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We thought that it might be an idea to upgrade this page with a few more technical details about the boat and the navigation aspects of our trip. Please feel free to ask questions in our guest page and I will try to answer them. Many items will be a reference to my opinions and sometimes I may differ from the norm but I hope you will find some interest in these pages as we progress.

December 2007 - January 2008

May - June 2007

Cherbourg to St Peter Port.

Navigationwise this is a challenge to strangers in these waters. Look at the charts and you will see that there are a lot of rocks about. Originally we had not intended to go to the Channel Islands so I only brought one chart for the area and that was an old Stanford chart (1979), which covered the whole area from Cherbourg in the North East to Treguier in the South West of the chart. There are insets much like an Imray chart and in truth I have found it adequate. I have found that you do not need a plethora of charts. A good pilot book and a Reeds or Macmillan’s are more important. The chart we use for planning and for plotting our positions.

We have the Shell Channel Pilot which has been updated by Tom Cunliffe. It gives good detail and a good description of the approaches as well as advice on the tides. In these waters the tides are particularly important.

We had wanted to call in at Alderney but there was an easterly wind and the only safe anchorage was at Bray Harbour which is open to easterlies and we had been advised that with any east in the wind, that harbour is not very comfortable. Apart from that we also heard that the Royal Lymington Yacht Club were there for the weekend and it was unlikely that there would be much peace and quiet there, so we plumped for Guernsey.

The main feature on this trip was the Alderney Race. The tidal diamonds give a tidal stream of up to 5 knots on the charts but in reality on big springs we learned it can achieve up to 11 knots and this was verified in the Channel Pilot. It is strange that in the Channel Islands there is a tidal range of over 9 meters yet due north in Portland just seventy miles away, there was only about 2.5 meters. To get the best of the tide and to have it working with us we needed to be off Cap de la Hague at slack water. It still seems that the almanac compilers are unable to show the tidal streams with reference to the local tide tables and we still have to refer to the Dover tables to interpolate the tidal atlases.

We left on the 8^th June. HW was at 1507 local time and it was neaps. We cast off at 1315. Cherbourg claims to be the largest man-made harbour in the world. I doubted it at first but we didn’t get through the piers until 1400! It is big. There are a few rocks about here so we kept a good offing from the coast. Visibility was down to about three miles at this stage. The sea was flat and the wind dropped. The tide was still running east so we needed to motor to get round Cap de la Hague.

There are a couple of Sea Cat ferries operating in this area so we kept a close eye on the radar. We set a few waypoints for the trip as we weren’t certain of the visibility for the journey. We were within three miles of Alderney but could only make out an outline in the mist. There were about six other yachts on our radar screen all going the same direction and heading for St Peter Port.

There was one target on the radar that caught my attention. He was doing about 10 knots and on a collision course but still about three miles away. We had had a confrontation with a French trawler before. They do not seem to want to give way no matter what the situation so I was ready. When it finally came into view, it was actually a yacht, a Contest 55 with Dutch ensign. No sails up and on full power with his engine and heading straight at us. I could see the skipper on deck but he made no attempt to alter course or slow down. In the end I had to alter course and avoided a collision by about ten feet! I used to have respect for the ‘Dutchies’ but perhaps they are no better than some Brits I could mention!!

We made course for the Little Russel channel which rounds the north end of Herm and forms the channel with Guernsey. The first mark you see is normally Platte Fougere which is on a rock at the North end of Guernsey but due to the reduced visibility it was the Tautenay beacon tower just north of Herm that we saw first. There were several other yachts entering Little Russel at this time and all heading for St Peter Port. We picked the other marks down the channel and headed for the harbour.

St Peter Port has a drying sill and it would be past midnight before we would be able to get into the marina. They were already rafting up on the waiting pontoons so we decided to go round the corner into Havelet Bay and drop the hook. It was about half tide so we needed to find about 6 or seven meters of water. The Channel Pilot says that it can be uncomfortable in here but we had a peaceful night and a good sleep.

I launched our hard dinghy the next morning, the first time it had been in the water since we left Sunderland and the first time since I had cut out the transom to fit it around the mainmast. It has turned out to be a good little workhorse and the cut-out also acts as good protection for the outboard especially when tied up along with many other dinghies. The down side is that with the C. I.’s there is a big tidal range and it is a little heavier than our inflatable so that carrying it up the slipway to the high tide mark is hard work. I am now looking at the prospect of fitting some wheels on the transom.

During a gale when we were in Cherbourg we broke a fairlead on our bow fitting. So I drew up a design similar to the ones we have on the stern and an engineer with a workshop on the pier made up some new ones. We bought our bow fitting at a boat jumble and it was supposed to have been off a Bowman 40. The rollers themselves were made of rubber and after about a dozen anchorings one roller was completely destroyed so we got the same guy to make up a couple of spares with a nitrile composite. Lets hope these will last a little longer.

We decided while we were there to take a trip to Sark. Tides are a problem here. To get to Sark it is almost a straight line across a little south of east but there is a reef stretching south from Herm and a South Cardinal to round. It means going South West to the buoy and then North East to the anchorage so one way or the other you are going to hit tide. So we decided to go as near to slack as possible. That meant that we would get to the anchorage late on and we would need to stay the night. The wind was from the South so we went to the North of Brecqhou Island which is almost connected to Sark but would give us shelter if the wind picked up through the night.

There was no access ashore here so the next morning we motored around to the South of this island and picked up a mooring buoy near some steps up the cliff. That evening we sailed back to Guernsey and to Fermain Bay where we went ashore for a meal. It was now springs and high tide so we needed at least 9 meters of water. This is a small but beautiful bay and to get the depth we needed meant that we were a little outside of the bay and a little exposed so we had our meal and went back to Havelet Bay and dropped anchor there again just as the wind started to freshen. The predictions from the Channel Pilot now came true. We had a rough night and at 0700 we weighed anchor and went round into the harbour. We tied up to the waiting pontoon and as soon as we had enough water the harbour launch beckoned us in to the marina.

St Peter Port to St Helier

The weather stayed for a few more days and eventually settled so we then were ready to set off for Jersey. Much the same again, it is the tides that influence the timing but this trip would take us more across the tide so the wind direction could also have an effect. The wind was South and we were going South East. If the tide was driving us south then once we were past Sark we could point east on a beam reach and the tide push us south. I didn’t bother to calculate the tidal vectors, I find that the chart plotter will give you that info and keep you up to date as you progress. These chart plotters make you lazy in many directions. Once we got to St Helier I vowed that I would do more homework and do some plotting of my own!

