Baiona (2)

Wednesday 17th September 2008
Priority number one, get myself looking less like a ‘Sea Pikey’, out came the razor and clippers! OK a grade one haircut may look slightly menacing but at least it’s tidy! After a shower and breakfast I felt much better (and lighter) and started work on the boat.

First job was to drill out the damaged genoa pole end and I now have a new one on order that should arrive for Friday – 65eu!!! The next job has been haunting me since leaving the U.K and that was to permanently wire in the inverter to allow me to charge 240vac things like razors, laptops, mobile phone, etc from the boat batteries while at anchor.

Prav – I have a confession. Remember those car jumper cables you lent me ages ago? I had to chop the ends off to use the cable. I’ll buy you a new pair – I promise!

After finding the right fittings etc the job is now complete with the inverter installed under the chart table – perfect. Life at anchor will be sweeter. Before I had to remove all the seats and cushions to get at the batteries and it was a complete nightmare.

Mr Crute has also arranged to order the required LED lighting units for both inside the boat and up the mast (anchor & tricolour). This will mean that instead of burning around 2 amps per hour for each light throughout the night, I will only be using 1/100 of an amp per hour which is a huge power saving when I am relying on solar panels to provide the daily leccy!

A welcome phone call from Captain Costa also cheered me up and it’s been slightly shocking hearing from different people about the state of affairs back in the UK with companies going bust etc.

I have no idea of what is going on in the world outside of whatever stretch of water I happen to be in, so please keep me posted with what’s going on in your lives as it’s always good to hear from friends.

Dave (Brighton) called to say he may come out to visit for a few days after the Southampton Boatshow, so until I know what he’s up to or have a plan, I may sit tight here at anchor just outside the marina and with any luck I will still be able to use the WIFI.

Baiona - Marina

Tuesday 16th September 2008
After a long phone call with Kat last night it makes me very sad to announce we will be going our separate ways. Needless to say I woke up this morning not the happiest bunny in town! Let’s just say I really am ‘Single Handed’ now in every sense of the word(s).

Ever since I had this hair brained idea, I have always envisaged Kat being with me at some point. We initially agreed she would visit during the nice areas (Med, Carribean, etc), so I was ecstatic when she announced she was doing Sea Survival and Day Skipper courses to join me on the assumption of staying out. With her flight booked and a date of 28th Oct, I had a goal to be in Madeira to meet her. For some reason without that goal I have no reason to be anywhere at any time now and feel a bit ‘lost’.

For my own sanity I have decided to keep the ‘date’ and will keep pushing forward to get to Madeira by the 28th October.

There was no point in just sitting there sulking, so I upped anchor and made the 2 hour motor around to Baiona marina through the busy shipping lanes in Ria De Vigo.

Mooring went smooth enough, although while getting the fenders and ropes sorted, not only have I ‘lost’ a fender but somebody has stolen a rope as well!

Once all signed in and paperwork complete I went for a wander around town to get some supplies and caught sight of myself in a shop window, talk about wild man of Borneo. Now I really felt depressed!

Back at the boat I spent the evening writing up the previous few days blog entries for all you avid readers and spent an hour catching up with life in the I.T. world talking to Dave (London) on the phone followed by another hour with Mr Crute. Tomorrow I need to concentrate on maintenance, both myself and Doris.

Bruce is still slogging it out around the North coast of Spain and I am providing him with regular weather updates etc. He hopes to make it to Baiona for Friday, fingers crossed he deserves some sun after what he’s been through getting around Biscay!

Isla Cies

Monday 15th September 2008
I woke up and had my morning quota of ‘Tostadas’, Spanish version of Rich Tea biscuits to you land lubberz before ‘slingin me hook!’. Not much to report on this 40nm trip I am afraid, no religious or spiritual antics, very few dolphins and no near death experiences and (as usual) had to have to motor on all day. I did get some lift from the mainsail which I am sure saves me a few quid in fuel.

Arrived at my destination Isla Cies which is an island separated from the mainland in the Ria De Vigo.

The island receives boat loads of tourists throughout the day so there is a restaurant and a visitor centre but that’s it as it’s basically a wildlife sanctuary covered in woodland.

I shared the beach anchorage with four other yachts most of whom had gone ashore.

Its times like this when I feel a little lonely, like ‘what’s the point’ as there is nobody to share anything with. The sunset was amazing and a massive full moon lit up the whole cove. A classic ketch arrived and also dropped anchor and the whole scene looked like a cheesy postcard you see in tourist shops.

OK ... not the best pic but it was the best I could manage as low light (without flash) means long exposure times and my boat moves to make pictures blurry!

I spent most of the evening talking to Kat on the phone… (more later), I will go the 10nm to Baiona marina tomorrow.

'Damage De Jour' - found a small gelcoat chip in the cockpit, probably as a result of being bashed by a safety harness.

