Doncha just love anchor watch? Thought I would share this with yous for something to do while I wait for dawn.
Avy-J is currently stuck in a Spanish anchorage anchored in water deeper than I would have liked, with a boat that came in and anchored close-ish downwind of us just before sunset – – and the anchor alarm goes off at four in the morning.
06.00
Two hours so far of monitoring things suggests we seem to move a metre or so downwind in the strongest gusts. We have moved maybe 20 metres or so since setting the hook. Pretty sure we will make it to dawn (maybe another 90 minutes} without having to take decisive action if the wind doesn’t get up much more. Catherine gone for a lie-down.
We have 40m chain out in about 11m at the current state of tide, an hour and a half to high water. I would put some of the warp out as well, but it makes recovery more difficult in an emergency as the windlass won’t get a grip – and anyway I don’t really want to drop back much further. Getting out before dawn is not an option as this wee bay is hemmed in by densely packed mussel rafts (viveiros) that can only be navigated safely in full daylight.
The anchor was allowed to settle then set with about 1500rpm astern, quite a lot of tug with our big three bladed prop, and it’s not gusting over 20kts. The wind has turned through nearly 180 degrees though, so I am guessing it is a reset issue.
What with the suicidal jetskis rampaging around yesterday evening and now a very disturbed sleep, it will be a relief to see the sun come up and get the hell out of here.
09.00
Got our anchor on board, Suspiciously clean but with weed wrapped roun the roll bar. Motored round to Vilanova marina threading our way through the hundreds of Viveiro in an unexpected 20 knots of wind.
Vilanova is a dump, You don’t even get a key, you have to ask the single on-duty marinero to let you in. At night apparently a guard dog runs loose, and you have to wait for the marinero to grab it!
The alleged restaurant on site no longer exists, WiFi is non-existent and it’s nearly a mile to the only supermarket. I am beginning to think this must have been a paid entry in ‘Atlantic Spain and Portugal’, or at least written by someone who has never been here.
It was blowing 20 knots when we came in, and Windy says we may be here for a while. We’ve been stuffed in a corner it is not going to be easy to get this long keeler out of. Cheaper than La Coruna , but still overpriced at 22 euros a night for a 9m boat, no center cleats on the short pontoon and I am not even sure we could get out of this berth at low water springs. .
No-one speaks any English, so the idea of getting any help with the morse control is probably a non-starter, and I’ve gone off doing the job in the immediate future. The chandlery is very fishing-orientated, but not entirely useless.
I give it one star, wish my Spanish was a lot better. The annoying thing is, that wind this morning could have taken us down to Bayona. Now we could be in for a long beat or a few days here.
Forecast is for an insane 35 degrees this afternoon. We are going to see if there is a beach just North of the marina – there is one shown on the map we were given. Then maybe a shower – at least they look good.
Thank god for Navionics. Got it on both phones now..
14.00
Through the Canal de Sagres, a passage only 200m wide in places between some scary looking rocks. The general sense of alarm is only heightened by the large trawlers bearing down on us from astern and passing metres away.
15.15
Engine off, sailing under full main and genoa on a broad reach. Still a bit of weather helm when the wind gets over 11 or 12 knots, but nothing unmanageable. The first reef has been in since Ardglass, so it’s good to get the creases out! It was the first time we have had the mainsail up since our first Biscay night.
16.15
Well, that was a pleasant hour, but the wind died so it’s engine on again. Motored up to and round Isla Arousa, threading our way through the massed viveiros (mussel rafts), intending to anchor in the big bay North of the bridge, but it looked pretty exposed in tonight’s forecast N-Easterlies so we turned back to anchor in the bay south of Punta Caballo.
18.00
Anchored in 10m – unable to get in any closer due to yellow swimming boys. Two other (much bigger, of course) yachts anchored here.
We almost immediately wished we had stuck to Plan A, as the wee bay is a magnet for jetski lunatics hurtling round and try ound the anchored yachts. As we were coming in one jetski with three girls on it came within 10ft doing about 30 knots, swerving to send a shower of spray and girly laughter over us.
