SailBlog

We arrived in La Coruna, Spain earlier today after a 70 hour passage across the Bay of Biscay from Les Sables d'Olonne, France. First order of business was to get a new battery for the port side engine that had failed and was causing electrical gremlins in the entire electrical system and an additional 1st reefing sheet (line) that suffered some serious chaffing damage during the crossing. Other maintenance items were attended to as the boat came through well after more than 380 nautical miles of sailing/motoring. We spent the early evening touring the old city where the holiday decorations were out in force and enjoyed walking around after 3 days at sea. Our plan is to depart late morning tomorrow for the trip around Cape Finesterre and down the coast of Portugal. A building weather system to the southwest has altered our plan to head directly for the Canary Islands and it's possible we will have to find refuge at a port in southern Portugal for a couple of days later this week to allow for another agressive weather system to move on through. But at least we are working our way south. It's the middle of the winter and until we get to the latitude of the Canary Islands we will be subject to these powerful low pressure systems that develop with serious gale force winds. Our strategy is to avoid these systems if we can and move forward when the weather is better.