He sauntered down the pontoon with a shopping trolley with his toolkit in it. He then peered at the batteries, verified that they had no charge, looked at the alternator and then took it off for testing. So far we haven't seen him though all his tools are still here so we are hopeful that we may be back on the go this evening. Watch this space.
Update 18:50
He has come back with the news that our alternator is knackered. He had a "new" one with him which we tried and it works. We have agreed to buy it as it has a bigger capacity than the old one. We are going to stick with it as more capacity is a good thing anyway. The relief of having a functioning engine is fantastic. Now, we are going to go to Vilagarcia tomorrow to try and get more charts and then anchor over on the other side of the ria before heading further south.
Hoorah!
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Reflection on the Rias Bajas (Baixas en Galego)
We are still stuck in Vilanova marina waiting for the engineer to look at our alternator so I am taking the opportunity to put something down here about where we have been recently. Word is that he has “noticed” us and will be down soon.
It was nice rounding Finisterre as it really is a corner and looks the part as well though Torinana is the most westerly point in mainland Europe. It is actually a good bit west of Cork and even west of the Fastnet rock in Ireland.
There is quite a lot of regional pride here and a lot of people speak Galego rather and Castellano so we have deemed it politic to purchase and fly a Galician courtessy flag under our Spanish one.
The Ria de Muros was particularly nice and we really liked Muros itself and have it down as somehwere to stay a bit longer if we make it back here. Although it is a lot bigger than the northern rias, it is still fairly small being only about three miles wide and perhaps five miles deep. We also had a very social time. On one side were a family cruising slowly to Vilagarcia here in the Ria de Arousa where they were planning on laying up. I gave them a bit of a hand changing a taxi booking as they were dropping their daughters at the airport at Santiago and hiring a car to visit the Picos de Europa. On our other side was a past local vice-president of the Ocean Cruising Club who knew this coast extremely well and was making his way to Vigo slowly.
Since rounding Finisterre we have noticed a subtle change in the landscape and feel of the area. Although it might be part of the improved weather, things feel much more southern down here. The trees are a good bit scrubbier and some of the hills are a lot barer. Of course, I am sure that we would feel quite differently if we the weather continued as it had last week with lots of rain and strong westerlies. The scenery is spectacular and this current ria – de Arousa – is very large and very picturesque though it is a lot more developed than the more northern area. Once again, I suspect that this is at least in part a function of the remoteness of places like Camarinas and Muxia.
The sail the day before yesterday was nice as we were able to see Cabo Sillero in the distance which marks the southern extremity of the rias and Baiona behind it will be our departure point for Portugal. We are also starting to get excited about heading into Portugal and where we might stop. The Atlantic coast is quite forbidding and it is unlikely we will stop at more than two or three stops. Cabo Sao Vincente will then be the next major turning point leading to the Algarve and the final stages of the voyage.
Meanwhile our enforced stop her at Vilanova has shown a very picturesque fishing harbour!
The fishing here is of a different kind where they cultivate shellfish on huge floating "viveiros". These are squares of timber with hundreds of lines hanging down where the mussels are grown and then harvested before being loaded into huge trucks to be shipped off to processing plants somewhere. There are also some smaller boats with a cage contraption that they drag across the seabed collecting bottom dwelling shellfish. There are, apparently, 1400 viveiros alone in the Ria de Arousa!
Next update will hopefully be full of praise for our engineer and the alternator!
It was nice rounding Finisterre as it really is a corner and looks the part as well though Torinana is the most westerly point in mainland Europe. It is actually a good bit west of Cork and even west of the Fastnet rock in Ireland.
There is quite a lot of regional pride here and a lot of people speak Galego rather and Castellano so we have deemed it politic to purchase and fly a Galician courtessy flag under our Spanish one.
The Ria de Muros was particularly nice and we really liked Muros itself and have it down as somehwere to stay a bit longer if we make it back here. Although it is a lot bigger than the northern rias, it is still fairly small being only about three miles wide and perhaps five miles deep. We also had a very social time. On one side were a family cruising slowly to Vilagarcia here in the Ria de Arousa where they were planning on laying up. I gave them a bit of a hand changing a taxi booking as they were dropping their daughters at the airport at Santiago and hiring a car to visit the Picos de Europa. On our other side was a past local vice-president of the Ocean Cruising Club who knew this coast extremely well and was making his way to Vigo slowly.
Since rounding Finisterre we have noticed a subtle change in the landscape and feel of the area. Although it might be part of the improved weather, things feel much more southern down here. The trees are a good bit scrubbier and some of the hills are a lot barer. Of course, I am sure that we would feel quite differently if we the weather continued as it had last week with lots of rain and strong westerlies. The scenery is spectacular and this current ria – de Arousa – is very large and very picturesque though it is a lot more developed than the more northern area. Once again, I suspect that this is at least in part a function of the remoteness of places like Camarinas and Muxia.
The sail the day before yesterday was nice as we were able to see Cabo Sillero in the distance which marks the southern extremity of the rias and Baiona behind it will be our departure point for Portugal. We are also starting to get excited about heading into Portugal and where we might stop. The Atlantic coast is quite forbidding and it is unlikely we will stop at more than two or three stops. Cabo Sao Vincente will then be the next major turning point leading to the Algarve and the final stages of the voyage.
Meanwhile our enforced stop her at Vilanova has shown a very picturesque fishing harbour!
The fishing here is of a different kind where they cultivate shellfish on huge floating "viveiros". These are squares of timber with hundreds of lines hanging down where the mussels are grown and then harvested before being loaded into huge trucks to be shipped off to processing plants somewhere. There are also some smaller boats with a cage contraption that they drag across the seabed collecting bottom dwelling shellfish. There are, apparently, 1400 viveiros alone in the Ria de Arousa!
Next update will hopefully be full of praise for our engineer and the alternator!