Cigar racing speedboats career through the viveiros at insane speeds as well, there is constant wake and noise.
20.00
Most of the petrol-powered lunatics have gone home. Paella and peace.
21.00
The most beautiful sunset… a great birthday.
10.20 Engine on. Engine reluctant to fire up on 2nd cylinder.
10.45
Engine off, sailing, full genoa.
Lovely run down to Finisterre in 18kts gusting 23, then went inshore to have a good look at Europe’s most Westerly point and ran out of wind.
14.10
Engine on.
14.50
Round Finisterre.
12.5nm to entrance to Ria Muros. As we were a fair way out to see I decided to clean our oily bilge sump, so mixed up a generous portion of dishwashing liquid and water, poured it in and left it for a while. The bilge pump blew a fuse (again) though, so I had to sponge it all out😒
17. 30
Approaching Ensenada de San Francisco, we were intercepted by an Aduanas (customs) boat with masked crew who made hand signals – think they were asking if we were going to anchor in the bay, but they may have been asking if we were going into the marina. All seemed amicable, if a bit weird.
18.15
Anchored off the NE corner of the bay. Wind not as advertised so hanging into the beach. Knox took a wee while to set, but eventually held on substantial astern revs.
(NB – engine not going into astern until you move the lever enough to start opening the throttle, then there is a clunk… Needs the new morse control fitted sometime fairly soonish…)
18.45
Customs boat comes back and asks to see papers. Much palaver as they get the boat close enough to hand over papers in a waterproof bag. Papers duly handed back, a signature from me and a copy of some piece of paper. Slightly nerve-wracking having a stonking great steel mobo hovering three feet away.
19.30
Chicken (bought two days ago) is stinking and goes to feed the fish. Change of dinner plans, Catherine is making an omelette with tatties, cibies, cheese, tomatoes and chorizo.
Well, the infamous wind acceleration zone around this NW corner shows no signs of going away this week… but today is probably the best day to make some progress. If possible we will go all the way to Camarinas today, but we will see how strong the wind gets.
05.05
Slip La Coruna and encounter 5 vessels before we clear the breakwater.
Leave the 2nd green to port, then out to sea and turn onto our course to clear the Sisargas. Dodging fishing vessels for a while, then confused for some time by two flashing orange lights which I assumed to be two pair trawlers. Turned out one was a special mark on land, the other was much further away and was a solitary trawler we passed just as it was getting light.
Rolling like a pig, improved slightly at dawn, or was that my imagination?
09.00
43deg 23.32N
08deg 43.17W
5.8nm to WP off Sisargas Isles.
Dolphins round boat briefly.
Catherine snoozing in the forepeak.
09.15
Deploy genoa with 2 reefs to try to dampen rolling. Ineffective in 7-8kts apparent. Just passed a creel marker on the 100m contour line!
11.00
43deg 20.23′
08deg 56.38′
Have been brave and set a WP for Cabo Villano (17nm} as we are making good time and Corme is a bit pointless unless we have to divert.
Wind 12-18kts, keeping genoa W. 2 reefs filled nicely, but still motoring to keep the speed up. This. Is passage making today, hoping to get round Cabo Villano before the wind really gets up. Been hearing strong wind warnings of some sort from La Coruna radio, but unable to make out the detail.
11.55
Can’t justify keeping the engine on any more – wind is 17kts gusting 23 and we are making 4.5kts with one reef in the genoa. The sudden quietness wakes the sleeping crew. Beautiful sailing, with the autohelm handling the steering for now.
13.30
Wind 22 gusting 30, seas building. Reduce sail further. A brutal British flagged motor yacht passes us going North, massive engines thumping it through the heavy chop. It’s a savage coastline (Costa del Morte – you do the translation). It would be scary in these winds in Scottish weather, but blazing sunshine takes the edge off!
14.15
Reduce genoa further and gybe to go round the dodgy rocks off Cabo Villano. The GPS on my phone appears to pack in whenever danger threatens, but fortunately I took the precaution of installing Navionics on Catherine’s phone as well. With El Bufardo abeam we turn onto a very breezy beam reach under heavily reefed genoa and head for the welcome shelter of the ria.
