Update
Wild Carol does Australia
John and Fiona Fraser
Wed 15 Jun 2011 21:45
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47:55.36N
7:29.46W
Wednesday 15th June 22:00
Well, I'm afraid our weather window wasn't quite
wide enough! We arrived at the edge of the Biscay abyss just as night was
falling. We saw a line of squalls ahead and we took in some sail. The
squalls passed, the wind veered and we were hit by 40 knot winds. The sea
was building rapidly too. In Biscay the ocean floor rises from over 2000m
depth to 200m in a very short time and as you might imagine in SW winds as we
have been having this can kick up big seas as the ocean swells hit the shallow
water. With the the change in weather too and a deteriorating forecast I didn't
want to take the risk of carrying on across this stretch of water at
night. We struggled to take in the second reef and then having taken the
decision to turn back we dropped the main completely and unfurled a handkerchief
of jib and turned around. We are now heading east towards the South
Brittany coast. The plan now is to head for Loctudy where we will await an
improvement in the weather, probably on Sunday. It's about 125 nm from
here. Should be there tomorrow night.
John
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