Monday, 5 September 2011
Further south but a problem
Well, we have got down to the Ria de Arousa but have encountered our first real problem. The batteries are completely flat and we are waiting for an engineer to come from the office of hte marina that has been recommended to us by the RCCPPF guide. I think that we may have a problem with our alternator as we have been running the engine a lot so there should be no problem with battery charging but all three (two domestic deep cycle and one engine starting are all flat as pancakes.
Still, we had a pleasant time the day before and yesterday visiting Portosin and then coming round here.
Portosin turned out to be a very social place. We had a quick sail across from Muros and then a bit of a nightmare in the force 5 crosswind getting into a very tight marina berth. Next to us was an Irish registered Westerly while another Bavaria tied up on our other side. Both turned out to be very interesting aquaintances. Peter and Jane in the Bavaria had been coast hopping round Biscay and were planning on laying up somewhere along the Galician coast. The other peter was a past vice regional president for this area and had a huge fund of knowledge of the area.
We took a meal ashore in the yacht club restaurant which was typically good. One of the things we have noticed on this trip in particular is the abundance and quality of the food compared with that at home. In London, to get vegetables as good as we have been buying in common or garden supermarkets would require a visit to Borough Market.
Yesterday morning gave us the first intimation of a possible problem with our engine as it was a bit slow to turn over but started OK. we motored out and continued down the coast to Cabo Corrubedo where we were able to sail That was where the issue with the batteries/alternator showed itself as things like the VHF and AIS started to complain about their 12 volt supply. We just managed to get the engine turning over in idle and continued sailing past Isla Salvora.
As we motored up the Ria which is far larger than any other we have yet to visit we changed our plan to anchor and looked for where to go. The guide said that Vilagarcia to Arousa had a good boatyard and chandlery so here we are.
Things have been a bit frustrating as we have yet to get hold of a card to give us access to and from the pontoons though we do have a promise from the engineer to visit us later on today. I have a suspicion that it may turn into a manana but we shall have to see.
Still, we had a pleasant time the day before and yesterday visiting Portosin and then coming round here.
Portosin turned out to be a very social place. We had a quick sail across from Muros and then a bit of a nightmare in the force 5 crosswind getting into a very tight marina berth. Next to us was an Irish registered Westerly while another Bavaria tied up on our other side. Both turned out to be very interesting aquaintances. Peter and Jane in the Bavaria had been coast hopping round Biscay and were planning on laying up somewhere along the Galician coast. The other peter was a past vice regional president for this area and had a huge fund of knowledge of the area.
We took a meal ashore in the yacht club restaurant which was typically good. One of the things we have noticed on this trip in particular is the abundance and quality of the food compared with that at home. In London, to get vegetables as good as we have been buying in common or garden supermarkets would require a visit to Borough Market.
Yesterday morning gave us the first intimation of a possible problem with our engine as it was a bit slow to turn over but started OK. we motored out and continued down the coast to Cabo Corrubedo where we were able to sail That was where the issue with the batteries/alternator showed itself as things like the VHF and AIS started to complain about their 12 volt supply. We just managed to get the engine turning over in idle and continued sailing past Isla Salvora.
As we motored up the Ria which is far larger than any other we have yet to visit we changed our plan to anchor and looked for where to go. The guide said that Vilagarcia to Arousa had a good boatyard and chandlery so here we are.
Things have been a bit frustrating as we have yet to get hold of a card to give us access to and from the pontoons though we do have a promise from the engineer to visit us later on today. I have a suspicion that it may turn into a manana but we shall have to see.
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Been offline for a while
For various reasons we haven't been in a position to update this for a while. I have been writing stuff up on a date by date basis so, here it is.
23/08
Well, it is now two days since we arrived in Spain and we have recovered our sleep from the passage across The Bay though I still find myself waking up around midnight. We will be eating aboard tonight and I hope that will help to re-establish the shore based routine.
The weather yesterday was really not very nice which thoroughly discouraged any sightseeing so we concentrated on other things like the laundry- more of which shortly.
The marina here is a nice one and the staff are friendly as ever. It is also nice that it is significantly cheaper to stay here than it is in England. A night here for us is Euro 25 as opposed to £35 in Plymouth. It is however, just a marina and they tend to be pretty soulless places and uniform the world over. We are looking forward to getting away and visiting remoter places where you have to anchor. Matthew observed that we have the largest anchor on display of anyone on the marina.
The weather on Sunday slowly brightened though the visibility never really completely cleared. We took a walk out to El Torre de Hercules - the oldest working lighthouse by all accounts. It was certainly dramatic with the top in the mist and more rolling in from the west but with sun shining as well. It was particularly noticeable that there were only really Spanish tourists around. This is not an area on the regular tourist route in Spain except for yotties.
Anyway, onto the saga of the clothes washing. Superficially, the facilities here are quite good with three washing machines. The problem is when you want to dry your clothes. In the normal course of events we would wash in the washing machine and then festoon the boat in our underpants and t-shirts. The rain, however, put paid to this and this was when the fact that there was only one dryer. Everyone seemed to be doing their clothes and I started to develop a bit of paranoia about Scandinavians and the amount of clothes they needed. It took till today to finally get at the drying machine by which time the rain had stopped and some of it got air dried.
La Coruña itself is a nice enough city without being spectacular. It is typically well served by bars and is very like other Spanish cities I have visited – except for the weather. It rains here in a way it doesn't in other parts of Spain.
24/08
Finally, having got marina fever, we pushed off from Marina Coruña at about noon with a view to sailing off somewhere. Where we have got to is Ares in a Ria of it's own just to the east of La Coruña. It is a very nice spot and we are anchored with two other boats, one Dutch and the other an English AWB. We went ashore and found the small supermarket and got some bread as well as a couple of other basics. Now we are sitting in the cockpit watching the rain clouds build up to the south west but the wind is dying steadily and is almost nothing now.
This is what cruising is really about. We had a nice gentle sail round here, a nice meal with some good localish wine and now near complete peace and a nice bit of distance from the impending disco in the yacht club ashore.
