Better then expected
Christine's Atlantic Circuit
Peter Lansdale
Wed 20 Jul 2016 21:26
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41:11.08N 08:42.2W
We awake in the Monte Real Club de Yates marina in
Bayonne to a cool grey day with little or no wind. It is very strange here
waking up at 07.00 and finding it is only just after dawn, which makes a grey
day seem even worse as it is still quite chilly and after all we have sailed all
these miles south in the expectation of being warm. So much for daylight
saving and being nearly 9 degrees west.
We were off by 0830 as we have some 60 odd mile to do to
Leixoes in Portugal and it's flat calm with a remarkably flat sea. By 0930 it
had warmed up and the clouds were showing some signs of breaking. We had a go at
calibrating the log which has been seriously over-reading, using the GPS. Once
I'd read the instructions it was simplicity itself and it seems to have improved
things even though I'm not sure we were completely free of current when we did
it.
So we motored all morning under the grey skies but on a
flat sea until after lunch the clouds started to clear giving a perfect blue sky
as had happened yesterday. Today the wind started to appear and with
7-8knts from the NW we hoisted the mainsail and gennaker. Gradually the wind
increased to 15-18knts and we were making wonderful progress at 7 plus knots.
Having to bear away to make the course we even tried goose winging the gennaker
which worked beautifully although it took us a very long time to set up as most
of the downwind sails I have are untried at present. There will be quite a
learning curve before we get to the trade winds in the
Atlantic.
A large school of dolphins joined us to celebrate our
good progress, or perhaps because the engine was no longer running and we spent
the next 20 minutes or so trying to get photographs. It's really fascinating
watching them playing around the boat and then they must have found something
more important as they were gone.
We pulled into Leixoes marina around 1830 Portuguese
time to be met by their very helpful and friendly staff and so were soon moored
up and off for a shower and a well deserved evening
meal.
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