Hi everyone!
Last night we reached La Coruna and have spent the day setting about the repairs to the boat after an eventful crossing.I believe we all knew that Biscay in January was going to be a bit of a handful.
To recap....
Friday 18th- slipped our lines 1915 from Dartmouth and headed out into what Marinecall Forecast as a Force 4 NW wind, which would have been perfect. In reality this turned out to be a Gale Force 8 SW wind right on the nose!! So much for the professional forecast. This baptism of fire made it very hard and slow going,trying to beat South west to clear France to Biscay.
The heavy seas took it's toll on Andrew's and Paul's stomach, made worse by the soaking state the interior quickly became over the following 3 days! Resorting to using engine power to clear our way around Ouessant, sunday night saw the first signs of the high pressure we were promised- the wind subsided and skies cleared.
Sunday 20th- we were fnally able to cook some hot food, Ozzie Steve's chilli,which warmed us up....well Andrew and Steve as Paul could still not look food in the face.Many thanks to Ozzie Steve!
Monday 21st- At sunrise we noticed a halyard had managed to wrap itself around the mast and would prevent raising the mainsail. There was only one solution, to allow Andy to winch my up the mast in the bosun's chair to unravel it- not ideal whilst crossing the shelf into Biscay! but we sorted it and also transfered our spare fuel into the main tank, which was now very low and causing the engine to splutter on occasion.
Tuesday 22nd- 0300hrs and we crossed into deep water at last (4000m +) where the seas are far less disturbed and choppy than the shelf of only 100m depth. The wind slackened,the wind almost dissappeared, and sea became calm.... talk about the sublime to the rediculous! Under full sail we were going nowhere fast, but we daren't squander the very limited remaining fuel.Throwing caution to the winds, we used the engine and prayed for winds to pick up, and more importantly from a direction other than SW!
Wednesday 23rd- 1225hrs The wind picked up and veered enabling us to sail directly in the right direcin for once and we continued to make good speed.
Andy explained a crisis occured during his watch in the wee hours. He had used a "Parozone"wipe instead of a "wet one" and wondered why 10 minutes later he had an alarming pain in his backside!! His remedy was to fill the loo with sea water and immerse his rear end in it!!
1930hrs- Pass by various patrol boats whilst making our transit into Coruna. Once we reached the marina, this high military presence became understood- there are two US warships in harbour and we are moored adjacent to one of them. Not a problem you would have thought....wrong...the parades, announcements, brass bands, and national anthems at all hours are enough to put you off them for life!
Today Thursday 24th- has been involved in sorting out boat problems before leaving tomorrow evening,(wishful thinking). The list of problems vary from missing windvane, furling block snapped,fridge compressor failure, nav equipment failure,etc... but rest assured these will be sorted or they will not be needed for us to proceed.
We love all the additions to the blog- they are great to read and we thank you for them. Thanks also to my Lucy ,who has tried to make sense of the text position messages for the boat's sat phone. I understand one of the positions turned us up on a shopping spree in Cherbourg! Chance would be a fine thing!