The Spanish Rias

We left La Coruna on Tuesday after a week in what we felt was a lovely city. We met an English couple (Trevor and Leslie) cruising the same way as us on the Monday night so set off with them early on Tuesday for Camarinas. There was not a breath of wind for the whole 45 miles until we were within 30 mins of the marina!

Camarinas was very nice with lots of foreign boats cruising down the coast stopping off here. The landscape was fantastic and it was our first taste of the Spanish Ria's. Unfortunately Kate ate something that disagreed with her so we spent the following day on the boat lazing around, but it was nice to be in the sunshine doing not a lot. We planned to leave after 2 nights, but the following morning the sky was as black as thunder over the notorious Cape Finisterre so we stayed put. The following morning we again black clouds but decided to set off anyway as it didn't look as bad. We left with blue sky and sunshine, no wind. We soon got a little rain, then head winds, then thunder and lightning, then beam winds upto 30 knots, then stern winds, then no wind, and then fog so thick we couldn't see Kishorn (Trevor and Leslie's boat) even though on the radar it was only 0.15 miles away! We rounded into Muros and finally saw the land when we got within 0.2 miles of the coast.

We anchored off the town in Muros which was nice, went ashore in the dinghy to explore in the evening (no where to land really and ended up on a horrid slipway covered in creepy crawlies - Kate and Leslie not impressed!). We wondered around the tiny streets and found a bar just before it started to rain - then the thunder came - the loudest thunder I have ever heard! We darted back to the boat in between rain showers, but the thunder and lightning lasted 10 hours into the early hours of the morning! The next day we had calm weather but horrid muggy clouds and whilst not cold it wasn't warm either. We went over to Kishorn in the evening for card games and drinks.

We set off early the following morning despite more fog, both determined to get back to the sunshine. No wind again, we motored round to Ria De Arosa and found a beautiful island to anchor off for lunch. We went ashore but unfortunately it was a national park and got asked for a permit or to leave! So we motored on up the Ria to the Island in the centre and anchored off the beach. White sand, blue waters, perfect. Had a BBQ tea on Kishorn last night which was amazing, and awoke this morning to more sunshine anchored off the beach!

A day of exploring today and hoping to find an internet terminal to get more info on the national park permit - the next island we hope to visit is also in the park and we need a sailing permit, anchoring permit and landing permit apparently!

Spain - finally!

After 9 days of waiting in Cork we finally saw what we thought was a decent weather window and made the dash for La Coruna in Spain. The forecast looked good but showed a few hours of poor weather on Friday.

Well, as it turned out the forecast was optimistic! We had a great sail on Thursday (we left Cork at noon after tidying the boat up) and had a good over-night sail. However, Friday dawned to strong winds and we had to tack out west to avoid being pushed into the English Channel! We saw our first gale of the crossing kick in on Friday morning and last around 20 hours during which time we had a sustained force 7-8 with force 9 gusts,as we were just crossing the biscay shelf we also had awful seas! Saturday was better and we had winds from the North and made nice progress, trying to dry out after the gales where we found a couple of leaks! However, Sunday saw the winds return. We were now in the Atlantic in over 5000 metres of water so the waves weren't short and steep, but long and big - 9 to 10 metres (we are only 11 metres long!) we had a solid force 8 for over 24 hours before the winds dropped.
We arrived at midnight on Monday but held station about 15 miles offshore for 6 hours to await daylight and arrived on Tuesday morning.

We were wet, tired and miserable - and beginning to think this offshore stuff wasn't for us! However, we were soon being congratulated by astonished locals for sailing through the worst low pressure system in Biscay this season - made us feel a little better!

We spent Tuesday drying and washing and have spent today just messing and socialising with other cruisers.

Learnt a lot crossing Biscay - and now have some repairs to make!

1) The autopilot sheared a bolt in the first gale and had to be lashed with rope
2) We found 2 leaks in the deck we need to fix (hadn't shown themselves in the last 2 years!)
3) We ripped the staysail (Small headsail) slightly
4) We broke the engine bay door

Lots to do - but the weather here is great so will re-group, repair and move on later in the week!

J

Made it out of Wales!!

Two weeks after we left Fleetwood we finally got the weather we needed (well, better weather) to leave Abersoch.

We attempted to leave on Saturday morning, but after several days of gales the sea was very rough and the wind was too tight for any of the 4 destinations we had set ourselves (Arklow, Milford Haven, Kilmore Quay, Cork). So back we came - a little embarrassing after a full send off from Abersoch including flags and hooters - but better to be safe!

Sunday was nice and we went out to watch the practice race of the GP14 World Championships (Jonny's old class) and also met up with PJ (the eldest of Kate's younger brothers) who had just come back from doing the charter season in the Caribbean with his girlfriend. A good night on Sunday with a family meal to welcome PJ home, and some beers with the GP sailors.

We awoke on Monday and had a lazy morning. J helped Alan sort the enterprise out for his forthcoming national championships (Good luck Alan and Matt!), and we packed away the dinghy which we had repaired after it suffered a puncture whilst behind the boat in gale force winds.

We finally got out to the boat and cast off the mooring at 2pm, sailed past the yacht club with much waiving and tears (from family ashore and on Newt!)and out of the bay.

The wind was tight so we motor sailed for a couple of hours before putting a tack in and heading for southwest Ireland. The wind remained tight all night between force 4 and 5 and we sailed well averaging 6 knots. Around 3am the rain came and visibility dropped to a few feet as we crossed the shipping lanes off Carnsore Point. We pressed on and caught the favourable tide to make over 10knots at one point (still close hauled) past the south east corner of Ireland.