On our way into the ria, another rival a 41 was heading out and we had a bit of a chat with them on the radio. I hope to be able to catch up with them later on further south.
While anchored in Ares, a traditional fishing boat design got underway.
26/08
Yesterday, we left Ares for Cedeira back round the the east. En route a Dutch catamaran, Miss Poes overtook us. We knew her name as they were also on AIS. They called us and passed on some very helpful advice about where to anchor in Cedeira. As we arrived we agreed that they should come over for a quick drink which became a longer drink and an invitation to dinner on their boat. Several bottles of wine, our whiskey and their excellent Spanish brandy later and we are now nursing some mild hangovers in a rather breezy Cedeira. Today isn't a day for going anywhere so I am sat here writing this at the moment.
The coast round this side of Cabo Prior which, to us at least, seems to form a corner where you are either on the north coast of Galicia or more on the south, is considerably more rugged than that around La Coruña.
A few miles short of Cedeira we were following a catamaran on the video game when a call came over the VHF from Miss Poes to ask us where we were going. They had been intending to go further east but the lack of wind had persuaded them to head for Cedeira as well – to our benefit.
We invited them aboard for a drink and some wine was drunk, snacks were consumed and it culminated in an invitation to dinner on their catamaran. As ever, too much wine was drunk and then, when it transpired that they liked whisky, Matthew went back to Sarah G and fetched his bottle of Talisker which was then finished along with some very superior Spanish brandy called Cardenal Mendoza – I shall have to get a bottle of it for myself. Jef and Marin, if you are reading this, thank you for a very enjoyable evening.
The next day brought strong westerlies and intermittent heavy showers so we stayed at anchor and had more time to admire Cedeira which really is a lovely spot. Matthew went ashore for a search and tobacco but I was feeling very lazy and stayed aboard.
The next day, being Saturday we motored out into a fairly large swell to get back to La Coruña in time to meet Audrey. As ever, the wind played silly buggers with us and never quite filled in enough to sail with. We did manage half an hour of beating but then it died on us though it did fill in on the approach to Coruña but by then we didn't feel inclined to fight with the sails and being downwind only really noticed once we realised there was a bit of a cross wind to contend with when tying up.
It was great meeting Audrey at the airport and we treated ourselves to a taxi back to the marina. A good meal of tapas was consumed in a restaurant behind the Plaza de Maria Pita before poor old Matthew had to make his way to the airport and back to blighty. I never saw anyone drag their heels so much about packing their bags!
30/08
Yesterday, we had a fantastic sail from La Coruña to Ria de Corme. Originally, we had planned on anchoring in Corme itself but after looking at it we decided to cross back over to Laxe where we spent a very comfortable night while Audrey cooked a splendid Tagine like dish in the pressure cooker. The sail was the first really good sail for us as there was a nice force 5 from the north east. It was marred a bit by getting a line round the prop ouside La Coruña and then the shackle holding the mainsheet to the traveller also gave way at an inopportune moment while closing the coast but we still had a good sail – the first on this coast.
We had another drama while motoring just past La Coruña when we picked up a bit of rope round the prop as this photo shows once I had managed to extract it - thankfully only needing the helpo of the boathook.
Today was quite different though we are happy to be in Camariñas and will likely spend tomorrow here as well. Talk is of walking out to Cabo Villano. It is five km according to the rough guide and as it took quite a lot of rounding as well as looking very dramatic it will be of worth to do so I think.
Camariñas is a pleasant little town and we are looking forward to exploring it a bit more. There is also, reputed to be a wifi network around where we should be able to update the blog a bit.
31/08
The wind is continuing to blow hard from the west so we decided to spend a day here and walked out to Cabo Villano which had taken us so long to get round. It was certainly dramatic and there is an interesting little museum in the old lighthouse keepers house which explains some of the history of the lights along the Costa do Morte as they describe this coast. The most amusing bit of the light at Villano was that the first one, completed in 1853, proved to be partially obscured from seaward. Their solution was first to try blasting the rock out of the way but after the “expenditure of much powder and money” this was abandoned and a new lighthouse tower was built on the partially blasted rock!
We had lunch in a cafe recommended by the rough guide and are now out on the boat being battered by wind and rain while hoping it eases enough for us to get round Finisterre tomorrow.
01/09
After getting a severe case of harbour fever, we left Camarinas in rather a hurry and headed out to round Finisterre. Like all major headlands, it has taken on a bit of a totemic and looms ever larger in our consiousness. Until it is passed that is. Today wasn't to be the day for getting round it though. We got out past Muxia and were thinking of getting the jib set and doing some sailing but the easterlies we hoped for hadn't materialised and we both – almost simultaneously – expressed doubts about continuing. We duly turned round in disappointment. I suggested going to Muxia rather than back to Camarinas which turned out to be an inspired decision.
Muxia is a much nicer place really. There is a new marina but money has run out and there is only the marina with no other offices. It is therefore free to tie up and so is inhabited by serious budget cruisers, particularly those in multihulls. There is even a Wharram cat here.
The town is really lovely with lots of much older houses and a good selection of shops. It has a nice laid back feeling as well as some fantastic views from the point where there is a church dedicated to “nostra senora del virgen del barca”. This was apparently a site of an old animist religion based around the granite boulders which are now reputed to be the remains of the ship that brought the body of St James from Jerusalem to Santiago de Compostela. It is a beautiful place nonetheless. I also climbed the conical hill right outside the town as the photos show.
The forecast is not promising so we are likely to be here for a day or so more.
02/09
Well, after assuming we would be stuck in Muxia for a couple of days we proved ourselves completely wrong. We got underway with the intention of pumping out the holding tank once a decent distance from land but the bright sun and lack of wind persuaded us to push on and a good idea that proved as well.
We quickly made it to Cabo Toriñana and comleted our western travel. I looked at the chart and Cabo Torinana is 9 degrees 17' west which is further west than Fastnet Rock is. Now, it is alll south till we reach Tarifa though Cabo Sao Vincente will mark a point where we make much more easting. I am enjoying marking these literal turning points in the cruise.
