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From Falmouth south and across BISCAY
29.4.99
Its 22.35hrs BST and we are off the Lizard in position 49deg44.8n 5deg 29.5w. A beautiful moon lit night. We left the pub "Ganges" at Mylor Harbour on the River Fal and motored out setting all plain sail. There is quite a large following swell and excellent visibility. We are making approx 6kts over the ground with a following true wind speed of some 15 knots. Barometer 1013 and cabin temp 13 c. Malcolm and Graeme are asleep, I'm on standby below and Fae is steering SW trying to keep the Genoa filled as its goose-winged. We have just seen the last view of Blighty as the Lizard light dipped below the dark horizon. We just passed a guardship watching over some cable laying operations. We expect the winds to remain NE for the next 12 hours but to decrease. I'm very pleased with the way the wind generator can be made to tow a propeller and produce some 1 amp of electricity PER knot of boat speed. With our radar now on and GPS, mast lights, navtex and VHF radio we are using just under 6 Amps per hour. i.e. about 60 Amps during the night. The water genny will produce almost that amount if our speed stays up, and as the daylight returns our four fixed solar panels will burst into life. Battery voltage is currently 12.8volts ... fine. As I write the wind has increased and we are now up to over 7 knots. I come on full watch at midnight for 2 hours. We are working 2 hours on, four off and 2 on standby... then it starts all over again.
30.4.99
06.00hrs
I got off watch at 02.00hrs but went on deck at 03.20 hrs to help Malcolm and Graeme take down the main as it was gusting up to force 7. TIRLA rides these waves so well and NO rolling either! Back in bunk by 03.35 hrs. Now on standby for Fae at 06.00hrs. Dawn well up sea and sky
grey. Still under Genoa and Mizzen but wind decreased to 15 knots true. We are 30 miles almost due south of the Scillies and 80 miles NW from the Brest Peninsular. Its cold and damp. During the sail change we jibed in the dark and lost a mizzen batten and damaged a block, both replaceable/ repairable from ship's on-board stores.
15.26 hrs
Position 48.54.91N 6.55.92W
Baro 1012
Humidity below 70% Temp 15deg C
Nearly 24 hours since leaving the
FAL. Its baking hot !! Very misty and we are being visited by birds - a Curlew, Flycatcher, Linnet and a Wheatear! all tired out and resting aboard. The fish lines are out and we are doing 1 knot and less. I've been to the hairdresser
(Fae) had a "shower" and generally got back to feeling humanoid. I'm on standby at the moment and on watch at 16.00hrs for 2 hrs. The deck looks like a laundry, things being washed or dried out from the rain we had early this morning. Looks like it will be a long passage. The weather fax shows possible light SE then NE winds about 10knts.
31.4.99
00.00 hrs
Position 48 deg 48.80N 6 deg 56.42W
Midnight and back on watch. No wind in previous watch and we did a backwards circle due to the tide. Managed to gleen 1.8 knots of speed out of 4 to 5 knots of apparent wind. Concentrated work sail adjusting. Batteries now 12.4 so cut out fridge and re lowered generator propeller... getting 1.5 AMPs from 2 knots of boat speed. Large French trawler approached at speed with flashing yellow light but they kept clear after we put a spot light on the mainsail. Our twin masts and sails must have made us look big. Super tanker passed astern at 10 miles. Huge and fast. Sea like a mill pond and a hazy moon. All our birds seem to have pushed off. Navtex warns of "missile" fallout in one of the French sea rocket ranges well to the south of us!!! Last night a "mayday" near Padstow and Falmouth coast guard sent lifeboat and helicopter. Sounds like a yacht hit something and was sinking. We think all ended O.K. Concord's supersonic bang made us all jump out of our skins yesterday.
1.05.99
15.57hrs
Wind NE 12 knots
Running under Coaster, Main and Mizzen. I laid on the netting between the two bows and watched the seas under the hulls. It's a beautiful ice blue as the light is coming from below with the deck cutting off the sky. Between the hulls is a gap some 3.75m. In that width is the hydrovane rudder that steers the ship using a wind vane, the two outboard engine props that sometimes touch the wave tops when the engines are lifted in the sailing position, and behind, on a line, is the rope trailing behind the vessel with the electric generator prop that turns the waves into power. During darkness Malcolm saw there was a huge wooden pallet directly in front of us. It was too late to alter course. It went under the front beams and we waited for it to hit one of the above .... It came out astern untouched! A trick that would be difficult to do if you practiced all day long in calm still waters!! We are now some 80 miles abeam France opposite
Douarenez. Next, in about 30 miles we cross the continental shelf and go from 100 metres depth to 700
metres...then down to 3500 meters. It's always a tricky place to be in bad weather as the wave pattern gets very disturbed. We are making just over 5 knots running before the wind on a course of some 175 degrees. 305 miles to Cabo
Finisterre, some 180 miles from Falmouth. Had the fishing lines out .. nothing. Very misty, still, grey and damp but warmer than England ... already !
