Tides, equinox & eclipse

[DXNewcastle]

I'm trying to understand the synchronisation of this year's exceptionally big tides with the lunar cycle, and in particular, the delays. Can anyone help, please?

 

I've been aware that we've been experiencing big spring tides since the latter part of 2014 and will continue to do so until the end of 2015, and I'm also aware that the new moon is in sync with the equinoxes and solstices, which is the primary causal factor leading to a combined gravitational force which has an almost linear vector.

I was expecting a particularly big tide this weekend, when the alignment of sun and moon was so perfect that we experienced the eclipse on Friday, and I wasn't dissapointed. BUT, the predicted highest tide was not on Friday 20th, but on Sunday, and in practice, here in North East England, it was yesterday (Monday) afternoon, peaking at 5.9 meters.

 

Why is there a delay between the primary causal force and the tidal effect of a few days, several complete tidal cycles later? That is almost 10degrees of phase shift of the lunar cycle, which seems to require an extraordinary amount of energy to sustain it over 7 tides.

 

Why is there such a long delay between the eclipse and the highest tide?