The coast around Torinana and Finisterre is very wild and you can see why it has got the name of Costa do Morte. We were very “lucky” in that it was nearly completely flat calm
23/08
Well, it is now two days since we arrived in Spain and we have recovered our sleep from the passage across The Bay though I still find myself waking up around midnight. We will be eating aboard tonight and I hope that will help to re-establish the shore based routine.
The weather yesterday was really not very nice which thoroughly discouraged any sightseeing so we concentrated on other things like the laundry- more of which shortly.
The marina here is a nice one and the staff are friendly as ever. It is also nice that it is significantly cheaper to stay here than it is in England. A night here for us is Euro 25 as opposed to £35 in Plymouth. It is however, just a marina and they tend to be pretty soulless places and uniform the world over. We are looking forward to getting away and visiting remoter places where you have to anchor. Matthew observed that we have the largest anchor on display of anyone on the marina.
The weather on Sunday slowly brightened though the visibility never really completely cleared. We took a walk out to El Torre de Hercules - the oldest working lighthouse by all accounts. It was certainly dramatic with the top in the mist and more rolling in from the west but with sun shining as well. It was particularly noticeable that there were only really Spanish tourists around. This is not an area on the regular tourist route in Spain except for yotties.
Anyway, onto the saga of the clothes washing. Superficially, the facilities here are quite good with three washing machines. The problem is when you want to dry your clothes. In the normal course of events we would wash in the washing machine and then festoon the boat in our underpants and t-shirts. The rain, however, put paid to this and this was when the fact that there was only one dryer. Everyone seemed to be doing their clothes and I started to develop a bit of paranoia about Scandinavians and the amount of clothes they needed. It took till today to finally get at the drying machine by which time the rain had stopped and some of it got air dried.
La Coruña itself is a nice enough city without being spectacular. It is typically well served by bars and is very like other Spanish cities I have visited – except for the weather. It rains here in a way it doesn't in other parts of Spain.
24/08
Finally, having got marina fever, we pushed off from Marina Coruña at about noon with a view to sailing off somewhere. Where we have got to is Ares in a Ria of it's own just to the east of La Coruña. It is a very nice spot and we are anchored with two other boats, one Dutch and the other an English AWB. We went ashore and found the small supermarket and got some bread as well as a couple of other basics. Now we are sitting in the cockpit watching the rain clouds build up to the south west but the wind is dying steadily and is almost nothing now.
This is what cruising is really about. We had a nice gentle sail round here, a nice meal with some good localish wine and now near complete peace and a nice bit of distance from the impending disco in the yacht club ashore.
On our way into the ria, another rival a 41 was heading out and we had a bit of a chat with them on the radio. I hope to be able to catch up with them later on further south.
While anchored in Ares, a traditional fishing boat design got underway.
26/08
Yesterday, we left Ares for Cedeira back round the the east. En route a Dutch catamaran, Miss Poes overtook us. We knew her name as they were also on AIS. They called us and passed on some very helpful advice about where to anchor in Cedeira. As we arrived we agreed that they should come over for a quick drink which became a longer drink and an invitation to dinner on their boat. Several bottles of wine, our whiskey and their excellent Spanish brandy later and we are now nursing some mild hangovers in a rather breezy Cedeira. Today isn't a day for going anywhere so I am sat here writing this at the moment.
The coast round this side of Cabo Prior which, to us at least, seems to form a corner where you are either on the north coast of Galicia or more on the south, is considerably more rugged than that around La Coruña.
A few miles short of Cedeira we were following a catamaran on the video game when a call came over the VHF from Miss Poes to ask us where we were going. They had been intending to go further east but the lack of wind had persuaded them to head for Cedeira as well – to our benefit.
We invited them aboard for a drink and some wine was drunk, snacks were consumed and it culminated in an invitation to dinner on their catamaran. As ever, too much wine was drunk and then, when it transpired that they liked whisky, Matthew went back to Sarah G and fetched his bottle of Talisker which was then finished along with some very superior Spanish brandy called Cardenal Mendoza – I shall have to get a bottle of it for myself. Jef and Marin, if you are reading this, thank you for a very enjoyable evening.
The next day brought strong westerlies and intermittent heavy showers so we stayed at anchor and had more time to admire Cedeira which really is a lovely spot. Matthew went ashore for a search and tobacco but I was feeling very lazy and stayed aboard.
The next day, being Saturday we motored out into a fairly large swell to get back to La Coruña in time to meet Audrey. As ever, the wind played silly buggers with us and never quite filled in enough to sail with. We did manage half an hour of beating but then it died on us though it did fill in on the approach to Coruña but by then we didn't feel inclined to fight with the sails and being downwind only really noticed once we realised there was a bit of a cross wind to contend with when tying up.
It was great meeting Audrey at the airport and we treated ourselves to a taxi back to the marina. A good meal of tapas was consumed in a restaurant behind the Plaza de Maria Pita before poor old Matthew had to make his way to the airport and back to blighty. I never saw anyone drag their heels so much about packing their bags!
30/08
Yesterday, we had a fantastic sail from La Coruña to Ria de Corme. Originally, we had planned on anchoring in Corme itself but after looking at it we decided to cross back over to Laxe where we spent a very comfortable night while Audrey cooked a splendid Tagine like dish in the pressure cooker. The sail was the first really good sail for us as there was a nice force 5 from the north east. It was marred a bit by getting a line round the prop ouside La Coruña and then the shackle holding the mainsheet to the traveller also gave way at an inopportune moment while closing the coast but we still had a good sail – the first on this coast.
We had another drama while motoring just past La Coruña when we picked up a bit of rope round the prop as this photo shows once I had managed to extract it - thankfully only needing the helpo of the boathook.
Today was quite different though we are happy to be in Camariñas and will likely spend tomorrow here as well. Talk is of walking out to Cabo Villano. It is five km according to the rough guide and as it took quite a lot of rounding as well as looking very dramatic it will be of worth to do so I think.
