La Rochelle to La Coruna
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Sunday 17 June 2012 43:22.09N
08:23.173W Conditions: Wind: NW 2 - 3 Sea
state:slight Visibility: Good Fuel 600 litres. Water 850 litres. Gas 1.5 Bottles After a period of
refitting by Amel and others both on the hard and in the water in One depression after
another came through bringing with it strong SW winds up to Force 9 with very
rough seas whipped up in the Bay’s shallow waters. Unfortunately there was
ever only a two days respite between depressions, not enough time to get across
the Bay in the remaining rough seas before the onset of another depression, Finally, we start to get
good forecasts from Sunday 17th June to Thursday 21 June. At Last !
We are off. Sadly to late for one of the crew – Terry Braid who Having travelled to LR to
join Bootlegger for this leg returned home after a two week wait. Fortunately
Jackie was able to rejoin the boat to make the leg to Crew: Frank Newton; Jackie
Fehle, Andrew Webster and
12.30
46:08.815N 01:09.996W Amel Pontoon. Minimes Marina, LR : Slipped our mooring on #
2 berth and, after taking on some 220 ltres of fuel at the fuel dock beneath
the Capitainerie building we headed out from the marina into the river and the
open sea. Lunch is served in the
cockpit shortly after putting to sea. Jackie has prepared a finger food lunch
of carrot sticks, tomatoes and radishes with cheese, pate and sausage
sandwiches. Gets lot of compliments. Put all sails out; motor
sailing with engine at 2200 rpm CSE: 237 SOG 6kts (pushing tide ) 2:45: 46.80N 02:23.5W
Engine Off . 15:00 Mike starts the 3
hour watch system. 18:00 Andrew takes watch 18:30 Called up fishing
vessel Le Sphinx which was closing on a converging course. He ducked us at the
last minute and passed safely astern. 19:00 Jackie serves up a
most tasty pasta con sugo for dinner, but due to sea conditions, there is a
general lack of appetite apart from Frank . 19:30 Andrew resumes
watch 21:00 Jackie takes watch.
Winds increase to 25-30 kts, with gusts of 45 kts in thunderstorms. Heavy rain
so heavy it flattens the waves. Reduces sails and rolls them out again between
each thunderstorm. 23:15, 45-38.175N
02-47.82W Changed to Bearing 190° , reduced genoa again as gusts up to 50 kts
from NW. Monday
180612: 00:00 45/35.738N
02-53.135W Mike takes watch. Thunderstorm NW 15 kts. BRG 234, lightening, and
more of it. 03:00 Frank takes watch.
Pulls all sail back out as wind drops to 15 – 18kts. CSE 239 degrees. SOG
7.2- 7.5 kts. s/y Ozoure now abeam of us some 3.8nm to port. 03:30 Wind increases to
25kts over the deck. Pull in main and reduce genoa. 03:45 Gen. switched on as
batteries down to 24.1 v. 05:00 After a good sleep
Andrew feels better and takes watch with Mike on standby. 06:50 Gen switched off.
Batteries at 97% ( Run time: 3 hrs ) 08:45 All up and about.
Noted boat speed of just 5 kts; engine put on at 2,200 putting boat speed to
8.1 kts 09:00 Mike takes over
watch 09:45 44:58.272N
04:22.37W. Motor sailing, close hauled Wind W 08kts SOG 8.0 kts. . A pigeon comes to rest on
Bootlegger-s dinghy. Mike’s attempts to feed it remain unsuccessful.
After 3 hours of rest and clean-up, he flew away, leaving feathers and a few
droppings on the deck. He was ringed. A green ring on his starboard leg, a
yellow and a red ring on his port leg carrying the numbers 1183 and 2483. Noon position: 44.52.22N
04:45.82W 12:45 24 Hr summary; We
have done 190nm at an av. speed of 7.9kts Jackie brings a tray of
radishes, celery sticks and sandwiches with stuffed artichoke bottoms, ham and
pate. 18:00 Mike on watch 19.15 Jackie does another
excellent dinner: Mixed salad with garlic vinaigrette and yesterday’s
pasta al sugo is now eaten with great relish washed down by a very smooth red. 21.00 44:23.66 06:15.46W
Jackie on watch SOG 8.1kts CSE 251 84nm left before first approach WP into La
Caruna We still have the company
of dolphins that we have enjoyed on and off all day. Andrew continues to do
bird whistles at them for some reason ... Discover many of my
entries for today are lost when the system shuts down for some reason.
Laborious job re-typing it all. Tuesday
19 June 2012 00:00 position 44-15.727N
06-47.80W, bearing 242. NE 12 kts, waves 0.5m. Andrew takes watch as we
can see the loom of 15:3044:07.34N 07:17.40W 48.3nm
from first La Caruna WP Noon Position: 43:48.546N
08:20.676W Reached WP 303 being approach to 13:00 Coruna
Trip
distance done from Wednesday
200612 43:22.09N
08:23.173W La After doing some shopping
and postponing our departure due to bad weather around Cap Finisterre, we are
invited by new acquaintances Christine and Loic’s, whom we first met on
the Amel marina pontoon in La Rochelle, to be briefed on their weather forecast
and have some drinks aboard S/Y Ozouri,
their new Amel 65. We crossed the Thursday
210612 After yesterday’s
drinks with Christine and Loic, we decide to invite them for dinner on board S/Y
Bootlegger. A trip to the local
branch of that premier Spanish department store Corte Ingles was called for to
buy some more lamb chops, a desert and some wine. On our return we prepared the
saloon and cockpit for this impromptu dinner party. The table cloth is removed,
place mats and candle holders are put on the highly polished veneered table. Everyone is given the job
of making S/Y Bootlegger as
welcoming as possible for our guests who finally arrived in the usual French
fashion. In spite of the wind, we are able to sit in the cockpit for aperitifs
as the sun goes down. We then moved downstairs for melon and jamon iberico
followed by a mix of carrots, onions and celery with potatoes sprinkled with
fresh parsley to accompany the lamb chops. A fine Rioja wine completes this
most tasty dinner prepared by our resident cordon bleu chef, Jackie. Desert is
a colourful mix of puddings and cakes from Corte Inglis’s pasteleria. Another pleasant evening
with lively conversation in the convivial company of Christine and Loic. We are
not to see them again as the following morning with a favourable forecast it is
decided to leave for |
