How many Spaniards fit into a Zodiac?

La Corūna (A Corūna to the Galicians in whose part of Spain this splendid city is) was the ideal place to recover from the rigours (or not) of a Biscay crossing. Great little restaurants - this one specialising in cured Spanish meats with an excellent line in Rioja,

places to visit by bike, such as this mock menhir, one of several with peep holes cut in to admire the view,

and of course the great and wonderful Torre de Hércules, begun by the Romans, which is the oldest functioning lighthouse in the world.

From A Corūna, one can also take a 30 minute train ride to the ancient cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela. We went on a Sunday, along with several hundred or thousand other tourists, but unfortunately train times did not allow us to attend a service. The main altar is blindingly gold.

I preferred the more modest side chapels, one with a beautiful carved roof,

and another with an impressive carved stone archway leading into it.

Despite being unable to attend a cathedral service, we did have time to sample the local cooking - sardines and Spanish omelette - in a pavement café.

Monday 22/6/15, a beautiful hot sunny day, was spent re-provisioning, searching the town by bike and locating a chandlery (not self-service and lack of the lingo prevented any purchases) and generally preparing for our voyage further South. Tuesday dawned but gone was the hot sun; loud fog horns early in the harbour warned that thick fog had taken its place! Although all our reading told of fog, clouds and mist in this part of Spain, we were unprepared for this setback. But Fearless Follyfin and her crew, determined not to be deterred and supported by RADAR and AIS, slipped her mooring at the first hint of the fog lifting, about 3 hours behind schedule. Fog cleared about 3 hours later and all was well except there was very little wind to sail by. Very frustrating! We cleared past Cabo Villano, the point protecting the Ria de Camarinas in which our next port of call is situated,

arriving in the delightful harbour of Muxia (pronounced 'Mugia' with a soft g) at about 21:00.

It would have been nice to stay a couple of days but Cape Finisterre and the Costa del Morte (the death coast) as it is known, awaited us on the next leg, and preferring to round that particular piece of land in fine weather, we pressed on to the Ria de Muros the next day. Finisterre did not look too threatening when we passed it - this is the southern tip -

but I for one heaved a sigh of relief to see it go behind. We rested a day in Muros, another delightful Galician fishing port, before setting out again yesterday, Friday, to the Galicia Atlantic National Parks consisting of four groups of islands just off the coast north of Baiona. We are now anchored off the east side of the Isla Ons, which protects the Ria de Pontevedra from the west. The extensive bureaucracy involved in applying for permission to anchor off any of these islands is well worth it. All peace and tranquillity on a Friday evening ... until the weekend ferries started to arrive this Saturday morning. Having been the only boat anchored off the beautiful beach last night, today we were joined by several yachts and small RIBs and motor launches. Thankfully, at the time of writing, they have all left except for one other British yacht which arrived in late afternoon. Peace again, except for the birds.

And now to the title for this post, what you, dear reader, have been wondering about ... two charter yachts, one with young men and the other with young women on board, arrived this morning and anchored either side of us. Of course they got together!

Phew - we made it!

The bay of Biscay ... tick! And indeed this post is being written in Spain, in La Corūna in fact, an ancient port on the NW tip of Spain. Thanks to the Cruising Association, we managed to link up with one Peter Whyley, who is on a sabbatical from his teaching job in Yorkshire. Luckily he was able to join us at short notice and hot footed it down to Plymouth last Sunday, ready for the off on Monday 15th June. The weather window had opened. So by 08:00 on that day we had slipped our mooring in Queen Anne's Battery marina and soon waved goodbye to Plymouth Hoe behind us.

Having dodged a couple of warships,

excellent sailing was had in easterly wind force 3/4 for the whole day as the Devon and Cornish coast disappeared behind us and we emerged into the Western Approaches. Regrettably this situation did not last, the wind died and our engine went on. Still, that gave our new crew member a chance to catch up ... he'd had a long day!

All sails were dropped before the dark and an uneventful night watch was passed, shared between the three of us, uneventful apart from the wonderful stars, some of them shooting, several planets passing overhead and of course the Milky Way clearly visible. Off-watch crew were able to sleep soundly as the sea was calm and this continued into Tuesday. This photo below was taken at midday. The red thing on the left is part of our new self-steering gear, the 'Hydrovane', which works a treat.

