Monday 2nd November: Mid Biscay
Awelina of Sweden
James Collier
Mon 2 Nov 2015 15:18
It remains nice sailing with the sun shining and a wind of F4 to F5 from the port beam and we are making good progress towards the NW corner of Spain. Last night it got rather rough just as it got dark and we put in two reefs and rolled up half the yankee so supper of roast lamb was delicious but not as enjoyable as it should have been because it was so rough. But by about 5 am the wind reduced from just F6 back to mid F5 and we shook out one reef and gradually let out the rest of the yankee, which is still what we have. The NW swell, which was interacting with the wind-induced easterly seas to make last night so rough, has now gone down as well which is good.
To conserve the batteries we turned off the electric auto-pilot last night and used the 'Hydrovane' wind self-steering which seemed to cope fine. This is a relief as it hasn't been used for real since it was repaired after having been damaged in an Icelandic fishing port last year.
The UK shipping forecast has just issued a gale warning for Biscay but actually we are in sea area Fitzroy and in any case the French version only predicts F7. However we don't expect this favourable conditions and wind to last as there is a small depression over La Coruna at the moment which will probably move over the top of us towards midnight and then away NE. No very strong winds expected but probably rain and southerly winds so we are cracking on as fast as possible before then: we're now only 90 miles from Cabo Prior, having already done 360 of the 450 miles.
The little bird (possibly a bullfinch? Fiona has called it 'Poppy') is still very much alive and eating seeds and tiny scraps of cheese and meat - and as a result of its good appetite now leaving marks everywhere including on the chart. If he doesn't fly away before nightfall then hopefully when he wakes tomorrow land will be close by. All day we've been seeing tiny green land birds flying past towards NW Spain, and now and again Poppy gets excited and flies to join them but so far has always retuned aboard. As well as cleaning up we are having to creep round the cabin to avoid spooking him and to avoid treading on him, so while we hope he doesn't go prematurely we won't be sorry when he does go ashore!