15.45
Anchored off the beach to the North of Camarinas. 30m chain out in 4m of water – it’s going to be breezy tonight.
I lol around with a beer, then go for a wee hour’s snooze before dinner.
I waken an hour or so later to a delicious spag bol. Just time to shave and open a half bottle of rioja before a delicious dinner.
Tomorrow, Cabo Fisterra, Finisterre, the most Westerly point in mainland Europe.
Not enough sleep… For me, it was the rumour that Spain could institute a second national lockdown two weeks today coupled with a forecast for prolonged strong N-easterly winds which make the chances of rounding Finisterre and escaping Spain before then look slim. The Spanish government have denied the rumour, but then they would, wouldn’t they? Virus numbers are certainly crazy in Spain right now, the National and regional administrations seem to be losing their grip on the situation.
09.50
Recovered our anchor and motored out of the ria, watching our position on the chart carefully to avoid some nasty pinnacle rocks guarding the Western corner of the entrance.
11.00
Still motoring, no wind. Some sort of weather warning/forecast on the VHF, but I obviously picked the wrong channel.
Catherine feeling a bit seedy due to lack of sleep and rolly motoring, resting in the saloon. Me really wanting some wind – apart from anything else, our old and slightly incontinent engine could do with a rest!
Another beautiful, hot day, shorts and t-shirt feels overdressed.
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12.00
43deg 36.06′ N
08deg 15.95′ W
Still motoring, no wind!
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12.30
Rounding Cabo Prior. More spectacular and scary looking rocks and invisible underwater pinnacles.
16.10
Alongside in Mariña Real, La Coruna, after a couple of unscheduled manoevers. As ever if I call up, no-one answered, then as we came in we saw ‘waiting pontoon on the first hammerhead. Catherine got the bow line attached, then one of the marineros appeared saying no, not possible, and offered us a choice of berths. Catherine pulled the bow in and jumped on, but reversibility became Vega-like in the rising wind, and a reverse pirouette was instigated. This attempted elegance was then abandoned in a panic when the trip boat Rias Altas Dos came steaming out of the marina at ten knots, and converted into a hard over 180 between the trots, much to the confusion of our helpful marinero.
I chose East-facing on the second row in to be further away from swell coming in the entrance, hanging off and with the forecast Nor’easter more on the bow than the beam. How wise this was remains to be seen, watch this space.
Mariña staff are helpful and friendly, with very good English, but it is expensive… A 20% discount for 6 days though, an offer that, looking at the forecast, we are pretty likely to take advantage of.
Now it is time to sort out snubbers and tapas, in that order.
09.05 Get anchor – much easier with the new windlass!
Motor out of the ria and . . . keep motoring! Not enough wind to sail in.
Just outside the ria we had a slightly confusing encounter with a fishing boat, lots of hat waving by the skipper though no sign of any gear in the water.
12.00
Rounding Cabo Ortegal half a mile off. Usual wee motor boat fishing off the pinnacle rocks. A spectacular headland.
Phoned Margaret and got her to get flowers for Anne’s birthday. No such thing as 4G last time I came this way!
12.25 land breeze picks up. Genoa out doing 5kts SOG
43deg 46.47N
07deg 55.26W
Sailing along a spectacular coastline in shorts. Fantastic!
14.30
Three miles to run. Wind dies, genoa away, engine on.
15.15
Anchored off Ceidera. Beautiful place. Sunbathing in the cockpit with a beer, but the beach looks inviting and we start planning a trip ashore as we have not yet set foot on Spanish soil.
17.00
Getting ready to go ashore is a bit involved… first real life test of the dinghy and outboard. One of the valves on the dinghy is a bit iffy, but the outboard is a real star… bought on Ebay, run once in a wheelie bin then hung on the pushpit and left for a year. It starts third pull and gets us ashore and back nae bother.
There is a freshwater shower at the beach, so a swim is now definite! The top two feet of the green and slightly weedy Ria water is tolerably warm, but below that is distinctly chilly. Very refreshing though.
