Bruces Yard, Faro Aug 2022

Bruces Yard, Faro  Aug 2022

We flew back to Faro on the 18th of August with a list of jobs to do before we relaunched. Kirstin and Robert are coming out on the 9th of September, so we have to be back in the water and somewhere sensible (Olhao marina?) before then.

Jobs to do included fitting the new propeller we had brought out on the flight, mending the dinghy, antifouling the boat (last done in Cascais Jan 2021) and building the fridge.

The Fridge

We had received the Isotherm compressor, control unit and plate from Force4 back in June – it had been delivered to Portimao marina without issue except for an unexpected charge.. I had got as far as deciding on a space for the fridge – the storage area underneath the old chart table seat forward of the starboard quarter berth – and had bought some expanded polystyrene to insulate it. The compressor was going to go behind the cooker in what was otherwise dead space. However, before I started I decided I wanted to use mostly celotex instead, as it has a considerably higher insulation value than expanded polystyrene  and the insulation was only 50mm in the tightest spots.

To make the box I had ordered and flown back with a total of ten sheets of ready-cut white acrylic –  six for the sides of the cube and four to make the lip in the lid, which was designed to just drop on, no hinges or other complexity.

I started by removing the internal partition from the box space, and then re-routed the various wires that passed through it. That done, I used some of the polystyrene and expanding foam to make the box square, then added 50mm minimum of celotex. Once I had my box space ready I assembled the lidless cube ‘in situ’ using white acrylic-compatible CT1 adhesive/sealant. (CT-1 is 100% food-safe). The in-situ cube now stuck up about 40mm from the top of the Celotex (see pictures). I then assembled the lid from the top square of acrylic and the four smaller pieces that allowed it to slot over the upstanding bit of the box. I covered the exposed celotex with camping mat insulation and a silvery insulating mat from a local Chinese emporium, which seemed to work well.

The evaporator had to be bent to fit in the box, and I am afraid I failed to RTFM accurately. I bent the plate round a piece of wood  which had a diameter of around 2″, or a radius of 1″. The channels in the plate looked a bit kinked and I subsequently read that the plate should be bent round a radius of minimum 2″. The evaporator was attached on its upstands with screws and CT1, and with some trepidation and wailing and gnashing of teeth about having to buy a replacement evaporator plate I switched it on.

It worked, no issues at all, and as of April 2024 is still working perfectly, and is making a huge difference compared to pre-fridge life on board. It is only a litle over one cubic foot, but we were surprised to find we could get most of a week’s fresh food in it plus a couple of beers.

A Quick Trip Back to Cascais

Just before we flew back I had got an email from the SEF saying we needed to go to Cascais on the 28th of August to get our biometric residency cards. As we only had Cascais marina as our address I went up to CTT (the post office) in Faro and paid for 6 months mail redirection from there to John’s flat in Olhao. I also discovered that paying for the cards was very difficult unless you had a Portuguese bank account. John convinced me that opening one would be easy, and said he would come with me, so we went to the Millenium Bank in Olhao and an hour later I had an account and a temporary debit card.

On the 28th we got the early fast train direct from Faro to Lisbon (tilting train, aircon, super quiet and 250kph on the straighter bits). Return fares were less than € 70 booking online for the two of us. From Lisbon we got the suburban train to Cascais and checked in to the Kavia Hotel Do Largo in Cascais before making our way to the Loja do Cidadão de Cascais (‘Citizen Shop’) where we had obtained our temporary residency in October 2020 (pre final Brexit exit)

We arrived early and were taken early. The whole process was very pleasant and straightforward, and there was no issue with Catherine having a new passport.

After our appointment, we went down to the marine and to the beach at Santa Marta for a paddle. It was great to be back in Cascais, albeit only briefly. We went to the marina and met Harris Hammer, a yoga instructor and general guru who was living on Daydreamer, our old friend Luis Oliveira’s boat. Sadly Luis was away, but we had a meal and drinks later with Harris, and I agreed to create a website for his business for a modest sum which covered most of the cost of our trip.

After a very pleasant night in the hotel it was time to check out and head back to Lisbon for the fast train back to Faro. We were a little sad to be leaving Cascais for the second time, but pleased to have made a lovely new friend again here.

Back On Board

Bureaucracy satisfied, we set about getting the boat ready for launch. I bought some Portuguese antifoul (Titan)  and got absolutely filthy giving the hull below the waterline a cursory dry sanding before application. I was moderately pleased with the post-application result. The propellor was successfully installed and we even managed to get the locking bolt through the same hole Joao had originally made in the shaft.

We launched on the 6th of September.

Not all fun up Ria Arosa

Not all fun up Ria Arosa

04.00

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.

Muros to Ria Arosa 11 Sept 2020

Heading into Ria Arosa

My birthday. Not saying how old.

11.00 Up anchor Motoring – wind various, less than 5kts.

13.30
Rounded Cabo Corrubedo
42deg 34.087N
09deg 05.772W

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.

 

Camarinas to Ria Muros

Finisterre

10.10 Sail off anchor -under genoa.

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.

(It was delicious)

La Coruna > Camarinas Wed 9th Sept

Camarinas

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.

 

 

Cedeira to La Coruna Friday 4th September

Entrance to A Coruna

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.

 

Viveiro to Cedeira Weds Sept 3rd

Vivero to Cedeira

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.

 

Crossing Biscay (long post)

Biscay

SAT 29 AUGUST – FALSE START

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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TUESDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER – AT SEA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.

7th – 8th Aug 2020 – Serious Boat Issues

7th – 8th Aug 2020 – Serious Boat Issues

At 1900 we slipped Ardglass and set off towards the Scillies. Wind was 4kts from the South with a lot of swell, then picked up to 12kts from the NW. By eight o’clock we had the engine off and the main up.

It soon became obvious that all was not well. We were on a beam reach in 12-14 knots of wind the  on port tack and there was massive weather helm and slow, even ponderous helm response. Better on starboard, but not great. We sailed on for a bit, tacked a couple of times and sailed round in circles while we discussed the issue. Finally at 21.30 we decided not to continue with the boat in this trim and set off beating back to Ardglass, getting in in the dark and coming alongside at 23.25 feeling greatly disheartened and thinking we would have to return home to fix the boat.

Darren said he would look at the rig in the morning and generally gave us a bit of a morale boost. Drink was taken.

Saturday 8th August

The next day we took one of the toggles out of the rigging to move the top of the mast forward, and tightened the forward lowers and slackened the aft lowers slightly to take the middle of the mast forward and so decrease the draft of the mainsail. We also moved the first reefing line considerably further aft and lowered the boom slightly on its track on the mast.

At 15.45 on Saturday 8th August we slipped Ardglass and went out for a test sail. Although still a little heavy on the helm, the boat performed well – and equally well – on botrh tacks, pointing well in 18 kts apparent wind without excessive heel. She also responded well to the helm on other points of sail, and it was decided there and then that Darren was a genius and the voyage could continue.

(Though I am now of the opinion that the mainsail on this boat must be treated with considerable respect. Although it is a fairly new Jeckells sail it is too big for the boat – seems whoever ordered it measured the full hoist and used that for the luff measurement, then took the full length of the boom minus a couple of inches as the foot measurement. The sail is also a little deep-drafted (or ‘nacho-shaped’ as Darren put it). Pulling the first reef well back and lowering the boom has improved the sail shape a lot, and the rigging adjustments have made the weather helm liveable with – though it remains to be seen how the autohelm and navik will handle it.

Back to Ardglass again for a good night’s rest and a planned 11am departure in the morning.