As we neared La Corbière lighthouse we knew that we were approaching more rocks. There are a couple of North Cardinal buoys close to the South Coast of Jersey on the approach to St Helier. I normally like to give a known rocky coast a good distance but you have to trust these marks so we went in close and followed the buoys. You then come to a channel marked with the usual red and green buoys and then a leading line to a mark called Dogs Nest and then turn to 023 degrees up the channel into the harbour there are a couple of turns towards the marina and a waiting pontoon. There is a tidal sill here. This one has a large flashing digital depth gauge over the sill. What a great idea. You can see at a distance exactly what water there is over the sill. So as soon as there was enough water we went in.

Here they have similar pontoons similar to Cherbourg. They are about half the length of El Lobo so that the stern is jutting out quite a way. The forward spring is the first line you need on to prevent the bows from hitting the pontoon and then two bow lines and a heavy spring from the stern. The fingers themselves are also very thin and not too buoyant so I have found that it is best to tie a short line amidships to keep her in tight and also to support the finger.

Our next port of call will hopefully be Treguier in Northern France. Once again tides will dominate our planning but as I write this we have gale warnings so we will sit it out and wait for clearer weather.

We have had many emails asking what our plans are to cross the Bay of Biscay. Well to be honest we haven’t made any definite decisions as yet. It will rather depend on the weather. We intend to go round the corner as it were to somewhere like Brest and wait for a weather slot. If the weather is a little more settled than it is at the moment then we will tackle it head on and go out a little way and then head for La Coruna. If the weather remains the same as it is now, then we will hop down the French coast to Northern Spain and round the corner that way. We are both keen to get out of the weather trap we find ourselves in at the moment. It seems that when we plan a date to move on, the weather steps in and we are delayed for a few more days. We are not fair weather sailors by any means but we are doing this for pleasure and have no deadlines.

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July 2007

Well here we are again, and at last we have made a bit more progress.

However, by watching the weather forecasts we decided that we were in the wrong place to get further west. The winds have been strong (usually F5 – 7) all westerlies or from the southwest. We eventually need to be able to get round the corner to Brest or at least in that area to be able to tackle Biscay. However the greatest challenge we have at the moment is to get out of the English Channel and with these prevailing west winds, the Channel Islands are not really on the ‘ideal’ route.

In hindsight (wouldn’t we all love it!!) we should have kept to the English coast down to at least Plymouth and probably better to Falmouth, in which case it would have been a beam reach all the way.

Nevertheless we are where we are, and now our next intended stop is Treguier which is on the North coast of France. It is due west of Jersey but more of a south west from Guernsey. We were in Jersey, so once the wind dropped a little we set off for Guernsey again. This would give us a better angle of attack for Treguier although it would still mean a beat.

We left the marina in St Helier at about 0730 to go round to the fuel berth and topped up or tanks and then had to wait about ½ an hour in the inner harbour for the ferries to do their bit and then we went out. The forecast wasn’t great and it was pretty rough as we cleared the piers and turned west. The wind was on the nose and about F5. We had the tide with us but that also meant that we had ‘wind over tide’. Pat said that there was no way she was going below in this. A couple of boats turned back. I assured Pat that that as soon as we rounded La Corbiere Lighthouse the tide would be flowing up the west coast and the sea would be better. She wasn’t entirely convinced especially as we witnessed the race as we got around the corner. The sea did flatten out a little and from there it was about another 17 miles and the sea got better as we progressed. We had a couple of reefs in both sails and with the wind just forward of the beam we had a good sail up to St Peter Port. We went into the harbour and tied up to the waiting pontoon. It was another couple of hours we had to wait until there was enough water over the sill before we could enter the marina. By this time the wind had started to strengthen to F7. We had made it just in time.

We eventually got a weather slot to leave Guernsey and set off for Treguier which is on the North coast of France a little west of the Channel Islands. The wind was forecast as south west veering round to west later. So we rounded the south east corner of Guernsey at Forquie de Jerbourg and headed west with the tide for about seven miles and then bore away to a more southerly direction. This gave us the wind on our beam but also a line to avoid Les Roches Douvres which is the only real hazard on our route. This move also gave us a cracking sail towards La Jument des Haux which is a north cardinal and then to the Basse Crublent buoy. This is basically a fairway buoy and takes you on line to the buoyed channel.

On entering the channel we reefed both sails down to three panels each to slow us down to about five knots (you can do that with a Junk Rig!) and we sailed up the river. It was my intention to arrive at low tide so we could go up river on the tide but we had such a good sail that we arrived early so we were against the tide for a while. The buoyage looked a little weird at first as it zig-zaged back and forth across the river. We attracted a lot of attention with our rig and loads of boats were making towards us and taking photos.

We sailed almost up to the marina and it was now low tide and we were running out of water so we turned round and back down river to find an anchorage. The best looking one was pretty full so we motored further down river to Roche Jaune where an anchorage was indicated on our chart. We generally look for around three to four meters at low water to anchor. We got in quite close to the shore and dropped the hook. As soon as we got settled a small fishing boat came in to his mooring nearby and advised us that here was not good and indicated a mooring buoy that ‘would be OK’. So we upped anchor and moved over to this mooring buoy. When I lifted the buoy I noticed that the shackle and the shaft through the buoy had seen better days to say the least so I tied on to the riser which seemed in better condition and had a stainless thimble so I attached our line to the thimble with a shackle.

We had a peaceful night and went ashore the next day and explored Treguier. It was about half an hour away by dinghy. We were looking to get a little nearer to the town. The population of the anchorage we wanted had thinned a little so we decided that we would move up river in the morning. When we got back to the boat we were just settling down to our evening meal when we were hailed from outside. It was the guy whose mooring we were on. He was actually Belgian and had a cottage here and a fishing boat. He was in his dinghy. Luckily he spoke good English and he explained that he had been to purchase a new bolt for the mooring buoy and had come out to fit it. It was rusted solid but I had the tools to sort it along with another shackle which he had forgotten to get. Between us we fixed his mooring and had a good bit of crack along the way. I felt we had paid our dues for his mooring and he was happy.

However the next morning the wind changed direction and just before low tide we swung round against the bank and suddenly we were aground! I started the engine and gave it full revs but we were fast. There was another hour before the bottom of the tide and we were starting to lean to starboard. Well, not being one to miss an opportunity I got out the scraper to trim El Lobo’s beard!! We needed to raise the water line a couple of inches anyway. So into the dinghy and scrape the weed and a quick scrub. Then look out my spare tin of antifoul (good cruising folk always keep some somewhere!!) and touch up a couple of areas that were suspect and raised the water line a little. So that’s the port side done. Pat now wants us to go aground again so we can do the Starboard side!

