Blog #26 Perhaps a stop to forget... and, the Admiral's coffee cup
Cassini's blog
Simon and Sally, Nigel and Catherine
Mon 18 Sep 2023 19:32
| Perhaps a stop to forget… and, the Admiral’s coffee cup! I should preface this with, “I’m sure Muxia is a lovely place in the sun”. We came to Muxia to shelter from a deep low pressure system that resulted from one of the recent fading Atlantic storms. Having made it into anchor the night before, to protect ourselves from the forecast southerly gale, we sat tight with a little more anchor chain out than normal, and waited. Sunday dawned with light winds; no sign yet of the forecast gusts of 40 knots plus. But as the morning wore on, the wind and rain increased and built steadily throughout the day to above and beyond the forecast by our reckoning. We’d looked at various forecasts, and the consensus seemed to be that the wind would increase to gale force and subside by about 1700. We know by now to take a weather forecast with a pinch of salt. The wind, far from subsiding, increased into the evening, blowing the boat to and fro. The anchor held. Late into the evening, the wind backed by almost 180 degrees; we swung around on our anchor, which reset itself (as it should) and dragged a little while it did so, setting off the anchor alarm in the progress. At 2100, Nigel and I took turns, hour about to make sure we didn’t drag our anchor further in the frequent blasts of wind. By midnight, the worst had abated and we both retired. Much like the first night though, the swell running into the bay really made the boat roll heavily and slap about at the back. Sleep in these circumstances, much like the night before is hard. Into our second night of this, we rose early on Monday morning to begin the 68 mile trip to Baiona on the west coast of Spain, just north of Portugal. Coffee and toast was served around 1100, and delivered the notable incident of the day. A coffee cup (no names, no pack drill), with waterproof top off, rolled over and spilled the contents around the chart table and drawers surrounding it. The watch below did their best to clean and cover up the misfortune, but they were discovered and provided Nigel the opportunity to relate a story from his rich past. You know this story must have been an age ago, because he began with “when I was a midshipman in HMS Glamorgan…”. He was second officer of the watch on the bridge. The Admiral came to bridge, put his coffee cup down on the chart table, and moved to speak with the Captain. Someone knocked over the cup, spilling the contents over the charts. The navigator shouted to the bridge in general, “which ****** idiot left their coffee cup on the chart table?” “Sorry” the Admiral answered, “that would have been me!”. The navigator’s immediate response, “which ****** idiot left the charts on the Admiral’s coffee table!” We continued south, past the cape of Finisterre (you hear about this on the shipping forecast) and on down the coast. The weather depression from the day before continued to exert it’s mischief upon us today, blowing from the north further offshore, which would have been great, but where we didn’t want to be (Orcas that you may have read about), and from the south inshore where we were and right on the bow where we can’t sail directly in to without tacking to and fro to make ground. Such a contrary and fickle force! The wind came around a little during the day, and we were able to motor/ sail, that is our main sail and small head sail out, together with the motor running. It's quite effective at driving us forwards and keeping the boat more stable in the waves. Arrived safely in Baiona in time for hot shower, cocktails and chilli dinner before sunset. Simon Passing Finisterre  Senset in Bayona   |
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