25th and 26th July – Belle Ille (France) to Spain

Posted at 9:53 PM, Monday, July 27, 2009

I've started typing this in word as we've not got internet connection so far from land.

Am currently doing dog watch 5 am Sunday as Swagman rolls along motor-sailing across a rippled but calm sea about a third of the way out in the middle of Biscay.  Apart from Sunboy, there appears little else out on our bit of water.

We’re maybe 180 miles down our course from Belle Ille in France, with Gijon in Spain 110 miles in front of us.  France circa 150 miles to the east below the horizon.

Dawn is about to break over that horizon on my port side. 

It is feeling like one of those hazy summer mornings we used to enjoy every day when we lived in Australia.  Warm already before the suns up, with streaks of pale yellows, blues and pinks lighting up the sky as the sun gets ready to launch itself upward.   The engine is bubbling away in the background as we slide along with main up and using the motor to do 7 knots.  We've got Sunboy running parallel doing the same maybe 100 metres off to starboard, with her navigation lights reflecting back on that darker side.

Just for five minutes we have dawn to our left, night sky still to our right, and then the day arrived.

So......... methinks it's shaping up to be a nice day - second day out from Belle Ille.

We got away from the island 7 am yesterday (that was Saturday) to cross Biscay in company with Al and Debs and family on Sunboy - a fellow Hanse yacht .  Sliding out between the green and red lighthouses that mark Le Palais harbour entrance with our latest weather forecasts as downloaded last night telling us we’re sure to have a slow but beaut weather window to use for this crossing. 

The forecast said we’d awake Saturday to a high pressure system settling over us and true to form that arrived whilst we slept.  It brought with it as expected the warmer settled weather but settled usually means windless.  That's not exactly perfect for two sailboats wanting to cover 300 miles, but it is 100% suited for Sunboy as it is not only their first night passage operating as a family crew, but a definite first crossing such a notorious sea as Biscay.

Al Debs and family were obviously confident and well prepped but I think we all left Le Palais looking forward to what may lie ahead on the crossing but having some regrets leaving that lovely island.  If the weathjer had been better I am sure we'd have spent longer there.   Well worth returning when one has got two weeks completely free to laze around the island bays.

We ran our engines all day Saturday and on through the sunset and into the night.  

We were both fully stocked with fuel, enough and more to motor the whole way if that is required.

When we left Le Palais the seas around the end of the island were still quite bumpy with left-over slop from the earlier winds combined  with a strong outgoing tide, but it all eventually flattened out and we spent our daytime sunbathing, reading and generally relaxing as Swagman and Sunboy steered themselves southward alongside one another.   Here Sue and I laze back on a sailbag placed before the mast whilst the autohelm does all the work.

By the time dusk fell we were approaching the edge of the continental shelf where the bottom drops from 150 metres to 2500 metres in just a few miles.

It is this big change in water depth that makes this bay so dangerous in heavy weather on a big a big swell.  Big rollers cream in after running 3000miles over the Atlantic and when the sea bottom rises as it get to the shelf all the water has to go somewhere.  What can happen is for it to climb into the sky and then crash back down again - onto any yacht hapless enough to be out there in those conditions. 

But not during this weekends weather window.

We maintained a 6 hourly radio net as we’d never be sure exactly where the other boat might end up, but with same size boats and going same way we really seemed like we were attached by some sort of invisible thread and rarely far from each other.

Both boats were continually visited by small dolphins during that Saturday and into the night, dashing back and forth between the two boats.  These are the little dolphins who pop out of the ocean so fast you’d think some big hand was squeezing them out.  Like a slippery bar of soap popped out from under the bath water- and landing with a similar big splash.

This picture was taken by Nikki from Sunboy.

At night you only know they've arrived when they make you jump by giving a big whoosh of breath as they take off.  Usually happens right alongside the cockpit when you least expect it.  

With lots of phosphorent jellies glowing in the water last night, the Dolphins left trails like missiles as they zoomed around us.  All pretty special as it was happening under a jet black sky studded with stars so low you think you could grab them and bring a handful on board.

Oh.  Did I mention it has been SUPER SUNNY and HOT on Saturday?  And it is looking good for today as well?  I hear it is raining in the UK. 

9.00 Update.  Got down our course to 90 miles off Gijon and had a team chat on the radio net.  Everyone is feeling chipper after a solid night sleep so we’ve decided to continue on for another night and make Coruna rather than Gijon.

Coruna is supposedly a much more interesting city than Gijon and a natural stop off for most Atlantic cruisers.  It also places us closer to Cape Finisterre maybe one day earlier than planned, as Coruna is 200 miles westward from our turning point. 

We’ll again plan to arrive during daylight hours Monday and it will give us the chance explore a city they all say should not be missed. 

There are anchorages in the Ria da Coruna but we’re told we should not miss parking in one of their three marinas and exploring the old town.

Nicely, soon after we changed course the wind filled to 8/9 knots from the SE, allowing us to hoist our 200% Code 0 Headsail and turn OFF the engine.  Now have been sliding along at 6/7 knots since dawn sunbathing.  Lovely. 

Did I tell you the deck is almost too warm to walk on?  No?  Really, it is.  Shirt off.  Shoulders burny burny.  Lovely.

Sunboy is currently a mile or so ahead of us.  She is continuing to motor-sail as she’s not got any big headsails.   If we lag behind daylight hours we’ll soon catch up evening time when the wind normally drops and we too will restart our motor.  Another calm (but engine running) night at sea beckons.

JOHN

PS  Got in at 3pm.   Will update with photos later.  Tired as.

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