We eventually floated off, no harm done and then went up river to the other anchorage which is much nearer the town and slightly deeper water!

After a couple of nights the weather looked as though it was presenting us with an opportunity to progress west, so we upped anchor and sailed down river and out to sea once more. We had it in mind to try to go round the corner and into Brest or Camaret with the option of putting into L’Aber Wrac’h if necessary. We passed through the inside of Les Sept Iles with the tide and made good progress. The wind was South West but was forecast to veer round to the North West and then North. It didn’t! By the time we had crossed the Bay of Morlaix the wind strength had increased and as we rounded the Ile de Batz it was up to F6 and straight in our faces. The tide had also turned and now that too was against us. We were making about two knots across the ground with some discomfort with 30 miles to go to get to L’Aber Wrac’h. We decided to turn back. Unfortunately there are no ports along this part of the coast that we could get into except at high tide so we doubled back towards Treguier. Within half an hour of turning the sea seemed to calm and the wind seemed to drop so we eventually decided to turn again and have another go. I might have known, as soon as we levelled with Ile de Batz again we were hit again and this time we were further out to sea, pushed out by the South Westerlies. We turned again. By the time we returned to Treguier it was 0130 and teeming with rain. Entry into Treguier is straight forward by day but I hadn’t studied it for a night entry. Half the buoys we were looking for weren’t lit; in fact we nearly hit two of them! The chart plotter definitely helped us here and we made it back to our anchorage. We had been at sea for 20 hours and logged 90 miles and were back where we had started from!

Forecasts were still not good for a few more days so we went into the Marina to do a bit of work on the boat. The windlass had gone on the blink and 35 meters of 10 mm chain is heavy for a sixty-year-old to haul up without electrics!

The following Thursday was the next weather slot so it was an early night on Wednesday for an early start. When we got up however it was thick fog so we abandoned our start and went back to bed. When I got up again it was still foggy but by the time we had our breakfast it had lifted so we quickly let go our moorings and set off again.

We had a good start and the tide with us again. The wind was North North West, perfect. We had a good sail but eventually the wind dropped to about F1-2 so engine on.

We turned South about 0100 to enter the Chenal du Four. The route takes you inside the Ile de Ouessant in the North and then between the mainland and the Plateau de Helle which is a group of small islands, or to be realistic, large rocks.

The passage is well lit with numerous beacons and lighthouses and it took a while to sort out which ones we needed and which ones to keep clear of but as usual the further we got, the more clear it becomes. There is a leading line with the lights of two lighthouses at the Southern corner of the peninsular which takes you through the rocks of the Platresses, but beware. As you pass through there is a starboard hand green beacon just through the gap which is unlit and again we nearly hit it. These French certainly have a funny way of buoyage! The rest of the passage through was fairly straight forward and we rounded the Southern cape at around 0400 and made for Camaret across the bay. By this time we had more wind but we wanted to try to get into Camaret in daylight if we could so we dropped a couple of panels out of the sails to slow us down a little and got into Camaret a little after 0600, in daylight!

We stayed at Camaret for a couple of days but the weather turned foul and we were on the wave break without electrics or water so we decided to move up to Brest. There was a warning for strong winds and we were getting rocked about a bit. At Brest there would be better shelter. Nothing particularly technical about the trip except to mention that the Rade de Brest is like a large saltwater lake connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Goulet de Brest which is a channel about a mile wide at its narrowest point, but making the Rade a fantastic sailing area. There are two navigable rivers at the eastern end, L’Elorn and L’Aulne as well as many inlets to explore especially in a shoal draught boat or a boat that can dry out.

From Brest we headed South to Les Belle Iles. This meant sailing out through the Goulet de Brest and round the Pointe du Toulinguet. From this headland, rocks stretch about four miles west and out to sea. To save a few miles there are a couple of channels through these rocks. We had watched some yachts going through from the cliff tops. Careful navigation takes you through but as always best done with the tide behind you. However we had another obstacle ahead which is more dangerous against the tide and that is the Raz de Sein another 15 miles south. This a channel between Pointe du Raz on the mainland and the Ile de Sein. There are serious overfalls here and it is wise to time this right. If you get wind against tide, this channel can cut up rough. Best to time it at slack water. Once through here we headed for Les Belle Ile. The wind dropped for a while and then started to, pick up at about 1800 hrs and we were having a good sail. However by about 0100hrs in the morning the wind turned into our faces and built up a head sea, short and steep. We still had about 30 miles to go and we were only making about 3 knots over the ground with considerable discomfort. We tried to bear away to get more speed but that was taking us too far off course so eventually we decided to put in towards the coast to get a little lee from the land. The place to go seemed to be Ile de Groix just off the coast so we tacked and headed North East. There are a couple of anchorages on the island but the only one that was in shelter was a little tight and it was recommended that two anchors were needed as there was little room to swing. We were knackered so decided to head for the mainland and Lorient. This is known as a busy yachting centre in France so we rounded the island and headed North into the river. We opted for Port Louis, which is the first of three or four marinas on the river. It was a good choice and we may stay for a few days.

Navigation Tips

By popular demand, I will try to include some tips on navigation as they crop up from time to time. I don’t claim to be an instructor or to have any authority on the subject, but sometimes the areas we visit will have some anomalies peculiar to that area. I hope you find them interesting and of some use.

If you look at a chart of the Channel Islands the first you notice is that there are a lot of rocks and reefs about and that can be quite daunting at first sight. However there is also a lot of water in between and as long as you take note of the lights and buoyage then it isn’t too difficult to find your way around.

More important for this area is the tide. There is quite a tidal range around the Islands, over 9 meters on springs, so that there is a lot of water moving about. Get the timing wrong and you will be going nowhere for up to six hours. A local tidal atlas is handy if you intend to hang around for a while but as we all know it isn’t always possible to have all the atlases for all the areas you visit so we refer to our Reeds. The trouble is they show the tidal streams referring to the state of the tide at dear old Dover. Rather than interpolate I find it easier to look at the atlas and refer to the Dover tide table to tell me what time to set off.

The trouble is that all the marinas in the Channel Islands are tidal and have a sill so you need to plan when you go out of the marina and on to a waiting pontoon prior to your intended departure time.