Ria De Muros (3)

Sunday 14th September 2008
Woke up with the best intentions of going ashore to revisit the hardware stores and find a wireless connection to check email and post all the latest and greatest from my adventures. Not only am I losing track of time due to living on UTC (boat time) but also what day of the week it is. Being a Sunday of course all the shops are closed. I walk around and find an open wireless network but it wont let me out to the Internet. I really can’t be bothered to ‘examine things further’ and keep looking. Again bumping into Mark and Amanda of Blush, we find a WIFI zone bar and settle for a drink and some food. Upon ordering I am also handed a WEP key – nice.

Late yesterday evening an American flagged boat arrived in the anchorage and its owner – Willem, joined us. He has sailed from the Chesapeak on the East coast of the US, ‘over the top’ by way of Iceland and then via Scotland and down to Spain via Biscay! A cruiser!

Why did it not surprise me when he announces he is heading for the Caribbean, but first needs to get to Lisbon to pick up his wife! – Another one!

Now having Internet access I can see the weather forecast for the next few days and decide I need to get going tomorrow as some strong Northerly winds are arriving around Tuesday and this is going to start pushing some swell in my direction which I am keen to avoid. For some reason, NavTex is not receiving very well in these Spanish Rias, maybe it’s a ploy to get us to go ashore and spend money in bars?

The plan – Isla Cies, an anchorage about 40nm away tomorrow, then on to Bayona, a further 10nm. Once in Bayona I will make a plan on how I am going to get past Portugal. Bayona should be a good place to get things fixed according to the guide books.

Ria De Muros (2)

Saturday 13th September 2008

Woke up to find Mark & Amanda of Blush anchored across the bay from me, after a wave Mark came over for a chat and a cup of coffee. Luckily, Amanda is a dab hand with a sail needle and has some spares that should get me out of trouble with the damaged mainsail slider. I christen the dinghy and go ashore only to bump into Mark & Amanda again so we have lunch. I pay as gratitude for fixing my sail. There are some good ‘hardware stores’ here in Muros, but like an idiot I don’t have the specs of what I need with me – doh!

After paddling back to the boat, I fall asleep only to be woken up a short while later by the Blush crew armed with sail repair box. It’s not perfect but will get me out of trouble until I find a proper sail maker. Memo to self – Get some sail repair spares, a palm and needles.

Afterwards I play some guitar and generally relax and enjoy the sun. I have to say I am completely hooked on this anchoring lifestyle. I’m sure this will change when my anchor slips for the first time but until then, it’s so peaceful and there are very few other boats to hit, although as you know, I have already done that in Camarinas anchorage!

Not much else to report except that I won’t be going anywhere tomorrow either…

Ria De Muros

Friday 12th September 2008
I woke up at 0615 utc only to find it still dark and that’s just against my religion! Instead, 0815 saw me consuming honey toast and a cuppa before getting myself and the boat ready. Last usage of the marina facilities before noticing that I have about 0.5m under my keel, ordinarily fine but the large power boat that has now moored next to me to my right (between Peter and myself) mean I have to reverse out toward the shore to ensure the bows of Doris do not scrape a nice speed stripe down the front of the powerboat. Oh well, I’ll go and buy some straps for the dinghy before departing and the tied will come up a bit. I bump into Niels and say farewells, hoping to catch him down the line.

Finally Colin helps me slip my lines. I head out into wide open water to get in the fenders etc Funny, I am a fender short, I look all over the boat but no its gone – stolen?
I head around the breakwater to see white water at each side of the Ria entrance. Out come the binoculars. It’s barrelling!!! Overhead and barrelling, ordinarily I would be pleased to see such a sight, but not today. The forecast wasn’t promising either. Swell 5-6m decreasing to 2-3m. First decision is to turn around and drop anchor, but I edge closer.

The thing I have learned is that if you can see something, no matter how small it looks – its big! I see no waves in the centre channel and edge closer with the motor on and mainsail pulled in tight. I make it past the Ria entrance and desperately try to find deeper water. At 60m depth the waves are huge. Not breaking, but just steep and a little bit confused. They well up from nothing and roll toward you and everything in your body is screaming ‘sh*t!’.

From the cockpit perspective you measure the wave height against the spreaders and this alone seems insane! But they do not break, just pick you up and roll underneath you. The secret is to not give in to the urge to hammer the throttle forward because it looks like you will not make it over the top as this means you launch the boat into a huge drop the other side of the wave. By steering hard over at the crest you allow the wave to let you down slowly the other side.
Once again sailing is pointless as there is very little wind and the weight of the boom and canvas cause a gybe with every wave. Slowly I am getting used to waves, I still hate them but I am getting used to what can be negotiated ‘safely’.

