17 June to 30 June
We arrived in La Coruna on Tuesday 24 June after a
relatively uneventful crossing. Leading up to the start of the crossing on
Saturday 21 June was a little less than stress free.
Monday 16 June was my last day at work. I lugged back my
computer along with host of contracts that should have been filed over the last
3 years and said my goodbyes. It was less of a relief than I had expected since
I still had a mountain to climb before we could cross the Bay of Biscay
Preparing the Boat
On Tuesday morning Andrew and I set off for Plymouth at
noon. Somewhat later than planned because I was still sorting out the boat
insurance for the round the world trip. Having diligently completed all the
paper work, the scanned copy that I needed to send in was so faint as to be
unreadable. Phoned Andrew to delay departure for an hour (twice) while
Catherine sorted out rewriting all the forms and I carried on getting ready
We took with us a list of 30 jobs that needed to be
completed before we could leave. Many of these were jobs still not completed
from our original list (fixing the AIS which had stopped working) and others
that were specifically for the journey such as the crew rota and food shopping
list. Andrew and I started working through the list but found time to dinghy
across to the other side of the harbour for drinks and dinner. We found
ourselves in a “locals” pub where Andrew quickly found a new friend. Or rather
someone adopted Andrew as their new friend. A distinctly weird pub.
Wednesday was a continuation of working through the list and
getting the food shopping. Finding the Sainsbury’s in Plymouth proved
impossible for us and after 20 minutes
of driving around the same streets we abandoned that in favour of one 10 miles
away on the basis it would be easier to find. A quick detour to pick up some boat
parts and we were shopping with a carefully crafted shopping list.
Martin arrived in the evening and we sampled the delights of
the Barbican for dinner. Better pubs here and some good fish and chips. We were
chatted up by three delightful ladies from Glasgow who were on a tour of Britain
- I just hope that we have that much energy when we are in our eighties!
Our First Sail
Our first test sail on Thursday showed how poor we were at
man over board procedures. We lost sight
of the two fenders we through over board, faffed about for 45 minutes trying to
pick them up and decided we needed a rethink. Slightly better the second time
but still far too long and the sea was calm. In a rough sea it would be ten
times more difficult and it ensured that we wore life jackets all the time on
the journey and clipped on when outside the cockpit.
I attempted to demonstrate how the radar worked only to find
out it didn’t. Now we had no AIS and no
radar. Beginning to wonder if we would ever get the boat and crew ready in time
for a planned departure on Saturday while the forecast was still good.
Back in port we took apart the radar controller to check the
wires were OK and took up the floor boards to check the junction box. All
seemed to be connected the final piece to check was the radar dome up the mast.
Not something that was going to be easy. One final check of the junction box
revealed that two of the 10 wires had been switched – green connected to grey
and vice versa. With low expectations I changed them over – we had used the
radar since the mast was taken down when the wires from the junction box would
have been removed. Radar burst into life showing that we could not have used
the radar since the mast had been taken down 18 months earlier. I could have
sworn we had!
So with that success I tackled the AIS, starting with the
aerial wire which in fairness was the most likely cause. Ten minutes later that
was working. Just another 20 jobs to be completed and the boat, at least, would
be ready.
Paul arrived on Thursday night and we spent the evening
watching football and eating in the Marina café. Very tired I slept through the
match.
We Are Nearly Ready
Friday was a very good day. We went for a sail and the man
over board was very competent, we tacked, gybed and I started to feel that the
crew were ready. Just needed to get the boat finished off and we could relax.
Martin and Paul went off the last minute shopping while Andrew and I finished
off the last remaining jobs. Andrew prepared the crew rota which was a work of
art with a chart showing who was on watch and when in simple graphical form –
reading and writing is not a skill we expect of the crew. By 5pm I was happy and feeling confident!
Paul opened a beer on the boat at 5pm with the words “this
will be my only beer tonight”. He also said that for the following 4 beers over
dinner. We took the dinghy across the harbour for dinner, partly to reduce the
amount of potential drinking time and for a bit of fun. Not before I had
managed to take the skin off the back of my hand starting the engine. Sitting
on the bathing platform and trying to start the engine is better for the
occupants of the dinghy but very painful for the person starting the engine if
you hit you had against a bolt sticking out of the boat. Paul bandaged my hand
and an antihistamine helped reduce the impact of the bruising and bleeding.
