40:07.8N 27:23.2W

1067nm to go

17^th July 2011

Well not a great start, we have travelled 174 miles per the log and are only 38 miles closer to our waypoint.  We headed west around San Miguel and our now beating north into a 15 knot NE breeze in the hope of picking up some NW or W wind further north.  We are 130nm north of where we started so I suppose it is not all bad.

We considered waiting for the weather to improve but as it is not forecast to we thought we might as well go for it.  The Azores high is firmly established, although a little further north than the (not very reliable) text book says it should be.  

This is going to be long, slow passage!  We motor sailed for the first 18 hours to try and get north as quickly as possible, but when the weather forecast showed several days of very light winds at the end of next week we thought we should preserve our diesel, so now we’re sailing, but heading NW instead of NNW.  We are contemplating tacking tomorrow or the next day, it will be strange to get back to the Solent where it will be, shall we tack now or in 30 seconds.

It’s still relatively warm and sunny which is some consolation.  We’ve had a few visits from dolphins which until now seem to have been avoiding us.  Mary was wondering whether Stella smelt funny!  Following our last very damp  trip we have covered everything in fleecy blankets and so far everything is still very dry.

There’s not much else to report.  The visibility isn’t great, so although the odd ship appears on AIS, we haven’t seen anyone else.