Our intended passage from the NW corner of Brittany was to sail towards Guernsey overnight, pick up a signal for a weather update, and carry a favourable tide through the Alderney Race with a slingshot into our channel crossing ā best laid plansā¦ Coming on my watch at 2am, making good speed under sail alone... Continue Reading →
The Devil in the Deep Blue Sea
Our crossing of Biscay started, as expected, with mirror calm conditions over a long, languid Atlantic swell and little wind. Carl continued to suffer, and he took himself off to bed with a bucket. If he enjoyed his octopus pie when first ingested, the regurgitation didnāt sound at all pleasant. As we pressed on, the... Continue Reading →
To Biscay and Beyond
European bureaucracy now goes without saying! So the Brexit induced rigors were no surprise on our return to Galicia. Increasingly, the equinoctial weather influences do begin to make the forecast conditions somewhat volatile and capricious for our return passage across the fabled Bay of Biscay from North West Spain. In the meantime, our brief return... Continue Reading →
Prudent Pause
As we rounded the NW corner of Spain, we experienced a peculiar sensation for the first time. The fog was very thick and we were negotiating big swells from the Atlantic storms. As we rose to the crest of a swell, the bottom of the next swell was out of sight, completely obscured by the... Continue Reading →
Navigation and Trepidation
I apologise in advance as this post is one for the ānerdsā! Itās a little sterile and technical so, if you are only mildly interested and just a casual reader, itās probably best to give up on it now and to wait for the next, hopefully more compelling blog. In the thick fog we are... Continue Reading →