Martin arrived in Benodet, having sailed from Guernsey to Weymouth, trained to Plymouth, ferried to Roscoff, got a lift in a car to somewhere remote near Quimper and then hitched to Benodet. Despite this he looked well on arrival.
We spent Tuesday evening discussing the tactics for crossing Biscay.
We needed:
1. Good weather. Eventually we found a forecast that looked satisfactory, especially if we could reach Spain before it got windy (Friday).
2. Food for 5 nights (just in case).
3. A watch system (Martin suggested we should do 2 hours on (helming etc) and 4 hours off (sleeping mainly). I opted for the latter.
We didn't need:
1. A dog (Hopeless at the helm, lousy navigators and generally poor conversationalists.)
22nd July 2015
We set off for Coruna in Spain (326 miles .. roughly)
Jean helming mid Biscay
24th July 2015
We arrived in Viveiro, Spain (not quite as far as Coruna)
The crossing, a summary:
The Bay of Biscay is big .. very big (etc.). We sailed across it because that is the best thing to do. Every 2 hours someone got up, someone went to bed and someone was unsure which to do. We ate a lot and saw many dolphins. One day we saw 3 whales, really close up. This was very exciting.
Three quarters of the way across we realised that Viveiro in Spain was nearer than Coruna and was therefore a more sensible destination.
Altogether we were at sea for 47 hours of which we motored for about 25 hours. In total we drank 357 cups of tea and ate 12 pieces of mouldy fruit cake, 18 flap jacks and had two hot meals. Unfortunately the Eccles cakes ran out on day one and I had to eat Breton Cake for breakfast instead. (Breton Cake is, in fact, a satisfactory substitute for Eccles Cake and, in my opinion, infinitely preferable to the granulated building ballast (with milk) enjoyed by my crew-mates).
We each went to bed and got up 4 times each day.
Jean sleeping
Martin on watch
En route the engine overheated. This was why.
Why.
We arrived in Spain in good spirits and slept all day.
25th July
We climbed a big hill and enjoyed the view.
The view from the hill overlooking Viveiro (photo Martin)
We also dropped in at a local grave yard. The Spanish appear to do these rather well.
A Spanish graveyard (photo Martin)
When we got back to the boat we had another little rest.
26th July
We set off west for Cedeira in the direction of Coruna.
It was windy and rough.
After two and half hours in F6 gusting 7 we gave up and returned to Viveiro where we anchored and Jean I went for a swim.
27th July
We set off early and (remarkably) made it all the way to Coruna (about 55 miles) without undue stress. A harbour Dolphin escorted us out of Viveiro and all the fishing boats lined up and waved. I believe they often treat English visitors like this on feast days.
Feast day fishing boat procession
Marina Coruna is huge, friendly and generally very good. so we stopped here.
Marina Coruna
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