There is a saying that eventually you turn into your parents. This thought struck home as I sat on deck in the marina at la Coruna repairing our spray-hood.

My father had a rather unusual hobby for a man, of embroidery. With his fine draughtsman eye for detail he was very good at it. As kids we would be taken out to the beach , castle or other place of interest. Whilst we would run around, play and generally enjoy the place, he would sit and sew poppies or roses onto a piece of cloth. As a kid I thought this was a waste of the visit, here we were at some fantastic place and he was sewing, something he could just as easily done at home! Here I was in a fantastic port with a view of a beautiful castle next to me and what was I doing 'sewing'. |(View above is of the castle)

The pressure of hundreds of gallons of green water shooting over the deck as we came in in the bad weather had found the weakness in our old spray hood. Admittedly, we had done nothing to it in the four years we owned Argonauta, and don’t really know how old it is. The effects of UV light had obviously weakened the threads and then the force of the water had meant the stitching had given way. So here I was copying my father, sewing in a great location (no not poppies & roses I admit). When I should have been out enjoying the surroundings. Still the weather had now turned and I was in Tee-shirt & shorts with the sun on my back whilst I carried out the repairs.

Sewing completed we congratulated ourselves on this being the only repair needed and set off to look around the place. La Coruna is a fantastic mix of history, narrow streets with bars, cafés, and a seaside town with beaches. This is a place the Spanish come on holiday, so no British pubs and cafés serving 'English breakfasts' here. But small Tapas bars, & family run restaurants with specials changing daily depending on the catch brought in by the fishing fleet. We spent several days exploring the town and beaches, even daring to swim in the Atlantic surf 'boy do those waves come in big' .

On Monday we decided the weather looked good for the next leg around Finisterre and then down to Bayona and Portugal. So we prepared the boat, stowed gear & filled water tanks with the plan to be at sea for about three days putting in on Thursday when stronger winds were forecast. We had no real destination planned, but would just sail as far south as we could get in three days then on Wed decide which was the nearest suitable port, and head in for shelter and a rest. We left at 10:00 local time and winds were so light we motored out of the marina and bay and back out into Biscay. The winds stayed light but we didn’t worry as they were forecast to increase slightly later in the early afternoon. Once clear of land we engaged the autopilot to steer. Unfortunately she seemed to want to do her own thing and not maintain the course we put her on. So thinking that the severe weather might have upset the electronics when we came down. We searched for the manual to enable us to re-calibrate the unit. All the time hand steering. We both took turns looking for the instructions and after about 50 mins searching found them. We followed the procedure to configure the unit, for it to come up 'calibration failed'. We then looked in the aft locker where the Ram arm is situated, and discovered that the custom stainless steel bracket manufactured by the installers had sheared and broken. One of the bolts had also sheered so it was hanging on by just one bolt! Reluctantly 'and not for the first time this trip' we took the decision the return and get it fixed. This needed welding something we could not do at sea. As the winds were forecast to come from behind the hydro-vane (wind steering unit) dose not cope too well at that angle, so we would be hand steering the whole way. We were also sure that repair facilities were available in la Coruna, but not so sure about the ports further on.

So 4 hours having left, we were tied up back at the marina. A quick call to a marine repair workshop confirmed if we could get the part to them they would look at it today after siesta time (14:00 to 16:00) so Pete crawled into the back locker after removing tons of gear. Managed to unbolt the bracket and then cycled six miles across town and got there for 16:00. As they work till 19:30 they hoped to do something that day, if not they could do something the next day. They did express concerns that if this had failed that the metal may have been too light a gauge and we agreed with them that if the cost differential between a repair and re-manufacturing a new one was no greater than 40 Euros they would fabricate a new one in heavier stainless.
The end of the following day we got the message that the part was ready. So on wed Pete and John (a friend we have made from an adjacent boat) spent all morning fitting the bracket. This is not an easy task, as you can view it by sliding down head first into the locker. But at that angle can't reach it. Alternatively you can go in feet first, then crouch and reach between your legs but can't see what you are doing. One dropped spanner later, we had it bolted in. This time with locking nuts to prevent anything working loose. With a heavier steel and a re-enforcing strap welded around the outside we hope this will be sufficient.

So once again we are ready to leave. The forecasts for today are force 8 in Trafalgar (as we had expected at the beginning of the week) so we are waiting another 24 hours and hope to set off again tomorrow 'Friday'.

We have to get out of this habit of leaving then returning with some thing else broken. Though we were warned by a Australian who has covered 75,000 sailing miles in the last five years that, “The first six months cruising is spent breaking everything, then when all has been repaired you tend not to break anything again'. Or as one of the other yachties here stated “cruising is repairing your boat in foreign lands”.

We hope not! The emergency funds cant take too many more hits at the moment!