Finally, the time to make the big jump south had arrived. We had completed the list of boat jobs and checks, provisioned the boat and waited patiently for over a week for a decent weather window. It would be a proper off shore passage and the longest we had ever done. After all the preparation, on a sunny evening in Falmouth, it was time to go.
Departure: 1830, Saturday 8th October
Arrival: 2030, Friday 14th October
Total time: 6 days, 2 hours
Distance: 919NM
24 hour average: 151NM
Top speed: 14+ knots
Engine hours: 5 hours
Night 1
We set off into a calm evening with moderate winds. These were forecast to continue throughout the night, which would be very helpful as this was the largest upwind section of the trip.
 |
In reality, the wind quickly built to over 20 knots and we found ourselves beating into a very lumpy sea the whole night. This was not the best start to the passage and our stomachs were not 100% happy with the situation. On the plus side the moon was glorious throughout the night!
Day 1
Night 2
A night of two halves. The first being spent in nervous anticipation about the forecast blow that was due to fill in from the north. We had planned to use this weather system to push us south but the forecasts were now saying force 7, rather than 6, which would be over 30 knots. This was also forecast to reach us just as we were passing the continental shelf the middle of the Bay of Biscay, which is notorious for rough confused seas as the depth changes sharply from several thousand meters to just 150 meters. The French weather forecast was for rough seas and we had already seen the wind outstrip the forecast by 10 knots in the first 24 hours of the passage. All of this gave us pause for thought. However, it would be downwind, a much more comfortable point of sail and running before a gale is a recognised tactic to cope with strong winds, so we figured we would be okay. We got ourselves organised in advance, with the pole out and boom preventer rigged, and began to play the waiting game.
The waiting game sucked. By 0300 the predicted wind had still not arrived and we were going no where fast. Phil checked the weather again and realised that we had travelled too far east and were missing the wind that would carry us south. The decision was made to put the engine on and motor west for an hour or so until we reached the breeze. And find it we did, finishing the rest of the night regularly surfing down waves at 10, 11 and even 12 knots in wind blowing in the mid 30s.
Day 2
Day 2 continued in the same pattern, sailing downwind with the foresail poled out on one side and a double reefed main on the other. The wind blew over 30 knots, gusting low 40s all day and we were surfing down 4m waves at over 10 knots, with a top speed of 14! The hydro-generator kept our batteries topped up and, apart from dodging the occasional cargo ship, not a lot else happened.
Night 3
The night continued in the same vein as the day. The wind slackened off to the mid-twenties and the sea state reduced as the night went on. At the 0200 watch change we took one of the reefs out of the main. Phil got in a bit of a pickle at the mast, first getting the reefing lines jammed and then, letting the ring slip off the hook. It was not hard to sort out but did mean Phil had to essentially do the job three times and a ten minute job took 30 minutes. At the 0630 watch change the wind and swell had reduced further and it was time to take in the pole and head directly for the top corner of Spain on a broad reach.
Day 3
We completed our passage across the Bay of Biscay with full sail. We put the pole back out at about 4pm, but the day was grey and uneventful. The main highlight was having a shower and having veggie burgers for dinner!
Night 4
We passed Finisterre, top corner of Spain, during the night, signalling the official end to the Bay of Biscay. The next way point was 288NM due south, running along side but outside the main shipping lanes all the way.
We operated two hour watches at night but we were not rigid about them and flexed them by 30 minutes to an hour if required. For some reason I felt particularly perky during the night so gave Phil an extra hour of sleep.
Day 4
The October morning was clear and fresh. We could tell we were further south as the weather was definitely getting warmer. Phil put the additional solar panels out to help replenish the batteries, at 50% after a very slow grey day the day before. We put some of the wet gear out to dry and Phil decided to make a fake skipper out of his stuff. Very childish but it amused us for ten minutes. Other than this watches involved tracking the progress of cargo ships as they steadily overtook us.
 |
| Doesn't everyone dress their autopilot? |
Night 5
An uneventful night with good sleep off watch for both of us. I finished my audio book, Hilary Mantel's The mirror and the Light. It was certainly value for money at 37 hours duration and I really enjoyed it. What a talented writer she was.
Day 5
There were 90NM to go till the next way point and we were on course with the right amount of sail up. There was therefore no much to do in terms of managing the boat. However our thoughts had begun to turn to when we might expect to arrive in Lagos. We had made excellent time and were definitely going to be early, probably sometime Friday evening. Phil downloaded more weather to check our calculations and confirm our plans.
Passage bread:
We also passed the Ever Given, briefly famous for its planet-scale disruption of commerce:
Night 6
This turned out to be a much more eventful night than expected. After all the weather checking that Phil had done during the day every forecast model turned out to have significantly under-predicted the wind strength. Again we were experiencing high 20 knots sustained with gust up into the 30s, easily 10 knots more than predicted. This required more sail changes in the night as we reefed, reefed again, and eventually changed down to the stay sail, which involved rigging the running back stays. In total we made 5 sail changes across the night and most of these seemed to fall in Phil's off watch time, poor love.
The other excitement of the night was encountering fishing vessels. Unlike big cargo ships they do not run with their identification system on all of the time and they often do not have a large radar signal as the boats can be quite small. They do switch on the identification system when they are about 3 miles away from you if they are on a collision course. This means they suddenly pop up in front of you and require immediate evasive action. This happened on my watch on a very dark night. I clicked on the information and it said that the vessel was Not under command. The radio choose this moment to let out an unearthly electronic shriek, having been silent for hours. It was really spooky and freaked me out and no mistake! Once I had calmed down and worked out that a vessel would not be able to drift at 6 knot up wind I took the necessary avoiding action.
The whole night was quite a ride!
Day 6
The morning began with more sail changes as we turned in towards the bottom corner of Portugal. The wind had dropped off and we got the kite out in a beautiful sunny morning. Our thoughts turned to our arrival in Lagos and ensuring that the essential elements had been thought through. To this effect Phil re-read all the information on checking in and the port of Lagos and I put beer in the fridge and put the boiler on so we could shower. After 7 days without booze my priorities might have been a bit skewed.
However the trip was not over yet. We had an Orca encounter just off the point St Vincent. Some of you will be aware that there has been a big problem with Orcas attacking yachts of the coasts of Spain and Portugal. They like to bite the rudder, which sometimes results in the boat being damaged and requiring a tow. The two whales were about 20m from the boat and seemed to be heading towards us. We raised the hydro-generator, Phil noted the position to report the sighting and then we sat scared stiff that they would attack the boat. Fortunately for us they just cruised on by. Quite a relief!
Along the south coast of Portugal we were welcomed by dolphins and treated to a fantastic sunset which seemed a more appropriate end to the trip. We arrived in Lagos after dark. It was really difficult to pick out the entrance amongst the lights of the town and the arrivals pontoon was full. We rafted next to a boat on the fuel dock at about 8pm and settled down to a cold beer and the prospect of sleeping for the whole night.
The trip was really good and a clear milestone in our sailing experience. We feel that we managed it well and both have a real sense of achievement.
Comments
Post a Comment