Ria De Camarinas

I woke up still a little tired but keen to get going to Camarinas just over 20nm away. The sun was out and again very little wind. I raised the anchor and got the mainsail up within seconds only to be rewarded with almost zero wind once rounding the Laxe breakwater.

Once again on went the motor. I tried desperately to sail all day with no luck. In the distance I could see ominous looking clouds and the NavTex forcast had read. F3-4 with F6 locally. The F3-4 bit hadn’t materialised all day, hence the motor being on.

Literally within seconds the wind hit starting at 15kn gusting to 20kn, at least the motor could get turned off now I was steaming along with 1 reef in the mainsail. Slowly the wind began to climb, 20kn gusting 25kn, 2 reefs in the mainsail. Along with the wind, so did the seas with that horrible short steep chop that makes for vertical walls of water I have learned to hate with a vengeance.

Out of lazyness or habit or just inexperience I usually get the motor on when the seas get bigger with some mainsail for stability and this is what I did for a while before realising the waves were causing high fuel consumption. Hmn… time to conserve the fuel.

By sailing pretty close to the wind I found Doris would sail herself with 2 reefs in the mainsail and no headsail, gently jogging against the waves on her port bow. The ride was even quite comfy. I did throw a few ‘F’ words around while putting in the 2nd reef, the line became caught around the mainsail lazy bag batten (the side I couldn’t see) and I managed to tear a 12” long rip along the underside of the bag – crap!

I sat there watching the coastline dribble by at around 2.5kn thinking this is going to take ages. Also, to the angle of the waves I was 1.5nm of my course out to sea and when it came to my ‘left turn’ into Ria De Camerinas I simply couldn’t make any ground due to the waves on my beam. Nothing else to due but sail on past at a snails pace and then try again while running downwind with the waves further behind me as a ‘right turn’. This worked a treat and by now I was seeing gusts of 33kn and the sky was black as I entered the shelter of the Ria.

I sailed all the way into the anchorage behind Camarinas breakwater, rounded Doris up and dropped the mainsail like a polished pro. Then, while drifting in open water tidied up the cockpit and lines before getting the anchor already. Then on with the engine at the last moment to conserve fuel. Over we go, once around to scope it out, noticing I am struggling for depth in some areas, then pick the spot. I motion to a guy already anchored about depth and he announces he has 7m, perfect. Lots of room, down goes the hook. The wind starts blowing the bows off and I feed out the chain, all is going perfect until I notice that Doris is laying 90 degrees to the other boats and helpful matey is getting closer!

I don’t understand it what the hell … Then it occurs to me, he is using an anchor rope instead of chain and the water must be shallow enough that I have picked up his line with my rudder. Now the boats are laying side by side and I am apologising for being a complete idiot, while getting some fenders in place. So much for being the polished pro – more like the polished prat!

This isn’t a subject I really want to dwell on, suffice it to say that we used my broken spinnaker pole to clear the rope from my rudder. Once clear, I redropped anchor somewhat out of the way from everyone! Damage – none I can see (assuming the rudder is O.K.) and a wonky NavTex aerial which I straightened once settled.

With the wind still blowing its socks off, I was (again) more than a little worried about the holding power of the 10kg Delta anchor (30m x 8mm chain) and out came the handheld GPS. It hangs from the window above the bed so I can hear the alarm easily.

I am not sure whether I am slowly getting used to anchoring or tiredness was catching up, but I definitely slept a lot better. It was really nice to speak to Kat tonight after such a crappy day!

Ria De Corme / Laxe

Woke up and paid for my berthing before getting Brian to lend a hand slipping the lines at 0730 utc. By 0800 I had rounded the Coruna breakwater and already had the mainsail up. The first thing of note was that there was very little wind and a good size swell still running after the previous days bad weather.

All in all the wind was just strong enough to sail – if you had a flat ocean. Each time the the swell heeled the boat over the sails just tacked / flopped and then popped back with a bang when the wave had passed. This was one of those ‘man I’m sick of the sound of the engine days’. I motorsailed all the way, attemting every hour or so to sail sans motor without any luck.

My 37.74 (log) miles took me to my destination Laxe beach in Ria De Corme, very nice!
I dropped anchor in 5m of water over sand with no other boats within the anchorage with the wind blowing me gently offshore – perfect. Then out came the drink & sarnies, only to have the wind breeze from no fixed direction.

My first night at anchor was rather sleepless as I had to listen to the sound of the anchor chain being dragged across the sea bottom and I had visions of waking up aground on the beach!

My new found friend is my handheld Garmin GPS, or more specifically its anchor drag alarm. I set the distance threshold for 10m which did cause it go off every now and again due to my drift, but generally it was a nice comfort factor that allowed me to relax easier. I also set an alarm every 3hrs to check my position visually. Old sea dogs (if any read this) are probably laughing at all this and sleep soundly at anchor.

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.

Biscay Boshed!

Thursday 28th August 2008
Firstly ... Sorry for the delay in posting as Internet access is a nightmare. I am posting this from a Virus infected piece of cr*p in some CyberCafe dive!

