Day One 38:43N; 25:56W
Scherzo AZAB 2015
Eddy
Wed 24 Jun 2015 17:25
To say we are slow would understate this first 12 hours (where we should be averaging 6 or 7 knots and we are lucky to do two.) Tactically we wanted to leave the island (and head west) because we knew the wind would die near the coast and so put up the spinnaker, but seeing others find a fast band of wind near the coast, we took it down and headed in again - only to become becalmed and doing zero. Utterly silly to have wavered like that, so having sailed two complete loops we are now creeping up into a stationery fleet and judging our progress as particularly pathetic!
High pressure here with a low (990) deepening above us should give us favourable winds before long - and we are expecting them in the morning - hopefully.
12:00
Over 6.5 knots consistently, with a SW15kt wind exactly as forecast and now ou.t of the clutches of Sao Miguel and the influence of the Northern part of the island with the beautiful green and blue caldera. Sailed 92 miles in 24 hours - the shortest noon to noon run since the start. Eleven hundred miles still to run, but the wind pattern says stay north of the direct route, so we are plugging on and making good northerly, albeit, not easterly, headway.
On the foot of this blog are photos of our Ponta Delgada adieu….
E&H
Sorry, No photos today. Connection too slow.