During Tuesday a turtle was spotted going on the opposite direction as it slowly swam passed the boat, and a collar dove caught a lift with us, sitting on the upper spreaders for several hours. In the night, dolphins were heard and glimpsed around the boat. But Wednesday was THE Dolphin Day as we saw so many we lost count. Getting good photos of Dolphins is not easy. I have numerous shots showing swirling water at various points around the boat where a dolphin is about to emerge or has just submerged again. The one below is the best one but nothing beats seeing them and hearing them in real life.

They came and went all day, playing round the boat and weaving in and out of our bow wave. Again the sea was very smooth with little or no wind so we were motoring again. That morning our AIS system allowed us to identify a large ship that was passing us on our port side, about 5 miles off. It was the QEII! I had a brief conversation with her watch keeper over the radio - they were bound for Gibraltar and due to arrive by 05:00 the following morning - when we would still not have arrived in Spain. Well, I suppose she is a tad bigger than us... 

A brief bit of wind came up in the afternoon, so the Magic Zero sail was hoisted. What joy to lose the engine noise for a short while!

Night watches on Tuesday and Wednesday were spiced up a little by all the large cargo ships that were on their way between UK/Northern Europe and points south. We were essentially crossing a huge motorway in the sea. The AIS system makes it so much easier to see who and what is out there in the pitch black, the direction they are taking and whether or not one is on a collision course. Lots of time to take avoiding action!

Thursday dawned overcast and very grey but fortunately no rain. We didn't see the sun all day. And we knew that a NE gale was forecast in the area into which we were heading. An increase in the wind allowed us to sail properly (gull-winged using our new pole arrangement) for the first time since Monday. As evening drew on the wind steadily increased and by 20:00 we had three reefs in the main sail and a only 50% of the jib sail out. But Follyfin was still clipping along at a goodly pace. The sea state changed and quickly went from the smooth, slight state we had become used it to moderate and occasionally rough. Not good for sleeping! Still, we now knew we would make landfall earlier than anticipated and in the dark, so all hands would be needed for the next few hours. Arriving in a strange port in a foreign land in the dark can be very tricky. This it proved to be as we weaved our way through numerous fishing boats, some very poorly lit and without AIS, as we got nearer to the port of La Corūna.

At 05:30 Follyfin was berthed in the marina and had had a wash down. She had completed the 478.9 miles in 93:5 hours, 57.5 motoring or motor sailing, and 46.0 sailing. Maximum boat speed achieved was 8.7 knots (although the instrument recording this data broke down halfway across), average speed 5.2 knots. So we had arrived and felt very pleased to be here!

More about the place itself in the next post. We'll be here for a couple of days at least before heading on South.

Introducing ...

Our new grand-child, Isabella Darcey Quinn Bennett:

Born in Jersey City, USA, two weeks ago to Lara and Warren, a sister for Noah. She weighed in at almost 8 lb and we are told is very long. Excellent attribute for shimmying up Follyfin's mast - not that that will happen any time soon!

Weather, damned weather!

Late Sunday night Ivor and Marina, the remaining members of our Biscay crew, arrived in Falmouth by train having travelled from Madrid the same day, via London, Plymouth and Truro. Original plan was to set sail for Spain on Monday morning but - you guessed it - the forecast was highly unfavourable for our first crossing of the bay of Biscay. Falmouth is all very well but not when you want to be on your way to Spain. There can only be so many Cornish pasties one can eat, not to mention Cornish ice creams; all so delicious but thoughts had already turned towards tapas. Even the enormous French cruise ship which popped in for a couple of nights could not divert us for long,

nor did the cuttle fish which appeared in the water by our berth.

We needed to leave for Spain by Wednesday morning at the latest for the 500 mile passage across Biscay, in order for the crew safely to catch their flights back to UK. Weather wasn't cooperating (again) so rather than allow barnacles to grow on the hull, and to ensure our crew had some sailing at least, we fixed on a plan to sail to the Scillies instead, returning to the mainland by the weekend. Although the winds were strong, all was going swimmingly, as shown below,

until a gale warning for our part of the coast came in on our Navtex receiver. Welł the Scillies are not the place you want to be when there is a gale blowing ... absolutely no shelter. A couple of homing pigeons on their way from France (we think) hitched a ride with us. Poor things were exhausted by the head wind they had had to battle against.

