|
Crossing Biscay 1
|
|
|
The sun was shining, most of the time, and a blustery west-norwest wind sent us on our way in style. A small group of common dolphins showed up to see us on our way - it was delightful to have the added dimension of the hydrophone for listening to their racket! The wind moderated as evening fell, and was light variable by 2100hrs, a chance to charge the batteries as we motored along on the moonlit sea. What a difference the moon makes when the nights are getting long! |
|
 |
|
| By morning the wind was freshening from the sou-south-east and slowly veering. Anna M was sailing very powerfully to windward; the new staysail from UKMcWilliams of Crosshaven making a big difference, filling the gap between the working jib and the mainsail that they have already supplied. However we were being forced well to the westward, not that this bothered me, for it would no doubt make some valuable windward ground eventually. For a while we were followed by a school of 5 or 6 pilot whales. | |
| Our noon position on the 24th October was 49.47' N and 10.45'W. We had been sailing nearly due west and it was time to go about. Now the sea was a grey waste, relieved a little by plenty of gannets and gracefully swooping great shearwaters, those astonishing Atlantic wanderers who all breed on Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic, and a few common dolphins. By evening the wind was sou-west force 6/7 and the glass falling though not desperately low at 997 mb. We had three reefs down and eventually took the stay-sail down too, but at 0200 hrs on the 25th we still making 4.5 knots, now a little east of south and in the direction of La Coruna, 326 miles away. The glass stopped falling but 'first rise after low, foretells a stronger blow' was true as usual. |  |
| For a while in the afternoon I reckoned the wind was gale force 8, but Anna M was still able to make progress, with the storm jib set. As night fell the wind moderated to about force 6, and we were able to set the staysail again and then the No 1 jib, though there was a dirty sea running with waves about 5 metres high. | |
| Anna M took some nasty knocks, everything was damp inside, and in the early hours of the morning we became aware of water sloshing around in the fore-peak, over the floor-boards. After bailing out with buckets I discovered the blocked limber hole that was preventing the water from draining to the main bilge properly, and also that she had sprung a nasty leak on the lee bow. It became necessary to pump about 2 minutes out of every 10, but at least it was a considerable relief to find that the flow was getting no worse. | |
E-mail info(at)gannetsway.com - www.gannetsway.com
Revised:04 December 2002Copyright © Joe Aston 2000 - 2006 All rights reserved.
All photographs are © Joe Aston unless otherwise stated, please do not reproduce without permission.