It’s a beautiful wee town, but it’s obviously struggling a bit with the virus. 99% of people are wearing masks, and the street cafes and bars are pretty empty. Daily cases in Spain are now higher than at the start of lockdown, and there are rumours of a new nationwide lockdown from 18th September.
Tomorrow we head to La Coruna to wait for a window to go round Finisterre – and with Windy forecasting a week long ‘Norteada’ gusting 40 knots round the NW corner of Spain I am beginning to wonder if we will get to Portugal before the proposed lockdown on the 18th. Strange times.
Intended to leave Audierne about midday, but there was a bit of a fiasco when the flexible water tank split while filling it. Lots of bilge mopping, water buying (5l bottles) etc. Finally left just before 3, round about high water.
Once out at sea we set the Navik and deployed the genoa. Slow progress in very light winds from astern for the first hour, then it picked up – and up. Swell was over 2m, waves about the same, and the Navik was coping even if the crew were beginning to wonder…
About six or seven miles out we saw a lobster pot (I presumed) marked with a flag. As we left it about 50m to starboard I noticed an identical flag way off to port, but thought no more of it. Shortly afterwards the wind started gusting over 30 knots and the Navik’s course keeping seemed to become erratic. On investigating I found the wee safety spring had released, allowing the paddle to stream out fruitlessly behind the boat. I managed to stop the boat by furling half the genoa away and coming as close to the wind as she would go, sort of heaving to but without putting the bow through the wind. The errant paddle thankfully retrieved, we headed back to France as the two of us could not have hand steered all night in those conditions.
It took about four hours to get back to St Yvette, two hours making slow progress to windward under genoa and two motoring when the seas went down a bit near the coast.
Picked up a visitors mooring in the Anse de St Yvette and had a look at the Navik. The plastic bit of the jointed connector was almost pulled off and a bit deformed, but it pushed back onto the underlying metal rod OK. The safety pin/lever thingy was no longer sprung, but that was easily fixed by turning the pin anticlockwise a few degrees.
Looks like we still have a working windvane. Bread, cheese and prawns for tea and so to bed, knackered.
SUN AUG 30 – FINALLY LEAVING FRANCE
Finally leaving France… We slipped our mooring at St Yvette at one o’clock and by one fifteen were sailing with the Navik steering.
Progress was slow at first, but soon the second reef was in and we were romping along at over six knots. Still amazed at how little wind Avy-J takes to get her moving along smartly.
Mushroom risotto with chorizo for dinner tonight. I finished the cooking as Catherine felt a bit queasy – it was very rolly.
We watched the sun go down and the moon come up. I took the nine to midnight watch whole Catherine rested in the forepeak. The Northerly wind had been swinging to the East, and we were now 5 miles off track so I gybed the boat (no drama) and settled her down on the port tack, sailing down the glistening moon path towards Spain.
MONDAY 31ST AUGUST – AT SEA
At midnight Catherine came on watch, just as our first ship of the crossing appeared, so I stayed up to see it safely past. I crawled into the port quarterberth (formerly Darren’s domain) where I found a cosy nest, but sadly the crashing about of the Sails as we rolled in the dwindling wind but not so dwindling swell soon had me back on deck trying to quiet things down.
It was now after two, so I decided to stay up. We saw another ship safely across our bow on her way to Bilbao, then Catherine made me a coffee and went for a shot of the quarterberth.
By this time I was pretty tired, but relaxing into the passage and hoping for plenty of sleep in the coming day when we were almost certainly going to have to motor. At four o’clock French time we were beam reaching at 3.3 knots in eight or nine knots of wind, while a mystery vessel with no AIS signature came up astern. I could see both masthead lights and her green – it looked as though she would pass close on a parallel course. At 04.10 the bearing was 080., ten minutes later 085. My guess was a French fishing vessel with his AIS turned off for some nefarious reason.
The wind was up and down, and a bit of adverse tide saw the speed drop below three knots hfor an hour or so, but by half past five we were romping along at five and a half knots.
Then suddenly no wind, rolling and crashing. Just coming to the abyssal cliff. Genoa away, engine on. Engine is a tad realuctant to start on battery 1, but it does.