By this time we had sailed past the Lizard but luckily not got as far as Lands End. So Plan B came into play and we diverted into Mounts Bay where the safe harbour of Newlyn awaited us.

 Stuck again to await the gale, our compensation was a lobster dinner cooked on board.

They were enormous and delicious! The gale came through during the night and the next morning we witnessed a yacht about the same size as Follyfin being rescued by the local lifeboat.

Very pleased that wasn't us! With the week nearly over, and the Biscay passage definitely off, Friday saw Follyfin headed back east to deliver her crew back to Plymouth from where they could all catch trains back home. The first part of this 70 mile passage, back round the Lizard, was done in fog with little or no wind. Off-watch activities varied:

Whilst those on watch were hard at work using radar and AIS to spot and avoid other vessels.

The wind was too variable to allow us to sail for the first 10 hours of the passage but in the final 4 hours the visibility improved and we had a steady force 4 tail wind, allowing us to 'gull-wing' our sails and test out all the recently fitted equipment. That at least was a success. The rest of the week proved to be a huge disappointment for our faithful crew and us as we had all planned to be in Spain by now! The weather has now settled and this coming week looks perfect for the Biscay crossing. Only problem is that we are now without a crew. Fingers crossed we can find someone else to help us across. With luck, the next post will be written from Spain.

Jim Lad - not just a cabin boy!

Having safely arrived in Weymouth on Sunday, the forecast for the next couple of days included gale warnings in our sailing area (Selsy Bill to Lyme Regis). So we decided to stay put, tucked well inside the marina. Jim decided to utilise the time on Monday to practise his culinary skills. Not only did he produce a magnificent loaf of white bread,

of which Paul Hollywood would have been proud,

but he also cooked up a storm for our supper in the form of Spanish chicken with chorizo.

The weather calmed down on Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning 09:45 saw the crew of Follyfin preparing to set sail again but again into a SW wind. Once through the 10:00 bridge and out of the harbour, we decided not to take the inside passage around Portland Bill (which we had done in 2012 on our UK circumnavigation) because (1) it was a spring tide and (2) it would have been the wind against the tide situation causing serious choppiness on the sea's surface. This decision added about 5 miles to the passage but it was worth it to avoid the discomfort and the danger of being drawn into the dangerous Portland Race - the most dangerous extended area of broken water in the English Channel. Apparently quite substantial vessels drawn into it have been known to disappear without trace!

A good wind W/SW4 for sailing but because we were sailing west, several wide tacks were necessary across Lyme Bay. The wind died towards evening meaning engine was required so we decided to put into Brixham harbour for the night rather than carry on overnight to Falmouth. Finding the visitors' pontoon in the darkness was interesting but eventually managed and all were tucked up in bed by midnight.

Overnight the wind had veered to NE, and although light at first was very favourable for our course around Start Point and then west towards Falmouth. Downwind sailing is sooooo much more comfortable! Departure at 07:15 in beautiful sunshine and by 09:00 it was shorts and T-shirt weather. As the day wore on, the wind veered more and became stronger, extra layers of clothing were progressively donned and the sky clouded over. We were pleased to drop anchor in Falmouth harbour at 21:00.

Now on a pontoon berth with boats of all shapes and sizes as far as the eye can see 

and waiting for the rest of the crew to join us before tackling the Bay of Biscay. Skipper has been hard at work finishing fitting new equipment. Those boxes have got to go...

Whilst the rest of us have been helping, baking more bread, wholemeal this time, and provisioning the boat for the crossing. Weather forecast is not looking too promising, but we can only watch and wait.

Another view of Poole Harbour before moving on

Last Tuesday we decided to move further into the harbour which meant passing through the two lifting bridges. The second of these, named Twin Sails (for obvious reasons, see photo below) was completed only a couple of years ago, and against vociferous local opposition. The problem for boat owners keeping their vessels up-stream of the bridges is that, of course, the bridges do not open simultaneously, so if one bridge is passed through successfully, the boat is inevitably trapped in the 'holding pen' between the bridges, at the mercy of the bridge operators. As we were the only boat going through on Tuesday afternoon, we were careful not to say anything to upset the operator, and  just glad that we were not negotiating these bridges on a hot sunny summer weekend morning or afternoon when we gather the holding pen is packed and totally chaotic!