And We Are Off
Early start the next morning and we started on the watch pattern
from the start. Paul and I were up at 4am to get the boat ready and took the
boat out to the Eddystone rocks about 10 miles out from Plymouth. Wind starting
to build so put up the sails and made a turn south west down the channel. Our
last for 2 days!
Wind only lasted about 5 hours before we back on motor and
we continued motoring for the next 24 hours with the wind behind us and less
than 10kns. Cornwall faded from view as we headed SW at about 4pm in the
afternoon and we were joined by Percy
the pigeon, a racing pigeon who rested
on the bimini for the next 6 hours as we took him further from the land and
presumably his destination but that was his problem.
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| Our first meal on route |
Dinner was at 8pm where we enjoyed the first of the four
dishes we each prepared. Andrew’s chilli and rice went down very well and later
that night we had our first sightings of dolphins although it was so dark it
was difficult to see them.
On Sunday we kept heading southwest, keeping outside of the
long line of ships heading in the same direction but 5 miles to the south. We
could see the ships on the AIS but we were out of sight of them most of the
time. Very hot on board in the light winds and cloudless sky and we put up the
bimini to prevent being roasted alive on board – it was the day after the
longest day of the year. More dolphins caused excitement as we were joined by a
pod of about 30 dolphins playing with the boat. We took lots of pictures,
mostly of sea as the dolphins were often too quick to photograph but we did get
some good shots. Paul provided dinner that night (and in fact became the chef
for lunches as well) and we dined on pasta bake of Paul’s own recipe.
Heading Towards La
Coruna
Monday morning we made our second turn of the trip South
towards La Coruna. A mixture of sailing and motoring took us along our path. We
poled out the head sail during the day as the wind was very light but as long
as we could make 3.5 – 4kn we were happy sailing. We had plenty of time and the
weather was very good. Thanks to some
miscommunication between the skipper and crew we managed to wrap the genoa
round the forestay while taking down the pole in the afternoon creating a tight
mess of sail and sheets. 45 minutes later we managed to unwrap the mess and
vowed not to do that again! And indeed we did not.
We Amuse Ourselves on
Route
Everyone noticeably more relaxed after the first two days.
Crew off watch sitting around the boat, reading or watching yet more dolphins
when not on watch. We had all settled into the sleep patterns of four hours on
and off watch with 6 hour watches during the day. Therefore we were all less
tired and able to do more in our off time. Still very hot and pretty windless.
One of the regular crew entertainments was Martin mastering
the art of tying a bowline which he did everyday (and even with his eyes shut)
demonstrating a different technique each day (unintentionally so). I was
stripped of my role of instructing Martin by popular consent of the crew
(mutiny is another word for it) when my exasperation started to show on day 3.
Under the guidance of the new instructors Martin continued to again master the
bowline again each day. Still not sure he used the same technique twice but
that shows how creative he is.
Dinner that night was Martin’s creation of moussaka which
went down very well and we settled into the well worn watch pattern for the
night. Wind did get up to gusting 28kn so we reefed the main at 4am in the
morning.
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| Was this sunrise or sunset? They all look the same at sea. |
We talked through a contingency plan for every eventuality before we
reefed the main including going into the wind and reefing the sail. At 4am on a
dark morning you do not want anything to go wrong but it all went smoothly and
I could go to bed with confidence.
What More Dolphins?
By day four, seeing more dolphins failed to excite and the
crew wanted killer whales and sharks at the very least.
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| What that flipper? Man stuck down a mine shaft? |
We were now heading
back to shallower water, as we came from a depth of 4000m down to 300m. The
depth log still could not register what we now considered as shallow water and
when it eventually started recording depth at 100m it caused some mild
excitement.
As we got closer we changed
the watch patterns so that all the crew had at least 2 hours sleep before we
closed in on La Coruna. Emails from the SSB to the marina to ask for a berth
were unanswered so Andrew made a call on his phone which had at least some
signal strength now after 3 days of being out of contact. He did what any self
respecting English person does and spoke loudly and slowly to the person on the
phone, hanging up immediately when he realised that the person‘s English was
equivalent to our grasp of Spanish (rather ashamedly for us).