With the strong tidal streams it is important to remember what you learned at night school about vectors. It will be brought home to you by the difference in the readings of your compass and the GPS. The GPS will tell you the direction which the boat is heading over the ground. Your Compass will tell you the direction the boat is actually pointing. When you are crossing a tidal stream or current these two will not tally. There is nothing wrong with your instruments just your navigation if you haven’t allowed for it.

If you set a waypoint on your GPS and steer for it with your compass when crossing a tide then your GPS will soon tell you that you are off course and the further you go the more off course you will be. Work out your vectors and maybe aim a little higher if you will arrive at your destination during the same tide. Better to be slightly upstream of your target than to be downtide and struggling for that last little bit as you enter a harbour.

If you have a chart plotter then things are easier. A chart plotter works from its own GPS and relates your position on to a complicated series of charts and of course shows your position on the screen. Your boat is shown as a dot or diamond or even the shape of a boat depending on which type you have. There will usually be a line behind your location that shows the route that you have taken. In front of the boat there is usually a short line that shows the course the boat is taking over the ground. If you can steer the boat watching the screen and then pointing that line at your destination or waypoint, then note your course on your compass then the tidal vector for that time of the tide will have been worked out for you.

Makes you lazy I know, and there is no substitute for good old-fashioned calculations and the ability to work out the tide naturally. You never know when electronic gadgetry will fail.

A Problem with Pat

Whilst on Jersey we went for a walk down a river valley. About half way we decided to stop for lunch at a farm museum called Hamptonne. It was one of the best farm museums I have ever seen and showed how life was back in the sixteenth century and onward. There were a few traditional crafts on show and one of them was the cider making. Whilst there was nobody about we tried a sample of the cider that was in the barrels around the cider press. Pat liked it! We also had some cider with our lunch. Pat liked it! In fact whenever we stop for a drink somewhere now, Pat’s first choice is for cider but now she’s getting a bit frustrated because we can’t get the real rough stuff like we had at Hamptonne! I think Pat has become a cidaholic!

Moral of the Month

Never confuse having a career with having a life.

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August 2007

Brittany and beyond

At Port Louis we found everything we needed except fuel. The toilets and showers left a little to be desired but they were functional. The lads working the marina were great and extremely helpful. We had excellent wi-fi signal and a digital signal for the tv.

Port Louis doesn’t read that well in the pilot books but we found it the place we have most enjoyed so far. It is just one of five marinas on the river at Lorient but only three will entertain visitors. They are Port Louis of course, Kerneval and Lorient itself. Kerneval is on the opposite side of the river to Port Louis and Lorient is further inland. All three are served by a water buses which are fairly frequent.

Ian who sailed with me at Sunderland joined us on his boat FE2 which he keeps at La Roche Bernard which is up the Villain River. It was good seeing him again especially as he brought Gill with him, and he brought out a parcel from Blighty for us. After a few days together in Port Louis, we sailed in company with him for La Belle Isle where we had planned to go originally but beaten by a head wind. The wind was variable that day and we set course for La Pallais, which is the main port on the island. As we approached the wind strengthened and the heavens opened. We dropped sail and motored into the harbour only to be met by the harbour RIB and told that there was no more room. We tried to get a mooring buoy just outside the harbour but it was a bit of a melee with boats coming from all directions. The sea was a bit sloppy and although Ian had managed to get on to a mooring buoy he thought that it was going to be an uncomfortable night here and suggested we try Houat. Houat (pronounced as ‘what’ to rhyme with ‘that’ or whatever else you can think of as similar!) is a smaller island about eight miles away and there was a choice of anchorages so we set off once again. There are a few rocks on the way but all are clearly buoyed and once again the chart plotter is a great help.

When we rounded the point to the Treac’h er Goured there were about fifty other boats already anchored there, but there was still room for us! The wind was Northerly and the bay is on the eastern end of the island, but the forecast was for the wind to back round to the North West. It didn’t so we had a rather rocky and rolly night. However we did manage a good barby on the beach!

It was good to sail in company again especially with Ian and Gill but the next day we had to say our good-byes and parted company as they sailed off for Morbihan and we headed for Pornichet which is back on the mainland of France just north of the Loire Estuary. The Loire River marks the Southern boundary of Brittany. Once again a few rocks to avoid on the way but nothing too taxing. Pornichet is a manmade marina with probably the best pontoons I have ever tied up to. However no wi-fi and no laundrette on the marina itself.

We only intended to stay a couple of days but as usual the winds turned and we had to ride out two gales here. The marina itself is well protected from winds in all directions and is accessible in all states of the tide. It is in a wide bay with a beach about 7 km long and runs north west to south east with Le Pouliguen at the north west end, which has a marina but with limited tidal access, La Baule as the main resort and Pornichet at the other end. The seaward side of the bay is fringed with a few rocks and is fairly shallow but there is a well buoyed channel leading to both marinas.

We left Pornichet with a North West wind behind us and headed for La Rochelle. The bay of La Baule where Pornichet is situated is a shallow bay and protected by a fringe of rocks not all of which are marked with any kind of buoyage so careful attention to the charts here. Heading South you then have the dredged shipping channel for the Loire River entrance which can get rather busy at high tide. Ships go in here for St Nazaire and further upriver to Nantes. After this we passed some distance from the Ile de Normountier as there is a reef of yet more rocks extending about 4 miles to seaward. Once past these it is a fairly clear run to La Rochelle and our route would take us inside Ile d’Yeu and then Ile de Re.

When about 5 miles from Ile d’Yeu the wind dropped but the sea didn’t! There was a bit of a swell and no wind in El Lobo’s sails to steady us, so we were starting to roll and as we got nearer to the island and shallower waters the seas were shorter and the motion was not comfortable, so we decided to have a look at Ile d’Yeu.

The only port on the island is Port Joinville and there is a sizable marina there. As we approached we couldn’t believe the number of boats that were about, all shapes and sizes, and most heading for the harbour. So we dropped our sails and motored for the entrance. As we neared the entrance, a sea-cat ferry can up behind so we slowed to allow it in and as soon as we resumed course another came in from another direction! Once we were between the piers, yet another appeared behind us, just like the London buses!!