4.5 knots, main still up W. 2 reefs, wind now about 3 knots on the nose. Rolly, autohelm coping – just. We are about to go off the shelf.
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07.00
47deg 01.12’N
05deg 22.375W
Wind 3kts S
221 miles to Viveiro
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10.00 (still on French time)
46deg 48.31′ N
5deg 31.2′ W
Over the cliff… Now in 2000m of water.
Set engine to give 4.5kts SOG
206nm to Viveiro. 47 hours at current speed. Have we got enough fuel to motor all the way? Probably. Engine smells oily tho and film of oil on rocker cover.
Into neutral briefly to lift Navik paddle.
Beautiful sunny day, shorts on.
Got an OCENS weather forecast for where we should be tomorrow morning (+80nm approx). Wind E or NE 6-8 knots, swell 1m or less.
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13.00 (French time)
46deg 35.23′ N
05deg 36.96’W
Days run 97NM
Distance to Viveiro WP 193nm
Sog 4.5kts ETA 45 hours
Clouding over, jeans back on.
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13.30 Great excitement – spotted a yacht maybe 3-5 miles away. Looks as though they are motorsailing North (well, motoring with a sail up). No AIS return from them.
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Second Skipper woke at about half past three, and after the most cursory of reports (all clear, nothing to see here) I dived into the forepeak, a comfortable seaberth in these conditions and mercifully far away from the engine and the ‘singing’ noise that is more or less constant now when the boat rolls even slightly to port.
Up at 6.30 and poured 10 litres of diesel in to partly replenish the tank. 3 of 4vknots kof Easterly breeze now combining nicely with the engine to keep the (still double-reefed) main full. Maybe even a sail later… Got an OCENS forecast from the InReach for where we should be tomorrow, 6-8 knots E or NE might be sailable.
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19.15 (French time)
46deg 08. 11’N
5deg 53.26’W
164nm to Viveiro
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Catherine cooking up haggis, tatties and carrots. Hearty boat fare, followed by washing up in seawater in the cockpit.
Catherine off 8.30 to midnight for some rest. Think I will write up the (paper) log and put a few positions on the chart, even if it is just for a souvenir for the grandchildren.
22.45
Half way. 145nm from St. Evette, 145nm to Viveiro. Had a small Nights Watch to celebrate and thought of Tim at home, in pain and waiting for a new hip. Biscay is easy by comparison, not to mention a lot more fun!
Now motor-sailing rather than just motoring, gained about half a knot but a bouncer ride, not so good for sleeping. Should be able to slow down and sail a bit tomorrow, otherwise we risk getting to Viveiro in the dark. May still decide to press on for La Coruna tomorrow night. Decisions, decisions… the burden of command.
Photographed weird face/eyes in the sky where the moon shone through holes in the cloud.
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TUESDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER – AT SEA
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00.00 (still CEST, UTC +2)
45deg 43.37N
06deg 10.40W
Charging along at five and a half knots, so selfishly cut a few revs for a quieter ride on my off-watch, which I chose to spend in the forepeak as it is so much quieter than the quarterberth with rhe engine on. Managed a couple of hours, totally relaxed in these conditions with Catherine on watch.
Up to find the moon had broken out of its cloudy prison and was lighting our water road to Spain again. Oaty biscuit and coffee and three hours ahead of me to amuse myself. Last watch I retrospectively plotted some positions on our current large-scale passage chart and scribbled the log book up to date. This watch it is most likely going to be ‘Hell on Earth’ on the Kindle, with the screen turned down extra low to preserve my night vision.
BISCAY LOG PART 2
TUESDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER
03.42 French (CEST) TIME
Motor-sailing at modest revs, still two reefs in the main, 4 or 5 knots of wind giving a close reach in 8-9 kts apparent. Stable, comfortable, frugal. Timing is for a dawn arrival ideally, some 28 hours from now.
O4. 30
Eating dry-roasted peanuts in the middle of the night 120 miles off the Spanish coast. Because I can. Hope Catherine is sleeping OK in the forepeak.
