Single Handed Friends

Into Saturday, well not much to report. I cleaned the boat, my clothes and myself after going for my moonlight swim in the marina. Without going to much into details, Daz decided to leave so I am now ‘Single Handed’.

I returned from town to find both Jack & Brian sharing a glass of wine aboard Timshel (Brian’s boat) and I quickly joined them. After swapping details we said farewell to Jack who was returning home (Spain) the next day. Who knows we may even cross tracks on down the line.

Jack – Old sea dog who circumnavigated with his wife for over 17 years and still sailing. Making progress to Gibraltar over the next few months to carry out repairs on his new vessel just purchased a few weeks ago.

Brian – A translator who has been sailing since age 15 and been living aboard various boats in France for the last 10 years and has now set sail in Timshel bound for the Canaries via Africa, soon to be joined by his girlfriend – sound familiar?

Fair winds & Calm Seas to them both…

In The Drink!

Today I decided to do the tourist thing and went for a long walk by myself. Daz spent the day asleep recovering from an evening on the wine with Brian and myself, I felt a bit ‘worn’ but had to get out in the fresh air.

I walked all along the coast and even visited the Tore of Hurcules before coming full circle via the town centre with a KitKat McFlurry to reward myself.

The beach here is lovely and the waves looked to die for … given more time this would be worth a surf, it’s a shame the boys aren’t out here!

Friday evening, me and Daz were getting the boat ready to set sail first thing in the morning. As we were filling her up with water, I got my foot stuck under the black mooring line in the dark and jumped down onto the wobbly finger pontoon with one leg still entagled on the boat. I seemed to hover there for ages before accepting my fate! Into the water I went. It actually wasn’t that cold and before I hauled my ass over the pontoon It would have been quite laughable but I realised I had my mobile phone in my pocket.

Luckily, the SIM still works and I have an old Nokia backup phone – Gutted about losing the more modern phone though.

Ramblings from a La Coruna Cafe

Ok I have found a cafe that allows you to use your own laptop on their WIFI network.

First things first...

Happy Birthday (love & cuddles) to Melody Crute and thankyou to Mr Crute for posting my position via twitter while I was 'out there'.

Mucho thanks Tom for sorting out the domain - C ya soon? Whats going on on planet Verizon - someone give me all the latest on what I'm missing as I havent heard from anyone! Not even the Vegas stories! Dave - you alive?

So whats new out here?...

Well I heard that Bruce had to 'run for cover' in Biscay and is now holed up on the Isle De Yeu just below Camaret after hitting 45kn winds and huge seas in the bay. Looks like we timed it perfectly and got very lucky with the weather for our crossing.

My 'neighbour' Jack, who is moored next to me, completed the same route as us across Biscay is a frequent writer for Yachting Monthly and wants 'my story' about selling up and setting sail ... watch this space!

Congratz to Kat for completing her ISAF courses - Ocean Safety, Sea Survival and Ocean First Aid. Lots of good advice for the 'big one' later in the year!

Kat has now booked a flight to Madeira for the 28th October, so this means the new plan is to forget going into the Med as time will be to short. Instead, the current thinking is to complete Portugal via a couple of stops, maybe Porto (~200nm) and Lisbon (~200nm), then on to Madeira (~500nm).

Sorry Stu looks like I wont be hooking up in Cannes after all.

Also Prav - likewise, sorry - the delays in N. France mean there is no way for me to get down south fast enough to see you. Looks like you both will have to come and see me in the Carribean?!?!?

Since arriving here, the weather has been terrible with rain and strong winds. Looks like the UK South Coast has had it bad as well. When the weather settles we will be making a move. It seems as if every place we arrive there is one sunny day before the storm clouds catch up with us!

Oh ... here is a clip of the Biscay Dolphins. I coudn't get it to upload from the dive of a CyberCafe I had to resort to previously.

And an example of Heidi doing her thing early on a Biscay morning... Not very exciting I know, but it gives you an idea of what the sailing was like across Biscay I guess.

Jobs that have been 'completed' since being here:

New bulbs for the Navigation lights - purchased a short while ago, not fitted yet.

Portugese courtesy flag purchased in preparation for the journey to come.

While giving 'my story' to Jack, the water pump fired up and water started leaking into the heads (bathroom to you land lubbers). Luckily, the burst hose was long enough to 'cut N shut' it. I have purchased a new length of hose to keep onboard, just incase.

Another yacht is having a nightmare with breakages and repairs. Luckily for me, some Spanish bloke who works for Selden Rigging was coming to see him in the marina, so I 'borrowed' him to get an opinion on my own rigging tension. Verdict, it's fine for 'normal' sailing. I may decide to just give the shrouds a little tighten just incase of stronger winds - better too tight than too loose - amen to that vicar!

It was rather amusing to watch as he didn't speak a word of English, so he called up a woman to translate via mobile phone. Somewhere along the line he wanted us to sail 2 hours around the coast to where they are based but for what I have no idea? - Neither did the woman on the phone!

The Selden guy did mention fixing my broken Genoa Pole but then it all got lost in translation, I decided not to pursue this topic!

I will also need some new mooring ropes soon as two have worn through due to the wind and swell in this marina, for now I'm being a sea Pikey and 'making do', but they are getting a bit short!

I fixed the 12v internal supply to allow me to have the Satphone turned on all the time so you folks can send me SMS messages from the Iridium website.

Nothing else to report at the moment but I will try and sample the surfing here and hopefully see the sun before we leave.