We were met by a little launch from the marina and he guided us in to our berth. This marina is yet another recent manmade harbour made up with a wall of dumped rocks and a concrete road set on the top. The marina seemed well run as most of the French marinas are, but here, again as in Pornichet, no laundrette and no wi-fi. The marina itself is well protected and once again we rode out another gale whilst we were there. Then as soon as the weather allowed, we set off south again, again for La Rochelle. With the wind behind us we made good progress and had a good sail. We went inside the Ile de Re with the tide that gave us an extra knot or so then under the road bridge that connects the island to the mainland, then turn to port to the channel. La Rochelle is a fairly straightforward entrance, it was dark when we got there, and there is a good pair of leading lights to guide you in.

The entrance to the marina at Les Minimes is a sharp right turn off the main channel with the visitors pontoon dead ahead. However the channel is shallow and down to about 1 meter at LW springs so timing is important. The marina itself has around 3000 pontoon berths which makes it one the largest yacht harbours in the world, or so they claim, and it is quite a complex. We were planning to stay here a while and have a good look around and intending to make this our set off point for Biscay and Spain. However the next morning we were told that we could only stay for three days as there was a boat show starting on the Monday and they we not accepting visitors. Basically La Rochelle is a no-go area for sailors throughout the month of September. That was not mentioned in our Pilot Book!! We even enquired at the old port in the city but it was the same story there.

So now we are planning to go a bit further South to Rochefort to prepare for the crossing. So more of that next month, however, I’m told they make some nice cheese there!!

Weather Forecasts

I have been asked about weather forecasts and how we get them. If you have been following our trip on these pages, then you will realise that the weather has played an important part in our progress. My policy has always been to get as much information as possible from as many sources as are available to me. The Internet is useful here. There are many web sites for the weather for various countries around the world. In France the Meteo France web site is a good base to start from but there others such as movingweather.com that ask for a subscription. We have not as yet contributed to these, as we are not always able to get on line.

It helps to learn the local lingo a little here as far as the terminology is concerned. You won’t find many of these terms in a normal translation dictionary, but you will find all the necessary translations in your almanac, we are using the Reeds.

We have Navtex but although we have both local and international wave bands we found that we are not always in range of the transmitting stations so we are unable to rely on it to keep us up to date.

However we have found that the marinas in France offer a good service as far as weather forecasts are concerned. There is usually and up to date forecast posted first thing every morning with copies available for anyone who wants one. These are good forecasts with synoptic charts, wind force arrows, reports on sea state and wave heights, barometric predictions, visibility and a five day forecast as well, not just a printout of the BBC shipping forecast that you get in most UK marinas if you’re lucky. They also include tide times and tidal coefficients which is also a great help when passage planning.

The Boat

Once again we have had emails asking how the boat is going and how all the bits of equipment are performing so I will try to include some successes and failures each time.

Generally I am well pleased with the boat itself and the rig. We are still a little overloaded so we are a little slower than we know we can normally go but things are slowly sorting themselves out. We set off with far too much on board. We know from nearly every publication we have read about blue water cruising that you nearly always set off with too much gear on board. We knew that we were falling into that trap but we also knew that we needed to find our own level. However we have contributed to many skips on our journey so far and the latest item to go the journey is our washing machine!

The junk rig has proved itself quite versatile in many ways. A few times now the wind has increased in the night whilst Pat was on watch and she has had no problem reefing the sails herself which is a real boon (it means I get a longer sleep!!). When sailing up a river it is always good to keep the sails up for as long as it is safe to do so and we tend to drop a couple of panels out of each sail and keep good control. We are then in a better position to completely drop the sails quickly when we need to. Despite the weight of the boat at the moment we are still faster than many Bermudans off the wind but I don’t think we would win many races!

Electrically we have a battery bank of 480 amp/hours. To charge these at sea we rely on two 54 watt solar panels and our Aquair which will charge using wind power or when on passage we can change its mode to tow an impellor through the water which will turn the generator. This will give us about 4 amps at 6 knots. Even on a cloudy day these together will keep our batteries to between 12 and 12.8 volts and even with the freezer on 24 hrs a day so I am well pleased with that part of the system. When alongside we have our 40 amp Sterling 4 stage battery charger which keeps the battery bank at a steady 13.2 volts. At anchor however we don’t get quite as much free power as we always try to find shelter from the wind so I generally run the engine for an hour or so about twice a week.

The only gas appliance we have on board is the cooker. It is a Plastimo Neptune 2000. It is basically just a token cooker with two burners, a ‘grill’ and oven and has little to recommend it. The grill is pathetic and the oven burns anything too near the back. As soon as we can find another cooker that will fit in that space, that will be the next thing in the skip. How Pat serves up the meals she does is a credit to her patience and culinary skills. On the credit side, we do now eat more salads!! As far as our gas supply goes, we carry two 17kg propane bottles. I hooked up one bottle a couple of weeks before we left Sunderland and I had to change it last week, so we are getting about five months out of a bottle. Have to get it filled as soon as I can or I may not get my Christmas lunch!! If we still have this cooker it might be salad anyway.

Moral of the Month

If you can keep your head whilst all about you are losing their’s…….. you just don’t understand the situation do you!!!

Top of page

Sept 2007

At the end of last month we went into La Rochelle intending to stay there for a week or so to get ready to cross Biscay and to sort out a few admin things such as insurance etc. However we were told when we got there that we could not stay as they needed the berths for their annual boat show. We managed to get the weekend out of it but then we were unceremoniously asked to leave. As I said before there was nothing in any of the pilot books about this show and nor were any of the other ‘foreigners’, that were there, aware of it. I feel that this is a quite important piece of information. We had an insurance policy at the time which covered us down to the 46th parallel and I don’t think that this policy is unique. Because of this show it meant that all the other marinas in the area were pretty full any the only option we had was to go to Rochefort which is just a few minutes south of the 46^th parallel so basically we were uninsured until we got the new policy sorted out. We should of course have got all this sorted out earlier and we would have too if we were aware of the boat show at La Rochelle.

You can be sure that we are contacting the relevant publishers to try to get this event into the pilot books.

So we left La Rochelle without really being able to give it a good once over but you will get the gist from Pat’s pages.

We decided to go to Rochefort which is a little further south and about eight miles up the River Charente. The pilot book showed a few anchorages with a small marina at Rochefort itself. We left La Rochelle on the early tide and headed out and then south. Here there is a large bay which is guarded by the Ile d’Oleron. To the south of this bay is the estuary of the Charente. Not far from the mouth of the river is the Ile d’Aix and between this and Ile d’Oleron is the famous Fort Boyard where just about every European country films the popular game show.

The bay is fairly shallow all over and the deepest we found was no more than 12 meters. We sailed close to Fort Boyard to take the proverbial photos and then to Ile d’Aix and anchored there to go ashore. We needed to waste some time for the tide to be right for us to go up the Charente. Pat will tell you more about our visit there.