Camariñas is a pleasant little town and we are looking forward to exploring it a bit more. There is also, reputed to be a wifi network around where we should be able to update the blog a bit.
31/08
The wind is continuing to blow hard from the west so we decided to spend a day here and walked out to Cabo Villano which had taken us so long to get round. It was certainly dramatic and there is an interesting little museum in the old lighthouse keepers house which explains some of the history of the lights along the Costa do Morte as they describe this coast. The most amusing bit of the light at Villano was that the first one, completed in 1853, proved to be partially obscured from seaward. Their solution was first to try blasting the rock out of the way but after the “expenditure of much powder and money” this was abandoned and a new lighthouse tower was built on the partially blasted rock!
We had lunch in a cafe recommended by the rough guide and are now out on the boat being battered by wind and rain while hoping it eases enough for us to get round Finisterre tomorrow.
01/09
After getting a severe case of harbour fever, we left Camarinas in rather a hurry and headed out to round Finisterre. Like all major headlands, it has taken on a bit of a totemic and looms ever larger in our consiousness. Until it is passed that is. Today wasn't to be the day for getting round it though. We got out past Muxia and were thinking of getting the jib set and doing some sailing but the easterlies we hoped for hadn't materialised and we both – almost simultaneously – expressed doubts about continuing. We duly turned round in disappointment. I suggested going to Muxia rather than back to Camarinas which turned out to be an inspired decision.
Muxia is a much nicer place really. There is a new marina but money has run out and there is only the marina with no other offices. It is therefore free to tie up and so is inhabited by serious budget cruisers, particularly those in multihulls. There is even a Wharram cat here.
The town is really lovely with lots of much older houses and a good selection of shops. It has a nice laid back feeling as well as some fantastic views from the point where there is a church dedicated to “nostra senora del virgen del barca”. This was apparently a site of an old animist religion based around the granite boulders which are now reputed to be the remains of the ship that brought the body of St James from Jerusalem to Santiago de Compostela. It is a beautiful place nonetheless. I also climbed the conical hill right outside the town as the photos show.
The forecast is not promising so we are likely to be here for a day or so more.
02/09
Well, after assuming we would be stuck in Muxia for a couple of days we proved ourselves completely wrong. We got underway with the intention of pumping out the holding tank once a decent distance from land but the bright sun and lack of wind persuaded us to push on and a good idea that proved as well.
We quickly made it to Cabo Toriñana and comleted our western travel. I looked at the chart and Cabo Torinana is 9 degrees 17' west which is further west than Fastnet Rock is. Now, it is alll south till we reach Tarifa though Cabo Sao Vincente will mark a point where we make much more easting. I am enjoying marking these literal turning points in the cruise.
The coast around Torinana and Finisterre is very wild and you can see why it has got the name of Costa do Morte. We were very “lucky” in that it was nearly completely flat calm
Sunday, 28 August 2011
Observations on the Biscay Crossing
In some respects the voyage from Plymouth to La Coruña was a bit of a disappointment. We were all geared up for Biscay to live up to its fearsome reputation but nothing of the sort happened and we were dogged by calms. One day was seriously sunny and warm to be followed by a windless night with increasing cloud and I found this entry from Matthew in the log book:
1100 45 06'N 7 28'W Going Mad. Writing limericks
and on the facing page:
The fabled storms of the Bay of Biscay
Are but tales of madmen driven that way
By winds of ten knots
And an incessant chop:
Flogging sails and too many whales affect
what sailors say
© Matthew Kynaston, 08/2011
Thirty six hours with the engine more or less on continually is not what we expected at all. Conversations I have had with others who have done the crossing recently suggest that we were lucky (or unlucky if you want). One Swedish guy had SW force 7 for a day which must have been no joke at all.
We weren't without our dramas which got missed out with the previous posting about the crossing though. Crossing the shipping lanes south of Ouessant was a serious headache. With hindsight, it was probably a bit of a mistake to go to the north of the TSS and then cross over inside them to the south. By then the shipping was quite spread out and we took quite a long time to get to the east of the ships as advised by the routing guide in the almanac. It would have been better to stay due south across the Channel till we were inside of them and then used the local traffic zone on the TSS. This would also have given us a sight of the island of Ouessant (Ushant for generations of British sailors). Still we did and took the best part of a day to skate round the outer edge of the purple lines on the chart.
We had one near incident which, thankfully was only a bit of a drama. I was on watch and heading west to get clear of the shipping lines after we had been scared off trying to get through at night when there was a thump and sliding noise from the coach roof and the life-raft ended up in the scuppers and almost over the side. I hastily woke Matthew and went forward to rescue it. For the rest of the trip it stayed in the after end of the cockpit. It is back in it's proper placed now and has an additional loop of webbing to prevent it from sliding sideways.
The other highlight was a hitch-hiker we acquired a couple of hundred miles short of Spain. A very exhausted little reddish bird suddenly flew in and down below. He then stayed with us intermittently till we were closing the Spanish coast. I am not sure what he was but he liked being with us though he scorned any bread or water we were able to offer. He would periodically fly off but would then reappear and rested in the shade of the anchor on the foredeck. He really got happen when a load of flies found us not that far from the Spanish coast where Matthew described him as happily hopping round the cockpit catching as many as he could. Sadly, he flew off in the wrong direction though we hope he either found another boat to rest on or did make it to Cabo Ortegal which was the stretch of coast we were heading for.
I am looking forward to trying sailing down the Portuguese coast where there are reputed to be the “Portuguese trades” which blow consistently from the north if not consistently in strength. I think that we will then be able to make a judgement about whether ocean cruising is to be the thing for us.
1100 45 06'N 7 28'W Going Mad. Writing limericks
and on the facing page:
The fabled storms of the Bay of Biscay
Are but tales of madmen driven that way
By winds of ten knots
And an incessant chop:
Flogging sails and too many whales affect
what sailors say
© Matthew Kynaston, 08/2011
Thirty six hours with the engine more or less on continually is not what we expected at all. Conversations I have had with others who have done the crossing recently suggest that we were lucky (or unlucky if you want). One Swedish guy had SW force 7 for a day which must have been no joke at all.
