48:48.861N 005:53.964W

SV Eleonora
Michael A. Andronov
Mon 23 Jul 2018 16:46

UTC 1511…
No idea what the local time is… Abeam, on the port side — France…  ( It was tempting to go and to visit Brest… I’ve even evaluated the guides… But then decided — no, not this time… Probably, next! ;-) )

So, we are moving SW,   towards the Atlantic coast of Spain.

As we were leaving Falmouth yesterday night,   my neighbours in Falmouth Mooring Field were taking over us… Their boat — named Jangedame, most probably custom build, aluminium sloop…—  beautiful!   Looks really nice… And I was really amazed  how quick she is…
As passing by,  and shouting to each other  typical questions, as ‘ Where are you going? ‘, we discovered that we were going to approximately the same destination — somewhere in Spain… ;-).  They were very polite,  saying ‘ We would follow you…’ and then slowly disappeared ahead…
Their boat does not look much bigger… May be 60 ft?    But she  was going… As long as I saw them on AIS,  they were doing, about 0.5-1.0 knt more then us…
Anyway, it would be fun to meet them lately…

The night came down with the challenge,   as usual — shipping lines!  
My the real first leg on the boat — in October 2016 — was with the task to cross the New York shipping lines, and then Delaware shipping lines…  
This time — it was different… The radar screen was full of marks,   partially confirmed by AIS, partially — just boats….  The VHF radio was full of  communications —
‘ — I’m Sailing vessel XYZ,  I’m in front of you… Do you see me ?  ( the message addressed to the big container ship…
 … after some delay…, container ship officer…
 — Sailing vessel XYZ,   yes,  see you on my port side, you are clear…
 — No, no… I’m just in front of your!!!!  ( What the sailing vessel is doing ‘just infront’ of big container ship, is beyond my understanding… Especially at night, with no wind… )
 — Sailing vessel XYZ,   you are on my port side,  you are clear.. .
 — I’m in front. !!!!!!!!
 — Oh… is that you?  Now I see you… You better bear off NOW!!!!
….  a few minutes later…
—  This is  shipping line control, shipping line control…  Small vessel at  49:…. N, 005:… W, going course 230T, and which is going to collide with tanker at 48:… N 005:… W…
      Identify yourself immediately!


As the darkness was falling down, the conversations were getting more and more entertaining… ;-)  But it was interesting to know that somebody watching, somebody care…

The nice breeze which accompanied us as we were leaving Falmouth — gone… Together with my neighbours  on Jangedame…  In this shipping line chaos  — first, I lost their AIS signal, then — their mast top light, and then — their small footprint on radar…. See you in Spain, guys! ;-)

The challenge with shipping lines took a break at the middle of the night, for a few hours… But then restarted with  early morning… Now, it was lines which controlling the traffic around the point in France,   between the Bay of Biscay, and the English Channel…

It is continuing now, as all the ships are going basically the same direction… Either Gibraltar, or further South…  So, it will be real fun, unless I go far, far further into Atlantic…
But at the moment — I’m treating it as a good sailing and navigation exercise.

I do not know how it works exactly… But the wind is again on the noise… And we were beating at the beginning… And now, as the wind is really light — it can not even be called beating…  But it is sunny,  relatively warm…  which I appreciate most since I’m still dealing with the cold… or flue… whatever I got in UK… I hope it will disappear soon… since the sleepless nights, both with the traffic, and with the cold/flue — do not mixed well.

In a few hours we would clear the France, Brest and it will be the Bay of Biscay…  on a port side… The big question  — will the weather correspond to the .grib files I have ?…
If it does — we should have a nice sailing…  If it does not — we should find a good time anyway! ;-)

Good books,  good weather… some small work on the boat…. The time is flying!  Is it so, or h I adopted to that kind of life?  I do not know anymore, I’m biased.
The bottom line,  one day we will arrive to Spain, or Portugal… on our way to Gibraltar and the Med.

That is all for now,

Have a great day,
M.