05.45
Saw port light and steaming light of what I guessed was probably a yacht motoring. Checked AIS – Yacht ‘Seabird’ on a course of 052deg, passed is at a little over 5 miles.
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06.00
45deg 22.27′ N
06deg 24.56W
Distance to Viveiro 113nm
Sky lightening in E
10.30
Add 30 litres of diesel to the tank. The jiggle pump worked well with the big 20 litre can.
Catherine made porridge for breakfast, which was delicious.
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12.00 (CEST)
44deg 59.09′
06deg 38.50W
To WP: 88.4nm
eta 08.00 BST (Spanish time)
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Wind is about 8 knots almost aft. Potentially great cruising chute conditions, but we are too tired, it is very rolly and Catherine is having a snooze in the quarterberth. So it is more motoring, smelly now with the wind bringing the exhaust over the stern. Am hoping the wind will come on the beam later.
12.30 CEST
Sailing for a while to check engine – turn onto 190 approx.
Large yacht motoring up from astern puts sails up when it sees us sailing and makes a close pass. Ashanti? (no name on AIS)
Take out 2nd reef, sailing at 2.5 – 3 knots but bit clattery.
Oil is a bit below halfway between min and max. Add four wee tin dishes (maybe half a litre, maybe less).
14.00 CEST – change clocks to Spanish time (BST) (back one hour)
13.30 BST – Engine back on, resume course.
14.00 Boom slamming/sail slating too much. Put 2nd reef back in. Examine gooseneck – it looks a bit twisted, needs treating with care and further thought.
14.30 Dprop main. Put a reefed genoa out sheeted in hard to dampen rolling.
Catherine sitting down at the bow, me in the budgie smugglers. A beautiful afternoon.
16.00 Tried to get some kip, but annoyingly rolly. 5 knots apparent from dead aft. Probably cruising-chute able, but we would have to hand steer and we are both getting pretty tired now, so not really an option. At our current speed we should arrive just before dawn, and we are planning to anchor and go straight to bed!
Corned beef and lettuce for dinner.
20.10 Ships Time (BST)
Beginning to think my info about Spain being an hour behind France was nonsense, sun has just set and I know the Spanish like late evenings. Oh well, our phones will let us know when we get there.
Looking at info for Viveiro again, ‘sheltered in all but Northerlies’. Just got a forecast from the Garmin, ENE so should be fine. Could press on for La Coruna, but too tired I think – getting the hook down and getting some kip is probably a good idea, check Windy and make a plan for getting further round the coast to Cedeira or Coruna. Day sailing for the next 150 miles anyway, with plenty of anchoring opportunities.
Moon rising weirdly.
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23.30 BST
44deg 11.58′ N
07deg 13.11′ W
33nm to the entrance to the ria. We should be there at dawn.
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Got my head down at three, large ship with dodgy CPA appeared minutes later and I was called up to see it cross our bow a quarter of a mile ahead. Apart from that, even an alarm on the radio failed to keep me awake. Wind still astern so a bit stinky with the odd whiff of exhaust blowing in, but I was loving that bunk the way you do on the third day of a short-handed passage.
Up at 4.00 BST, still not sure what Spanish time is – no doubt Vodafone will tell us soon – we are getting an intermittent signal even 20 miles out.
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05.00 CEST 04.00 BST
43deg 54.35’N
07deg 26.66W
13 miles to run to ria entrance
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08.15
Anchored Viveiro. Perfect anchorage in the corner formed by the beach and the mole at the river mouth. One other boat anchored!
Huge quantities of eggy bread and so to bed.
13.00 (Turns out Spanish and French time are the same)
Up to have a very lazy afternoon doing very little. Nibbled, sunbathed, watched boats coming and going. Topped up our leaky old engine with oil, but didn’t it do well? Ran for 48 hours with only a two hour break.
Catherine made a sort of risotto with wild rice, chorizo and tinned fish. It was delicious, especially with the special bottle of Rioja I had been saving for something (like arriving in Spain!)
A wee sail round Cabo Ortegal tomorrow to Cedeira, then A Coruna on Thursday, where we may have to wait for a few days for weather to round Finisterre.
