Monday 11th August;moving on to Suðureyri;
Awelina of Sweden
James Collier
Mon 11 Aug 2014 23:14
It took a long time to get here! We left about 10am to travel 25 miles around the headland to the next decent place to visit, and we only got here at 20:30!
Wind as ever F6 and occasionally 7 from the NE so right in our face, but the main problem today was a current against us which we suppose has built up after 14 days of constant strong wind. Peter and I estimate it to be 1.75 knots - calculated several ways - which, when you only make around 3 knots 'made good' up-wind against F6-7 despite doing 7 knots through the water, means 3 - 1.75 = 1.25 knots effective. And so it proved: between 14:00 and 17:00 we sailed nearly 20 miles to go only 4 miles towards our destination. We are really going off this constant wind. It never varies; the forecast alternates each day between F4 - F6 and F5 - F7, but we don't know why they bother since the wind pays no attention and is always F6 and hasn't changed direction by as much as 10 degrees FOR TWO WHOLE WEEKS. Maybe we moan too much; it's reputedly the same in the Canaries, with constant F6 plus acceleration zones between islands.
Anyway, we're all tied up albeit pinned to the harbour wall by the wind in Suðureyri. Tomorrow we think we'll stay here and explore and then leave on Wednesday in the early morning to try to avoid the strongest wind which seems to build during the morning, only reaching full strength by 11am.
The guide book has a tour of a 'sustainable fish processing plant' as the main attraction: actually we're quite interested!