Having waited in Falmouth for about 5 days we finally felt that the weather was good enough to attempt a crossing of Biscay.

The forecast looked good for 5 days (the time we estimated it would take to get to Bayona) but with strong winds forecast the day after our arrival, so if we were late we would run the danger of these winds. The other issue was that for the first day the winds were directly where we wanted to go. This would mean being close hauled and tacking for the first 24 Hours, whist we crossed the English channel. After all the time we had spent waiting, we decided the risk was worth taking. We could always dive into a French port for shelter on the way down if it become too uncomfortable.

So Monday morning we left the pretty little harbour of St Mawes in the Fal estuary and headed out to sea. We had a good force 4 and with a single reef in the main sail were able to sail well. The issue as expected was that we had to tack backwards and forwards as we wanted to head south west directly into the wind. We had to put a further reef in the Genoa overnight then shook it out in the early hours. About 20 miles north of the Ushant traffic separation zone (Motorway for big ships that we need to avoid) we noticed as it became light came that the furling foil had sheared about four foot from the base. This left us with a difficult decision, do we continue close hauled around this and head into a French port for repairs (at least we would not loose the distance we had sailed). Or turn around and sail the 75 miles back to the UK (a downwind sail that hopefully would put less strain on the rig) and get repairs carried out at Falmouth. Reluctantly we chose the latter and returned to get a UK repair.
We managed to get in touch with the UK Coastguard and inform them of our situation. Pete was concerned that with the foil broken the fore-stay could break and we would then loose the rig. This would also leave us with no radio communications as both radios use the mast to support the aerials. If the worst did happen we would have no means to communicate our predicament. We made it clear that we were in no immediate danger and required no assistance at that time. As such we arranged a hourly radio shed with the coastguard and reported our position and that were OK every hour for the rest of the trip. That way if we failed to report in, and they could not raise us, they could initiate a search based on our last position report. We sailed into Falmouth and tied up at Falmouth Marina approximately 38 hours after we left and about 5 miles from where we started!

We spoke to both the insurance company and the local riggers, who were very efficient and had the furling gear off the boat by 09:30 the following morning. It was then that we also realised that the furling drum had also broken and that the sail had suffered damage by rubbing on the sheared metal on the return trip. We spoke to the insurance company about this and discovered insurance is all about the small print. As we had only sheared one section of the foil they would pay for only that & also the broken drum. However as the rig was over 10 years old a direct replacement was not available and we would need to replace the whole foil section with a new one. Insurance nevertheless would only pay for one new foil and we would have to pay for the other 8! to boot as the gear was more than 10 years old they would only pay for 60% of the replacement costs after deducting our £500.00 excess! I really wonder what we pay insurance for!
The riggers pointed out that it is usually the head swivel that normally breaks first, and that the age and use our rig had been subjected to it was pretty certain the old head swivel would go during our trip. As this was the only piece that we would not be replacing it made sense to order a complete rig the cost differential was only another 15% and we would then get a 10 year guarantee on the whole system something we wouldn’t with just ordering parts. We took a long time to think this through but decided the only sensible choice was a new rig (there goes the emergency fund). They could have a new rig delivered by Thursday and fitted on Friday if we wanted. We gave them the go ahead and started transferring funds from savings to current accounts.

Whilst at Falmouth marina we also took the decision to replace the fuel line to the engine we had again on the trip experienced another one of those times when the engine stalled but by clearing the fuel pipe by blowing down it till we could hear bubbles in the fuel tank it ran perfectly again. We had come to the conclusion that the old fuel pipe might be getting degraded inside so replacement seemed a sensible option. The rigging company put us in touch with a marine engineer who they said could supply what we needed. We spoke to him and he said he would come down to look at the boat and determine the type of hose needed and the length. Once on board he expressed a opinion that the hose looked fine and that the problem was with our tank. We were not of the same opinion as the tank had been drained, cleaned and re-assembled by the marine engineer at our home port of Fambridge. However following his advice we took up the seats, table & floor to get at the tank. He arrived early next morning with about 9 x 25 ltr containers to drain the tank ( it being ¾ full). Imagine our surprise as the diesel was sucked out to find a cleaning cloth left by previous engineers inside the tank. This was blocking the fuel line so starving the engine of Fuel. When Pete blew down the fuel line (Jackie was too sensible to get involved in this) it blew the cloth off the pipe so the engine ran successfully again. Lesson learned don’t trust anyone to work on the boat without being present. This slipshod undertaking could have had fatal consequences if we had lost the engine on a rocky shore line with powerful winds blowing us in. We’ve sent a very strongly worded e-mail to them and await a response. We have photographic evidence and a independent witness (the other engineer) so may take this further both naming names & legally if we don’t get a satisfactory outcome.

Finally a week after we left, were ready to go again. Though financially poorer but wiser. Hopefully the experience puts us in a position to benefit in the future.