Position Update
Wild Carol does Australia
John and Fiona Fraser
Mon 20 Jun 2011 12:00
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45:33.7N 4:09.13W
Noon, 20th June
We left Loctudy and sailed (yes, sailed!) past the
Iles de Glenan where there is a famous sailing school. The wind had howled
furiously all the time we were in harbour and this was the first opportunity to
get away. The forecast looked reasonably favourable with talk of a high
pressure ridge building in Biscay. However it wasn't long before our
constant companion, the 25 knot Sou'westerly returned to play. Before long
we could no longer sail our course so we rolled up the jib and started the
engine. We are certainly doing our bit for oil company profits on this
trip. Then we took in first one reef, then another, gave the engine
some more revs and settled down to let Wild Carol bash her way
through the building seas. At one point during the night we were
seeing wind speeds of 35-40 knots and Wild Carol was doing a reasonable
impression of a submarine. The bow nav light came adrift and Graham
foolishly volunteered to go forward and tie it to the rail with some cable ties
before it smashed itself to pieces - just as well he bought those new
waterproofs in Falmouth! He was just itching to give them a proper workout
and they came through with flying colours (yellow and black topped off with a
red cap).
We plugged on through the night making painfully
slow progress (as little as 3.5 knots). Eventually as dawn broke we reached the
Biscay drop-off and started to cross. As soon as we did we were again
joined by a pod of large dolphins then by some small ones a few hours
later. As I write we are in 4000m of water depth. The wind did
eventually ease to about 20 knots and the seas calmed down (a bit, it's all
relative!). We unrolled some jib and throttled back the engine to save
fuel and set a course broadly to the south as I got the French shipping forecast
by satphone and it is suggesting the SW winds will pick up again in the
afternoon in the north so we are heading south where we hope to find better
conditions for motoring (and some sun!).
On the positive side, we have made some
considerable progress, Max served up a wonderful chilli last night and the sea
temperature is steadily rising (16.1C). It is actually quite warm out of
the wind. Oh...and those wonderful dolphins, they really do raise the
spirits when they come to play with the boat.
That's all for now, I'm not going to guess when
we'll be in La Coruna. I'll post another update tomorrow.
PS just stopped the engine...hooray. The wind has
come round a bit and we can sail. Quite bright & warm too although still
overcast.
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