The Rain in Spain falls mainly on Sal Darago!

It’s warmer in Spain than in Scotland but it still rains and you need full ocean waterproofs when sailing to keep warm and dry!

After 9 days waiting for the wind to stop blowing from the south the forecast told us northerlies were expected and might last for several days. There was another front lurking in the Atlantic but we thought if we could get as far south as possible we should miss the worst of it. We left Drake’s Pool on 7th August, said a quick hello to Jonny and Kate in Newtsville, who are sailing from Fleetwood to the Caribbean and beyond, and ventured out to sea again.

Soon we had the ghoster and the genoa poled out and the engine on making all speed southwards to avoid the gale forecast for Sole. I was on watch when our Neco autopilot stopped working! Fortunately, it was just the fuse that had popped, but we would have to be careful not to put too much stress on it especially in a following sea. By the afternoon the wind had backed to the west and strengthened. The poles came down, the ghoster was stowed and we were close hauled with the main sail and the genoa only and no engine. By evening we had two reefs in the main, the Hydrovane wind vane was steering and we were both feeling seasick.

Lighter winds returned the next day but they continued to back until we had 20 knots from the south and we were 34 degrees off our course. The next day, Saturday 9th August, we were pleased to have 20 knots of wind. We recorded much stronger ones, up to 32 knots, from the SSW. Many waves came into the cockpit and over the roof. A large green ship came up behind us on a collision course. I called her on the VHF and she altered course to avoid us. We switched on our tricolour navigation light and nothing happened, so we had to use our bow and stern lights with a masthead light and keep a close watch on the battery levels. The next day, Sunday, was calmer with blue skies and sunshine. I stopped taking Stugeron and felt that I had my “sea legs” at last. I ate Cornflakes for the first time since leaving Ireland. I think this was the best day, the only incident being the collapse of the Hydrovane at 6am, on my watch again. I had to wake Jeremy up. He discovered the collapse was due to a loose nut and correct steerage was soon returned.

Simon’s birthday began with a beautiful night sail with calm seas and the moon lighting a pathway for us. By 9.00am it was raining as heavily as it did on his 21st birthday last year and we both said we could have gone north for this sort of weather! Jeremy made the mistake of shaking one reef out of the main sail. One and a half hours later he was struggling to put it back in. We had to call another ship on the VHF, which was on a collision course with us, and it was worrying when the helmsman said he could not see our white sails against the white sea! We were in gale and near gale conditions making no progress south or west, in danger of being run down by massive container ships so the only sensible decision was to make for La Corunna, Spain, about 60 miles to the east. We certainly started moving, surfing down waves with a following sea and winds of 25-30 knots. Just after midnight we had to take the main sail down as the wind shifted and made a mockery of a “controlled” gybe. In the end we had bare poles and the engine on as we rolled our way to La Corunna.

We are enjoying our second day here in sunshine, trying to learn a little Spanish, checking the boat over, shopping and washing. Tomorrow we might set off again, coast hopping this time. I fancy visiting Santiago de Compostello, especially as our church in Wrightington, St James the Great, is named after the same apostle. Until next time hasta luego!