After getting back to Doris around midday, moored in a now empty looking Camaret marina, we made a teary farewell to my parents before making preparations to set sail and go for the Biscay crossing.

The weather window had been looking very ‘good’ for the last few days due to a massive high pressure system in the Atlantic over the Azores, the term ‘good’, as in no storms or severe weather and if anything, a lack of wind was to expected.

However, strong winds were forecast to make an appearance around Monday in North Biscay and I was slightly worried about the effects of the swell that may get pushed into the bay. The decision to ‘go for it’ was based on the assumption of getting far enough south and across the bay before the onset of the increased winds in the north.

Just before we had left to visit my parents we had met single hander called Bruce from the UK who had intended to cross from Cornwall to Portugal / Spain immediately, however, bad weather had forced him to divert south past Ushant and into Camaret.

Bruce has just set sail for the ‘big one’ and like us it was very early days into his journey. We had a chat with Bruce before leaving and he was in two minds whether to port hop around Biscay or like us simply go for the direct crossing. Unfortunately, GPS problems meant he had to wait for some spares to arrive before departing. Hopefully, we will bump into Bruce in the near future and find out how his plan is progressing.

We left the berth around 1700 and filled Doris up with ‘Gazoil’, as I wanted to ensure given a lack of wind I could (if required) motor all the way across Biscay before the bad weather became a risk. It’s nice having the safety net of a good engine to fall back on. Bruce had told us that his boat ‘Ejay’ had a 2hp single cylinder engine that could manage around 3 knots on a good day and down wind!

Motoring out into the Rade De Brest bay my next discovery was how good ‘Heidi’ the Hydrovane can hold the boat into wind to raise the mainsail. Leaving the Hydrovane in the centre with the bare minimum of forward revs, raising the mainsail was so easy compared to my previous efforts at doing it single handed without any form of ‘self steering’.

In light winds we tacked our way out to open waters and it wasn’t long before we saw several dolphin fins breaking the surface some way off. I had said previously that that you are not a sailor until you have had dolphins alongside the boat, I was getting close!

Throughout the night we had to Motorsail as the winds were simply to light to sail, the only consolation being that the water was so flat and calm. It was a funny feeling knowing I was heading really ‘offshore’ for the first time ever. Daz had bought my attention to the fact that the log was reading just over 1000nm and this seemed a pretty good achievement in itself. Since taking ownership of Doris in February I had clocked up 1000nm with sailing on weekends around Brighton and the last three weeks of this trip. To put things into perspective, the plotted course for the Biscay crossing was just over 350nm – over a third of the distance I had sailed in the last seven months!

On the second evening I was snoozing down below while Daz steered only to be called up on deck as a matter of urgency. I could not believe what I was seeing! It looked as if every Dolphin in the entire Atlantic had decided to escort us across Biscay. Does this mean I now qualify as a ‘sailor’? The sight was simply amazing with some of them ‘getting air’ jumping completely out of the water. Down below you can hear their sonar through the boat hull.

Later after the Dolphin incident, Daz was below getting some sleep and it had been ‘dark’ for about an hour. I was settling down in the rear portside corner of the cockpit now happy to get the motor turned off and making good speed under sail alone. Suddenly, to my left I heard the sound of a ‘blow hole’, similar to that we had heard from the Dolphins but much louder, longer and deeper. I immediately sat upright squinting into the darkness. Less than 30ft to the left of the boat and going in the opposite direction what looked like a submarine surfaced, the black silhouette of a whale about the size of Doris clearly visible. This incident completely spun me out! With so many recent reporting of boats hitting Whales in the boating news, I insisted we put the stereo (speakers are below the waterline) on immediately. I was in two minds, part of me wanted to see more whales but in clearer light etc and the other part wanted them to stay completely away.

The days went by with Daz and I taking ‘shifts’ behind the wheel sleeping when we felt either we had to or could. Daz looked after a large portion of the helming while under motor, and when I had set up the sails and Hydrovane so as to not require any attention. We used the ‘kitchen egg timer’ to ensure that whoever was left on deck scanned the horizon for shipping every half hour with the binoculars.

Daz’s tapeworm / boredom also ensured the hot drinks and food kept flowing. While we had barely a few drops of rain for the entire trip, the boat was completely soaked each night looking like we had endured a sever downpour due to damp and with crystal clear skies it was freezing cold. We quickly learnt to ensure that the cabin doors were kept shut to prevent clothes and bedding from becoming cold and damp.

While the weather had been superb for the entire crossing with no bad weather or conditions experienced the one thing that was ‘different’ was the constant Atlantic swell that rolled in.

Long smooth waves of around 2m-3m that made anything on the horizon appear and vanish for 10 seconds at a time. Being out of sight of land for days also meant that as we progressed I started to appreciate a changing ‘seascape’, with areas of water looking distinctly ‘different’. Lastly, with the water being over 4000m deep once over the Atlantic shelf, the water looks like someone has tipped blue paint into the water, a colour of water I have never seen before.

After breaking the new Genoa Pole by snapping the mast end jaw while furling in the sail (still not sure what caused this), the following sail combinations were settled on, with the biggest problem being the constant Atlantic swell and light variable wind combination.

