From Brest to Baiona
Knotty Girl
Tanya/Roberto
Sun 14 Jun 2020 17:35
47:36.536N 005:19.474W By now we are settling into our rhythm together, learning everyone’s preferences at breakfast time and everyone finding ways to contribute on board that play to their strengths - or at least, the “new kids on the block” (Julian and Julia) are learning this as the rest of us have sailed together before a number of times. So this morning it was time to put our teamwork into practice and start our journey across the Bay of Biscay. While the crossing will only take a few days, it has a reputation for being treacherous in bad weather conditions. We’d originally expected to stay in Brest today to sit out a low in the weather, but the latest weather forecast indicates it is fine for us to proceed - so off we go! After a relaxed breakfast and a smooth departure from the marina - of course! - we enjoyed some coastal views for a few hours, motoring into light winds. The weather is a bit warmer than when we left Lymington and the sun and clouds shared the sky today making for an enjoyable start to our crossing. We were all happy when after a few hours we could finally switch off the engine and put out our main sail and our large (light wind) genoa. The day passed with the hours merging into one, filled with conversation and times of silence gazing out at the awesomeness of ocean all around us, spending hours looking out into a sea of nothingness to make sure that we take appropriate action at the critical minute or two to avoid an approaching boat, buoy or other hazard… and waiting expectantly for Alastair to catch the first fish. Well, perhaps we weren’t that hopeful as we made alternative plans for dinner. Even Alastair himself can’t have been too confident as no sooner than he had set the fishing line he went for a nap… maybe tomorrow, Alastair :-) We have switched into “being on passage” mode and now our sleeping habits are being determined not by the sunlight but by our night watch times, to make sure we can be alert during our shift. For this passage Roberto has allocated overlapping shifts each lasting four hours, with each of us sharing the first two hours of watch with one person and the last two with the next person. This will mean two people are always on deck to manage sail handling and other tasks, and will provide a good handover of information through the night (both information on recent wind and sea state conditions and information about Knotty Girl that Julian and Julia may not yet have found out about)… and give each of us a decent break in-between watches to get some rest. We’ve delighted in dolphins several times today, swimming alongside the boat and jumping out of the water, reminding us that all around us, below the water line, is an amazing and beautiful world. At the moment the sea is only just over 100m deep but at times this will become four kilometres deep, teeming with a myriad of creatures of all different sizes, shapes and mysterious behaviours. It feels a wonderful privilege to skim over the boundary of their world and ours, as we head to our next port, Baiona in Spain. |