Twin Sails bridge, Poole

Having negotiated both bridges, we arrived into Cobbs Quay Marina and received a right royal welcome, partly I think because they receive very few visiting sailing yachts (bridge issues, see above, and because most of their 'residents' are flashy motor boats), and even fewer visitors on the 'Passeport Escales', a scheme from our home port in Brittany whereby participating marinas provide visitors with 2 nights free berthing (very attractive to us of course!). Our welcome included a bottle of red wine and a burgee advertising their marina (not absolutely sure we will be flying it). The only snag with this apparently generous scheme is that you have to leave the marina for at least one night before you can claim another two free nights. This we did on Thursday evening, knowing that we would probably touch bottom as Poole Harbour is notoriously shallow except where the recognised channels are dredged to maintain their depth. And with our lifting keel (see many references in previous posts) the Skipper was quite happy to drop anchor just over the drying ground area ... suffice to say we did not end up like the unfortunates shown below but there were a few scary moments when we might have done, as we weighed anchor to return to the marina berth on Friday morning in a very strong wind!

High and dry at low tide

On Friday we were joined by our Cabin Boy (aka Jim lad) who quickly got into cahoots with the Skipper. Delivered by Wendy his wife, he/they came bearing all sorts of goodies, including not one but two fruit cakes (intended for Biscay crossing next week but doubt if they will last that long) and the wherewithal to bake bread and cook at least two main meals - great news for the quartermaster (me) - plus a fantastic Boat Cookbook. 

And on Saturday, former crew members and not-so-newly-marrieds Laurel and William arrived for the day and to pick up our car which they will be looking after for us whilst we are away.

Sunday dawned and although the weather forecast for the next few days was not encouraging, there was a 'window' of about 12 hours as the current bad weather cleared away East and before the really high winds would come through from the West to our part of the coast. Besides which, we really needed to start our journey West towards Falmouth from where we will be embarking on our Big Adventure across the bay of Biscay, and collecting two more crew members. So once back through the Twin Sails and the town bridges, the good ship Follyfin carried us out to sea, south past Anvil Point, past St Albans Head and then west-North-west towards Weymouth. Wind speed was mainly Force 6 (classified as 'Strong Breeze' by the Met Office) with occasional gusts up to Force 7 ('Near Gale'). The sea was correspondingly lumpy and with the sails close-hauled and well reefed, Follyfin was routinely heeled at about 30 degrees. Needless to say, it was not a comfortable ride but it was reasonably speedy, despite having to tack several times. Maximum boat speed recorded was 9.0 knots ... pretty good! 

Arrived into Weymouth just before the wind really got up, and once safely berthed, tucked well inside the marina, we headed out for a well earned meal of fish and chips at 'our' restaurant right beside the Town Quay. This was the scene of my 'baptism' back in 2011, the first year we had Follyfin, when I accidentally lost my balance when jumping off the boat to moor up on the waiting pontoon beside the town bridge, and disappeared into the drink - in full view of the Saturday afternoon crowd watching from above. Very embarrassing!

Waiting pontoon in front of Bennetts Fish and Chip Restaurant

Now it's Monday, and the weather forecast for area 7 where we are is dire:

So discretion being the better part of valour, we have decided to stay put in Weymouth for a day or two until the situation improves.

Installations and Modifications in Poole

Our purpose in visiting Poole was (1) to have a pole fitted to the mast which will hold either of our fore sails out and in position when we have a lightish following wind and (2) to have our rig (basically all the steel cables holding the mast in position) checked before our forthcoming ocean passages, and (3) to allow the Skipper to continue and finish fitting the new ocean-going equipment and install all the wiring for the associated and new electronics. So this is what happened during the first week we were in Poole, as the following photos will testify...

Expert half-way up - note the 'boss' is on his phone!

Expert right to the top.

First Mate's blood drawn after over an hour on the floor with hand pushed through tiny hole under the floor, trying to grab that b#^*~y white wire!

Skipper in stern locker with some of aforementioned wires.

Light relief provided each day by resident swan turning up for early morning drink!

We did have a welcome break provided by four friends who turned up for tea on Thursday, lots of chat and then a tasty meal in a Turkish restaurant in Poole centre. But after 8 days constant work on the trot, we decided it was time to move on... see the next post on this blog.