Weymouth to Portugal

---

Weymouth to Portugal.
We spent a weeek in perfect weather really enjoying the olympics, but really that is when we should have gone! The conditions were perfect but there again sometimes that is the way it goes. We had a great day with Bruce on his birthday and really thought the olympic saliing event inWeymouth was wonderful. We could watch gold medals being won right in front of us, for free,on the rocks. We could enjoy the activities happening, art, musical, fireworks, all in all a great time.So when we did finally want to leave the weather was no good! We left on 17th August at 9.10 am to catch the tide around portland bill. A little bumpy and rough, but a good sail to Salcombe. Some big crocodiles off the bill,, but Breeze had no problem. We sailed nearly all the way, there was a mayday from jersey, saying someone had been washed off the rocks, I only hope they found them. By 15.45 we were at position 50 14 36 329831 w Thewind dropped and soon we were motor sailing, the sea calmed, but still a big swell.

The harbour staff at Salcombe are really helpful, friendly and on the ball and offered us two moorings, one was up the river a bit off snapes point. It was very calm there and we found ian and tracy waiting for us. A great evening with agood meal ashore. But ...every time I get to Salcombe, the shops are always shut, and they look sooo attractive

. 18/8When we woke up it was dark and thick thick fog. We could hardly see the boats moored in front of us. We prepared for leavomg amd I was on the bow with a torch just trying to see the buoys etc. It was horrid. Then we got to the end of the harbour and we saw some fishing boats leaving, by that time it was just getting light so we were close behind them. going over the bar and leaving on our inward track. Off salcombe, it was still foggy for some time and also the sea was rough. We were sailing, but by 9.25 we were motoring and cold. By about 11 am the sea calmed right down. Now we were motor sailing watching a procession of grey ships passing by. They appeared out of the curtain of fog and some long blasts on their horns shattering the silence muffled by the fog. But by 1700 we were in pos 4853 723 004 29 882 w the sun had come out, still swelly and a bad tide against us.

We approached the French coast and this time we could see the buoys. The entrance to L'aberwrach is very well marked and once you have identified the start of the buoys quite straightforward. On arrival we were met by a harbour rib, who took our rope and attached it to the mooring, all very easy. We decided as we were shattered to stay on the boat, so never even walked on dry land. ! Next morning we were leaving at 0630 am. Soon we were passing up the channel to the open sea. By 7.10 we had passed Libenter buoy which marks the end of the channel, but could not see it because of ...THICK FOG. I am bored of fog now, we carried on up towards the chanel du four, and the raz du sein .We did manage to see a few buoysand had to keep a very close eye on the radar and ais. It is a level of concentration that is very tiring. Still as we turned th e corner into Biscay the sun came, dolphins frolicked and it suddenly seemed as if the sea was changing colour. We pulled into ST Etienne for the afternoon, and anchored. We went ashore, had a snack and some wine, and returned to the boat for a snooze. When we woke up it was round about 5 oclock, the forecast looked good, so off we set. Out into the abyss. Biscay.

That first night we had a duck cassolet for dinner, followed by strawberrries and clotted cream, all v nice. Then the night wore on. It seemed to go on forever, and when it was my watch about 1am the sea picked up, alan had a terrible watch with about 50 fishing boats all fishing the continental drop off, but is was a lot quieter for mine, with only big ships. On my second watch the dawn came, and it seemed better all of a-sudden. we had a fried breakfast and took it in turns to sleep.

The second night it was so dark, no moon, but eventually a huge starfilled sky, sprinkled over the clouds., But at sealevel it was black as black. we stayed up till about 11 chatting etc, we had a good dinner of chicken casserole, v tasty. Then ice cream. in the night I was raiding the fridge, and eating pork pies! Also ate too many sweets, until I felt quite sick, it is amazing what boredom does...Next day it was sunny and we had about 50 dolphins pay us a visit. They were everywhere jumping and thrashing the blue water. I sat with my camera on the bow and it was as if they were jumping up to me. Very unafraid, fantastic creatures. The water is blue now, and feels lovely.

We tied up in Marina corrunna at 12 am. EXHAUSTED,. La Corrunna is a great city, even though I was really tired we went out for a walk around, and thought the city looked great. We had such a good time exploring all the narrow streets in the old town, and finding the beach, very wide sandy , with nobody there hardly at all. no beach bars, nothing. This suggests to me that it must be quite inhospitable. The restaurants in the little streets behind the harbour were lively, serving loads of different types of seafood, shellfish, great platters of prawns,./ The evening meals were a feast of shells, ending up wiht plateloads of empty shells discarded on the plate. Absolutely delicious.

In one of the restaurants the waiter was from Mexico, and spoke perfect English. He had married a girl from La corrunna and although they were divorced stayed there to be near his son. He was funny and helpful, and we really enjoyed our lunch. We saw them setting up the live music in the squares for that evening and later on when we came back down to town there was lots of local groups singing, a group of men and women in national dress with tambourines, a suprisingly effective combination. The marina in La Corrunna was only about a quarter full when we arrived, but gradually a few boats arrived. People blearily arriving at the office trying to check their emails after nights without sleep. Yachts converging from all over the world. 25th AugustWe were heading for los camerenes which we had heard was very nice. We sailed the 35 miles, it occasionally raining and a little muggy, but warmer than we had encountered.

Camarinas had a good anchorage off the breakwater and we anchored there as we knew a strong wind was coming. It is a small fishing town, we had several walks all around and soon found everything we needed. We met some other yachts as well, and enjoyed a few drinks in the club nautico. The following morning it was very windy and we did not feel that we could leave the boat, just as well, as our anchor started to drag ver y slowly so we then were in full oilskins, and I was on the deck in the pouring rain pulling it up and resetting it. By 2 o clock it was a diffferent world. The sun came out, the wind died away. and we went ashore and booked a restauranta for that evening. We also had a walk up out of the village and we were suprised to see some buildings in peoples gardens that were square stone small buildings stood on saddle stones. We found out from the guide book that they are called horrreos and were used to store grain. They are very distincitve of the region for sure. That night we had a great meal in the hotel in the village, we had mussels, fish, rasor fish. All very good and alan had a plate of octupus. Home to bed for a very quiet night ready for the next day.

---

Comments

[david addy]

Admiration
Thank you for keeping us in touch about your travels. We admire you both for sailing in fog and through all those fishing boats at night without any nasty incidents. David & Sally.

[Yacht Breeze of Weymouth]

It is all character building....I think!