SV Eleonora - 44:23.104N 009:26.662W

44:23.104N 009:26.662W

SV Eleonora

Michael A. Andronov

Fri 27 Jul 2018 19:49

UTC 1500

And we tacked again... Now we are back on course to the land... I mean Spain... Not sure which part though.

I do not know proper words to describe the conditions. To this end -- I'll but just some estimations:

-- COG is about 167-170 True... ( We need at least 178 or 180, but forget it... Later... When ( if ?) the wind veers )
-- SOG, 6.5 kts, with main and forestay only... Yankee furled

-- Wind, 25-27 knts, gusting plus... 210-220T

-- Seas... I guess that what is called 'confused seas'... Assuming that they twice higher then the bow of the boat -- about 12 ft... When they are obviously coming higher -- I'm looking into other directions...

-- And yes, we are beating... ;-(

Let me say a few words how we get to that point...

We have tacked a few hours ago, since the wind were really against us, and we targeting the North Spain in the Bay of Biscay ratheng then the West Coast...

Besides the direction -- the wind has been light, the seas -- less then moderate... Beating was a bit of urcomfortable -- derived from the healing of the boat... But otherwise -- was ok... Sunny weather, with occasional clouds...

I made a mistake... I started to plan the landfall. I took the guide, found the possible marinas and anchorages, put some waypoints to reach near the coast... read about marinas, places, etc...

I made anoter mistake... I checked and checked .grib files, downloaded a fresh one... and sent my complains to Chris Parker...

Somebody heard my complains, somebody decided to fix it... ' Michael, you wish a 101 of heavy weather? We are at the right place... Your with is granted... ' . And indeed, it was...

First, somehow, the seas started to build up... Without noticeable change in the wind... I made a 'smart observation' -- there is a strong winds somewhere... I've also comfirmed it with the newly downlroaded files... Yes, this time -- should be about right...

But should not be more then 15-16 knts...

The only thing I did not do... I did nothing about the sails...

The next part of the drill -- the wind incleased... As somebody turn the switch... From @ 10 knts to @ 18 kts... And was growing... Boy, we got overpowered, and we starting to get wet with all that spray flying here and there...

'Oh, Michael... Finally, you decided to work in the cockpit, to reduce sails probably... How about a bit of squall with rain, to cool you down a bit? '

Lovely... It took me about 20 minutes to furl yankee, to prepare everything for the tack... pick up the moment and to tack the boat...

Somebody was waiting for that... As soon as we tacked -- the wind started to go up, up... the seas too...

Soon the pattern started to form -- sunny for a few minutes... squall with gusts of extra wind... overtaking ships... and again...

And keep going...

Since boat was handling that better then me... I went inside... To change -- since I've been soaking wet... and double check where we are going now..

So, we tacked... Now we are back on course to the land... I mean Spain... Not sure which part though.

Talk to you soon,