iceland, so no relaxing yet and as much sail up as we could safely hold in the conditions. By early evening it was clear we had successfully skirted the system and were now closing the SE corner of Iceland.

At about 2300 Charley spotted land and we both did a little jig – Almost there? Not quite, Iceland is a very long country and we have at least another couple of days sailing along the coast past the ice capped mountains before we reach Reykjavik. We made great progress and the passage plan worked exactly as we hoped but more importantly, we were all getting used to life at sea in challenging conditions and becoming more comfortable with being uncomfortable.