Azores to Falmouth - Day One 40 09.273N 027 43.433W

Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Wed 16 Jul 2014 15:01
The wind has changed! For virtually all our time in the Azores the wind has come from the north (mostly NE). Yesterday it changed and the flags all fluttered in a new direction - the wind was in the south! So it was time to go and we left Horta at 13.45 yesterday. It was a good breeze to start with and with a favourable current we were making up to 7kts at times. However, once clear of the islands the wind eased to a light breeze and with both genoas poled out we've been ghosting along at around 4 to 5kts. It's very pleasant, but we won't break any records. But then this is not a passage that you do that. The mere fact that we are able to sail is great. The usual expectation is that you have to use the motor, perhaps for several days, to get out of the windless high pressure system and head north to find westerly winds. The position above is at midday today, but in the 24 hours since leaving we've covered 114 miles. So quite happy with that given the circumstances and fingers crossed that we can stay in this southerly air flow, although we do have an uncomfortable cross swell from the south west every so often, but then you can't have everything!

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