1.5.99
21.40hrs
Position 47deg22.02N 6deg58.96W
5.3knts course 193 deg T
Baro 1012 Wind NE 15 knts true
Up early for my 2 hr "stand by" period. Able to get clothes warm before going on deck! We're running with genoa and main in slight following seas. This is our slowest direction under sail and we are no faster than a mono. With light stern winds we expect slow progress. We took off the coaster and mizzen before dark. Battery voltage much better tonight as boat speed is turning the electric generator prop much faster in the water. Depth now increasing to 3800+ meters as we cross the continental shelf at
Haut-Fonds De La
Chapelle. The printed weather fax ends with a nice message " For next 24 hrs no dangerous phenomenon expected". Good to know! I'll be watchman from 24.00 hrs to 02.00 hrs as per usual. 280 miles to go to our waypoint off NW Spain. 70 hrs at this speed but the wind will not last if the forecast is correct.
2.05.99
07.00hrs
Position 46deg43.05 N 7deg02.37 W
speed 4.5 knts 212 deg Baro 1017
12 deg C in Chartroom , Humidity 80% - outside damp, misty, visibility 1 mile. All my deck gear now well damp from the three days of foggy conditions. Would like some sun today! Running under coaster and main with "The Master", our
Hydrovane, steering the ship as it has done for most of the trip. Listened to a large tanker weaving its way through the shipping needing 2 miles to marginally alter course. The VHF voice sounded under stress as he called up ships that were on collision course with him, sometimes with closing speeds of 20 knots! Two house martins flew below into the cabin for a rest! Very tired they looked. I expect it was a matched pair on their way to the same nest as last year. Contrary winds and damp must be debilitating for them. As I write the weather fax is sending in the latest pictures for this area, I'd better switch programs and see what man thinks God's delivering!! Spanish voices now on the radio.
11.35 hrs
Just seen our first pod of dolphin, about 25 went across the bows going NW.
1420 hrs
Caught our first fish! Nobody aboard thought we would get anything! 65cms long and a Belone belone
(linnaeus) or GARFISH. This one was a fully grown female. They are an ocean fish but come in to spawn. Graeme is frying the roe now!! The bones are a green color which makes it unpopular to eat with some people. They are capable of planing on the surface and strike the bait from directly below. Fresh fish for tea and enough for four people. Port water tank now empty so we are using the desalinator and making 1.5 gallons per hour of fresh water. I'm dreaming of hot deep baths ...
22.00 hrs
Wet and very foggy as well as pitch black. At 20.00 hrs we were in dense fog and I went up on deck. The crew were "up to something" which sounded serious from the depths of my subconscious sleep. They had been monitoring three ships approaching fast in the fog. We tried to contact them by radio, on radar we watched the first pass about a mile to port but the second looked a real problem, we slipped close at about half a mile. I managed to raise the third on radio and he was very large, I altered course under sail to starboard and talked to the skipper giving our exact course and intentions. Both ships agreed we should turn another ten degrees to port and we passed .25 of a mile apart..... no sound no sight. Without radar we would never have known we even had a problem...until it would have been too late!! No other ships were near even on 16 mile radar range, we jibed to 120 degrees to clear the big ships track which runs from Finisterre to
Ushant. Not nice .. but our kit is excellent. Being able to talk to the other ship, our helmsman watching our second on-deck radar, and GPS giving immediate read outs of our course,speed Lat Long worked well. We are now 45deg50.24N 7Deg15.22 W), 130 miles North of the Spanish coast and 250 East from Bordeaux. In the sea, deep down, are constant flashes of light, like distant lightening, making one wonder what type and size of fish is causing the disturbance.
3.5.1999
06.33hrs
Woke up to feel Tirla going like a train. Better wind, we are doing some 7knots + in slight wet, misty seas .... 3 days of this mist and fog. Now 100 miles from Spain and further west. Travelling 220deg at over 7 knts with main, mizzen and
genoa. Electric propeller now providing more power than we are using - batteries at 12.8 volts. Baro steady at 1015, temp in chartroom 12.5 Deg C 80% humidity due to the fog. Viz now clearing a little. Malcolm and Graeme asleep, Fae on the helm until 08.00hrs. I'm waiting for the Royal Navy weather fax to come in from Northwood.
12.48
Problem with the
watermaker. In the large swells air comes in the inlet. We only draw a metre so we will have to sort out this one, as we will need to have fresh water in due course. Various brains at work on the problem. Wonderful sight of dolphins right under the bows, very exciting as we have had up to a dozen rolling under the boat and diving up past the bows. They even come and lean over to look at you! They look like the common dolphin. Northwood weather fax now difficult to receive, so tuning into Hamburg ... much more efficient!
In the late afternoon we were visited again by about 30 dolphins. Their display was amazing. Leaping totally out the water, coming within 2 feet of us as we lay in the bow netting. They swam on their sides to look into our eyes and even swam one upside down directly below another. Their accelleration was awesome.
04.5.99
With a predicted southerly I gave up the idea of going on to
Muros. We are doing 5.5 knts under our two 9.9 HP outboards. ETA La Coruna appox 7 hrs but we may be slowed by the expected head wind. Clear night. I've noticed ships think we are a very large sailing vessel when we light up our sails if they get onto very close collision course. With twin gaff sails we look like a 30 metre schooner. We can see lights on the Spanish coast. The first sign of land since the Lizard, several days ago.
07.22 hrs
I've just got a phone signal so will try to send this message by Email...La Coruna is 7nm south of us we are still under engines. 6.2 knots .. still cold and misty. Should be in and sorted for breakfast !!! Large Spanish trawler .5 mile to port also heading in.
09.00hrs On a bouy in La Coruna . It is COLD HERE!!!
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