Crossing Biscay
ALICE'S ADVENTURES
ANDREW AND CELIA SHARPE
Fri 13 Aug 2010 09:05
We have made it over to Spain across Biscay and are now
in the marina in La Coruna.
Chris and Roger arrived on Sunday evening and we set off
on Monday morning.
We had a really good first day on the crossing, we
sailed for 11 hours doing 9 knots through the water but even 30 miles out we had
over 2 knots of tide against us. Wind then went round to being on the nose
as usual so we motor sailed then just motored. A wonderful show
from dolphins playing in the bow wave. The first night was clear and
starry but there were quite a few boats out there with us. The biggest was
the Pride of Bilbao which we made sure to keep well away from! Chris and
Roger saw whales but we were asleep and missed them. The second day was
warm and really calm but the second night was rough and windy and then the auto
pilot broke down. So it was hand steering all the rest of the way.
We got into La Coruna 3.15pm on Wednesday. 389 miles on the log. So
the trip took just over 54 hours. Yesterday was spent cleaning up
again. Andrew and Chris took the auto helm apart and after a lot of emails
and phone calls hope they have managed to fix it. Sea trials will
tell. We got a spare part organized which Mark and Debbie are
kindly bringing out to us when they fly over today. Thank
you to Dave at BDA marine for sorting it out for us, to Lin's dad for
collecting it from Swanwick and to Lin for taking it over to
Christchurch.
The town here is very pretty. We sat and watched
the world go by while they were setting up for a big concert in the lovely main
square. Roger and Chris go home on Sunday and then we will be joined by
Debbie and Mark. We will be shore based for a bit longer as we are
visiting Santiago de Compostella. Hopefully by then the weather will have
improved and we will explore the Rias. At the moment it is cool, cloudy
and windy - again!
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