Harmon and Randall's Voyage…

St John’s Azores Leg

Day 4

Wednesday, June 19

Noon Position: 45 56.6N 38 40.6W

Course: SE then E

Wind: SW 25 then 5

Noon Miles: 156

Total Miles: 614

By early afternoon we were in the Gulf Stream. This for north, the stream has fanned out and diminished in force. Still, there are pockets of 2 and 3 knot flow and we hit one of those pockets at a time when winds had themselves increased to 25 knots from just S of W. The water flow in our favor and the heavy wind on starboard gave us a push that sent Mo over 10 knots for a few hours. We saw 12 knots once. For a vessel whose maximum hull speed is calculated at 8.5 knots, that is pushing Mach. In such conditions, Mo’s 20 tons of boat is attempting to surf the waves, which feat is like Shaquille O’neal dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy.

The pod of favorable current and speedy wind didn’t last. By afternoon we had passed out the other side of the current tongue and back to less heady achievements. By late next morning, even the wind had vanished and we were back to motoring.

Still, that push gave us another respectable day’s mileage.

And it gave us warm temperatures. From the midnight before the Gulf Stream ride to 2pm when we entered, sea temperatures rose from 45 degrees to 63 degrees and brought day temps right along with them.

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The Atlantic is a busy place. Ships now seem everywhere. Not always as close as the one that passed us last evening, but always visible on the AIS screen.

We are today and tonight working over the top of a high pressure system that is keeping us from a) getting a wind we’d like and b) heading in the direction we need to achieve our goal. But that should soon change. The high will shuffle off to the S and we should be in the wind again by the morning of tomorrow.