The entrance to the Charente is fairly straight forward, there are shoals but there is good buoyage and we went straight in and followed the buoys. After a couple of miles there are leading lines, mainly for the deeper ships which still go up to Rochefort. The current in the river is quite strong and with the engine on tick-over we were doing about 9 knots over the ground. There is a yacht club about half way up the river with moorings and a suggested anchorage. Looking at the state of the buoys with the tide nearly burying them in the water, I was not looking forward to the prospect of anchoring here if we could not get into the marina!

The marina is locked with a single gate which only opens for about ½ an hour before high water so arriving late is not an option. There is a waiting pontoon but it dries into soft mud. Anyway luck was at last on our side and they found us a berth. It was cheap and they had all the facilities we needed. Here we also made some new friends but again see Pat’s pages.

Once we had sorted everything out we were now ready for our Biscay crossing. We had now managed to sort out our SSB receiver and we were now actually able to receive weather faxes on our laptops. The weather whilst we were in Rochefort was the best we had on our trip so far and for the next few days there would be a high pressure system over the North coast of Spain.

We decided to aim for Gijon which is about half way along the north coast of Spain, so as long as the wind didn’t come from the south we had several options if the weather decided not to co-operate. We would have liked to have landed a little nearer the French border but one of the terms of our insurance policy was that we had to be South of La Coruna by the 1st October, so there would not be enough time to explore all the Rias along that coast which was a pity but we can’t do everything I suppose.

The weather forecast proved quite accurate. We came down river on the falling tide and out into the bay and headed north to round the North end of the Ile d’Oleron and then out into Biscay. There is a bridge at the south end of the island linking it with the mainland and there is a passage through but it is reported to be dangerous at full flow with shifting shoals. It would have cut about 25 miles off our journey but even the locals advised against us trying it.

Once round the end of the island we headed on a course of 233 degrees and straight for Gijon. The wind of course died and we motor-sailed for most of the first day. The wind got up a bit in the late afternoon so we sailed until about 0200 the next morning when we had to start the engine again and were running it until about 0800 hrs. At 1000 hrs we were joined by dolphins who stayed with us for a few hours. For the remainder of the crossing it was engine on and off for about four to six hours at a time.

Our pilot book states that the south of Biscay does not deserve the reputation that it has. Yes, Biscay does get some rough weather and we have witnessed some big seas from the right side of a few breakwaters but I have seen just as bad in the English Channel and The North Sea. In fact the worst conditions we have experienced on our trip so far have been in the English Channel!

As we neared Gijon we did not get the usual excitement of a landfall by one of us shouting ‘Land Ahoy!!’ There was thick fog along the coast and we couldn’t see Gijon until just two miles off! The entrance is fairly straight forward and we went straight in to the visitors berth and moored up. The check-in procedure is a bit more complex here. Passports were to be produced along with insurance certificate and boat registration but it was all a friendly process and we moved over to a more permanent berth.

We were told that the main features about sailing on this coast were the fog and the swell. The fog we had already seen and the swell in Biscay was a little different to what we had experienced so far. Influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, the swell is long and slow compared to the likes of the English Channel or the North Sea. It is reasonably comfortable to sail in but as you approach the coast it starts to become a little more significant and as we were to find later it can also become uncomfortable. Another feature we found on this coast is that being the North coast of Spain, you are always facing South as you enter a harbour or port. This means that if the sun is out, it is also low and in your face as you are trying to enter port in the afternoon looking to locate marks and leading lines. So either the sun is in your eyes or it is foggy, either way it means that a GPS or chart plotter is pretty handy along this coast.

Even though the marina at Gijon seems well sheltered the swell seems to get round the breakwater and even in calm weather there is a lot of movement on the pontoons. We were pretty knackered by the time we settled the boat down, so after a meal ashore we still managed a good nights sleep.

After a couple of days we were ready to move on again. There are quite a few potential stops along this coast so we have decided to just day sail from port to port as the weather allows. The next port of interest was Cudillero. It is just around Cabo Penas and about 27 miles from Gijon. It has a narrow entrance but the entrance is deep so as long as the swell was not too big we should be OK here. We sailed in company with a small catamaran from the south coast of England and a single-hander from Germany flying a Belgian ensign (not quite sure why).

The entrance to Cudillero proved a little hairy with rocks either side and not much room for error. With the sun in our eyes the entrance was difficult to see but once round the corner and in the harbour it was calm. The pontoons were quite small and not much room for El Lobo so we tried to pick up a mooring. I pulled on the rope but it just kept on coming. Eventually I felt the weight come off the bottom so we decided to anchor. We found a spot next to a big white plastic gin palace. It was a bit tight so we also put out our stern anchor and we held firm for the time we were there.

I went ashore to register but the Capitania had gone home. The next morning I tried again but he still wasn’t to be found. Eventually we managed to find someone who told us that if we were in the middle of the harbour there was no charge.

Cudillero was a very pretty little town and also very old and little spoilt so we stayed a couple of days and then left for the Ria de Ribadeo. The wind was unfortunately from the west but light so we were motoring for a while then by early afternoon the wind increased so we bore away to get some power from the sails and ended up on a hard beat, out to sea for about 5 miles an then back to shore and repeat!

As we approached the entrance to the Ria, the visibility was not that good and spotting the leading marks wasn’t easy. Once we turned south into the Ria we dropped the foresail but with the wind now on the beam coupled with the long swell we were surfing in at tremendous speeds. We were at the bottom of the tide and the route in is under a large road bridge and the arch nearest the west shore is the one with enough water. There was a plethora of small fishing boats in this stretch and many seemed to be drawing nets between them and pointing for us to go round them. Where they were pointing was close to the shore so we eased down our speed and dropped the mainsail. I had thought we were going to have a bit of a conflict here but the fishermen rowed towards each other and then waved us towards them using sign language to say that there was more water where they were. A relief as the depth sounder was telling me that the bottom was steadily coming up to meet us!

The marina is just a few hundred yards past the bridge and as we turned we saw the German we had met earlier and he indicated us to a pontoon further up the marina as where he was moored was subject to the proverbial swell. So we went over to another pontoon and the Capitania was there to give us a hand. All the electric points were the large 32 amp variety so we had to borrow an adapter from the marina. They were very helpful and willing despite the language difficulty.

