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Published: July 29th 2008
20th June Friday
Falmouth - Ensenade de Muros/Northern Spain
Departure 10.20am
We are finally departing England and beginning our trip over to Spain. My first crossing over The Bay of Biscay. I’ve been told several times that the sea can be very rough or very calm which would be a blessing for me. Lars says it may take 3 - 4 days crossing we will just have to see.
When we left our mooring we called the Floating Barge in the Harbour but they were fully booked until 15.00pm so we motored over to the other filling station. We were not leaving this time until we had filled up both tanks with Diesel. We filled up on the starboard tank (the one that ran out crossing to England), it took 836 litres, that filling station is on the North Quay.
Finally departure of Falmouth: 11.30 am
There isn’t much wind at the moment so it’s motoring for the moment, may be later further out we might be able to put up the sails. Old waves are coming in, that’s how Lars explains these funny rolling, high waves. They can be quite unruly at time.
13:50 pm
Up with
the sails. We are doing approx. 8 kts and the winds are blowing SSW.
17.00 pm
Winds are against us, which means going in the wrong direction. We will have to tack later, zig-zaging to get where we want to go. It will take longer and I’m not very keen on tacking. NOT GOOD AT ALL.
21st June Saturday
175 nautical miles in 24 hours. We’ve been zig-zaging since last night. Winds are still blowing in the wrong direction. We have been doing shift through out the night 4 hrs on 4hrs off, 2 people in each shift. Lars and myself, Peter and Uno in the other.
Not much happening in the day time. We are still zig-zaging along. Uno, poor lamb, has been feeling sea-sick most of the journey. Lars and I have the midnight shift going into Sunday 22nd June.
About 6.45am (Sunday) a pod of Dolphins started playing around us. Lars saw them first. They were coming up beside both sides of the boat and diving under the boat. We could see that there were young with their Mothers and
they were calling to one another. They would disappear for a few minutes and then swing back and jump over the waves that we were making. It was very exciting to watch them.
At 7.30 am a Ringed-neck dove decided to take a break on our boat. At 8.05 am engines on. Winds have disappeared. The Dolphins are still around our boat and the dove keeps trying to land on the boat. Not sure where it is at the moment. Lars has taken in a reef in the main sail and it has a safety rope to hold it in place, we don’t want the boom to swing too suddenly, it could hit someone in the head. Lars slipped as he was coming off the roof of the pilothouse. No injuries but he’ll have a few bruises. The Dove has flown away. We saw whale spray about ½ mile away. Looks like 3 I think, hopefully they are friendly. Sighted at 9.50am Sunday, Peter saw them also.
23rd June Monday
Lars and I went onto our watch at midnight. We put up the sails again at 00.15am. Good winds and mild waves for
a change.
02.50am
Changing Genova over to starboard side, placing spinniker boom out, hopefully this will be more effective and give us a few more knots.
09.00am
Looks like another Ringed-neck Dove has landed on our boat. It looks very tired and in need of some rest before going on (It might be the one that we saw earlier and maybe it’s been hiding on the bimini and has now decided to show itself again). I’ve named our stow-away “Silvia”, she’s still with us at 13.15pm and doesn’t look like she’s going anywhere soon.
Silvia flew away at 15.10pm, hopefully because land isn’t far away.
23rd June Monday
Arrival Ensenade de Muros: 21.00pm
Trip: 617,5 nmiles
Muros is a small village in the Northern part of Spain. It looks very worn out thoughtout the village. The pavements are broken. There are not alot of tourists around this area and unfortunately it is noticable.
We spent a day walking around just getting the feel of land again. For me it is the first time I have sail for so many days at one time. Some of the trip over was difficult but not
as bad as I thought it would be. I think if we hadn’t zig-zaged we would of been in Muros alot earlier. We had dinner and walked around the village before going back to the boat which is moored in the bay.
24th June, Tuesday
The guys took a walk up the sloops of Muros. I stayed aboard, I’m feeling the heat already (what am I going to be like when we get to Southern Spain). We found a shop that sold a few items that we needed. It’s long life milk now and yuk! I can not get used to it. After shopping we went to dinner ashore and took an evening stroll looking at the area.
Tomorrow we leave for Lisabon.
25th June, Wednesday
Departure Muros: 10.20am
Log: 19528
Engine: 2001,9 hrs
Motored at the start. The winds were so mild as usual and then by midday they pick-up and are reasonable for us to sail. 12.10pm up with the main sail. The winds are now 12-15 knots and with us for a change. We’ve put up the Genneker which is simular to a Spinneker but it’s smaller. It was a bit of a mess to put it up. Uno was nearly tearing the sail because one of the reef lines were tied down from when the reef was put into the main sail. The line to the winch had got stuck in a hatch as it was open in the pilothouse. Not a smooth job at all. We saw some Dolphins but they didn’t come too close to us as Lars had a fishing line out and they seem to know.
17.10pm
Passed the Boarder and changed the Guest Flag to Portugal.
21.00pm
A pod of Dolphins played with us for about 15 mins on both sides of the boat. They were so graceful and fast, gliding through the water at speeds that we couldn’t keep up with. There are two babies and both kept themselves by their Mothers the whole time. It is a lovely sight to see while gliding on the waves that are about 5 meters high. We are going at speeds of around 10 - 12 knots which is very fast when you are going with the winds.
23.15pm
I fed the fishes. I had terrible heartburn and I think I took a little to much meds for it because it was so painful it made me cry. Poor Lars, he didn’t know what to do.
26th June Thursday
5.20am
Received a radio call from another sailing vessel called “Stad Amersterdam” who informed us that they were only able to see and register our AIS at 5 cable lengths, measuring at approx ½ nautical mile. It is one of the new systems Lars has put into the boat. We are not able to see other vessels if they have the same system. It gives information on what the is called, how far away she is, what type of vessel it is and alot more information which is good especially if you end up in fog or in the dark.
15.30pm
Peter is learning how to take down and put up the Spinnaker boom. Not quite there yet but he’s getting there.
16.35pm
Passing Cascais.
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viola
non-member comment
Trevligt att läsa om din syn på biscayaöverseglingen, Uno var sanska så sjösjuk han också, så han tyckte det var skönt att vara med längs spanska och portugisiska kusten. Skönt att höra att det är i bättre kondition nu (genom sms från lars) Här är det medelhavsvärme, jag har semester, uno har lagat avgasröret på båten, så idag (hoppas jag)eller imorgon seglar vi ut. Maria och hennes tre killar mår bra, det var lite tufft för henne, hon vill så gärna amma, men har inte tillräckligt, så nu får han pulvermjölk och alla mår jättebra Johan verkar ha trevligt i kalefonien, Där har varit jordbävning inatt (inga skadade)så nu har han varit med om det också. Många kramar till Er och ta väl hand om din kropp så den orkar med värmen Viola