We weren't without our dramas which got missed out with the previous posting about the crossing though. Crossing the shipping lanes south of Ouessant was a serious headache. With hindsight, it was probably a bit of a mistake to go to the north of the TSS and then cross over inside them to the south. By then the shipping was quite spread out and we took quite a long time to get to the east of the ships as advised by the routing guide in the almanac. It would have been better to stay due south across the Channel till we were inside of them and then used the local traffic zone on the TSS. This would also have given us a sight of the island of Ouessant (Ushant for generations of British sailors). Still we did and took the best part of a day to skate round the outer edge of the purple lines on the chart.
We had one near incident which, thankfully was only a bit of a drama. I was on watch and heading west to get clear of the shipping lines after we had been scared off trying to get through at night when there was a thump and sliding noise from the coach roof and the life-raft ended up in the scuppers and almost over the side. I hastily woke Matthew and went forward to rescue it. For the rest of the trip it stayed in the after end of the cockpit. It is back in it's proper placed now and has an additional loop of webbing to prevent it from sliding sideways.
The other highlight was a hitch-hiker we acquired a couple of hundred miles short of Spain. A very exhausted little reddish bird suddenly flew in and down below. He then stayed with us intermittently till we were closing the Spanish coast. I am not sure what he was but he liked being with us though he scorned any bread or water we were able to offer. He would periodically fly off but would then reappear and rested in the shade of the anchor on the foredeck. He really got happen when a load of flies found us not that far from the Spanish coast where Matthew described him as happily hopping round the cockpit catching as many as he could. Sadly, he flew off in the wrong direction though we hope he either found another boat to rest on or did make it to Cabo Ortegal which was the stretch of coast we were heading for.
I am looking forward to trying sailing down the Portuguese coast where there are reputed to be the “Portuguese trades” which blow consistently from the north if not consistently in strength. I think that we will then be able to make a judgement about whether ocean cruising is to be the thing for us.
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Finished Loads and Arrived in Spain
Finally the time had arrived to depart. Friday in the office was a mad rush to get all sorts of rubbish tied up but the time came and it was too late to do anything else. A very nice little send off in the Hammersmith Ram was very well attended by lots of colleagues and former ones as well. We got the train down to Plymouth down on Saturday and I brought the boat round to Sutton Harbour for some final work on the holding tank and icebox with Matthew's assistance. Time passed in a blur but after two days, Audrey had to depart back to work for two weeks and my Mother also took her leave to get back to her twinning association.
Matthew and I locked out of Sutton and dropped the hook in Cawsand bay which felt like a much better place to take our departure.
Come the Tuesday morning and we decided that we would be as ready as we ever were going to be. The forecast was even promising with easterlies filling in on the next day. A bit of discussion about whether to break the journey in France culminated in us taking the decision to push on all the way to Spain and go outside the TSS off Ouessant. Our last sight of the UK was St Austell bay where we turned our nose south and then through the night we had the Lizard slowly receding to starboard. Of course the wind died through the night.
At least the wind filled in for us in the Western Approaches to the Channel. I had decided to take an offshore route round the outside of the Ouessant traffic separation zone. For non-yotties, the authorities set up dual carriageway systems round headlands where shipping concentrate. Of course, there aren't corresponding purple lines drawn on the sea as you see on a chart but shipping is only allowed to travel in the direction indicated on the chart or at right angles to it. Small boats such as us are basically expected to keep well clear.
The sun didn't show her face but we had a nice easterly that gave us some of the fastest sailing of the whole passage as it turned out. We finally got south of the TSS just as it was getting dark. The error of going outside (I didn't want to have to worry about tides inshore on the Brittany Coast which run quite hard) turned out to be an error as we needed to be in side the line of shipping going between Ouessant and Finisterre 300 miles to the south. This meant crossing the shipping lane and doing it in the dark was a bit too scary for us even with the AIS to help so we gybed to the west and then veered in to time our arrival at the shipping lane again for dawn – conveniently at the end of my watch.
The passage settled into a proper routine after we had got across the shipping lane. As is usual on Sarah Giddings, we worked a six hour watch system rather than the traditional four hour one. I am now a firm convert to this when you are sailing two up. It gives the off watch person the chance of a good solid four hours sleep once they have come off watch, taken oilskins off, had a snack and god bedded down. Then you can reverse the process half an hour before coming on watch. We worked it so that I did an evening meal just after coming off watch at 1800 which we took turns to eat. We would then both be on deck around lunch time. On longer passages, I would give thought to having the main meal at midday. Of course, in heavy weather, six hours would be very tiring and a degree of flexibility would be needed.
The second day out was also when we were treated to our first dolphins who spent nearly an hour playing round in our bow wave. Everyone tells you that you will meet lots of dolphins in the Bay and it is true! We still had a good sailing breeze though very much from the north or north east. The only time when the sheets weren't eased was when we first set off from Plymouth and when we were motoring. We still need to work on getting our down wind setup working and the Aries was not behaving for us though I am confident that we can get it to play nicely with a bit of practise and perhaps some cleaning up of bits and pieces. The pawls that rotate the vane definitely need attention.
Through the third night we crossed the continental shelf though on Matthew's watch. He described the water as behaving as it would in a tide race even though it was nearly flat calm at that point with almost no sea running at all. This is one of the reasons the Bay of Biscay is so notorious of course. We now had over three miles of sea water under us!
As I took over at midnight the wind started seriously to drop. I tried to keep her moving but the slatting sails proved too frustrating in the end. I furled the jib and sheeted the main in hard to avoid as much rattling as possible though it was impossible to stop the sail slatting backwards and forwards in a manner all to familiar with boaters and loathed as much as a full gale.