The rest of the day was wet and misty with a large Atlantic swell which had been building during the low pressure systems of the last couple of weeks. We pounded on, not very comfortable with head winds and large seas - neither of us felt 100%, but Newt was coping very well and ploughing her way through as only a heavy boat can.

We rounded Roche's Point to enter Cork harbour at 6pm yesterday - 28 hours after leaving Abersoch. We are moored at the Royal Cork Yacht Club (the oldest yacht club in the world, established in 1720), and are having a couple of nights in the marina to wash the boat off etc before getting a mooring in the river (half the price of the marina!)whilst we wait for the weather which is looking like this weekend at the earliest.

Nice to be out of the UK and feel like we're on the way properly now (especially as we're on Euro's!)

Weather waits for no-one

After a week of fabulous weather and socialising it was back down to getting the boat sorted, so off to Pwhelli we went for a haul out to fix the rope cutter and prop shaft, scrub the bottom and get some alterations made to the sail cover.

We got back to Abersoch on Tuesday and found a forecasted force 8 on the way, so we stayed put (the new Rocna anchor didn't budge an inch after 3 days of force 7 and 8's!). We are still 'put'! We had a look round the peninsular yesterday, but heavy seas and 25 knot winds on the nose made us decide that Abersoch still held appeal. We are in the bay at present anchored off the sailing club waiting for the weather to improve to allow us over to Ireland.

Sunshine in Abersoch

Just a quick message - currently sat in Abersoch at anchor off the beach. Very hot (25 degrees - hot for the UK!) and sunny. Playing in the dinghy and swimming with family and friends.

We are off to Pwhelli tomorrow to lift out to check the prop after our issues earlier in the week and to get the sail cover modified. Subject to weather we're hoping to be off to Ireland on Tuesday.

J

An update at last ....

Sorry for the delay in getting this out - a few technical issues have been in the pipeline!

We eventually left Fleetwood on Monday and despite some horrid weather (pics to follow!) we got underway. On leaving we trapped something around the prop - it appeared to clear in the river but all the way down to Abersoch I wasn't 100% happy with the engine speed / performance. We motored all the way due to wind speed / direction. We saw lots of tall ships leaving Liverpool which made for a fun night passage around Holyhead!

We missed the tidal gate through Bardsey by 30mins so added 4 hours to the journey fighting the tide around the Llyn Peninsular.

Arrived Abersoch Tuesday early afternoon and anchored off the club. J trapped his finger in the windlass when dropping the anchor (great start!), but anchor seems really good. Had great weather for the last couple of days, sun sea and champagne with friends!

We are now in Pwhelli - we need diesel, gas and to look at the prop. I dived in the marina (nice!) to look at the prop and the rope cutter seemed a bit bent but nothing else. However later on whilst doing another job I was running the engine and heard a bang - the prop shaft had come out of the gearbox! Hmmm, a few hours and lots of blood and sweat later its now back together, think the guys at Glasson put a grub screw in that was too small.

All good now though - sat in Pwhelli marina - off back to Abersoch tomorrow for more friends and beer. We're being lifted out in Pwhelli on Monday to check the prop and give her a scrub.

Speak soon!

J&K

p.s. the alternator wasn't working 100% so didn't have enough power to send the position reports - should be back working now though!

False Start!

We arrived in Fleetwood after a crazy day on Friday - lots of goodbye's, leaving work, packing the final bits from the house, and handing the house over to the letting agents. Eventually, after some to'ing and fro'ing between Asda and boat we were picked up by Grandma and taken to the boat for the last time!

The weather looked bad for Saturday and sure enough when we awoke the force 8 forecasted was coming through. We had a load of jobs to do (seeing the local chandlers - the Yacht Shop, receiving visiting relatives, and my firm had arranged a press photographer to come along (some great pics - will post when we get to wifi) so postponed departure until Sunday.

Well, today is Sunday and we are only 50 yards closer to Australia! The wind was up again this morning but was forecasted to drop significantly. We um'ed and ar'ed a lot and decided to go (fed up of Fleetwood now). At 12:30 we motored out of the marina amongst mutterings of good luck from the harbourmaster and farewells from Dave and Barry (our neighbours in Fleetwood), and Grandma and Grandad waiving from the shore line. The wind was up but we decided to dip our toe in and try - it was fine in the river, but 35-38 knots in the main channel! We discussed it breifly whilst waves broke over the decks and decided that for a first leg (and a 24hr one at that) this was daft, so at 13:45 we re-entered Fleetwood (the lock keeper had a welcome home sign for us!!).

So we're still in Fleetwood, although our berth was taken when we returnedso we're a little further down and the berth nearest the lock gates! Fingers crossed for better weather tomorrow.

First blog from the boat via SSB

Well, now we've got the blog up and running alongside our main site I thought I had better test that it all worked ok from the boat. We're satin Fleetwood marina, 3 weeks today is our leaving date. A few jobs still left, oil change and replacing the mast head nav light bulbs with LED ones - but once again the weather is poor here, 25 knots of wind, so not ideal for heading up a mast!

Got some friends coming along soon to visit the boat and then a BBQ later (lets hope it doesn't rain!)

Anyway, fingers crossed for better weather in a few weeks time when we leave!

Jonny & Kate

Blog Whilst At Sea!

Whilst we are at sea we won't be able to access the internet, and as such can't update our main site. We can, however, send emails via our HF Radio so we have set up this site which will publish our emails for you all to see. We will try to send emails as often as possible - but if we don't post for a few days don't panic - its probably technical gremlins!

Jonny & Kate