43:22.064N 008:23.025W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Tue 31 Jul 2012 22:15
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"We Have Crossed The Bay and Survived"
We left Brest on Saturday afternoon and have
reached La Coruna after 3.5 days at sea. Once at sea after leaving the
Rade de Brest, we found ourselves very much alone, not another boat to be seen
and eventually no land either. The wind despite the weather predictions
was either constantly on the nose or there was insufficient to sail
by. We were unable to make enough westings to get around Cape Finisterre
and today we mainly had to use the iron horse, except for a couple of
gentle hours when the sun shone and the wind blew us in the direction we
wanted to go and we were able to have lunch in the cockpit, in the
sun, with Windy Bill in charge of the tiller and keeping us on
course.
During the passage we saw a pod of dolphins
and a huge 1.5m turtle and a few young gannets.
Two members of the crew were delighted to hear that
we needed to refuel. This meant that instead of continuing on to Cape
Finisterre and Vigo we would have to go into La Coruna for fuel which means a
night alongside in the marina, with the facilities of very much needed
showers!
As we got closer to the Spanish coast and into the
bay of La Coruna we were amazed at the amount of fishing boats we saw.
Some just small dinghies, so small that even though we passed quite close, the
boats disappeared from view below the waves and we could only see the heads
of the fishermen. Others were larger trawlers, which did not seem to mind
ploughing through the huddle of smaller boats. We finally arrived at the
marina just as dusk was falling, tied up and Sandro cooked us a delightful
Italian pasta dish for our dinner.
We all had a splendid evening discussing whether or
not we had enjoyed the trip, you can imagine there were plenty of moments when
we all individually wondered "Que me lo fa fare" (Why on earth am I doing
this?)
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