I won’t bore you with the details, suffice it to say that for the next 4-5 hours I was a slave to the helm and aside from the odd visit from the dolphins, not really enjoying the trip at all. For some reason, maybe because I hate the noise of the engine I found myself singing. Mainly elvis songs at the top of my voice – after all no matter how bad it sounds, who’s gonna hear? Dolphins can’t speak – can they?

Now … the next few words come hard for me, because for those who know me well, I have a bit of reputation to retain. I am not sure what happened and can’t even begin to explain it – but here goes…

I must have sung myself into some euphoric state of mind, because my chain of thought started to wonder towards how lucky I am. About Kat my girlfriend, all my very good friends back at home (many of whom I hope are reading this), the boat and life in general. How things always seem to work out for the best despite the (sometimes dangerous) situations I constantly find myself in, etc, etc. I reached the conclusion that I should think about saying ‘thank you’ in some spiritualist manner to who/whatever it is that’s looking out for me. With a big fat fluffy solitary cloud in sight, I looked up said aloud and with conviction ‘thank you’.

The next few seconds I can’t explain. The boat took off and surfed down another huge swell but instead of coming to a wallowing stop as always, seemed to keep going. I had dolphins both sides jumping clear out of the water and then when the ride was over, complete calm. I was completely ‘freaked’ and then for some unknown reason, simply burst into tears! I have no idea why or over what. For the entire day I had not eaten or written any log entries due to the demands of helming and yet there I was sitting and writing Kat an SMS in some desperate effort to share the experience.

Maybe I am starting to lose my sanity, or I had heat stroke from being in the sun, or lack of food throughout the day? I have no clue, suffice it to say it was weird… When I return do not be surprised if I’m chanting and making offerings to the Gods etc…

The wind finally made an appearance late in the afternoon building from 15kn to over 25kn and I sailed down wind and surfed (10kn+) for hours on the mainsail alone, before entering Ria De Muros about 19:00 utc just as it started getting dark.

Breakage for the day, upon lowering the mainsail I noticed that the slider that is (was) attached to the headboard (fitted with the bat cars in Brighton) has ripped off – yet another thing to repair!

I entered the anchorage in darkness and found that what looked like an empty stretch of water actually had about six other yachts at anchor all without anchor lights.

Anchor down in about 6m of depth, I reversed until the chain was ‘bar tight’. Took a few bearings and with the offshore breeze at around 2kn made the best tasting cup of coffee I have had for a long time before passing out!

Dave from Brighton called me to let me know all the latest and greatest from the world of boating, it was good to hear a familiar voice.

Ria De Camarinas (4)

Thursday 11th September 2008
Last night the wind was horrendous and sounded like an SW F7 at least with pouring rain. I was glad to be tied to a pontoon rather than ‘on the hook’ as that would have made for a sleepless night. This morning the wind has swung 180 degrees and is looking a lot more favourable, however, the NavTex is saying swell from the NW to 4m. That’s pretty big and while I can cope with wind I am a chicken when it comes to waves.

I said goodbye to Mark & Amanda on Blush who set off heading for the next Ria south which will be my next stop also – Ria De Muros.

Peter (French) moored to my right has also offered to ‘wind me up’, so out came the old climbing harness and up the mast I went. The bulb was blown but in a place where any vibrations cause it to intermittently work. I put in a spare 25w bulb for now as it’s supposed to be only 10w. This will hit my power consumption at anchor but better than no light at all. I did try to hunt down the correct bulb throughout the day without any luck. Memo to all those people setting off on similar trips, LED lighting - expensive but worth it in my opinion, especially those that turn themselves off when its daylight!

With the anchor light ‘fixed’ it was now time to haul the dinghy out of storage. This thing weighs a ton! After an hour there she was, like a huge growth on Doris’ foredeck. It’s a bit of a nightmare as it makes visibility of the bows difficult but it needs to be out to be used. I then started trying to locate my surfboard straps to tie the thing down. After 2 hours of looking I gave up, I have looked in every foot of this 35ft vessel and I know they are here somewhere! Using some old sail ties, I get it semi secure and that will do for the night.

I have met two guys from Sweden (Henrik – who is returning to work tomorrow, and Niels – who has sold up and set sail). Niels is using HF radio for weather and email communications and his boat seems like a NASA control station compared to mine – although he does not have a liftraft or EIPRB. When the packet modem and radio fires up everything in the boat flashes due to the 30 amp consumption!

Niels is heading south (aren’t we all) and has to get his boom fixed which broke across Biscay. They had to get the power tools out at sea – very impressive! His repairs make mine look pathetic! Niels is also waiting for his girlfriend to come out in a few months time – notice a pattern here? It seems the ocean is full of males all waiting for their better halves to make an appearance!

Not much else to report today except that I should get going tomorrow or at least go back out to anchor…