With very light winds (less than 6kn) I used the full mainsail and genoa but had to keep the wind ‘slightly above the beam’ as the Hydrovane could not handle the dramtic change from the increase / decrease in the apparent wind speed / direction caused by going from above to below the beam. With the wind below the beam, there was simply not enough wind to allow the Hydrovane to work at all, even in its most sensitive setting.

While Daz was asleep below I decided to use my new found trust in sailing companion ‘Heidi’ to experiment with the Assymetric Spinnaker, with both hoisting and lowering being ‘childs play’ with the hydrovane holding a reliable course under mainsail while single handed. With resultant boat speeds of 6-7kn we may have made much better time, but I almost got sunstroke while standing there helming for hours. I’m fundamentally lazy so this soon seemed like hard work!

In variable winds the over powered Assymetric was too much for the hydrovane to handle. In winds around 10kn, I could not use the genoa for downwind sailing as the Atlantic swell heeled the boat over to cause the over powered genoa to constantly round up, with Doris eventually galloping off from a broadreach to closereach. Instead, a ‘prevented’ mainsail held a surprising accurate downwind course when steered by the Hydrovane.

As the wind increased so did the amount of ‘snaking’ (again as a result of the rolling swell) and simply reducing the mainsail served to hold a straighter course which was dependable right down to just off a ‘run’. Simply disengage the hydrovane, wait a few seconds for the boat to naturally round up and without touching the mainsheet, allow the main to luff while the reef is either put in or shaken out. Reapply preventer tension and engage the hydrovane to steer us back down wind. Easy.. Even Single Handed!

Ok, we wasn’t breaking any speed records but a steady 5kn (higher when surfing down the wave faces) meant that I did not need to touch either the sails or wheel for hours at a time. All in all it was a good experience and learning exercise to play with the sail and hydrovane combinations in the swelly and variable conditions.

It seems that the Hydrovane suffers when the apparent wind speed / direction component is large in comparisom to the real wind speed / direction. Commonsense I suppose, but not something that becomes clear until you get your hands ‘dirty’. Still haven’t had the chance to try poled out genoa and mainsail as Wing N Wing. Maybe next time when I get the pole repaired.

We made landfall around midnight on Sunday and again were forced to use the motor due to a complete lack of any wind.

Daz about ready for "YachtMaster"...

Our final approach into La Coruna being made through fog. Our initial plan to enter the ‘La Coruna marina’ were changed when it appeared it is currently closed or under development, so we went the 5 minutes further past the La Coruna breakwater into the newer Darsena marina. A quick call on channel VHF 09 saw someone coming out in a small boat to escort us to our berth. Mooring went very smoothly (thank god) and we were quickly tied up and secure by 1030utc Monday morning. This is the first time I have been asked for boat and crew details including insurance details and passport numbers.

There are a large number of ARC 2008 boats also moored here with more arriving everyday indicating that I can now relax in terms of seasons and geographical progress with Biscay now ‘behind me’.

Costa Crew – (Official Sponsor of Doris) The bottle of Champaign was finally lovingly unwrapped and wearing my Brighton colours we toasted both our success and the Pontoon8 posse (absent friends). Needless to say it was a pretty ‘happy’ skipper who finally relaxed with a stupid grin on his face!

So to conclude, after 378nm (log) Biscay has been officially ‘Boshed’! So how do I feel? Well I acknowledge that it is quite an achievement for someone with such little sailing experience as myself and a crew of almost zero practical sailing experience, but we were extremely lucky with the weather.

I guess the question is: Is it better to make a good seaman like decision based on good weather forecasting and common sense and find it easy going – or – experience bad weather, which then translates into a greater feeling of achievement? Or - Do I simply think too much?

One thing is for certain, my confidence in my own decision making and perceived understanding of all this ‘sailing stuff’ has grown tremendously over the last three weeks.

I’ll post more about La Coruna soon enough… Internet connection allowing.

Visiting Parents in Brittany

On Sunday my parents came over to Camaret to finally see Doris (and us I guess) and pick us up.

I managed to get my Mum aboard using a step ladder! Daz and I then went to my parents house in South Brittany, leaving Doris in Camaret for a few days - on the visitors pontoon - unattended - which I'm more than slightly worried about!

This will probably be the last time I see my parents for a while at least, assuming I carry on as planned and it was good to see my Dad looking a lot better having literally just come out of hospital the day before.

We have been enjoying real home cooked food (eating way too much) and watching lots of tv and getting everything washed. I also finally shaved Daz's head grade1 stylee as his afro was simply getting to big for both of us to be in the cockpit at the same time!

It looks like a huge High Pressure system (Azores High) is making a Biscay crossing very possible next week. All you guys in the UK should start seeing good weather around next Friday (maybe earlier) I'm guessing, so time to get those boats out!

I think we will get back to the boat on Thursday and then maybe set sail Friday depending on the forecasts etc.

Anyways ... I just thought I'd keep you all updated with where we are and what we are doing etc .. incase anyone was wondering. Not too much else to report I'm afraid.