Crossing from Crosshaven to A Corunna 30th August – 3rd September
Chris's Diary
We left Crosshaven Boatyard
marina before 9am on Thursday 30th August. There was quite a lively NNW 5 coming out of the bay and
Chewsy sailed well under full Genoa meeting a pod of dolphins as we sailed
under the cliffs. After clearing the bay we put up the main sail and sailed a
broad reach for the next 8 hours.
We settled into a watch system of
4 hours on during the day and 3 hours on overnight. This meant we did a 48 hour
watch system.
For example my on watch system
started as follows
Days 1, 3 , 5 07:00 – 11:00; then
15:00 – 19:00; then 22:00 – 01:00; then 04:00 – 07:00.
Days 2 & 4 11:00 – 15:00; 19:00 – 22:00: 01:00 – 04:00; then 07:00 –
11:00
In reality between about midday
and 5pm we were both up and about.
The crossing was a story of 2
halves. After our first great 8 hours of sailing the wind died away completely
and we motor sailed for 5 hours on day 2. Very frustrating. In compensation we saw
dolphins swimming at the bow and witnessed a leatherback turtle swimming past
us down the port side of the boat not 20 feet away.
 |
| Fin Whale [honest] |
I was on watch at about 01:30
Saturday morning. We had a full moon and it was fabulous to see Common Dolphins
swimming at the bow under the shimmering moonlight. It made up for less than
5kn wind and the constant drone of the engine. On Saturday afternoon [day 3] we
saw a pair of Fin Whales 12 metres +
long and also more common dolphins. We have already made good use of the Whale
and dolphin book kept on board. We motored again over Saturday night. Steve is
relatively happy with the fuel consumption which is about 3 litres an hour
running at 1800 – 2000 revs in lumpy seas, and better than this in flat calm
water at 1600 revs.
The new chart plotter fitted in
the cockpit is great. However you do tend to glance at the time quite a lot
towards the end of a night watch! Steve has made this demountable so it can be
stored downstairs when we are not sailing. We are taking to heart all the
warnings of theft from our sailing friends who have passed this way before us.
The weather is sunny and warm,
but in the shade you still need a woolly hat! Drat that sail for getting in the
way! As we get further down into warmer climes I’m sure we will be glad of that
shade.
On Sunday we managed to sail from
about 15:30 after an aborted attempt with the cruising chute. The chute had
become twisted at the top of the mast and as we lowered it again to untwist it,
the wind picked up and backed and made its use impossible anyway. We put out
the Genoa and enjoyed good sailing on a fine reach in 10-13kn of breeze. At
19:00 we put in the first reef in the mainsail and reduced the foresail to no3 Genoa
size in preparation for the night watches. 13-16kn breeze still on a fine
reach. Our ETA into Coruna is 09:30 boat
time tomorrow.
At 10pm the seas had whipped up
and the wind had increased to 23knots at 60 degrees off the port bow. The boat
was moaning and groaning down below. By 00:30 we had 25+ knots of wind with 2
reefs in the main and a scrap of Genoa up. 70 miles to go to our waypoint at
Coruna. Sleeping off watch was impossible. Every heave of the boat felt as
though you would be catapulted out of the bunk. Thank goodness everything was
put away and stayed away. At least we did not have to cope with flying missiles
as well.
For me at least it was a long
tortuous night. I skipped my off watch period choosing to stay in the cockpit
rather than go below. Steve went for a sleep and I stayed on watch. The moon was
out, but no dolphins tonight. There were plenty of ships about though from all
directions. Some difficult to identify through the waves which were higher than
the boat. Wind over tide is never pleasant and certainly made my Biscay
crossing memorable. By 04:00 I was so stiff with tension I could hardly move. I
had had several waves climbing into the boat to join me. Most came over the top
of the spray hood but 1 came on from the port quarter and doused the back of
the boat, fenders and outboard. I called Steve to come on watch to identify a
boat for me and as we continued to look around there were no less than 5 sets
of lights to be seen, though no immediate threat from any of them. To make
matters more confusing, our tri colour was malfunctioning and flashing rather
than holding a steady light. It was not conforming to IRPCS but it certainly
made one of the freighters approaching us give us a wide berth! Eventually we
changed it for the lower lights.
Shattered I went below and fell
asleep waking at 06:45. The boat was still bouncing about but Steve had been
hand steering for nearly 3 hours. It was coming daylight. I got up and made
coffee and sandwiches. We could see the coast of Spain. The tide turned about
7am and immediately the sea calmed. We still had about 22 knots wind. Ships
were everywhere. As we got nearer to Corunna, the wind moderated a little: eventually we shook out the reefs and enjoyed
a quiet sail into the bay. Dolphins came out to play and the whole night just
past became almost surreal.
We arrived in Marina Corunna at
11:45 Monday 3rd September. I called ahead and was given pontoon
number 1. There was a marinero at the pontoon to take our lines. Whew, we had
arrived safely.
