La Rochelle to La Coruna
CuriousOyster
Steve & Trish Brown
Sun 8 Jun 2008 12:16
Trish and I really enjoyed our 5 days in La Rochelle. It is a really nice city with a strong maritime link both present and past. The maritime museum is well worth a visit as is the new aquarium. The old town still retains its character but there is also a lot of modern developments surrounding the older parts with a large university complex with its associated student population.
It was a shame to leave but we had a good weather window forecast of our 380 mile crossing of South Biscay to La Coruna. The first 32 hours gave us some great sailing on the same tack the whole way from close hauled to beam reaching in 10 to 25 knot winds. We achieved our first 200 mile / 24 hour run during the crossing but as the winds died on the second evening we were forced to roll away the headsail and switch on the engine.
We had many encounters with dolphins en route, appearing as from nowhere to play in the bow wave with the younger dolphins pushing and shoving to get the best spot! Kids eh!!! It doesn’t matter how many times you see them around the boat it is always a privilege to witness these fabulous creatures playing in their natural element.
We motored into La Coruna 46 hours after casting off in La Rochelle and will stay here a couple of days before sailing on to Bayona.