Change of plan due to an important choice for my future and that of my family Pius returns to Europe, to Portugal!

A new crew will care to Pius: Rafael, Ermene(Gildo) and Betto (Roberto Carlos), all brazilians.

Two days facing the braziliaan burocracy, another two to prepare Pius. New impeller, new alternators belts, new diesel filters. Complete check of the electronics, energy production with 400W solar panels and 300W hydrogenerator.

A sail test in the Salvador bahia. Then October 22nd Pius Set sail with conditions not exactly favorable compared to the seasonal forecasts that offer a beautiful south-east coming from South Africa.....and after only 48 hours the first catch, a 6kg Whaoo!

Usually the most comfortable passage from SouthAmerica to Europe would be passing through Caribbean then up to Bermuda in order to catch the westerly winds to reach the Açores and then Portugal. It's a long route lasting 2 months or more considering some stop.

Our choice has been a more direct one, the shortest route but the hardest one! Passing trough CaboVerde then to Açores to  facilitate the upwind sailing of the NE trade winds which are already strong and stable.

Finally some SE wind is pushing Pius easily! The brazilian handmade pole head in inox is working fine ;)

WindPredict routing is helping us a lot. Of the % models available We use the ECMWF (the european one).

The first task is where to cross the ITCZ intertropical convergence zone, where the doldrums are...no wind, hot temperatures and strong tropical squalls.

The best would be to cross the ITCZ more west but then we would face the trade winds from NE, that's would mean to sail upwind for 2000 nm. So after a week of sailing upwind we face the doldrums Tue the 29th at night.

Keep sailing ENE towards Senegal  allow us to have a better  AWA (apparent wind angle) to face the NE trade winds. 

The 3rd of november we are still sailing to NE but now doldrums are ending and NE wind and waves offer us a uncomfort living aboard...after 24 hrs tack to NW with an AWA of 70° and 14kts TWS. Not bad!

Wednsday November the 6th at 15h00 UTC Mindelo is welcoming Pius and crew!

The best music bar is here...a floating Bar!

Choosing the route to go up from Cape Verde against the Trade Winds took me a few days.

Comparing the statistical data of the Pilot Charts and the meteorological grib files of the 2 most reliable models: the European ECMWF and the PWE, same model but revised by Predict Wind our weather Guru.

From a first examination the situation appears difficult with the trade winds punctually stable from NE with a forecast of sailing against wind and sea for over 2500 miles. We leave Mindelo with a route clearly as far NW as possible to have an angle to the wind that allows us to advance up north so as to have in about a week near the Azores the possibility of changing tack to head towards ENE.

After a few days what we were hoping for came true, that is, the high pressure on our left moved towards the NE, making us enter the flow of wind that would come from the East and then from the South easily.

So the route will be to head towards the Azores hoping that the high pressure moves as soon as possible to leave us the freedom to tack and go east.

But as often happens, low pressures are more unpredictable than high pressures and reshuffle the wind and sea charts....here is the Low at 1004mb flanked by the High of 1023mb which will once again make the approach to the European continent difficult after 3000 miles.

Fortunately, Pius gives its best when sailing upwind and allows a good pace (8 knots) with a 49° angle to the wind and a strong wave.

And at 22:30 on Saturday 23 November, after a month and 3800 miles Pius enters the channel port of Portimao (Portugal).
His last destination with me...