The next port was Ria de Vivero, another 35 miles west of Ribadeo so just another day’s sail. The wind was in our favour now but not strong enough to run without the engine. There were big swells and we needed to keep some speed on to keep the boat as steady as we could in the conditions. However the engine decided to die on us! We had changed tanks and were running on fuel that had been on board for a while and a residue blocked the secondary filter. I changed the filter and the engine seemed ok until it stopped again. This time it was just an airlock but it happened again so we changed back to the other tank and had no more problems. So now I have to drain that tank again to clear out the contamination.

We got into Vivero without further problems and found a really nice, friendly marina and the Capitania was a really helpful fellow. This could be a good place to winter the boat as it is well sheltered and reasonably priced. The marina is a short trip up the river and the pontoons are fairly new and in good condition.

Our next target now was La Coruna which is some sixty miles away so we thought we would split it into two trips and visit Ria de Cedeira for the night. The trip out of the Ria de Ribadeo was pretty bouncy as we headed into the swell and it was nearly five miles before we could bear away to a little more comfort! We noticed a Spanish yacht motoring out before us and also saw that he was pretty close to the cliffs on the western side of the Ria. There was a huge rock ahead of him and then we realised that he was going inshore of it. Looking again at the chart we could see that there was a possible route there and a short-cut. I would not normally have contemplated such a route in strange waters but decided to follow him through. There was plenty of water there so we should be safe and we would also get a short respite from the swell. Well we got the respite alright but there was also a goodly concentration of pot buoys to weave around! As we emerged from the rock we then had the wind on the beam and were soon powering on. The swell stayed with us however making it an uncomfortable ride but we had a good sail and we were pleased when we arrived at the Ria de Cedeira to calmer waters. We met a French catamaran coming out and they made a gesture to signify a rocky sea and we pointed out to sea indicating that it was. On reflection we think that he meant at the anchorage but we went ahead and found a spot to drop the hook and settled down for the night. The wind was increasing in strength but was coming off the shore which was about 500 meters away so there was little fetch. The wind got up to force 7 during the night and the boat moved about a little but we have certainly been in worse. The bottom seemed like a muddy clay and the anchor held firm, in fact it took a bit of lifting out. Thank goodness I fixed the electrics on the windlass!

From Cedeira it was just another 30 miles down the coast to La Coruna. Thankfully the swell had diminished. We had a strong wind at first which was on the beam so we had two reefs in both sails which gave us a comfortable ride averaging around six knots. Then just after mid-day the wind dropped. We hoisted full sail but still needed the engine. So for the last ten miles we motor sailed along the coast and then into La Coruna.

I feel that we have skipped along this coast much too quickly but we had a deadline to meet in order to comply with the insurance and to be honest, that is what our trip was to have been all about, no deadlines. There was so much that we have missed out that we would have liked to have seen and explored. We have done in two weeks what we would have liked to have spent two months doing. It is a very attractive coast with beautiful mountains inland. Well worth a long summer cruise.

Next month we hope to round Cabo Finisterre and into the Rias of the Atlantic coast above Portugal but we certainly won’t be doing the mileage that we have done this month.

The Boat

Well we have now been six months on our voyage and I would now expect things to start to go wrong with the equipment and to a certain extent that has been happening. On our trip from Cudillero to Ribadeo we noticed that we were not getting sufficient charge into the batteries from the engine’s alternator. Once tied up in Ribadeo I checked through the system and isolated and checked all the batteries. Eventually I found that the earth wire connecting the domestic bank to the boat’s ground had come out of its terminal. A simple thing that can have you confused. Perhaps I have been at sea too long already!!!

As mentioned above we also still have a bit of a fuel problem which I believe still stems from sea water getting into the fuel tank a couple of years ago. One of our winter projects will be to clean the tanks out thoroughly. It will not be possible to do it whilst on the move as we are, other than to try to remove as much contamination as we can by drawing off the fuel from the tank.

We have been tweaking the rig as we go and have discovered a few items of chafe. Nothing serious, just a few items of cordage which are easily put right but this has made us aware that we need a checklist for various sections of the boat. I have a few ideas that I hope will improve things and I will tell you about them if they work!

Weather Forecasting.

As mentioned earlier we now have managed to rig up our Target SSB receiver to receive weather faxes. We have a little Sony radio which is supposed to be able to do the job but we have been unable to get any joy from it so we bought the Target whilst we were in Guernsey (VAT free and all that!) but the aerial supplied with it was just not adequate. So whilst we were in La Rochelle I managed to get hold of an ‘active’ aerial. When in Rochefort we met a French couple who also had a Junk Schooner and they showed us what frequencies to look for. So when back on the boat I rigged the aerial while Pat twiddled with a few knobs and Bingo we now have weather faxes!

Moral of the Month

This one needs a little introduction. Whilst in Rochefort we met a couple with a new boat who were on their way the La Rochelle and their boat was to be in the show. It was a Southerly about 48 ft long. It was a beautiful boat with extremely clean lines. Simon and Jacque invited us on board for a drink and he proudly showed us his boat. Most of the systems on board were computerised and this he admitted was the Achilles’ heel as there were a few glitches in the systems. On deck the mast was carbon fibre and all the lines leading back to the cockpit were below deck level so not a rope to be seen. She was also obviously a fast boat under sail but a cruiser just the same.

They came on board El Lobo the next day and the comparison was that theirs was the luxury city apartment and ours was the country cottage! We exchanged cards and emails and they went on their way to La Rochelle.

A few days later we received an email from Simon. Basically he said how they had enjoyed our company and also how they envied our project. He pointed out that although with their much faster boat they cover far more miles than in their holidays and weekends but unlike us they never get the chance ‘to smell the roses’.

We though that this was a great expression and generally fitted our situation. Thank you Simon.

So the moral of the month is when you are travelling great distances slow down a little and give yourself a chance to ‘smell the roses’.

France

Well we have now left France and I have to say that we have left it with a little remorse and with a much different feeling towards the country and its countrymen than we had before we landed on her shores.

We first landed at Cherbourg. This is a busy port with its ferry terminal and as well as a commercial and Naval port it has a busy fishing sector so we automatically assumed that it would be a little bland with commercial docks etc. we couldn’t have been more wrong. When we arrived and moored up we went to the Capitainerie and the first thing we noticed was the green of a marina park, well manicured and laid out. The walk round to the office was on clean gravel and the whole atmosphere was pleasant.

The town was occupied by the Nazis during the war and was relieved by the Americans after the Normandy Landings so there was some bitter fighting in the area. But the town has recovered and is making the best of the history. We found much to do and see here.