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| Nearing La Coruna and time for team photo. From Left to Right: Andrew, Martin, Paul and John |
We Arrive
So we entered the harbour at 9:15 and the marina at 9:45,
acutely aware that if we did not get to the Marina office by 10:00 we could not
get keys to the toilets or the gate – we would be trapped on board and there
were four thirsty people on board. At 9:50 we had moored up and Andrew and I
went to book in and get the keys. Huge relief and we opened a bottle of champagne.
A tour of the bars followed and at 3am we got back to the boat after finishing
the night playing darts in what would become our local for every evening for
our last drink.
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| Our first drink for 4 days and very happy to be La Coruna. |
Martin instructed us in the art of saying cheers while
looking the other person in the eye. This evolved into a wired ritual over the
coming days. I am sure the Spanish are pleased that there are no other English
tourists in their region.
The Negotiation
In the morning. Andrew and I went to negotiate the rates for
the berth for the next 5 weeks with the marina staff with their pigeon English
and our non-existent Spanish. We had worked out what we thought we could
negotiate and Andrew’s sharp intake of breath when she gave us the initial
price was well understood – it is a common language. We eventually settled on
something less than we thought we would get, very happy and we got a good berth
allocated. However, we were still non compos mentis from the night before and
we decided a walk and coffee would be the best course of action before moving
the boat. Even then it was not my finest piece of manoeuvring and our well-rehearsed
routine of tying up the boat looked a little amateurish.
Our Routine Ashore
The following days consisted of getting up late, having
coffee and a game of team cribbage first thing followed by long walks
interspersed with long lunches and early evening drinks. Darts was the key end
for each day with Martin and me winning every night. Paul’s attempt to get me
drunk to put me off my game with shots of jaeger miser did not work as I
refused to drink it. Not sure I would have survived one of those on top of what
else we had drunk. Unfortunately Martin did not follow my girlie cop out and
drunk three of them. He was not well all the next day.
Thanks for All the
Fish
Paul had generously donated a fishing rod to the boat and on
the Friday we had decided to sail out across the bay and go shopping. After the
previous night we once again decided walks and coffee were needed before
heading out. Andrew and I went to find a hose at the local chandlers which was
marked on a map for us by the tourist office. Paul had walked past it earlier
in the week and confidently told us it was just along the sea front. Half an
hour later and lost, Andrew and I stopped and checked the map. No idea where we
were and so we went into a shop on the corner of the road and spoke to the
sales assistant there (by pointing to the map and shrugging our shoulders).
Clearly not understanding a word she said in reply, she grabbed Andrew by the
arm and forcibly took him outside and pointed to the shop that we wanted –
exactly at the point where we had stopped to consult the map. All in vein as
they did not have what we wanted so we headed back.
When we returned we set off armed with hooks bated with Chorizo
across the bay where we anchored for lunch. Martin slept all the way and looked
green when he was awake. Our disappointment that the Spanish fish do not seem
to like chorizo was tempered with our relief that we did not actually have to deal
with catching a fish. It was very pleasant to be anchored in the bay and
relaxing on the boat before heading back and filling up the diesel on route.
In the evening Judy
arrived and she and Andrew spend the next 3 nights in a 5 star hotel.
Someone Speaks
English
We found an Italian restaurant on the Friday night owned by
someone who was half Spanish and half Italian but brought up in Croydon. The first time we could have a conversation
with someone. Needless to say that Martin’s resolve never to drink again
dissolved and the last bottle of wine (after darts this time) at the marina bar
at 1am proved that point. Another late
start on Saturday morning.
On Saturday we have the boat a thorough clean before
resuming our normal day time walks, lunches and pre dinner drinks. This time we
played table tennis at Andrew’s hotel before going out for dinner and I cannot
say that any of us covered ourselves in glory, me less so than everyone else. Saturday
was also Andrew’s birthday and he brought us dinner in the square in the evening.
Food was very good and mental note to go back there for dinner when Catherine
and I come back later in July.
And it is Time to Go
Paul left on Sunday which meant that we had four people
again for competitive team cribbage with Judy taking Paul’s place. Marin wiped
the floor with us at table tennis in the evening and we went to the new part of
the town for dinner. Andrew’s mixed grill would have fed a small family for a
week while my steak looked like half a cow. Very tasty but more than one person
outside of the US can eat.
Monday we were all back on flights to London with the
adventure completed successfully.