Eventually, I gave up and fired up the engine, a good idea really as the batteries were in a bit of a parlous state and seriously needed some recharging. High on my list of things that would be nice to have would be a windmill! All through the Thursday, the wind remained elusive and we had brilliant sunshine and flat seas. Another huge school of dolphins past us in the late afternoon but there were clearly on business and did not have time to play with yotties, particularly when under power. The wind continued its trick of staying away and, with a couple of brief respites, we had the engine on all night. We had worked our early in the day that we weren't going to make it in on Saturday which would have been the five days predicted so I played with the satellite phone telling both parents and Audrey that Sunday was a much more likely candidate for arrival. It is a truly surreal experience sitting in the middle of the sea knowing that you are hundreds of miles from land and casually visualising the person you are talking to in their living room. The wind continued light right the way to the end.
Each watch change brought us a bit closer until on the final night I took over just after Matthew had crossed the continental shelf though we were still off the bottom of the echo sounder. This was when my fun and games started.
I continued the due south that Matthew had put in so as to raise Cabo Ortegal on the port bow as recommended by the Almanac to avoid the main shipping line, until the GPS told me we were about ten miles off. I turned to starboard with a course to raise Cabo Prior. The AIS then came alive with moving triangles of other ships all of which seemed to be converging on the same bit of sea we were looking to occupy. I spent about three of my six hour watch dodging around to stay clear of various cargo ships bound to and from such places as Bilbau, Gijon, Cadiz and Palermo. The most troublesome was one called Santa Maria which was bound for El Ferrol on a near but not completely paralell course. El Ferrol is just to the north of La Coruña and I wanted to get to seaward of him to as not to have to worry when he turned to port to enter El Ferrol. Eventually, after much muted swearing so as not to wake Matthew up, I managed to achieve being behind him and could relax a bit. That was when the reducing visibility announced itself as thick fog. I stayed up into the morning with visibility less than two boat lengths at times.
A nervous few hours now ensued with me plotting our position nearly continuously while Matthe sat on the helm and peered into the murk while imagining ghostly shapes emerging from the mist. In the meantime a triangle appeared on the AIS, now dubbed the video game, which told me it was a tanker heading to Rotterdam and would pass within .9 of a mile of us. A ten degree change of course to the east increased that CPA (closest point of approach) to 1.3 miles which felt more acceptable. He continued on at 13.7 knots though.
This picture is our first "view" of Spain!
Finally, as we got off the narrow entrance to El Ferrol, the fog lifted enough to give us a glimpse of some land – our fist sight since leaving Fowey behind six days ago. It continued to lift and we finally rounded the long breakwater at La Coruña six days and one hour out of Cawsand. We felt both elated and exhausted.
Now we are here, taken some much needed showers and are getting stuff to rights. I'll update on life in La Coruña soon.
Matthew and I locked out of Sutton and dropped the hook in Cawsand bay which felt like a much better place to take our departure.
Come the Tuesday morning and we decided that we would be as ready as we ever were going to be. The forecast was even promising with easterlies filling in on the next day. A bit of discussion about whether to break the journey in France culminated in us taking the decision to push on all the way to Spain and go outside the TSS off Ouessant. Our last sight of the UK was St Austell bay where we turned our nose south and then through the night we had the Lizard slowly receding to starboard. Of course the wind died through the night.
At least the wind filled in for us in the Western Approaches to the Channel. I had decided to take an offshore route round the outside of the Ouessant traffic separation zone. For non-yotties, the authorities set up dual carriageway systems round headlands where shipping concentrate. Of course, there aren't corresponding purple lines drawn on the sea as you see on a chart but shipping is only allowed to travel in the direction indicated on the chart or at right angles to it. Small boats such as us are basically expected to keep well clear.
The sun didn't show her face but we had a nice easterly that gave us some of the fastest sailing of the whole passage as it turned out. We finally got south of the TSS just as it was getting dark. The error of going outside (I didn't want to have to worry about tides inshore on the Brittany Coast which run quite hard) turned out to be an error as we needed to be in side the line of shipping going between Ouessant and Finisterre 300 miles to the south. This meant crossing the shipping lane and doing it in the dark was a bit too scary for us even with the AIS to help so we gybed to the west and then veered in to time our arrival at the shipping lane again for dawn – conveniently at the end of my watch.
The passage settled into a proper routine after we had got across the shipping lane. As is usual on Sarah Giddings, we worked a six hour watch system rather than the traditional four hour one. I am now a firm convert to this when you are sailing two up. It gives the off watch person the chance of a good solid four hours sleep once they have come off watch, taken oilskins off, had a snack and god bedded down. Then you can reverse the process half an hour before coming on watch. We worked it so that I did an evening meal just after coming off watch at 1800 which we took turns to eat. We would then both be on deck around lunch time. On longer passages, I would give thought to having the main meal at midday. Of course, in heavy weather, six hours would be very tiring and a degree of flexibility would be needed.
The second day out was also when we were treated to our first dolphins who spent nearly an hour playing round in our bow wave. Everyone tells you that you will meet lots of dolphins in the Bay and it is true! We still had a good sailing breeze though very much from the north or north east. The only time when the sheets weren't eased was when we first set off from Plymouth and when we were motoring. We still need to work on getting our down wind setup working and the Aries was not behaving for us though I am confident that we can get it to play nicely with a bit of practise and perhaps some cleaning up of bits and pieces. The pawls that rotate the vane definitely need attention.
Through the third night we crossed the continental shelf though on Matthew's watch. He described the water as behaving as it would in a tide race even though it was nearly flat calm at that point with almost no sea running at all. This is one of the reasons the Bay of Biscay is so notorious of course. We now had over three miles of sea water under us!
As I took over at midnight the wind started seriously to drop. I tried to keep her moving but the slatting sails proved too frustrating in the end. I furled the jib and sheeted the main in hard to avoid as much rattling as possible though it was impossible to stop the sail slatting backwards and forwards in a manner all to familiar with boaters and loathed as much as a full gale.
