Wednesday, 30 April, 2008

Safe Crossing of the Bay of Biscay
We had a very safe crossing Friday, Saturday and Sunday with an average speed of 5.5 knots; not what we expected, but better than the alternative of a rough passage. My first lesson was the difference between delivery and cruising--if our sailing speed is below 5 knots, we motor. I also learned that, if done correctly, catamarans can go on one engine. To use both consumes twice the fuel and only adds a marginal improvement in speed. We left La Rochelle, with one reef in the main sail and left it there for of the passage.

We also got our watch schedules sorted with Captain Larry and Alex taking a six hour shift with one on watch and the other on standby in 3 hour sub-shifts. Dominique and I work the next watch the same way. As we better understand the ile de Grace, we’ll shift to two hours on and six hours off.

By Sunday night, it was clear that we should top off our fuel before heading around Finisterre and we had a small fresh water leak in our port bilge so we had already decided to pull into La Coruna on the Northwest coast of Spain when we heard from the Spanish Coast Guard that there were gale warnings within the next 24 hours. The first squall (30 knot winds) actually hit within 6 hours, making for a very interesting watch for Larry and Alex. Happy to say, ile de Grace handled it quite nicely.

La Coruna

So we have been forced to wait out the gales in a very charming Spanish town in Galicia; being forced to eat tapas, fresh calamari, and drink great Spanish wine, while Force 8 winds blew off shore.

But it hasn’t been all fun and play. I, with my mediocre Spanish, got a sail maker to come by Monday to look at a small tear in our main sail and schedule a repair. Larry, Alex and Dominique took the sail off and are currently putting it back on. Next, they got the depth sensor working--it worked just fine in sea trials, but, amazingly the Bay of Biscay read 5.4 meters the whole crossing! Next, they solved the leak in the port bilge. Packing styrofoam had gotten into the pump in Larry’s shower and backed up. Alex, who loves bilge work, did most of the honors, with much encouragement from Dominique. Nevertheless, they both decided that the next time there’s a bilge problem, Larry gets to do the tasting (for salt or fresh water). One tiny leak remains in the starboard bow ceiling, but Larry came up with a good temporary fix until we can figure it out and we are satisfied. All boats have their shakedown issues, and so far, ours have been minor and manageable.

In the Meantime….
I’ve decided to upgrade from my small 44 foot catamaran to this….

The Queen Elizabeth II docked near us Tuesday on what I believe is her last voyage before becoming a floating hotel in Dubai.

The final squalls are coming through today and we plan to leave tomorrow morning. Captain Larry expects a 7 to 8 day passage to the Azores, and our plan is to head for the island of Faial and its port of Horta. If the winds push us further south, then we’ll just have to go to Madeira. (Not a bad backup plan.)

Adios,
Jennifer