Bye bye high

The Travels of Running Tide
Mick Norman
Tue 15 Jul 2014 12:17
Our position at 12 00 on 15 July is 40:47.6N 027:02.2W . We have about  1051 nm to run to Land’s End and we have completed 77  nm in the last day towards destination. Two full day completed. Hopefully daily distances will increase as we are now established on our intended course and out of the negative influence of the Azores high pressure area.
 
July 14 – Well that didn’t last long and we fell into a wind hole. A few hours motoring got us further north but we got bored with listening to the noise so sat in silence and did our best to sail on in very light airs. Eventually we had some life and off we went. This whole interlude lasted about 10 hours but we appear to be through the low and made steady progress at about 3 - 4 kts throughout the night. This started overcast but eventually became totally clear so that we could enjoy the almost full moon.
 
July 15 A beautiful morning and sunrise. Still making good progress at just over 4 kts. I hope we can say we have seen the last of the Azores high, at least the middle bit anyway. The weather for the next two days seems to be more of the same. Yesterday it was tops off and sun bathing, more today I hope. It may be the last sun our little bodies get for a while.
 
We are now on a starboard broad reach, a slight sea, the sun is shining and the sea is glistening and we are doing about 5 - 6 kts. I’m quite happy with that.  We are looking forward to another midnight feast if we can pull the distance down below 1000 nm  tonight.
 
Norm was musing about how he could hardly fit into his trousers when he bought them some while back. Its not the case now. They are round his knees if he doesn’t wear a belt.