Fai Tira Blog Sunday 30/08/09

Fai Tira Biscay 47:54.58N 6:20.11W

Why is the wind always coming from the wrong direction?  We have had a head wind ever since we started the Biscay crossing.  We woke up this morning to grey skies mist and a very lumpy sea.  The wind was WSW so we decided to head into the bay rather than go out west on a NW course.  We had decided to reef down as the wind was picking up and the pressure was dropping. The SSE course we were now following took us straight across the the route all the BIG ships use to get from the English channel to the NW corner of Spain.  We dogged in and out of the relentless precession of freighters and tankers.   It wasn’t raining so at least we were fairly dry except for the odd wave that came into the cockpit. We had to put the wash boards in for a time. 

The daily routine of eating, drinking and sleeping went on whilst we cursed the wind direction.  Just before nightfall the wind dyed off a bit and we took the reef out of the main.  John cooked dinner and we were just going to settle down for another nights watch routine when the wind backed to the south. We needed to tack. By this time it was dark but we achieved the best tack of the trip so far.  We are now heading in the general direction of NW Spain at 5 knots.(about time).  Anyway no photos again today but there’s only sea and mist to see. 

Bye for now. 

Pete and John.