From here we went to the Channel Islands where we stayed for six weeks and our next port in France was Treguier. This is Brittany and here we learned to love France and its people. We were lucky enough to be here on July 14th, their National Day. The celebrations were basic but still a sense of a major event. There was open air dancing of the Breton style and we made some new friends with whom we are keeping in touch as we go.

We were in Brittany until we left Pornichet having also visited Brest, Camaret, Port Louis, and Houat. The people were laid back and easy going and always willing to help especially with our lack of a French vocabulary!

From Pornichet we went to Port Joinville on the Ile De Yeu, basically a holiday island but without high-rise hotels, discos and neon lights. It was almost like going back half a century and many of the cars seemed to have been there that long as well. From here our next stop was La Rochelle. Whilst this is a more commercial centre it still retained some of the charm that we had found elsewhere. From here to Rochefort via Ile D’Aix and more new friends.

As a cruising area, the West Coast offers a tremendous variety of sailing. From Brest and its large sheltered bay and rivers to explore going South to rocky inlets and rivers there are conditions for all to enjoy. The costs of the marinas are also a lot less than the ‘rip off Britain’ prices of the South Coast of England.

It is true that we have not ventured very far inland but most places we have visited in France were ports with some commercial interest but that somehow did not take away the impression that we gained from our first landing in Cherbourg. If you get the chance to go to Brittany, take it. We don’t think you will be disappointed, as long as you take the time ‘to smell the roses’.

Top of Page

October 2007

La Coruna.

We landed in La Coruna to meet up with Pat’s daughter Margaret and her new husband John. Whilst there we sailed over to El Ferrol and then down to Sada. There are four Rias or bays within this whole inlet making it a mini cruising ground in itself. These are El Ferrol, Ria de Ares, Ria de Betanzos and Ria de La Coruna.

El Ferrol has little to offer visiting yachtsmen with just a small marina for locals. It is mainly a commercial port but also is reputed to be the largest Naval Port in Spain. It is a natural harbour with a narrow entrance opening out into a large bay, the north side of which accommodates most of the commercial and naval facilities. The prettiest anchorages lie on the south of the bay with a couple others on the north side along the entrance channel near an old fort. There is now a new breakwater about halfway across the entrance to the Ria with a new harbour facility just inside. This would make the anchorages inside the Ria pretty well sheltered from most winds.

To the south of El Ferrol is Ria de Ares with a little harbour where anchoring by the mole will give protection from the north and further on south is the Ria de Betanzos with Fontan and Sada. Although La Coruna is usually the target for yachts crossing Biscay, the facilities there are minimal but at Sada they have a much larger marina and were still installing more pontoons whilst we were there. This, I feel, will now make Sada a more practical destination for Biscay crossings. There are chandlers handy to the marina with new hoists, an engineer and a sailmaker. Whereas in La Coruna the chandlery is about a mile from the marina.

In La Coruna there are a few options as far as berthing is concerned. You can of course anchor just inside the breakwater or across the bay at Ensenada de Mere. To berth to a pontoon there is the yacht club pontoons where you can moor up bow or stern to. We berthed in the Darsena de la Marina which is relatively new and just around the corner from the yacht club moorings. Fuel is only available at the yacht club. From the first of October all the mooring charges are considerably reduced so from now on our trip will be considerably cheaper. British marinas take note!

When we were ready to leave there was little wind forecasted so we fuelled up round at the yacht club and set sail for Ria de Corme y Lage.

Lage (Laxe)

This was a journey of about 38 miles further round the Cote de Mort. This has an obvious reputation with many wrecks marked on the charts. This coast stretches from Cabo Ortegal to Cabo Finisterre and includes the Rias Atlas. The weather here can be quickly changeable but there was a high pressure system coming in from the Atlantic and we had little wind so the engine was on for the trip. There was a swell coming down from the south so when we entered the Ria we headed for Lage which is on the south shore of the Ria. There is no actual marina here so we anchored just off the south mole of the small harbour there. We still suffered a little from the swell and rocked quite a bit through the night. There was little wind and the tide was slight so we seemed to lie across the swell. Next time I may try the stern anchor to keep head to the swell.

Camarinas

The next morning we raised the anchor a set off for Ria de Camarinas another 20 miles along the coast. Once again there was little wind so we motor sailed all the way. There are a few hazards along this coast with rocks strewn along the cliffs but we kept out about three miles well away from the dangers. There is a rock called El Bujardo just off Cabo Villano which you have to round to enter the Ria and from then on into the Ria careful pilotage is needed especially at low water.

Even though it was a little misty the scenery was fabulous with some good looking beaches with white sand as we passed on to the marina. This is a comparatively new marina and Pepe the manager showed us to our berth. Here we bumped into a few old friends we had met previously along the coast.

Portosin

Our next stop was to be Portosin which is about half way up the Ria de Muros a few miles south east of Cabo Finisterre. I felt it was far enough up the Ria to provide adequate protection should the weather turn foul. We are well into October now and wary of the possibility of sudden weather changes especially in the vicinity of Finisterre. The trip itself was not complicated. As long as you give the coast an offing of about three miles you will have little to worry about. Actually rounding the notorious Cabo Finisterre turned out to be a bit of an anticlimax. There was little wind and we had the engine on at about half throttle.

Another ten miles and we rounded Pta Queixal and into Ria de Muros. At last the wind got up and we had a good sail up the Ria and few other sailboats showed interest in our rig and tried to join us but we had the wind on the beam and Lobo, despite being a little overweight, just showed them her stern! We raised a lot of interest in our rig that night.

Entrance into the marina is straight forward and we tied up to the wave breaker before being allocated our berth but the Capitainia told us we could just stay where we were. At first I was happy with that but we were soon to realise that this was not a good spot. We had arrived on the Friday night which just happened to be Spain’s national day so nobody was at work. Over the weekend it was the same then on the Monday morning the fishing boats started. The 3 knot speed limit is of course ignored in Spain and we had a rough ride tied up to the pontoon. I had to complain to the marina and told them we would have to move. They tried to place us in another awkward place but I refused and moored inside a large ex-navy launch and told them that we would be there for one night only and then we would leave. We did get a better nights sleep but we still left the next day. If you ever happen to go to Portosin and it is otherwise a good marina, make sure you are well inland of the wave break. The facilities are good and the yacht club is welcoming with a good restaurant.

Bayona.

Bayona is the last port in Spain with a marina and we had arranged to meet others there. From Portosin it is a distance of about 45 miles but with many rocks on the way. There are w