La Coruna
Sygitana
Fri 24 Aug 2018 14:40
Well Biscay taught me a final short lesson last night. after a lovely dinner done by dad and followed by bananas and custard we decided to take advantage of the increase in wind and set a yankee and staysail. the breeze built and before we knew we were running at 6.5kts. this provided a conundrum. keep going at this pace and make landfall and the port entry at night or slow down and wait for a nice early morning arrival. I opted for the later and we spent many happy hours in darkness, bugger all wind and thick fog surrounded by fishing boats and drizzle. The wind had died and left a lovely swell for us to roll around in at 2kts killing time for sunrise and for the fog to clear. i don't know that anyone slept at all.Bu the prospect for a night arrival to an unfamiliar port in fog wasn't appealing.
Nevertheless, come 0600 we could see the relevant lights on the headland and made for the bay. By 0900 ships time we were alongside and filling our now almost empty fuel tanks and jerry cans.
some coffee and pastries followed and we moved to our berth and enjoyed a shower and lunch ashore.
Kirsty and Elspeth have departed to fly home this evening. the yacht is certainly poorer for this.
As i type this the wind is quite frankly howling in the rig. we face a hard beat out of the bay tomorrow and then a run down the coast until we can make the turn south. Weather looks fine for the onward passage but I am mindful the crew is diminished and we may need to tuck in en route for a pause.
Given we were doing 6.5kts under headsail alone yesterday we may opt for a most simple rig for this onward passage. headsail and staysail. this should be very manageable and mean no one has to leave the cockpit to carry out maneuvers.
i'm off for a short snooze before we do some jobs onboard and then venture into La Coruna for a spot of dinner.
James, Des and Mike.