7Th Oct 2005
Out Of India
Birgitte and Ray Charmak
Fri 7 Oct 2005 16:41
Having seen the weather report before we set off I thought we had been well
and truly blessed by the Gods.
A North Westerly had been forecast with 2 big highs in the middle of the
Atlantic.
We set off on Sunday the 2nd with a perfect wind however just avoided a
disaster at the very
beginning pulled off to find we had another mooring line we had not noticed
as this was put on by the Oyster boys, then when heading for the fuel
pontoon down the river Itchenor we went down the wrong channel fortunately I
noticed we had 00 under the hull,and did a quick 360 degree turn!
The wind was perfect went on our course without having to make a tack for 24
Hours then flat calm for 7 hours then the wind picked up it got to gusts of
a force 8 and Raymond was honking up during his watch.I certainly was
questioning my sanity and sense of logic in wanting to cross the Atlantic
and go on around the world when my stomach could not cope with leaving the
shores of England.
Any way we made it and certainly made up for it in La Corunna on our first
evening on shore on Wednesday the 5th of October
when we went on a tapas bar pub crawl,certain crew members were a little
worse for the bars the following morning but a good time was had by all.
Yesterday and today the Atlantic is like a flat calm lake!! so we are making
the most of
it and heading for Nazare on a 36 hour motor sail from La Coruna
then to Cascais to arrive on the 8th evening Saturday, we figure we might
just as well cover as
much water as we can while it is flat calm and the weather in our favour.
Yesterday we had a school of dolphins play around the Yacht there must have
been over a hundred it was awesome, we have had a number of dolphins come
and play in front of the bow but this large school was truly memorable.
A friend phoned Birgitta today to find out how we are doing and told her
that when they went round the world the Pacific was even worse than the Bay
of Biscay.
I have just made an executive decision.
After the Atlantic we will enjoy the Caribbean for a couple of years and
East Coast of USA and then may well spend the rest of our time in the Med we
will see!!