Eventually, I gave up and fired up the engine, a good idea really as the batteries were in a bit of a parlous state and seriously needed some recharging. High on my list of things that would be nice to have would be a windmill! All through the Thursday, the wind remained elusive and we had brilliant sunshine and flat seas. Another huge school of dolphins past us in the late afternoon but there were clearly on business and did not have time to play with yotties, particularly when under power. The wind continued its trick of staying away and, with a couple of brief respites, we had the engine on all night. We had worked our early in the day that we weren't going to make it in on Saturday which would have been the five days predicted so I played with the satellite phone telling both parents and Audrey that Sunday was a much more likely candidate for arrival. It is a truly surreal experience sitting in the middle of the sea knowing that you are hundreds of miles from land and casually visualising the person you are talking to in their living room. The wind continued light right the way to the end.
Each watch change brought us a bit closer until on the final night I took over just after Matthew had crossed the continental shelf though we were still off the bottom of the echo sounder. This was when my fun and games started.
I continued the due south that Matthew had put in so as to raise Cabo Ortegal on the port bow as recommended by the Almanac to avoid the main shipping line, until the GPS told me we were about ten miles off. I turned to starboard with a course to raise Cabo Prior. The AIS then came alive with moving triangles of other ships all of which seemed to be converging on the same bit of sea we were looking to occupy. I spent about three of my six hour watch dodging around to stay clear of various cargo ships bound to and from such places as Bilbau, Gijon, Cadiz and Palermo. The most troublesome was one called Santa Maria which was bound for El Ferrol on a near but not completely paralell course. El Ferrol is just to the north of La Coruña and I wanted to get to seaward of him to as not to have to worry when he turned to port to enter El Ferrol. Eventually, after much muted swearing so as not to wake Matthew up, I managed to achieve being behind him and could relax a bit. That was when the reducing visibility announced itself as thick fog. I stayed up into the morning with visibility less than two boat lengths at times.
A nervous few hours now ensued with me plotting our position nearly continuously while Matthe sat on the helm and peered into the murk while imagining ghostly shapes emerging from the mist. In the meantime a triangle appeared on the AIS, now dubbed the video game, which told me it was a tanker heading to Rotterdam and would pass within .9 of a mile of us. A ten degree change of course to the east increased that CPA (closest point of approach) to 1.3 miles which felt more acceptable. He continued on at 13.7 knots though.
This picture is our first "view" of Spain!
Finally, as we got off the narrow entrance to El Ferrol, the fog lifted enough to give us a glimpse of some land – our fist sight since leaving Fowey behind six days ago. It continued to lift and we finally rounded the long breakwater at La Coruña six days and one hour out of Cawsand. We felt both elated and exhausted.
Now we are here, taken some much needed showers and are getting stuff to rights. I'll update on life in La Coruña soon.
Monday, 8 August 2011
Final Stretch
we really are on the final stretch with only four days left in the office. At least we had a productive weekend and feel like we might actually be on track though the target of being ready to go on Sunday will be missed - no surprises really but still a bit frustrating.
I always knew that fitting the holding tank would not be easy and it certainly wasn't. At least we are mostly there and the hard part has been done. Matthew did a sterling job of cutting up the interior and drilling lots of holes but the end of it is that we will have a permanently fitted holding tank and the means of emptying it!
This photos shows the messiest stage. The only bit so far is that I have done the impressive bit of painting the locker where it goes with bilge paint!
We also fitted the liferaft at last with more scary holes to drill in the coachroof. We look even more like a pukka blue water cruiser now.
We also got used Matthew's mast monkey skills to run the lazy jacks up to the spreaders, remove the left over support for the radar and have a look around the masthead to make sure things were healthy up there. We couldn't finish the lazyjacks as the boom fittings hadn't arrived from Atlantic Spars. I have them now and we will swiftly finish them off this coming weekend.
I still have to order a bunch of charts but that really is it. We will leave, probably on Monday but possibly Tuesday. Weather and progress on work will dictate that.
It was a nice weekend though the weather was windier and wetter than planned. Saturday night, in particular brought some dramatic skies:
We also felt rather skinny moored next to a catamaran!
Finally, we are really getting close to going and the excitement rather than apprehension is starting to take over. It will be nice to get going though, as ever.
What will it be like when I walk out of the door for two months and get on the train to Plymouth on Saturday morning? What will it be like when we finally cast off, sail past Plymouth Breakwater? If all goes to plan, we won't come back past the Breakwater for three years. This really is the great adventure - in a small way anyway.
I always knew that fitting the holding tank would not be easy and it certainly wasn't. At least we are mostly there and the hard part has been done. Matthew did a sterling job of cutting up the interior and drilling lots of holes but the end of it is that we will have a permanently fitted holding tank and the means of emptying it!
This photos shows the messiest stage. The only bit so far is that I have done the impressive bit of painting the locker where it goes with bilge paint!
We also fitted the liferaft at last with more scary holes to drill in the coachroof. We look even more like a pukka blue water cruiser now.
We also got used Matthew's mast monkey skills to run the lazy jacks up to the spreaders, remove the left over support for the radar and have a look around the masthead to make sure things were healthy up there. We couldn't finish the lazyjacks as the boom fittings hadn't arrived from Atlantic Spars. I have them now and we will swiftly finish them off this coming weekend.
I still have to order a bunch of charts but that really is it. We will leave, probably on Monday but possibly Tuesday. Weather and progress on work will dictate that.
It was a nice weekend though the weather was windier and wetter than planned. Saturday night, in particular brought some dramatic skies:
We also felt rather skinny moored next to a catamaran!
Finally, we are really getting close to going and the excitement rather than apprehension is starting to take over. It will be nice to get going though, as ever.
What will it be like when I walk out of the door for two months and get on the train to Plymouth on Saturday morning? What will it be like when we finally cast off, sail past Plymouth Breakwater? If all goes to plan, we won't come back past the Breakwater for three years. This really is the great adventure - in a small way anyway.
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